Support ChiroWatch.com
HealthWatcher.net

If you would like to support our efforts to educate the public about the serious problems that face the chiropractic industry today, ChiroWatch is now available for your donations. Whether you have been injured by a chiropractic manipulation, scammed by one of their bizarre methods or gizmos, or told that your child should never get their shots, you now have the chance to help us continue this valuable free service.
  • Click here to make a donation

  • We also receive support when visitors to our site place an order with VistaPrint, which offers high-quality business cards and other custom printed items at reasonable prices. Customers can obtain them in 30 styles or can choose from among hundreds of other styles in which their logo or another graphic can be included.
ChiroWatch blocks



Amazon books
Amazon Chiro Books

Families Against Abusive Chiropractic Treaments
FAACT
Stop chiropractic neck manipulation!
Canadian regulations must be changed!
Laurie Jean & Lana Dale Memorial Moratorium
April 30, 2004 - Across Canada press conferences were held by the families and their supporters to demand an immediate stop for all chiropractic high neck manipulations. The chiropractic regulators across Canada have failed to voluntarily halt this useless and dangerous procedure. There have been two inquests that found that the chiropractors were at fault. There have been numerous lawsuits over the years, and yet the procedures continue with the blessings of chiropractic associations and regulators. Governments that cover chiropractic still pay for this procedure. The families are supported by pediatricians, neurologists, and other experts who have seen the chiropractic regulators dance around any thought of meaningful self-regulation.
  • Press release - April 30, 2004
  • Go to Chiropractic Neck Manipulation Page on ChiroWatch for more
  • ChiroWatch Hot-links
  • Chiropractic anti-vaccine
  • Chirowatch Bulletins
  • CCO Newsletter
  • Chiefs of pediatrics

  • Why do you need ChiroWatch.com?
  • What do Chiropractors say?
  • Contact us
  • Search the web for Chiropractic News

  • ChiroWatch blocks

    Must Read!!


    cover

    U.S. orders only - AmazonAmazon.com
    U.S.

    Canadian orders - Chapter.IndigoAmazon.ca
    Canada


    Spin Doctors
    The ChiropracticIndustry UnderExamination

    Paul Benedetti
    Wayne MacPhail


    Canadians visit chiropractors about thirty million times a year, and surveys show that patients are generally satisfied with them. But Paul Benedetti and Wayne MacPhail have another opinion. Their hard-hitting CANOE.CA web site called Spin Doctors I & II were instrumental in educating the public about the excesses of some chiropractors. This book took years to write, and it is a must read for anyone who plans to go for chiropractic treatment, or who pays for insurance that covers it.


    cover
    Inside Chiropractic

    Sam Homola, D.C.
    Stephen Barrett, M.D.


    A practical guide that explores the facts and falsehoods of chiropractic. Homola is a retired chiropractor and author of a dozen books. He shows that, despite claims to the contrary, chiropractors do not qualify as primary-care physicians. He analyzes patient-education materials, gives self-examination tips to help consumers with back pain to decide if and when to see a chiropractor, and analyzes questionable techniques used to attract and treat patients.


    This is Sam Homola's latest book. What a relief to find a book that is an honest appraisal of how to treat the aches and pains of everyday living. If you are high on chiropractic, then this book should be on your shelf. Dr. Homola practiced for years as a chiropractor and his knowledge is based on those years of practice. Order it today
    coverThe Naked Chiropractor
    Insider's Guide
    to Combating Quackery
    and Winning the War
    Against Pain

    Dr. Preston H. Long

    Dr. Preston H. Long is THE expert. Consumers trust Andrew Weil for reliable information about alternative medicine, Dr. Bernie Siegel for inspiring words about mind-body connection, and Dr. Dean Ornish, for practical ways to keep their hearts healthy, but who the recognized authority on back care and the limits of chiropractic medicine?


