We recently reported on the chaos caused by the British Columbia College of Chiropractors adoption of an “acceptable evidence” policy and their actions in going after chiropractors who they deem have violated it and threatening to do more of the same.
CLICK HERE to review that story
Bethany Lindsay also recently reported on it for CBC News.
The new Policy reads in part:
Due to the absence of acceptable evidence supporting such claims, registrants must NOT represent to patients or the public that chiropractic:
(a) can be used to treat diseases, disorders or conditions such as: Alzheimer's disease, cancer, diabetes, infections, infertility, or Tourette's syndrome, or
(b) has any beneficial effect on childhood diseases, disorders or conditions such as: ADHD (or ADD), autism spectrum disorders including Asperger syndrome, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, or developmental and speech disorders.
Note especially the use of the words: any beneficial effect.
After reviewing the Policy and the standards of conduct for chiropractors in British Columbia we undertook a review of the websites of the members of the Board of the College of Chiropractors to see if their own websites would meet their Policy.
We found violation after violation of their own Policy.
Claims of efficacy that are unsupported by their own Policy statements include such claims as:
- Keep people healthy, stay mobile and age well
- Chiropractic care helps people with sciatica
- Chiropractic improves flexibility and motion
- Chiropractic increases energy, strength, balance and endurance
- Chiropractic can prevent future episodes
- It improves sleep, reduces stress and improves wellness and restores function to the body
One Board member states he can “. . . transform your health to a stronger and more resilient body”.
Others are engaged in the use of laser therapy, therapeutic ultrasound and muscle energy techniques where research does not reach the level of their Policy.
Two of them claim to be able to cure spinal stenosis. And one of them claims to have a special protocol for doing so. This Board member is not alone in his claim of superiority over other chiropractors. Another Board member claims he can accelerate the healing process.
Another misleads the public by claiming there isn’t much difference between what he does and what a medical doctor does.
Claims of being able to “Improve Functionality” and give patients “Optimal Health and Functionality” are included on one of the Board members sites.
Another claims to be a “specialist” treating a whole host of conditions that don’t make their Policy parameters.
Treatment claims for which the scientific evidence is contrary to their Policy include: Disc Herniation, Headache/Migraines, Tendinopathy (Tennis Elbow and Achilles), Plantar Fasciitis.
One claims to basically practice obstetrics.
One of our favorites is a College of Chiropractors’ Board Member who claims to be able to “make the impossible possible”, that he “provides the best care” and claims that his patients “live better.”
He doesn’t stop there. He claims to be leading the field in chiropractic through his innovative treatment that makes his the leading clinic in Vancouver that is “re-defining health care”.
The interesting thing we found when investigating this issue is that just two of the Board members have had complaints filed against them and they are the only two chiropractors on the Board that Bethany Lindsay from CBC News included in her review of chiropractors’ websites.
We thought it was very interesting that she conveniently left out all the other Board members whose websites have unsupported claims that are glaringly in violation of the Board’s Policy yet she decided to call out these two.
According to the interim college registrar Richard Simpson “. . . most of the complaints this year haven't come from the public — they've been from other chiropractors or internal investigators at the college.”
So the public that the Board is pretending to protect from unscrupulous advertising didn’t actually complain about any advertising. The complaints actually came from other chiropractors who are in market competition with the two they complained about. Even better are that complaints came from “internal investigators” at the College who were spying on the Board members. How strangely convenient that the Board’s “internal investigators” didn’t find the plethora of Policy violations on every other Board members websites that we did and there are no complaints against them.
What becomes obvious after reviewing all the Board Member’s websites is the distinct difference on the focus of the care provided by those who had complaints filed against them and those that didn’t. Those that did have websites showing they are clearly focused on a family practice, seeing people of all ages not just for the treatment of aches and pains like their fellow Board members but for improvement in the functioning of their nervous system through the management of vertebral subluxation. All of which is supported by research. It’s also supported by clinical practice guidelines such as those from the Council on Chiropractic Practice, the Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation and the International Chiropractors Association among others.
Chances are if one were to ask the other Board members about their claims and if they had any published guidelines to support those claims (never mind that met the requirements of their Policy) - they will not be able to produce any. The subluxation focused chiropractors can produce standards of care guidelines and research that supports what they do.
The following links will take the reader to a detailed review of each of the Board Members marketing claims and how they fail to meet the very standards of their own Board while they go after other chiropractors who practice in a different style then they do.
***All of the website content discussed herein was live as of October 15, 2018.***