In September 2009, Parents Magazine, with a worldwide circulation of 2,055,000, published, on page 210, an article on chiropractic and children. The article was a well-written prose about the benefits of chiropractic for children. It included what some concerned MD’s had to say vs. what chiropractic offers and what treating chiropractors had to say. Surprisingly enough, it was a very balanced article with two of the biggest problems being that there is not enough evidenced-based care in our profession and one had to be wary of the non-credentialed chiropractor.
Back in the 1980’s, I studied with Dr. Larry Webster and cared for children by the 100’s weekly, along with pregnant patients. Many patients were referred to me by midwives and, in fact, I was successful in helping the body right a “breeched” baby in 6 out of 6 cases. Did that make me an expert? The answer is no. It made me experienced, but I lacked the credentials through formal training in understanding, and three hours with Dr. Webster did not make me an expert.
When the public looks at you, what they will see is D.C. and that stands for a lot. However, what Parents Magazine wrote, “LACKING CREDENTIALS IS A RED FLAG: Look for a practitioner who has a Diplomate certificate in pediatrics (with the letters DICCP after their name).”
Credentials are critical and we are now hearing this from the mass media along with organized medicine, because they do matter. They matter because we need to learn more to become better at what we do without compromising the correction of the subluxation.
In the 1980’s, my biggest mistake was not caring for those breech cases. It was not working with a team to document my care and create a research program around that care. That is evidenced-based care and is where we need to be if we are going to care for 95% of the population vs. only 5% of the population that we currently care for.
If you treat children with ear infections, there needs to be a program to document it, so that we can have a vast amount of scientific evidence. According to the Parents Magazine article, that is the #1 reason that medical doctors are wary to refer. There is too much serendipitous information and not enough hard evidence.
I have hard evidence. I have 28 years of patient files that prove chiropractic works…. It’s not enough. There are peer-reviewed research publications like JMPT and a new one about to be launched from the American Academy of Medical Legal Professionals called JAAMLP. These types of publications are a big part of the solution for us, as a profession, to move towards caring for 95% of the population.
I have previously written about organized medicine and I can finally say that the individual medical doctor is searching for more answers and desperately needs our help in a team approach to healthcare. As a rule, MD’s are in agreement with a drugless approach first, drugs second and surgery last. We just have to give them the scientific validation of what we have been shouting for 114 years and the floodgates will open, bringing patients into our offices.
The first step for each individual doctor, as I have said before, is to ensure that your credentials are memorialized in a “living” document called curriculum vitae (CV). This is the formal avenue for the world to see you. Parent’s Magazine, along with the rest of the public, understands that credentials are critical in determining who should care for their families and your CV is the correct vehicle to properly display your credentials. As I have previously shared with you, you can go to www.uschirodirectory.com for a free CV builder.
Both the ACA and the ICA have pediatric programs. Other entities have numerous courses. Each course you take should be a part of a formal program that has been approved for continuing education, so that it has been scrutinized by a state licensure board and is admissible when added to your CV.
We, as a profession, should also start recognizing specific conditions that respond to chiropractic care and tie in to current research projects to give the evidence that is needed to support what we do. I urge each of you to contact the chiropractic colleges and ask to be directed to the research department for direction. Contact the research journals or create your own research program. We need more evidenced based conclusions about what we all know; chiropractic works!
The time is now…95% of America needs us to do this and they are getting sicker because we are not moving fast enough.
Dr. Mark Studin is the President of CMCS Management which offers the Lawyers Marketing Program, Family/MD Marketing Program and Compliance Auditing services. He can be contacted at www.TeachChiros.com or call 1-631-786-4253.