Colorado Board Member Michael Simone Says Surface EMG not Supported by any Valid Scientific Evidence
In a wide ranging statement about variations in chiropractic practice posted on the ACA Open Forum Digest on Wednesday November 14, 2018 Colorado Board of Chiropractic member Michael P Simone DC a well known subluxation denier, President of the West Hartford Group and Past Chairman American Chiropractic Association stated:
"The public, and other professionals within the healthcare system, are usually at a loss when they are introduced to chiropractors.
They walk through a garden show and the only licensed health care providers with booths are usually chiropractors--and with the same sEMG machine performing "exams" not supported by any valid scientific evidence (and no, a study published in a journal developed, written and peer reviewed by the owners of the company selling the machines doesn't count).
Or they have a patient who went to a chiropractor who only detected and corrected subluxations or one that performed a full examination and treated using protocols they understand."
Simone, who was appointed to the Colorado Board of Chiropractic by Governor Hickenlooper, is well known for disparaging the management of vertebral subluxation and those who practice it. Simone has called for the "elimination" of subluxation chiropractors and has stated "vitalism was discredited" years ago while at the same time pushing for chiropractors to prescribe drugs.
Chiropractors practicing in Colorado are concerned about Simone's clear conflicts of interests due to his obvious disdain for the central theory of the profession. Are they at risk should they be brought before the board?
His comments regarding surface electromyography are a case in point.
At the same time that Simone was on his anti-subluxation tirade and spreading blatant lies about the validity of sEMG, the Colorado Board of Chiropractic was taking public comments about their infamous RULE 15 which addresses the very thing that Simone was addressing.
Simone and the Board are revising a Colorado rule that would require a separate informed consent if chiropractors want to utilize procedures or tests that the Board determines are invalid.
Even a cursory review of the literature on surface EMG would prove Simone wrong. But this would not be the first time that Simone didn't let facts get in the way of his hatred for those practicing chiropractic in a salutogenic model.
