Sylvan's Lecture on Fascinating Fascia was just as the title states, fascinating! His passion for the subject definitely came through. Having not given the subject of fascia much consideration before, I can now see how fundamental it is our sensory system and how important it is to ones overall wellbeing, if properly understood.
Sylvan's delivery of the lecture provided a wealth of information and insight. He involved the audience and explained things in terms that anyone can understand and gave a practical example which is so often missed but brings home the message. The lecture has spring boarded me to enrol on a massage course to then move on and review fascia release. More please! Lorraine La Mare I just experienced my 1st lecture from the WCCS, it was the ‘movement as medicine’ lecture by Paul McCambridge.
Paul started with an outline of the lecture, he mentioned it would be an interactive lecture, so I was not sure what to expect. The idea was that we would learn the concepts of the lecture so much better through experience of movement and interaction. We were introduced to the concepts of movement as medicine, one of the 1st concepts to grasp was how to rest correctly (and guess what, It didn’t involve sitting on a chair). We were shown natural resting poses and encouraged to sit on the floor in these poses. Paul kept a fluid flow of ideas and concepts that were backed up with solid evidence based research. The session included many other practical elements, like the overhead squat as an assessment, and learning the correct ideology behind stretching... as well practicing as a few stretches ourselves, (which I was hopelessly bad at) Paul encouraged us to work with our bodies and how to progress the stretch. There were many interesting videos that amazed the group, demonstrating primal patterns of movement and the progression of movement through our evolution. I think the most interesting for me was the theory behind the ’squat’ as an ideal resting pose. (What many folk the western world has lost the ability to do.) Paul linked everything back to chiropractic and health and it was a shame that the seminar came to an end. There was a lot of ground covered and a broad scope of ideas introduced. It gave plenty of food for thought and I left feeling like I wanted to research and find out more. Thanks to Paul, May all of the other participants and also to Larisa, Julie and the WCCS team for putting on an enjoyable evening. Looking forward to the next one. Jonas Cunningham 2nd Year Mchiro student at McTimoney College of Chiropractic.
At the end of the day we managed to raise £62 for the World Spine Organisation. A big thank you from the McTimoney WCCS Chapter, to all that contributed and got involved, and generously donated to the funds. Author: Natalie Webster The first Abingdon Forum kicked off with Christopher Kent, D.C., with his presentation “Chiropractic: A Glorious Future.”
Interesting research papers and links to further information were provided for students wishing to learn more. Besides the presentation, it was an opportunity to meet fellow students from other year groups and pathways. An evening provided by the students for the students. Light refreshments, informal chat, lucky dip raffle prizes and viewing of the “Speeder Board”, designed and manufactured by student Simone helped create a relaxed and interactive atmosphere. For the first lecture it was a positive turn out and I am sure as word spreads future sessions will be even better. I am already looking forward to the next workshop-“Movement as Medicine”, with Paul McCambridge.
Author: Amanda Waters Wow! I have just had my first experience of a WCCS event and already I am keeping my fingers crossed it will be the start of attending many more. Over the weekend of 5th to 7th September 2014 the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) hosted the WCCS European Regional Event in Odense. The event was planned and managed by the SDU WCCS members led by Elizabeth Fugl the Official convener.
The SDU WCCS Chapter hosted the welcome party with a tour around the facilities, refreshments and networking. Larisa knew almost everyone from previous WCCS events and was very warmly welcomed with many hellos and hugs. Although slightly nervous about my first WCCS external event I needn’t have been as everyone was so welcoming and very friendly – one big family! To kick off proceedings each Head Delegate gave a short presentation with an overview of their individual college. We learned that Barcelona Chiropractic College had just celebrated it’s first cohort of graduates, Denmark had a spine centre within the local hospital for all students to work in during their clinic year, IFEC had the largest delegation in attendance with 25 students representing France and AECC were about to install an upright MRI machine. The presentations were followed by a well deserved drink and our first trip out into Odense. For no explained reason, other than “it is Denmark”, free beer was flowing at the bar and the rest of the evening went by very quickly! Another early start of Saturday morning and more than a few bleary eyed delegates sat in the impressive lecture theatre at SDU awaiting our first speaker. Christian Stamer is a full time Chiropractor and a board member of the Danish Chiropractic Association Board. He explained how Chiropractic in Denmark holds a unique position in a worldwide perspective. Chiropractic is not only legal but is also subsidized by the national health service and chiropractors are headhunted to national hospitals. Chiropractic continues to gain more rights aimed at integrating chiropractic competencies into the national health care system. The college itself has worked together with the health service to develop the spine centre where all interns carry out their practical clinic year dealing with the most complex musculoskeletal cases. Those where the patient has already been seen by several