Response from the WCA to Family Circle

see also: "WCA responds to Family Circle" article

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