Cooperation and Restraint
Dear Editor:
The open letter to the profession by Drs. Gary L. Bustin, John Taylor, and Joseph Howe, in the July 19 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic was pointed and precise. Here, they've identified several important controversies troubling chiropractic. The fact that these arguments persist is a great source of frustration to us all.
Other groups have handled their issues of member individuality without so much as a whisper outside their ranks. Some psychiatrists have abandoned their drugs and traditional practices for a more humane, mind/body approach. MDs that have a unique interest or treatment approach are left alone by the rest of their profession.
This issue must be settled. We will no longer have the luxury of accommodating, at the political level, any and all views as representative of chiropractic health care -- not while others are paying the bill. We need both cooperation and restraint to clear up these muddy waters.
Salvatore Lentini, D.C.
Redding, California
Dear Editor:
Well, I just finished reading your article, and I wish that I could say that it was just bull. Lately, I have come to realize that much of the source of my frustration was simply myself. This was again brought to my attention by your wonderful article -- life is just too short.
I can't seem to recall, until recently, just doing something without thinking of how it might affect my practice or my family. Doing things for the pure joy of it is not just okay, it's essential. Life is so much more that just a job or series of unrelenting responsibilities.
Taking your article to heart, I am taking steps today to stop and smell the roses, and to tell others that I truly appreciate them and not just their efforts. Staff, friends, and patients all need to hear us, we can't just think it.
Thanks for a shot from the heart, it matters.
Larry E. Dumas, D.C.
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Dear Editor:
I was impressed with your article "A New Era of Mutual Respect." It was nice to see the respect the leaders of our profession are developing for each other. I hope they have the strength to continue this attitude and usher in a new era in chiropractic.
I'm a senior at Pennsylvania College of Straight Chiropractic, and the thing that bothers me the most about our profession is the division and bickering. I'm looking forward to the day when our profession will be truly united and each practitioner will be able to choose his method of practice as long as he is within the scope of law and has the patients' health as his main concern.
Unfortunately, with all this talk of unity, no one is talking about us -- the SCASA students. I know I speak not only for myself but many others when I ask, "What happens to us, the students of a SCASA college, if we would unite under one accrediting agency?" Let's be realistic; it would undoubtedly be the CCE. So my questions are:
I would like to thank John Miller, D.C., the president of CCE for returning my call. I find him to be sincere and a gentleman. Maybe your fine paper could address this issue along with Dr. Miller. This would show that the leaders are moving toward an era of mutual respect. We, as SCASA students and future chiropractors, deserve this respect.
Bruce C. Gipson, Student
Northampton, Pennsylvania
Dear Editor:
Thank you for your article/column "Report of Findings," in the July 5, 1991 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic.
It was a breath of fresh air and a pleasant reminder to be grateful. Good things are happening in and throughout chiropractic, outside of what the field chiropractor sees on a daily basis.
Morris Braum, D.C.
Marietta, Georgia
Dear Editor:
I really appreciate reading Dynamic Chiropractic every month, and this allows one to keep in touch with my chiropractic family, although being so far from you.
We would like all your readers to be aware of the fact that somewhere in the world there are still DCs fighting hard for legal recognition. French DCs are among them. Help!
Hugues de Rancourt, D.C.
Quimper, France
Dear Editor:
In the August 2, 1991 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic, Dr. Richard Tyler wrote an article titled, "The DOs -- a Lesson to be Learned." Dr. Tyler pointed out how professionally insecure the osteopathic profession is. His point is further proved by an abstract from JMPT reported in the same issue of "DC." In their study of 506 second-year students of 11 osteopathic schools and 881 students from first and second academic-year chiropractic students of 8 chiropractic schools, McNamee, Magarian, Phillips, and Greenman found that chiropractic students had a clear distinction between the roles of chiropractic and medical physicians. However, the authors found that osteopathic students were divided as to whether there was enough of a distinction between DOs and MDs to justify separate professions.
