Category: Other Articles

Diagnostic procedures are a part of almost every clinic operation today, from those as basic and standard as the physical examination of the patient and X-rays, to specific and higher levels of diagnostics.  These can include blood work, nutritional analysis, functional capacity evaluations, musculoskeletal ultrasound, digital analysis of X-ray films, MRI/CT scans, videofluoroscopy, neurological studies and many other procedures. 

The general goal of management is to deliver services effectively, efficiently and profitably.  Health care is a service business, your patients are your clients, and the treatment and care you provide is your core product.  You share common issues with many business: Selling your product (treatment and care), acquiring, maintaining and increasing your client (patient) base, while creating efficiencies within the business (your practice) to increase your profit. 

There are two ways to increase profit—decrease expenses or increase revenue.  Economy and efficiency help a business decrease expenses, even in a growth mode.  Business revenue can be increased by providing services to more clients or by providing more necessary services to existing clients.  Diagnostic procedures are another tool, when used appropriately, that can help you accomplish this.

Some factors in the determination of diagnostic services you can provide and how you deliver them within your practice are the specialty and patient volume of your practice, the type of practice structure you have—straight chiropractic, holistic or integrated multi-disciplinary, for example—as well as scope of practice limitations within your state for your specialty or structure.  These form the basis of a cost versus benefit analysis for implementation within a practice of a diagnostic procedure or service. 

Many practices obtain X-ray films on their patients and can utilize services, at no cost to the clinic, to perform a digital analysis of those films.  A service that includes comprehensive biomechanical and pathology reports with AMA Guide Impairment Ratings by Board Certified Radiologists can provide you the documentation to justify additional treatment and, ultimately, better care for your patient.  No additional equipment, staff, training or costs are necessary for almost any chiropractor to use this diagnostic procedure.      

Blood work and/or nutritional analysis are diagnostic procedures that can be provided within many practices to help uncover hidden systemic problems or imbalances within patients.  Many of these, once identified, can be addressed through treatment or supplementation to restore health to the patient.   Some additional equipment, training and/or certification may be involved when offering these procedures. 

Functional capacity evaluations, musculoskeletal ultrasound studies and neurological testing (nerve conduction studies, Evoked Potentials) are services that are necessary to document patients’ conditions and justify treatment and can be offered within many practices.  Testing interpreted by an independent specialist often provides the best benefit and most objective documentation.  Necessary equipment falls within the affordability range for many chiropractors; however, extensive training and consistent use are required to maintain proficiency.  Additionally, some procedures are time consuming and not an efficient use of time for the chiropractor as technician.  Leased equipment, trained technicians and interpretive services are cost-effective solutions available in most areas of the country.       

Dedicated facilities offering MRI scans certainly fall on the high end of the cost scale and there are practices and clinic groups that can support such a facility.  There would be a reasonable expectation that, for the same patient volume, more patients would be indicated for MRI studies from a practice specializing in accident and injury cases than from a family wellness practice.  There are options available in many areas of the country, mobile units and leased time, for example, that would allow a chiropractor to provide MRI services.   

Medical necessity should be well substantiated for any diagnostic service you recommend for your patient.  This is crucial if you expect to be reimbursed for diagnostic services performed within your practice.  Also, beware of any situations that may be construed as kickbacks or payments to you for the referral of your patient.   

You can ethically and legally add revenue with diagnostics, improve patient care and provide services to more patients. These are just a few of the diagnostic services you could employ within the management of your practice to obtain that goal.

Ms. Plank has an extensive background in medical and facilities management.  Before making the transition to healthcare, for over 10 years she was the Practice Manager for a large veterinary hospital and a “first of its kind” commercial veterinary blood analysis laboratory.  During the past 15 years, Ms. Plank has provided technical and management services to healthcare providers, specializing in radiology and neurology.  She is currently the Vice President of Corporate Services for Practice Perfect.  Contact her at [email protected].

Anabolic Laboratories:
May 22–23, Levittown, NY; June 24–25, Allentown, PA. For more information, call 1-800-445-6849 or visit www.anaboliclabs.com. 

Breakthrough Coaching
May 20–22, Crowne Plaza Times Square, New York, NY; August 19-21, San Diego, CA. For more information, call 1-800-723-8423 or visit www.mybreakthrough.com.

Chiropractic Leadership Alliance
May 21–23, Puerto Rico; June 17–20, Minneapolis, MN. For more information, call 1-800-285-2001 or visit www.subluxation.com.

David Singer Enterprises
May 1–2, San Francisco, CA; June 19, Atlanta, GA. For more information, call 1-800-326-1797 or visit  www.davidsingerenterprises.com.

