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Research paper explores creativity of chiropractors

When you think about creative people, you might get a vision of an artist at an easel, a songwriter at a piano, or a hi-tech worker at a keyboard. Researcher Madeline Behrendt, DC, sees a chiropractor at an adjusting table.

According to Dr. Behrendt, associate editor of  the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research (JVSR), doctors of chiropractic fit perfectly into the “Creative Class,” as described in Richard Florida’s book, “The Rise of the Creative Class” since they are among those who “make dreams tangible; who invent, excite and provoke.”

That’s the premise of Behrendt’s recent paper, “Benchmarking Chiropractors as Members of the Creative Class,” published in JVSR. “Modern healthcare is a 1.4 trillion dollar industry whose boundaries are being reshaped by a diversity of ... ‘creative professionals,’ including chiropractors,” she states.

Behrendt examines the chiropractic profession and finds that it meets what Florida says is the “distinguishing characteristic of the Creative Class” – its members engage in work whose function is to “create meaningful new forms.”

Chiropractors have gained a prominent place in the global health care system since they offer a unique service: correction of vertebral subluxations, which are misalignments of vertebrae that cause interference in the normal nerve function. Licensed in all 50 states, some 60,000 chiropractors provide care to more than 20 million consumers.

Their unique purpose and services put them in a creative category by themselves, Behrendt explains. “Chiropractic principles and protocols guide both tactile and diagnostic skills, and practitioners use creativity to problem solve case by case, as each person is their own magnificent puzzle,” she notes. “The result: within a chiropractic practice the meaningful new form created is a higher level of human experience.”

The article also points out that chiropractors:

** begin expressing and nurturing their creativity even before they graduate and get their licenses. “Creative connections to personal talent and relationships with people and products starts in school.”

** have learned the importance of “play” in their lives. “To serve and care for large volumes of families, to creatively problem solve case after case after case, to stay refreshed mentally, physically, and emotionally requires self-care and play is a part of that.”

** are engaged in society. “Chiropractors are actively developing and refining techniques (more than 100 and growing), they are creating non-profit organizations such as StopSIDS.org, establishing ongoing missions to provide chiropractic care to the disadvantaged such as Chiropractic for Humanity, responding to emergencies as did the 1,500 chiropractors who provided chiropractic services at Ground Zero, and actively developing dialogue and collaborations with other types of vitalistic practitioners to better serve the public.”

** are “motivated by passion” – a term used by Florida to describe members of the Creative Class. “Chiropractic is a lifestyle. It is not a profession that is just worn at work and then can be unbuttoned and tossed on a hanger at home. Chiropractic is merged with one’s personal being, one’s essence. Chiropractic attracts those with great hands, hearts, and minds...”

The article examines four major criteria: Practice, Play, Professional and Personal lives and concludes that chiropractors display all the major attributes of creative professions.

“Chiropractors provide adjustments at sporting events from Olympic to professional to local; on movie sets or backstage at concerts, and at disaster sites or ongoing humanitarian missions. They contribute as wellness authorities for radio, TV, and print media or in Federal agencies and at the United Nations,” Behrendt says. “As authors, editors, technique or technology developers, educational leaders, and researchers they stimulate new ideas. And in case after case in Practice, creativity is applied to heal the mysteries of each client’s vertebral subluxation puzzle.”

JVSR is a peer‑reviewed scientific journal devoted to subluxation-based chiropractic research, affiliated with the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), an international organization representing doctors of chiropractic and promoting the traditional, drug-free and non-invasive form of chiropractic as a means of correcting vertebral subluxations that cause nerve interference. An abstract of the research report is available at http://www.jvsr.com.

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Reporter's note:

Dr. Madeline Behrendt is available for interviews and additional information. She may be contacted at mbcare200@aol.com.