Interview with Michael Taylor, DC, DABCI, APC, FICC Dr. Taylor (MT) has been in practice for 35 years. He owns and operates Marion Medical. P.C. in Tulsa. Oklahoma, a multi-discipline group practice. Dr. Taylor has taught the chiropractic injectable nutrients pharma-cotherapy training for almost 25 years including intravenous micronutr1ent protocols. trigger point injections, intramuscular protocols, conservative intraarticular injections. and more. this is. of course. in conjunction WITH TRADITIONAL CHIROPRACTIC INTERVENTIONS. He WAS ALSO an instructor for the new mexico advanced practice training. he regularly lectures around the country on various topics from cancer co-treatment to chiroprac-tic and Infectious Diseases to Environmental Illness. Dr. Taylor is the originator of the term "Chiropractic Pharmacotherapy". He has served in the ACA House of Delegates for 20 years. In an interview with The American Chiropractor Magazine (TAC) Dr. Taylor shares some of THE INSIGHT HE HAS GAINED THROUGH HIS EXPERIENCE. Dr. Taylor: Can you explain the premise for inject-able nutrients? TAC: Chiropractic injectablc nutrients have been part of the practice of chiropractic since 1981 when Oklahoma passed the law to allow appropriately trained and crcdcntialcd chiropractic pin sicians the legal authority to administer nutritional agents (predominately natural medicine agents) to our patients. There arc a number of clinical conditions w hereby these interventions provide for a quicker effect to the human system. It is a part of the larger practice of chiropractic pharmacothcrapy. which pursues the most conservative and biologically compatible treatment approach when selecting prescription agents. As most any practicing doctor of chiropractic can admit, there exists a significant percentage of our patient population that possesses a significantly compromised gastrointestinal tract. Dysbiosis. hypochlorhydria. endogenous enzyme deficiency. leak> gut. and other GI tract conditions can create an environment that may not be conducive to adequate absorption of critical nutrients that the body needs to heal. These critical nutrients arc needed to repair damaged tissues/organs in the body. In these instances, it is beneficial to "bypass" the gut and place those critical nutrients into the system so that the body may take those "target-specific" compounds and effect repair. There arc a variety of ways to accomplish this, including intravenous infusions, intramuscular injections, and more. Dr. Taylor: Do these injections have an effect on the way the nervous system functions? TAC: They can. Axonal transport defects are well documented and can occur due to bioaccumulation of a variety of neurotoxins. which can affect the biochemical component of the subluxation complex that is not often addressed by mechanical interventions. Agents such as ncurotoxic volatile organic compounds, toxic Ik^t metals, and the like, as discussed in the EWG (Environmental Work Group) study on "Body Burdens" back in 2002. can profoundly, adversely affect the nervous system. Tliat report found that in the adult study, the biological system affected the worst was the brain and nervous system with 94 toxic chemicals found. Their follow-up study on babies at the moment of birth was even more shocking, whereby they found 158 toxic compounds that were neurotoxic. This scenario is amplified if the patient possesses genetic SNPs that adversely affect detoxification pathways. This is where the application of intravenous chelation therapy, reduced glutathionc. oxidativc therapies, such as intravenous hydrogen peroxide and major auto henio ozone along with targeted mi-cronutrients can provide clinical benefits to the patient. Dr. Taylor: What are the risks associated with this type of intervention? TAC: There arc risks associated with any clinical intervention, including an adjustment. Those risks arc generally quite low. There would be slightly higher risk for the intravenous procedures than the intramuscular or intra-articular procedures. Having said that, according to our best estimate, there have been an estimated 300.000 to 400.000 properly administered IVs. performed by appropriately trained chiropractic physicians in Oklahoma, and over 3 million properly administered intramuscular injections without any fatal events. Dr. Taylor: What type of training is necessary to be able to do this? TAC: The individual state decides on the proper amount of training, including didactic and hands-on training. The courscwork generally includes laboratory diagnosis of pathology as it relates to the use of injcctablc nutritional substances: indications and contraindications of injection procedures: risk management: OSHA requirements: technical instruction regarding proper injection techniques including but not limited to intravenous infusions, intramuscular, trigger point, neural therapy, intra-articular injections and more: emergency procedures: differentially diagnosing referred visceral pain from ncuromusculoskeletal etiologies: and protocols and more protocols, just to name a few areas that arc covered. Dr. Taylor: How do you determine when to use injectable nutrients? TAC: Laboratory testing is essential when formulating in- travcnous. parcntcral interventions for the patient. Laboratory testing coupled with appropriate physical examination and imaging studies arc cnicial when considering any intramuscular or intra-articular interventions. Dr. Taylor: Do you still use over-the-counter supplements? Dietary modification? TAC: Always, on both accounts. Diet is always critical. Almost any chiropractic physician will attest to the fact that most of his or her patients" diets are woefully inadequate, as a general rule. In those cases, dietary counseling is highly important. And oral supplementation is equally important. I must state that supporting those nutritional supplement companies that support our beloved profession just makes sense. And the patient derives long-term benefits. However, keep in mind that there currently exists several oral medical foods that arc Rx. Oniacor (an oral fish oil) is Rx. Mctancx (an activated oral B12. folic acid, and B6 combination) is Rx. Several homeopathic agents that have been