Every time you put something in print, you take a chance. Sooner or later, you find yourself with 2000 copies (or more) of something that doesn't say what you thought you wrote. Such was the case with the ICA's new patient brochure "Facts You Should Know About... AIDS."
Some how, there it was, two sentences of information that was not quite correct. These were the sentences:
"Though there have been no studies conducted specifically with regard to AIDS patients, some chiropractors in private practice have observed that chiropractic care has helped to improve the immune systems of some of their patients. In the context of other conditions, chiropractic care has been shown to enhance the body's ability to heal itself."Does almost every chiropractor on earth believe this to be true? YES. Can we prove it? NO; not until we put forth the effort (and the money) to make this research a reality, can we make these kinds of statements.
But the ICA was not slow to act. Realizing that these statements would be misconstrued to ultimately bring discredit to the chiropractic profession, Ron Hendrickson, ICA's executive vice president, ordered the original brochures destroyed.
The ICA has now reprinted the brochures to reflect more clearly the part that chiropractic can play in the caring of an AIDS patient. (For more information on these brochures, please call the ICA home office at (202) 528-5000.)
This act shows a tremendous amount of responsibility on the part of the ICA. In a sense, they have edified our professional image, made it more pure, closer to the truth. There are many claims we would like to make about chiropractic, truths that we feel deep in our hearts. But when it comes to educating the public, we must speak of what we can reasonably substantiate.
But in this act, the ICA has once again demonstrated why it is one of leaders of our profession: responsibility, accountability, and action.
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.