The osteopathic profession has one kind of identity problem. The chiropractic profession has a different kind of identity problem. Straights and mixers are not enough to divide us. Now we have chiropractors that want to use drugs as well. I have a suggestion. I feel that a large number of chiropractors who want to use drugs are not aware of the osteopathic profession. I suggest that on some level we make a program available for chiropractors who want to use drugs to complete additional schooling and become osteopaths.
There is a precedent for such a program. In the spring 1991 issue of the Alumnus, Dr. Winterstein, the president of the National College of Chiropractic, reported on the postgraduate program National is giving for naprapaths to become DCs. Dr. Winterstein said he had received "more than a little 'heat'" about National's effort to help the naprapaths in Illinois who lost their bid to become licensed in Illinois. (See "To Practice Is a Privilege, Not a Right -- Tested in the Land of Lincoln Supreme Court" by Dr. Sportelli in the August 1, 1989 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic.)
A joint interprofessional program would benefit the identity problem of both professions. For the osteopathic profession, doctors of chiropractic who want to use drugs merely to supplement their musculoskeletal practices, such joint DC/DOs would give the osteopathic profession additional members supporting their basic historical premise of manipulation. For the chiropractic profession, helping the DC (who wants to use drugs) make a rapid transition into becoming a DO without repeating the entire osteopathic schooling would not only remove a dividing group from our ranks, but would leave such DC/DOs with a better feeling about their previous profession.
The difficulties in establishing such a transfer program, however, are many. Any osteopathic educator who initiated such an accelerated program for chiropractors would feel the same heat Dr. Winterstein has felt for National's accelerated program for naprapaths. Then there is the matter Dr. Tyler spoke of -- the DO likes to feel professionally superior and one up in the professional pecking order. It would be hard for an osteopathic institution to openly welcome and have an accelerated program for chiropractic doctors.
Nevertheless, such a program would help both professions. Maybe someone like Dr. Tyler, who has numerous ties with the osteopathic profession, could get the ball rolling by exploring such a program.
Hal M. Miller, D.C.
Elkhart, Indiana
Dear Editor:
I wish to express my appreciation for the article by Frances Wiggins, D.C., "Honey, I Went Back to the Chiropractor Today." (See N.E., S.E., or S.C. Forums in 8-2 edition.) She said what has needed to be said for a long time. It is long overdue for us to speak up and expose some of these weirdoes that claim to be chiropractors, when in actuality they are witch doctors. I had a personal experience with one of those type a few years ago, myself.
Having experienced lower back pain for a few days, I finally took the time to visit a chiropractor in a nearby city. I treated patients every day in my office suffering with the same symptoms I was experiencing, so I felt I knew what the problem was. It seldom took more than one or two adjustments for me to correct the problem.
After discussing the problem briefly, Dr. "X" had me remove my shirt and lie down on the table. He ran his fingers gently up and down my spinal column and then asked me to take everything out of my pockets and hand them to him, which I did. He then proceeded to lay each article, one by one, on my middle back. After placing each one on my back, he would go to the end of the table and check the lengths of my legs by popping my feet together and then eyeballing them to see if they were even. Finally, after having tested each article, he retested a couple of them and then announced that my problems were solved. I was allergic to some keys on a key ring. He gently wrapped the offenders in some clear, thin plastic and warned me to make sure to keep them wrapped. As soon as I reached the fresh air outside I proceeded to remove the plastic from my pocket and tossed it away. That's the trouble with some of us -- we just don't have enough faith.
Although I just recently retired, I'm still very interested in the future of the chiropractic profession, and I think these people are doing tremendous damage to it. I think these people need to find another occupation.
To Dr. Frances Wiggins, I just want to say, "I agree with you, honey, and I am with you all the way!
D.C. Sipes, D.C.
Bridgeport, Texas
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
On Feb. 1, 2024, two more legislators – John R. Carter (R-Texas) and Robert “Bob” Good (R-Va.) – co-sponsored the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2023, bringing the co-sponsor total to 155, two more than the total achieved over the entire two-year congressional cycle in which identical legislation last appeared (2021-22).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
