New Coalition Organized to Defend Chiropractic Independence

According to a newly formed coalition, chiropractic is in danger of being taken over by a group of medically oriented chiropractors and organizations who are trying to change the very nature of the profession, and in the process minimizing the profession`s unique role in health care and possibly placing the public at risk.

Founded as a drug-free health care system more than a century ago, chiropractic focuses on the normalization of nerve function through correction of subluxations, or misalignments, in the spine. Doctors of chiropractic focus their attention on locating these subluxations and correcting them, not on treating medical conditions. This makes chiropractic a unique service that does not duplicate medical care or attempt to replace medical care.

The Chiropractic Coalition — founded in November 2002 by three major chiropractic organizations, the International Chiropractors Association (ICA), the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), the Federation of Straight Chiropractors and Organizations (FSCO)  — cautions that several rogue groups are trying to position chiropractors as quasi-medical doctors, unnecessarily and irresponsibly blurring the boundary lines between the professions and confusing the public.

"There is a role for medicine and a role for chiropractic," stated Dr.Gary Horwin, president of the FSCO. "Medical doctors cannot do what chiropractors do since they don`t have the appropriate education or training. The reverse is true as well."

The Coalition specifically referred to the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) and the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) as two of the groups, which were overstepping their authority in an attempt to control the direction of the profession.

"These groups, which are by no means representative of the tens of thousands of doctors of chiropractic active in the United States, are trying to change educational requirements and state licensing statutes to allow, and even require, chiropractors to diagnose and treat diseases and medical conditions, at the expense of the focus on chiropractic`s unique procedures," noted ICA President Dr. D.D. Humber. "Public interest in and demand for subluxation care is growing, and their needs and concerns must be chiropractic`s first priority."