different doctors and therapists over very long periods of time and have not yet found a diagnosis or treatment that has relieved them from symptoms. Soren O’Niel, Chief Chiropractor and Clinical Associate at the Spine centre of Southern Denmark gave us an insight into how the system works in the ‘secondary sector’ in Denmark. A slightly different system to the UK as the ‘primary sector’ is for private practice in Denmark. Their unique practice of employing Chiropractors in clinical functions within a hospital has been in place since 1988. Initially employed within the spine centre of the hospital Chiropractors are now being approached and employed in other areas such as radiology, rheumatology and orthopedics. Although quite a new approach it is working well and he believes this will prove to be central to the professional advancement of chiropractic. Soren used different analogies to get us thinking about the identity of chiropractic in different countries and places. He suggested that very few other professions discuss or think much about identity or having to think about how to explain what we do or who we are, as an example he sited that a GP would never think like that. So why do Chiropractors place themselves in a modality rather than a treatment? The example he gave to explain was that if a research paper was published tomorrow saying ‘spinal manipulation does not work’, potentially Chiropractors across the world would struggle to maintain their business. However if a paper came out saying fluoride on teeth had no impact a dentist would just change the treatment and likely stay in business. He explained this is why Chiropractors need to differentiate as musculoskeletal specialists rather than consider the spine only. Something we at McTimoney are already ahead of the game with! Our last presentation for the morning was from Anne Molgaard Nielson, a 2006 graduate from SDU and now a full time PhD fellow at the University as part of the research unit for Clinical Biomechanics. SDU has a separate Clinical Biomechanics (Chiropractic) 5 year degree programme with a bachelors degree and a Masters degree programme. Research is a big part of the faculty and has been fully integrated into the syllabus. Anne considered this to be fairly unique to SDU. Grethe Thostesen provided the afternoons thought provoking lecture. Grethe is a Palmer College graduate (many years ago!) and has an MSc in Chiropractic Pediatrics from AECC. Since 1978 she has had her own Chiropractic clinic specialising in babies and children whilst also teaching in Universities and hosting courses in pediatric chiropractic. Grethe took us through the identification of Plagiocephaly in babies, possible treatments and possible causes. Research papers by Val Vlimmeren provided a backdrop to the presentation and backed up Grethe’s own findings and research that Plagiocephaly occurs more often after birth and has seen a sharp increase in cases since parents were advised to put their babies to sleep on their backs. Thus causing the back of the head to flatten or the side of the heads to indent.
Apparently all WCCS events include a party night and the Danish WCCS chapter were passionate that we went home raving that they know how to party. Let us just say that Larisa and I did not let McTimoney down and were happy to take part in the evening festivities. However what happens in Denmark stays in Denmark! Yet another very early start and on a Sunday! Fortunately the morning speakers and presentations were all amazing and interactive as there may have been a few nodding heads and snoring noises from the audience. Gitte Tonner was another previous graduate from SDU, a former WCCS Chair of annual congress, a current executive board member of the Netherlands Chiropractors Association and Academic Coordinator for the ECU. Gitte gave a really inspiring talk about her personal story of being a Chiropractor. Setting out her take on the politics, philosophy and practice. Using real patient cases to provide a background and invaluable tangible advice. Through experience and subsequent research Gitte has become more aware of the neurological and nutritional aspects to Chiropractic and good health. A firm advocate that the patient needs to be aware and also follow advise rather than just having a treatment and then continuing to come back time and time again for the same treatment for the same ailment when they could also be helping themselves, in particular in relation to nutrition. Gitte suggested a number of text books around the subject that she had found useful and inspiring (listed at the bottom of the page). Per Fink took us through a research programme for Functional Disorders. Beginning with how the programme was started and it’s current progress which has led to the development of a treatment programme in how to handle patients with functional disorders for GP’s. As well as courses and in practice advisors the group have developed video’s for both the patient and the health care professional to deal with the psychological and well as pathological aspects of Functional Disorders. The afternoons discussion topic was “What makes a good Chiropractor and what kind of Chiropractor do I want to become” made for interesting debate. However we had to skip off prior to the end so that we did not have a repeat of last years regional event where the McTimoney delegates missed their plane home and had a very uncomfortable night in Charles D’Gaule airport!
Left to right: Richard Brown, Mario Olarte San Juan, Francine Denis, Øystein Ogre, Chris Wood, Vasileios Gkolfinopoulos. Author: Christo WoodRecently in May, I attended the 2014 annual convention of the European Chiropractors Union (ECU) in Dublin, Ireland. Myself and fellow student, Mario Olarte San Juan of Barcelona College of Chiropractic, accepted an invitation by the ECU’s Vice President, Francine Denis to attend and observe their annual general meeting on behalf of WCCS.
