By Harvey Fish, D.C.
“Sudden, Unexpected Death May Kill Many Adults” — headline from Reuters Health, March 28
I don’t know about you but the headline above speaks very loudly about the way folks in the media try and communicate to us about some of the more humorless aspects of life. I suspect that some reading the headline will nod their heads and “tsk, tsk” the thought about “sudden” (and lest we forget “unexpected”) deaths and assume that something profound just crossed a few synapses in their brains. They might even be motivated enough to find a charity group that supports finding the cure for deaths of this type. Really.
I had the idea that the headlines we tend to read about chiropractic or ‘tors tends to follow this same line of thought. “Sudden, unexpected ‘chiropractic’ neck cracking may kill many children and adults.” Or “Medical doctors find no evidence to support chiropractic treatment.” Or “Chiropractic medicine group tells populace to avoid unnecessary visits and to leave the children home.”
I know you could make up a few hundred more “headlines.” We’ve all seen them. Maybe I’ll hold a contest for you to send me your best chiropractic headline in scare quotes. I’ll compile the list and then send them back to you for a laugh and then a cry.
Why is it we rarely see the great and laudable things we do show up in a headline? I can only remember the piece in Long Islands Newsday on Andy Forelli a short time back. Kudos to Andy, great job and a huge win for all of chiropractic. But it’s too rare an occurance of something that produces such profound changes and miracles. Don’t people like to read about miracles?
I know that there are frequently articles on DCs in the style section or the living section of papers and for those in those stories a congratulations and a thank you are in order. Good press is good for us all. But it’s the headlines I want to see. How about tomorrow we see one that says “Six year old girl lives thanks to her chiropractor,” or “Regular chiropractic care is a must if you want to be healthy.” How about, “President weighs decision on Iraq, waits to get adjusted first.”
Do you get what I mean? I know we try to blow our own horn around our patients and we encourage them to blow our horn to their friends and family, right?. And I know that bad news tends to get the headlines more often than the good stuff. But with so many of us out there moving the bones and turning on the life you’d of thought we’d get some better press, don’t you?
My skin feels like it’s trying to jump off my body when I read of chiropractors turning their offices into fronts for prostitution. I cry when I read of medical tragedies that could have been avoided if only an adjustment was given. Sheesh, I am sad to say that there are times I wonder if we’ll survive as a profession. Perhaps my proximity to Life has cast a light pall over me lately. So many students have left. I get sad over the thought that it was chiropractor against chiropractor that caused this to happen – a clash of philosophical titans. Yeah, the headlines appeared daily about Life’s woes. Sure Dr. Sid bears some of the fault, no question about it. But so does CCE, and COA. And each and every one of us who stood by and watched a small, immature group of CHIROPRACTORS completely devoid of professional esteem destroy one of the most productive campuses in the country. Don’t you ever feel as if we should take up arms (no pun intended) and kill the bastards? Hell, Chuck Norris made his killer cervical breaks look so easy. Maybe we could volunteer to “adjust” some of these pathetic jerks and blame our poor results on bad supervision in the clinic.
So I ask you a question I’ve posed in the past but it bears repeating. Will chiropractic survive? Could you imagine a time when one of your colleagues is successful in making it a crime to adjust a symptomless person? Call me Dr. Underground if that sorry day should ever arrive. Don’t mind the locked doors and secret knocks and try and ignore the .45 on my hip, it’s not for you.
I had lunch today with a very well known DC. He and I talked of many things. He made a statement that even stopped my mouth from moving for a while but did put my brain in gear: “I believe that chiropractic was discovered about 500 years too early. People aren’t ready for it. Chiropractors don’t understand it and the largest portion of our profession still can’t see the potential that we possess with it.” Remarkable statement and I’ll leave it there except to say that his words might make more sense than I want to admit.
So go and make some great headlines in your offices. I know that if you’re reading this, you’re ready to deliver chiropractic. Even though your daily miracles may never make it to the front page of your local paper, it nonetheless, still needs to happen. You can make it so. Remember, the world is counting on you.
As always,
For the principle,
Harvey
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