Axis Article Submitted

I thought I would write another article for the next Axis newspaper coming out next week.  It is controversial (as expected) but rightfully so.  Below is what I wrote for the article.  There is a chance the article may not be published due to timing of submission.  If that is the case, at least it is posted here.  Enjoy if you dare... :)

In my last article in the Axis, I vented my frustration toward straight chiropractic without elaborating the true reasons for doing so.  This article will explore the reasoning for having such strong opinions against our dogma stricken colleagues’ approach to wellness.  

How do you define health?  Do you think you can become well by going to a chiropractor and getting your back 'cracked' twice a week?  I hope not.  If you do go to a DC, why?  Is it for a problem you are trying to overcome or is it because your DC told you a straight spine would keep you from getting sick?  Hopefully, the answers to the above questions are based on logic and not another person's religious dogma they have poured all over you.  Defining wellness as a straight spine is no different then defining it as the continuous influx of Prozac or Lipitor for optimum health.  If wellness is defined as such, dependency is created for a regular spinal adjustment, just as dependency would occur (and does occur in medicine) for prescription drugs when used as a way or the only way to stamp out disease.  As far as we currently know, spinal adjustments do not prevent ALL disease – like straight DC’s think.  Believing in this subluxation theory, is illogical.  The definition of wellness then boils down to what we are treating or preventing with our adjustments and how we communicate this to our patients. 

If we were to put our scientific glasses on, we'd see it isn't society who determines what they need, it is those who know how to sell an idea that need a paycheck, who determine what society needs.  As new DC's we will be forced to decide whether to approach our role as a primary care physician this way.  Our practices will grow slowly but surely if we do it right and treat patients according to our objective findings.  Some of us will overstep our role in the health care market by manipulating our patients in ways to grow our businesses quickly rather than be true to our patient’s needs.  Some of us will get sued for doing this and some of us will realize our scope and follow the wellness "recipe" known by the academic world.  Many of us will push forcefully, the importance of fitness and many of us will educate our patients about proper nutrition.  These folks are true, caring providers who go against self-centered desires.  In the long run, I truly believe that if you do everything possible to help your patient get better or live well, without selling them on a dogmatic principle you "believe in", your practice will thrive and people will love you immensely for all that you do for them.  

Even if you focus on relieving pain or conservative primary care, you can do it ethically.  The argument I am making is not about what we do when we get out (i.e., wellness versus pain management versus many other approaches) it is how we go about doing it.  Will you convince your patients a straight spine is the answer to disease prevention?  Like it or not, many DC’s manipulate their patients this way everyday. It is inconceivable how a person can sell an idea such as this with absolutely no evidence.  Do you care how the public perceives our profession?  I sure do.  It seems like there is a misunderstanding of what chiropractic is or where it fits in the health care marketplace.  There is a definite level of skepticism amongst the public when chiropractic becomes the topic of discussion.  This problem exists due to straight DC’s who have misinformed the public in the past and present.  We must define chiropractic based on what the public truly needs (i.e., the Healthy People 2010 Initiatives; fitness, nutrition, lifestyle modification, conservative orthopedic care, etc.) to prevent disease without pharmacological or surgical intervention.  Our knowledge is pretty powerful if used appropriately without egocentric greed or dogmatic idiocy. 

Practitioners who try to redefine wellness as a subluxation free spine, are doing so to make money and are deceiving the public.  From a scientific mindset, wellness has only one definition.

 

Thank you for reading.