today's chiropractic leadership

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Today’s ChiropraCTIC

deCember 2013/January 2014

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2 Today’s ChiropraCTiC leadership n deCember 2013/January 2014

contents December 2013/January 2014

Features8 tipping Point The Octagon completes

Its First Five years

16 How chiropractic can reach the Tipping Point

20 costa rica by craig Dekshenieks

24 It’s My LIFe Sprinting Toward Success by Laura newsome

35 connect-tIc Telling chiropractic’s Story by Gwyn Herbein

40 What If? The Safety Question and Pediatric chiropractic by Gerry clum and Drew rubin

46 The Science, art, Philosophy and business of chiropractic by craig Dekshenieks

coLuMns

48 We’ve Known all along by rebecca Koch

50 PoliTIcal Thots by Gerry clum, D.c.

DePartMents

30 alumni Spotlight

32 upcoming events

56 What People are Saying

In eVerY Issue

4 Our contributors

6 The road to awesome

38 Fresh air

54 classifieds and advertising Index

VOLume 42 n nO. 6

35

46

450 Northridge Parkway, Suite 202,

Atlanta, GA 30350

Phone: 770.650.1102 n Fax: 770.650.2848

todayschiropractic.com

life university

President Dr. Guy Riekeman

Director of Communications Craig Dekshenieks

[email protected]

eDitOriAl revieW BOArD

Simone Branham Dr. Gerry Clum

Craig Dekshenieks Dr. Jason Dietch

Dr. Kathryn Haag Dr. Matt McCoy

Dr. Guy Riekeman Dr. Drew Rubin

neW sOutH PuBlisHinG, inC.

President Larry Lebovitz

vice President John Hanna

Publisher Jamie Ryan

editor Gwyn Herbein

[email protected]

Associate editor Jacqui Frasca

Art Director Katja Adams

Advertising sales Colin Villone

[email protected]

Production Coordinator Amber Mosler

Circulation Coordinator Amy Fine

Controller Marilyn Walker

eDitOriAl POliCy

Today’s Chiropractic Leadership magazine (ISSN 0091-2360) is published six times per year by New South Publishing, 450 Northridge Parkway, Suite 202, Atlanta, GA 30350. 770.650.1102; Fax: 770.650.2848. Postmaster: Send address changes to Today’s Chiropractic Leadership, 1269 Barclay Circle, Marietta, GA 30060-9854.

It is the purpose of Today’s Chiropractic Leader-ship to nurture the spirit, mind and body of today’s chiropractors. Our goal is for the magazine to be a spearhead for progress in chiropractic health care, to offer a forum for new ideas and to pro-mote chiropractic awareness and understanding. However, the publisher and editorial staff do not necessarily endorse the conclusions or opinions expressed by contributing authors or advertisers.

Life University, a private, nonprofit institution, was founded in 1974. For more information, write to Life University, 1269 Barclay Circle, Marietta, GA 30060.

Material in this publication may not be reprint-ed without written permission from the editorial offices in Marietta. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2013–2014 Life University. Printed in the USA.

Gwyn HerbeinA native of Knoxville, Tenn., Gwyn Her-bein is a graduate of Emory University with a degree in creative writing and women’s studies and a graduate of Emerson College in Boston with a mas-ter’s degree in magazine publishing. She has worked in the consumer and medical publishing fields in Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

In “Telling Chiropractic’s Story,” (pg. 35), Herbein looks at the unique ways in which LIFE is using the strategies put forward by marketing guru Seth Godin. “It was so interesting to look at someone outside the profession whose philosophy is often simpatico with Life University,” she says. “Godin’s ground-breaking approach to marketing, and the ways in which LIFE has tailored it to Chiropractic, is really pushing the profession forward and into the main-stream.”

Laura newsomeWith degrees in English and magazine journalism, Laura Newsome is a pro-fessional freelance writer living in the heart of New York City. A contributor to Today’s Chiropractic LifeStyle since its inception, Newsome has written for numerous publications on topics as di-verse as health care, business trends, history, music, food and travel.

As a high school distance runner who logged her fair share of 400s in practice, Newsome was able to ap-preciate the depths of Zoila Stewart’s talent, training and tenacity (pg. 24). “I have never interviewed an Olympian before, so it was exciting to speak with Zoila about her experiences in Barcelona and Atlanta—both Games I watched with great enthusiasm grow-ing up. The Olympics have a remark-able way of bringing countries together, and I think Zoila Stewart really exem-plifies the Olympic spirit. Through hard work and dedication she elevated the profile of Costa Rica before the world’s stage, she elevated Life University’s sports program with first-place perfor-mances at national competitions and now she is doing the same thing for Chiropractic as she brings her beloved profession back home to Costa Rica.”


our contributors

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It’s Only 18 Percent

Life University has started a project to exact a tipping point in the social culture that would arguably make Chiropractic a household word. I asked an audience of 400 the other day how many of them didn’t have a dentist … five hands went up. I have always dreamed, as I’m sure you have, of the day when we get the same response to the question, “How many

of you don’t have a chiropractor?”I’ve spent my life focused on delivering Chiropractic to the public with the technologies avail-

able. Lectures to patients in my office in Kansas City in 1973, videos with movie stars in 1979, a television documentary for the Chiropractic Centennial in 1995 and, today, the greatest medium for connecting people … social media (the Internet).

The project we’ve initiated and have handed over to the profession is called 18 percent, indi-cating the percentage of people that need to hear our story to hit Roger’s famous Tipping Point. The technology we use is called AmpLIFEied, and you can read more about it and your role in this edition of TCL. There is much to do to make this happen. There are all sorts of arguments about why it won’t work and who could have done it better, but the truth is no one did and at some point you have to start, learn and adapt along the way. The details are deep and com-plex, but the answer and goal is simple …

…20,000 chiropractors sign up for the free web page, AmpLIFEied, where there exists the richest source of free vitalistic chiropractic information ever available to share with your patients starting today. We’ll get the 20,000 TORS signed up over the next three years.

…Your commitment is to sign up 1,000 patients on your social media networks like Facebook over the same three years. This is critical to build the NETWORK.

…In three years, I will make a powerful exposé on Chiropractic, and we want to hit 63 million people with our message (18 percent of the U.S. population).

…Here’s the math: 20,000 DCs x 1,000 patients each = 20 million interested people. Let’s say that just five of the 1,000 patients in your practice send it on to someone else (this is very conservative), we now have hit 100 million people with the chiropractic story. And with this network built up, we can do it daily.

We already have more than 2,000 docs signed up in the first eight weeks. I posted a short video the other day for docs to use, and in 48 hours it already had 126,000 views. We’re on our way … JOIN AmpLIFEied TODAY AND START SHARING THE STORY.

And to the naysayers, something from author and cultural change guru, Seth Godin…

It PrObably lOOks HIgHer FrOm UP tHereWhen we find ourselves on the edge of a precipice, looking down at the depths of the chasm below, it’s easy to think that this time we went too far, that our plan is far too risky, that our prod-uct is way too bizarre, that our behavior is just too weird … The funny thing about perspective is that most bystanders don’t see you standing on a precipice at all. They see someone doing something a little edgy, but by no means nuts. Just about all commercial behavior is banal. Even in movies that deal with businesspeople, the characters don’t dream nearly big enough about one’s ability to change the culture or the enterprise.

You’re far more likely to go not-far-enough than you are to go too far.Internal monologue amplifies personal drama. To the outsider, neither exists. That’s why our

ledge-walking rarely attracts a crowd. What’s in your head is real, no doubt about it, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us can see the resistance you are battling (or care about it).

Something

New … Or

If You Ain’t

Pissing Some-

one Off, You’re

Not Doing

Anything to

Challenge the

Status Quo

the rOAD tO Awesome


tipping Point

In the early 2000s, Life University President Guy Riekeman, D.C., ar-ticulated his vision for a broad-based think tank to be developed at Life University to allow the University it-self, as well as the chiropractic profes-

sion, to be more directly involved in “the great conversations of our time.” The Oc-tagon, as envisioned by Riekeman, would serve to advance dialogue on campus, in the chiropractic profession, in health care and in the community at large related to the University’s Eight Core Proficiencies:

n Integrity & Citizenship; n Relationship & Communication

Theory/Skills; n The Philosophy of Human Existence

& Health Care Policy; n Leadership & Entrepreneurship; n Belief Systems & Performance;

n Learning Theory & Critical Thinking; n Contemporary Scientific Paradigms; n Integrative ChangeThroughout much of the history of

the chiropractic profession, our infra-structure, including our educational environment, has been directed toward survival. The need to direct attention and resources to challenges before us left little for us to use to build ourselves, to refine our thinking and to engage others in our hopes and dreams for the future. The Octagon was created as a community of scholars, academics, researchers, practi-tioners and fellow travelers who would seek to provide Life University and the chiropractic world with a vehicle and re-sources to conduct the dialogue needed.

One of the first challenges of The Octa-gon was determining where to jump in, as

each of the eight areas of emphasis of the University could easily be the life’s work of teams of participants. After careful reflection and much discussion, the entry point appeared to be clear—the perspec-tive on life and health that underpinned all of the activity of LIFE itself—an ex-ploration of contemporary vitalism and its role in society.

The inaugural event of The Octagon involved a multi-national, multi-dis-ciplined panel of experts to begin to explore and hopefully articulate the current status and implications for con-temporary vitalism. The leadership for this effort, as chosen by Riekeman, was Stephen Bolles, D.C.

Bolles, an articulate and thoughtful chiropractor with a background in chi-ropractic practice, chiropractic educa-

in his book “The Tipping point,” malcolm Gladwell explores the magical moment when an idea, trend or behavior crosses a threshold and begins to spread like wildfire. Through its initiatives, programs and

curriculum, Life university is furthering Chiropractic in the world and taking it to the tipping point.

The Octagon Completes Its First Five Years

Today’s ChiropraCTiC leadership n deCember 2013/January 2014 9

tion and healthcare administration, was a superb choice to initiate the conferences of The Octagon in 2009. Under his guid-ance, the conferees began a process of critical evaluation of the nature and role of vitalism in the 21st century. This dia-logue was an essential starting point for the entire process. The proceedings of the 2009 Octagon Conference can be down-loaded at LIFEOctagon.org.

In 2010, The Octagon focused on im-plementing the recommendations devel-oped in the first iteration of the confer-ence. Again this work involved a select group of academics, clinicians and schol-ars who continued the dialogue on vi-talism in our times. The proceedings of the 2010 Octagon Conference can also be downloaded at LIFEOctagon.org.

2011 saw some important changes

in the activities of The Octagon. Ger-ry Clum, D.C., recently retired from the presidency of Life Chiropractic College West after 30 years in office, was appoint-ed director of The Octagon by Riekeman. From this point to the present, Clum and Bolles have continued their efforts on behalf of The Octagon. In addition, 2011 also saw a content shift within The Oc-tagon, with an exploration of contempo-rary scientific paradigms related to the principles and practice of Chiropractic. Arguably, the leaders in research in Chi-ropractic were recruited and brought to Life University for the first seminar-ori-ented presentation of The Octagon. Heidi Haavik, D.C., Ph.D., of the New Zealand College of Chiropractic; Jay Triano, D.C., Ph.D., of Canadian Memorial Chiroprac-tic College; and Christine Goertz, D.C.,

The OcTagOn was creaTed as

a cOmmuniTy Of schOlars,

academics, researchers,

pracTiTiOners and fellOw Travelers whO wOuld seek TO prOvide life universiTy and

The chirOpracTic wOrld wiTh a vehicle and

resOurces TO cOnducT The

dialOgue needed.

