With the nation reeling from the fungal meningitis scare caused by tainted steroid injections administered for back pain, the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress has issued a position paper on drug-free back pain management. The position paper, "A Safer Approach to Long-Term Relief From Back Pain: Understanding the Role of Chiropractic Care as the First Option in Providing Drug-Free, Non-Invasive, Effective Back Pain Management," highlights the meningitis crisis as "the latest in a series of major issued associated with different forms of pain medication" as a backdrop for recommending drug-free options such as chiropractic care.
The foundation's position paper has received significant media coverage, beginning with the Baltimore Sun, which reported the paper's conclusion in a Nov. 5, 2012 front-page article. Within a week, syndicated versions of that article appeared in other media outlets spanning 12 states. As of press time, the foundation hopes to boost exposure of the position paper – and the value of chiropractic care – even further by distributing a print advertorial, social syndication and TV public-service announcement nationally.
"As the public begins to re-examine the safety of more commonly used invasive care approaches, chiropractic care becomes an attractive conservative, drug-free, evidence-based choice," said Kent Greenawalt, foundation chairman. "Accompanied by our advertising campaign in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, the goal is to encourage individuals to try chiropractic before undergoing invasive surgery, taking prescription medications or epidural steroid injections."
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.
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