As an MD who had been working in hospital health care for eight years, I started to study chiropractic at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic in Bournemouth, England in September 1987, and graduated with a BSc in chiropractic in July 1991. Returning home from England in July 1991, I started my private (pure chiropractic) practice in August 1991 as the first and so far only qualified chiropractor in Austria.
After two years, things are looking promising. Besides a growing practice, two small research projects (childrens' headaches and "growing pains") are ready for publication, and two larger projects (again childrens' headaches, and back pain in pregnancy) are in the planning stage for raising government funds.
I've begun lecturing on chiropractic at Graz University, have founded a Society for Research and Support of Chiropractic and have been registered as an expert witness on chiropractic with the court. I've had three articles on chiropractic printed in the local newspapers and beginning in September, will be on a half-hour radio program answering questions from the public on chiropractic. An appearance on TV is also planned.
After 15 months of negotiations and legal battles, the county council has recently given permission to open an Institute for Chiropractic with the legal status of an outpatient hospital. Some details concerning the position of chiropractors in the institute will need further careful negotiations with the county council but the situation already corroborates the term chiropractic as an accepted treatment concept before the public. The already gained acceptance of my chiropractic practice and the publicity reached so far, together with the possibilities of founding a corporation, could give the Institute for Chiropractic a head start.
My hometown, Graz, is the second largest town in Austria with a population of 250,000. It has a university with plentiful facilities, and is a perfect ground for establishing both chiropractic practice and research.
Austrian law allows only MDs to work as primary health care practitioners and the chiropractic profession is unknown in Austria. For me as an MD, it was not a problem to set up practice and I am legally allowed to work under medical supervision (comparable with Italy). While chiropractic is unknown as a profession, joint manipulation, in particular adjusting, is known and generally well-accepted among lay people and doctors in Austria.
In 1953, the West German Research Association for Chiropractic was established. The term chiropractic was later replaced with "chirotherapy," obviously to delineate the association from chiropractic profession. In 1963, the group merged with others to form the German Society for Manual Medicine. This German school of MDs has always seen a wider role for manipulative care than musculoskeletal pain, and Austrian MDs had a strong part in this development. The first university appointment worldwide for manual medicine was at Graz University in 1972.
In the last few years, Austrian and German MDs have made contact with a variety of other specialties: courses in applied kinesiology, SOT, cranial therapy, physioenergetics or Feldenkrais movement therapy, to name only a few, are available in Austria and Germany. The Vienna School of Osteopathy (part time for MDs and physiotherpists) started a five-year course in 1991. Together with schools for homeopathy and acupuncture, the number of alternative MDs in Austria and Germany is increasing.
I have met medical manipulators whose adjustive skills and biomechanical concepts are among the best you can imagine. Some might adjust the foot, the tibiofibular joint, or the rib cage for treatment of chronic back pain or treat the locomotor system to alleviate cardiac arrhythmia. Of course, only a small percentage of manual medics have this broad concept, but they are teachers and opinion-leaders for the others. The postgraduate education for manual medicine is now strictly regulated and supervised by the Austrian Medical Association.
As far as I can see, there are two principle ways to provide a future for chiropractic in Austria:
Udo Kastner, MD, BS (Chiropractic)
Marburgerkai 47
A-8010 Graz
Austria
Tel: 43-316-815656
Fax: 43-316-815655
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Some doctors thrive in a personality-based clinic and have a loyal following no matter what services or equipment they offer, but for most chiropractic offices who are trying to grow and expand, new equipment purchases help us stay relevant and continue to service our client base in the best, most up-to-date manner possible. So, regarding equipment purchasing: should you lease, get a bank loan, or pay cash?