The 2013 octagon conferees


Tipping Point

Qui ipsanis eostior

emolupti ipis sum sunt parum corumQuatur, Quatius volo

beriberiam et as Quid Quam fugit

fuga.—Name Name, D.C.

Ph.D., of Palmer College of Chiropractic were joined by luminaries in the fields of epigenetics and human potential—Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., and Joe DiSpenza, D.C. The program was rounded out by a presentation from Nobel candidate Ray-mond Damadian, M.D., the inventor of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and Scott Rosa, D.C., on chiropractic specific applications of Damadian’s weight-bear-ing MRI technology.

In 2012, Clum and Bolles continued their collaboration to bring a thorough overview and exploration of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to the chiropractic community. This program brought more than a dozen content specialists on various aspects of the Affordable Care Act to The Octagon. The 2012 Octagon Conference proceed-ings on video are available at no cost at LIFEOctagon.org

The 2013 version of The Octagon used the March 2013 report of the Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF) entitled

“Chiropractic: 2025” as a seed document and point of reference for an invitational conference on Sept. 12–14 on the cam-pus of Life University and resulted in recommendations for the adoption of a “Health Charter” (paralleling the Earth Charter), the development of a journal to advance scholarly activity related to the field of vitalism and the development of professional qualities and attributes of

vitalism oriented practitioners regard-less of discipline.

The annual Octagon conference, chaired by Clum, brought together rep-resentatives from several different fields interested in advancing the subject of vi-talism in their respective areas as well as in society in general. Clearly there was no intent for this conference to be exclusive-ly “chiro-centric;” rather, the goal was for it to be oriented toward the advance-ment of vitalistic perspectives in health care and the broader society and how this advancement would in turn impact the

various fields of health care represented.“The IAF report, released at the an-

nual meeting of the Association of Chi-ropractic Colleges, provided an ideal platform for this year’s Octagon effort,” says Clum. “The IAF again presented their findings related to the profession in their four-scenario format—one rather negative, one somewhat negative, one somewhat positive and one rather posi-

tive. The title of the most positive outcome envisioned by the IAF was ‘Vitalism and Value.’ The goal of our efforts was to explore what could be done to bring about the possible future envisioned in this scenario sooner and in a more ro-bust manner,” he adds.

The inclusion of “Scenario Four: Vitalism and Value” represents an important acknowledgement of the work of The Octagon as it is the first such reference in any of the three reports of the IAF ex-amining the range of possibilities they see for the future of the chi-ropractic profession.

The element that made the en-tire effort come together so effec-tively was the agreement of the Chairman of the Institute for Al-ternative Futures, Clem Bezold, Ph.D., to present his findings and rationale to the group and to then participate over three

days as a conferee.Leaders in disciplines that shared

this vision of “Vitalism and Value” were sought from several fields in health care, as well as from different perspectives in society, including persons experienced in policy development, research and, of course, futurists and included:

n Beth Clay, principal, Beth Clay Asso-ciates, Washington, D.C.

n Lucia Thornton, MSN, past president of the American Holistic Nurses Asso-ciation

n Pamela Snider, ND, director, Foun-dations of Naturopathic Medicine Project


n Stephanie Sullivan, D.C., Ph.D. (Cand.), director of sponsored research, Life University

n Martin Harvey, D.C., president, The Australian Spinal Research Foundation

n Craig Becker, Ph.D., associate profes-sor, East Carolina University

n Jim Rosenberg, D.C., director of chiropractic services, Cancer Treatment Centers of America

n Barbara Dossey, RN, Ph.D., co-di-rector, International Nurse Coach Asso-ciation

In reflecting on the backgrounds, ex-periences and personalities of the panel of invited experts Clum notes, “To some degree, each person came to the table thinking he or she spoke a different lan-guage, that his or her view of vitalism as it relates to healing was unique, perhaps even a little odd; however, it was imme-diately realized that we were all speaking the same language—the language of a vi-talistic perspective in health, health care and life in general. We each had our own terms and brought different nuances to those terms, but it was soon clear that we were all saying the same thing.”

This sense of shared experience and understanding was expressed by all of the conferees. Clay, a seasoned Washington, D.C., policy analyst and advisor, notes, “The Octagon 2013 event was a bit like a homecoming—spending time among friends and colleagues who share a life mission of advancing health and healing. It was rejuvenating and inspiring. I look forward to being a part of a strategy to advance the emergence of a unified phi-losophy of contemporary vitalism across the healing professions, academia, policy and practice.”

One of the more important break-through moments during the conference was a suggestion from Dossey to review the Earth Charter developed by the Earth Charter International based at the Uni-versity for Peace, a 30-plus-year-old effort mandated by the United Nations and lo-cated in Costa Rica.

Dossey’s direction was exactly what was needed, as the Earth Charter offered an ideal template to be adapted from a global ecology, freedom and justice com-mentary to a statement on health and health care. The Octagon 2013 conferees dubbed the derivative document “The Health Charter.”

The health charter preambleWe stand at a critical moment in our history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world and its communities become increasingly interdependent and potentially fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward, it is important that we recognize that

in the midst of a magnificent diver-sity of cultures, belief systems and life forms, we are one human family and one community with a common destiny. While respecting individual and organizational sovereignty and belief systems, it is important that we join together to bring forth a sustain-able healthy global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice and a culture of peace and prosperity.

Our Body, Our homeEvery human being is part of a vast, evolving universe. Our bodies and our homes are a unique expression of life within the broader community of life. The forces of nature and individual and organizational decisions make existence a challenging, exciting and uncertain adventure. We have been provided with the resources and the conditions essential to life’s advance-ment toward a better existence. The physical, mental, emotional and spiritual resilience of our beings and the well-being of humanity depend upon preserving and promoting a healthy biosphere with all its ecologi-cal systems, a rich diversity of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters and clean air. The finite resources of the global environment are a sacred trust and a common concern of all people as they protect and build the vitality, diversity and beauty of our very beings.

The dominant health care situationThe current emphases of health care focusing on pathogenesis as opposed to salutogenesis is serving to bring about an unsustainable intervention and consumption model that ignores the natural healing process and holds the potential for extremely adverse environmental impacts, the depletion of resources, a reduction in personal

“The OcTagOn 2013 evenT was

a BiT like a hOmecOming—spending Time

amOng friends and cOlleagues

whO share a life missiOn Of

advancing healTh and healing. iT

was rejuvenaTing and inspiring. i lOOk fOrward TO Being a parT Of a sTraTegy

TO advance The emergence Of a

unified philOsOphy Of cOnTempOrary viTalism acrOss

The healing prOfessiOns,

academia, pOlicy and pracTice.”

—Beth Clay, Principal, Beth Clay Associates


Tipping Point

responsibility and a profound de-pendency on pharmacology for the health of the species. The vitality and resilience of individuals, communities and economies are being under-mined. The benefits of health promo-tion strategies and diverse pathways to healing are not shared equitably, and the gap between those who have access and the freedom to utilize these strategies and those who do not continues. Economic uncertainty, injustice, poverty, ignorance, violence and conflict remain, leading to great suffering. The prevalence of lifestyle and preventable diseases and related suffering continue to escalate.

The challenges aheadThe choice is ours: create a global awareness of health and the elements that contribute to a better tomorrow or continue on the current path toward populations experiencing diminished health and shortened lifespans. Fundamental changes are needed to identify and implement values, institutions and ways of living to create and sustain this global awareness. We have the knowledge and technol-ogy to provide for all and to reduce adverse impacts on the environment by working equitably together with respect. The emergence of a global emphasis on health versus disease is creating new opportunities to build a stronger and more vibrant world.

universal responsibilityTo realize these aspirations—adopt-ing, teaching and promoting a sense of universal responsibility, identifying our lifestyle choices with our health circumstances as well as that of our local communities—is vital. We are at once individuals as well as citizens of different communities, states, nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked and interdepen-dent. We each share responsibility

for our present and future well-being as well as that of the human family and the larger living world. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life and humility regarding the human place in nature.

“The Health Charter has the potential to be a beacon, a North Star if you will, to be disseminated and adopted around the world as a statement of rights, respon-sibilities and direction for health care

in the future,” says Clum. “It is a stake in the ground that lays out principles of what should be available to patients, based upon patient-centeredness embracing all health enhancing disciplines and tradi-tions.” The Health Charter will be formal-ly presented to Riekeman with hopes that it will in turn be submitted to the Board of Trustees of Life University for adoption.

The second of the more quantifiable outcomes of The Octagon 2013 was the call for the development of a journal ad-dressing the unique perspectives of con-temporary vitalism in health care and beyond. Initial efforts are underway, evaluating everything from the costs of such an effort to the requirements for the journal to be appropriately indexed and recognized as a scholarly effort.

Finally, the need to bring focus and clarity to what is meant by the term a vi-talistically-oriented practitioner was ex-plored by the panelists. A working group was created to explore any precedents that would help inform this discussion and to develop an initial approach to the question.

Other outcomes of the 2013 Octa-gon effort were not as tangible but were equally potent. “The Octagon’s focus on trans-disciplinary vitalism work is a brilliant move, a unique initiative and is key to transforming the healthcare sys-tem,” observes Snider. “Health promo-tion (lifestyle, etc.) is easier to understand for our mainstream colleagues than to understand the nature of the life force, consciousness, the innate healing process and the ‘healing forces’ themselves. This is fertile ground for sophisticated work, which The Octagon is leading.”

“The forum created connections be-tween people with different professions but a common vitalistic perspective,” says the lone international representative, Harvey of Australia. “These connections and the outputs that come from them will impact research, clinical practice, public relations and public policy. All of this will lead to a greater level of use of

“The OcTagOn’s fOcus On Trans-

disciplinary viTalism wOrk is a BrillianT mOve, a unique iniTiaTive

and is key TO TransfOrming

The healTh care sysTem. This is ferTile grOund

fOr sOphisTicaTed wOrk, which

The OcTagOn is leading.”

—Pamela Snider, ND, Director, Foundations of Naturopathic

Medicine Project

LIFE VISION is a two-day shot ofhigh-energy, high-impact

inspirational and

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This is a series of presentations

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JOIN US FOR THE TIME

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Special Presentations:

The Power of theChiropractic Adjustmentwith Dr. F. Murphy& Dr. Michael HallFriday 9:30 a.m. - 12:30

Kim Klapp & Brandi MacDonald

Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.CA Breakout Program

President’s Luncheon withDr. Guy Riekeman

Saturday 12:00 noon - 2:00 p.m.

Questions? Call 678-331-4401 or email [email protected]

For a full list of receptions, gatherings, andour exciting itinerary of inspirational messages,

visit our website: LIFEVisionSeminar.com

2719 LIFE Vision TCL.qxp 12/7/2013 10:40 AM Page 1


Tipping Point

vitalistic practices by the people in our communities. My belief is that this can have a transformative effect on the health and happiness of our world.”

Next StepSR.W. Stephenson, D.C., Ph.C., in “The Chiropractic Textbook” delineated the “33 Principles.” Principle No. 6 states, “There is no process that does not re-quire time.” This has been true for The Octagon.

The Octagon has emerged over these past five years as a powerful inf luence capable of introducing new thinking as well as influencing current thought. From the initial vision of The Octagon articulated by Riekeman to the plans for The Octagon 2014, the potential for The

Octagon to serve as a vehicle of growth and reflection for the chiropractic com-munity and the broader community has emerged.

As a discipline, we have far too few opportunities and far too few settings that allow us to take a step back and to evaluate why, how, where and when we are contributing to the profession and our society in a broader context. We are very good at reactive behavior, but we need to change this circumstance and begin to take control of our destiny and delineate what we would like to see emerge. This is the hope of The Octagon. We need to bring our perspectives to the discussion and we also need the opportunity to ini-tiate those discussions from those per-spectives. We know the value to society of

seeing the world through another’s eyes. We need to bring a view of the world from our eyes to the world.

The heavy lifting of an effort like The Octagon involves getting people to share a common vision and to feel safe enough to explore how they interface with that vision. It is like the early days of a garden. It may not look like much other than a patch of dirt, but given the right tending, an adequate amount of resources and time, it soon yields its harvest.

The harvest of The Octagon is being realized in the projections of the Institute for Alternative Futures and in the out-comes of each of the previous Octagon conferences (LIFEOctagon.org), and it will continue to be realized with each suc-cessive conference and focus of activity.


Tipping Point

The proverbial “tipping point” was a phrase coined by best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell in his book by the same name. It is that magical point when an idea, product or service goes from a rare phenomenon to an unstoppable movement.

Consider smoking on airlines. It used to be that air-planes had a smoking section and a non-smoking section. As we all know, this is a rather ridiculous notion, since everyone is packed in like sardines in a pressurized, air-tight tin can—if there was a smoking section, it meant the entire plane was one big smoking section. But then one airline decided to ban smoking on their airline. It was an innovative concept that soon caught on, and people started demanding non-smoking air travel. Within months, all the other airlines followed suit. It went from an innovative concept to an unstoppable movement because it reached the tipping point. Before you knew it, smok-ing on all airlines had been banned.

Experts agree that we reach a tipping point at about 18 per-cent. That is, once the idea, product or service is adopted by 18 percent of a culture, in the blink of an eye, it becomes main-

stream. That is what Chiropractic needs—to reach the tipping point. Depending on who you ask, the percentage of people under regular chiropractic care is anywhere from 1–6 percent. How do we get to 18 percent and beyond? The answer is through social media.

The chiropractic profession has never had the funds, the infrastructure or even the cooperation to launch a meaningful, worldwide campaign to share the real message of Chiropractic. Social media solves the first two problems. Social media is essen-tially free, and the infrastructure is set up for us to connect with millions of people worldwide. Now we need to get together and solve the third issue.

perfectiNg the MeSSageOne of the great challenges the chiropractic profession faces is to agree on what the message should be. There are so many variations of practice styles, communication styles, terminolo-gy, philosophy, techniques and more. That has held us back in years past because chiropractors often felt territorial and would not support a campaign that did not represent their viewpoints

How Chiropractic Can Reach the

Tipping Point


Tipping Point


Tipping Point

exactly. Again, social media and new social media technologies offer a new solution to this old problem.

It would be nice to believe that the overwhelming majority of chiropractors can all agree on two things:

n Chiropractic is about the recognition and respect that all living organisms contain an innate intelligence to be self-orga-nizing, self-developing and self-healing.

n Vertebral subluxations interfere with the body’s abil-ity to function in its optimal state. A chiropractor is trained to identify and correct these subluxations.

This is the message that must be clarified and com-municated worldwide in or-der for people to embrace and demand chiropractic care for what it really is and not for what people have perceived it to be in the past, which is most often viewed as a limited service to temporarily relieve musculoskeletal conditions.

Today’s social networks and social media technologies allow us to communicate our story with people around the world, for very low cost in real time. For many, this shift in power is a dream come true. No longer can our message be blocked by traditional media outlets that previ-ously acted as gatekeepers. Today, anyone anywhere can create a video or take a photo, and it can spread worldwide instantly.

takiNg chiropractic ViralYou’ve probably heard about the “Kony 2012” video that had more than 100 million views within six days, making it the most viral video in history. This wasn’t just a random video that went viral on social media. It was a strategic campaign that took two years of planning in order to achieve its objective.

Joseph Kony is a warlord in Africa who is perhaps the world’s worst criminal and mass murderer, and he had been operating in virtual anonymity to the outside world. The maker of “Kony 2012” wanted to make him the most recognizable person on the planet, in the hopes of stopping his atrocities. But the filmmaker didn’t just make his 28-minute video and share it; he spent years creating the network that would allow it to be viewed by more than 100 million people within a week.

Chiropractic could also benefit from creating a network, so when we create our videos, graphics and messages, one click can mean the difference between reaching 20,000 and 20 million people or more. Chiropractic’s network is called AmpLIFEied,

and it is already taking shape. AmpLIFEied is the brainchild of social media authority Jason Deitch, D.C., and was created with support from Life University. “It’s working,” Deitch says. “In the very first month, AmpLIFEied has more than 1,400 chiroprac-tors, aka AmpLIFEiers, registered. The power of the network re-sulted in just under 10 million positive chiropractic social media impressions, and it’s just getting started.”

The impact of building a network of chiropractors com-mitted to sharing something positive about Chiropractic with their social network every day will impact our profession for years to come. Many be-lieve that the hyper growth of this network of chiropractors using AmpLIFEied’s free in-novative social media technol-ogy will be what brings Chiro-practic to its 18 percent tipping point and beyond.

get aMplifeiedHow does it work? It’s simple: You sign up, for free, to be part

of the AmpLIFEied network. Register at amplifeied.com and connect all your social media channels such as Facebook, Twit-ter, LinkedIn, etc. Connecting these channels helps maximize the timeliness of your message, as one post on AmpLIFEied gets shared with all of your social media contacts on all of your social media platforms with a single click.

When you register to become an AmpLIFEier, you have free access to an extensive library of great chiropractic social media content to be shared with your multiple social media channels with one click. You’ll receive points for sharing and can participate in the AmpLIFEied leaderboard competition to see who will be the loudest AmpLIFEier of the benefits of chiropractic care.

New content, such as social media optimized graphics, quotes, videos and more is uploaded to the library daily. Con-tent partners who submit fresh new posts for members to share daily include Life University, International Chiropractors Association, 100 Year Lifestyle, Educated Pregnancy, Arno Burnier, D.C., and more.

AmpLIFEiers also receive a daily AmpLIFEied Digest via email that automatically delivers to your inbox a summary of all new submitted posts so you can conveniently share directly from your email. AmpLIFEied has made sharing the message of Chiropractic with your community as simple and easy as could be.


But here’s the great part: If you don’t agree with a certain post or quote for philosophical or scope of practice reasons, you don’t have to share it. You can select something else from the library of content. It is the goal of AmpLIFEied to generate content that adheres to the two basic tenets of vitalism and detection and correction of the VSC. The larger picture is that the message of Chiropractic is delivered across the network. And once that network grows, the content gets seen by more and more people.

Think of reaching the 18 percent tipping point as a three-step process that includes:

n Finding or creating great social media optimized messages about Chiropractic.

n Posting something great about Chiropractic to your social networks every day.

n Building a growing audience of people who ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ your great chiropractic messages with their friends.

AmpLIFEied solves steps 1 and 2. The only thing left for chiropractors to put effort into doing is in building their local social networks.

MakiNg it Work“How do I get people to ‘Like’ my practice’s Facebook page?” is one of the most frequently asked questions. The answer is, give them a reason to. AmpLIFEied solves that by providing chiropractors with a rich library of great chiropractic content to share. Now chiropractors can say to patients/clients/members that you are committed to positively impacting as many people as possible in your community to live a healthy, happy life. The way you do that is by sharing something great every day that will some days inspire them, interest them, make them laugh, make them wonder or share with them ideas and solutions to raising a healthy, drug-free family. Then let them know that they can receive your daily posts by visiting your Facebook Page and clicking the ‘Like’ button.

You can have a day per week when you request that everyone pull out his or her smart device and “Like” your Facebook page.

You can leave an iPad or laptop on your front desk and invite people to log in and click “Like” in order to receive your daily dose of inspiration and love or however you want to persuasively describe what someone will receive each day when they connect with you on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. There are endless ways to let people know about the daily gift you want to share with them.

reapiNg the BeNefitSAmpLIFEied benefits both individual chiropractors in growing their impact and practice locally while also benefitting the en-tire profession by harnessing the collective power of the social network effect. Imagine 20,000 chiropractors each with at least 1,000 people connected to their practice’s social networks who are all committed to posting something great about Chiroprac-tic each and every day.

That’s the plan, and it’s simple and doable. Visit amplifeied.com and become an AmpLIFEier. Make the commitment to share something great from AmpLIFEied with your social net-

works, every day. Grow your social network by inspiring people to click “Like” on your practice’s Facebook page. You’ll be part of the chiropractic social network dedicated to changing the world for the better.

Want to be more involved? Then become an AmpLIFEier and invite your colleagues, associations you’re involved in, colleges you attended and coaches or practice management firms to get involved in AmpLIFEying the chiropractic story.

AmpLIFEied and the 18 percent campaign are designed to be a profession-wide coalition of chiropractors committed to sharing the message of Chiropractic around the world. It is not exclusive to Life University alumni and friends. It’s an inclusive landmark social media campaign fueled by the passion of the thousands of chiropractors who are dedicated to changing the world for the better. If that includes you, then become an Amp- LIFEier today.

clicks By channel Type

n Facebook (10,433)

n FacebookPage (7,216)

n Twitter (2,200)

n LinkedIn (635)

n Blogger (59)

n Tumblr (3)

reacTiOns By channel Type

n Facebook (5,243)

n FacebookPage (3,266)

n Twitter (146)

n LinkedIn (126)

n Tumblr (1)

Un Mundo Feliz en Costa Rica



Tipping Point

In November, Life University signed two landmark agree-ments in Costa Rica that will lay the groundwork for multiple chiropractic initiatives in the gateway to Central America. Like all international initiatives sought by Life University, these agreements will allow Chiropractic to grow exponentially for

years to come.The agreements are the result of more

than 20 years of relationship cultivation by Life University. A delegation, which in-cluded LIFE President Dr. Guy Riekeman, Board of Trustees Chairman Deborah Pogrelis, D.C., and Trustee Kevin Fogarty, D.C., chairman of the International Com-mittee, was on hand to witness the historic occasion.

The first agreement is between Life Uni-versity and the Universidad Nacional Costa Rica (UNA), one of the most prestigious colleges in Central America. The agree-ment calls for the following collaborations between the colleges:

n Development of chiropractic education within UNA’s School of Human Movement Science. This degree will be the

first Chiropractic Degree awarded in Costa Rica.n International exchange of research, students and faculty

between the colleges. The collaboration allows Costa Rican nationals to come to Life University to study; Life University

students to study at UNA in either a study abroad scenario or a PEAK opportunity; LIFE faculty teaching chiropractic sciences at UNA; UNA faculty coming to LIFE to enhance their knowledge of chiropractic sciences in order to return to UNA with more expertise; and case studies and base-line research collaborations among the stu-dents and faculty in both universities.

n Establishment of a chiropractic clinic at UNA for their students, staff and the general public to increase awareness and to complement the chiropractic education

students will receive in the classroom. It is also possible the clinic could become an international PEAK opportunity for late-quarter Life University students seeking this type of hands-on experience.

