AMERICAN STUDENT LOAN DEBT CRISIS

Please link to the new blog now — I need your help.

The best posts related to chiropractic student debt have been moved there, and I hope to post new articles related to the student loan problems that so many face.

For now, this blog will remain online in archive mode. So many people have read it and linked to it, that it’s a shame to take it down. But I will no longer be updating it. I hope it leaves a LONG TAIL of information for those considering chiropractic college to consider carefully.

Chiropractic Student Debt Will Bury You

Anyone considering becoming a Chiropractor — or currently attending chiropractic college — should GO READ THIS ENTIRE LINK IMMEDIATELY.

It contains facts (with links to proof) about how chiropractic colleges mislead students and misrepresent the career.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE POST NOW

This single post contains more information than I could ever post here. Read it CAREFULLY and follow all links before even THINKING ABOUT becoming a chiropractor.

Anyone who knows the complete facts about this “profession” would NEVER get involved and take out the massive student loans required to become a chiropractor. Chiropractic fails on every level as a career choice: it’s a low income, unscientific, unethical profession with a low public trust that is DYING quickly.

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE POST NOW AND SAVE YOURSELF 3 1/2 YEARS OF YOUR LIFE AND $89,000 IN TUITION ALONE (LINK TO POST)

Read FULL STORY here

An Alberta woman, paralyzed after her neck was manipulated by a chiropractor, has launched the biggest-ever class action suit against chiropractic in Canada.The suit, filed yesterday in Edmonton, is asking for more than a half billion dollars in damages not only for the victim, Sandy Nette and her husband, David, but for an entire class – anyone in Alberta treated or harmed by chiropractors who deliver “inappropriate and non-beneficial adjustments.”

The unprecedented lawsuit is groundbreaking because it is the first time lawyers have challenged the veracity of the fundamental underpinnings of chiropractic in a court of law in Canada. If successful, chiropractors in Alberta would have to repay a decade’s worth of fees – about $400 million – to all patients of chiropractors who were injured by or received what the suit calls, “inappropriate and non-beneficial adjustments”.

Alberta pays out about $40 million a year in chiropractic billings.

Philip Tinkler, one of the lead lawyers on the class action suit, explained that most victims of chiropractic injury either lack the knowledge or resources to pursue a lawsuit.

Read FULL STORY here

This was written years ago, but nothing has changed — except that chiropractors are making even less money now!

All students should read this article… here’s a few quotes:

Many who choose chiropractic as a career have been misled by government policies and educational counseling materials that portray chiropractic as part of standard health care. Prospective students are lured by false promises of status and success. At most chiropractic colleges, students are exposed to cultlike indoctrination into a deviant belief system. They are taught false theories of disease and healing and persuaded to accept them as gospel. They are taught to disdain science and distrust medical doctors. A few reform-minded schools are trying to move away from teaching chiropractic philosophy as a substitute for science, but these are under attack as heretical.

Many new graduates are dumped into the cold, hard world where survival values often displace ethics. Many discover that they are not in a true profession, but a guild of survivors who must sink or swim. A large percentage ­ half, according to chiropractic sources ­ fail in practice. This is one reason that chiropractors have the unhappy distinction of having the highest default rate of all who obtain Health Education Assistance Loans from the federal government. (Figures released in January 1998 showed that 817 chiropractors owed a total of $59 million. The current default list can be seen on the Health Resources & Services Administration Web site.)

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE (“Why Becoming A Chiropractor May Be Risky”)

Please forward this post to anyone you know who is considering attending chiropractic college.

It discussed why chiropractic has such a bad reputation — which also explains why the public doesn’t trust chiropractors and why it is such a poor career choice. Here are a few good quotes from the article:

Dazed, confused and hung over – we sit and wonder why our market share has dipped from 7% to 5%. We wonder why chiropractic college enrollments are down 40%

Most people are not neutral when it comes to chiropractic – they already have an opinion – and it ain’t a good one.

According to Gallup, we rank just a couple notches above used car salesmen when it comes to the public’s perception of our level of honesty and integrity.

This means that the profession has to vigorously shake off its cultural aversion to research. The days are over when the profession can rely on 70 poorly compensated researchers and a handful of research journals that no one subscribes to. The colleges are going to have to face the reality that their own future depends on producing the evidence of chiropractic’s effectiveness otherwise there won’t be any butts in their seats. Why get $200,000.00 in debt when you can do ‘wellness’ on less or in a profession without negative brand equity?

Before you think “This blog is just ‘bashing’ chiropractic”, keep in mind that these words come from someone IN the chiropractic profession, printed in one of the profession’s own journals.

Students: Please avoid this horrible career.

