Is Alan Mandell a Quack?
Mandell relocated to Baltimore for graduate school when his mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His research involved studying various local, state, and national systems designed to support people living with autism.
This chiropractor calls himself “The Motivational Chiropractor.” Using disclaimers to state he is not a medical doctor but still presents himself as such, this chiropractor carries himself like one.
What is a quack?
Quacks, or those offering medical treatments or advice without proper credentials, can be seen as fraudsters and punished severely by law. Quacks often promote dangerous and unproven treatments, which may lead to severe injury or even death; individuals engaging in this practice could even be charged with practicing medicine without a license, which violates most countries’ laws.
Quack is a duck who appears in The Walt Disney Company’s animated television series DuckTales. He is often depicted as bossy, egotistical, selfish, dim-witted, and self-centered, often boasting about himself and his flock of ducks while helping Peep and Chirp when they find themselves in difficulty or rescue them from various dangers. Additionally, Quack often wears his signature hat throughout his appearances onscreen.
Quack and Peep arrive at Newton’s tree, shocked that he has changed locations. Quack attempts to persuade Peep that something is blocking their path, but she remains doubtful, insisting they have already navigated around it without issue. Chirp intervenes and proves otherwise by showing them they can walk around it without a problem.
Chirp is intelligent and can recognize when someone makes false claims against her, providing a much-needed check against Quack’s arrogance and sense of superiority. Furthermore, she has repeatedly proven her mettle by winning arguments against Quack.
Quack may offer nutritional suggestions to his flock, but it is essential to remember that he lacks medical training and should take his advice cautiously. He may make some interesting observations but should not be seen as a health expert. A dark corner of YouTube exists where anti-vaccine conspiracies, criticism of pharmaceutical industry practices, and pseudo-doctors who claim they are doctors thrive, but making nutritionists the new trend seems like taking one step too far.
Is Dr. Mandell a quack?
YouTube offers an online space where anti-vaccine beliefs run rampant, people criticize big Pharma, and random people emerge as medical authorities. One such individual is Alan Mandell – also known as Motivational Doctor. His videos have amassed over 1 Million views, with him giving advice that is often questionable or downright wrong.
Mandell addresses essential topics like vitamins and diet in his videos. Additionally, he stresses the need to change one’s mindset. While these subjects are undoubtedly necessary, Mandell often pushes for highly dubious ideas. For instance, he advocates using marijuana as an anxiety treatment; although evidence to back this claim remains uncertain, his support of legalization has been widely noted by peers, and he has even made statements in public that support it.
Mandell has been practicing chiropractic for over 20 years in Miami, Florida, at his clinic with an average 4.6-star rating on Yelp and has worked with patients worldwide. Additionally, he has created various popular YouTube videos focused on health and wellness, which received excellent reviews from Yelp users.
Research activities by this author include co-editing a textbook on pediatric otolaryngology. He has conducted investigations of local, state, and national systems designed to support people suffering from mental illness.
Growing up, his parents shaped his views about civil rights. Since becoming an adult, he has championed these causes and helped underprivileged communities nationwide.
He focuses on evaluating public and private programs for supporting people living with mental health conditions such as autism. Additionally, he studies how socioeconomic status influences access to care disparities, receiving funding from NIH (National Institute of Mental Health) and FHA. Furthermore, besides his research findings, he has written many articles and books related to this field.
Is Dr. Mandell a fraud?
Mandell initially only created videos related to chiropractic; later, he began producing videos on other topics, such as nutrition and self-help. While he never claimed expertise on any subject he addressed in these videos, listeners can decide whether or not they follow his advice; his use of scrubs has given him an air of authority that may not be warranted.
Mandell was raised in Baltimore, Maryland, with strong influences from both parents. They both played vital roles in his development as an activist – his father was a clinical psychologist who researched substance abuse treatments while his mother was an elementary special education teacher – often discussing how racism drove disparate housing, employment, and police interactions for Black Americans in Baltimore.
Mandell decided upon graduation to pursue a healthcare career, enrolling at medical school at the University of Maryland before completing an internship and residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Following that, he undertook clinical and research fellowship training in Pediatric Otolaryngology at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh alongside some of the foremost leaders in his field of Pediatric ENT.
As a youngster, Mandell was an exceptional tennis player – ranking among Florida’s top five for his age – before suffering an unfortunate wrist injury that forced him to step away from professional play and focus on spinal biomechanics and nutrition. After this setback, he became an outstanding chiropractor specializing in spine biomechanics.
Mandell first studied autism due to its rising incidence among children. His research demonstrated that service systems could not keep pace with increasing diagnoses – an eye-opening realization that led him down a career path of system-level interventions for autistic people.
Mandell works as an investigator for the Boston University HOPE study and is an attending physician at Veterans Administration Medical Center Bedford in MA, seeing patients in both the Memory Clinic and GRECC Outpatient clinics. Additionally, he serves on the National Brain Research Network and as an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Is Dr. Mandell a scam?
There is an odd and seedy corner of YouTube where anti-vaccine activists lash out at big Pharma and those posing as medical experts spread pseudoscience. Here, you will find Alan Mandell, a chiropractor known as the Motivational Chiropractor to his dopey followers. While most of his videos relate to chiropractic care, some go well beyond this field by providing advice such as burning belly fat with specific exercises and pressing particular spots on your body for more energy, along with various other pieces of quackery advice – most often wearing scrubs so people think he is an actual doctor and not simply some pseudoscience peddler.
Dr. Mandell is an actual physician with an M.D. from the University of Michigan and board certification in Neurology. Additionally, he completed residency training at the University of Utah Salt Lake City. Furthermore, he is affiliated with Boston Medical Center Bedford Veterans Affairs Medical Center Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital and has written numerous articles and books.
He has become a widely recognized online figure, where he regularly offers what purports to be scientific advice on various subjects. Unfortunately, most of it is either invalid or even dangerous – such as suggesting drinking water filtered through charcoal to prevent cancer and asserting that ingesting raw sewage could cure it!
While his advice may be dubious, checking out his YouTube channel to judge for yourself is worthwhile. Before scheduling an appointment with him or any other doctor listed therein, ensure their office reputation can be verified through Healthgrades or another resource.
Check patient reviews of the practice to assess customer satisfaction; an excellent rating may indicate a reliable and trustworthy operation.