"DC": Please tell us about Core Products International's commitment to chiropractic.
Mr. Mattison: Core Products is a manufacturer of orthopedic soft goods. We started out primarily in comfort products. The company's founding goes back to my original relationship with the chiropractor who was treating my back injury. We began brainstorming some ideas for a variety of products that we thought would be appropriate improvements in the chiropractic industry. Ultimately we started making those products and marketing them. Since then I have become a 100 percent stockholder of the corporation. So really the roots of Core Products came from chiropractic, and that I started as a chiropractic patient.
We decided to build our marketing effort, sales effort, and our product line around chiropractic. We never diversified outside of chiropractic until we had built a strong marketing position, brand recognition, and product line. Now we sell to chiropractors, physical therapists, in-home health care stores, and in some retail outlets, mostly overseas. In the U.S. most all of our sales are through professionals; few of our products are sold outside the referral of a professional. Overseas their health care delivery systems are different, and they use some different methods there.
"DC": Tell us why your company decided to become a Platinum Club Crown Sponsor for the centennial.
Mr. Mattison: Rick Flaherty of Leander, who has been doing most of the fundraising for the chiropractic centennial, approached me at the Parker Chiropractic show in Las Vegas three years ago and explained the whole concept of the chiropractic centennial, what his vision was, and the shared vision of the group that was putting it together. He explained the benefits of being a major sponsor. I was quite sure that there was no way in the world I could afford to be a major sponsor to the centennial. Mr. Flaherty outlined an easy payment plan. I came back and sat down with the rest of the people on my team and we looked the situation over, talked about it at great length, and decided that by using some portion of our advertising dollars to sponsor the centennial that we'd be giving something back to the industry, which we felt was extremely important. We also felt that we'd be doing a good job of reinforcing our logo recognition within the industry. I think that the sponsorship for the chiropractic centennial has accomplished most of those goals. I think its been a good choice for Core Products. It's just a way to say thank you to doctors for letting Core Products be a part of their practices.
"DC": Now that chiropractic is entering its second century, what do you think the future holds for the profession?
Mr. Mattison: I think dynamic growth is in store for the chiropractic profession. We're looking at the graying of America, to be politically correct. A greater percentage of the population, the baby-boomers, are getting older. Though we get older, we still tend to think that we're younger, and tend to hurt ourselves more. As a result of that, chiropractic is going to grow. So many people are out there espousing the virtues of chiropractic manipulation. You get relief faster with chiropractic than you do with any other method of health care. You get back to work faster and back into your daily routine. When you take chiropractic and combine that with the proper use of supports, cushions, and comfort devices, I think you end up with somebody who is much happier with the results in the long term, and they get those results easier than with any other method of care.
The future for chiropractic is extremely bright and I think that the chiropractic centennial is going to be a wonderful tool that is going to call more attention to chiropractic on a national media level than has ever been called to chiropractic before. If they can accomplish the original media-related goals of the Washington, D.C., centennial celebration, I think it is going to be really interesting. It would be pretty fantastic if the major news media start to announce that this month or this year is the 100th anniversary of chiropractic with a couple of shots of our float or a couple of shots of something going on within our display area or some of the unique features that they are going to build in both the Davenport and Washington, D.C., shows. I think those kind of things could go a long way towards benefitting chiropractic. Any time that you can get your name exposed to the public, I think that's really great.
"DC": Thank you for your sponsorship.
Dynamic Chiropractic editorial staff members research, investigate and write articles for the publication on an ongoing basis. To contact the Editorial Department or submit an article of your own for consideration, email
.