“Our illustrious father placed this Chiropractic trust in OUR keeping, to keep it pure and not sullied or defamed. We pass it on to you unstained, to protect as he would also have you do. As he passed on, so will we. We admonish you to keep this principle and practice unadulterated and unmixed. Humanity needed THEN what he gave us. You need what we NOW give you. Out there in those great open spaces are multitudes seeking what YOU possess.

The burdens are heavy; responsibilities are many; obligations are providential; but the satisfaction of traveling the populated highways and byways relieving suffering, prolonging lives, adding millions of years to lives of millions of suffering people, will bring forth satisfactions and glories with greater blessings than you think. Time is of the essence. May God flow from ABOVE-DOWN His bounteous strengths, courages, and understandings to carry on; and may your Innates receive and act on that free flow of wisdom from ABOVE-DOWN, INSIDE-OUT; for you HAVE in YOUR possession a sacred trust. Guard it well.”

On the 4th of May 2019 Dr. Marcus Chacos reminded the audience at The Philosophy Symposium Seminar of these words.

Whenever I hear them I get chills.  Chills that I have been gifted a purpose that is so much greater than me! A gift that has the potential to unlock and unleash the greatest healing power in man.  To unshackle the innate intelligence that governs and controls the body, allowing it to fulfil its function of restoring health, unencumbered.  Yet I often feel burdened that I am just not doing enough. Not having enough impact on the profession. Not successfully assisting to navigate the turbulent times we are facing.  Our current landscape scares the Shit out of me.  Restrictions on accessibility,  practice types,  payment plans, marketing, communication just to name a few. As a profession we live under the overbearing laws we are required to uphold. We are silenced, and our ability to impact our community is being robbed. It SUCKS!

But I want to make sure that everyone understands that it sucks more for those that may never engage with a chiropractor. That may never hear the story of Chiropractic. That may get swept along by the mainstream medical model without a realisation that they had an alternative! An option that just may have helped, that may have prevented an unnecessary surgery or drug that may leave them struggling to regain their health.

The Hippocratic Oath has one of its first principles – “primum non nocere” – First do no harm.  Whilst I do not blame most individual doctors for not recommending people to chiropractic. I am regularly informed that many people are discouraged from attending a chiropractors care with the headline “ohhh I wouldn’t go to the chiropractor” or “whatever you do don’t go to the Chiro for this they will …..(fill in the negative blank)”

So not blaming the GP’s for recommendations is a small issue, what else has influenced the current state of play?  The Legislation of the profession is certainly a key player. Restricting testimonials and stories of Chiropractic success is one issue. Driving science agenda’s of EBP is another issue. Expecting Chiropractic to play by different rules than medicine with Informed consent and patient centred care is another. But by far the biggest issue I believe is the delusion of the message of Chiropractic.

Our associations and foundations trying to stay relevant in the medical model has led to our profession attempting to justify its existence in the EBP model and focusing on treatment of Musculoskeletal issues.  This has created confusion in the eyes of the public as we now seem no different to physiotherapists and massage therapists.  We have allowed our association to change our lexicon to appease outside pressures. We have sat idly by whilst they have redefined Chiropractic.  We have failed to stand up for individual practitioners who have been targeted by medicine. We have lost our rights to discuss health topics and yet we seem to consistently curtail to other agenda’s

Where did we go wrong?  and where to from here….

Is it a worthwhile cause too refocus on what we do?

What we grew our profession on in the early days?

It’s our philosophy that is central to this.

For me…Creating The Philosophy Symposium was driven out of a want to unite a tribe around a common, tangible topic, that should be the centrepiece of every chiropractors purpose. Building on ideas and concepts developed through the ACP was a great spark at a time when the Dynamic Growth movement was winding down.  The need to fill this void became paramount.

But we need more… More engagement more growth, more people contributing, more discussion, more advancement.

More of everything essential to our Philosophy.  So I am excited to inform you that I have been building a membership site to assist in this cause.  Included will be the majority of the video presentations from the Symposium from 2018 and 2019.  A blog to initiate discussion, and a podcast where I will conduct interviews to help deliver a more consistent feed of philosophical information to help grow and expand our profession.  To assist in allowing the members of our profession to thrive and represent chiropractic for the future!

I need your help though…

Please sign up. Please recommend friends and colleagues to join this movement.  I can’t wait to make a greater difference with you by my side.  Where hopefully we can more successfully guard our sacred trust!

Thanks

Brad Atkinson.