CLICK HERE TO READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE (“Negative Brand Equity”)

CLICK HERE TO READ AN ONLINE DISCUSSION OF THE ARTICLE

The CBS 3 story can be viewed online by going to:
http://cbs3.com/health/Risk.of.Chiropractic.2.661491.html

The WBZ News story can be viewed online by going to: http://wbztv.com/specialreports/chiropractor.and.strokes.2.659998.html

Meanwhile, U.S. News and World Report magazine named “Chiropractor” in its list of Overrated Careers for 2008:

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

The latest reports come from Philadelphia and Boston, the 4th and 7th largest media markets in the country, where KYW-TV (CBS), WBZ-TV (CBS) and WFXT-TV (Fox) have aired reports in the past week.

On Sunday February 24th, reporter Mark Ockerbloom of Fox 25 News in Boston broadcast a story in which a stroke specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Lee Schwamm, said he has personally witnessed many cases where stroke symptoms followed chiropractic neck manipulation.

Also on th 24th, reporter Stephanie Stahl of CBS 3 in Philadelphia presented a similar report.

On Thursday February 21st reporter David Wade and the WBZ News Special Reports Team aired another story featuring Dr. Schwamm.

“These news reports are further confirmation of the chiropractic-stroke connection,” said Britt Harwe, Founder of CSAG. “We are delighted that award-winning news organizations have recognized the significance of this story and sought out world-class medical experts as part of their reporting.”

Harwe was also interviewed for the reports.

The Fox 25 story can be viewed online by going to:
http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=5869524&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

The CBS 3 story can be viewed online by going to:
http://cbs3.com/health/Risk.of.Chiropractic.2.661491.html

The WBZ News story can be viewed online by going to: http://wbztv.com/specialreports/chiropractor.and.strokes.2.659998.html

The three television reports follow a recent opinion column in the Hartford Courant (February 15, 2008, No Sense Resisting Database) that called for the chiropractic industry to drop its defensive posture and support legislative proposals by Victims of Chiropractic Abuse (VOCA) to help patients learn more about the risks of chiropractic treatment through Informed Consent laws.

CSAG represents hundreds of people across the United States who have been injured by chiropractic manipulation. Potential risks are serious and can include stroke, permanent disability and even death.

Contact Information:
Telephone: 860-529-8826
Email chirostroke @ gmail.com
URL: www.chiropracticstroke.com

Direct links to audio files (which you can download and listen to on your computer) are included below.

Then you should definitely read this (CLICK HERE FOR POST) about the unfortunate realities of supply and demand.

From 1995 to 2008 (estimated), there are 36,000 new chiropractors, yet only 7% of the population ever sees a chiropractor — and that number hasn’t changed in 20 years.

”The number of chiropractors in the U.S. grew from 13,000 in 1970 to 40,000 in 1990. That should have been a large enough jump to invite talk of restricted chiropractic college enrollment. However, the jump of more than 50,000 by 1994 should have set off alarm bells.”

The chiropractic colleges keep pumping out more and more graduates with huge student loan debt, yet the demand for chiropractic is NOT increasing. At the same time, insurance companies are paying for less and less chiropractic care.

Before you sign the papers and go into massive debt for a chiropractic career, please read this blog, follow the links, and carefully do your own research. You can ask questions to former and current chiropractors on Chirotalk: The Skeptical Chiropractic Discussion List.

Remember that chiropractic colleges make money by getting your tuition. They can not be trusted to tell you the reality of the situation, especially considering that many make improper claims on their websites.

(Click Here To Read Post “Operation Money Hum–How to make $ in Chiropractic?” )

According to the newspaper, “Having your back ‘cracked’ by a chiropractor or physiotherapist to ease lower back pain is a waste of time and money, say researchers. Patients get better just as quickly if they simply stay active and take a mild painkiller such as paracetamol, a study reports today.“

This is not the first study to show that chiropractic is often no more effective than placebo, and that a lot of low back pain is essentially self-limiting.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE STORY FROM THE “DAILY MAIL”

Maybe you should read this before you take out over $100,000 in loans to become a chiropractor:

The study, reported today in The Lancet, involved 240 patients with acute lower back pain who had been seen by their GPs.

They were assigned to four treatment groups, only one of which received both diclofenac and genuine spinal manipulative therapy. Both techniques are available on the NHS in areas where primary care trusts have agreed to fund them.

The other three groups were treated with diclofenac and “dummy” spinal manipulation; genuine spinal manipulation plus a placebo; or both a dummy drug and fake spinal manipulation.

The results showed neither diclofenac nor spinal manipulative therapy significantly increased the speed of recovery.

A total of 237 of the 240 patients recovered over the course of 12 weeks. Some 22 patients had possible adverse reactions to the treatments, including stomach disturbances, dizziness and heart palpitations.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE STORY FROM THE “DAILY MAIL”