Quackwatch, an Unbiased Resource?
Dear Editor:
I recently subscribed to The Physician and Sportsmedicine. Upon reading the editorial in my first issue, May 1999, I was disturbed that the editor was recommending Quackwatch, Inc.(www.quackwatch.com ) as a resource. I wrote the editor a letter asking for a refund of my subscription and noted how disappointed I was that they chose to use Quackwatch as a reference. I also stressed the importance of chiropractic to the sports community and that in the future they may be able to present a more unbiased approach to providers who treat sports injuries and work with athletes.
Carl Swarts,DC
Sandy, Oregon
Dear Editor:
I wish we could do what AK doctors claim. If this were the case, the World Health Organization could save million of dollars on expensive diagnostic testing, replacing it with cost-effective manual muscle testing.
I hope AK doctors will prove that muscle testing can accurately diagnose nutritional deficiencies and internal disorders. There would be a tremendous amount of high-paying jobs for chiropractors with this training in every hospital on earth.
Unfortunately, the truth is whenever neutral investigators from independent institutions take an objective look at AK, the findings appear to be unanimously negative.
I think this controversy could be easily solved if the International College of Applied Kinesiology (ICAK) funded the following study: Take 100 people (20 of whom have iron-deficiency anemia) and divide them into four groups. In each group of 25, there will be five people with iron-deficiency anemia. At four of our colleges, each group of 25 would be examined by five doctors hand-picked by the ICAK (the best 20 AK doctors in the world). If five AK doctors could find the five iron-deficient patients in each group of 25 at four different locations, it would make headlines around the world and completely revolutionize chiropractic.
Until this kind of evidence is presented, I concur with Dr. McDaniel that AK should not be used on humans.
G. Douglas Andersen,DC
Brea, California
When I graduated from chiropractic college in 1981 and started practice, I heard it all, and very little was positive. “You are a quack; you do not know what a subluxation is; you couldn’t get into a real health care program, so you chose the one that is slightly above a mail-order degree; you have no proof that chiropractic works; Are you really licensed?”, and so much more.
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A central challenge in creating our identity is that chiropractic is a method of care, not a technique or procedure. This is an important concept for us to promote. Our patients are treated with lifestyle modification, exercise, nutritional supplements, diet and a whole-body approach to accelerate the natural healing process. We are not simply CMT providers.
The results of a global survey released late last year (2023) unveiled some startling findings among medical and nursing students. The “Clinician of the Future: 2023 Education Edition” surveyed 2,212 students, of which 446 were in the United States, from 91 countries.
