Dear Editor:
I was very impressed with Dr. Donald R. Murphy's comparison of racism and "professionism" in the December 20, 1991 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic.
Twenty-five years ago, I first came to the United States as a rotary exchange student and racism was rampant; there were never blacks in the restaurants as patrons, etc., and now they are commonplace. Obviously, blacks are a market force to be reckoned with and their presence can be felt in the pocketbook. I feel that the same is true of our untapped power as chiropractic consumers in the free marketplace. For instance, today I interviewed a new patient who is a flight attendant for a major airline which has refused to offer her chiropractic care for a chronic brachial neuralgia persisting over four years. She has had the standard muscle relaxers/pain killers, endless physical therapy, and even the offer of surgery, but never chiropractic. Imagine the affect we chiropractors could have on an airline that refused to offer equal access to their work force? We would fly to our conventions and practice builders meetings only on airlines that practiced fair and equal business opportunities. The same is true of automobile manufacturers, supermarkets, hotel chains, and a host of other services and products that our buying power could have a direct affect upon.
I would like to propose that we set up a "chirowatch" organization. By using the resources and facts about discrimination from our doctors in the field, could make all DCs and their patients an economic force to be reckoned with. We should request statements from all national employers regarding the health care benefits in particular, relating to chiropractic services for their workers and determine if this is accurate. Fighting discrimination in the courts or by political means is not as effective as by choice in the marketplace -- the crux of free enterprise.
I would like to offer to collect documented facts about discrimination against our profession to compile a list of services and products that we can all support and recommend to our patients, unequivocally.
Russell J. Knowling, D.C.
Winter Park, Florida
Biomechanics: the Heart and Soul of Chiropractic
Dear Editor:
In reading Dr. Sasso's letter, in the January 3, 1992 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic, I could not believe what I was reading. Would someone really write, "... it is impossible for an adjustment to produce a negative effect." Then I read further. Dr. Sasso's definition of a chiropractic adjustment is consistent with the statement that it is impossible for an adjustment to produce a negative effect. But, does Dr. Sasso believe that every time he moves a vertebra he is putting it into proper position? He never moves the wrong vertebra and never moves the vertebra too much, too hard, or even not enough?
Dr. Brieg, the Sweedish neurosurgeon, has 30 years of research that says MS and ALS are primarily mechanical disorders. He has written two books on the subject. He gets these people much better doing surgery that prevents the vertebrae from subluxating anteriorly. If every chiropractic adjustment was done correctly to the correct vertebra, chiropractors should get results with these diseases at least as good as Dr. Brieg's. The main problem is determining (diagnosing?) the correct vertebra to adjust and the correct direction in which to adjust.
The medical doctors have used technology to expand their knowledge and improve their profession. (Once someone gets infected, the synthetic antibiotics often save their lives. That people don't do things to keep their health is sinful but a different topic.) There is off-the-shelf imaging and analysis technology available that would confirm chiropractic and improve chiropractic by eliminating harmful practices (if you don't know any you have not experimented much), or advising practices which, though harmful in one case, are applicable and preferred in another.
I offered to totally fund such a program at the college I attended and was told they were not interested! Write your alma mater and insist that biomechanical research be done. Then we can read about biomechanics, the heart and soul of chiropractic, in JMPT instead of "Enhanced Neutrophil. ..."
Jesse Jutkowitz, D.C.
Milford, Connecticut