Philosophy

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The Consortium "will be dismantled for all functional purposes."

Dear Editor:

I read with dismay the article regarding the proposed national health agency under consideration by the Consortium for Chiropractic Research. As a member of the Consortium's governing board, I can only describe this article as propaganda. It is misleading in both in what it states and what it does not state. Specifically:

The article talks about the CCR "considering" the creation of a national health agency. In fact, the CCR has committed to forming a new organization called the "American Spinal Research Foundation." (ASRF)
The article does not tell the reader that the proposed ASRF constitution explicitly avoids any association with the chiropractic profession, and it does not provide that the research funded would be oriented toward chiropractic issues, or even toward conservative management. In other words, the ASRF may find itself promoting surgical allopathic research!
The article omits the fact that the CCR will cease to exist during the "transition period" of formation of the ASRF, depriving the chiropractic profession of its only organized intercollegiate international scientific body.
The article states that concerns were expressed that the name and mission of the CCR are preserved. These concerns were expressed by various chiropractic college research directors, who form the membership of the organization. However, the clear intent of the CCR executive board is in direct opposition to these concerns.
The principles stated in the founding documents of the ASRF are inconsistent with the mission statement of the CCR, which calls for collaborative chiropractic research done among its members, fostering the development of research awareness and appreciation, as well as validation, of the chiropractic profession. The ASRF is explicitly non-chiropractic in its orientation.
The article fails to mention that the funds of the CCR, which are to benefit the chiropractic profession, and are donated largely by the chiropractic colleges' CCR dues and other chiropractic organizations' funds, are to be deflected from CCR business and research funding (on which a moratorium was approved at its last meeting) to pay large sums to consultants and travel expenses of the executive board for start-up of the new agency.
While the CCR name is protected by copyright, and will be preserved in a trust, the CCR itself will be dismantled for all functional purposes. Although the Consortium members were promised that the organization would be revived when sufficient funds were made available to continue normal operations, that promise is non-binding.

To summarize, what in fact is being proposed, is to strip the CCR of any chiropractic identity, put it in mothballs, and use its income (which should go to promote chiropractic research) to replace it with a generic brand of "health agency" whose proposed by-laws indicate that it may well be controlled by special interests other than the chiropractic colleges or even the chiropractic profession. The nature of the proposed new organization is such that its interests probably would be better served if it did not reactivate the old form of the CCR, thus sounding the death-knell of that organization. The chiropractic profession needs to know these details, and let the colleges and the CCR leadership know its opposition. As one of the college representatives voting against this proposal, I remain adamantly opposed to any such move, and ask that readers write their college presidents protesting the funding of this new organization through CCR dues in its presently proposed form.

I want to make it clear that I am not opposed to forming the ASRF. I am opposed to the efforts to scuttle the CCR and use its funds to finance this agency in its current form. If this initiative succeeds, the chiropractic profession will have lost one of its most valuable assets in the quest for the ever-elusive funds of public contributions.

Charles Lantz, DC, PhD
Director of Research
Life Chiro. College West

Is There an Animal Doctor in the House?

Dear Editor:

This is being written on April 1, not as an April Fool's joke but because this is the day when I got the April 8 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic with the article "Animal Chiropractic" starting on page 9.

When I became a student at Palmer School of Chiropractic in January 1925, one of my classmates was from Illinois. He told me his family for years had been buying "broken down" race horses, race horses that had developed problems with and in the use of their front shoulders, legs, and feet. The story given the general public was that the horses stood with their feet in containers of blue clay that was found on the home farm. Actually, in addition to the blue clay care, the animals were suspended in a sling so the front feet were not touching the ground, and some sort of manipulation was done that seemed to help get the affected areas back to normal. I heard and learned so many nearly unbelievable things that this information was filed someplace in my brain.

When I was back in Davenport during Lyceum in the early 1930s a plague of equine encephalitis was covering much for the middle west. One of my friends, who was practicing in Iowa, told us of being on the family farm a few days earlier where one of the horses had the disease. It was standing in the stall paying no attention to anyone or anything. The animal's head was hanging at an angle, not straight up and down like the other horses' heads. So my friend stood on the side that the horse's nose was pointing away from and took the animal's nose and mouth area in that hand. He placed his other hand against what must have been the atlas/axis area and held it firm and pulled the lower part of the head toward him. He said something snapped in the neck and when they came back through the barn an hour or so later, the horse was eating and seemed to be normal and made a complete recovery.

A week or so later, one of my brother-in-law's mules was showing similar symptoms. When a mule will allow a stranger to get it by the nose and neck like I had it, you know the mule is plenty "punchy."

I made the correction, but without the "snap." The mule recovered. That is the only time I ever did any animal correction.

W.R. Caine, DC
Retired Practitioner
McCook, Nebraska

Drs. Gregg and Barge Have a "Vital Message"

Dear Editor:

Dr. R. James Gregg's article, "The Survival of Chiropractic," is a vital message to our profession. I hope your readers will listen and act upon its wisdom. To teach is to heal; to learn is to be healed. Thank you for sharing this message with us.

In response to Brian Anseeuw's criticism of Dr. Barge, I agree that there exists philosopractors who seek refuge behind their philosophical shields, however Dr. Barge is not one of them. He is rather a peaceful warrior whose philosophy is a sword pointing the direction to pseudo allopractors, those who appear to seek knowledge. The true source of all knowledge is innate wisdom, not inane scientific fact derived from sources detached from this wisdom. Dr. Anseeuw's comment that learning philosophy is a no brainer and learning science requires true intellect illuminates the ignorance Dr. Barge cuts open, wide and deep.

Linda Kubin, DC
Las Cruces, New Mexico

Student Forum

Dear Editor:

I must commend Mr. Chad Rappaport from the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic for initiating the new column, "The Student Scene." It is very important to have more student input into your newspaper. After all, we, the students, will soon become doctors of chiropractic, and by starting to get involved now will help us tremendously in the future. It will also be beneficial for the doctors in the field to be informed of what is happening in our colleges regarding academics, activities, and many other different concerns.

I believe that one of the greatest problems in my school, Cleveland Chiropractic College LA, is the lack of student involvement in extracurricular activities. Students are concentrating so much on the academics, they sometimes forget about that wonderful light at the end of the tunnel. We have to keep ourselves focused on the big idea, the reason why we are learning what we are learning. "The Student Scene" can be a great way to help all of us get a taste of being part of the chiropractic profession. It is never too early to start. Becoming a great doctor of chiropractic takes a lot more than just passing all of our classes, the national and state boards.

We are given a chance to voice our opinions and concerns, thanks to Dynamic Chiropractic. Let us take advantage of it and support Chad Rappaport in his goal of making "The Student Scene," our own column, a permanent part of Dynamic Chiropractic.

May 1996