June 2003

Healing the profession within

by Dr. Terry A. Rondberg

There's been a renewal of rhetoric lately about how the profession needs to mature, to move forward and heal itself before it can heal the world. Few reasonable people would disagree with this premise. Yes, of course we need to finally grow beyond the childishness of sibling rivalry so we can work together as a family sharing common interests.

The disagreement centers, then, not on the goal, but on the way to achieve it.

For some, it means conciliation at any cost. That was the policy of Britain's Neville Chamberlain in the late 1930s. He feared the horrible impact another bloody conflict would have on the world, and wanted peace in Europe so much that he did everything he could to appease Hitler. "It is peace for our time. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep," he told the British people on September 30, 1938, after signing the infamous Munich Agreement. No one can fault his desire for peace, but history has shown that his strategy for obtaining it was wrong.

We don't have to go back a half‑century to see that this type of "peace at any cost" mindset is dangerous. Sen. John McCain, in speaking of the recent crisis in Iraq, noted: "A decade of appeasement and assistance to one of the world's worst regimes provided it the time and the means to develop weapons that now threaten America and our friends. ... unless we act soon, we will face harder choices later, with costs that could be catastrophic."

I'm not comparing the situation in chiropractic with Hitler's Germany or the Al Qaeda network. But I do see lessons to be learned from the failed policy of making repeated concessions to a domineering organization in the naive hope that it will respect your rights or leave you in peace as a result.

In chiropractic, we have several "camps" whose foundational ideals are in deep conflict with one another. We might want sometimes to ignore the differences or pretend they're merely minor variations in style. But so long as some of these camps openly oppose or ‑‑ at best ‑‑ pay only lip service to subluxation correction as the purpose of chiropractic, the differences remain profound and possibly insurmountable.

The World Chiropractic Alliance firmly holds that chiropractic is a drug‑free health care approach whose purpose is the detection and correction of vertebral subluxations. We do not state that doctors of chiropractic cannot incorporate extra‑chiropractic therapies into their practice if they choose. We do insist, though, that it is not the purpose, nor in the scope, of chiropractic to perform medical diagnoses or offer medical treatment. We work tirelessly to make sure every federal and state law relating to chiropractic contains a clear reference to the primary goal and function of chiropractic in order to safeguard our unique role in the heath care arena.

This isn't always easy. Repeatedly, the American Chiropractic Association has worked at cross purposes to this goal, deliberately changing legislation so that any reference to subluxation is removed in favor of language dealing with the "treatment of neuro‑musculoskeletal disorders." They do this in the sincere ‑‑ but misguided ‑‑ belief that American lawmakers, and the public, are too stupid to understand the meaning of subluxation, and the only way to gain "acceptance" is to distance the profession from its roots.

The ACA has raised millions of dollars for a "save our subluxation" campaign, while hesitating to even use the word in its legislation or policy statements!

For example, if you check the ACA website, you'll find that there are only two references to subluxation in ALL of the press releases listed since the beginning of 2002. Ironically, one of them notes that a "key" provision of the VA bill is that the "Scope of chiropractic services shall include a variety of chiropractic care and services for neuromusculoskeletal conditions, including subluxation complex." The WCA had to fight the ACA to get this reference into that bill. The other reference notes that physical therapists cannot be reimbursed for subluxation correction.

In contrast, you'll note that every WCA press release includes an explanation that chiropractic is a traditional, drug‑free and non‑invasive health care approach "to correct vertebral subluxations that cause nerve interference."

Amazingly, despite the ACA's rallying cry to "Save Our Subluxation," not one Board Member of the ACA subscribes to the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, the only research journal in the profession devoted to subluxation research.

Amazingly, despite the ACA's rallying cry to "Save Our Subluxation," not one Board Member of the ACA subscribes to the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, the only research journal in the profession devoted to subluxation research.

So, when the ACA says they are working to "save our subluxations," I have to ask how, exactly, do they intend to save something they appear to have no interest in except when it comes to recruiting members or soliciting money?

As Ronald Reagan said during the Cold War: "Trust but verify." Again, I can see parallels between our situation and world politics. An astute political writer, and radio talk show host, Barbara Simpson, once wrote: "Where is it written that just because a country is on good terms with another that there is no skepticism about anything the other says? Who says it's not sometimes a good idea to check out the other side? Who says that you just acquiesce to the demands of the other side because you are 'friends' and because friends trust each other?"

Why should subluxation‑based chiropractors be asked simply to "trust" the ACA and its allied forces when they have not performed in a way that would earn that trust?

Why should the WCA, ICA, FSCO ‑‑ separately or working together with other groups as the Chiropractic Coalition ‑‑ be expected to be play the role of a Neville Chamberlain and concede to the ACA's demands merely to "keep the peace?"

We can have "peace in our times," but it cannot be a peace requiring the compromise of chiropractic principles, or the sacrifice of the true chiropractic identity. That wouldn't be peace, it would be capitulation.

To remain truly chiropractic, we have to re‑commit ourselves to the principle of chiropractic as a unique approach that does not duplicate medical services since it focuses on the correction of the subluxation.

Although there is a resurgence in the "popularity" of subluxation‑based chiropractic in the profession, many doctors recently have become infatuated with some of the New Age holistic health care advocates, and are trying to adapt their ideas to chiropractic. They are trying to turn chiropractic into an holistic health care approach, and in the process are distorting the true character and definition of chiropractic.

Dr. Chopra is a wonderful speaker and a true visionary in many areas, but my mentor remains B.J. Palmer, not a medical doctor who lumps chiropractors in with acupuncturists, osteopaths, homeopathic healers, naturopathic doctors, massage therapists, and herbalists (and whose website's search engine doesn't generate a single hit for the word chiropractic or subluxation).

Our purpose is not to transform chiropractic to become holistic care. We can't let market forces dictate who we are or how we change. We are who we are and we should not let anything or anyone force us off course.

Despite what some have claimed, we haven't "won" the philosophy battle yet. We still have to struggle to make sure we aren't subsumed into the medical profession the way the osteopaths were ‑‑ even if it means arguing publicly with those within the chiropractic profession who would prefer to blur the line between medicine and chiropractic.

I desperately want peace in this profession as much as anyone else. In fact, since I'm often the target of the attacks, I probably want it more than most. But I cannot ‑‑ I will not ‑‑ let others destroy chiropractic merely to avoid confrontation. I cannot "go home and get a nice quiet sleep," until I know I've done everything I can to make subluxation‑based chiropractic safe for future generations.