In the early 1900”s we were told that the public and medicine would accept us if we were licensed. W e spent the next sixty years doing that. Then they told us the public and the medical community would accept us if we were included in government programs (apparently licensure did not do it). We got into Medicare, Medicaid, accreditation, and other government programs. Apparently it did not work because we were then told that the public and the medical community would accept us if our education was equivalent to an m.d’s. So we spent the late 60”s until the present “upgrading” and medicalizing our chiropractic education until it looks very much like medicine’s. Today the cry is “if we want acceptance we need to do research, to prove the validity of chiropractic”. Education appears not to have been the answer. Can we believe those who have lied to us about licensure, government recognition, and education?
All this time there has been a certain segment of the profession that has not worried about licensure, government recognition, education, or research. They have just gone about the business of educating the public about chiropractic. Some of their methods, techniques and approaches leave a lot to be desired. Even so, they have apparently been accepted and reached a level of success. Perhaps we need to continue and improve upon their efforts. December 30,2009
