Gerald Celente has done it again and published a blockbuster of a book which describes the major trends we will encounter at the beginning of the next millennium. Trends 2000 is a must read for anyone in business, but especially for chiropractors. Why? The answer is that Mr. Celente is also the author of the FCER study, "The New Millennium Chiropractor." The findings of this important watershed study, which was funded by the National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company (NCMIC), will be unveiled in their entirety early this spring.
Celente's Trends Research Institute is comprised of business consultants who specialize in trends. Included are scientists, artists, writers, and business people with a wide range of experience and expertise. According to the Economist, one of the world's most respected news magazines, the Trends Research Institute is a "network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university facilities." Impressive credentials are one thing, however, the real question to be asked is how accurate have they been in their predictions? According to CNBC, "There is no better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente." The Trends Research Institute, led by Mr. Celente, accurately predicted the October 1987 world stock market crash 11 months before it happened; warned of the war in the Balkans; and foresaw the fall of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Mexican economy; and the 1990 U.S. recession. The Institute accurately forecasted trends in home health careers, microbrews, gourmet coffees, outsourcing, downsizing, and changing trends and fads in entertainment, fashions, and advertising.
Trends 2000 unearths today's hidden trends and demonstrates how they will grow and shape the events of the next millennium. The book serves as a practical guide to the early years of the 21st century. It is filled with what Celente calls "Trendposts" that are intended to help the reader prosper in what will be a radically changed world.
Of importance to those of you interested in alternative medicine and what the future holds in store for chiropractic health, are two chapters in the book dealing with the new medicine of the next century. In these chapters, Mr. Celente talks about the failure of the symptom-treating medical model of health care. He describes the end of symptom-relief medicine and the movement of the masses toward alternative and natural medicine. He predicts that by the year 2000, many alternatives will have gone mainstream. But even as this trend continues to grow, Celente cites the growth of a "powerful counter trend," that of a managed care.
The trend towards more managed care has produced what Celente calls a "voracious hybrid monster, one-third 19th century robber baron, one-third 20th century chain store, and one-third Kafkaesque bureaucracy." While investors in the mid-to-late '90s rejoiced at the huge profits they were reaping, quality of care took a nose dive, and people began turning to self care. As a consequence, online service providers will proliferate in the new millennium as entrepreneurs compete "to find ways to make health information easily and cheaply accessible. HMOs providing coverage for alternative therapies will also prove attractive to both member patients, and investors."
Mr. Celente predicts a major "health/fitness/nutrition trend" for the beginning of the new century, which will be driven by the aging, baby boomer population. This trend, now in its infancy, will accelerate, producing centers devoted to extending and improving the quality of life.
Life extension will be a major 21st century trend and will blossom forth by 2000. Longevity centers will begin springing up. These centers will be "health universities" says Celente. "The staffs at longevity centers include qualified medical doctors schooled in alternative therapies and state-of-the-art modalities, as well as nutritionists, acupuncturists, homeopathists, herbalists, chiropractors, aryuveda and jin shin jyutsu practitioners, vitamin counselors, and a spectrum of physical, emotional, and spiritual therapists and healers."
These people will teach their patients how to live in an increasingly stressed-out and environmentally challenged world. Self-responsibility will be the major subject taught. As Celente says, "The mind, the heart, and the soul need equal and simultaneous attention. At longevity centers, you learn how to heal yourself and to direct your antennae with assurance to the programs, practitioners, and products that will keep you healthy."
Another important and emerging health-related trend is the demand for "clean" food. The fear of pesticide residues in foods, as well as hormone and antibiotic residues, will create a huge market for safe, risk-free, kinds of food. By January 1, 2000, Celente believes that fully 10% of the food supply will be organic, as compared to 1% in 1995.
If you want to know more about the increasing demand for clean food in the next century, the huge health marts to come, tofu huts, and other health related changes in the future, you can pick up a copy of Trends 2000 at most book stores.
Also, be on the lookout for announcements from FCER/NCMIC concerning Mr. Celente's specific recommendations for how the chiropractic profession should position itself in the new millennium.
Later this year, the results of another FCER study on the future of chiropractic will be unveiled. Also funded by the National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company, this study, "The Future of Alternative Therapies and Chiropractic," is being conducted by the highly respected Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF). The IAF was founded by Alvin Taffler and Clement Bezold, PhD, and numbers as its clients, such organizations as the World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, Inc. Their most recent health-related publication is "2020 Visions: Health Care Information Standards and Technologies."
Stephen Seater, MA, CAE
Executive Director, FCER
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