Dallas Humble
May 14-15, Dallas, TX. For more information, call 1-800-282-1947 or visit www.dallashumble.com

DMX Works
May 28–29, Cayman Islands. For more information, call 1-800-839-6757 or visit www.dmxworks.com.

Footlevelers
May 15-16, Des Moines, IA; June 5, Va Beach, VA.For more information, call 1-800-553-4860 or visit www.footlevelers.com.

Fred Van Liew’s  Water & Air Essentials
April 24, Dallas, TX. For more information, call 1-800-964-4303 9-6 CST or email [email protected].

ICPA
April 29–May 2, Long Branch, NJ. For more information, call 1-610 565-2360 or visit www.icpa4kids.com/chiropractic_pediatric_seminars.htm.

Integrated Expo
May 13-16, Chicago, IL. DC/MD/PT Seminar. For more information, call 1-888-67-DAHAN or visit www.dahan.com.

Loomis Institute of Enzyme Nutrition
June 12-13, Dallas, TX. For more information, call 1-800-662-2630 or visit www.loomisenzymes.com.
  
The Masters Circle
May 14-15, Los Angeles, CA; June 4-5, East Rutherford, NJ. For more information, call 1-800-451-4514 or visit www.themasterscircle.com.

Nutri-West
May 1–2, Denver, CO; June 26–27, Reno, NV. For more information, call 1-800-443-3333 or visit www.nutriwest.com.

Parker Seminars
June 17-20, Minneapolis, MN. For more information, call 1-888-727-5338 or visit www.parkerseminars.com.

Most patients don’t “get” chiropractic on their first exposure to it.  So, if you’d like to increase the likelihood of subsequent reactivations, even referrals, create a safe place for new patients to “fail.”

Failing, is when a patient begins chiropractic care, enjoys symptomatic relief, discontinues their care and suffers a relapse months or years later.  Failure is an essential ingredient of true patient “education.”

Failure is underrated in our culture.  Yet, it’s how we really learn.  Most of us were “taught” not to touch the hot stove, and were “educated” when we did.  While the painful burn might have been seen as a failure by your parents, it was all part of the plan.  That’s why, these days, you don’t have to be told not to touch a hot stove.  You and I have learned much more from our failures than our successes.

If a patient must fail on their first (and probably their second or third!) exposure to chiropractic, then consider creating an environment in which a patient can receive chiropractic care, discover its implications and discontinue without shame or fear of judgment.  (Something difficult for many chiropractors who care about a patient’s health more than the patient does.)

What would a “successful” patient failure look like?  A patient who has a positive chiropractic experience discontinues care, has a relapse, knows not to blame you or chiropractic, returns to your office without an “I-told-you-so,” resumes care and after a couple of these episodes (possibly spanning years!), comes to accept regular chiropractic care as they do bathing, teeth brushing, eating healthy foods and other healthy habits. 

Ready to play the “long game” and plant the seeds necessary to perhaps, possibly, maybe, someday enjoy a harvest of appreciative, stable, cash-paying patients who see chiropractic as a way of life?  Then create a safe place for patients to fail.

Begin by assuming a healthy detachment about how much chiropractic care patients opt to receive.  Acknowledge their sovereignty and appreciate the fact that they have the freedom to abuse their bodies, reject your suggestions and value other things more than their health.

Second, make sure patients understand that they are likely to feel better before muscles and soft tissues supporting their spine are fully healed.  Set the stage during your report of findings to “future pace” each patient:  “We had a patient in here a couple of months ago who got great results and then dropped out of care as soon as she felt better and later suffered a relapse.  Fortunately, I had explained that she would be susceptible to a relapse and she didn’t blame chiropractic or me, and came back in.  Of course, how long you benefit from chiropractic care is always up to you.”

Make sure every patient knows that you’re genuinely interested in serving and honoring their health goals.  (Remember, they have to fail first.)  Help each patient see that they won’t be “letting you down” or disappointing you by discontinuing their care early or won’t be judged for not doing what “good” patients do.  (That’s the hard part!)
Even more daring, at your report of findings, while the relationship is still being established, discuss the “office disengagement process” when they’ve had enough chiropractic care.

“We have a little ceremony my staff and I like to conduct when patients reach their health goals, so please let us know when you’ve had enough so we can celebrate.”  It may seem counterintuitive to celebrate when the patient is seemingly sabotaging their health, but, remember, they still have to have a relapse or two before they’re likely to appreciate the lifestyle benefits of periodic chiropractic care.

Some might criticize this as actually putting the “premature dismissal seed” into a patient’s brain.  Hardly.  Most patients have heard that “once-you-go-you-have-to-go-for-the-rest-of-your-life” anyway, so most patients are plotting their escape from the first visit!

