There is No Logic in Drinking the Kool-Aid

There seems to be a lot of talk about what is and what isn’t Chiropractic these days. Compared with other professions, this is odd. You don’t see MDs confused about the definition of medicine. You don’t see IT techs unsure about what is and isn’t a computer. You never see vets confused about whether they take care of animals or humans.

But Chiropractic? It could be anything depending on which Chiropractor you talk to.

We have CCE-regulated schools teaching medical examinations, physical therapy, and Medicare billing. We have state boards allowing Chiropractors the use of herbal and botanical remedies while pushing for things like manipulation under anesthesia and needle EMG. We have schools taking Chiropractic out of their name and replacing it with “health sciences.” We have medipractors pushing with all their might and all their sneaky tactics for inclusion of drugs in the profession, to become lap dogs of their respective state medical and pharmacy boards. We have the CCE trying to redefine our Doctor of Chiropractic degrees as Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine degrees (they have obviously never heard of an oxymoron, of which this is a classic example). we have Chiropractors doing colonic irrigation, teeth whitening, and laser hair removal.

Is it any wonder people don’t know what we do? Ask 10 different people on the street what Chiropractors do and I would wager money you get 10 different answers. I’m almost positive I’d win, too. Why? Simple. We, as a profession, don’t know what we do. We, as a profession, forgot what Chiropractic is.

I drove by Parker College the other day and saw they were advertising Chiropractic as one of Forbes Magazine’s Top 10 most lucrative professions to get into. People see this, never having been to a Chiropractor, wondering what to do with their lives, and jump into it, thinking they are getting into a lucrative profession.

These people go through school, never truly knowing what Chiropractic is, drinking up the CCE-flavored kool-aid the schools feed them. They graduate with the thought that Chiropractic is nutrition, or functional medicine, or active rehab, or kinesio-taping. They think third-party payers will always be around to pay down their excessive student loan debt.

When it is explained to one of these people that Chiropractic is NOT supplement prescription, or kinesio-taping, or Biofreeze-lathered massages, or chasing ambulances, they look at you cross-eyed before getting defensive with you for attempting to turn their medipractic world upside-down. “I am a doctor,” they say, “and doctors use all sorts of tools to treat their patients.” Uh huh, sure. What flavor is that kool-aid you’re drinking? Cherry? Grape? Or CCE?

Essentially, this is the same as saying you have a table, and the chairs that go along with the table will now also be called tables. “Okay little Billy… dinner is ready… sit down in your table and pull it up to the table.” Or “Honey, can you strap little Billy in the high table?” How about going to the furniture store to buy a really comfortable reclining table to sit in?

Sounds pretty ridiculous right? Of course it does.

But, this is basically what the CCE, the schools, and our state boards are telling us; chairs are tables and nutraceuticals and paraffin wax are Chiropractic.

It makes my brain hurt trying to understand this logic.

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