Consider the following quote:

While it is easy to get more and more frustrated with some of the things occurring in the profession it is not so much protestations such as this that upset me. Rather, it is the lack of action on the part of chiropractors who are supposedly principled, subluxation based, dynamic, etc but they do nothing about the reality facing the very style of practice they hold so dear.

Recent surveys indicate that the vast majority of the profession wants to retain the vertebral subluxation perspective and finds it central to their practice and professional identity – yet the majority of these practitioners are passive and apathetic when it comes to supporting the research that is needed to advance this perspective. They do not belong to the professional associations that exist to support them and they seem unconcerned about the reality that the direction of the profession is away from this perspective.

All too often, chiropractic is criticized as an “unscientific” discipline, lacking empirical research to validate the assertion that vertebral subluxations have an adverse affect on the human nervous system, on general health and well-being and by extension, society as a whole.

Unfortunately, this criticism is not taken seriously by the leadership of the profession – especially the faction of the profession that should be on ultra high alert regarding this issue - the subluxation based portion of the profession. A leader in the profession recently wrote the following regarding how to eradicate the widespread opposition to chiropractic: 

“…the chiropractic wellness lifestyle will prove itself, especially if we get the right people to pay attention.”

In over 100 years the chiropractic wellness lifestyle has not proven itself other than to the less than 7% of the population using it. Making matters worse is that the percentage of the population that are seeking chiropractic services is decreasing – not increasing.  This is occurring at the same time that enrollment in chiropractic colleges is down 40% and while other professions are encroaching on our turf.

Chiropractic is not going to prove itself – a concerted effort must be made to demonstrate the health benefits that chiropractic imparts to individuals and to society as a whole. And that effort must be research based. Once the research supports our contentions then we can get “the right people to pay attention.”  Anything else is a fairy tale.

So just who is actually doing something to provide the needed evidence we are in such desperate need of? 

The Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research has been providing a home for such evidence for a decade now.  JVSR is a peer reviewed, indexed, scientific journal that began publication in 1996. The journal is indexed by the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), MANTIS, and by the Index to Chiropractic Literature.

The Editorial Board consists of a number of well respected and world renowned researchers, academicians, medical physicians, chiropractors, attorneys and health policy experts. The Board includes individuals who have worked within the National Institutes of Health, the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, the Department of Anatomy at Harvard Medical School. It includes a contributing author to the AMA Guides for Permanent Impairment, the discoverer of the opiate receptor, an Oxford Scholar, current and past Directors of Research at chiropractic institutions, several current and former faculty from chiropractic institutions, and two former chiropractic college presidents.

JVSR has published groundbreaking research in chiropractic including the largest study ever conducted in the history of the profession and the first study of its kind to link positive health outcomes with the chiropractic lifestyle. Other research in JVSR has included:

• Improved DNA repair following long term subluxation based care
• Improvement in depression following subluxation reduction
• Improved fertility following subluxation based care
• Improvement in MS and Parkinson’s following subluxation based care

And there is much more. Just a cursory review of the abstracts in JVSR https://www.jvsr.com/abstracts/abstracts_index.asp  reveals a treasure trove of data on the vital role of subluxation in health care.

Upcoming original research articles in JVSR include the following topics:

• Autism
• Immune function
• Diabetes
• Battered Women
• Addiction
• Non Synaptic Messaging
• EEG
• Asthma
• And many, many more…

If you are currently a subscriber to JVSR – thank you for supporting such a vital resource. If you are not a subscriber – become one today. http://www.jvsr.com/subscription/index.asp

As always I look forward to your feedback, comments and suggestions.

Dr. Matthew McCoy editor@jvsr.com
Editor – Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research
http://www.jvsr.com/

References
1. Murphy, DR, Kowalski, M,  Perle, S, Ierna, G, Wyatt, L, Hammer, W,  Schneider, M, Vincent, R,  Hyde, T, Liebenson, C. Dynamic Chiropractic
September 1, 2005, Volume 23, Issue 18