Life Chiropractic College West's Alumni Association named Gloria Niles, DC, its Alumna of the Year on Oct. 23 at the college's Oktoberfest celebration. Dr. Niles graduated magna cum laude from Life West in 1992, then became a faculty member through 2001. She also served as director of multicultural affairs, director of clinical competency, chair of the department of clinical education, and chair of the research committee during her tenure.
In 2001, Dr. Niles became the coordinator of clinical academics at Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa; one year later, she was named dean of academic affairs for the start-up Palmer College of Chiropractic, Florida. Currently, she is also interim senior campus administrator of PCCF. Dr. Niles' myriad other professional accomplishments include two terms as president of the American Black Chiropractic Association, and service as a member of the test-writing committee of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
Two days before honoring Dr. Niles, Life West named Tina Carrari its 2004 Student of the Year at the college's annual SPA (science, philosophy, and art) Day Conference. She has been involved in a multitude of activities and organizations on campus, and has made the dean's list in each of her 11 quarters of study. She is a member of Life West's World Congress of Chiropractic Students and currently serves as a student representative to three college committees: curriculum development, research, and library.
Harvard Medical School's Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and the New England School of Acupuncture were recently awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate women's health initiatives. A main objective of the investigation is to develop the Oriental Medicine Assessment Instrument (OMSAI), which will reflect the complexity of Traditional Chinese Medicine, but measure Western standards of clinical performance.
Dynamic Chiropractic columnist J. Michael Menke, DC, a member of the University of Arizona's Evaluation Group for the Analysis of Data (EGAD), will serve as research methodologist, clinical protocol consultant and data analyst on the OMSAI project.
Dr. Menke is on the teaching faculty of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona and has been involved in research and integrative postgraduate training at the University of California, San Francisco Osher Center for Integrative Medicine; Stanford University; and Johns Hopkins University. He is also on the postgraduate faculties of National University of Health Sciences and the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research.
"Measurement is a challenge for all non-medical systems of healing," said Dr. Menke. "As in chiropractic, deeper or less apparent causes may be at work, but we still need to measure levels of agreement between practitioners on a given diagnosis, to see if providers can systematically find disease, treat it, and have reliable, valid, and predictable outcomes."
The American Public Health Association (APHA) recently announced its support of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) plan to reverse the number of obese children by promoting new nutritional guidelines and encouraging physical activities.
"Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, threatening the health of our children whose well-being is being undermined by unhealthy diets and lack of exercise," said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, executive director of APHA. "As a result, children are at high risk for developing health problems, such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure, that are already costing our nation billions of dollars in health care expenses. We cannot afford not to address this escalating issue."
The IOM recommends that the following steps be taken to help prevent obesity in our youth:
On Oct. 28, the Department of Psychology and the Evaluation Group for the Analysis of Data (EGAD), at the University of Arizona, sponsored a colloquium honoring the contributions of Joseph C. Keating Jr., PhD, to science and chiropractic. The presentation honoring Dr. Keating was titled, "Chiropractic: Science and Antiscience and Pseudoscience, Side by Side," the title of an article by Dr. Keating that appeared in The Skeptical Inquirer in 1997.
The colloquium also provided an opportunity to discuss and review the current climate of chiropractic scientific research bearing on the validity and clinical meaningfulness of "subluxation syndrome." Dr. Keating answered questions from the audience, comprised largely of faculty and graduate students from EGAD and the psychology department, animal behaviorists, research methodologists, behavioral geneticists, and chiropractors.
In addition to writing eight books, Dr. Keating has authored hundreds of professional papers. He is a past president of the Association for the History of Chiropractic (AHC) and is now a member of the board of directors of the AHC and the board of directors of the National Institute of Chiropractic Research. Dr. Keating is also a longtime contributor to DC, authoring the "History of Chiropractic" column.
At the American Chiropractic Association's House of Delegates Meeting in September, the National University of Health Sciences' Student ACA (SACA) chapter was chosen "Chapter of the Year" for 2004. This is the first time the chapter has been selected to receive the award. Among its contributions this year, the NUHS chapter raised money to help Sister Brigitte Yeno, DC, (an NUHS alumna) and her chiropractic clinic in the Congo. The chapter also participated in "Adopt-a-Platoon" to send supplies to a military unit in Iraq.
Also at the House of Delegates meeting, Derek Dyer, a 7th trimester student at NUHS, was unanimously elected as the new national chairman of SACA, marking the first time a student from NUHS has been selected as national chair.
Derek, who is the former president of the NUHS chapter of SACA, looks forward to achieving his initial goals: "We want to work toward building unity among the profession at the student level. We realize that many of the seasoned doctors are already firm in their different opinions on what unity is. We might have better success if we begin forging unity at the student level."
Dr. Lynn LeBel of Springfield, Mass., was recently named chiropractor of the year by the Massachusetts Chiropractic Society. As the association's vice president of public information and education, Dr. LeBel supported a two-year project called MassChiro, designed to redefine the image of chiropractic in Massachusetts. MassChiro includes media and marketing tools as well as a consumer-driven Web site, www.MassChiro.org, which was launched on May 1, 2004.
When sports chiropractors first appeared at the Olympic Games in the 1980s, it was alongside individual athletes who had experienced the benefits of chiropractic care in their training and recovery processes at home. Fast forward to Paris 2024, where chiropractic care was available in the polyclinic for all athletes, and the attitude has now evolved to recognize that “every athlete deserves access to sports chiropractic."
It is estimated that 61% of patients with CTS avoid taking surgical options due to postoperative complications and costly surgical procedures. Chiropractic care offers a comprehensive and effective treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome, addressing the condition from multiple angles. Recent studies also have unveiled a game-changing adjunct to chiropractic treatments for CTS: nerve flossing.
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?
