CHIROPRACTORS GAIN RESPECT

For chiropractors, times are most definitely changing. Nowadays new, ambitious doctors in the field, like Dr. Mike Givens in Cape Girardeau, as well as veterans in the business, like Dr. James Wills in Jackson, Mo., are gaining more respect with doctors of conventional medicine and are getting more patients with the use of special techniques.

Givens, who has been a doctor of chiropractic for only 18 months, jumped into the field after being a police dispatcher for seven years in Cape Girardeau.

"I love it," Givens says of his job, "because there are many things I can do that conventional medicine can or won't." Givens has seen about 250 to 300 patients in his short run so far, some of them referred to by other doctors.

"There used to be some bitter animosities between M.D.s and chiropractors," Givens says, "but now I get frequent referrals from M.D.s all the time. It's not just once in a while. That says something."

Dr. Robert Perry, a medical doctor in Cape Girardeau, has referred several patients to Givens.

"Growing up, my family always used chiropractors," Perry says. "They've been gaining a lot of respect recently, especially from the general public. For my patients who are not responding to medication, I'm certainly going to want them to try chiropractic."

If recognition used to be a hang-up, now, according to Wills, there is a lot more inter-professional relationships between chiropractors and medical doctors.

"It's so much more beneficial for patients when doctors can work together," Wills said. "It's taken a lot of years."

Wills, a chiropractor since 1978, says, "Politically, it's a lot different now" than in the past, adding:

"There used to be a philosophical rift between camps. Now there is a lot more recognition. Procedures (like massage therapy and manipulation) are more thorough now and techniques have improved. Insurance companies (private and Medicare) have improved in recognizing us. We are getting more recognition from the legal department. Statistically, there is a larger percentage of people using chiropractic care."

Wills' own niece is getting ready to start her undergraduate work to become a chiropractor.

Florida State University is planning on creating a College of Chiropractic on the demands of the Florida State legislature, Dr. Givens says, becoming the first public university to do so. You also now have to obtain a four-year degree to go into chiropractic.

Still, Givens says, most people (80 percent of the population) won't see chiropractors.

"People still think it's not mainstream," Givens says. "Most people are more interested in taking a pill than trying chiropractic."

He adds, "We are alternative healthcare because we don't prescribe medicine. I'm a doctor because I diagnose. We don't prescribe medicine we recommend nutritional supplements and vitamins for patients."

Givens uses the American version of the acupuncture technique, massage therapy (or soft tissue work), and traditional chiropractic therapy (bone realignment, manipulation).

"Years ago," says Givens, "chiropractors may have suggested to their patients that what they were doing would help disease. I'm not going to suggest that to them. I'm going to try and treat their musculoskeletal problems, headaches, etc. I take necessary X-rays, and I don't do traumas. Traumas are for the ER."

He adds, "These days we're insured like any other doctor. However, they put limits on us that they won't put on mainstream guys."