Is it a Slippery Slope? Or an All-Out Free Fall?

Before I begin, I would like you to watch the following video of Dr. James Winterstein, President of National University of Health Sciences, speaking at the 2011 FCLB Conference in Marco Island, FL.

When the AMA began a systematic attack of the Chiropractic profession back in 1963 through its Committee on Quackery, one of its goals was to eliminate or contain Chiropractic. As evidenced by the favorable ruling in the Wilk et al vs AMA antitrust case in 1987, elimination of the Chiropractic profession never happened.

However, Dr. James Winterstein is proof positive that containment is alive and well and on the move.

He is a heavy proponent of a tiering of the profession. This means that if we get prescriptive rights in just one state, his school, National University of Health Sciences, and other schools like it, will benefit from added revenue because of the Advanced Practice degree needed to be a “REAL” Doctor of Chiropractic (“REAL” = ability to prescribe drugs).

He says the subluxation “must go!” and that “we don’t have evidence on its science-based reality.” One only needs to do a little research to see this is not true. Now, are there randomized double blind control studies to prove this? No, and there never will be. The RCTs aren’t fool proof either, especially when dealing with the human body. Too many variables in the body from person to person for the RCT to be the holy grail people think it is. However, proof of the subluxation is very evident to me in practice every day, as well as most of you reading this. But Dr. Winterstein isn’t in practice, so he wouldn’t know.

He also says the adjustment “doesn’t mean subluxation had anything to do with it.” He’s right. The subluxation has no bearing on if an adjustment was made or not. That is the job of the Innate Intelligence, not anyone or anything else, including the Chiropractor. We apply a force, the body accepts the force, and if it is the right force, the Innate Intelligence will distribute the force where it needs to be distributed. And the subluxation had no control over that.

Obviously I’m being sarcastic with my interpretation of his statement, but why on earth would you try to apply any kind of force to a vertebra that isn’t subluxated if you’re a Chiropractor? Is it only about the high spots that need to be pounded down? If so, that is called BONESETTING and NOT Chiropractic.

Dr. Winterstein also stated that there is “no evidence of a bone out of place.” I have seen x-rays before and after a specific atlas adjustment that dispute this very comment. And even if it were true, what’s the point in being a Chiropractor if you’re going to NOT move bones?

Another highly educated comment that Dr. Winterstein graced us with in this video is that he thinks “mechanical effects… don’t go through the nervous system.” What?!? This man is supposed to be an academic, teaching and leading budding Chiropractors? Every single effect in the human body is a result of nervous system transmission/mental impulses. He obviously hasn’t cracked open a neurology textbook in quite some time. For someone who claims to be “science-based,” this moronic statement clearly shows he doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does.

He also made it very clear that he thinks prescriptive rights make us real doctors, stating “the profession must change,” and that you “can’t take someone off something that you don’t have the authority to give them in the first place.” Here’s what needs to change: More ChiropracTORS who know how to practice ChiropracTIC and less medipractors trying to practice medicine without a license… people like Dr. Winterstein.

The better someone gets at Chiropractic, the higher the likelihood that their patients will be getting off their medications just fine. When Chiropractic is done right, and Innate Intelligence is given the opportunity to heal the body, people don’t have a choice but to get off their drugs anyway. Because if they don’t, they will feel like crap!

He also belives the “public needs primary care,” and the “allopathic community can’t keep up.” I saw this argument pop up during the whole prescription rights fiasco in New Mexico, where people like Dr. Winterstein claimed there was a shortage of doctors. That seems like a far-fetched story when you see Albequerque, NM cracking the Forbes Magazine list of top places to retire in 2011, which was based on things like living costs, taxes, weather, serious crime, and AVAILABILITY OF DOCTORS. Oops! Looks like the allopathic community is doing just fine, especially in New Mexico!

In short, this man right here is Exhibit A in what’s wrong with the Chiropractic profession. I wrote a post not too long ago about not drinking the Kool-Aid. Dr. Winterstein is one of the people who MAKES the Kool-Aid! It is men like him that threaten to bring our profession down, trying their best to turn us into Osteopathy 2.0!

But it doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. It starts with wanting an expanded scope for this or that, then pushing for more after getting what we originally wanted, then next thing we know, our profession is pushing for obstetrics, applying stitches, needle EMG, manipulation under anesthesia, and drug prescription rights.

It is a slippery slope that, if we’re not careful, will only become steeper and steeper until, eventually, we free fall into the abyss of second- or third-rate medicine, osteopathy, and physical therapy. And it’s people like Dr. Winterstein leading the slide down the mountain.

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