When my father began DC in 1983, he started with a circulation of only 47,000 - including 31,000 U.S. chiropractors, 500 Canadian DCs, and over 8,000 students. The publication began as his "first step" in unifying the chiropractic profession. And while he only published the first 93 issues, his word ultimately spread to chiropractic patients and consumers interested in the benefits of chiropractic care.
Our first effort to take the message of chiropractic beyond our profession happened in April of 1997, when Dynamic Chiropractic became the first chiropractic newspaper to be indexed by the Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). This gave thousands of libraries access to important information about chiropractic.
The next year marked the establishment of ChiroWeb (http://www.chiroweb.com), which enjoys over 200,000 unique visits every month. With more than 10,000 web pages, this is easily the most complete source of chiropractic information on the internet.
In 1999, we launched the To Your Health chiropractic e-mail newsletter. This is being used by hundreds of DCs to educate their patients about the benefits of chiropractic. We also have several thousand consumer subscribers. Along with the print version, we reach almost 50,000 patients and consumers. As we expected, once they had a source for accurate information about chiropractic, consumers were not only interested in visiting the website, but also subscribing to the bi-weekly e-mail newsletter.
The demand for chiropractic information is not just in the U.S. and Canada. People from 70 countries now subscribe to the To Your Health chiropractic e-mail newsletter. The demand for chiropractic information is very strong worldwide.
Last year, we offered our Chiropractic Website Administrator to the profession. It allows DCs, no matter where they are in this world, the ability to create their own websites in 20 minutes with just a few "mouse-clicks" and a little typing. Hundreds of DCs are using their own websites to educate their patients and inform web travelers about all that chiropractic has to offer.
Now, as you can see by the article on the front page, we are now involved with a syndicated web publication. This means that over 280,000 iSyndicate (http://www.isyndicate.com) affiliates will be able to include chiropractic information from Dynamic Chiropractic, ChiroWeb, the Chiropractic Research Review and To Your Health on their websites. This will further educate the world and put information about chiropractic right beside all other health care information. The public has demanded it, and we are working hard to meet that demand.
While the goal to help unify the chiropractic profession is still in our hearts ("unity without uniformity"), there is also a great need to reach the public for chiropractic. Informing the public develops the needed understanding and appreciation in the minds of consumers. As more people understand the value of chiropractic, more will turn to chiropractic to maintain their health.
This may seem like another lofty goal, but it's all part of providing reliable information. What began as the first monthly chiropractic newspaper in 1983 now reaches hundreds of thousands of consumers twice every month. There are, however, many more consumers who still don't realize how much they can benefit from chiropractic care. In time, we'll reach them, too.
In another four years when we will be celebrating our 500th issue, I hope to report that we are reaching millions of consumers each month. In the meantime, we'll keep providing you with the most current, accurate information available. Please let us know if there is something additional we can do, or ways to improve.
Donald M. Petersen Jr.,BS, HCD (hc), FICC(h)
Editor / Publisher of Dynamic Chiropractic
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