WCA responds to Family Circle

see also, the WCA's actual response to the magazine

A brief item in the October 18, 2005 issue of Family Circle enraged chiropractors and spurred a swift response from the World Chiropractic Alliance.

In the "behealthy" item on back pain, author Christine Brophy quoted a medical researcher as saying: "If your back is giving you a problem, seek an early referral to a physical therapist or an osteopathic physician to see if spinal manipulation is right for you."

Terry A. Rondberg, DC, president of the WCA, was justifiably irate. "To have included such an absurd quote is inexcusable," he stated. "If general interest magazines like Family Circle are going to offer credible health care advice, they need to be more careful about quoting uninformed or biased sources."

The WCA responded immediately to the article, urging the magazine's editors to print a clarification and overwhelming evidence of chiropractic's benefits for all people with musculoskeletal problems.

The WCA letter, signed by Dr. Rondberg, took the opportunity to educate the editors about the true role of chiropractic in health care. After citing several research papers indicating that chiropractic was effective in addressing back and neck pain, he explained that "chiropractic care is not a medical 'treatment' for back pain. Instead, doctors of chiropractic use a variety of methods to detect and correct vertebral subluxations, which are misalignments in the spinal bones. These misalignments have been shown to cause a number of musculoskeletal and neurological disturbances which can have serious impact on all aspects of health. By eliminating the interference to normal nerve flow, they allow the body to 'treat' and heal itself, as it was designed to do."

Whenever it is called to respond to negative press coverage of chiropractic, the WCA takes the opportunity to explain the concept of vertebral subluxation and emphasize that chiropractic is not limited to any one condition, disease, or segment of the population.

In the past, chiropractic critics have attempted to steer the public toward the medical profession by claiming that subluxations did not exist or that adjustments were ineffective. Today, there is a shift in tactics and chiropractic opponents are trying to position MDs as capable of spinal manipulation, or as gatekeepers to PTs and osteopaths. This is seen as the only way the medical establishment can retain control of patient traffic after the release of scientific proof of the impact of vertebral subluxations and the necessity for spinal adjustments.

"We need to constantly reinforce the fact that DCs are the only health care providers trained and proficient in the correction of subluxation, and to raise awareness as to what that can mean for general health," Rondberg noted.

Response from the WCA to Family Circle

Editor-in-Chief: Susan Ungaro

Family Circle Magazine

Gruner & Jahr
375 Lexington Ave.
New York  NY  10017-5514

Dear Ms. Ungaro:

In the October 18, 2005 issue of Family Circle, a “behealthy” brief by Christine Brophy quoted a medical researcher as saying: “If your back is giving you a problem, seek an early referral to a physical therapist or an osteopathic physician to see if spinal manipulation is right for you.”

Ms. Brophy should be more careful when choosing her quotes. This one clearly demonstrates the common medical bias against chiropractic, which has become the first choice for any back problem.

Around the globe, research has indicated that chiropractic is far more effective -- and less expensive -- for people with back, neck and shoulder problems than any other health care approach.

A report in the British Medical Journal, for instance, noted that “...improvement in all patients at three years was about 29% more in those treated by chiropractors than in those treated by the hospitals. The beneficial effect of chiropractic on pain was particularly clear.”

The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics stated: “...patients suffering from back and/or neck complaints experience chiropractic care as an effective means of resolving or ameliorating pain and functional impairments, thus reinforcing previous results showing the benefits of chiropractic treatment for back and neck pain.”

The Manga Report, funded by The Ontario Ministry Of Health declared: “...for the management of low-back pain, chiropractic care is the most effective treatment, and it should be fully integrated into the government’s health care system.”

It’s difficult to understand why Ms. Brophy would permit her column to advise readers to seek a referral to physical therapists or osteopaths in the face of overwhelming evidence that chiropractors have the most training and expertise in this area. I hope that, in the near future, Family Circle will correct this serious error and let its readers know that, when it comes to spinal adjusting and back pain, their first stop should be a doctor of chiropractic.

It’s important, however, that your readers also realize that chiropractic care is not a medical “treatment” for back pain. Instead, doctors of chiropractic use a variety of methods to detect and correct vertebral subluxations, which are misalignments in the spinal bones. These misalignments have been shown to cause a number of musculoskeletal and neurological disturbances which can have serious impact on all aspects of health. By eliminating the interference to normal nerve flow, they allow the body to “treat” and heal itself, as it was designed to do.

Chiropractors are the only health care professionals who are trained and experienced in subluxation correction and this unique ability was recognized in a Concurrent Resolution introduced into Congress by Illinois congressman Rep. Donald Manzullo. The Resolution stated that “Doctors of chiropractic are the only providers educated and trained to perform chiropractic adjustments to correct vertebral subluxations, and as such, chiropractic adjustments should be provided only by a licensed doctor of chiropractic.”

On behalf of the more than 60,000 licensed doctors of chiropractic and the millions of patients who live healthier lives because of them, I ask that you print a follow up to correct the misinformation contained in the “behealthy” column item.

In addition, if you’d like, I would be happy to write and submit an article on chiropractic for Family Circle.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours truly,

Terry A. Rondberg, DC