Both the International Chiropractor's Association (ICA) and the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) spend a considerable amount of time and effort representing the chiropractic profession in our nation's capital. Unfortunately, most of the work and accomplishment that takes place is not always known.
But as our world moves faster and faster, it is becoming more important for the chiropractic profession to not only unite, but to stay well informed. To serve both of these goals, our two national chiropractic associations will be presenting their plans, goals, and accomplishments in the new "Joint Legislative Column."
Kurt Hegetswieler, D.C., chairman for ACA Commission on Legislation and delegate for Los Angeles County and Ronald M. Hendrickson, ICA executive vice president, will be the primary authors (along with occasional guest columnists) on an alternating basis. Between the two authors, the profession will not only have the opportunity to review our national issues from the two vantage points, but also have a chance to get involved in the issues each organization is wrestling with.
The hope is that ICA members will feel free to work with the ACA on issues that are important to them and vice versa. Of course, most of the time the ICA and the ACA will be working together on the more critical challenges.
The coming together of the two national associations on legislative issues is critical at this stage of our development. Every chiropractor and student in the country should make it their responsibility to become involved in the issues that will be presented by these two authors.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
Spearheaded by burgeoning scientific and clinical research literature, psychedelics have reached a level of media coverage and popular interest that has not been seen for over half a century. By “psychedelics,” we are referring to the unique class of substances that includes psilocybin (the active compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”), LSD, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT, and mescaline – each of which occurs in the natural world (except for LSD, which is a semi-synthetic compound).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
