Dear Editor:
I read with excitement and anticipation Dr. Pate's article, "The Reliability of Mammography" [April 8 issue]. I was ecstatic.
Those of us who work hand in hand with the patients and their physicians (most MDs, by the way), find that the physicians refer their patients to us for early detection, especially in women with the high risk factor of cumulative exposure of the breast to estrogen. Patients are also referred to us to indicate the aggressiveness of the tumor. We know now that it has more to do with the tumor's cellular biology than its size. Thus, a very small tumor may have the ability to invade the body and lead to death, while a larger one may not.
The exam itself is less stressful than a mammogram. It is completely harmless, uses no radiation, and doesn't involve the often-painful compression of the beast.
I hope that in the future we can help you shed some light on the fight against breast cancer.
Charles R. Solano, DC, DABCT
President, International
Thermographic Society
Indianapolis, Indiana
Are Admission Standards Eroding?
Dear Editor:
Dr. Reed Phillips' insightful analysis of chiropractic education ["The Changing Face of Chiropractic Education - A Corollary," April 22 issue] is frighteningly on target. As one of the few scholarly thinkers leading our chiropractic schools, when Dr. Phillips takes the time to voice his opinion, we should listen.
For the most part, my casual observations concerning the demise of scholarly values in chiropractic education are consistent with those of Dr. Phillips. Clearly, most chiropractic students are less academically talented than their medical counterparts. This is an obvious and noncontentious fact. Sadly, a popular sitcom, "Two-and-a-Half Men," had a full five minutes of disparaging comments about the same issue. How is it that Hollywood and a respected president of a chiropractic school have identified a serious weakness in the chiropractic profession, yet the collective mind of the profession continues to go on with business as usual?
I was astounded to read a news release published in the Journal of the ACA about 10 years ago, wherein Logan College of Chiropractic boasted that 38 percent of its January entering class had a bachelor's degree. This number is certainly worse today than it was 10 years ago, given the steady decline in applicants. If LCC represents the typical chiropractic college, then we, as a profession, should be ashamed of the significance of this statistic!
This impoverished situation has been exemplified by personal anecdotal experiences, wherein applicants were given provisional acceptance to CCE-accredited chiropractic schools without having fulfilled their prerequisites. Incredibly, these students were permitted to complete their prerequisites subsequent to their acceptance into chiropractic school, but prior to their graduation. How can we be credible and legitimate professionals in the eyes of the public with admission standards like this? The recent "Two-and-a-Half Men" spectacle only reinforces this glaring weakness.
Although some pundits have quite accurately identified our lack of a coherent and credible scope of practice as the single most damaging element, I believe most of our problems have a more fundamental source. By far, the genesis of most of our problems can be traced to one source: a substandard admission policy in chiropractic schools. The erosion and manipulation of admission standards at our chiropractic colleges ultimately affects the consumer. If the chiropractic colleges fail to address this issue, I believe our state licensing boards must get involved and raise the bar for the profession.
If diagnosis precedes cure, we cannot begin to help ourselves until we become sensitively conscious of the problem.
Robert Falco, DC
Weehawken, New Jersey
[Editor's note: The following two letters to the editor address "The Strife Is Killing Us," written by Dr. James Winterstein and published in the May 6 issue. Available online at www.chiroweb.com/archives/22/10/18.html.]
Don't Take Away Our Chiropractic Individuality
Dear Editor:
I'm glad to see that Dr. Winterstein understands the fact that chiropractic does not treat symptoms such as vertigo in his son. As we all know, chiropractic does not treat symptoms or conditions, so I applaud him for not adjusting his son or referring him out to a chiropractor for his vertigo. The question I have is, does Dr. Winterstein believe in regular chiropractic care to maximize the expression of our inborn potential to be healthy, whether symptoms or conditions are present?
I am all for research, as long as it follows the principles of our profession and is not to determine if chiropractic can help conditions XYZ. The good doctor states, "We are better off without subluxations than with them as being unscientific since there is no research to back this up. "Subluxations and their neurological component are not health enhancing, so obviously, you are better off w/o them. Reggie Gold, DC, stated that if you tie a string around the aorta, it is not good for you; we do not need research to prove it.
Let's do more research on the neurological implications of subluxations and their effects on our overall health picture, not on conditions or symptoms. If we practice our profession only on the basis of what has been proven and not what works, I'm afraid to say that chiropractic would cease to exist.
A few years back, a study in the British Journal of Medicine stated that 80% of all medical interventions are not supported by solid scientific research. Do you see 80% of all medical procedures halted and no longer discussed? We have the principle of helping the body express its optimal health potential by removal of subluxations; please do not take away our individuality. People come to us because we are different and offer something they cannot get anywhere else: the Chiropractic Adjustment. Whether the adjustment is supported by solid scientific evidence or not, let us not cease in telling the world. After all, what do 100 years of results mean, anyway?
Bruce Indek, DC
Quincy, Massachusetts
"Go to a Real Chiropractor"
Dear Editor:
Dr. Winterstein's article, "The Strife Is Killing Us," astounded me. While I tend to agree with him regarding the huckster tactics, his elitist obnoxious attitude brought to mind the attitudes I have encountered from the medical establishment, such as, "Well, I haven't seen any research showing chiropractic treatment for asthma is efficacious. "Well, of course not, if you don't look in the right places...and on and on.
President Winterstein, the doctor who tested your son for allergies was performing applied kinesiology, about which there are volumes written, along with dozens of studies. The little "clicker" the other chiropractor used is based on a technique documented and proven by many studies.
The whole attitude of your letter is a classic example of the allopathic mindset and its elitism - and you have infected your son with it. If he wasn't cured after one click, then the "clicker doc" must be a quack. My experience with many allopathic-oriented patients has been disdain if they weren't cured after the 10 Mercy Guideline visits, which has become your holy grail and a club that has been handed to the insurance companies.
