Learn more about the safety of x-rays in Nelson Tasman with this helpful research article.

The research in Nelson Tasman

“Our critics have often claimed that (1) x-ray line drawing is not reliable, (2) we are over-utilizing x- ray, and (3) unnecessarily exposing our patients to ionizing radiation. These are all false statements. Firstly, we have conducted and published 10 x-ray line drawing reliability studies. The most recent were in Spine and JMPT. These studies not only show high reliability, but our reference sections in each publication indicate that previous studies show high reliability for geometric line drawing on radiographs. Secondly, in our CBP® Protocol of Care, it is recommended that the Doctor obtain Posture and Radiographic measurements. These measurements are necessary to determine the type of care needed. The frequency suggested for radiography is initial and then follow-up views-measurements at 36 visit intervals. From our 6 published CBP® Clinical Control Trials, the average patients needs 6 months of intensive care to achieve a near normal spinal and postural alignment. This would result in one initial set of x-rays and two follow-up sets. This is a very minimal frequency compared to orthopedic surgeons who often take initial, pre-operative, immediate post-operative, one week, one month, 6 months, and long-term follow-up radiographs for surgery cases. As CBP® protocols are evaluating and monitoring structural spinal changes, so are these orthopedists. Several of the CBP® Research Team (Rene Cailliet, MD, Deed E. Harrison, DC, Donald D. Harrison, PhD, DC, and Tony S. Keller, PhD, &Christopher J. Colloca, DC is being considered in 2004) are members of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS), of whose members, 2/3 out of 250 world wide, are orthopedic surgeons. These surgeons report at our annual ISSLS meetings that approximately 4-6 radiographs and 1-2 CATSCANs or MRIs are obtained of each patient (before, during, and follow-ups on surgery cases). Their medical radiologists read their films and do not chastise them for obtaining structural information regarding spinal alignment changes.

Lastly, medical x-rays are of very minimal health risks. From Butler [Butler G. Inflight Occupational Exposures to Cosmis Radiation and Magnetic Fields. Air Line Pilot 2000; Jan: 30], one can calculate the routine exposure of airplane passengers and crew. For example, based on 0.60 mSv (= 0.6 x 0.1 rem) per 100 block hours (the mean for a flight between New York City and Athens, Greece), a pilot flying 700 block hours per year would receive an annual occupational exposure of 4.2 mSv (= 0.42 rem). In contrast, a pilot flying 700 block hours on a Chicago-to-San Francisco route (0.41 mSv/100 block hours) would receive an annual dose of approximately 2.8 mSv (= 0.28 rem). This Chicago-San Francisco dose is 0.28 rem/yr = 280 mrem/yr = 5.4 mrem/wk, while according to Cohen and Lee (Cohen BL, Lee IS. A Catalog of risks. Health Physics 1979; 36(Jun): 707-722.) “smoking a cigarette has the risk equivalent of 7 mrem of radiation , and an overweight person eating a pie a-la-mode runs a risk equal to that of 35 mrem”. Equating absorbed dose and dose equivalent, 1 rem = 0.01 J/kg = 1 rad, we can determine the dose equivalent for medical x-rays”

For more information, visit the link attached: https://idealspine.com/cbp-protocol-of-care/