An accessible, eye-opening guidebook to the benefits of chiropractic therapy.
A comprehensive look at the effectiveness of chiropractic care in dealing with a wide array of health problems.
“Historically, the chiropractic profession has had to endure many obstacles,” writes Scott Darragh, a vice president of the Massachusetts Chiropractic Society, in the foreword to Barron’s new book. Barron himself confirms this statement, listing several persistent myths about chiropractic (including that it can cause strokes, or that its practitioners are unqualified), and warning, “Don’t trust a Google search to learn the truth about chiropractic care!” He then sets out to make his book a central clearinghouse for accurate information about the current state of his discipline. In nine fast-moving chapters, he outlines some of chiropractic’s successes in easing or reversing not only typical joint and muscle pain, but also such disparate complaints as asthma, concussions and even cardiac problems. The text is extensively illustrated, with chapters broken up into handy subsections for quick, easy consultation. Barron has been practicing chiropractic in the Boston area for more than 25 years, and as a result, he infuses his book with a great deal of medical information, presented simply and clearly; although the text can sometimes be quite technical, it never feels that way. As he addresses stress-related ailments such as carpal tunnel syndrome, scoliosis, lower-back pain, and some types of vertigo, his recommendations range from exercise and diet modification to the use of “cold laser” therapy. He accompanies his facts and charts with several real-life patient stories, drawn from his extensive experience. Finally, Barron rounds out his instructions and advice with an often sobering look at the state of the American health care system, particularly regarding its relationship to chiropractic, which includes good information about what insurance companies tend to cover or disallow. Throughout, Barron stresses that, for many health issues, chiropractic is a viable alternative treatment to more invasive, expensive approaches.
An accessible, eye-opening guidebook to the benefits of chiropractic therapy.Pub Date: June 20, 2014
ISBN: 978-0741471659
Page Count: 162
Publisher: Infinity Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
There are many universal, compelling issues left unexplored, but Aquan-Assee’s recovery and construction of the narrative...
A slightly out-of-focus, harrowing account of recovery from what a doctor called “horrific” injuries sustained in a 1997 Toronto motorcycle wreck.
Describing in the third person the days of his long coma, he notes the efforts of his family and friends to remain with him 24/7, attempting to keep him mentally and physically stimulated. Aquan-Assee then downshifts into a slow-motion first person account of his own frustrating efforts to regain physical and mental focus, fighting back memory loss and struggling to remember people’s names from one second to the next. Neither angle is entirely satisfactory to particularize what surely was a long and arduous battle by the 29-year-old to pull himself back, often by the fingernails, into a world in which he felt increasingly out of touch. For instance, he slides past crucial moments when doctors encouraged his family to “pull the plug,” and their subsequent refusal to do so, even when his life signs were little more than flickers. It would have been helpful to know the thoughts and emotions of his parents and siblings at those precious turning points, as well as the doctors’ reactions to his subsequent recovery–a feat admirably accomplished in spite of their negative proclamations regarding the prospects for his “quality of life.” These are the hot-button issues crying out for greater attention throughout. But Aquan-Assee’s focus remains narrow, limiting the potential audience.
There are many universal, compelling issues left unexplored, but Aquan-Assee’s recovery and construction of the narrative are triumph enough.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 0-973-2782-0-X
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With poetic prose and vivid watercolors, Yang has created a rich portrait of life in China during the 1930s and '40s. Yang chronicles her Baba's (or Daddy's) boyhood and adolescence in 20 tales, each preceded by a watercolor. Baba was the fourth son in the eighth generation of the wealthy House of Yang, and his landscape teems with physical and spiritual dangers. He's threatened by torrential rains, ravenous wolves, red-bearded bandits, famines, demons, Japanese bombs, Russian troops, Communists, Nationalists, even an arranged marriage. When Baba is six, his family is forced out of their Manchurian homeland after the Japanese invasion. They move to China proper, then return five years later when Baba's father loses his job with a mining company. They live under the protective patronage of the family Patriarch until a bloody tug-of-war between followers of Mao and Chiang Kai- shek rends the family and country apart. Ancient legends, political upheavals, and religious ceremonies define Baba's youth. Storytellers teach him about gods and demons, prodigal sons, and the ghosts of the improperly buried. Their wisdom then plays out in his own life as Baba witnesses the goddess of Mercy protect his mother from marauding invaders; the troubled ways of one of his older brothers; and a 49-day funeral ceremony ensuring his great- great-grandfather safe passage to Heaven. Yang's prose feels ancient and foreign; for instance, she describes the effects of the first Japanese bombs: ``The glass windowpanes inhaled and exhaled, but the paper panes heaved a sigh and suddenly gave way, cracking like white porcelain.'' The tension between ancient rituals and modern reality elevates these tales from the merely beautiful into an astonishing personal vision, and a unique portrait emerges of a culture straddling thousands of years. Yang's work is like a lovely painted scroll swimming with wild souls, beasts, birds, flowers, day and night sky, tragedy, and hope.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-15-100063-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
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