The fact that you came up with the diagnosis of ectopic focus of neurologic stimulation, which really doesn't say anything, but sounds impressive, does impress me - but it also proves your allopathic focus. If it were me, I would have done a health survey, asked if he had had any trauma recently; if so, I might have done an X-ray (Oh, excuse me, preformed a radiology study), asked if he had any numbness or tingling in his hands and checked his cervical range of motion. Then I would have taken his neck in my hands and palpated it and his upper thoraces to see if he had pain and tenderness, decreased range of motion, edema and fixation of any particular vertebral level to identify the subluxation. I might have thought of Dr. Palmer and the first chiropractic adjustment that restored Mr. Lilliard's hearing, but that was probably a misdiagnosis or anecdotal. Then I would have adjusted him.
The real question is, why did your son have this ectopic focus of neurologic stimulation? It sounds like a subluxation to me. Do you hear me? A subluxation, yes, a subluxation! I know that you are probably rolling your eyeballs as you read this, wondering why someone let this yokel into the paper.
Another amazing thing is that you are supposedly pleading for unity. How long has it been since you practiced chiropractic? You are disconnected from the mainstream of chiropractic. We don't have to look over our shoulders and worry what the allopathic profession thinks about us, because we have seen the miracles produced by chiropractic adjustments. We have helped patients through the barbaric treatment of chemo, radiation and surgical therapy because "...that's the only way. "We have seen the gratitude of a mother thanking us for enabling her body to produce the miracle of life; we have seen patients crawl in and walk out.
President, if you want to end the strife, you have to take the blinders off and join the chiropractic profession. If you want to practice with an allopathic mindset, so be it. We, however, want to be the alternative. Your attitude only inflames the discord and indicates that you are trying to force us out. There is room for all of us and we could be united, if you would expand your horizons and recognize the power of the adjustment.
Oh yes, and by the way, it is highly likely that the first doctor was right. Allergies do affect the neural canal and the upper cervical spine. He was going after the cause, not the symptom. He was utilizing the least invasive procedures, for which chiropractic is well-known (for now, anyway), not "a surgical ablation procedure." I'm glad your son has a personal confidence in chiropractic, because you sure don't. Please do one thing. Go to a real chiropractor and get an adjustment.
Happy adjustments,
Grant Douglas Lewis, DC
Columbus, Ohio
"Freedom Lost"
Dear Editor:
I have been a subscriber for years, and I must say that you do a great job with your articles, keeping us guys in the trenches informed on the latest happenings in the profession. As I was reading the latest [July 1] edition, I must admit that I was really disappointed with the article you ran called "The Baird Plan for National Nutrition." I had kind of hoped we were beyond publishing the egocentric ramblings of a chiropractor of yesteryear.
I think there are two important points to make: First, "wellness" (whatever that means) is a personal choice. No amount of food Gestapo is going to change that. Second, Dr. Baird is a coward. What I mean by that is that through his lousy articles, he hides his real agenda behind his pompous do-gooderism. What he really wanted to say, but never had the strength to come out and actually say, was that he hates fat people.
If we really want change, it begins with us. Showing contempt for the people who need our help the most has never helped the cause (a concept the anti-tobacco people haven't learned yet). The Baird Plan may play well with the holier-than-thou Southern California socialites, but not in the America I know. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson: "Freedom Lost."
Rex Barney, DC
Colfax, Washington
Where's the Money Coming From?
Dear Editor:
I just read [July 1 issue] that the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) is donating an additional $25,000 to the National Chiropractic Legal Action Committee (NCLAC) of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), as well as giving a $50,000 donation to the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER). Over the past six months or so, the NBCE has contributed $100,000 to the NCLAC, which means that it has given away $150,000 in six months!
I think these donations are certainly commendable, but I wonder, where are they getting the money from? I remember taking the first examination given by the NBCE in the early 1960s and having to pay $75 to do so. As a student, this was a strain on my budget. Wouldn't it be more appropriate for the NBCE to charge less to the students taking the examinations, thereby giving their budgets a break, rather than charging so much that it has this kind of surplus to give away?
Bruce A. Born, DC
Southfield, Michigan
Bringing Some Depressing News to Light
Dear Editor:
This is to thank you sincerely for writing the excellent article regarding "Antidepressants and Children: A Dangerous Combination" in the June 3 issue of Dynamic ChiropracticTM. What a very important subject this is, and how poorly informed the general public is in this regard! Thank you for reminding us in your very well-written and informative article.
John O.A. Pagano, DC
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Honorable Mention
Dear Editor:
I've seen a number of articles in various chiropractic publications, including yours, about doctors who have volunteered time and service to the New York/New Jersey civil servants since the 9-11 disaster. Some volunteered for a day; some for weeks; some for months.
There has been no mention of the chiropractors who have been there giving their time, service and supplies to the Port Authority Police and their families, two to three days a week, every week since day one - and who are still there now. No one has dedicated more time and service in the health care field than the chiropractors from Cedar Grove Family Chiropractic, in Essex County, New Jersey.
Dr. John Bomhoff and staff set up shop each week until this day at the Port Authority in Newark Airport, and at the Lincoln tunnel. They are the only professionals still volunteering their time and service on a regular basis, and don't plan to stop in the near future. They have sought no praise and have received no recognition other than from the individual policemen and women whose testimonials tell of how their lives have been changed for the better by the DCs.
I hope you can see fit to give them just a little praise and unsolicited recognition for their unending efforts, timeless dedication and sincere compassion, shown equally to the victims of the terrorist attack, and to the Port Authority Police Departments of New York and New Jersey.
Bill Puglisi, DC
Totowa, New Jersey