Word To Ya’ Mutha, Rogue Medic

In his latest sharp stick in the eye of dogmaticians post questioning the efficacy of on of our core skills, he says:

One way to spot a fraud is when we are more concerned with the presentation of the treatment than whether the treatment really works.

With spinal immobilization and with acupuncture it is all about appearances.

Read the whole thing. I said pretty much the same thing in one of my posts on spinal immobilization.

For those of you who consider field C-spine clearance with some degree of trepidation, or are fearful of lawyers/paralyzing someone/the boogeyman, consider the following:

1. The NEXUS low risk criteria are more accurate than a cross-table C-spine film at ruling out a spinal fracture.
2. There is zero, none, nada, zilch scientific evidence that demonstrates spinal immobilization works even for patients WITH spinal injuries.

When the best evidence you have to support a treatment can best be summed up as "Well, we don't think it causes any further harm," you may lump that treatment in with acupuncture, Reiki, voodoo, crystals or swallowing ground spinal vertebrae diluted to one part per million in distilled water.

Replace your spine board and head blocks with incense and a tambourine, and you'd probably do just as much good.