World Notes
Canada. The 2005 annual international meeting of the Bone and Joint Decade (BJD) 2000-2010 will be held during the month of October in Ottawa, Canada, and will feature a half-day program organized by the Canadian Chiropractic Association (CCA). The program will highlight interdisciplinary research and practice initiatives involving the chiropractic profession. This will be a plenary session chaired by Dr. Deborah Kopansky-Giles of Toronto, who is the CCA's representative on the BJD's National Action Network in Canada and chair of the World Federation of Chiropractic's BJD Committee. Speakers will include Dr. Kopansky-Giles, who will discuss her work in conjunction with Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto; Dr. Greg Kawchuk of Calgary, who will discuss his research at the University of Calgary; and Dr. Scott Haldeman, the president of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and its Associated Disorders. For more information on this task force, visit www.nptf.ualberta.ca.
For more information on the BJD, including how to become involved in your country, visit www.boneandjointdecade.org or contact Dr. Kopanski-Giles at dkgiles@cmcc.ca.
Denmark. The University of Southern Denmark (USD) in Odense was the venue for a meeting of representatives of European chiropractic schools on Nov. 20, 2004. Representatives from Denmark (USD - Odense), France (Institut Franco-European de Chiropratique - IFEC, Paris), Sweden (Scandinavian College of Chiropractic, Stockholm), and the U.K. (Anglo-European College of Chiropractic - AECC, Bournemouth, England, and the Welsh Institute of Chiropractic, University of Glamorgan - WIOC, Pontyprydd, Wales) met to exchange information and tour the teaching and research facilities at the USD and the specialized spinal care hospital at which chiropractic students do most of their clinical training.
India. There are many Indian doctors of chiropractic practicing in North America, Europe and elsewhere. Some, such as Dr. Shireesh Bhalerao, a faculty member at Western States Chiropractic College in Portland, Ore. (sbhalerao@wschiro.edu), and Dr Jimmy Nanda, a Life West graduate practicing in Toronto, Canada (drjimmynanda@gmail.com), maintain close links with their homeland. However, until now, there has been no duly qualified chiropractor residing and practicing in India.
That has changed with the arrival in Bangalore of Dr. Shailly Prasad, who commenced her practice there in September 2004. Dr. Prasad, a Canadian who graduated from Western States in 1999, and has since married into a Bangalore family and been active in supporting Palmer College Clinics Abroad visits to India, is looking for support for the development of chiropractic and a representative association in India. If you are Indian, or otherwise have a reason for wanting to offer support, please contact her at shaprasad@hotmail.com.
South Africa. The National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) in the United States has now established an international advisory board and division, the latter titled the International Board of Chiropractic Examiners (IBCE). The IBCE's manager of international relations is Dr. Martin Kollasch (mkollasch@nbce.org). At a meeting of the IBCE and its advisory board in Greely, Colo., on Oct. 11, 2004, it was announced that the Chiropractic Registration Board in South Africa had agreed to accept Parts I to IV of the NBCE examination as a basis for registration of foreign graduates wishing to practice in South Africa. (A similar decision has been made in Israel.)
Spain. Two decades ago, there were less than 20 chiropractors in Spain, none of them Spanish. Today, the Asociación Español de Quiropraticá (AEQ) has approximately 150 members and is led by Spanish chiropractors committed to establishing chiropractic education and practice within the mainstream health care system in Spain. These include Dr. Ricardo Puig of Seville, AEQ president (a graduate of Logan); Dr. Belén Sunyer of Madrid, AEQ vice-president (Palmer); and Dr. Juan Elizalde of Madrid, AEQ past president (Palmer). The three met with WFC Secretary-General Mr. David Chapman-Smith in Madrid in early December 2004. Mr. Chapman-Smith's visit to Spain also served to launch the Spanish edition of The Chiropractic Report, edited by Dr. Frank Spencer of Zaragoza and available at www.quiropractica.com.
Switzerland. Switzerland was the first country in Europe to pass legislation recognizing and regulating the practice of chiropractic, beginning with the Canton of Zurich in 1939. The current draft of a new health professions law recognizes chiropractic as one of the five major health care professions, with a similar structure for undergraduate and continuing education requirements; the five professions are chiropractic, dentistry, medicine, pharmacology and veterinary science.