Take a quick inventory of those wonderful “once-a-monthers” who are a delight to serve.  You rarely have to force-feed them chiropractic.  In fact, on most visits you rarely even talk about health!  How did these individuals acquire their healthy habit?  Many observe that these special patients have usually had a couple of previous chiropractic experiences—often in someone else’s office!

Yours? TAC

William Esteb is the president and creative director of Patient Media, Inc.  His new company provides state-of-the-art, visually-based patient communication tools from a patient’s-point-of-view.  Request a free copy of his 64-page catalog and subscribe to Monday Morning Motivation, his free, weekly emailed practice tip or patient communication idea by visiting www.patientmedia.com or calling (800) 486-2337.

American Chiropractic Association

ACA Ranked High Among Washington’s Elite Lobbying Groups

The ACA runs one of the most influential advocacy operations in Washington, DC, according to a new listing of the 25 “most effective grassroots lobbying organizations for health care in the United States.”  The ACA is number 19 in a ranking compiled by an official of the American Political Science Association and reported in the Washington Times on November 26, 2003. 

Out of thousands of groups that lobby Congress on health care issues, the ACA and just 24 other organizations are singled out for their effectiveness in communicating with Capitol Hill and recognized for being “highly successful in building connections between their members and Congress on a wide geographic basis.” 

“This ranking confirms that the ACA and the chiropractic profession have a place at the table when health care policy decisions are made in Washington, DC,” said ACA President Donald Krippendorf, DC.  “Very simply, elected officials know that the ACA is a force to be reckoned with.  When our members speak out on health care issues, they’re listened to and heeded.”

Michael T. Heaney, a research fellow with the American Political Science Association and the author of the ranking, conducted anonymous interviews with 77 health care aides to U.S. senators and congressmen/women between April and July 2003.  The result has been several significant legislative victories for the chiropractic profession in recent years, the most recent being the inclusion of a Medicare Chiropractic Demonstration Project in the newly signed Medicare reform bill.  

International Chiropractic Association

Continued Coverage of Discredited “Stroke” Article Raises Serious Questions of Journalistic Responsibility

The re-appearance of a news report on WNBC New York, based on a thoroughly discredited article that appeared months ago in the medical journal Neurology, has raised serious questions about the motives of the broadcast agency carrying the story.  Entitled “Study: Chiropractic Adjustments May Increase Risk of Stroke,” the piece appeared on November 6, 2003.  Presented by the station’s “health” reporter David Marks, MD, the issue of chiropractic safety was once again raised, but offered no additional evidence, no credible data and no new perspective, other than the opinion of a medical neurologist, whose experience on the issue of chiropractic procedures is completely unknown.

ICA Board Calls for Profession-Wide Dialogue on Chiropractic Education and Accreditation
The Board of Directors of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) has issued a call for a serious profession wide dialogue on the challenges and needs of chiropractic education, in light of the current intense controversy surrounding the educational accreditation process. During their Mid-Year Board meeting on February 25, 2003, the ICA Board adopted a statement that expressed concern over the state of chiropractic accreditation and called for a national dialogue on how this process might be improved. This resolution is meant to voice the concerns of the many thousands of individual doctors of chiropractic and the dozens of chiropractic organizations that have contacted the ICA regarding the nature and direction of the operations of the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE).

For more information, go to www.chiropractic.org.

World Chiropractic Association

WCA Announces Annual Awards

The World Chiropractic Alliance is proud to announce the following recipients of its annual Chiropractic Awards to be presented during the WCA International Summit in Washington, D.C., April 29-May 1, 2004:

• Chiropractor of the Year:  Leona Fischer, D.C.  A member of the WCA International Board of Governors, Dr. Fischer served as a U.S. Navy Special Operations medic assigned to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit.  She showed true courage under fire in 2003 as one of only two members of the Veterans Affairs Chiropractic Advisory Committee to vote in favor of direct access for chiropractic.
• Outstanding Service:  Jerry Hardee, Ed.D., president of Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic.  After the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) passed a statement on diagnosis that all but gutted the “Chiropractic Paradigm” that had won nearly unanimous applause from the profession, Dr. Hardee was the first college president to stand up to the group in opposition.
• Researcher of the Year:  Madeline Behrendt, D.C.  By countering the medical and drug industry propaganda with hard scientific evidence, Dr. Behrendt has been able to gain attention and respect for chiropractic.  In 2002, she was named Associate Editor of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research.
• Humanitarian of the Year:  Bobby Doscher, D.C.  For 26 years, Dr. Doscher has dedicated herself to providing service to severely sick and handicapped children at Oklahaven Children’s Chiropractic Center.  Expanded under her leadership, the Center’s current home allows room for future expansion to serve even more children, to conduct research and to educate people about the benefits of a natural, drug-free health care and the chiropractic way of life.

