A Crazy Chiropractess

Today in our adjusting technique lab we met a very eclectic veteran female chiropractor. I was not sure what to think of her at first with how she spoke to our class in that tone, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and see what would come out of all the talking.

In chiropractic medicine, there is a lot of practitioners out there that practice unorthodox techniques that most of the profession do not support. Our college is one that adheres to the scientific approach to chiropractic medicine by it's commitment to evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice is primarily associated with skills in research. These skills allow the most up-to-date treatments to be administered for certain conditions. There are many research tools available if a practitioner wants to learn how to use these tools to obtain information about a patient's particular condition or the treatment of the condition.

Some chiropractors adhere to their own research methods. Like our little friend today, they think if they chew little chunks off of dogmatically based technique systems and form their own technique, they are putting the scientific method to use. If you have a bag of worms and you reach into the bag and grab a handful and put them into a new bag, what does the new bag consist of? WORMS!

I watched this lady profess her love for chiropractic and listened to her tell a classroom of 4th year doctorate students to find a new profession if they didn't "believe" in chiropractic in the way she does. She told us she loves chiropractic and sees herself equivalent to MD's. Talk about an ego. Some say that the one who speaks first is the subject of their own debate. Meaning, if you have to tell people you don't have an ego and that you think you are equivalent to MD's, then perhaps you do have an ego and you don't think you are equivalent to MD's. There would be no argument if you did not make the argument.

Do I think we can diagnose a lot of stuff? Yes. Do I think we are equivalently trained as MD's? No. They get much more exposure to diseases we only read about in text books. Do MD's understand biomechanics like we do? Not many. Most PCP's handle the stuff we cure with adjusting by handing out pain killers and muscle relaxants. These words, I write, are true...

Our guest speaker today suggested that we follow a set method in evaluating our patients. These techniques are so incredibly cookie cutter that they force people to think the only problem they have is a joint restriction. I find it so frustrating to think there are practitioners out there that believe this evaluation process is legitimate. It's as if they dance around the problem with a big song and dance, neglect any other reason for the condition and diagnose everything as joint restriction (or subluxation). Really, no other conditions cause pain? Retarded thoughts plague them.

I have seen too many of these jokesters since I have been in this college. Synopsis: Lets impress the youngsters as to how incredible I am because I failed to study orthopedic tests in college. I have to dance around like an invalid and take the attention off of my lack of understanding of current orthopedic approaches to musculoskeletal care and put the blame on spinal joint restrictions as the etiology of all pain and pathology. Give me a break!

The alternative nature of chiropractic is dead. Get over it.

All for now