According to a press release from the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) Stephen Perle DC will be the sole chiropractor presenting as the Keynote at the 2018 National Chiropractic legislative Conference (NCLC) in Washington DC starting February 28, 2018.  Perle is Professor of Clinical Sciences in the chiropractic department at the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic (UBCC) and has been a faculty member since 1991. He also serves as chairman of ACA's Research Advisory Board. Besides his role at UBCC Perle is also a consultant to the State of Connecticut, Department of Public Health, Division of Health Systems Regulation since 1996. The Connecticut Board of Chiropractic falls under this Division.

Among other things, Perle beleives the subluxation construct is "scientifically unsubstantiated" and that those focusing on subluxation are practicing a "pseudo-religion".

CLICK HERE for more history on Perle

Perle is also the immediate Past President of the West Hartford Group which is rife with subluxation deniers including Michael Simone DC who was just appointed to the Colorado Board of Chiropractic.

See Related Story on Simone

The news comes on the heels of the ACA's recent "re-branding" efforts that go as far to require members to sign a pledge to abide by the ACA's standards or those it adopts. The ACA recently adopted outdated 90's era medical x-ray guidelines that disallow the taking of films for purposes of subluxation evaluation, to measure biomechanical changes following chiropractic or in acute care.

SEE RELATED STORY

The ACA also recently resigned from the Summit Group. The Chiropractic Summit is part of a larger group within chiropractic known as the Chiropractic Cartel. The Chiropractic Summit’s goals include establishing chiropractors as physicians and securing third party pay.

The ACA, based in Arlington, Virginia, claims it is the largest professional organization in the United States for chiropractors stating they now have 11,000 members.

At a Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) meeting in 2012 in Scottsdale Arizona, Dr. Mike Simone from the American Chiropractic Association stated that the ACA represented 15,000 members. However the ACA ’s claimed membership numbers are in doubt and many believe that the ACA provided false testimony on this to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity during hearings on renewal of recognition of the CCE.

The ACA has strongly and publicly supported the CCE in their efforts to remove the phrase “without drugs and surgery” as well as marginalize subluxation in the CCE Standards. While the ACA stated that they have 11,000 or 15,000 members - according to calculations derived from IRS 990 forms, the ACA may have only an estimated 6000 full dues paying members. Further evidence for this are membership reports by the World Federation of Chiropractic that the membership dues in the WFC, which are based on membership numbers, are consistent with 6000 members in the ACA.

Nevertheless the ACA now claims that it ". . . attracts the most principled and accomplished chiropractors, who understand that it takes more to be called an ACA chiropractor."

Promoting the 2018 NCLC, the ACA claims that it is the:

". . . premier national conference for doctors of chiropractic and chiropractic students. The event brings together the best in chiropractic, including innovative presentations on how to bring evidence-informed
research into everyday practice, educational programming focused on the highest standards of ethics and patient care, and best practices in ethical clinic and practice management".

Continuing their boasting the ACA asserts that:

"Doctors who attend NCLC are not only influential leaders who represent their state or locale; they are practice leaders on the forefront of the latest developments in chiropractic."

They claim that no other event holds the "authority" of the NCLC.

Other speakers during the 2018 NCLC conferences include a number of surprises considering their obvious endorsement of the ACA's new policies, direction and leadership controlled by the West Hartford Group.

Many chiropractic schools are represented as well including:

Cheryl K. Hawk, DC, PhD - Texas Chiropractic College
Christine Goertz DC, PhD - Palmer College of Chiropractic
James J. Lehman, DC - University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic
William J. Lauretti, DC - New York Chiropractic College
Anthony Lisi, DC - Palmer West & U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
John S. Stites, DC - Palmer College of Chiropractic
Ronald Farabaugh, DC - Council on Chiropractic Education - Councilor

Other speakers include:

Frederick R. Carrick, DC, PhD, MS-HPEd
James M. Cox, DC, DACBR
Wayne Whalen, DC
John Ventura, DC
Jennifer L. Brocker, DC, DICCP
Bill Groux
Jeff Miller
Jonathan Parham, DC
Ted L. Forcum, DC, DACBSP
Jerrold J. Simon, DC, DACRB
Austin D. McMillin, DC
Robert G. Silverman, DC
Elizabeth Moos, DC
Charles A. Simpson, DC
Brian Justice, DC
David Beneliyahu, DC
Jay Greenstein, DC
Joel Kreisberg, DC
Kevin Sharp, DC
Jonathan R. Field, DC MSC PhD
Tim Bertelsman, DC, CCSP, FACO
Brandon Cory Steele, DC, FACO
Kendall Payne, DC
Rob Vining, DC
Lee Matthis, DC
Lauren E. Austin-McClellan, DC, MS
Leo J. Bronston, DC

It will be interesting to see the list of vendors who sign up for access to the 800 attendees the ACA claims will be there.