Tell me, I'll forget,
Show me, I'll remember,
Involve me, I'll understand.
-- anonymous
It's quite amazing. Every month approximately 500 papers are published on research findings.
These are just a few of the findings from studies that have been published over the past few months:
- Fifty-seven percent of children experiencing pain were having back pain.
- Vitamin B reduces heart disease in women.
- Breast-fed babies get better grades in school.
- Chiropractic relieves acute otitis media in an average of eight visits.
- A cough medicine ingredient is linked to birth defects.
- Vitamins reduce occurrence of colon cancer.
Valuable information from many studies, that might help you and your patients better understand the value of the chiropractic lifestyle, never makes its way into the mainstream media.
When you think of Dynamic Chiropractic, you probably think of the front page headlines, or certain columnists. Maybe you think of the format, color, or (more recently) our website (www.chiroweb.com). We'd like you to think about information when you think about DC: information that has the power to influence your community, the habits of your patients, and the success of your practice.
That's the best part of my job: the information. Not only do I get to learn about the hot news stories first, but I also learn more about the validity of chiropractic, and all of the other health values that my father taught me so many years ago: these are the values I now pass on to my sons.
This past week, we hired a new editor/writer: Peter Crownfield. He is excited about the job and becoming another information contact for you. In his final interview, we told him that he would be learning a great deal about health, and that it would likely change his thinking on the subject.
Every day we get calls, letters, faxes and e-mail asking for information about chiropractic and chiropractic-related issues. One DC may be preparing for a court case; another is contesting a peer reviewer; a third is gathering material for a radio interview; a fourth is looking for information that will help convince local MDs that referrals to chiropractors are in their best interest; and a fifth DC wants to educate the editors of the local newspaper about the benefits of chiropractic.
Your time is valuable. How much more value can a person's time have than to use it to heal others? That's why we have started the Chiropractic Research Review (see article on the front page). Our goal is to provide a convenient, concise and readable source of the most current and important research papers published. We'll also provide you with the contact numbers of the various journals for obtaining the full length papers of studies that have particularly caught your attention.
Our ambition with the CRR is to produce a publication that will provide you with all you need to stay current on chiropractic and health-related research.
We also want your patients to read and understand this information, and become ambassadors for chiropractic. Your patients will have in their hands the studies that demonstrate what you've been telling them, and what they've been trying to tell their friends and family.
It is for this reason that every subscriber to the CRR also gets a free monthly patient e-mail newsletter. This is something you can print and hand out to your patients, or (better yet) e-mail directly to them.
With an e-mail newsletter being received at your patients' homes or offices, they'll be able to share it with those around them, or re-e-mail it to others. With the same ease that you e-mail this newsletter to your patients, you can also e-mail patients, community leaders, the local newspaper, or others who ask to receive it.
This powerful information will touch people within your community and around the world. You may not know it, but your e-mail newsletter may be responsible for a patient's relative in another country making an appointment with a chiropractor.
Information is power; it is the main reason why NCMIC has subscribed to the CRR for all of its policyholders. Such information has the power to change minds and alter lifestyles. You'll find material that supports what you've been saying to your patients, and painlessly keep current on health care research.
Editor's note: If you are not an NCMIC policyholder, and would like a free copy of the Chiropractic Research Review, please call toll free at 1-800-359-2289.
If you are an NCMIC policyholder, look for your first issue in a special envelope sometime around the beginning of April.
Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h)
Editor/Publisher Dynamic Chiropractic
Don-DCMedia.com
Click here for more information about Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher.