Assignment #9

CP 1102
Dr. Draper
Angelica Lebar
Chiropractic plays a pertinent role in health care as it strives to maintain perfect
homeostasis in the body, whereby the patient feels able to perform daily functions that
contribute to their quality of life. Chiropractic was deemed an ostracized profession for
many years with traditional medical professionals perceiving it as a taboo or a quacky
profession. It was isolated for many years and not included in inter-professional
collaborating with other professionals such as MDs, nurses etc. However today,
chiropractic has taken a turn for the better and has evolved into one of the leading
collaborating forces in spinal and musculoskeletal health. Today, we see chiropractic
embedded in multi-disciplinary health teams, where chiropractors are working in teams
and able to share their knowledge sources with others in order to aid in a patients
rehabilitation. Many chiropractors are working in large global settings alongside PTs and
OTs, acupuncturists, nutritionists etc. Doctors of Chiropractic collaborate with other
providers as part of the health care team to provide the best possible patient care. Thus,
chiropractic is a part of the global web of health care and is in a position to contribute to
population health (Johnson 1 p. 407). Chiropractics role in health care is to challenge
traditional boundaries and to share knowledge about human health in ways that
traditional MDs cannot. Recently, chiropractors adopted a more refined definition of
health, which is, a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease (1 p. 406). Chiropractors are leading experts on the spine
and on spinal health and on the homeostasis of musculoskeletal processes in the body and
this automatically places chiropractic with the assumed responsibility of
interprofessionalism, whereby they can outsource this knowledge to entire bodies of
people. Also, because chiropractors are spinal specialists our role is to make our practice
patient centered where we are treating a patients complaints. Chiropractors are meant to
channel their knowledge about the spine and the musculoskeletal system in ways that

satisfy their patients and help their patients. Also, because chiropractic, as I mentioned
above, is intended to challenge traditional medical boundaries and generate new channels
of knowledge and practice, chiropractors ought to make their patients doctors of their
bodies. This means that the chiropractor does everything in their power to educate their
patients about their body and health and wellness, while encouraging them to take
ownership of their bodies and realizing the power they have to take care of their bodies
and prevent illness and disease. Chiropractic is not just about reacting to a symptom or
problem in the body but also about instilling healthy life style behaviours in the patient.
These may include stretching, exercises etc. Therefore, as a conclusion, I would say that
chiropractic as it relates to health care is intended to challenge traditional boundaries,
outsource their knowledge with acute medical professionals and revolutionize the concept
behind patient- centered practice, whereby we transform the patient into their own
personal mini doctors, who understand the importance of living healthily.
Now, regarding public health, the role of chiropractic is even bigger than their role in
health care. Health care refers to the process of treating someone for an already existing
disease, illness or injury/disability. Relating to chiropractic health care refers to the
outsourced treatments that chiropractors perform such as SMTs, soft tissue treatment,
modalities such as laser or IFC machine, and stretching. However, public health is
different because the goal of public health is to prevent disease or illness from happening
at all, in fact, the purpose of public health is to have no disease or injuries. The goal of
public health is preventative medicine; focusing on lifestyle behaviours and healthy
living factors that contribute to quality of life and minimize the chances of a person ever
getting sick. Importantly, Doctors of chiropractic typically consider a multiplicity of
factors in the care of patients and communities to positively impact their health. (1 p.
408). These factors include conditions in which people live and work in addition to
individual characteristics that are modifiable, such as environment and behaviors, and
those that are not modifiable, such as age, sex, and genetic background (1 p. 408). In
other words, chiropractic has better incorporated and considered the social determinants
of health and their effects on patients. Living conditions such as those mentioned above,
can affect a persons biomechanical functionality, subluxation detriments in their spine

etc. Chiropractic was extremely isolated from public health until recent literature and
studies came out showing the strong correlation between spinal health and functionality
and musculoskeletal health and biomechanical performance. Basically, a broken body
with subluxations will inhibit a persons daily functions; minimize their movement and
physical activity and this can lead to things such as obesity and heart issues. Therefore,
by utilizing a chiropractor even if you feel fine and you do not have any major adverse
health conditions, you are subsequently improving quality of life by improving the
structure and function of the spine and surrounding structures. Also chiropractic is big on
soft tissue treatment and stretches/mobilizations. Mobilizations can be preventative in
nature because they force movement on certain muscles/structures and this can get rid of
subluxations and tension and improve fluidity of that area. All in all, chiropractic is
becoming more cutting edge and has lots of light to shed on a multitude of issues that
will positively challenge not only how traditional medics think but also how patients
think too!

Reference Page
Johnson, C. Public Health, Wellness, Prevention, and Health Promotion: Considering
the Role of Chiropractic and Determinants of Health. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. July
2009. 32 (6): 405-412