used by chiropractic physicians for years arc now Rx. In certain provinces in Canada, the DC can no longer recommend aniino acids because they arc now Rx. It would appear that attaining Rx authority for the full spectrum of nutraccuticals would be an important goal for the chiropractic profession, and especially any chiropractic physician who utilizes "targeted" nutritional medicines in his or her practice. In fact, the FDA's definition of "drug" is as follows: (g)(l) The term "drug" means: articles recognized in the official United States Pharma copoeia, official Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, or official National Formulary, or any supplement to any of them: and articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animals: and articles (other than food) | such as broccoli (editor's note)] intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals: and articles intended for use as a component of any article specified in clause (A). (B). or (C). So we can all see that, as chiropractic physicians, we use "drugs." as defined by the FDA. every day when recommending, dispensing, prescribing, and/or administering targeted nutritional agents. Clearly, what we do as chiropractic physicians recommending and dispensing targeted, oral nutritional supplements, according to the government's definition, meets the criteria of prescribing a dnig. There arc mam DCs across the country who can attest to the fact that the combination of dietary modification, traditional chiropractic adjustments, targeted oral nutritional medicine supplementation, and targeted injcctablc nutrients provide a more conservative treatment combination, as well as a better clinical outcome for a significant number of the musculoskcl-ctal cases and the primary care cases that we arc privileged to treat. There arc those who state tliat the above combination is an "equal to or better answer" than the standard allopathic dnig interventions up to 80% of the time. In fact, we have patients even week who come from several states away from Oklahoma to get off their medications and get on a more conservative and more biologicalh compatible treatment approach. Since we are a multidisciplinc clinic, we can do that. It would be nice if the DC could do that on his or her own. But to be able to do that, he or she would have to have prescriptive authority. Dr. Taylor: How do you view the laws that chiropractors across the US have in order to perform this? TAC: In light of what I just shared, generally in need of significant modification. There are chiropractic physicians in numerous states across the country that recognize that they need to work on their respective laws so that they might be able to retain access to their oral nutritional agents, as well as obtain the authority to administer conservative, injcctablc interventions that help our patients return to health along with our traditional chiropractic services. In my area. I have several "straight" chiropractic colleagues who refer some of their more complex cases to me for clinical evaluation and any targeted, expanded chiropractic interventions tliat we perform that might be appropriate for the patient. We. in turn, refer the patient right back to the referring doctor with instnictions to continue their adjustive care. Even though we adjust virtually every one of our patients, we "talk up" the referring DC for his or her adjusting acumen. Within our beloved discipline, we need to learn to refer to one another within our chiropractic family so that the patient has the best shot at conservatively overcoming his or her health challenges. I think that we can all agree that the allopathic profession learned tliat lesson a long time ago. Dr. Taylor: What types of injectable nutrients do you use? Are they available to chiropractors? TAC: There arc numerous suppliers across the country for the mass- produced injcctablc nutraccuticals such as ascorbatc (vitamin C). trace elements (such as a mixture of zinc, copper, chromium, manganese, and selenium), and so forth. There are a host of compounding pharmacies that supply the compounded injcctablc nutraccuticals. such as reduced glutathionc. alpha lipoic acid, and even compounded injectable homcopathics. In my opinion, and I have been doing this for over 30 years, and teaching it for almost 25 years now. there is generally nothing that can come close to the clinical responses tliat one achieves with a combination of traditional chiropractic care and these interventions, especially on the really sick patients. Dr. Taylor: Does insurance coverthis type of service? TAC: It depends. For the patient diagnosed with anemia, the intramuscular injection of B12. folic acid. B6. and B-Complcx 100 should be covered. The intra-articular. regenerative joint injection of prolozonc (utilizing all natural medicine agents) for the degenerative arthritic knee probabh will not be reimbursed, and thus would be a cash sen ice that mam patients arc willing to pay in order to stay off the surgeon's table and to stay active and in far less pain. Dr. Taylor: Any final words for our readers? TACl Having probably the most informed opinion in the country regarding this aspect of chiropractic practice. I can tell you that this is a natural expansion of our traditional chiropractic practices. It also provides us with additional tools to treat an ever-increasing population base. Whether or not it is providing regenerative joint injections to a profoundly degenerated, arthritic knee as stated above: treating the patient with a perpetual chronic viral condition such as Epstein-Barn or co-treating the cancer patient as described by Prasad or Sullivan, these interventions allow us to reach many, many more patients—far more than the 8% that we arc currently seeing as a discipline. Remember, it was D. D. Palmer who stated. "But as soon as the human mind is capable of absorbing a still more refined and advanced method (of dealing with human ailments) and human inspiration demands it. it will be delivered to the denizens of the earth." In my opinion, this area of chiropractic practice is such a step. You may communicate directly with Dr. Taylor by e-mailing drtaylordbhealinginc.net, or by phone at 918-749-3797.
