Why Do Chiropractors Call Themselves Primary Care Providers?

Question by Dr Curious: Why do chiropractors call themselves primary care providers?
As a practitioner of medicine, I am a bit confused as to why many chiropractors/chiropractic schools make this claim. I, as many of my colleagues, have paid very little attention to chiropractors and their manipulative work, as it infrequently affects my practice of medicine. I see it as an adjunct to primary medicine, but in no way can i imagine it to be a substitution of primary medical care. Americans are over medicated, I agree, but medicine is a vital and irreplaceable component on modern health care. CREDIBLE research well defines this. Some treatments cannot be managed by “the laying on of hands”, as the Osteopathic Docs finally came to accept. I cannot fathom that anyone can adequately treat a person safely, while they are using medication, without having years of experience and training in the application of its use. Taking a pharm class means nothing; one learns medicine in using it and in practicing it. That requires residency training and the ability to prescribe.

I realize that Chiropractors have a long way to go to reach better respectability amongst medical professionals, but those who make these claims seem to further the gap between Physicians and “Chiropractors” (I know some like to call themselves Chiropractic Physicians, but that seems like a redundant way to instill authority). I want to know why?

Best answer:

Answer by Mr E
they are required to be, as portal of entry providers are. you have no clue as to what chiropractic is. neither does anyone claiming to be a “chiropractic physician”. there is and never will be any such animal. yes, medicine has it’s place. it’s about twenty percent of what it presumes it to be. the medical cult points and cries, “heretic!” but again, what they consider damning beliefs they cannot in the least disprove. the reason is simple. they’re true, and additionally, they’re too flaming ignorant to even know where to start. you have to have at least a little knowledge to begin to ask intelligent questions, and they haven’t got any. such willful blindness and ignorance is an incurable illness. sadly, there are sick people who actually follow these blind guides and suffer all the worse for it.

Answer by Dr_ Lightning
I think you are mistaking what a primary care provider is. In order to be a primary care provider one must be able to assess, examine and diagnose a patient within their scope of practice.
The examination and clinical testing skills must be suitable to establish if a patient is suitable for treatment or if they need referral to another practitioner or through the medical system.

A patient seeing a primary care practitioner doesn’t need to see a Doctor and get clearance that they are safe to treat before seeing a primary care practitioner. A primary care practitioners job is to work that out for themselves.
I should point out that our skills lie in using manual techniques to optimise the body healing itself. Until you understand this there is no point in trying to explain.

Edit:
Gary, You like your friend who you pre-agreed to raise this question, have missed the point entirely.
What techniques someone practices on a patient does not make them a primary care practitioner. The skills to screen them and assess whether or not they are MEDICALLY SUITABLE for your particular practice or particular techniques is what makes them a primary care practitioner.
In your final clinical competence exams as an osteopath (and I am reliably informed as a chiropractor) if your evaluation indicates you should not treat that patient you will not fail if you don’t you Can do no manual therapy techniques on any of your patients and still pass. Clinical Safety evaluation is not a technique exam. It is to see if you are clinically safe.

NB. it is Odd you are quite happy for people to practice dangerous techniques such as surgery and prescribe toxic medications( both of which actually kill thousands of people annually) yet you are very critical of people who practice very safe techniques such as Cranial techniques which are not in anyway harmful. I really don’t understand your logic….. Actually logic doesn’t come into it something else is driving it isn’t that right Gary:o)

Edit 2:
Oh Gary you love to lie and decieve. Oh the master (that unwanted homosexual) has schooled you so well.
###@Lightning, someone who rejects germ theory, is anti-vaxxination####
Show me where I have rejected germ theory or am Anti Vaccine. Evidence please.

###and believes in subluxation complex####
What is the subluxation complex and show me where I have been shown to believe.

###is not competent to medically screen anybody.####
And how would you know this? How much competence and training do you have in medical screening? Did you sit in on my exams when I took them?

###Neither is someone who thinks they can manipulate the fused bones of a skull to balance the flow of craniosacral fluids and restore health.####
Exactly when have I said this exactly?
Firstly the bones aren’t fused. If you keep referencing the failed Psychiatrist who has exposed as a liar in open court you are going to keep stumbling on this untrue information.
You are also ignoring the FACT the skull bones are surrounded by Connective tissue which is extensively innervated with nerves which control how much fluid the tissues absorb thus changing shape very slightly. Put that in your pipe and smoke it Jimbo!

Edit 3:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/subluxation

###sub·lux·a·tion (sblk-sshn)
n.
Incomplete or partial dislocation of a bone in a joint.###
They exist. You’ll find lots of other concepts which are part of Osteopathic and Chiropractic philosophy are found in mainstream medicine.

Edit3:
http://www.om-pc.com/content/3/1/8
Has the paper:
###Assessment of calvarial structure motion by MRI###

Conclusion:
####the data presented in the present study suggest that calvarial structures have motion characteristics that can be identified by MRI technology.###
Read it yourself Gary.

NB. Simon Singh and his buddy wrote a book with no objectivity. If you want medical evidence for Subluxation and how tissues are affected / how tissues affect subluxations look up facilitation in the medical texts. This is not theoretical. Its well known and why people in the middle of an MI feel pain in their left arm etc.

NB2:
Fact: The great deceiver openly admits to being a homosexual.
Fact: I don’t want him.
Conclusion: He is an unwanted homosexual from a purely subjective point of view.

Edit:
So you are satisfied the bones aren’t fixed and there is a little movement? Can we put that to bed now and stop denying it?
The bones move themselves Gary. They respond to the fluid which pumps itself.
NOW WHERE IS THE PROOF THAT I AM A GERM THEORY DENIALIST.
Edit:
Nice Editing Gary.
I see now that you can no longer say with any authority (I really don’t know why you felt Steven Barratt had any authority at all but that is another story) that the sutures and the skull bones are fused you have moved the goal posts. No suprise there Gary. The american cranial academy has some other research regarding bone positioning. Do your own research.

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