For more information, see

www.worldchiropracticalliance.org.

VBI Test (George’s Test) is positioning of the neck to screen for who is at risk of dissecting (tearing) of the vertebral artery during a neck adjustment, and/or who is at risk of having a stroke due to a neck adjustment.  It is not supported by science.

Continue to do this test until your State Board of Chiropractic, the malpractice insurance companies, and the risk management firms state you can stop.  This is a legal standard, but not a clinical standard of care.  The odd side of this is that, in the right patient, just doing this test could dissect (tear) the vertebral artery.¹ 

Before the VBI Test, studies were done by medical doctors.  About fifty years ago, medical researchers injected a contrast dye into the vertebral arteries of cadavers.  When the neck/head was faced straight ahead, the dye flowed through the cadavers’ arteries.  When the head was turned to either side, the opposite vertebral artery was pinched off.  Based on these findings, medical doctors came to the conclusion that patients should not have their necks adjusted by chiropractors, as patients may suffer strokes as a result.

One can see that this makes as much sense as the statement, “Did you walk to work, or did you take your lunch.”
Turning the head to one side, causing the vertebral artery to be physically occluded by an upper vertebrae in a cadaver is different than in a live person, as a live person has blood flow and “collateral circulation”; therefore, the blood can flow in from other arteries and make up for the temporary occlusion.  Medical science supports this.  Surgeons can even surgically close a vertebral artery (in the correct patient) and a stroke will not occur, due to “collateral circulation.”  Thus, medical doctors’ comparing of the cadaver studies to human ones is not even supported by their own medical practice.

VBI risk factors based on: http://www.soc-ortho-med.org/vba.htm

The following are VBI (Vertebro-basilar insufficiency) risk factors. Special questions relating to these symptoms or signs , should be asked and the results recorded, as part of the VBI Test. drop attacks, black outs, loss of consciousness nausea, vomiting and general unwell feelings dizziness or vertigo, particularly if associated with head positioning disturbances of vision (e.g., decreased, blurred, diplopia) unsteadiness in the gait (ataxia) and general feelings of weakness tingling or numbness (especially, dysaethesia i.e., tingling around the lips, hemianaesthesia or any alteration in facial sensation) difficulty in speaking (dysarthria) or swallowing hearing disturbances (e.g., tinnitus, deafness) headache past history of trauma cardiac disease, vascular disease, altered blood pressure, previous cerebrovascular accident or transient ischaemic attacks blood clotting disorders anticoagulant therapy oral contraceptiveslong term oral steroids a history of smoking  immediately post partum (Kleynhans & Terrett, 1985; Grant, 1988; Hutchinson, 1989; Chapman-Smith, 1994; Kunnasmaa & Thiel, 1994; Rivett, 1994; Carey, 1995; Rivett,1995; Grant,1994; Kuether et al, 1997; Rivett, 1997; Kesson & Atkins, 1998; Di Fabio, 1999).

Using our own life experience, we know that, even on a common sense basis, the medical doctors’ conclusion of comparing the cadaver studies to human ones is flawed.  We all turn our heads to either side, and may even hold them in the turned position, yet we do not have strokes as a result.  Also, consider neck movement when driving cars, backing up cars, checking the blind spots, and turning our heads to look to the side.  By using the medical doctors’ logic, there should be a high frequency, or at least a regular occurrence, of vertebral artery related strokes.  We all know this just does not happen.  Shouldn’t the medical doctors warn the general public, “Do not turn your neck when driving; in fact, do not turn your neck at all!”  But, the medical doctors do not; they just say, “Do not have your neck turned in a chiropractor’s office!”

The medical research states there is an unidentified weakness in certain people’s vertebral arteries and they can dissect (tear) spontaneously or with simple neck motion.

Will the VBI Test help identify who is at risk to dissect an artery with the neck motion during a chiropractic adjustment.  No, as it does not identify the patients who have unidentifiable weaknesses in the arteries.  But, the VBI motion could actually dissect the vertebral artery in a patient that has this unidentifiable weakness of the artery.
Will the VBI Test help identify a patient that will have a stroke from the chiropractic adjustment?  The stroke can occur due to a thrombus (clot) or emboli (clot that breaks loose and goes further in the blood vessel before it gets stuck).

Again, without the dissection, or vasospasm, the clot would probably not form.  If the patient walked into the doctor’s office with the dissection and clot already, which is likely the occurrence, the collateral circulation (blood flow from other areas) would keep the neurological symptoms from happening.  The patient would have been turning the head in their every day activities.  The fact that there had been no identifiable neurological symptoms when the patient came to the office shows the VBI Test would not have made a difference.