United Kingdom. In the 1990s, the Medical Research Council's influential trial by Meade, et al., reported that chiropractic management of patients with acute and chronic back pain was more effective and cost-effective than management by medical doctors and physiotherapists under the British National Health Service (Meade TW, Dyer S, et al. Low-back pain of mechanical origin: randomised comparison of chiropractic and hospital outpatient treatment. British Medical Journal 1990;300:1431-37; and Meade TS, Dyer S, et al. Randomised comparison of chiropractic and hospital outpatient management for low-back pain: results from extended follow up. British Medical Journal 1995;311:349-351).
An important new Medical Research Council trial of equal significance has now reported that adding skilled manipulation to "best care" by medical doctors (in essence, usual medical care, but with patients receiving a booklet of advice and encouragement to remain as active as possible, rather than rest) is both effective and cost-effective. In this large multicentre trial, manipulative services were provided by chiropractors, osteopaths and specialist physiotherapists. There is no data on which of these groups of professionals achieved the best results, but the Meade, et al., trial strongly supports chiropractic care. The new trial, known as the UK Back Pain Exercise and Manipulation (BEAM) Trial, was published electronically by the British Medical Journal on Nov. 19, 2004 (United Kingdom Back Pain Exercise and Manipulation (UK BEAM) Randomised Trial: effectiveness of physical treatments for back pain in primary care. BMJ Online First, Nov. 19, 2004:1-8; and United Kingdom Back Pain Exercise and Manipulation (UK BEAM) Randomised Trial: cost effectiveness of physical treatments for back pain in primary care. BMJ Online First, Nov 19, 2004:1-6), and is due to be published in print form in the BMJ shortly.
European Chiropractors' Union Meeting
The European Chiropractors' Union (ECU), whose members are national associations in Europe, held its semi-annual General Council meeting in Athens, Greece, Nov. 26-27, 2004. In a meeting presided over by ECU President Dr. Philippe Druart of Belgium, and attended by many able young leaders with large plans for chiropractic in their countries, the ECU made major grants of funds to the Ellenic Chiropractors Association in Greece to support legal/lobbying costs for legislation, and to the Netherlands Chiropractic Association, supporting the development of chiropractic education in the Netherlands. (For information on the next ECU annual convention, to be held in Cyprus May 5-7, 2005, visit www.ecu2005.org.)
Under the European Union's Bologna Agreement, all major professions in Europe are reorganizing the structure of their education on a model similar to the current chiropractic program at USD - a three-year bachelor's degree followed by a two-year master's degree, and then followed by a period of additional supervised training.
FICS Report - by Thomas Greenway, secretary-general, Fédération Internationale de Chiropratique du Sport
Athens Olympics 2004: The Athens Olympics was a great success and the Greeks are to be congratulated on an outstanding Games. The FICS took another step forward - Dr. Katerina Moustaka from the Hellenic Chiropractic Association was the first chiropractor to be accredited by the International Olympic Committee to work in the polyclinic. This was a huge achievement both for Dr. Moustaka and the profession, and she is to be congratulated by us all. This is something that FICS has been working toward for many years; it will be interesting to see how things progress from this point. We also had a team of chiropractors working with the World Olympians Association at the Reunion Centre, and they did a very good job in difficult and frustrating circumstances.
World Games, Duisburg, July 14-24, 2005: The FICS has a contract to supply 15 chiropractors to the World Games next year. This is the first time there has been an official contract signed with major games requesting chiropractic services. This degree of integration into the provision of medical services is a first for the FICS and has posed a number of challenges. Recently, I had to present to the Organizing Committee what it was that chiropractors do and how it differs from physiotherapy. We designed a model that explains this, with an evidence base that was very well-received. This will only help to open many more doors in the future. If you would like to know more, please contact me at tgreenway@fics-online.org.
Hong Kong Chiropractic Sports Council: This organization is undergoing a complete restructuring to ensure it meets the new demands of a united China. The new structure will help to enhance our chances of integration into the Beijing Olympics in 2008; our colleagues in Hong Kong are to be congratulated on their important and hard work.
If you would like more information, please see the FICS Web site: www.fics-online.org.
