Movement for Chiropractic Quality and Integrity

What should be the criteria for determining which techniques are a core component of a vitalistic chiropractic curriculum?

A wide variety of techniques should be offered in order to expose students to their future possible art form. For example if all the school teaches is diversified then well..... That is not exactly exploring the arts now is it. There should be sound time tested structural full spine technique courses offered. Gontead, diversified, etc. there would also be a tonal course required. This could be a palpation course. I recommend bio geometric integration as it has all the new science built into it already and would save a lot of extra work for teaching purposes. Saccro occipital technique is great for understanding the current use of what we know of neurology and the somato respitory system. Drop piece is easy and could be incorporated at anytime throughout the program.

The last is introduction to upper cervical work. Toggle, Blair, NUCCA etc. more advanced HIO work could be taken as an elective.

9 core curriculum classes is not too much to ask. Too much time has been spent in biochemistry and not enough in the adjusting lab. Students focus too much on grades and boards and not enough on technique. More value needs to be given to technique courses. And student should be a decent adjuster after three years of school. Not just getting started.

The toughest techniques to master should be taught first. Toggle, specific upper cervical work, etc.

We have not even touched upon special course work. Pediatrics, pregnant women, elderly, etc.

What fun it will be to recruit masters in the profession to teach instead of failures in practice! Freed up student funds can be used to entice higher quality teachers instead of meaningless board questions and classes.

First and foremost, pediatric technique MUST be a requirement before any student can graduate or get licensed. It is not congruent to graduate chiropractors that are taught the importance of chiropractic care from birth to death (from our philosophy curriculum) but are incompetent to provide that service. Furthermore, it is a disservice to the public to have undertrained chiropractors licensed to adjust infants and children.

Secondly, I believe schools should teach lecture classes on all of the major (most common) techniques as well as any other techniques they wish to teach. The students should then be able to choose which techniques they wish to pursue in a hands on format. This will give students a well rounded technique education while still allowing them to specialize in their chosen technique(s). What do you guys think?

The key to all these questions about what to teach isn't in the "what". It's "who". We all know there is cutting edge chiropractic out there and the colleges are broke. I just got out of a curriculum committee meeting at Life West. The administration under Brian Kelly is ready to integrate new stuff, but can't afford to hire more teachers. Our instructors mean well, however, they're operating from old paradigms.

If we are going to talk about revolutionizing the curriculum, the first step is getting more funds to principled colleges. The next even more critical step is for Doctors who have the expertise to teach these cutting edge sciences, techniques, etc. need to step into the classrooms.

We can talk all we want about what to teach, but when it comes down to it, people need to give to the colleges in the form of money, time, and knowledge.

Instrumentation is imperative for the curriculum.

Any technique that is taught as a class in Chiropractic college would need to be an all encompassing technique of complete spinal or complete skeletal adjusting (or complete cranial adjusting). There are techniques on how to adjust a rib or a knee that is not capable of being integrated as a stand alone class. Named techniques are as such because of a well organized system of analysis and adjusting techniques for the care of the entire being. Thompson, Gonstead, AO, HIO, SOT, "Diversified full spine", etc are all intended to be all encompassing care for spine and nerve system.

Criteria for determining legitimacy of a technique class:

Organization
Complete system of analysis
Complete system of adjusting techniques
Variations to accommodate individuality (pediatric, geriatric, injury status, symptomatology, etc) should be vital for every technique.

My opinion...