    Delta Recliner
  • Recliners
  • Office Chairs
  • ChiroWatch Discussion

    When it comes to the latest chiropractic news turn to ChiroWatch.com. We deliver the news that you may not be able to find on the average chiropractic web site. Whether you're troubled about your loss of insurance coverage, legislation that effects your own practitioner, insurance fraud, or scandals about chiropractic education you can be sure that we will try to cover it.



    it's private

    Chiropractors talk amongst themselves

    The best of chiropractic discussion groups


    Chiroweb.com
    Dynamic Chiropractor's Hot Topics

    • Young chiropractic student has real issues:Hi all, Here is some interesting news that I recieved from the front lines back home. I was aware that numbers were changing, but I certainly wasn't aware of the magnitude. Basically what I read was that the number of chiros in Ontario over the last 3 years increased 20%, while the number of patients rose by just 0.7%. Further information revealed that this has been a steady trend for the last 10 years with the number of DC's increasing by 70% and the number of patients rising by only 21%. Of course this article went on state that the income is down and costs are up... yada yada yada. As I look around, this seems to be a trend in the entire profession. So, are you worried as a student,and/or as a DC? I must confess I am. Here I am in school, feeling like I'm having the wool pulled over my eyes by misinformed professors who wear rose coloured glasses. Trust me, I don't want to be a complainer, or a doubting Thomas, but this concerns me. I'm busting my b***s ( a great new york expression!) to get good marks, I'm living in borderline poverty to avoid graduating with an insurmountable debt load, (I forsee "only" $55K thanks to savings, family, lifestyle, and a job) for what? So, I'm done lamenting. Now I want to know something. Are other people feeling like me? Is there a solution? Look forward to your feedback.

    • Quackery in Chiropractic
    • - 1991
      Dear Editor:
      The recent editorial suggestion (Dynamic Chiropractic, January 18, 1991, p. 22) that American Chiropractic Association (ACA) President Charles F. Downing, D.C.'s letter to "Dear Abby" has "picked clean the last vestiges of doubt about chiropractic and 'quackery'" is absurd. The so-called "quackery myth about chiropractic" is no myth. If anyone doubts the continuity of quackery in the profession, he has only to turn to pages 31 and 35 of the same issue of Dynamic Chiropractic.

      On page 31, Dynamic Chiropractic has published Dr. Robert E. Connolly's advertisement for "my proven psoriasis treatment" and his unsubstantiated claim that "psoriasis can be cured" by his methods. Dr. Connolly also notes that his cure will increase doctors' income substantially. He offers several testimonials to buttress his therapeutic claims. Page 36 reveals that James F. Dorobiala, D.C.'s Ten Minute Cure for the Common Cold has made it to the Motion Palpation Institute's (MPI's) "Preferred Reading and Viewing List." This "difinitive work" on "The Cure and Management of the Common Cold" is available for a mere $75.

      Wow! Cures for psoriasis and the common cold. Sure sounds like Nobel Prize winning stuff. A search of scientific sources (Chiropractic Research Abstracts Collection, Index Medicus), however, paints a very different picture. My scan of the literature reveals no experimental evidence from Drs. Connolly or Dorobiala to substantiate the wild claims made in these advertisements. Rather, these advertisements amount to for-profit promotion of unproven health remedies and thereby clearly meet the criteria1,2 of quackery.

      I pick on Drs. Connolly and Dorobiala because their advertisements so clearly amount to "quackery" that they are easy to document. But the kernels of quackery (i.e., unsubstantiated and untested health remedies offered as "proven") are ubiquitous in this profession.3,4 I dare say that health misinformation (if not quackery) can be found in just about any issue of any chiropractic trade publication (and some of our research journals) and much of the promotional materials chiropractors disseminate to patients. the recent unsubstantiated claims of the ACA are exemplary.

      "Chiropractic procedure not only corrects athletic injury but also enables your body to operate at peak efficiency without the use of drugs or medication" (ACA pamphlet #ST-3, 1990) and,

      "Chiropractic is a drugless, non-surgical method of procedure which has been proven effective for improving performance" (ACA pamphlet #ST-4, 1990.

      Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of this tradition of unsubstantiated claims is that those chiropractic remedies which may, in fact, be helpful to patients (i.e., safe and effective) go untested and discredited because of the profession's willingness to promote them with nary a shred of experimental evidence.

      It escapes me entirely how Dr. Downing, the ACA, MPI, and Dynamic Chiropractic can suggest that there is no quackery in chiropractic. Either these groups and individuals do not read the chiropractic literature or have no crap-detectors. I urge a reconsideration of advertising and promotion policies in chiropractic.

