May 2006

Who ARE these people...and what the heck are they DOING?

by Dr. Frank Bowling

I try to keep an open mind, and as a chiropractor, I try to read a variety of material from across a broad range of viewpoints within the profession. I'm not sure whether it's a strength or a weakness, but I seem to have an above average ability to see both sides of an issue. At times, this leaves me perched precariously on the fence, like one of those "lukewarm" people Jesus talked about "spitting out."

The great chasm between chiropractors these days seems not to be the traditional one of "mixer" vs. "straight," but rather a question of the fundamental direction of the profession. Should we simply focus on being "back pain specialists," or should we talk about the broader implications of the adjustment? I'll tell you right now, I belong to the latter group. Nevertheless, being such a "middle of the road" personality by nature, I've tried really hard to see the validity of other positions.

The "back pain doctors" understandably take offense when they're accused of secretly wishing they were medical doctors, or of trying too hard to fit in, or being afraid to stand up for chiropractic. Their chief argument seems to be that we must be responsible, that we shouldn't make claims we can't prove, that the chiropractic emphasis on our ability to impact organ function or the immune system or improve overall health just isn't backed by research.

I'm all in favor of research, and of evidence‑based care. Obviously, we're going to be held accountable by the scientific community for our efforts in these areas. And even if no one else worried about such things, we should. Responsibility, honesty, integrity, character ‑‑ these are qualities always to be fostered and developed, both individually and as a profession.

But, here's the problem. In my practice, I regularly have experiences with cases in which the patient's organ or immune systems are impacted in a positive way by chiropractic care. A recent example would be the 13 year‑old female athlete who was brought in for bilateral knee pain. I had not explained anything about chiropractic philosophy to anyone in the family, yet after the second adjustment, the mother reported that her daughter's lifelong history of exercise‑induced asthma had apparently completely resolved, and she was able to play an entire basketball game for the first time in her life. Since no one had even reported this problem during the initial consultation, I wasn't "treating" the girl for it, but was simply analyzing and reducing subluxations. "Do you realize how many nights I've sat up with this girl, watching helplessly as she fought for breath?" the mother asked in disbelief.

Surely, every chiropractor reading this column has had similar cases. I do take a lot of seminars, and try my best to be technically proficient in my work, but I honestly don't think I'm a particularly exceptional chiropractor, and I think the application of the principle, in the vast majority of patients, is really pretty simple. My old college president, an upper cervical practitioner, used to say, only half jokingly, "There's only one bone, and there are only two sides:  if they're not getting better, just turn 'em over!"

I've read about groups of chiropractors taking "outreach" trips into underdeveloped countries, where they apparently line up and adjust thousands of people in just a few days. These excursions seem generally to be composed of doctors who, in their own practices, take precision, three‑dimensional x‑rays, do careful analyses on these films, make careful, specific adjustments, and require the patients to lie down for several minutes afterward.

On these "mission" trips, however, standard procedure seems to be a bit simpler: a quick scan with a skin temperature instrument, a quick placement of the patient on a knee‑chest table with the head turned left or right, a quick P/A thrust to the upper cervical area, and... "Next!" And what invariably happens? A handful of those thousands returns the next day with reports of miraculous results. The blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk.

I'm being somewhat facetious, of course, and have perhaps now successfully upset people at both ends of the chiropractic spectrum. But my point is, what are the "back pain only" chiropractors doing in their offices? Aren't they adjusting the spine? If so, aren't they having any experiences like the one I described above? If they are (and surely they must be), how can they take the position they take? Regardless of whether we can explain how these things happen scientifically, with "double‑blind, controlled studies" beyond a shadow of doubt, don't we have an obligation to talk about them, while simultaneously doing our best to fill the void in research?

How many people must suffer or die needlessly while we sit back timidly in silence, waiting for irrefutable proof for what we all know from personal experience to be true? Where's the honesty, where's the integrity, where's the character in that?