As the board complaints filed against chiropractors wind their way through the regulatory red tape in several states it has become increasingly obvious that the complaints filed, and those pursued, were part of an organized effort to silence chiropractors from telling the public the truth. This effort included state boards, individual members of state boards and state organizations aligned with the American Chiropractic Association and the World Federation of Chiropractic.

Expert review of complaints filed in several states along with review of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests demonstrate numerous instances of inappropriate actions. These include the filing of numerous anonymous complaints, reliance on the flawed hit piece put out by the WFC and endorsed by the ACA, ACA State Affiliates and Parker University, and inappropriate interpretation of the literature to fit a narrative that chiropractic has no benefit on immune function - among many others.

In one state, for example, nearly all of the complaints were filed by one chiropractor who did so anonymously and that chiropractor is known to have a disdain for chiropractors practicing in a vitalistic, salutogenic model.

Supporters of the WFC and ACA openly admitted on social media that they were training an army of anti-subluxation chiropractors how to troll websites and social media for anything they could use to submit complaints against their fellow chiropractors regarding immunity. They also trained them how to file those complaints and what to state.

Recent reviews of research on immunity and chiropractic that have emerged since the beginning of the pandemic directly contradicts and refutes the claims by the World Federation of Chiropractic, America Chiropractic Association, several state boards, state trade organizations and the Director of Research at Parker University Katie Pholman DC, Ph.D., that there is no credible research.

Just recently the Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation held a Conference on Chiropractic & Immunity with over 120 chiropractors, faculty, students and laypeople who attended this historic, first ever Conference of its kind. The event was hosted by the Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation and Sherman College's Center of Scholarly Activity.

The Conference hosted 13 speakers including DC's, MD's, MPH's and Ph.D's, who held two days of discussions on the impact of chiropractic on immune function.

The Conclusion?

There is plenty of evidence demonstrating the beneficial effects of chiropractic on immune function and quality of life.

All of these efforts have culminated in a Draft Best Practices Statement from the Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation that is currently undergoing Peer Review. The statement reads in part:

"A growing body of evidence supports our understanding of the role of the nervous system in immune system function. Basic science studies and clinical reports in the scientific literature provide supportive evidence of the beneficial effects of chiropractic care in improving function, including immune system function and quality of life. These guidelines support chiropractic practice in an evidence-informed, patient centered model. Evidence-informed practice involves the integration of the knowledge and experience of the chiropractor, the best available research evidence, and the needs and preferences of individual patients. Furthermore, chiropractors must be free to discuss, publish, and otherwise disseminate the best available evidence, and in practice, apply it to the needs of individual patients."

ChiroFutures Malpractice Insurance Program alerted the profession early on in the pandemic that several chiropractic regulatory boards in the United States had inappropriately endorsed and/or adopted the policy statement published by the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) on the role that chiropractic clinical management has on immune function.

The WFC claimed that, based upon their "review", chiropractors may not communicate claims of effectiveness for conferring or enhancing immunity. Some of these boards, and at least one chiropractic college President, have used this policy to directly threaten licensed chiropractors.

Every regulatory board in the United States is made up of active market players - meaning those chiropractors who serve on the board are in competition with all other chiropractors in the state. These active market players, who have the authority to discipline and sanction their competitors, endorsed and/or adopted this flawed policy that appears to restrain the trade of their competitors. To our knowledge they also did this without any formal process, hearing or input from their competition in the marketplace or from the public. To our knowledge they also did this without active oversight of the state.

The WFC document these Boards relied upon and endorsed to potentially restrain the trade of their competitors was determined to be methodologically flawed and scientifically invalid. The Research Committee that created the document has effectively disbanded as all but two of its members resigned abruptly following the fallout. That fallout included at least 17 major sponsors of the World Federation of Chiropractic to pull their sponsorships.

ChiroFutures has urged anyone receiving communication from a chiropractic regulatory board regarding this issue to preserve that communication along with all other communications, emails, letters, website posts and any other material related to this issue from the regulatory board. Victims of any regulatory boards' attempt to restrain chiropractic trade related to these issues are urged to consult with legal counsel to explore the various remedies available to them.

The United States Supreme Court has held that active market players involved in anti-competitive and unfair methods of competition may be found liable for unreasonably restraining trade in violation of antitrust law.

These legal issues along with the particulars on how the anti-subluxation activists have attempted to dismantled and ignore evidence informed practice models were covered in detail during the immunity conference. The pervasiveness of the fraud perpetrated on the profession by these rogue organizations and boards is evidenced by the Alberta College & Association of Chiropractors who refused to provide CE credit for the Conference stating that what was being presented was "pseudoscientific". Sasketchewan also denied CE credits claiming it was "not consistent with the best evidence . . ."

Interestingly, a review of regulatory board members websites from both of these Provinces revealed claims that do not meet their own rules, making it clear that there is an agenda that has nothing to do with science or research but in reality is political in nature.

Despite the evidence supporting chiropractic in immune function chiropractors are urged to review their websites and social media for claims that these rogue boards don't like and make risk management decisions about that content proactively.