Crossing Over

I have been exchanging correspondence the last few days with Dr. Clark Bartram, a pediatrican blogger. And he is quite a prolific one. His blog, "Unintelligent Design" spends a great deal of space highlighting the shortcomings of chiropractic. If you read his latest post, you can see that what I just wrote is quite an understatement. Indeed, Dr. Bartram is very passionate about the subject. Before I go any further, I want to stress that our emails have been highly cordial, professional, and constructive. Thanks to our discussion, I have already learned to see some issues under a different light. There are new questions that I have never really thought of. And no, this post will not lead to a veiled attempt to critique and defame Dr. Bartram.

I suspect and hope that a fair number of people reading this post are readers of Dr. Bartram and have come to read my thoughts. First I want to isolate some differences between my blog and his. I would categorize his posts as highly editorial, dispersing his opinion on "the wrongs of the world". Like many of his readers, I appreciate the consistent candor and effort he puts in each of his posts. I, on the other hand do not consciously treat my blog as an editorial medium. It's more of a relay station. I find good stuff on the web, and I'll share it with you. Yes, I'm fully aware that deciding what is good and important does require some form of editorializing. Furthermore, while Unintelligent Design aspires to aid in the extinction of chiropractic as a profession, the main purpose of Cornucopia Chiropractica is not to defend the profession. Rather, a quick scan of my editorial entries will show that they have been critical of chiropractic. I am not the yin to Dr. Bartram's yang. What I hope to ultimately achieve is that readers (especially those of Unintelligent Design and similar sites) do not automatically equate chiropractors with ignorant quacks. There is a very real benefit that can be had at a chiropractic office. As Dr. Bartram writes in his latest post, he hopes that "physical therapists and medical doctors are able to utilize the aspects of chiropractic care that are useful."

It is that aspect of chiropractic that I hope to shine a light on while at the same time recognizing some of the shortcomings that bloggers such as Dr. Bartram write about. Stick around this blog. Over time, you will see that there are chiropractors with a sound body of knowledge. I value all comments, from either side of the fence. More to come later this week.