      References

      Jarvis, W. "What Constitutes Quackery?" NCAHF Newsletter 1989, July/August: 4-5.

      Pepper Committee. "Quackery: a $10 billion Scandal" U.S. House of Representatives, Comm. Pub. 1984; No. 98-435.

      Keating, J.C. "Making Claims." Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT) April 1988; 11(2):75-7.

      Keating, J.C. "Traditional Barriers to Standards of Knowledge Production in Chiropractic. Chiropractic Technique September 1990; 2(3): 78-85.

      Joseph C. Keating Jr., Ph.D.Associate ProfessorPalmer College of Chiropractic/WestSunnyvale, California 

    Subject: Parker seminars in Las Vegas
    Posted by: ZephryDC
    26 Jan 2004

    Okay, I wanted to wait a week to cool my jets before I went off, (and this forum seems like the best place to gripe). I've never posted to one of these boards, but what I saw and experienced at the Parker Seminar in Las Vegas last week prompted me to post a few thoughts.First, did any of you attend that circus? My goodness, what a joke!! I wasted roughly $1,000 in travel/hotel/food expenses for four days of complete and utter garbage!!

    This was my first experience with the vaunted Parker Seminars and I want to puke. I have NEVER been embarrased to be a chiropractor - until now. I've always taken my profession's critics with a grain of salt, but if any of them attended that freak show, they'll have tons of ammo now!

    1. Each and every single speaker who was supposed to help either grow a practice or share their wisdom, instead created a nice little 40 minute infomercial. Tony Robbins would have been proud! It's one thing to advertise speakers who can help grow a practice...it's entirely another to have those speakers shed zero light on what can help and instead refer you to a, "system I've spent 15 years developing and can now be yours for the low price of $1,400."

    2. Jim Parker is dead. Yes, he died. Many years ago, as a matter of fact. Isn't it time to put a new face on the profession? Why he was the face for so long boggles even my usually open mind, but this little Cult of Jim Parker is creepy and needs to go away.

    3. Fab. Fab. Fab. Whew. What exactly qualifies that 39-year-old guy to be the president of one of the largest chiropractic colleges? Where is his credibility coming from? He's charasmatic, yes. He's smart, yes. He has a nice vision, yes. BUT he's not an academician...at all. All he talks about is love this, and love that. Why not talk about research this, and research that. (Oh, did anyone catch Dana Carvey's look when Fab dropped his guitar? Priceless.)

    4. Who screens the vendors? Likely nobody. I saw more junk 'science' there than at a high school science fair. I must insulate myself from the rest of the profession because I just can't see how this "light" therapy mumbo jumbo works. And none of it was FDA approved. Whether chiropractors want to admit it or not, we can't keep saying some neat looking product works without proving it with science. Time to step up and peform science, not marketing.

    5. Hugs. If one more stranger comes up to me and gives me a passionate hug, I'm breaking one of those necks we're supposed to fix. I am all for tactile healing and such. I'm not into man-hugs (except very close family). Ever.

    6. There were maybe 10 CA's in attendance who looked like they could add three and four and get seven. Most looked like they were right off the set of a porno movie. Why do DCs insist hiring on slutty looking CAs? Whatever happened to professionalism in the office and finding people to act as a professional representative of a practice? No wonder some DCs fail...they're worried about appearances more than effectiveness. Overheard at the Hilton bar: "Man, your CA is a cutie." Reply, "Yeah, and she's a hell of a bang." Niiiiice.7. Course offerings. If you want to call it a self-help marketing seminar, I'm fine with that. That's what it was. But the VAST majority of classes had nothing at all to do with healing or adjusting or science. They had everything to do with pumping people in and out of the door. I don't run a spine mill, I run a legitimate mid-volume practice. Treat me as such. My goal in life is not to adjust 2,000 people a week. It's to provide adequate care to my patients. I make a fine living financially, but to tell me I should focus on success instead of patient care is an insult.

    Whew...okay, that's enough for one day.

