Why is the osteopathic profession growing at a much faster rate than the chiropractic profession in the UK? Are they just nicer people?

osteopathy

There are twice as many Osteopeaths in the UK as chiropractors when  only five years ago it was a third, there are possibly ten times more chiropractors practicing around the world than Osteopaths.

When I was on the GCC council the Registrar was refusing registration to about 50% of overseas applicants, others might say its because in normal times the General Chiropractic Council manages to have four times more PCC hearings than the General Osteopathic Council. Now the GCC has about 60 times more complaints and therefore many chiropractors are resigning from the register.

Osteopaths are not as hung up on how much time their graduate spent on the campus during their training, its far more important to look at the outcomes of the course of study rather than whether it was part time or a full time course.

Edzard Ernst would say Osteopathic “manipulation” is safer and more effective he has not explained physiologically why this might be so and I dont believe the differences are as large as many would have you believe. My own view is that Ostepaths seem to take a much more sensible pragmatic view of their profession, are not as intolerant and focus on what Osteopaths have in common rather than their differences and they pay little attention to the political decisions of their American colleagues.

I was reading the latest edition of “Osteopathy Today” ( The Magazine for members of the British Osteopathic Association”) which carried an article “ASA update” keeping members up to date with the complaints being made against chiropractors. Its not pushing a political agenda its just keeping their members informed. Untitled-1 The BOA are not saying you have to practice in a certain way, they are explaining the ASA rules to help their members in practice.

I still dont think chiropractors should define what they do in terms of treating conditions however if you do practice that way, I thought this article  would be useful, as I can not see the BCA or GCC informing chiropractors that the ASA has accepted evidence for “manipulation” in relation to “circulatory problems”  or “digestive problems” etc.

Richard Lanigan
Richard Lanigan

Richard Lanigan DC.BSc (Chiro) MSc( Health Promotion) was born in North London 1957 of Irish Parents and was educated in Ireland. Originally trained as a PE teacher, he moved to Denmark 1979, where a serious knee injury got him interested in rehabilitation and training methods. Richard founded Denmarks premier fitness centre "Sweat Shop" in 1982 and travelled all over the world to find how best to prepare athletes for competition. In 1984 he became fitness and rehab consultant to the Danish national badminton teams, handball teams and many football club sides. This approach to optimal performance is normal in 2010, however back in the early 80s it was very revolutionary, when stretching was limited to putting on your socks and knee injuries were immobilised for months in plaster.
Richard developed rehabilitation and fitness programmes for many of Denmark’s top athletes including Kirsten Larsten and Ib Frederickson, all England singles badminton champions in late 80s. "Team Denmark" hired him and his facilities to help prepare many of Denmarks athletes for the LA and Seoul Olympics. In 1990 he worked with Anya Anderson, Olympic gold medallist and voted worlds best female handball player at the Atlanta Olympics.
Richard advised Copenhagen’s main teaching (Rigs) Hospital on starting their rehab facility in 1984. In the same year he started working with Denmarks leading chiropractor; Ole Wessung DC, who demonstrated the effectiveness of Chiropractic in improving athletic performance, so impressed was Richard that in 1990 he moved back to England to study chiropractic at Anglo European College of Chiropractic and was student president for two years between 1993-1995.

Richard was awarded a fellowship by the College of Chiropractors in 2008, however in January 2009 Richard chose to stop using the title chiropractor in the UK because the British regulatory body for chiropractic (The GCC) had not maintained international standards of chiropractic education in the UK and including prescribing medicines in the chiropractic scope of practice, a fig leaf for incompetent UK chiropractors to hide behind. Richard has another clinic in Dublin and is a member of the Chiropractic Association of Ireland and the European Chiropractic Union.
Richard has four children Eloise aged 3, Molly and Isabelle aged five and the eldest Frederik aged twenty one is pursuing a career as a professional tennis player and has represented Norway in the Davis Cup in 2006 & 2007. None of Richards children have ever taken any medicine, www.vaccination.co.uk they eat healthy food, take lots of exercise and have their spines checked every month, www.familychiropractic.co.uk
Richard has had much experience working in the Cuban health service where Doctors are keen to incorporate drug free interventions (acupuncture and chiropractic) and prevention in their health care programmes www.henryreevebrigade.org

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