Zoila Rosa Stewart, D.C., a LIFE graduate and former Olym-

like all inTernaTiOnal

iniTiaTives sOughT By life universiTy, These agreemenTs

will allOw chirOpracTic

TO grOw expOnenTially fOr

years TO cOme.

by CraiG dekshenieks

From left: LiFe board of Trustees Chairman dr. deborah pogrelis, LiFe president dr. Guy riekeman, Gynette piva, First Vice president of Costa rica dr. alfio piva, universidad nacional president ms. sandra Leon, LiFe Costa rica Liaison ms. nancy Torres


Tipping Point

pic track star for Costa Rica, will be working with UNA person-nel as the process unfolds.

The second agreement signed in November was between Life University and the Costa Rican government. The government delegation included representatives from the Costa Rican Pres-ident’s Office, the Minister of Sport, Minister of Sport and Rec-reation (ICODER) and the Minister of Health. The agreement includes the following:

n Chiropractic care will be available to the federation’s ath-letes and general public.

n Establishment of a Life University Chiropractic Clinic in-side the new, state-of-the-art Costa Rica Olympic stadium and training center. This will also serve as a PEAK clinic that pro-vides care to elite level athletes such as Olympians and the Costa Rican National Futbol (soccer) team.

Stewart will be heading the operations for this clinic as well.The significance of these landmark agreements is multi-fac-

eted. Perhaps the most important aspect is that Chiropractic is officially being recognized at the government level within the Ministry of Health. If one considers the implications of recogni-tion and partnership at that level, the positive impact is immea-surable: having Chiropractic ingrained into the consciousness of generation upon generation of citizens.

John Downes, D.C., director of International Initiatives for Life University, says of the agreements, “This is one example of Dr. Riekeman’s vision to create a sustainable network of partnerships for health care and chiropractic education around the world.” With similar initiatives underway in more than 40

countries, LIFE is committed to establishing worldwide access to chiropractic care and a chiropractic education for anyone who wants it.

Historically, the profession’s international efforts have cen-tered on limited-scope mission trips to provide chiropractic care in underdeveloped areas. While these missions are noteworthy and admirable, unfortunately they are not sustainable. Says Riekeman, “If our profession is to flourish outside of North America, we need to work at the government level in order to establish guidelines for things like scope of care, educational requirements and accreditation, as well as licensing for doctors.”

Those things require a commitment of time, resources and leadership to accomplish. Patience is also paramount since governments can change every few years. What makes Costa Rica so significant as a starting point is its high education and literacy rate—the highest in Central and South America. Costa Rica is oftentimes referred to as the educational capital of Cen-tral America and is a leader in the region for modernization and progress.

Says Riekeman, “It’s a privilege to work with the Costa Rican government and the Universidad Nacional as we move forward to truly improving health and wellness in Costa Rica.”

These developments in Costa Rica took more than 20 years to establish. Life University is committed to at least another 20 years to keep the programs moving forward so that a genera-tion from now, Chiropractic will be sustainable for eternity. This should serve as a blueprint for initiatives in other parts of the world.

LiFe president dr. Guy riekeman signing two landmark agreements in Costa rica.

For Chiropractors.By Chiropractors.

Become an AmpLIFEier today – go to AmpLIFEied.comLife UniversitySeptember 2, 2010

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NOTE: These logos are registered trademarks of Life University. © 2010

General Information Location: MArietta, GA

LIFE UniversityLIFE University College of ChiropracticLIFE University College of Undergraduate StudiesLIFE University College of Graduate StudiesLIFE

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AmpLIFEied is the chiropractic profession’s number one source of great social media content to share with your practice’s social networks, daily. When you register to become an AmpLIFEier, you’ll receive free access to the profession’s premier social media content library with exclusive content provided by our profession’s most prominent and passionate organizations, associations and institutions.

Share great stuff created by: n Life University’s 18 Percent Campaignn International Chiropractors Associationn The 100 Year Lifestylen Educated Pregnancyn Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP)n Life University’s Kid Natural Video Series (coming soon)

“As a chiropractor I am always looking for the most cost effective, cutting edge systems to promote and educate my community and practice on the benefits and value of chiropractic. AmpLIFEied has been essential for getting my message out.” - Dr. Matthew Hubbard, D.C. President of the California Chiropractic Association

“AmpLIFEied has successfully created a community focused on leveraging social media to broadcast the chiropractic story. I’m all in. are you?” - Erik Van Slooten, D.C. Founder, Talk the ‘TIC

FNL2 - 18%-LU- 8.25 x11" Ad-Dec 2013-Today's Chiro Leader-MagAd.indd 1 12/20/13 4:54 PM


it’s my LIFE


it’s my LIFE

When Zoila Stewart began run-ning in 1984, she had no idea her newfound talent would take her to the biggest athletic stadiums in the world. At the time, Stewart’s sister Mau-

reen, three years her senior, was already training her way to the 800-meter com-petition at the 1988 Olympics. “I started running in high school because my sister was a well-known athlete back then,” says Stewart, “but it didn’t really become my passion until about 1988, when I was win-ning a lot.”

When she realized she had an uncom-mon talent and a versatility unmatched by even her famous sister, Stewart ran thousands of laps on the track, counting splits, practicing turns and refining her running style down to an efficiency nec-essary for a sport where every millisecond counts. She also spent hours in the gym,

building lightning-quick reflexes and the kind of muscles that compel explosive speed. Soon she was competing all over the Caribbean and taking home titles

at the Central American Games. And though she didn’t see its significance at the time, Stewart first set foot on Ameri-can soil in Atlanta, on her way to the 1987

Pan American Games in Indianapolis, where she was among 4,300 athletes from more than 38 countries.

Her first Olympic opportunity arrived in 1992, when she made the trek to Bar-celona at the age of 23. “The Olympics in 1992 was very special for me because I got to represent my whole country, and I felt I had a mission and was there to accomplish it,” says Stewart. “I cannot even describe in words what that Games represent for me.” Competing in the 100 meters and the 200 meters, Stewart also made it to the quarterfinals of the 400 meters, where she finished 26th among 53 of the world’s best runners.

Such feats of strength were remarkable for a girl from Costa Rica who received almost no backing from her home coun-try. “Things have changed now, but back then my country wasn’t really support-ing its athletes,” she says. “Back home, I

Through her close connecTion To life universiTy, sTewarT earned

an aThleTic scholarship and

iT didn’T Take long for her To decide ThaT chiroprac-

Tic would become her fuTure.

by Laura newsome

sprinting toward success

as a companion to the “it’s my LiFe” video series,

we profile people who are living the philosophy, not

just talking about it—people who are doing things of

inspiration and passion, causing Chiropractic to thrive.

Find out more at Videos.LiFe.edu/video/thisismylife.


Qui ipsanis eos-tior emolupti ipis sum sunt parum corumQuatur,

Quatius volo beri-beriam et as Quid Quam fugit fuga.

—Name Name, D.C.

it’s my LIFE

had just the bare minimum and there were no synthetic tracks in my country. Now Costa Rica is really support-ing its athletes, and they are doing well. I’m glad I was able to open the road so they would not have to face what I faced.”

At the age of 27, Stewart earned another chance at Olympic competition—this time at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. “I got in-jured four months before the Atlanta Olympics, so I was not in a good place to be able to compete, and I felt I was headed for disappointment,” says Stewart, who was nursing a knee injury at the time. Des-perate not to lose her oppor-tunity, Stewart’s coach sought the help of John Downes, D.C., of Life University, who had been appointed the team’s of-ficial Doctor of Chiropractic by the Costa Rican Olympic Committee.

“Dr. Downes treated my leg before and after workouts and told me things would get worse before they got better,” she says. “After three very painful days, I got better and was able to compete at the Olympics.” Despite her injury and her ad-vanced age by running standards, Stewart scored the second-best time in the history of her career—52.66 seconds for the 400 meters, just a fraction off her personal best time of 52.57, recorded at the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games.

Stewart’s impressive level of competi-tion was not LIFE’s only connection to the 1996 Olympics. Prior to the start of the Games, Life University president Dr. Sid Williams oversaw the completion of a new training facility on campus that boast-ed an exact replica of the Olympic track. The University hosted the 1995 and 1996 International Track & Field Challenges,

which featured more than 1,000 athletes. Many of those athletes went on to medal in the Olympics. At the conclusion of the Games, Williams purchased one of the seven Olympic sculptures that had been commissioned by the organizing commit-tee and had it installed on campus.

The city and LIFE’s commitment to the spirit of the Games ultimately convinced Stewart to stay in Atlanta. “While I was training I absolutely fell in love with At-lanta—it was the first place I ever landed in the States,” adds Stewart. Through her close connection to Life University, Stew-art earned an athletic scholarship, and it didn’t take long for her to decide that Chiropractic would become her future. “I got a scholarship from the school, and as I

learned what Chiropractic was all about and how it had helped me in competition, I decided to move to Atlanta in 1997.”

When she wasn’t studying on campus, Stewart was on the track, earning every pen-ny of her athletic scholarship from LIFE. In 1997 and 1998, Stewart was named an all-time individual champion for her outstanding performanc-es in the 400-meter dash at the Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Champion-ships. Smashing long-held school records, everywhere she went Stewart earned tro-phies, accolades and first-place finishes.

In 1997, Stewart propelled Life University to a fourth-place finish at the NAIA In-door Track & Field National Championships in Lincoln, Neb. Named the meet’s “Outstanding Female Ath-lete,” Stewart won the 400-

and 800-meter events, finished fourth in the 200-meter dash and anchored the winning 4x400 relay team. In her home country of Costa Rica, Stewart remains the outdoor record holder in the 100 meters and the 400 meters, and the in-door record holder for her 200-meter and 400-meter championship runs in 1998 and 1999 at the Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Championships.

Standing five feet, five inches tall, with a wide smile and a warm accent, it’s hard to envision the dominance Stewart dis-played on the tracks she called home during an illustrious running career last-ing more than a decade. It is perhaps tell-ing that Stewart’s best race, the 400-me-ter dash, is considered one of the most difficult races in the sport. The longest sprint in track and field, the 400-meter dash tests short and long muscle fibers alike, daring runners to possess a pow-

launching a lifestewart credits Life university for her success on and off the track.


it’s my LIFE

erful sprinting speed and the strength to endure—even when every muscle in the body is starved for oxygen and begging for a break. “It’s a sprint and an endur-ance event, and it definitely requires the best of you,” says Stewart with a laugh. “You don’t have to go all out, but that last 100 meters tests your character, your training, your mental strength and your motivation.”

Gifted with a kind of no-limits work ethic in even the most difficult situations, Stewart has been able to succeed off the track as both a chiropractic student and a doctor. Though she sees patients of all types at One Touch Chiropractic in Mari-etta, Stewart’s athletic background and in-timate knowledge of musculature, training regimens and sports injuries is an invalu-able asset to athletic patients of all levels.

Though today she works with the body in an entirely different way, for Stewart, the worlds of Chiropractic and running are never far apart. “When you are run-ning you are training to be the best you can possibly be, and as a chiropractor, I am trying to provide the best possible

treatment,” she says. “Chiropractic has the ability to turn the power on and let the body do what it does best. In both Chiropractic and running you are aiming for 100 percent efficiency and trying to keep yourself and your body in shape. I’m not training anymore, but in my profes-sion, I want to keep moving forward and reach for that master’s level.”

Since the 1996 Olympics, Life Uni-versity has led the way in bringing chi-ropractic care and chiropractic-friend-ly legislation to Costa Rica. That same year, the Costa Rica Olympic Commit-tee asked Life Foundation to establish a 4,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art chi-ropractic clinic for their athletes in San Jose. Life University also provided care for Costa Rican athletes at the 1999 Pan American Games in Canada and the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The school has also opened its doors to other Costa Rican scholar athletes like Pablo Nassar and Alejandra Rodrigues Perez.

“Chiropractic is growing a lot in my home country,” says Stewart. “We are

not very medically oriented, so we re-spond well to holistic care. I am part of a wave of Costa Rican chiropractic gradu-ates who trained at LIFE, and we believe our mission is to spread Chiropractic around the world. At Life University I learned the principles, ‘To Give, To Do, To Love, To Serve,’ and I want to give back what they gave to me by opening a

clinic in Costa Rica.”With her move to Costa Rica

planned for early 2014, Stewart is “crossing her fingers,” watching the progress of her new clinic and count-ing down the months until she re-turns to her roots and her family. “I am happy to finally go home to run my own clinic with the help of Life University,” says Stewart. “My dream is coming true, and I am more than excited. All my family is there, and it will mean so much to be with them again.”

After more than 15 years in At-lanta, Stewart can’t help but ponder the memories and the relationships she’ll be leaving behind in her ad-opted city. “I just love the city and I love the people. I love the weath-er—even the humidity, which oth-er people complain about.” To hear her talk about her love for Atlan-

ta, one might be puzzled as to why she is moving away, but when asked about her home country of Costa Rica, Stewart pauses and a wistful, far-off tone settles into her voice and you can almost hear the smile spreading across her face.

“I love everything about it,” she muses. “The people, the food is amazing, the diversity of the wildlife, the sunlight, the beaches, the tree canopy, the rafting.” As she elaborates about the “breezy, beau-tiful spring season,” it’s hard not to get wrapped up in her dream, to be trans-ported across the ocean to the paradise where she won her first race—a place where she hopes to combine her strong, competitive spirit with the seeds of chiro-practic revolution.

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As Sandy Elbaum, D.C., entered the doors of Life University to begin the DC program, the New York native was keenly aware that she was the only one in her class to have never been adjusted. Just six months prior, the single mother was waiting tables in

Buckhead, desperately trying to finish her undergraduate degree, attend medical school and follow in the footsteps of her family.

“I grew up in a medical [family]: my mother, a nurse, and my uncle, a doctor,” remembers Sandy. “I always had an underlying idea that drugs weren’t good; nevertheless, I still wanted to be a doctor.”

So imagine her surprise when a friendly conversation with a group of young men seated in her section opened the door to Chiropractic. Before that moment, Sandy had

never heard of Chiropractic, but she took a leap of faith and a visit to Marietta.

As fate would have it, while following one dream, she would discover her true calling. “I immediately fell in love with LIFE and knew it was where I was supposed to be,” recalls Sandy. “They say Chiropractic chooses you, and it just plucked me right out!”

Upon graduating from LIFE, she and her husband and fellow chiropractor, Adam Elbaum, D.C., put down roots in Virginia. Immediately, Sandy immersed herself in opportuni-ties to serve the profession. Thus began a long and fruitful journey with the Virginia Society of Chiropractic (VSC).

Sandy served on the VSC Board of Directors for 20 years, including two terms as its first female president. During her tenure, she served every position available and

Living a Full and Wonderful LIFE:Sandy Elbaum, D.C.by KeLsey donaLdson

alumni spot light


was twice honored as “Chiropractor of the Year.”Recently, Sandy has expanded her leadership role

beyond the profession and into her community and the University. She benevolently lends her support through the President’s Circle, which brings talented and dedicated in-dividuals together to help advance Chiropractic and recruit and train future chiropractors. “President’s Circle is there to help do the little things that tuition doesn’t cover, while help-ing to continue to attract the best students and put them back as the best chiropractors,” reflects Sandy. “It serves a great purpose to get young people excited.”

Sandy’s excitement is truly contagious, as she actively participates in a number of other leadership programs at LIFE including LIFEforce1000, PEAK and State Reps.

“My biggest pet peeve is when people ask, ‘What’s in

it for me?’” explains Sandy on the importance of giving back and serving in leadership roles. “I give and then I get in return. There are lots of ways to give back, and I give through the University. You owe it to the profession and to yourself.”

Sandy undoubtedly embodies the spirit of a true leader, dedicated to the advancement of Chiropractic and LIFE. The passionate mother of four and grandmother of two re-cently had the honor of watching her daughter, Abbi, begin at LIFE this past fall and will watch her son, Andrew, begin in the next year.

“I think the fact that my children want to attend LIFE reso-nates the quality of life we have had as chiropractors,” says Sandy. “Chiropractic is more than a career; it has given me my husband, my children and my full and wonderful life.”

“i Think The facT ThaT my children wanT To aT-Tend life resonaTes The qualiTy of life we have had as chiropracTors. chiropracTic is more Than a career; iT has given me my husband, my children and my full and wonderful life.”

—Sandy Elbaum, D.C.

Far left: elbaum and her daughter abbi, a current Life university student, at a recent LiFe Leadership weekend. This page: elbaum (far right) enjoys the pageantry of the collegiate rugby championship with Kathi handt (middle, bottom) and LiFe staff.

FEBRUARY

2 Georgia Intercollegiate Wrestling Tournament

Life University campus (Marietta, GA)

8 Puerto Rico CE & Alumni Trip

Puerto Rico

22 NAIA Regional Wrestling Qualifiers


28 Massachusetts Alumni & Friends After Hours

Linda and Jean-Mark Slak, D.C.s

(Burlington, MA)


upcoming events

JANUARY

9–11 Parker Seminar Las Vegas Hilton

(Las Vegas)

13 One for LIFE Miami, FL

14 One for LIFE Jacksonville, FL

15 One for LIFE Orlando, FL

23 Real World: DCs Carl Amodio, D.C.

(Roswell, GA)

24–26 USA Sevens Rugby Tournament

Sam Boyd Stadium (Las Vegas)

31–2/1 LIFE Vision Seminar Cobb Galleria (Atlanta)

31–2/1 LIFE Leadership Weekend


MARCH

4 Arizona Alumni & Friends After Hours

Neuromechanical Innovations (Chandler, AZ)

7–9 Association of Independent Associations Basketball Tournament


28–30 North Carolina Chiropractic Association

Omni Grove Park Inn (Asheville, NC)

28–3/2 Cal Jam Costa Mesa, CA

EngageInspireTransform

LIFEforce 1000 will not stopuntil we have established worldwide access to Chiropracticand a Chiropractic education for anyone who wants it.

All LIFEforce 1000 Insiders are welcome to attend! Please register on our website.

LIFEforce 1000 is a group of1000 dynamic Chiropractors

who have committed toChanging the World.

We are limiting our partnership to 1,000 Chiropractors.To become a LIFEforce 1000 Insider go to www.LIFE.edu/LIFEforce1000

Join Us for a LIFEforce 1000 Insiders’ Weekend!

Upcoming Dates: January 30 - February 1, 2014

April 10-12, 2014

July 24-26, 2014

October 16-18, 2014

2719 LIFEforce TCL.qxp 12/7/2013 10:44 AM Page 1

EngageInspireTransform

LIFEforce 1000 will not stopuntil we have established worldwide access to Chiropracticand a Chiropractic education for anyone who wants it.

All LIFEforce 1000 Insiders are welcome to attend! Please register on our website.

LIFEforce 1000 is a group of1000 dynamic Chiropractors

who have committed toChanging the World.

We are limiting our partnership to 1,000 Chiropractors.To become a LIFEforce 1000 Insider go to www.LIFE.edu/LIFEforce1000

Join Us for a LIFEforce 1000 Insiders’ Weekend!

Upcoming Dates: January 30 - February 1, 2014

April 10-12, 2014

July 24-26, 2014

October 16-18, 2014

2719 LIFEforce TCL.qxp 12/7/2013 10:44 AM Page 1


The world is full of thought leaders outside the

profession who think like we think. by connecting

with one another, we can both go further.

ConneCT-TIC

Most DCs are well versed in the historical version of Chiropractic’s origins, from its use in ancient Greece to the more organized profession that came about in 1895, courtesy of D.D. Palmer. However, those same DCs may not know how to translate history into a compelling story that

can be passed from person to person in order to push Chiropractic to the 18 percent tipping point.

As a way to formalize, internalize and spread Chiro-practic’s story, Life University has followed the lead of entrepreneur, blogger and speaker Seth Godin. Godin’s work has long emphasized the need to market ideas to like-minded people and use those tribes to build commu-

TellingChiropractic’s

Storyby Gwyn herbein


connect-TIC

nities that are striving for the same goal. The way that LIFE is using Godin’s ideas has forever changed the way the world looks at Chiropractic.

Beginning a MoveMentMount Vernon, N.Y., native Godin graduated from Tufts Uni-versity and earned his MBA at Stanford. He entered the software industry in the early 1980s before using his savings to found a book packaging business in his New York apartment. In 1995, he sold that business and founded Yoyodyne, a pioneering online marketing company that used gimmicks like contests and scav-enger hunts to market its companies. Three years later, Godin sold the company to Yahoo and took a position as the president of direct marketing with the Internet giant.

While Godin certainly has a gold track record in the business world, it is his unique approach to marketing that appealed to many at Life University. In 2007, he gave a TED talk that changed the way LIFE thought about its marketing strategy. Godin de-scribes what he calls “the TV-industrial complex,” in which mar-keters buy ads that interrupt people’s daily lives with products, and then use the profits to buy more ad space. The problem with this strategy, Godin notes, is that “consumers don’t care about

you at all. Part of the reason is they’ve got way more choices than they used to and way less time.” It is easy for consumers to ignore information about products they don’t need or want. According to Godin, only products that are remarkable—that is, worthy of actually making remarks about—are going to be talked about, purchased by consumers and then recommended to others. Godin’s recommended marketing strategy boils down to two simple points: sell to people who are listening, and realize that what is safe is risky.

The second piece of Godin’s marketing puzzle fell into place in 2009 with another TED talk entitled “The tribes we lead.” “What tribes are is a very simple concept that goes back 50,000 years,” he explains. “It’s about leading and connecting people and ideas.” Godin describes how the explosion of the Internet and mass media, media originally intended to homogenize peo-ple worldwide, have instead created silos of interests. People are used to family tribes, work tribes, spiritual tribes and other or-ganized groups, but can now branch out to connect with people who have nothing in common except for one interest or passion.

Tribes can have a unique appeal to marketers, assuming they can let go of the mass marketing idea that requires a person in charge telling others what to do or what to buy and instead focus


on a leadership model. Most of all, Godin says, letting go of the idea that everyone has to buy into your idea is paramount. “You don’t need everyone,” he says. “You just need 1,000 true fans. One thousand people who care enough that they will get you the next round,” by repeating your story to their friends, who will go on to tell their friends. Above all, Godin emphasizes finding the true believers.

applying triBes to liFe On the surface, this novel way of marketing does not apply to DCs who are not selling products. But the thought leaders at Life University saw things differently. After all, the philosophy that is pushing Chiropractic to the tipping point requires just as much buy-in as any product you might give to your family. “With social media, it’s no longer about buying customers,” explains Kathryn Haag, D.C., director of thought leadership strategy at LIFE. “In-stead of trying to argue your point with people who don’t believe what you believe, you go out and find people who already believe what you believe and use leaders to connect.” Haag initially applied Godin’s tribes idea as the director of LIFEforce. “We were taking 1,000 DCs who believe what we believe, and they’re not going to stop until the world has Chiropractic,” she says. As a result, LIFEforce became LIFEforce 1000 to reflect the shift in the group’s strategy.

When that change was made, Guy Rieke-man, D.C., president of Life University in-vited members of the chiropractic com-munity, including representatives from other chiropractic schools, to introduce the LIFEforce 1000 concept. From this, Life Chiropractic College West and Sherman College of Chiropractic have created simi-lar initiatives on their campuses. LIFEforce 1000 doctors now work in 25 countries around the world, including Costa Rica, Iceland, Israel, Scotland and Puerto Rico, among others. LIFE-force 1000 and the strategy behind it have also been responsible for a substantial bump in LIFE’s enrollment, more than dou-bling it from 2011 to 2012. This also helps spread the profession worldwide.

All of these facts point to the idea that the shift in the way LIFE markets both itself and Chiropractic as a whole have fundamentally changed the way the world thinks about the pro-fession. But this is only part of the puzzle. As Haag points out, there are four components to making a lasting change in the way

the world thinks about Chiropractic. The first is simple. “Tell your story,” she says. “So what is our story? It’s simple really. The body is self-developing, self-healing and self-maintaining. The nervous system controls function. Interference to the ner-vous system produces malfunction, resulting in symptoms and dis-eases. This interference is called subluxation. Chiropractors correct subluxations, restoring function, to allow for the expres-sion of the perfection within.”

ConneCting the DotsOnce the story has been told, tribes of like-minded individuals need to be connected in order to perpetuate the story. Haag says these individuals are your practice members who already

believe what you believe, and using social media is the best way to leverage those connections. “So the first step is to make a Facebook page for your office and in-vite every practice member to ‘Like’ your page,” she says. The strategy LIFE uses is all about connection. “We’re connecting a tribe of chiropractors,” says Haag. “The individual DC in practice … needs to look at his or her practice and find the model patients. Make them the first followers of this tribe. It’s about treating people like equals.” Haag notes that Riekeman often recommends picking five or 10 patients and inviting them to seminars or other events in an effort to nurture them to tell the Chi-ropractic story. “After all,” she says. “DCs know that their best patients are referrals from other people.”

Those referrals help perpetuate a cycle that can only result in meaningful change. The key, says Haag, is to not care about the people who believe differently than you. “Who cares what MDs believe?” she says. “By creating a community of people dedicated to sharing the message of Chi-ropractic with others, every day, that 18

percent is within reach.”LIFE is using the best of Godin’s marketing strategies to

further the Chiropractic agenda worldwide, and it seems to be working. Getting the profession to the tipping point means acknowledging the goals from the outset and implementing a strategy that speaks to those goals. “We’re never going to be able to compete commercially with big pharma—we don’t have the funds and resources to do that,” says Haag. “But Godin says you don’t have to spend billions of dollars advertising if you just connect.”

“Instead of tryIng to argue your

poInt wIth people who don’t belIeve what you belIeve, you go out and fInd people who already belIeve

what you belIeve and use leaders

to connect.”—Kathryn Haag, D.C.


fresh air


do what you feel In your heart to be rIght—for you’ll be crItIcIzed anyway.

—eleanor roosevelt


what If ?Imaging what would happen if the entire

world experienced Chiropractic or if unwanted philosophies or practices find their way into the

profession. how does our worldview change when we consider both the positives and the negatives?

In September 2013, reports of an in-fant suffering a fractured second cervical vertebra at the hands of a Melbourne chiropractor f looded the airwaves in Australia. These re-ports subsequently made their way

forward as Internet posts that reached around the globe.

By early October, more was known about the alleged injury. It appeared that the infant had a cervical spine malfor-mation (congenital spondylolysis) that was reported to be similar to, or exactly the same as, a malformation found in the child’s father. The Australian reported on Oct. 16, “An expert report undertak-en by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, a federal body set up to replace state-based health regulators, quoted a radiologist who examined the

4-month-old baby and found that there was ‘no evidence of fracture.’”

The Chiropractor’s Association of Aus-tralia (CAA) expressed outrage over the

shoddy reporting and fear mongering among the media who ran with the inac-curate story. The CAA called for a retrac-tion, a correction and an apology for the

errant reporting. In similar fashion, the New Zealand Chiropractor’s Association advised its members and the public of the incorrect and substandard reporting from across the Tasman Sea in Australia.

In this age of instantaneous global communication, the harm brought to the consumer public as well as to the repu-tation of the chiropractic profession will not be contained to Australia, New Zea-land and their environs. As a result, we all need to be familiar with the details of this matter and prepared to address it wherev-er and whenever it arises.

While we are getting caught up on the details of the Melbourne C2 matter, per-haps we should look at the issue of the safety of chiropractic care, especially as it relates to children and the mood and mentality that underpin these types of

PerhaPs we should look

at the issue of the safety of chiroPractic

care, esPecially as it relates to

children.

The Safety Question and pediatric Chiropractic

by Gerry Clum, d.C., and drew rubin, d.C.


what If ?

sensationalized reports.A 2007 study by Vohra et al. examined

the past half-century, finding that there have been seven articles addressing seri-ous complications in spinal manipula-tion of infants and children worldwide. These reports have come from Germany, France, Canada and the United States. The care providers were identified as physiotherapists, medical doctors, un-specified providers and chiropractors. The patients presented with complicating factors including congenital torticollis,

an astrocytoma, pneumonia and trauma. Seven isolated reports from four coun-tries involving at least four different types of practitioners may be cautionary, but it is far from a pattern of harm.

In 2010, Humphreys, a co-author with Vohra in 2007, published a review of ad-verse events among children who were treated with “manual therapy” from 2004 to 2010. In this analysis, Humphreys reported not only on chiropractic pa-

tients but also on osteopathic patients. He notes, “There are now three reports in the literature regarding prevalence or rates of adverse events associated with pediatric manipulative therapy as well as a recent systematic review of manual therapy.”

In this report, Humphreys relates:n Hayes and Bezilla found that 9 per-

cent of pediatric patients experienced an aggravation of their symptoms after Os-teopathic SMT, none of which were seri-ous complications;

n Miller and Benfield reported one in 100 patients, or a 1 percent rate;

n Alcantara et al. reported one in 1,812 patients, or a 0.53 percent rate for adverse events.

None of the studies reported any se-rious adverse events. The adverse events that did occur involved mild signs or symptoms that were transient and re-quired no specific intervention.

While any adverse event is unfortunate

and may be tragic, the circumstance re-mains that the literature over the past six decades offers isolated cases of concern and, over the past two decades, offers no cases to support the level of concern about the safety of chiropractic care for children reflected in recent publications and statements.

Consider other data sets, such as the experience of professional liability car-riers. The National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company (NCMIC) provides

professional liability coverage for more than 40,000 DCs. NCMIC has provided feed-back in response to an inquiry about the number of claims involving chiropractic pa-tients less than 2 years of age. They indicate that claims in-volving patients in this cate-gory represent 0.01 percent of the allegations against chiro-practors. Appreciating that in the chiropractic professional liability environment, more than half of all claims do not result in any award or any judgment against the chiro-practor, the significance of 0.01 percent of claims be-comes even less a source of concern, let alone fear.

So if the scientific liter-ature of the past 20 years holds little, if anything, to generate concern, and if the loss data of the profession’s

largest and oldest professional liability carrier does not reflect experiences to generate concern, where does the con-cern come from?

Over the years there have been a num-ber of news stories addressing DCs and the care they provide for children. It is worth reviewing a few of these stories through the lens of time and perspective.

On March 18, 1993, the Wall Street Journal (apparently a worldwide source for healthcare information) carried a


what If ?

front-page story relating the experiences of two children suffering from middle- ear infections. The chiropractor accu-rately diagnosed the problem and es-chewed the use of antibiotics in favor of a watchful-waiting stance. The two children did develop complications. For this, the WSJ raked the chiropractor and the profession over the coals. Today the behavior of the chiropractor so criticized in 1993—that is, antibiotic avoidance and watchful-waiting—is now the standard of care across primary care medicine for addressing these problems.

The WSJ included a reference to a 1992 incident in which an infant was brought to a chiropractor for congenital torticol-lis. The child was adjusted twice. Unfor-tunately, the child was experiencing a spinal cord tumor and the adjustments involved were thought to have complicat-ed the circumstance of the tumor. Curi-ously, little attention was paid to the fact that the child’s pediatrician had failed to appreciate the tumor potential in the management of the child.

In 1994, the late Larry Webster, D.C., considered to be the grandfather of mod-ern chiropractic pediatrics, was inter-viewed on the ABC news show “20/20,” in a segment aptly titled “Handle with Care.” In that segment, a child with a supposed ear infection was brought to 17 different chiropractors while a crew secretly filmed each encounter. Most of the chiropractors advocated caution with respect to antibiotics and a careful peri-od of observation and monitoring of the child—today’s preferred course of care! Webster’s comments were f lawless, but the shrewd reporter did some creative editing and discredited most of the chiro-practor’s work.

In August 1996, New York Family magazine carried a cover story entitled “Is Chiropractic Care Good for Kids?” Beginning with the story of a child being prepped for tympanostomy tubes who was cared for by a chiropractor and sub-sequently was able to forgo the surgery,

the article did not cite a single compli-cation of chiropractic care other than the 1992 congenital torticollis/tumor patient noted above. Even with the very limited number of problem cases, the chiropractic profession heard the con-cerns expressed.

In 2007, a steering committee of prac-ticing chiropractors, medical doctors, na-turopaths, preventive medicine special-

ists and epidemiologists was convened to help develop best practice recommen-dations for chiropractic care of infants, children and adolescents. The findings published in October 2009 by Hawk et al. in the Journal of Manipulative and Phys-iological Therapeutics ref lected a series of more than 50 statements for which consensus had been achieved with respect to the care of infants, children and ado-lescents by chiropractors.

In a comparative sense, there isn’t

a single health care discipline that wouldn’t be thrilled to have the paucity of adverse outcomes that are associat-ed with chiropractic care and children. That being said, the goal of every chi-ropractor is to make sure that the care offered over the next 20 or 50 years is safer and more clinically effective than any care offered in the past.

The Australian misrepresentation of chiropractic care and children that be-gan this article illustrates the impact in the marketplace of using the circum-stances of a supposedly injured child to inflame the public, press and govern-ment. It is also a surrogate for a deeper and more profound circumstance in our society—the loss of the hold of med-icine on the hearts and minds of the consumer public. The attempts by those opposed to anything and everything outside of conventional medical care to characterize non-conventional, alter-native or non-allopathic care as flawed by definition is failing day by day and patient by patient.

The concern here is not the profession-al future of medical doctors, chiroprac-tors or any other discipline. The concern is for those who will suffer, who will un-dergo unnecessary procedures and will be subjected to lifetimes of drug use be-cause an idea did not fit their paradigm of what is health care, what is powerful and what is helpful.

The citizenry did not wake up this morning and articulate this angst, but it is there as surely as the sunrise. They are gravitating toward healthcare ap-proaches and strategies that reflect their worldview, and they are seeking partner-ship rather than patriarchy in addressing their needs. It is this role, as a partner, that has been the hallmark of the chiro-practor regardless of his or her specific approach to care.

Bottom line: We seek to provide the safest, most effective care we can to each and every patient we see—regardless of his or her age!

the concern here is not the Professional

future of medical doctors,

chiroPractors or any other

disciPline. the concern is for those who will

suffer, who will undergo unnecessary

Procedures and will be subjected

to lifetimes of drug use because an idea did not fit

their Paradigm of what is health

care, what is Powerful and

what is helPful.

All ICPA members receive a complimentary subscription to

Pathways to Family Wellness and free community outreach opportunities.

pathwaystofamilywellness.org

SAVE THE DATES! JOIN US FOR OUR 3RD SUMMIT

NOV. 13–16, 2014IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

so much depends on that very fi rst adjustment

Since all children deserve chiropractic care, it is up to us to meet the challenge.

We bring together philosophy, science and art in all of our endeavors. Your dues support vital research and unprecedented public advertising. Our active referral directory brings these families to you.

Serve the children. Grow your practice. Change the world!

Join Us! Visit icpa4kids.com

Coming to Atlanta!Sign up for ICPA’s outstanding pediatric classes

ICPA_Ad_Sept2013.indd 1 9/5/13 12:23 PM


what If ?

You received your undergraduate degree in a science discipline in order to have your prerequisites for chiro-practic school. You blitzed through chiropractic school, took your boards and then set off to change the world one adjustment at a time. But what do you know about business, accounting, real estate or insurance? Shouldn’t

your chiropractic education also include business training? At Life University, we believe it must.

Life University provides more hours in practice manage-ment and business success than any other Doctor of Chi-ropractic program in the world. LIFE doesn’t just offer this

training; it is required as part of the curriculum in the Doctor of Chiropractic program. To this end, students are exposed to the chiropractic industry’s foremost experts on practice man-agement and finance.

Our business curriculum is designed and taught by DCs with a proven track record of practice and business success. Students are also exposed to a variety of practice management coaches, and while LIFE does not endorse a specific management pro-gram, exposing students to the myriad options allows them to select one that matches their style and goals for success.

The instructors include:

dr. ralph davis Garrett Gunderson dr. b.J. harman dr. Janice hughes

by CraiG dekshenieks

The Science, Art, Philosophy and Business of Chiropractic


n Guy Riekeman, D.C. – President of Life University, a successful former chiropractor and practice manage-ment consultant.

n Ralph Davis, D.C. – Dean of the College of Chi-ropractic at Life University and former owner of two successful practices, as well as former director of the Life University outpatient clinic which administers more than 60,000 patient-visits annually.

n Janice Hughes, D.C. – Owner of 2Inspire con-sulting firm that provides expertise in business build-ing and growth, scalability and new product devel-opment.

n Tom Preston, D.C. – Owner of Full Circle Coach-ing and Consulting, which specializes in creating a system for success based on individual strengths and talents, as opposed to a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

n Brian Rutecki, D.C. – Founding partner of Chiro- One, one of the largest chains of chiropractic clinics in the nation.

n B.J. Harman, D.C. – founder of Now You Know, a pioneering firm in website and Internet marketing for chiropractors.

n Garrett Gunderson – The New York Times best-selling author and financial expert who instructs a personal finance course.

Individuals pay thousands of dollars to attend seminars and workshops with the individuals and companies these people represent. Life University provides this information and expertise as part of the curriculum. In offering a wide array of perspec-tives, students can follow the path that best fits their personality, style and goals in the profession. This business training does not confine itself to the Life University campus. Students are supported and en-couraged to attend off-campus seminars to further their education.

In addition to the business curriculum, Life Uni-versity’s clinic programs and PEAK intern/extern-ship program allow students the opportunity to spend three months working in an actual chiroprac-

tic office, not just to hone their clinical skills, but also to see the inner workings of a successful practice.

Support and training do not stop when a student graduates either. LIFE’s Career Ser-vices department maintains a job posting board that currently has more than 1,200 op-portunities for soon-to-be and recent graduates. Career Services also offers workshops on resume building, letter writing and interviewing skills—services that are offered in perpetuity, long after graduation.

As the largest chiropractic college in the world, it is our duty to ensure the long-term success of our graduates. For that reason, Life University is committed to providing the most comprehensive and practical business training for its students.

dr. Tom preston

dr. Guy riekeman

dr. brian rutecki


we’ve known All Alongby rebecca koch

If you’ve ever been accused of being a navel gaz-er, it’s likely that it wasn’t a compliment, at least in Western culture. However, since our belly buttons are the lingering vestige of our last

physical connection to our mothers and a symbol for our connectedness to the cosmos in Eastern culture, our navels may really be worthy of deep contemplation after all. Thankfully, the medical establishment has begun to think so, too. And, to continue the belly button metaphor, I’m going to propose that, when it comes to viewpoints, the medical establishment has an outie and the vital health community has an innie.

According to recent headlines,1 the historical, widely utilized and deeply entrenched obstetric practice of immediately clamping and cutting the umbilical cord is being called into question. What we may also want to question is why the practice of immediately severing the last connec-tion transferring the stuff of life between mother and baby ever began in the first place. And, if we conclude that it was never a good idea to begin with, how we can identify and correct similar institutionally entrenched interferences to the expression of health?

There’s no real way to know, but it’s a good bet the practice of immediately clamping and cutting the cord began as a matter of convenience for the doctors (men) who took over the practice of de-livering babies and who also thought it was easier (for them) if women gave birth on their backs. This is not to let midwives (women) off the hook for any part they may have played in the practice of immediate clamping; it probably helped them cut down on the laundry they had to do. As for a scientific basis, the medical literature confirms that immediate clamping is a potentially life-sav-ing benefit in a very small number (about 0.5 per-cent) of births, in cases such as placenta previa.2

So, was making immediate clamping a stan-dard practice ever a good idea in the first place? It’s not looking good. Here are the advantages

1. *E.g., Natural News, May 31, 2013; Daily Mail, July 10, 2013; The Week, August 2, 2013

2. Timing of umbilical cord clamping after birth. Committee Opinion No. 543. American College of Obstetricians and Gyne-cologists. Obstet Gynecol 2012;120:1522 6.

that babies who are NOT immediately clamped appear to have:

n Increased blood volume;n Reduced need for blood transfusion;n Decreased incidence of intracranial hemor-

rhage in preterm infants;n Lower frequency of iron deficiency anemia in

term infants.2

That means a vital health-consistent practice of delaying clamping (or perhaps of not clamping at all) results in improved oxygen transport and red blood cell flow [for full term babies], and in premature infants, it is associated with fewer days on oxygen and ventilation.3

How can we prevent these sorts of institutional errors from negatively impacting optimal health and well-being in the future? We must become a society that is willing to fundamentally question and reject the current institutionalized outie status quo of the healthcare system, which often assumes the worst. Unfortunately, what may be beneficial in the worst-case scenario is likely to be detrimental when it becomes standard practice in the typical scenario. In other words, things go awry when you insist on making the exception the rule.

On the other hand, a vital health innie view-point assumes that life fundamentally knows what it’s doing and that it’s really good at per-petuating and protecting itself. Midwives and chiropractors and their clients have known this all along. Their viewpoint assumes the best, and they’ve created practices that support, rather than seek to circumvent, nature’s design for the healthy expression of life. By moving toward the view-point that good health is the natural outcome of life expressing itself, we assume that nature has its own timetable for umbilical separation and that of course babies will benefit from a lingering connection to their mothers. By developing and applying practices derived from a vital health viewpoint, we begin to ensure that the 99.5 per-cent of children who are born without life-threat-ening complications have the right to be vitally healthy from birth.

3. Historical perspectives on umbilical cord clamping and neonatal transition. J R Soc Med 2012; 105: 325

We’ve Known all

along—When it

comes to health

and wellness,

Chiropractic is

ahead of the

curve on many

topics. We take

this opportunity

to share some of

the knowledge

we have gained,

that the rest of

the world is finally

catching on to.

It’s a LIFE experience.You get toAtlanta andwe’ll take itfrom there!

A LIFE Leadership Weekendis no ordinary campus tour...

As a participantyou will:

■ Navigate career paths and options at our workshop “Why Choose Chiropractic?”

■ Meet Life University President, Dr. Guy Riekeman

■ Interact with current students

■ Connect with faculty & staff

■ Tour the campus

■ Enjoy complementary meals on event days

Space is limited.Register today!

For more details contact:[email protected]

770-426-2855www.LIFE.edu/LLWRegistration

“My LIFE Leadership Weekendexperience was life-changing!

Not only did I get to talk with students and faculty, I also metother Pre-D.C. students just like

me, who shared my passion forhealth and for helping people.

The weekend taught us how toturn that passion into a life purpose. I’d recommend the LIFE Leadership Weekend to anyone considering a life and career in Chiropractic.

It’s a great preview of what LIFE has to offer.”

Upcoming LIFELeadership Weekends

January 30 - February 2, 2014RSVP by January 15*

April 10-13, 2014RSVP by March 26*

July 24-27, 2014RSVP by July 2*

September 4-7, 2014RSVP by August 20*

October 16-19, 2014RSVP by October 1*

* LLW Registration Deadline subjectto close at an earlier date due to event reaching maximum capacity.Late reservations may be acceptedif space is available.

LIFE UNIVERSITY: COLLEGE OF CHIROPRACTIC

Go to LIFE.edu/LLWRegistration

Under Next Events choose the LIFE Leadership Weekend dates that best suit your schedule


poliTICal thotsby gerry clum, D.c.

A Political Round-Up

poliTiCal Thots—

an avenue for

outlining some

of today’s

political debates,

provoking thought

and hopefully

some action on

contemporary

matters of a

political nature

influencing

your practice,

Chiropractic

in general and

ultimately the

broader field of

health care.

For anyone with even a passing interest in politics, the month of October gave us quite a bit to chew on … regardless of party affili-ation, the government shutdown was quite a

debacle. I can’t imagine what people outside of the United States think of the behavior of our politi-cal leaders or the milieu that has allowed things to get to the point of unrestrained partisanship that characterizes the current mood.

It has been interesting to hear reporters discuss the relationship between President Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill and that of President Clinton and House Speaker Gingrich in contrast to the relationship between House Speaker Boeh-ner and President Obama.

In the time of Tip and Ronnie, they saved their rancor for the period before 5 p.m. each day. After that they met, had drinks, chatted each other up and put a face on a position. While the govern-ment was unfunded in the Bill and Newt era, they were meeting regularly every day to resolve things. In the John and Barack days, there was nothing to build on when the crisis came. Hence, it lingered. It is all about relationships.

CCE PolitiCs REflECt NatioNal PolitiCsIn the pre-2000 days of the Council on Chiro-practic Education (CCE), there were some nasty fights, bitter debates and hostile exchanges. But they didn’t stop the operation of the organization or compromise the ability of everyone to sit at the table. In that era, presidents of each of the accredited colleges sat on the Board of Directors (Council) of the CCE along with the members of the Commission on Accreditation (COA). Twice a year, the presidents and commission members spent several days together discussing, debating and arguing the most intricate of details (down to the punctuation) that would collectively be the “Standards for Chiropractic Educational

Programs.” We ate meals together, took breaks together; we knew each other’s spouses’ names and were aware of major changes in each other’s lives. In and around 2000, the presidents of the accredited colleges were no longer members of the Board of Directors (Council), and they as a group were represented by a subset of the college presidents. The non-institutional representatives (presidents) and the council and commission members rarely sat together, and there was little to build on when a crisis arose. In that iteration of reduced representation on the CCE, it was as-sured that everyone would have his or her chance for representation, and there was the appearance of a modicum of representational equity. Then the rotational representation plan was eliminated and the consolidation of influence that has char-acterized most of the last decade of the CCE was allowed to implant itself.