  • Search archives Chiroweb.com
    Dynamic Chiropractor's Hot Topics

    Subject: Re: Palmer College Disappoints
    Posted by: Timothy A. Mirtz DC on Saturday, 16 October 99, at 10:42 a.m.
    In response to: Re: Palmer College Disappoints,
    Posted by: habadashary on Saturday, 16 October 1999, at 10:25 a.m.

    So you are stating that the chiropractic "philosophy" and chiropractorsshould consider the dynamics of tectonic plate movements, earthquakes,erosion, weather phenomena, etc.? And these things have to do with thechiropractic "philosophy" as it deals with the Innate Intelligence theory ofthe body?

    To understand the natural world would not one have to utilize thescientific method? And does not the chiropractic "philosophy" failmiserably with the works of empiricism? How can vitalism beascertained through the scientific method?

    Does not the understanding of the natural world require the use ofreductionism? Does not the understanding of the natural requireobservation of the material which can be studied by the senses? If this isthe case how can we study an immaterial form such as Universalintelligence and Innate Intelligence?


    Re: To all you student loan whiners
    Posted by: Dr. Mike on Tuesday, 12 October 1999, at 12:17 a.m.

    Dear Dr. Bill:

    I agree with much of what you have stated. However, I respectfully disagree with your cause and effect relationship regarding the grim current state and future demise of chiropractic being the result of "heads in asses" and or all of the other causes you cite. Research, validity, unionization, interprofessional harmony, chiropractic politics and association division are all inconsequential when weighed against the power and devestation created from insurance reform. No level of organization in our profession could have changed the course of the insurance industries goals.

    Nothing, we as a profession, could have been done to prevent this change in the insurance industry. You are correct that the AMA does recognize this problem, but they too have no control. The allopath has been squashed by the changes and they seem to have all the elements in place you have noted that we don't. Nearly all MD's have experienced major reductions in their income, as well as, working much longer hours. Collectively, they are very mad and depressed with the changes.

    Unfortunately, not all aspects of business are controllable.


    Subject: In defense of Mirtz and Sinberg
    Posted by: Samuel Homola, D.C. on Thursday, 7 October 1999, at 2:42 p.m.

    Glad to see that some of our practitioners are openly criticizing the chiropractic profession, telling it like it is. Many of the offices and publications of the chiropractic profession are ridden with quackery and cultism. Until enough chiropractors speak out against a plethora of nonsensical chiropractic diagnostic and treatment methods, changes will be slow and the profession will continue to represent fringe healing that attracts dingbat "alternative healers."

    Unfortunately, the chiropractic profession is not very receptive to criticism. The idea that criticism of chiropractic will "destroy" the profession is ludicrous. Without appropriate criticism, the chiropractic profession will never define its limitations or attain the credibility it needs to earn reciprocity with the academic and professional institutions that represent medical science in this nation.

    The fact that we are beginning to see more criticism expressed and published by chiropractors is a good sign. The work of chiropractic educators like Craig Nelson, D.C., of Northwestern College of Chiropractic, Joe Keating, Ph.D., of Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, Robert Cooperstein, M.A., D.C., of Palmer College of Chiropractic West, along with the discontent expressed by practicing chiropractors like Tim Mirtz and Josh Sinberg, offers hope that the profession will eventually recognize its shortcomings enough to do something about them.

    My book "Bonesetting, Chiropractic, and Cultism," published in 1963, was not reviewed in any chiropractic publication until 1990 when Dr. Joe Keating reviewed it in the January 3 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic. My article "Finding a Good Chiropractor," published in the January 1998 issue of Archives of Family Medicine, was never mentioned in any chiropractic publication. To date, my book "Inside Chiropractic" has been ignored by chiropractic journals.

    Without the collective work of a number of chiropractic professionals likeNelson, Keating, Copperstein, Mirtz, and Sinberg, a single voice would be only a cry in the wilderness.

  • Chiropractic OnLine - 1998 Highlights

    A few highlights you might enjoy about Sid Williams:Those men are all millionaires today and Sid Williams is a self-described multimillionaire. He has built an empire on his belief inchiropractic - "Rigor mortis is the only thing we can't help" - and onhis conviction that good chiropractors will be wealthy. "Just imagineyourself ultra, ultra rich and wealthy," he tells the audience at hismotivational seminars. "Picture piles of money everywhere. . . . Grab ahandful. . . . Feel it and say, mmmmmmm-MONEY!"

