Gonstead Methodology Institute REJECTS ACA's X-Ray Standards

Monday, February 11, 2019 - 00:00 News Staff

ACA's Standards Have no Basis in Clinical Reasoning, Science, State or Federal Law

The Gonstead Methodology Institute (GMI) issued a blistering rejection and denunciation of the American Chiropractic Association's (ACA) widely disputed x-ray standards stating that they were created by an undisclosed panel of people whose qualifications to create such standards are unknown. The GMI went on to state that those standards were then approved by the ACA Board of Governors who are not qualified to determine their validity.

GMI further reminded the ACA that the use of x-ray by the Chiropractic profession is regulated by state and federal law and not the ACA.

The Gonstead organization joins other technique groups and associations along with over two dozen national and international organizations, schools and businesses that have rejected the ACA's latest effort to eliminate the practice of managing vertebral subluxation.

The following is the full text of the Gonstead Methodology Institute's Letter to the ACA:

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American Chiropractic Association
1701 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 200
Arlington, VA 22209

February 8, 2019

For immediate release:

The Gonstead Methodology Institute (GMI) Board of Directors rejects the recently released ACA “Choosing Wisely” X-Ray Guidelines. The premise that taking X-Rays in a chiropractic office is a threat to public health is unscientific and unethical.

Our first point of contention is that the ACA is not a governing body but a trade organization. As a group, the ACA solicits membership from the profession but essentially has no power over the membership. By releasing guidelines having no basis in clinical reasoning or science and which you have no means or hope of enforcing, you hurt the credibility of the entire profession.

Further, the guidelines you have outlined were created by an undisclosed panel of unknowns whose qualifications to create such guidelines is unable to be validated. The guidelines were then approved by the ACA Board of Governors who are not qualified to to determine their validity.

It is the opinion of the Gonstead Methodology Institute, that each Chiropractor should have the right to use all the diagnostic and analytic tools of the profession at their disposal within the scope of practice outlined by their state or country.

The use of X-Ray film analysis in the Gonstead Method is paramount not only to specific analysis of a patient's biomechanical and subluxation analysis, but also, to the patient’s safety by identifying contraindications and pathology.

As a leader in Gonstead education, GMI calls on all Gonstead organizations to follow our lead and join all other Chiropractic organizations that have rejected the ACA guidelines. This will ensure that the use of X-Ray, for all its clinical application, will remain where it belongs, in the hands of the clinicians and not in the hands of politicians.

Sincerely,

Ben Altmann, D.C. GMI Executive Director
Cale Banning, D.C. GMI Board President
Jeff Lawlor, D.C. GMI Board Vice President
Dan Lyons, D.C. GMI Board Treasurer
Jessica Schumann, D.C. GMI Board Secretary
Josh Lawlor, D.C. GMI Board Member
Terry Wepner, D.C. GMI Board Member
Sam Gunlogson, D.C. GMI Board Member
Aki Oshita, D.C. GMI Board Member
Rick Elbert, D.C. GMI Board Member
Brittany Sedar, D.C. GMI Board Member

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The following is a list of the current groups, technique organizations, state and national associations, foundations and schools that have rejected the ACA's actions: