By Sid Mouk, D.C.
So “the fight is joined” (the inner fight which is always the most important for all of us in this profession). We have met the enemy and he is us. Those few within this profession who would dictate to all of us how we should think and practice have fired the first major shot in the crucial internal battle to come. Since they have been unable to convince so many of us of the “error” of our thinking, they’ve chosen to fight the AMA way, low and dirty and on a political level, instead of a personal level.
If you can’t change the feelings and opinions of a large portion of the group, simply legislate or “politicize” them out of your way and get on with your agenda, not caring what anyone else thinks about the issue (right or wrong simply doesn’t matter here, it all depends on who has the power to enforce their will on the entire group, and doesn’t that sound like the familiar AMA tactics that Chiropractic has been complaining about all these years?). If you can’t defeat your “enemy” in any other way, you strike hard at his most vulnerable point, in this case the vital accreditation process that is the one necessity for any Chiropractic College to survive nowadays. And by going after the largest college in this profession first, you serve notice on all the colleges that they’d better “shape up or ship out” according to what the demagogues of the accrediting process feel, in their learned opinions, is the correct way to educate students in the field of Chiropractic.
This is not the first time this type of intimidation has occurred and it probably won’t be the last. The Parker College board was warned several years ago that if Dr. Jim continued to bring certain straight Chiropractic DCs on campus to speak to his students, they would have a very difficult time retaining the accreditation of Parker College (among others, Dr. Victor Frank who strongly advocates a straight form of Chiropractic, TBM, and is adamantly and outspokenly opposed to the direction in which he sees this profession being pushed).
The main issue here is the teaching of Chiropractic Philosophy. The demagogues of accreditation have decided (as have some others in this profession, notably many of those at the college I attended) that philosophy must go in order for Chiropractic to “mature” and take it’s place as a cog, and a very minor one at that, in the overall field of medicine. I can understand their thinking. It’s very tempting to be able to blend in with the whole infrastructure of medicine and no longer have the hassle of down and dirty fights, both politically and personally, with organized medicine and the drug conglomerates. Of course, the down side of this type of thinking is that Chiropractic would have to take its place as just another form of therapy in the armamentarium of “scientific” medicine (what a joke that term has become nowadays). The secondary issue involves whether the master spinal adjustment will remain, as it has always been, the major physical healing entity used in this profession or if it will become just another therapy.
Make no mistake about it, if Chiropractic Philosophy goes, this entire profession goes, as a separate and distinct Healing entity! If it survives at all, it will be as a small pathetic part of Physical Medicine. It’s basic philosophy (plus the incredible miracles of healing it has continually produced over the years based upon that philosophy) has been the thing that kept it’s practitioners going throughout the long periods of bitter internal struggle while they also continually waded through the barrages of negative propaganda thrown at them by the medical politicians and the drug companies.
I’m not advocating, as a few in the straight Chiropractic field seem to do, that we neglect our responsibility to be competent enough as doctors to provide a basic overall diagnosis for each patient that comes to us for care. Whether we call it “diagnosis” or “analysis” matters little when it comes right down to caring for and loving our patients, to wanting the very best for them (and knowing what is the best for them requires knowledge of the human body and its functions, plus its dis-ease processes) and the very best type care for them, in the huge majority of cases, is Chiropractic. A thorough usable knowledge of both the basic sciences and the clinical sciences is essential but to put these courses “in place of” and not “added to” the absolutely vital courses in Chiropractic Philosophy taught at many of our colleges simply doesn’t make sense. It certainly appears that we’re not looking at an attempt to add more “scientific” courses to the curriculum of our colleges but, primarily, to get rid of the present courses in Philosophy, and this is insanity. We should be adding more courses in Philosophy! Every senior student should be required to attend six D.E. and/or Parker Seminars before going out into the field, then we’d begin graduating not only competent knowledgeable doctors but also, and especially, fired up Healers who are ready to serve the sick people of this world.
So we face another “crisis” in the field of Chiropractic (what else is new?), remember that the ancient Chinese symbol for crisis is made up of two parts. One of the parts means “danger” but the other part means “opportunity.” The Chinese considered a crisis as a time of opportunity “riding on a dangerous wind.” We all have a decision to make at this time in the “chosen” profession of Chiropractic. Where do we stand and, much more importantly, what are we going to do about it? For over a hundred years, this has always been a profession of “Doers” not just “talkers”, now is the time to “put your money where your mouth is” and take massive action on your feelings.
The next 5 years will be crucial to the future of our beloved profession. Will we remain a separate and distinct Healing entity, the leader of the worldwide wave of natural Healing that is now sweeping the globe or will we become just another minor cog in the failing wheel of medicine? It is essential for each of us in Chiropractic to decide where we personally stand on this issue and to take immediate action.
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Dr. Sid Mouk maintains an active practice in Baton Rouge, LA
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