My first reaction to the concerted effort on the part of many relative to the present CCE furor was “where were all of you in the late 70’s and 80’s when a few of us were fighting this battle?” Of course, I realized right away that most of you were not even in chiropractic yet, some not even born! I understand from years of personal experience the vice-like hold the “CCE monolith” creature has on our profession. My second reaction was “too little, too late.” I still think that may be the case but what is encouraging is that so many more are now aware of the “boring from within,” as B.J. called it, and are anxious to do something about it.
This present conflict is not the final effort. For some, it may be your first and last effort. For some of us, it is the continuation of over 30 years of a wearying and costly struggle. Hopefully, there will be many more battles in order to win back the right to pursue our own destiny and not be controlled by the medically-minded people in our profession who want to drag us kicking and screaming into the practice of third-rate medicine.
But the major battle is within our thinking. It is, as B.J. also said, “checking our slipping.” We have gotten to this point, not because the CCE mysteriously appeared one day, but because we didn’t check ourselves as a profession on this slippery slope. But more important, we did not check ourselves as individuals. We thought it was okay to “correct the cause of disease,” to “get sick people well,” to be an “alternative to medicine,” to treat medical conditions druglessly and “by hand only,” to give advice about every area of health, and to remove other interferences beside those caused by vertebral subluxations. If you think chiropractic is any of the above, you’ve been part of the problem, not part of the solution. The battle is still with our thinking. Sure, there’s an issue of the right of an accrediting agency to tell our schools what to teach. But frankly, they don’t care what they teach and we cannot expect any help from them. In fact, expect them to oppose us in this battle and take the side of the CCE like they did in the 80’s. It’s a little hard to speak up when the CCE has them by the throat. They will say exactly what they said then, “sure we know the game is rigged but it’s the only game in town”. There are issues of removing “vertebral subluxations” from our definition and of teaching pharmacology. But the real issue is our thinking… how we describe our chiropractic objective and whether we are working toward that objective and that objective alone. Or whether we are allowing other concepts to “slip” into our thinking. Each one of us must evaluate ourselves in that regard before we have the right to evaluate the CCE and what they are trying to do. When it comes to the CCE, we definitely need to clean house but first we need to clean up our own thinking.
as always you commentary is a HIO…
AMEN BROTHER.
As one who has been in the battle since the beginning, you have more right than most to add an amen. Thank you, Joe, for your many years of fighting the good fight.
Great point! You spoke to many things I was thinking, but I hadn’t even thought of your main point — that we must check our own thinking first. I wonder how many of us who have sent letters and signed petitions actually practice chiropractic appropriately. If we’ve included non-chiropractic modalities into our practices (of which I was once guilty), do we really have the right to throw stones at the CCE? Seems there might be fewer docs able to complain; though, I am sure most would argue that they still check for subluxations and don’t use drugs/surgery, while at the same time “prescribing” non-chiropractic therapies. Something to ponder, for sure! Thanks for your insights.
yeah joe i read your book on reggie explaining it. riekeman had a chance to put the nail in the coffin of the cce but didn’t do it in court. my old roommate/attorney suggested that the schools should sue the Dept of Ed, or more specifically the Sec of Ed who reports to the President. but you’re right it’s OUR thinking. anything other than ADIO is not chiropractic. increasing our scope is coming at the price of losing our philosophy.
Better late than never!! Thank you for maintaining the focus over the years Dr. Joe!!!! This is the “good fight” worth fighting.
Jay, you taught me YEARS ago that what we resist persists…remember that? So I choose not to fight any fight. That being said, I’m NOT standing idly by. I choose to embrace the “TIC” and teach people what it is that can only be found through a principled chiropracTOR. I will teach them that health comes from above, down, inside out.
When the masses know what we know, they will want what we have to offer. I am encouraging ALL ChiropracTORS (you know who you are) to use the word SUBLUXATION!! Don’t ask your practice members how they are “feeling”, show them how they are healing. How their lives are improved and saved by the power of the chiropractic adjustment. THIS will allow chiropracTIC to survive this storm and all the ones ahead that we have yet encountered. Because THIS is what has brought us this far. Love & Light
Joe S. and Joe D…
I agree that this fight (and others like it) are far from over and it will take many hands to accomplish the objective, but I truly appreciate and salute both of you for your tireless effort, commitment and service to this profession and the fights you have embattled for not only your own survival and that of our profession, but so that guys like me have an opportunity to do what we so love!
Having only “grown up” fairly recently in this profession and not personally having known many of the other greats in Chiropractic other than through stories, books and an occasional chance meeting at a conference…as friends and mentors of mine for the past 12 years, you two alone have given me more through your dedication, dedication, wisdom & guidance, more information, more training, more passion and more vision than I could have ever hoped to achieve otherwise.
OUR individual and collective thinking (and then PRACTICING it) does need to change and get in line with the true objective and you two will go down in history also as GREATS in this profession that helped foster and grow that and I am honored and proud to know both of you. THANK YOU!!!
-Michael
Yes, thank you to both of you Joe S. and Joe D.
Claude
Great post — point taken well! And thank you to those on here who have been fighting for so long.
Either you’ve taught us really well or you’re a mind reader, in which case I’ll take credit for these brilliant insights! 🙂
My insights are the result of teaching sharp minds like yours over the years, Nick. So thank you for that opportunity.
Thanks so much Joe!
The ADIO analysis remains the most effective one ever. Thank you Nick for keeping the fire going.
Thank you Claude!
so true. slipping and checking!! as one who has slipped and fortunately checked, and continues to check, I know how important it is to stay close to the green books, go to de meetings or band of brother or other principled meetings and to get involved and join ica and stay close to those who have kept the Tic alive. It is not too late. The body of chiropracTIC is growing stronger and stronger.
Throwing this out there because I am just reading it in the most recent Medicare Dept. of Health and Human Services MLN Matters#SE1101: “Subluxation is defined as a motion segment, in which alignment, movement integrity, and/or physiological function of the spine, are altered, although contact between joint surfaces remains intact.” Interesting definition given the above conversation, huh?