The President of the British Chiropractic Association Catherine Quinn (Catherine Cecelia - Facebook name) recently continued the attacks on chiropractors who focus on vertebral subluxation and use x-ray in order to objectively evaluate its biomechanical aspects. The use of radiographs for subluxation evaluation has been under attack for many decades but got a boost a couple of years ago when the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) endorsed the Choosing Wisely guidelines which do not allow for the taking of x-rays for subluxaiton analysis or to measure outcomes following care. All members of the ACA agree to pledge they will abide by the standards adopted by the organization.

The ACA's x-rays guidelines have been rejected by over two dozen schools, trade organizations, technique groups and research organizations.

Despite this, BCA President Quinn chose to post an image in a Radiology Facebook group of an x-ray from a friend that had gone to a chiropractor who used lines of mensuration to objectively assess the presence of the biomechanical component of vertebral subluxation.

Stating she was "biting her tongue" she asked: "When will this scaremongering stop" in regards to such practices.

Those in the group defending the use of x-ray for subluxation analysis using scientific evidence had their posts removed and were banned from the group.

The British Chiropractic Association is a full supporter of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) which has been taken over by anti-subluxation and pro-drug zealots and recently had a complaint filed by the International Chiropractors Association (ICA).

The complaint follows an embarrassing display of unprofessional and disruptive behavior of presenters and attendees at the WFC Conference in Berlin in March of this year. The behavior involved attacks on practitioners who focus on the management of vertebral subluxation. It included the throwing of water bottles onto the stage and clapping and cheering as the management of subluxation was denigrated.

According to the ICA, and others who attended, the Chair of the WFC Research Council, Greg Kawchuk DC, Ph.D, compared bringing a child to a vitalistic chiropractor to bringing them to a Catholic priest at a children’s school.

According to the ICA this was:

" . . . so offensive, to so many people, that this behavior alone should be sufficient to immediately take the action recommended by the ICA. The demonstrated religious intolerance and blatant offensive behavior on a public stage speaks for itself. This behavior cannot be excused under any circumstances."

In addition to comparing chiropractors who practice in this model to child molestors, Kawchuk is also a co-author on a recently published paper titled: “Chiropractic, one big unhappy family: better together or apart”.

His co-authors include fellow subluxation deniers Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, Stanley I. Innes, Kenneth J. Young, and Jan Hartvigsen. The paper which denigrates the practice of chiropractic in a vitalistic salutogenic, subluxation model was promoted from the WFC platform.

In a separate presentation, Hartvigsen suggested that subluxation was imaginary and the practice of using x-rays to identify subluxation and outcomes of care was "absolutely rubbish".

The BCA is no stranger to controversy as the World Federation of Chiropractic's Secretary General Richard Brown DC is the immediate past President of the British Chiropractic Association and has stated his and the BCA’s support for prescriptive drug rights for chiropractors.

Brown is a well known subluxation denier and critic of the management of vertebral subluxation referring to those who practice in such a fashion as practicing a psuedo-religion and a cult. Brown has called for those who practice this way to be "eradicated".

In response to physiotherapists and podiatrists in England being given the right to prescribe drugs such as anti-inflammatories and painkillers BCA President Richard Brown stated:

“This decision will provide significant benefits for patients and complement the care they are able to receive from physiotherapists and podiatrists. It will also reduce the need for patients to return to their GPs for their medication”.

The BCA statement continued:

“The BCA, which is committed to improving quality and enhancing patient choice in the provision of musculoskeletal services, has already made representation to the statutory regulator, the General Chiropractic Council for the chiropractic profession to acquire prescribing rights and supports on-going dialogue to achieve this objective."

Brown had “argued that the scope of practice for chiropractors should not be restricted and that an opportunity for the profession to compete with its physiotherapy colleagues in the competitive marketplace of musculoskeletal services would be strengthened by permitting limited prescribing of drugs.”

At the WFC’s 2011 Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brown defended his view in a debate with other leaders in the profession making representations to the General Chiropractic Council, maintaining “that the declared view of the membership of the UK’s largest national association should be acted upon.”

In addition to his support for drug rights, Brown is also a harsh critic of subluxation centered chiropractors.

In a paper published in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies in 2012 Brown referred to such chiropractors as “one trick ponies”:

“For chiropractic to gain credibility, we must also accept that we cannot simply be one-trick ponies. Claims by some chiropractors that we should not be diagnosticians but merely the correctors of vertebral subluxation perpetuate the myth that consulting a chiropractor will invariably involve lengthy programmes of spinal manipulation.”

The notion that subluxation centered chiropractors all recommend “lengthy programmes” is a recurring theme in Brown’s writing. In a presentation at the WFC Conference in 2013, Brown refers to these chiropractors as “evangelists” practicing what he refers to as “pseudo-religious systems”:

“There must be no place in our modern evidence-based era for evangelists who treat the profession as a cult and deride anyone who disagrees.”

“We must eradicate from the profession those peddling pseudo-religious systems of so-called care, who prey on the vulnerable and coerce them into financially crippling extended care contracts.”

It is not known what, if any, organized group of chiropractors Brown is referring to but certainly the International Chiropractors Association, which is a dues paying member of the WFC, supports pre-payment plans for subluxation correction.

Brown also seems to have a disdain for high volume practitioners. In the same issue of Chiropractic & Manual Therapies Brown states:

“Perhaps first and foremost, there is a clear need to promote a consistent message. It is a matter of great regret that chiropractic’s identity is often blurred and the good work done by a hard working majority can very quickly be undone by a damaging minority of evangelists who preach a message of high volume, practitioner-centered practice building.”

It appears the British Chiropractic Association's new President Catherine Cecelia will continue this direction and anti-subluxation rhetoric for the BCA.