In the past 14 years, CCE has gone from a Rea-gan-Tip model to an Obama-Boehner model. Unfortunately, it is no more productive in an ac-creditation environment involving a very limited number of programs than in national politics.

thE affoRdablE CaRE aCt: lovE it oR hatE it, You bEttER KNow about it!While the Republicans were getting bloodied in the public opinion polls related to the govern-ment shutdown, the Democrats were hoping that the electorate would exhaust its current supply of venom on the other side of the aisle. On Oct. 1, 2013, and throughout the days that followed with each new flaw of the roll-out of a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the insurance exchanges, it was soon realized that the supply of venom was far from ex-hausted, as it was spewed on the Dems this round.

This is being written in early November 2013. Time will tell if Sec. Sebelius can come through


on her promises of a fix or if the White House can deliver on its repair efforts for the exchanges. Regardless of whether we have seen the end of the fits and starts of the PPACA roll-out and implementation or this is the beginning of a long dark winter, it is safe to say that it will pass—maybe like a moderate to large kidney stone—but it will pass.

One of the important elements of the PPACA legislation to professions such as Chiropractic is known as section 2706, sometimes referred to as the non-discrimination clause. This was engineered by Sen. Harkin (D-Iowa), who is preparing to retire. The clause states:

2706 NON-DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTH CARE.

‘‘(a) PROVIDERS.—A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance cov-erage shall not discriminate with respect to participation under the plan or coverage against any health care provider who is acting within the scope of that provider’s license or certification under applicable State law. This section shall not require that a group health plan or health insur-ance issuer contract with any health care provider willing to abide by the terms and conditions for participation established by the plan or issuer. Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing a group health plan, a health insurance issuer, or the Secretary from establishing varying reimbursement rates based on quality or performance measures.”

In response to this provision of the PPACA, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland has sponsored an im-pressive sounding bit of legislation known as H.R.2817 - 113th Congress (2013–2014) – “Protect Patient Access to Quality Health Professionals Act of 2013.” The good congressman seeks to protect the American population from you! In his mind this would be accomplished by implementation of the following:

“Section 2706 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-5) is amended by striking ‘non-discrimination in health

care’ and all that follows through ‘The provisions of section 1558’ and inserting the following: ‘non-discrimination in health care. The provisions of section 1558.’”

The day the bill was introduced, over the signature of James Madara, M.D., CEO of the AMA, a letter supporting Harris in his efforts to repeal Section 2706 detailed the purported reasons for their support:

“…the vague anti-discrimination language is open to wide interpretation, raises the specter of conflicts with state scope of practice policies, and could lead to policies that have harmful

consequences for patients…“The AMA is a proponent of the impor-

tance of physician-led health care teams. In order to ensure safe, high quality health care, all health professionals must be held to the highest standard of care under strict scope of practice policies that appropri-ately match education and experience lev-els to particular procedures, services and other aspects of patient care. AMA policy supports repeal of section 2706(a), as it represents federal intrusion into scope of practice, generally the province of state law and regulations. Moreover, section 2706(a) has already been invoked, im-properly, to support efforts by health pro-fessionals to expand their scope of prac-tice under state policies.”

While the passage of the Harris bill would be harmful to chiropractors under the PPACA legislation, the effects would extend into areas involving nurse anes-thetists, optometrists, nurse practitioners,

physician assistants, etc., and represent a simple turf protection strategy rather than a patient protection strategy.

The bill was introduced in July, and so far, it has no co-spon-sors. Translation: No response is needed or desired at this time. Did I mention Harris is a medical doctor?

The dust will settle, and if the full promise of the PPACA is re-alized, new strategies on controlling costs, improving outcomes and increasing patient satisfaction will be attempted. Some will

While the passage of

the harris bill would be

harmful to chiropractors

under the ppaCa legis-

lation, the effects would

extend into areas involv-

ing nurse anesthetists,

optometrists, nurse

practitioners, physician

assistants, etc., and

represent a simple turf

protection strategy rath-

er than a patient protec-

tion strategy.


poliTICal thots

fail miserably, some will succeed modestly and some will be home runs. You cannot change a system of the scope and mag-nitude such as the PPACA and not have a mixed bag of results.

Similarly, some of these strategies will be harmful to us as chiropractors, some won’t make much difference and some will be great for us. If I could tell you what would fall in to each cat-egory, I would be making a living at a sports book in Las Vegas! My advice, regardless of whether you love or hate the PPACA, is to learn as much as you can about it. It will be the law of the land that we will be living under as consumers, providers and citizens. Clearly if you don’t understand the legislation, the po-tential to be abused by it is tremendous. Understanding it may give you a bit more of a level playing field, and mastering it might even give you the upper hand.

vaCCiNE uPdatEThe Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa of California, is scheduled to hold hearings exploring the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in mid-November. This could very well be a watershed moment, as the interest and con-cern regarding vaccines has increased dramatically since the last round of hearings. These hearings will be held in the middle of debates within medicine about the propriety of mandatory flu immunizations for hospital workers countered by analyses such as that of the Cochrane Collaboration casting doubt from with-in medicine on the wisdom of such requirements. If this is an area of interest for you, one of the best databases I have seen on this subject is hosted by Sherri Tenpenny, D.O., and can be ac-cessed at http://vaccineresearchlibrary.com. The database lists only scientific and conventional medical literature consisting of thousands of articles and abstracts related to vaccine concerns.

Pts vERsus dCs: thE NExt RouNd of baNtEROn the West Coast, there are some interesting developments re-lated to the practice of physical therapy. In California, legislation was recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown that provides direct patient access to physical therapists. California was the only state in the western United States that did allow direct access to physical therapists. The access is limited however, to 45 days or 12 visits, whichever comes first. Up the road in Washington State, a multi-year legislative effort is underway by the physical therapists to be allowed to provide spinal manipulation. In Washington, while they may have direct access, they are pro-hibited from providing spinal manipulation. The chiropractic community has asked for evidence of preparedness to provide this care and the physical therapists essentially have said it is part of our education and we are competent in it. The debate goes on in the Pacific Northwest!

statE bY statEPart of my Monday through Friday ritual is to review every leg-islative change and regulatory change on a state-by-state basis that impacts the practice of Chiropractic. The majority of these types of changes are routine, housekeeping changes that repre-sent a rather mundane morning read. What begins to emerge are issues percolating in more than one or two states and whether or not trends are developing. In general, health care legislation across various disciplines is being modified to provide more protection for children and the elderly in terms of responsibil-ities to report abuse and related problems as well as state legis-lative or regulatory changes associated with implementation of various aspects of the PPACA.

this wEEK iN ChiRoPRaCtiC lEgislatioNFrom a chiropractic perspective one area that has popped up, mostly in the western states, relates to chiropractic care for animals. As you can imagine, the veterinarians are no different than the internal medicine folks when it comes to turf protec-tion, and, as a result, the language in some of these measures is highly restrictive, while in others it is rather permissive.

Another area deserving our attention relates to the develop-ment and implementation of informed consent to care laws as it relates to the practice of Chiropractic. Most states are vague in terms of the details that must be involved. California, for ex-ample, enacted a regulation on this subject that reads as follows:

“§319.1. Informed Consent.A licensed doctor of chiropractic shall verbally and in writ-

ing inform each patient of the material risks of proposed care. ‘Material’ shall be defined as a procedure inherently involving known risk of serious bodily harm. The chiropractor shall ob-tain the patient’s written informed consent prior to initiating clinical care. The signed written consent shall become part of the patient’s record.”

A regulation such as that adopted in California requires the practitioner to make several judgments that could easily differ from DC to DC. These include such things as what constitutes serious bodily harm? Does that mean something life threat-ening and/or something uncomfortable? Then there is the question of “known risk.” One must assume that in the con-struction of this regulation the use of the term “known risk” as opposed to “risk” was intentional and purposeful. How is this to be interpreted?

The point here is that regulations and legislation related to the use of informed concern notices by chiropractors will only increase over time. That being said, it is incumbent upon those constructing the regulations or legislation to do so in a manner that has meaning for the patient and has adequate clarity and guidance for the practitioner.

All the best to you and yours for a happy, healthy 2014!

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miscellaneous


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Read Dr. Tom Morgan’s new book, “It ’s Your Choice,” in honor of and tribute to the life a nd w isdom of Dr. Wi l l ia m Harris. $15. All Proceeds go to the Red Hat Scholoarship Fund benefiting Chiropractic stu-dents. Purchase now in the Life University Book-store, or online at : neebo.com/Li fe-Universit y (770) 429-8773


what people are saying

“Did you know that the drugs used to treat ADHD are derived from the same family as cocaine? Stimulant drugs may produce some short-term benefit in reducing some the symptoms asso-ciated with ADHD, however, they have extremely harmful side effects.”

—Melissa Hergert

“Chiropractic helped our soccer team win the State Champion-ship, Regional Championship and National Championship. Let’s go get lots of people under care.”

—Eric Plasker, D.C.

“Aqui estamos, en Life University!”—Luis Daniel Orlando,

new student from Puerto Rico

[About pediatric Chiropractic]“As the twig is bent so the tree grows…”

—Rusty Wouters

[About the cost of eating healthy]“Junk food is affordable, not cheap.”

—Carolyn Perry Alameida

“my daddy checked my sweet boy minutes after he was born, but no adjustment, as he was born with no subluxations. now at 1 ½, he gets adjusted all the time! i cannot wait until i’m the one who can adjust my son!”

—Jennifer Michelle Carter

“I’m an AmpLIFEier and I love it! It’s wonderful FREE content to share! I get to choose what content I want to share and when.”

—Kevin P. Lewis

“it’s unfortu-nate to say, but the hu-man body will never be as healthy as it needs to be until more natural med-icines are pursued—like Food and Chiro-praCTiC.”

—Brittney Tafoya

“My chiropractor has changed my life and my disposition.”

—Linda Kijek

“Chiropractic maximizes that potential within—I am proof of this!”

—Renee Oginsky Morehouse

“In Russia, spine adjusts YOU!”—Lloyd Lachow

[Regarding LIFE’s position on drugs in Chiropractic] “This explains exactly why i am going into the chiropractic field, and also why my choice is Life university.”

—Bethanie Hansen

“Thanks for putting so much out there. The world needs to know!!!”

—Vicki Kuhn Dorvall

[Regarding AmpLIFEied posting] “This is a great service. posi-tive. enlightening. The identity i want to represent as a holistic health professorial. Thank you.”

—David Boorstein

Life university has multiple social media outlets, which chiropractors use to interact with each other, share posts and discuss philosophy and ideas. We welcome you to “Like” our pages and join in the conversation. here are some interesting com-ments from people over the past few months:

today's chiropractic leadership

Documents

pediatric chiropractic

business of chiropractic

chiropractic profession

family wellness chiropractic

leadership of

gerry clum craig dekshenieks

craig dekshenieks24

matt mccoy