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August 2008
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DCs fight back to protect chiropractic in Brazil
August 26, 2008 — On June 26 the Federal Police in Brazil, acting on a complaint from physiotherapy leaders, detained visiting doctors of chiropractic and students from Palmer College’s Clinics Abroad program on the grounds that they were practicing physiotherapy without a license.
This was part of the PT profession’s aggressive campaign to have chiropractic declared a specialty of physiotherapy by law in Brazil. This campaign is a response to draft chiropractic legislation promoted by the Brazilian Chiropractors’ Association (ABQ), representing Brazil’s duly qualified 360 DCs. They are challenged by Brazil’s 95,000 PTs. Currently there is no law regulating or recognizing the practice of chiropractic.
To support their position some PT leaders and entrepreneurs have established short technique courses of up to 300 hours in chiropractic for PTs, graduating these PTs with a certificate in chiropractic. One such course is being given by the organization Physion, in partnership with the University of Ribeirao Preto.
The ABQ, acting through lawyers, government authorities and legal processes in the capital Brazilia, has now been successful in getting an injunction against Physion and its ‘chiropractic’ teachers, on grounds of lack of qualifications and public safety. On July 18 process servers armed with this injunction halted a Physion weekend course getting underway at the Novo Hamburgo Business Hotel in Rio
“It was Friday afternoon when the officials arrived with the injunction”, says Dr Juliana Piva of Rio de Janeiro, ABQ president, “and the Physion lecturers resisted at first.” However on learning that there was a $10,000 fine for each teacher daily, and $5,000 fine for each student daily the course was quickly abandoned.
Physion and CREFITO, a regional representative of the COFFITO, the national authority for PTs in Brazil, have challenged the injunction, but the judge denied this challenge on July 27. An appeal has been filed.
“This battle for an independent chiropractic profession in Brazil is far from over”, explains Dr. Stathis Papadopoulos of Cyprus, president, World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC). “It would be a disaster not only in Brazil but internationally if chiropractic was ever recognized as a specialty of physiotherapy — and the WFC continues to appeal to its members and all others for funding support for the legal and campaign costs being incurred by the ABQ.”
Please act now to support your colleagues and profession in Brazil – for their benefit and yours wherever you practice. For more details, a donation form and a list of donors so far, go now to the Newsroom at www.wfc.org.
Source: World Federation of Chiropractic, www.wfc.org
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Comments
Location: Berkeley, California
While we squabble over straight vs. mixer, the rest of the world: physical therapists, m.d.'s, etc. see the obvious benefit of manipulation as a primary or adjunctive treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, and will steal it from us as they can. We need to stop squabbling amongst ourselves and send money to the Brazilian chiropractors. I'm down for $100. Whatever your position, put your money where your mouth is, or we won't be able to hang on to manipulation and spread chiropractic worldwide, whether we have subluxation based or straight or mixer practices.Location: BARBADOS
CHIROPRACTIC PREDATES PT SO HOW CAN IT BE A BRANCH OF PTNATIONAL TAUGHT PT BEFORE WWI
PT WAS ESTABLISHED AS A PROFESSION AFTER WWI TO TREAT THE WOUNDED
DD OUR FOUNDER SAID
"I WANT EVER CHIROPRACTOR TO KNOW THAT THE CAUSE OF DISEASE IS TOO MUCH OR TO LITTLE NERVE FORCE"
HE FURTHER SAID THE CAUSE OF SUBLUXATION IS 1.TRAUMATISIM,AUTOSUGGESTION,INTOXICATION
IN AK STRUCTURE,EMOTIONAL,CHEMICAL
SO FOR ALL YOU BONE POPPING CHIROPRACTIC IS ONLY WHAT BJ SAID SMALL MINDED THINKERS
WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY
MODERN CHIROPRACTIC IS A TRULY HOLISTIC PROFESSION CONCERNED WITH ENERGETIC BALANCE AND THE TREATMENT OF SUBLUXATIONS BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY THE TREATMENT AND PREVENTION OF SUBLUXATIONS
AND ENERGETIC IMBALANCES
GIVING AN ADJUSTMENT AND NOT FIXING THE CAUSE
[SO IT KEEPS RETURNING]IS NO BETTER THAN AN MD MASKING THE PROBLEM WITH DRUGS
Location: Illinois
As a field doctor with the Clinic Abroad Program, I was fortunate to be part of a team to Brazil. I can tell you first hand that the team of Chiropractors and local doctors held themselves to the highest level of integrity and honor. What I witnessed was pure Chiropractic, with absolutely no modalities or anything remotely resembling PT.Sorry, Chiro Dan, there was no PT being performed. It really reminds me of the AMA witch hunt. The PT's in Brazil are simply a good lobby group fighting against anything that they perceive as a threat to their way of life. It has nothing to do with the patient.
Programs like the Clinic Abroad Program at Palmer should be applauded for bringing Chiropractic to the people that need it most. The Chiropractic doctors in these countries are experiencing what our colleagues here experienced 20 years ago. Keep fighting...... way to go.
These programs do not abandon Chiropractic, they raise Chiropractic internationally and provide a fantastic service. We must plant a seed and fight the fight, or we will lose any identity that we have.