The Lifetime cable channel refers to itself as "television for women." Now hundreds of thousands of families across the United States will be hearing about chiropractic on New Attitudes, Lifetime's television news magazine for women. The segment will be entitled "Back Magic" and is currently scheduled to air at 11:00 pm on Thursday, October 29th and again the next morning at 9:00 am. [Editor's Note: These times are tentative. Please check the October 19th issue of DC for an update and check your local listings for any last-minute changes.]
On September 9th, the New Attitudes television crew spent an entire day shooting the upcoming segment at the Texas Back Institute (TBI). TBI is the largest free-standing spine care center in the US. With four chiropractors, seven surgeons and various other health care specialists, TBI is well known for its intergrated approach to patient care (please see "Texas Back Institute Adds Chiropractic" in the October 22, 1993 issue).
The television crew spent a great deal of time taping chiropractic adjustments, interviewing patients about their chiropractic care, interviewing surgeons about working with doctors of chiropractic and interviewing the DCs themselves. By the end of the day, the crew had interviewed one surgeon, three DCs, four patients and had taped a segment on chiropractic research.
The taping was done in a news format, as this is a television "news magazine." When aired, the program will be presented similarly to 20/20, 60 Minutes and other shows.
After the taping, John Triano, MA, DC, PhD, co-director of Conservative Medicine and Director of the Chiropractic Division remarked:
"We were very pleased with the chiropractic patients that the television crew interviewed. One patient came to us with chronic neck and shoulder pain for 12 years. After only six weeks of chiropractic care she's almost fully recovered. She told the interviewer `Now I have my life back.' "The television crew was particularly interested in the multi-disciplinary care aspect. They wanted to know how well chiropractic and medicine were working together to improve quality of life."
In its first season, New Attitudes reached over 600,000 households. The Lifetime cable channel itself has a reach of over 72 million households (over 95% of all homes with cable). New Attitudes' second season promises even more viewers.
While the segment is expected to be positive, viewers will want to watch the segment and then express themselves in letters to the program director. This will provide feedback that can help the producers better understand how to present chiropractic:
New Attitudes
15301 Ventura Blvd, Suite #230
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
You may also want to contact the program through their website:
http://www.lifetimetv.com/onair/shows/na/index.html
Or via e-mail: newattitudes-www.lifetimetv.com.
