GAZETTE Tampa Bay Gay and Lesbian News

By Dewey Davis-Thompson
In late January, the Board of Governors voted 10-3 to turn down Florida State University's plan for a chiropractic program, the first public chiropractic school in country. The "No" vote followed a long struggle and rekindled the debate regarding "MD" versus alternatives. Med-school professors reportedly threatened to quit, and tired epithets of "Voodoo quackery" wagged in the hot air of protests.

The value of chiropractics, however, cannot be muddied by such ignorant sputterings. Truth and success are in the numbers, and according to the St. Petersburg Times "Florida has more chiropractors per capita than the national average and needs 108 a year to keep up with demand." Fortunately, "a new, private chiropractic college near Daytona Beach is expected to produce 188 graduates per year by 2007."

Indeed, chiropractic care has become so successful and so valuable that it cuts into the bottom line for traditional medicine, and that is where the real problem lies, according to Dr. Scott Barry, a Tampa chiropractor.

Twenty-odd years ago Dr. Barry was on track to become an MD at premed school in Columbia, South Carolina. He found the curriculum to be mechanical and competitive with "a lot of talking about conditions and diseases and no discussion on patients and healing. It did not click with me." Over summer break he met a chiro student who introduced him to an alternative. "What drew me to chiropractics was understanding that there is more to the human body than just a mechanical frame. Chiropractics is a field that accepts the fact that there is more to human existence than that."

From the Greek, "Chiros Practicos" translates as "done by hand" and the practice always includes touching the patient to move bones and protect the integrity of the nervous system. The brain, spinal cord and nerves are the controlling system of the body. It is so intricate that if you were to remove every other part of the body and just leave the nervous system, the person would still be recognizable! Chiropractors work to keep the human body's internal network online and healthy.

A modern field of study, chiropractic adjustment was "discovered" in 1895, when it was still common for medical doctors to use blood-letting as a method for curing disease. Dr. Daniel David Palmer was an alternative healer from Canada who moved to Iowa and began to experiment with chiropractic techniques, specifically working with the bones of the spine and moving them to relieve pressure on the nerves. Legend says his first patient was Harvey Lillard, a janitor who had bent over 17 years previously, heard a pop in his neck and progressively lost his hearing. After his first adjustment it was said he could hear the trolley cars in the street below.

Dr. Palmer's insights and achievements attracted others to join in his line of research. Today there are many schools offering doctorates in the science, art and philosophy of chiropractic. The science includes serious research into neurology, biochemistry and how the nervous system affects the body in different ways. The art of chiropractic involves effective personal interaction with individual patients. Like massage, chiropractic adjustments are done by hand, and every practitioner and patient is unique. The quasi-religious philosophy of chiropractic expounds a universal power that runs the body via the spinal cord. Chiropractics clear up the pathways for the universal power to work with the inherent healing powers of the body.

In only 100 years it has become the largest drugless healing profession in the world, and that is where the problem came in with the medical profession. "Chiropractic has boomed," says Dr. Barry, "and has started to become competition for the medical field, taking away patients [and their money] who would otherwise seek out a medical doctor for back pain or headaches."

Court battles inevitably ensued. In the 1980s, five chiropractors challenged the American Medical Association with an antitrust lawsuit. They claimed that the medical profession had actively tried to eliminate chiropractitioners for political and financial reasons alone, reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with the health of the patients. After 11 years the chiropractors won their lawsuit. The AMA was found guilty of "illegally immorally and unethically trying to eliminate a field for political and financial gain."

Outside of the courtroom it appears a truce is forming between "traditional" and "alternative" paths. "In my opinion," said Dr. Barry, "chiropractics is just one of many healing arts that work with the inherent recuperative powers of the body. Medicine is incredible and needed, surgeons sometimes should step in to repair things."

A person's overall health requires several complimentary approaches. Chiropractors sometimes recommend surgery or physical therapy and many orthopedic and neurosurgeons send patients to chiropractors on a regular basis, either as an alternative to surgery or for follow up care. "This huge battle that goes on between med and chiro is all about competition for health care dollars and nothing to do with the health of the patients."

FMI click here or call 813-254-5200 or 813-874-2646.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR presented by the Tampa Bay Business Guild

LINKS

Are You Registered to Vote? It's easy! Click Here!

AIDS Memorial Bells

Tampa Bay Business Guild

Metropolitan Charities/Metro Center

gaystpete.com

Tampa Bay Lesbians

Equality Florida

National Center for Lesbian Rights

Winter Pride Tampa Bay

St. Pete Pride

queertampa.com

King of Peace MCC

First United Church of Tampa

Gypsy Productions

Team Tampa Bay

Una Voce