Editor's note: Anyone intimately involved in trying to make chiropractic more available to and accepted by the masses will be quick to tell you that changing perception (or cultivating it) is key. The following letter to the editor was submitted recently by a chiropractic patient who calls herself a former "Queen of Chiropractic Skeptics." It is a wonderful illustration of how experience indeed shapes perception, particularly when it comes to chiropractic. This story emphasizes the importance of the profession advocating every effort to give more people the opportunity to experience chiropractic care and appreciate its many benefits.
Dear Editor:
I just wanted to send a note to thank you for the wonderful articles you provide each month. I am not a DC, nor do I work for one. In fact, up until two years ago I guess you could call me the Queen of Chiropractic Skeptics - and proud of it. I work for a state-run workers' compensation agency and was appalled upon my hiring to learn that we actually pay for massage and chiropractic appointments. The nerve!
Then I needed a chiropractor, and needed one badly. After two trips to the emergency room, where I was told the sciatic pain would go away with time, I tried a chiropractor. Imagine my extreme joy at the almost immediate relief! I was amazed ... and disappointed that I had wasted almost 20 years of my life with pain pills on a daily basis for back and neck issues that had never had treatment.
I have a lot of issues in my spine and soft tissue that I didn't know existed prior to two years ago, and I am currently under a weekly care plan by a wonderful doctor who referred me to some articles that were in your publication. I have been hooked ever since and I look forward to each and every issue. As a non-practitioner, I can tell you that while some of the "industry" articles are hard for me to relate to as a former skeptic, I can understand where the authors are coming from and so I read the entire issue, cover to cover. I have learned a lot and have found many subjects that have prompted me to do even more research online.
Thank you so very much for all you do. Now wherever I go I promote chiropractic to anyone who will listen. I have been reformed by a system of care not because someone told me it would help, but because it works! I have gone from skeptic to patient and now to educator.
Keira Engelke
Olympia, Wash.
