The most recent ACA national survey demonstrated that 88.6 percent of all conditions treated by DCs are musculoskeletal. The advertising of the chiropractors of conditions they treat has focused largely on back pain, neck pain, headaches and musculoskeletal conditions. The general public, on the other hand, has been conditioned to view chiropractors as back doctors or doctors who perform spinal manipulation as part of their procedure. Chiropractic has had a major identity crisis. Now is the time to capitalize on the identity crisis which the chiropractic profession has suffered from for almost a century.
Chiropractors can now lay claim and ownership to spinal manipulation.
Chiropractors will have a short time to demonstrate to the medical community, managed care gatekeepers, opinion makers, insurance companies, legislators, and of course the 85 percent of the public who currently do not use chiropractic services, that we are competent, capable, effective, efficient, caring and economical providers of a nondrug, nonsurgical, health care procedure. Chiropractic has an opportunity to establish an automatic link in the minds of the public, that when they think of low back pain, they think chiropractor. When they think manipulation, they think chiropractor. Most of you could, because they were made indelible by a massive, ongoing grass roots public relations program, but unlike the tobacco, drug, or cereal industry, our campaign must be funded by the chiropractic profession. I personally know it can be done, because I saw it work in the support demonstrated in 1988 with the Reader's Digest project, and I am confident we can and will do it again if presented properly and packaged correctly.