In 1969 I was fortunate to meet, and work with Mr. J. Douglas Edwards, a man that would over the next few years become known as the finest trainer and motivator of the century. J. Douglas taught me many things. One of the most significant things he taught me was that if you go through life trying to learn and share new and updated concepts, you will be attacked by your peers, and the attack will come from all sides.
In recent months, many have gone out of their way to bad mouth MPI and the concept of motion palpation. Upset? Concerned? Panic- stricken? No, not at all. Flattered? Yes! You see one of the lessons that J. Douglas taught me was that you absolutely know for certain you are doing something right when everyone is taking cheap shots at you, and are you ever! Please don't take my word for it, let me give you an example. A few weeks ago, Dr. F. Barge gave a lecture at Life College and dedicated a major amount of time to the bashing and trashing of MPI and motion palpation. When confronted by students, he furthered his verbal bashing. Why must so-called leaders of our profession bash motion palpation in front of students who are not as well informed as one of their instructors? Of course I am giving him the benefit of reasonable doubt as he may not be informed about anything that is current. Dr. Barge, if you wish to trash MPI and motion palpation, I prefer a straight forward fight. Please, load up your gun and fire directly at me and not second or fifth semester students.
Dr. Barge, before you fire I would like to mention one point. You recently wrote a rebuttal to one of my columns on x-ray marking, published in a recent issue of "DC," that quite frankly deserved no reply. Your references and interpretations are those befitting a student in the first quarter of any chiropractic college. I felt there was no need to embarrass your weak attempt to support outdated notions by publicly publishing a retort, but next time I will.
In a recent edition of Dr. Don Harrison's Journal of Clinical Chiropractic, Dr. Steve Troyanovich wrote an article devoted to attacking inadequacies in the so-called Mercy Guidelines. Instead of attacking Mercy, as his titled implied, he began to assault motion palpation. Dr. Troyanovich, if you wish to attack motion palpation, please take a direct shot and stop your Chicken Little attempts to vent repressed emotions.
Yes, this is an open invitation to trash me, MPI, the subluxation complex and motion palpation itself. So don't hold back! We will make this an open forum. To all you Chicken Littles, there is one thing that might bother you about this forum: it will require direct communication. To make the lives of the Chicken Littles easier, I will provide you with a partial list of references relative to motion analysis. I realize that by giving you this information and references up front I am giving you a chance to play Russian roulette, with you holding the gun.
The following is but a partial list of texts that advocate the use of motion analysis.
1. Dvorak and Dvorak, Manual Medicine, Diagnostics.
2. Lewit, Manipulative Therapy in Rehabilitation of the Motor System.
3. Grieve, Modern Manual Therapy of the Vertebral Column.
4. Grieve, Common Vertebral Joint Problems.
5. Mennell, Back Pain.
6. Mennell, Joint Pain.
7. Mennell, Foot Pain.
8. Mennell and Zohn, Musculoskeletal Differential Diagnosis.
9. Vleeming, Mooney, Snijders and Dorman, Low Back Pain and its Relation to the Sacroiliac Joint.
10. Vernon, Upper Cervical Syndrome.
11. Magee, Orthopaedic Physical Assessment.
12. Edwards, Manual of Combined Movements.
13. Kaltenborn, Manual Mobilization of Extremity Joints.
14. Kaltenborn, The Spine, Basic Evaluation and Mobilization Techniques.
15. Porterfield and DeRosa, Mechanical Neck Pain.
16. Porterfield and DeRosa, Mechanical Low Back Pain.
17. Lee, The Pelvic Girdle.
18. Gould and Davies, Orthopaedic Physical Therapy.
19. White and Punjabi, Clinical Biomechanics of the Spine.
20. Gatterman, Chiropractic Management of Spine Related Disorders.
21. Twomey, Physical Therapy.
22. Gillet, Belgian Chiropractic Notes.
23. Illi, Annals of the Swiss Chiropractic Association.
24. Greenman, Osteopathic Medicine.
25. Hoag, Osteopathic Medicine.
26. Fryette, Osteopathic Medicine.
27. Gonstead, The Gonstead Chapters.
28. Faye, Motion Palpation and Chiropractic Technique.
29. Cassidy, The Adult Spine.
30. Grice, CMCC Class Notes and Upper Cervical Syndrome.
31. Gittleman, In Upper Cervical Syndrome.
32. Fligg, CMCC Class Notes and in Upper Cervical Syndrome.
33. Butler, Adverse Tensions on the Nervous System.
I am very much aware of the few papers on the inter/intra examiner reliability of motion palpation. I am also acutely aware of the faulty design and other things within these studies as well as the fact that the authors of most of the papers have attended MPI seminars and use motion palpation in their practices. So rather than waste your time by quoting these papers, trust me when I say they can very simply be blown away by the stroke of a key board. Incidentally the authors of the above mentioned papers were correct in their findings, based on their design, participants and subjects. It might be a good idea and an educational lesson for you to try and find out why.
The scene is set! The guns are loaded! Please take your best shot!
Keith Innes, DC
Ontario, Canada
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