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July 2005, Vol. 15, Iss. 3
Table of Contents
A Great Opportunity • Age of Confusion •
APMR Accepts CBP® Research • CBP® has 13 Published Clinical Trials • Chronic Back Pain, Your Brain, & Chiropractic •
Creating a Great First Impression • Evidence Based Exams •
Had Enough? • Lateral Head Flexion from Vestibular Dysfunction •
Letters to the Editor • Life's Rise from the Ashes •
PosturePrint™ is now a Validated Posture Analysis •
The Disease of Unrealistic Expectation • Thousands of Heroes •
When You Can't Critique CBP® in the Peer-reviewed Literature
back to front page
A Great Opportunity - Will We Get Out of Our Comfort Zone?
by Chester Wilk, D.C.
Dr. Wilk graduated from the National College of Chiropractic in 1952. He served two years in the Army Medical Corps and has been in private practice since 1955. He has appeared on more than 300 radio and television interview programs including Ted Koppel’s “Nightline” show, Chicago “Today” show, David Susskind, CNNNews National Public Radio. He has authored several books. Named Chiropractor of the Year in 1981 by the American Chiropractor Journal. Given the “Doctor of Humanities” award by the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic in 1986. Dr. Wilk is one of the plaintiffs in the Wilk vs. AMA anti-trust suit.
The chiropractic profession is quite an enigma or puzzle to say the very least. It is rated as one of the best occupations in America, yet our school enrollment is down and chiropractors are closing their offices at a higher rate than graduating, while 90% of our population won’t go to a chiropractor, and some wouldn’t go to one if held at gunpoint. My accountant is an example. He suffered severely with spinal pain for over ten years. It took him on the average of two hours every morning just to get started. He resisted chiropractic adjustments saying his doctor told him he’d get paralyzed if anyone ever adjusted him. After I finally convinced and helped him he became an enthusiastic supporter. But he was more terrified during the first adjustment than if he was going in for bypass heart surgery. Chiropractic must deal with more than simple ignorance. There are deeply rooted fears and gross misinformation, which must be corrected and deprogrammed, which can be accomplished with qualified chiropractic spokespersons via multiple channels of communication such as radio, television and the press. Instead, we get periodically bashed in the media/press (which adds fuel to the fire) and we don’t have any mechanism in place or way to respond effectively, let alone work proactively.
Chiropractors raised $500,000 to five to a P-R firm to study and advise us of what we must do to have chiropractic attain its rightful place in healthcare. I’m sure the P-R firm will be more than happy to take our money and give us their advice, but let me submit some great advice free of charge. Some chiropractic journals may be reluctant to publish this suggestion for fear of offending some chiropractic leaders and their big-spending advertisers who may have different views as to what we need to do. We can disagree on solutions but all reasonable ideas and options should be brought out openly and discussed and considered (not avoided) in the best interest of chiropractic. At the time of this printing two national publications the American Journal of Clinical Chiropractic and Original Internist, indicated they would carry my proposal. Hopefully others will follow. (All national chiropractic publications were given this message)
Here’s my proposal. Every state chiropractic association should select their best-qualified speakers and make them “official chiropractic spokespersons” and have them call all of the radio, televisions and newspapers using our powerful and provocative facts. And when I say “provocative” I don’t mean controversial because we are right and we can prove it, period! I’ll send you the telephone numbers, names of producers, directors, and editors, of every radio, TV, newspaper in your State. The Indiana State Chiropractic Association helped purchase some special telephone directories for the media and press, costing nearly $900 which provide the names and direct telephone numbers of virtually every radio/TV talk show host, producer and newspaper editor in the U.S. and Canada. These media/press contacts are priceless. The ISCA kept the Indiana list and I got the 49 States and Canada to give them at no cost to States requesting copies. I’d be delighted to share my 50 years experience and appearing on hundreds of radio/TV talk shows if invited to your State. My information is vital for depositions, courtroom testimony and accurate patient communication, which I can cover in a seminar in your State.
