Chiropractic Forms: Fill & Download for Free

A scam artist is someone who purposely sets out to defraud. In the case of Chiropractic, it is a bit complex. Bear with me, this is going to be a long answer…..It all begins with education. You see, Chiropractic was founded in the late 1800’s on the basis that bones that are “out of place” interfere with signals sent to and from the brain and visceral organs and this leads to all known diseases. These interferences are called “subluxations” and the only way to correct them is with Chiropractic adjustments. There are many many problems with this outdated theory and there is absolutely ZERO evidence to back up “subluxations” being the cause of everything from autoimmune disease to gastrointestinal distress to cancer, This theory should have died in the 1800’s. Unfortunately, several Chiropractic schools still adhere to this theory and perpetuate nonsense by indoctrinating their students, who then spread this to the masses. The schools that continue to do this are undoubtedly scamming not only their students but the public as well.This is where it gets a bit complex. Students who complete their education at the above institutions often become so brainwashed that they truly believe these theories. If one truly believes it, is it fraud or ignorance?Let’s go back to Chiropractic education for a bit. Many chiropractors assert that their education is equal to and even superior to that of Medical Doctors. This is not even remotely true, not even of the more evidence-based schools. The truth is that Chiropractic education is vastly inferior to that of MDs and DOs in regard to science. MDs complete not only 4 years of medical school, but additional training in the form of residencies and fellowships. There are no mandatory residencies upon completing the 4 year DC degree, you simply finish 4 years of Chiropractic education and are then release on to the public. SCARY! Another issue is that Chiropractic education varies widely from school to school, which is one of the biggest reasons for the divide within the profession. Some schools are rooted in philosophy ( the ones described above) and others are attempting to be more evidence-based. One thing that these schools have in common are their abysmal entrance requirements. If you have a pulse and $220k you can become a chiropractor. The other major issue is the rampant cheating that takes place at these institutions. If you fail a class, you can repeat it multiple times. You literally cannot fail out of Chiropractic school. Obviously, this leads to people who have no business operating as healthcare providers earning the title of “Doctor” and practicing on the public. This also explains why many who enter Chiropractic school are easily indoctrinated into false theories. These are the practitioners who urge their patients not to vaccinate their children. These are the ones who list all sorts of non-musculoskeletal health issues on their websites claiming that Chiropractic can help. These are the ones that claim Chiropractic can treat autism. These are the ones that try to take patients off insulin for Type 1 Diabetes. These are the individuals who operate outside of their scope of practice. This a public health issue that needs to be stopped. Truly the definition of scam!With all of that said, Chiropractic can be a godsend for people with musculoskeletal pain. I have met many brilliant individuals out there who practice Chiropractic. These people do countless hours of continuing education in rehab, evidence-based physical medicine and many of the modalities used by physical therapists. They perform comprehensive physical examinations, adjust judiciously, and refer to others when the patient’s ailment is outside their scope of practice. This is the Chiropractic that is not a scam.I have been practicing Chiropractic for 7 years and many of my colleagues can attest to the points that I have touched on in this answer. We can also attest to the fact that there is some movement toward adopting evidence-based practices within the profession and we are doing everything in our power to ensure that the philosophies of the past, stay in the past. We are pushing for Chiropractic education reform including; more rigorous entrance requirements, mandatory residencies, and adherence to standardized education requirements. If we can do these things, I think it will be possible to eradicate the scam artists that have plagued Chiropractic for decades.

Many people criticize chiropractic as being “unscientific”. However, chiropractic treatment has as much evidence of its effectiveness as most comon medical treatments, which is to say: relatively weak and ambiguous evidence. Given that there is an organized anti-chiropractic publicity movement, funded by mainstream medicine and extending from physician educational sessions taught in schools, to legislative lobbying groups, to websites, to people paid to post on Quora and other discussion groups, it is remarkable that chiropractic research has managed to achieve as much as it has.From the inside, I would say that chiropractic treatment's major flaws are as follows:1. It takes too many treatments to get results. 4-6 treatments for most patients to get good to excellent relief of symptoms like back pain, headaches, neck pain, or sciatic pain, and then another 10-15 treatments before the correction really "holds" and the patient can be tapered off of care. Since the patient has to be physically present for the chiropractor to treat him or her, it is not convenient for a lot of people and compliance can be very low.2. It is scary to many people. Since the patient is not anesthetized in any way (which is part of what makes chiropractic so safe, since anesthesia and sedation are one of the biggest risk factors in many medical procedures), people are fully aware of the manipulation. Attempts to develop techniques that don't involve "cracking", such as the Activator technique, usually result in a technique which takes more treatments to achieve the same result, thereby amplifying the criticism in 1.3. Chiropractors tolerate quackery in our midst. To give some background: almost since chiropractic care was officially founded in 1895, medicine has been trying to eradicate the profession. This activity reached its apex in the 1920s through the 1950’s, when chiropractors were jailed, some for many years, for practicing their profession. Organized medicine fought tooth and nail to prevent chiropractors from achieving licensure in each and every state; organized medicine fought and still actively fights to prevent chiropractic schools from receiving funding, accreditation, and research grants.As a result, chiropractors are very reluctant to point the finger at each other. There is this sense that we are a persecuted minority and so we need to watch each others’ backs. In medicine, this happens in the context of protecting incompetents or alcoholics or insurance cheats, but only if they appear outwardly to be toeing the orthodox line and practicing according to mainstream standards. However, in chiropractic, we tend to put up with the practitioner down the street who is doing some kind of “energy healing” or putting people’s feet in a footbath that “extracts toxins from the body”, or using some other kind of spooky-kooky, airy-fairy, lacy-spacey modality, and calling it chiropractic. Thus, you never know what you’re going to get when you walk into a chiropractic office.

In the true sense of the word popular, I would say that chiropractic care in Germany is not all that popular. There are only about 200 profesionally degreed chiropractors working in Germany. American doctors of chiropractic seem to do well here, but it is all relative. The doctor to patient ratio is so great that it is somewhat a novelty, but very few are seeing huge numbers of patients.Many Heilpraktike or Naturopaths, as well as orthopedists and other health professionals call themselves chiropractors. The education the typical Heilpraktiker receives in chiropractic is nearly nothing, six weekend course with minimal practicum. The orthopedists seem to get more of an education, up to 400 additional hours, but in something called chirotherapy, which is the equivalent to the old osteopathy. But they still refer to themselves or their treatment as chiropractic.Chiropractic in Germany is not recognized as a profession, but it is recognized as a technique; therefore you have this education gap and confusion in the industry. Nearly all professionals that profess to be chiropractors say that they are practicing American chiropractic as if that were actually a thing. It's like saying “American heart surgery”…what???Few Heilpraktike and few orthopedists in Germany see large numbers of chiropractic patients. HP's will charge between 5 and 80€ for a treatment, orthopedists who participate in the national healthcare system charge 5€ because that is the maximum that insurance will allow; however, private doctors charge up to 120€ for their services. An American D.C. will charge no less than 30€ for a treatment, but I have not seen one charge more than 80€ for a treatment.We need more American D.C.’s, but there are some major hurdles to overcome in order to practice here. You must become ultra fluent in German to pass your Heilpraktike test, or you must work with either a Heilpraktiker or orthopedist. This, of course, increases your costs which are already quite high due to the high income tax rates and excessive rents.