Dr. Daniel P. Dock is a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and a Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist.  He has written four books:  A False Claim:  Stroke From Manipulation; Whiplash Trauma; Records Documentation; and The Orthopedic Spinal Examination.  The recipient of the Minnesota Chiropractic Association-President’s Award, Washington State Chiropractic Association’s Volunteer of  the Year Award, Georgia Chiropractic Association’s Honorary Life Time Membership, Dr Dock lectures at over sixty continuing education seminars per year.  He also maintains an active practice in Minnesota.

For more about Dr. Dock call 218-525-2033 or  e-mail [email protected]

References

1. Dock, DP.  Stroke & Chiropractic Adjustments.  The American Chiropractor, V25, I6, p.52.

When I was in chiropractic school, a teacher stated that, as chiropractic grows in popularity, we will be attacked by our competitors.

Recently, chiropractic was on the receiving end in the national media with regard to the relationship of stroke and chiropractic neck adjustments, even though it is also reported so rarely that it occurs only once in forty-three chiropractic professional careers.

What I do not see in the media is that the medical research documents vertebral arteries can dissect (tear) spontaneously or with simple neck movement.  One can get these articles at the hospital libraries of the medical doctor that tells the patient to avoid chiropractic adjustments.  In the interest of public safety, shouldn’t these medical doctors inform the general public and their patients that the vertebral arteries can dissect spontaneously or with simple neck movement, not just movement of the neck in a chiropractic office?  Shouldn’t these medical doctors tell the general public and their patients that they should avoid all neck movement, not just the movement in a chiropractic office?  Doesn’t it seem that the medical doctors’ public safety notices are lacking?  Their alerts seem to give a false sense of security to the public and their patients.  Their message seems to indicate that avoiding a chiropractor can avoid the spontaneous dissection (tear), the dissection that can occur with simple neck movement.  We all know that, for the unidentifiable population at risk, this is simply not true.

Some would state that it is the force of the adjustment that is the reason and cause of the vertebral artery dissection (tear).  This ignores the medical research and common sense.  We have all treated patients hurt in car collisions.  They had their head turned to either side and the car was hit from behind.  Look at the forced rotation and hyperextension that happened to your patient.  But, I doubt the doctors reading this have seen a case of a dissected (torn) vertebral artery with stroke in the car collision cases they have seen.

Are the medical doctors stopping the physical therapists from adjusting (mobilizing) patients?
The patient most likely walked into the chiropractic office with the vertebral artery dissection—the secondary stroke occurring due to the pre-existing vertebral artery dissection, not due to the chiropractic care.
Do these vertebral artery dissections (tears) and secondary strokes occur without the patient seeing a chiropractor?  Of course they do and there are medical articles to show this.  Yet, if the same person did see a chiropractor, would the chiropractor get blamed as the cause?  Of course they would.

Dr. Daniel P. Dock is a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and a Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist.  He has written four books:  A False Claim:  Stroke From Manipulation, Whiplash Trauma, Records Documentation, and The Orthopedic Spinal Examination.  The recipient of the Minnesota Chiropractic Association-President’s Award, Washington State Chiropractic Association’s Volunteer of  the Year Award, Georgia Chiropractic Association’s Honorary Life Time Membership, Dr Dock lectures at over 60 continuing education seminars per year.  He also maintains an active practice in Minnesota.
For more about Dr. Dock e-mail [email protected].

Jim Collins most recent business book, Good to Great, shares some key components that have distinguished great companies from good companies over time.  This exhaustive five-year study offers those of us who have chosen chiropractic as our profession some strategic—and  surprising—long-term insights, contrary to conventional wisdom, that can help us grow into greatness, both individually and corporately, as a profession.

Great companies used technology as an accelerator, not as a creator of momentum.  None of those companies began their success transitions by pioneering technology, but rather understood that they could not make good use of technology until they realized which technologies were relevant to their primary mission.  They disciplined themselves and waited until they found appropriate technologies capable of  fulfilling their primary focus.  Surprisingly, 80% of the great company executives didn’t even mention technology as one to the top five factors in their transition.  Instead, they were motivated by a deep, creative urge, and inner compulsion for sheer, unadulterated excellence; fear of  being left behind technologically never entered the equation.  Great companies avoided technology fads and bandwagons.  They carefully selected technologies only when they strategically fit their primary focuses.

We live in a world of constant change.  Each new day brings some new scientific or technological breakthrough.  If we chiropractors are to fulfill our great destiny as primary healthcare providers, we need to use discernment regarding which technological advances truly make a difference to our bottom line purposes and avoid being misled by the ones that don’t.

As chiropractors, we need to be careful of technological pitfalls that can be costly and cause us to stray from our true mark.  The bottom line key to our success is to more effectively and efficiently help sick people get well.  Society is plagued with chronic recurring health problems.  Doctors who can best help these people will be the most successful doctors of the future.