In 1976, I recall the fear and resistance I got when I advocated an antitrust lawsuit be brought against the AMA. It is human nature to fear change and get out of our comfort zone. If you doubt it for a moment, just announce that “there are going to be some changes around here” and watch people’s reaction. I see a similar thing happening with the spokesperson program except instead of criticizing it — they are frightened of it.
There should be not fear in launching this program if properly prepared; yet the biggest obstacle is fear. Every State association should be literally tripping over each other’s feet to embrace this program. It’s free and highly credible and far superior to any paid advertising, which carries a stigma. I’ve appeared on hundreds of talk shows and all have been positive and not one interview has ever been negative. Many talk show hosts have asked me to return for subsequent shows. Recent dramatic events have given us a powerful case FOR chiropractic and AGAINST polarization of healthcare which we should not be squeamish about using on talk shows. We need to openly discuss medicine’s failures, drug reactions, deaths, and how we can save lives through conservative safer methods. This is not an attack on medicine per se but of removing polarization in healthcare which can save lives. We will become champions for truth and balance in healthcare.
Virtually 100% of the chiropractors today agree that the Wilk Suit was a wise choice, yet it was not very popular back in 1976. I’m convinced that once the spokesperson program gets rolling it will also enjoy an overwhelming 100% support because spokespersons command respect from the media, press and public, and all three of these areas are vital to our success!
Here is a partial list of our powerful and provocative information.
(1) (www.HealthGuides.com) says: “195,000 people die every year from ‘preventable’ hospital deaths equivalent to three fully loaded jumbo jets crashing every other day for the last 5 years making preventable hospital deaths the 6th leading cause of death in America.” It also means we lose more lives every week than we lost in the 9-11 tragedy. But where is the public outrage? Can you imagine if we chiropractors ever killed patients? Yet the public fears us!
(2) The U. S. Dept. HHS (Agency for Healthcare Policy and Research) conducted a study, which criticized excessive surgery and advocated safer manipulative methods as used by chiropractors. The study used 200 health care experts who researched ten of thousands of the finest scientifically based literature worldwide and reported back their findings to a panel of 23 inter-disciplinary experts. We can use U.S. Government study to support our case. You’ll not find a more extensive and better scientifically based clinical outcome study for low back pain anywhere in the world!
(3) Two Chicago area hospital orthopedic wards, one using chiropractic and the other not using chiropractic adjustments, found that the hospital using chiropractic adjustments reduced the hospital stay by 7-9 days. (see MMM/CIH)
(4) University of Saskatchewan studied a group if 171 chronically disabled, medically unresponsive, low back sufferers for seven long years as 87% of them got their first relief within 2-3 weeks after getting chiropractic adjustments.
(5) It is very inappropriate and intellectually dishonest to talk about “strokes” from neck adjustments when cervical manipulation was found to be 400 times safer than NSAIDS which are accepted as being reasonably safe medications.
(6) AVMED, one of America’s largest HMO’s sent twelve patients to a chiropractor previously diagnosed as needing disc surgery. All twelve patients were corrected by chiropractic adjustments without surgery within 2-3 weeks.
(7) A University of Ottawa study found chiropractic care markedly superior to medical management in terms of safety, effectiveness, cost efficiency and patient satisfaction, and could save their government hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
(8) British Medical Research Council funded a ten year clinical outcome study on back pain concluded that chiropractic care was more therapeutically effective than medical care by as much as a 2-to-1 margin over physical therapy.
Medicine is plagued with serious complications of drug reactions, addiction, malpractice deaths, while preventable hospital deaths is the #6 cause of human deaths in the U.S. Chiropractic’s problems are infinitesimal by comparison, which are basically human nature and not chiropractic. In other words, we are our own worst enemy. This entire message is about rational inter-professional cooperation, which includes chiropractic. Our spokespersons must contact the media and press and speak candidly to whet their interest. Medicine, Monopolies, and Malice, Chiropractic in Healthcare (MMM/CIH) provides them with chiropractic’s history and solid documented studies of vital information to know as spokespersons.
The bottom line is that we must have the courage of our conviction to stand up and become spokespersons and champions for rational health care. No study will ever be able to do that for us. We’ll have to do it ourselves.
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