In his book Seeing What's Next, Clayton Christensen, author of TheInnovator's Dilemma and TheInnovator's Solution, writes: "The past might seem a strange departure point for a book the explains how to see the future. We started with history, however, to show that theory can help explain why things happened the way they did. After all, we cannot hope to use something to explain the future if it cannot explain the past."
In reflecting on chiropractic's 126-year history, I felt the need to look dispassionately and objectively at what has transpired, with key issues affecting the profession both positively and negatively. We have indeed been very litigious as a profession; some of the litigation quite literally changed the trajectory of the entire profession. Legislation was also necessary for licensure, and incredible patient support fueled a tremendous political movement.
Education and research, however, are the two areas that enabled the profession to survive and withstand the seemingly insurmountable challenges and opposition we had to endure.
By contrasting the past and present, perhaps a more objective and optimistic view of the future will be realized by those who did not live through the historical battles and feel the joy of victory or pain of defeat, while never losing optimism that the chiropractic profession would emerge victorious.
I have produced a short video that is by no means comprehensive, but highlights a few of the many significant issues which could have easily altered the course of chiropractic history. As Dr. Christensen indicated, the past is necessary to understand, the present is important to appreciate, but the future will depend on a strategic vision for tomorrow.
Because they have yet to pass national legislation protecting the chiropractic profession, Japanese DCs are in a similar situation that U.S. DCs faced. We were fortunate enough to be able to pass chiropractic licensure state by state. The DCs in Japan must accomplish this nationally, which has proved to be an extremely difficult task. And in spite of their efforts, Japanese DCs are currently faced with two chiropractic professions.
This article focuses on nine severe injuries that are generally not diagnosable until the third to fourth week following the date of injury, including how to diagnose these severe injuries. The discovery of any of these injuries early can make a significant difference in the case outcome.
There has long been an attempt by those who are not legitimate doctors of chiropractic to usurp the title of chiropractor from those who have earned their degree from an accredited chiropractic program. This generally happens in countries where the local doctors of chiropractic have yet to pass legislation requiring a degree from an accredited institution. The result is essentially two chiropractic professions. Nowhere is this danger more pronounced than in Japan.
