Work for Progress

In chiropractic, there is a saying: chiropractors are the only people who, when threatened by an outside force, circle the wagons and shoot inward. Not a week goes by that I don’t hear something about finger pointing and bickering concerning a “chiropractically correct” point. Hence, shooting inward. Chiropractors are some of the most complex and interesting people I know. No matter what motivated you to enter into this fine profession, I believe that by choosing to be a chiropractor, you are strong in spirit and an independent thinker. Chiropractors are accustomed to standing up for their professional lives—we are fighters by nature. As my father, Kenneth E. Yochum, DC, used to say, “It’s no wonder chiropractors are somewhat gushy—we’ve had lots of people shooting at us over the years.”

This strong-in-spirit-and-independent-thinker business is terrific individually, but not so great when it comes to our profession. Gather a group of chiropractors in a room and the number of differing opinions will be the same as there are people present—sometimes more! But one thing we do have in common as chiropractors is that we are dedicated to caring for our patients.

Only one out of 10 people in America visits a chiropractor. Why? Because the other nine do not know about chiropractic. What can we do to put aside our differences to further chiropractic?

I was invited by Kent Greenawalt [CEO of Foot Levelers Inc, (a Chiropractic Products advertiser)] to join the newly-formed nonprofit Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (FCP). The purpose of FCP, of which I am one of the six-member board, is to get the word out about chiropractic. I am honored to serve by helping to spread postive messages to those other nine who do not know about chiropractic.

The nationwide campaign targets those future nine out of 10 patients by having news briefs, articles, and interviews about chiropractic appear in all consumer magazines and the top 100 daily newspapers. The FCP is working with one of largest independent public relations [PR] firms in the nation to place pro-chiropractic news stories in the hands of the general population. The PR firm investigates potential opportunities, and then we work with them to see whether we can provide interviews or information for news stories.

This is a tremendous opportunity to increase postive media exposure. People will be exposed to chiropractic benefits while reading the newspaper with their morning coffee or while perusing a magazine before retiring for the night. Then perhaps just one out of the nine will pause and think, hmmm, I need to visit a chiropractor. Imagine what this means for our profession!

But this is not something we can do ourselves—we need the support of the chiropractic profession. Without solid research and case studies, articles and interviews will be subject to skepticism and criticism. FCP is collecting case studies that demonstrate the health care benefits of chiropractic, and you can help by contributing case studies.

Since we do not know what journalists will ask for, we are looking a wide variety of case studies about chiropractic success stories. We hope to collect a large database so we can respond to any media query.

Our goal is to see 24 pro-chiropractic articles in the top consumer publications this year. When these are published, we will send them to every chiropractor in America, who can use the articles for patient education, or even have them framed to hang on the office walls.

So, let us begin shooting outward and shoot for the stars!

Terry R. Yochum, DC, DACBR, Fellow, ACCR, is director of the Rocky Mountain Chiropractic Radiological Center in Denver, adjunct professor of radiology at the Southern California University of Health Sciences (formerly LACC), Los Angeles, and a skeletal radiology instructor, Department of Radiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver.

For more information about FCP, contact: Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, PO Box 12611, Roanoke, VA 24027; 800-553-4860.