Month: June 2017

Most medical doctors are unfamiliar with chiropractic and the principles by which it works. Many are still operating under the policy perpetuated by the illegal boycott of chiropractors by the American Medical Association in the United States and the Australian Medical Association in Australia.

On September 25, 1987, a United States Federal judge ruled that the AMA had violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act, and that it had engaged in an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade “to contain and eliminate the chiropractic profession.” The judge issued a permanent injunction against the AMA under Section 16 of the Clayton Act to prevent such future behavior.

Fortunately, more and more enlightened medical doctors around the world see the value in chiropractic care.

Your notion of a “real” doctor probably conforms to a prototype generated by the mass media.

Many have come to think of a doctor as someone who prescribes advice and drugs or performs surgery. Sporting a white lab coat or surgical scrubs with a stethoscope at the neck, doctors are seen as all-knowing, omnipotent and able to save patients in 60 minutes, less commercials.

A medical doctor (MD) and a chiropractor (DC) while different, have both received a degree from a government accredited medical school or chiropractic college and are licensed to practice.

But that’s where the similarity ends because each discipline looks at health and healing in very different ways.

The fact is, educational requirements for today’s chiropractor are among the most stringent of any of the health care professions.

Several decades ago the education that chiropractors received was purposely narrow. Without the interest in prescribing medicines or performing surgery, chiropractic education focused on anatomy, the philosophy of natural healing, the wisdom of the body and adjusting techniques.

Today’s chiropractor receives a much broader education. In fact, it’s quite comparable to that received by medical practitioners.

Before acceptance to a five-year chiropractic college, prospective chiropractors must complete a minimum of three years of undergraduate work with a heavy emphasis on the basic sciences.

This focus on science continues during the first two years of study, emphasizing classroom and laboratory work in anatomy, physiology, public health, microbiology, pathology and biochemistry. Later, the focus is on specialized subjects, including chiropractic philosophy and practice, along with chiropractic diagnosis and adjusting methods. Since chiropractors don’t prescribe drugs, instead of studying pharmacology and surgery, they receive an even deeper training in anatomy, physiology, rehabilitation, nutrition, diagnosis, X-ray and a variety of adjusting techniques that aren’t taught in any other health care field.

Disparaging the educational achievements of today’s chiropractor is an outdated belief from another era.

How do you define “scientific?”

If you define it as the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment and then testing the resulting hypotheses, then today’s chiropractic is quite scientific. Because it’s based on the scientific fact that the nervous system controls and regulates virtually every cell, tissue, organ and system of the body.

Don’t be misled by the “low-tech” nature of chiropractic adjustments! There are a growing number of studies that suggest the chiropractic approach to reducing nerve disturbance along the spine, may enhance the ability of the brain and nerve system to control and regulate the body.

These include published research documenting the results of chiropractic care on asthma, infantile colic, immune function, dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps), improving vision and brain function, lower back pain, one’s overall health status and many others.

The “scientific” argument is largely a red herring and the sign of a double standard. Medical economist David Eddy, MD, Ph.D., observes that only 15% of medical procedures have ever been scientifically verified, and the other 85% of common medical procedures have no “scientific basis!”

Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding. Ask the delighted patients of William Trebing, DC whether chiropractic is scientific.