The Dream Becomes a Nightmare…
Imagine if MLK, Jr.’s dream had been subjugated by a wave of young African-Americans more bent on making money to the point they sold out his principles of equality in order to cash-in and be more socially accepted to the racist status quo.
Do you think the Kanye West tirade in the White House proclaiming himself a Trump sycophant would make MLK, Jr., roll over in his grave?
Indeed, how many steps backwards would it take to see MLK, Jr.’s dream become a nightmare to the majority of his followers?
On a similar note, today classic chiropractors find the same nightmare with the ‘new’ ACA jumping into bed with medical sycophants who denounce the mainstay of what made our profession great—classic chiropractic protocols and principles of care based on a century of practice-based evidence with millions of real patients.
Certainly the outstanding research now promoting SMT as a front-line treatment for the worldwide pandemic of LBP speaks for itself. Instead of defending our great results, the ‘new’ ACA has turned-coat by jumping into bed with our enemies and sponsors such as the Laser Spine Institute promoting “widespread misconceptions” such as the ‘bad disk’ fallacy to lure gullible patients into futile fusions. We’ve all seen their misleading ads on TV.
Just where is the ‘new’ ACA’s push-back on this surgical band-aid solution to LBP?
We see the ‘new’ ACA choosing unwisely with other unscientific concepts promoted by non-practitioners and research ‘pin-heads’ in academia to suggest we field doctors should not use spinal xrays; instead they prefer we use nonspecific analysis and nonspecific treatments for nonspecific LBP—another step backwards in our professional de-evolution.
I can imagine BJ Palmer is also turning over in this grave, along with Gonstead, Pettibone, Pierce/Stillwagon, to name a few of the many developers of our Art.
The days of real leadership in the ACA defending classic chiropractic care are long gone. No longer do we have leaders like Jerry McAndrews, Lou Sportelli, Mike Pedigo, Mike Flynn, Rick McMichael, Daryl Wills, Jim Edwards, Jim Mertz, to name just a few who fought the good fight to defend our profession from the hateful AMA.
Instead, today in the ‘new’ ACA we have nondescript leaders (can you name the present prez of the ACA?) gaslighting our profession who have capitulated to the medical mindset in order to be acceptable.
Today the ‘new’ ACA is filled with supporters of Uncle Tom rather than MLK, Jr.
The ‘new’ ACA’s Pledge of Professional Values clearly states its white flag of surrender:
“I treat fellow members with courtesy and respect while embracing a collaborative approach and Attitude toward other health care professionals that moves the organization, and the profession, forward.”
I wonder if the AMA is embracing a similar “collaborative approach” to acknowledge the value of SMT or the role of DCs as POE for spine-related injuries. Of course they haven’t, instead we see chiropractors who have taken the bait and swallowed the hype in order to follow the money…
Indeed, the ACA has lost its backbone to keep up the good fight against the “widespread misconceptions” and “outdated models of care” we see in medical spine care, such as opioid painkillers, ESI, and spine surgery that has been accused of “leaving more tragic human wreckage in its wake than any other operation in history.”[1]
Nonetheless, enjoy my Declaration of Independence in “I Have a Dream, Too.”
Keep up the Good Fight,
JCS
[1] G Waddell and OB Allan, “A Historical Perspective On Low Back Pain And Disability, “Acta Orthop Scand 60 (suppl 234), (1989)