1. Diagnose and refer or
2. Give nutritional advice or
3. Believe “by hand only” is the determining factor or
4. Use only “conservative” physical therapeutics or
5. Believe subluxations are the cause of all disease or
6. Believe chiropractic gets sick people well or
7. Believe practicing HIO is the determining factor or
8. Believe x-ray is mixing or
9. Think the ICA is a straight organization
Yet some in the straight chiropractic community believe that we do not need any further descriptive terms like “pure” “non-therapeutic,” and “objective straight” to describe the straight chiropractic that we adhere to. They maintain that these adjectival terms confuse the issue rather than clarify it. Perhaps some of these people need to get into the real world and see some of the things out there that pass for straight chiropractic. We have spent the last 25 years trying to more clearly identify what we do. A college (actually two colleges) developed around it. Numerous lectures have been given to explain it. Reggie Gold has traveled countless miles presenting it. Hundreds of thousand of words have been written to describe it. If we can add a word or a phrase to the word “straight” that will help people to focus on that approach to chiropractic, I think that is good, it is helpful and it does not create “confused complexity” which “repels” people.
Judging by the favorable responses received when talking with chiropractors and students around the country and abroad, as well as the encouraging comments from letters and phone calls received almost daily, I believe that these terms clarify rather than confuse. Many who have been adhering to the ideas and practices listed above realize now that these things have nothing to do with meeting the straight chiropractic objective. Further, they now see that our objective has more to offer them as individuals, the profession as a whole and all of humanity.
We do not need fewer terms to make clear what we do. WE MUST CLARIFY WHAT IT IS WE DO WITH UNMISTAKABLE TERMINOLOGY. v13n4