Parker University held Parker Homecoming 2012 on its campus in Dallas, Texas, on October 26 – 28. Doctors of chiropractic and massage therapists attended customized education tracks while earning continuing education credits. Classes covered numerous topics, including combining nutrition and chiropractic, multiple causes of vertebral subluxation and disease, decompression, Medicare, treating sports injuries, the neurology of stress, orthopedic testing for upper extremity injuries, and much more.

Is it time for chiropractors to begin marketing themselves as manual therapists in order to fit in to some medical model? Is the profession predominantly in favor of peddling muscle relaxers and other pharmaceuticals while performing colonics and doing foot baths? Have the colleges gotten so far out of touch with the rest of the industry that churning out student failures has become the primary business model? The doom and gloom train has left the station but someone forgot to send me a ticket.

Among more than 5,000 influential health and fitness professionals, Dr. Fabrizio Mancini, president of Parker College of Chiropractic, recently attended the largest international fitness event in the world–the IDEA World Fitness Convention in Los Angeles, California, where Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, U.S. Surgeon General, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa celebrated health and well-being.

June is time for the annual chiropractic convention hosted by the California Chiropractic Association (CCA) in Reno Nevada. This year’s convention takes place at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino and it begins on June 11. This year’s continuing education chiropractic convention offers chiropractors up to 22 hours of educational credits. The conference ends on June 13. Not only is it the CCA’s biggest chiropractic event of the year, continuing education for CCA members is free when preregistered for the conference.

The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has awarded a three-year grant for approximately $1.3 million to the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research (PCCR) for a study called Co-Management of Older Adults With Low Back Pain by Medical Doctors and Doctors of Chiropractic. Throughout this project, PCCR researchers will be collaborating with researchers at the Genesis Quad Cities Family Medicine Residency Program; the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa; the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine; the University of Iowa Center on Aging; and the College of Health Professions at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pa.