    About student loan default:

    The college has the highest rate of student loan defaults in the country -former students owe more than $28 million in principal and interest onfederally backed loans.Akron chiropractor Chuck DuVall, a member of thereformist wing of the profession:He views chiropractic exclusively asa tool for treating back and neck pain. Of Williams' brand ofchiropractic, he says, "It is like a religion. It's the first church ofthe holy subluxation."Is his chiropractic a religion?Sid Williams speaks - On medical doctors: "I'm looking forward to the day when it's announced25 done it today . . . jumped off the Peachtree Plaza . . . 25 M.D.scommitted suicide because of a failed theory."

    Ex-Life University student sounds off:

    I graduated fromLife in "88". There were 120 in my entering class- and about 75-80 graduated on time. I don'trecall any of my basic science classes deteriorating into philosophy sessions. We never had a 30/1student to cadaver ratio.

    I guess we went to the same school but in a different era. I never claimedto be a fan of Sid. In fact I personally have little respect for the way he allows his croonies to runthat school. His former son-in-law was a JOKE. This JOKE was perhaps the single worstinstructor at the school when I was there. But I can also say that throughout my education, I havehad instructors who had no business being in front of the classroom.

    And like you, I also agreethat there were students admitted that had no place in college, let alone a "professional" program.

    But I believe that is the nature of the beast- as long as our schools remain inn private hands theywill receive no state funds. Instead, they must rely on tuition. Student loans fuel this tuition.

    I alsofeel that the 8 week pre-professional chem. classes are a sham. Years ago Palmer and TCC startedtheir own JC's to meet the increasing CCE pre-professional demands. I feel that a part of thesolution would be to seriously up the entrance requirements, limit enrollments- or at least makeenrollment competitive. Stop hiring new grads as instructors, and pay the faculty a fair wage so asto encourage a higher level of person to want to teach at the Chiro schools.

    But dispite all that Ihave said, I still believe that an education is what you make of it, and I will still defend my Lifeeducation against that of any other college. For personal reasons I just refuse to donate penny oneto the school. Perhaps when all of the short-comings are repaired I will reconsider.
    Docfitness
    - Thursday, December 24, 1998

    ATTENTION: CLASS ACTION SUIT IN PROGRESS AGAINST LIFE COLLEGE

    I am an alumnus and intend to sue Life College for deficient education. Life is not licensed by anyoverseeing board so any complaints must be suits directed against them. The entire concept ofsubluxation is bogus and our education is deficient. If you would like to be included in the suit.

    Please email me at: challenge14@hotmail.com
    Thanks,
    GER
    - Saturday, November 14, 1998

  • Current Chiro-Online Discussion

  • Chiro-Online Messages

    Posted by Daniel Keane on April 10, 1999:

    I am writing in response to Dr. Allegra complaint about an ABC sitcom apparently discrediting the chiropracticprofession.

    I don't believe the population is to blame for the entrance requirements being so low. Why don't weplace blame on schools that will let just about anybody attend as long as they've got the money.

    Before I wasaccepted into the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (which is an incredibly competitive school) I lookedat many of the American schools. I thought it was the same down there as it was here in Canada (i.ecompetitive)

    Wow! It is really scary.

    There are many schools that would let you in with a C average out ofUniversity. Who exactly does this exclude!! No wonder we've got so many shammers in the profession.

    Here in Canada the profession has so much more respect than in the U.S. the people know that the schoolshave university affiliation (University of Quebec) or are close to it (York University).

    This poses a problem withcompetitive schools because we have hundreds of Canadians that are not accepted here in Canada that flockdown to these pathetic schools and then wonder why they fail our board exams when they try to come backhere to practice. In some cases up to one third of American schools are filled with Canadians. These peopleenjoy the benefits of the respect they get in Canada's chiropractic profession without earning it in their owncountry.

    These schools must love these stupid Canadians that come running with their chequebooks ready.



  • HealthWatcher.net
  • Canadian Quackerywatch
  • HealthWatcher.net
  • ChiroWatch.com