Chiropractic’s founders were visionaries able to see beyond the mediocrities and accepted practices of their day and shape new paradigms of healthcare.  If we are to carry this tradition forward, we must have a strategic vision for the future—how to best transform and enhance our abilities as healthcare providers to meet the healthcare needs of our society.

To meet the healthcare challenges of today, we must be innovative.  We should be willing to think “out of the box” and apply new approaches that provide better results fulfilling our purpose of getting sick people better naturally.
It is difficult to find someone in our society who doesn’t have some unresolved health problem.  Many well-meaning chiropractors have sought costly time- and labor-intensive techniques in  sincere attempts to help the many patients with chronic, recurring health problems in our society.  And, while these techniques might be good, they can quickly impair the chiropractor’s ability to help the most people when these labor-intensive techniques become our primary techniques.

It is far wiser and more prudent to first apply those techniques that are the most efficient, expedient, and cost effective.  Basic chiropractic techniques, combined with our contemporary homeopathic techniques, can help 80% of the health problems people presently face and save the more costly and labor-intensive techniques for the 20% who might require them.

Homeopathy has the greatest time-tested ability of all adjuncts to more effectively and efficiently help the broadest spectrum of chronic, recurring health problems.  The doctor who helps people with health problems other doctors cannot is the doctor everyone wants to see.  The doctor who helps people more efficiently and cost effectively will eventually be the doctor insurance companies—as well as the public—will  reference.
The contemporary procedures we have developed in homeopathy have turned this once complex healing art into an easy and effective approach for the high volume chiropractic office.  These breakthrough procedures allow the chiropractor to help the most people with a broad scope of health problems in less time and less expense.  Our procedures can be applied to any homeopathic company’s products and still enable the chiropractor to see 50 to 100+ patients per day!

The key to our optimal success is to most proficiently and efficiently help the most people.  Homeopathy empowers the chiropractor to fulfill this purpose better than any other adjunct.  Homeopathy equips the chiropractor to correct nerve interferences throughout the whole nervous system, and works bio-energetically to correct nerve interferences deep within the brain and its periphery, where the hands of the chiropractor cannot reach.
Our focus, as chiropractors, must be to offer the most straightforward, uncomplicated, individualized, as well as cost-effective therapies available to each patient.  As long as we maintain this focus, chiropractic will abound with the greatest opportunities above all other health professions.  Homeopathy permits us to fulfill our charge as chiropractors.

Frank J. King, Jr., is a nationally recognized researcher, author and lecturer on homeopathy.  In addition, Dr. King is the founder and director of King Bio Pharmaceuticals, a registered homeopathic manufacturing company dedicated to completing chiropractic destiny with the marriage of homeopathy.  Dr. King offers, complimentary to all Doctors of Chiropractic, his turnkey procedural system for the high volume practice called, The Chiropractic Enhancer systemÔ (CES).  It is so easy to use that you can successfully apply homeopathy in your practice using any company’s products in one day. Call King Bio Pharma-ceuticals, Asheville, N.C.1-800-543-3245 or e-mail: [email protected].

American Chiropractic Association

DC’s Across the Country Continue to Reap Benefits of ACA Legal Action 

The aggressive legal posture of the ACA in protecting the rights of doctors of chiropractic and their patients continues to pay dividends for the chiropractic profession.  The United States Office of Personnel Management has determined that doctors of chiropractic will be reimbursed for providing physical therapy services under the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s (BCBSA) Federal Employee Program (FEP), if such services lie within the doctor’s state scope of licensure.  The BCBSA FEP is the largest privately underwritten health insurance contract in the world, enrolling 4 million federal government employees, dependents and retirees.
“ACA is delighted to announce another tangible benefit of our ongoing legal action,” said Daryl D. Wills, DC, President of the ACA.  “This policy change not only has obvious financial implications for the chiropractic profession but it also demonstrates the ever-growing respect and recognition our profession enjoys.”

ACA is sponsoring Spinal Health Month this October!

The purpose of this annual observance is to bring about public awareness of chiropractic care and its relationship with the neuromusculoskeletal system and to promote the many health benefits of chiropractic care. 
ACA members can create a Spinal Health Month campaign in their own communities by using the tool kit on ACA’s Web site (www.acatoday.com).  The toolkit contains an official Spinal Health Month proclamation, a sample press release to send to your local newspaper, a sample radio ad spot and a sample Spinal Health Month newspaper ad slick.

International Chiropractors Association

Dr. Dan Murphy is ICA’s New Vice President

World-renowned educator and spinal trauma expert Dr. Daniel J. Murphy has been elected to fill the position of ICA Vice President by the Board of Directors of the International Chiropractors Association.  This senior leadership position was left vacant by the recent loss of Dr. Fred H. Barge, and was filled during a special meeting of the ICA Board in mid-August. 
Dr. Murphy is a 1978 graduate of Western States Chiropractic College and, since 1982, has been on the faculty of Life Chiropractic College West.  He also maintains a busy practice in Auburn, California.  One of chiropractic’s most articulate and effective spokesmen, Dr. Murphy appears on platforms around the world speaking before chiropractic as well as other professional groups.  Dr. Murphy pioneered the postgraduate education process for chiropractic management of spinal trauma.  He has given over 800 12-hour seminars on this vitally important clinical subject and is universally acknowledged as the chiropractic profession’s expert on this topic.  Dr. Murphy has also written extensively and served as an expert witness in defense of chiropractors on countless occasions.
Dr. Murphy has been actively involved in ICA’s programs for nearly twenty years and has been repeatedly recognized for his service on behalf of the ICA, including “Chiropractic Educator of the Year” in 1987 and 1991, and “Researcher of the Year” in 1995. He has also been recognized through numerous “Clinical Science Faculty Awards” from Life Chiropractic College West and as the 1997 “Carl S. Cleveland Jr. Educator of the Year” by the International Chiropractors Association of California (ICAC). 

World Chiropractic Alliance

ICA, FSCO to Join WCA for Summit Legislative Day

In 2004, for the first time in history, three major chiropractic organizations–the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), International Chiropractors Association (ICA), and Federation of Straight Chiropractors and Organizations (FSCO)–will gather together for a demonstration of chiropractic unity and influence.
The historic assembly will take place on Thursday, April 29, 2004, as the kick-off event of the World Chiropractic Alliance International Summit 2004.  Members from all three organizations will take part in a one-hour political “pep rally” before meeting with Senators and Representatives either singly or in state-wide contingents.

WCA Lobbies for Federal Research Grants

The WCA has retained Michael Fulton, Executive Vice President of Golin/Harris International, to help secure federal funding for a multi-year chiropractic research study that will further validate the need to expand the role of chiropractic in the US healthcare system.  The WCA campaign included giving testimony at the US Senate Appropriations Committee hearings on “Health Care Access and Cost Containment Strategies.”
Following the hearing, Committee staff members were given draft language that was later incorporated into the final report to the Fiscal Year 2004 spending bill funding the US Department of Health and Human Services.  Fulton said the testimony and report language are part of a comprehensive campaign building a case for $1.4 million in federal funding for the research study.
For more information on the World Chiropractic Alliance, visit www.worldchiropracticalliance.org.

For centuries, homeopathy has been safely and successfully used to treat a plethora of common conditions associated with pregnant and nursing women.  Not only does homeopathy assist in treating the mother during pregnancy or nursing, but it also enhances the health of the unborn or nursing child as well.  I have let my pregnant and nursing patients know that we are actually treating two for the price of one!
Homeopathy is a therapy that works gently and safely, yet is restorative in its deep-working actions.  It has proven to be highly effective for many of the common health conditions of pregnancy, including:

• Morning sickness,
• Miscarriage prevention,
• Toxemia,
• Varicose veins,
• Hemorrhoids,
• Assistance with a safer, healthier, and faster delivery, and 
• Assistance with a safer, healthier and faster recovery.

Dr. James Tyler Kent, the father of American homeopathy, said, “A pregnant woman is more sensitive to the indicated (homeopathic) remedy than at any other time….  The physiological functions are more active and, because great changes are occurring throughout the whole organism, the remedy has a much better opportunity to do its work.”

The amazing truth is that the very best possible time to treat a woman homeopathically is during pregnancy.  It appears as though the new life growing within her brings out unique symptomatic communication patterns to express a woman’s specific needs for certain homeopathic remedies to maximize her health as well as the health of her baby.

Pregnancy has become known as a time predictions are useless and all the rules change.  Interestingly, though, the significant changes observed in the pregnant mother are often key indicators for the treatment of her developing infant’s needs.

Like chiropractic, homeopathy activates the appropriate, innate communications of the body, and is more strategically related to chiropractic than any other protocol.  In fact, homeopathy corrects nerve interferences throughout the whole nervous system where the hands of the chiropractor cannot reach.

Miscarriages

Homeopathy has been remarkably effective in the correction and prevention of miscarriage.  If a patient displays symptoms of a potential miscarriage, homeopathy should be quickly implemented with dosages as often as every half-hour during the symptomatic stage.  This patient should be seen frequently, and reflex response tests employed as a key to discover the correct remedies, administer optimal dosages, and maximize results.  Actually, the best time for treatment of a patient with a history of miscarriage(s) is before she tries to become pregnant.  This is a good time for a proactive approach to begin working with related homeopathic remedies.  Remedies to be considered and tested will include:

• All detoxification and drainage remedies
• Constitutional remedies
• Female reproductive related remedies
• Any symptomatic specific related remedies

Miscarriage is a very sensitive and traumatic experience for parents—especially the mother.  Working as an adjunct with standard medical procedures—even though they often have very little to offer in most cases—is always helpful.

Children and Newborns

Again, homeopathy has the proven safety profile for confidently and effectively treating both children and newborns.  Pure water-based homeopathic products provide the purest base for the purest form of medicine—homeopathy.  Newborn babies and children are much more safely treated homeopathically, without the traditional stabilizers of alcohol-, sugar-, or glycerin-based products.

People on multiple medications

This issue of conflicting medications has become a primary problem for healthcare providers, as well as a major concern to patients.  Homeopathy is the only health protocol that has demonstrated through its time-tested record to have no known negative drug interactions.  The practice of homeopathy is the only approach that can make this claim.  It is, literally, the safest healthcare practice on the planet!

Proven Safety of Homeopathy

Homeopathic medicines are made from official homeopathic ingredients monographed in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States.  This is the official US governmental compendium that recognizes homeopathy as being the only 100% safe therapeutic product.  All ingredients have been reviewed for efficacy, toxicology, adverse effects and clinical use.
For over 200 years, the safety and therapeutic potential of homeopathy has been widely acknowledged and accepted in the vast global perspective.  In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports homeopathy as the second most widely used medical modality for primary healthcare worldwide, allopathic medicine as a distant fourth.

The FDA drug monitoring process does not reveal any significant instances of problems with homeopathic drug products, thus establishing a positive safety profile.  The historic time-tested safety records and results of homeopathy are unprecedented in the history of all medicine.

In over 200 years of clinical use, homeopathy has had no recorded side effects, no known negative drug interactions, no contraindications of any kind, and is also proven to be non-habit forming.  This time-tested safety profile applies to pregnant and nursing woman, children and newborns, as well as people on multiple medications.

Due to the strong and rightful warnings from the Surgeon General and the medical profession, expectant mothers are obviously concerned about consuming substances during pregnancy that could harm the developing baby.  While homeopathy has distinguished itself by becoming the first to ascend to the status of an all-natural drug product registered with the FDA, homeopathic products are required to use the standard over-the-counter warnings required for allopathic products on their label.  These warnings are aimed primarily at alcohol, coffee, and drugs, but they encompass herbal and nutritional supplements and homeopathic products as well.  Pregnant or nursing women are encouraged to seek the advice of a healthcare professional before usage.  Fortunately, as a healthcare professional, a chiropractor can confirm the safety of using homeopathic products during pregnancy and nursing.

Dispelling Common Concerns

Why is homeopathy so safe compared to other natural products like nutrition and herbs?  Nutrition, herbs, and drugs work from a bio-chemical perspective.  Homeopathy, with its serial dilutions and successions commonly beyond the molecular level, works more from a bio-energetic perspective. Homeopathy functions subtly, but deeply, within the inner energetic control mechanisms of the body to correct interferences.  And, although more corrective and curative, it does not force itself upon the body as a bio-chemical substance that must be dealt with.  A subtle energetic substance can be either accepted or rejected by the body.  For example, the cellular, satellite, radio, and TV waves in our atmosphere have no function within us; only those things programmed to accept these wavelengths will receive them.

Can a homeopathic medicine hurt you?  Some people may notice certain temporary symptoms from taking a homeopathic.  I call these symptoms good symptoms—evidence that your body is working to eliminate certain toxins that may be causing health problems.  Homeopathy functions to express our natural health potentials rather than to suppress symptoms.

New Testing Procedures

The use of bio-response tests (kinesiology, leg length, electro-acupuncture testing, etc.) provides confirmation as to which homeopathic products are needed or not needed by the individual.  With the highly individualized healing art of homeopathy, these tools are of paramount importance for the practitioner to take homeopathy to a more effective treatment level and proactive level of prevention. 

Frank J. King, Jr., is a nationally recognized researcher, author and lecturer on homeopathy.  In addition, Dr. King is the founder and director of King Bio Pharmaceuticals, a registered homeopathic manufacturing company dedicated to completing chiropractic destiny with the marriage of homeopathy.  Dr. King offers, complimentary to all Doctors of Chiropractic, his turnkey procedural system for the high volume practice called, The Chiropractic Enhancer systemÔ (CES).  It is so easy to use that you can successfully apply homeopathy in your practice using any company’s products in one day. Call King Bio Pharma-ceuticals, Asheville, N.C. 1-800-543-3245 or e-mail: [email protected].