Following in the footsteps of last year’s WCCS representative Damiano Costa, this was a privileged opportunity to continue to foster the relationship between the two organisations. The ECU has a long history and was first created in London in 1932 by Great Britain, Belgium, Sweden and Switzerland. Today, 22 National Chiropractors' Associations are members of the Union. Their mission is to promote the development of chiropractic in Europe as well as to pursue the interests of chiropractic as a science and a profession by research, teaching, publications and legal activities. The convention runs for a few days, but the AGM itself takes place on one single action-packed day at the start of the convention. The format is similar to congress at WCCS. Members sit around a horse-shoed arrangement of tables, with the executive chairing at the head. After a brief welcome from the President, Øystein Ogre the meeting was in full swing. The morning session featured a number of presentations, covering a range of topics. The use of academic and professional titles in different countries was discussed, with suggestions about how pan-professional consistency might be achieved. The Secretary General, Richard Brown presented forthcoming rebranding of the ECU, and Dr. Bart Vandendries announced that chiropractic is to receive Royal Charter status in Belgium. There was some exciting news about plans to launch a new chiropractic degree programme in Poland. It is anticipated that the programme will initially be offered as a postgraduate conversion course for qualified therapists, with a view to quickly transition into a full-time 5 year Masters degree programme as it gains popularity. The course will be taught in English and will run at one of Poland's top sports science universities. Lunch provided a brief opportunity to explore the venue and to talk with delegates from various countries, before diving back into the afternoon session. We then continued with further updates from member countries. Of particular interest was the current status of chiropractic in Spain. Growing hostility from physical therapists in Spain towards chiropractors practicing there has recently escalated. Unlike physical therapy, chiropractic is not yet legislated in Spain and confrontations over professional infringements continue. A positive slant to the recent escalations is that the profession has been brought further into the public domain and potentially a step closer to gaining legal recognition. In other news from Spain, Barcelona College of Chiropractic will be celebrating the graduation of its first cohort of students in July. An illuminating talk from guest speaker Laurie Tassell (President of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia) gave insight into the tough challenges the profession has faced in Australia over the last 18 months. This provided a useful opportunity to consider similar challenges and strategies for tackling them in a European context. The European Council on Chiropractic Education (ECCE) President, Olivier Lanlo gave an update about forthcoming accreditation visits to Barcelona and McTimoney Colleges of Chiropractic, who both currently hold candidate status with the ECU and ECCE. Both Colleges have been working hard to meet the accreditation standards that would see them become full members. A visit by the ECCE will be made to Barcelona College and McTimoney College in October and November this year. Research is high on the agenda at the ECU and much of the afternoon was dedicated to reviewing research proposals submitted by various chiropractic institutions, with a view to offering them support through funding. Martin Wangler gave an excellent overview of the European Academy of Chiropractic (EAC) and its role as a facilitator of post-graduate education and research. This year’s AGM visit was another great opportunity to see first hand how the ECU conducts their business. There are many operational similarities to how we do things at congress, and I was impressed by the professionalism and sheer productivity they displayed. Furthermore, we share many common goals such as the unification and betterment of the profession, and it is with optimism that I hope we can continue to work together to develop the chiropractic profession in Europe with unity. Left to right: Julie Dropinski, Paul Holmes, Chris Wood, Larisa Bogle. Author: Larisa BogleThis year’s WCCS AGM took place on the sunny shores of Malaga, Spain actually Fuengirola Beach! Convened by Guillermo Busto of Barcelona Chiropractic College (BCC) and Madrid Chiropractic College (MCC) WCCS Chapters the 36th Annual General Meeting (AGM) saw 25 schools attending from every continent. The purpose of the World Congress of Chiropractic Students is to advance and unite the global chiropractic profession through inspiration, integrity and leadership and there is no other place to see this in all its magnificent than at the AGM where students from around the world come together to explore, share and advance the profession. Four delegates from the McTimoney College of Chiropractic were lucky enough to head out this year and contribute our unique perspective to this incredible international event - Larisa Bogle, Head Delegate, Julie Dropinski, Paul Holmes and Chris Wood. Proposals for Congress ranged from organising a worldwide project in which relevant chiropractic organisations are invited to come and present at each university, to introducing an online database for chiropractic students' research and an annual collective focus to take back to each Chapter. The necessary by-laws of WCCS were also considered, discussed, drafted and amended to maximise our efficiency and impact and there was a proposal for the development of WCCS Consensus statements on worldwide issues. We were lucky this year to have a tremendous amount of talent in our delegation, utilising expertise in law, marketing, business, and social media. As a practicing lawyer I was asked on several occasions to assist the Board with issues concerning by-laws and indeed was called upon during congress to explain legal issues and consequences of the same to all the delegates. I also presented the Chiropractic Humanitarian Assistance Program Committee (CHAP) of which I became Chair and recruited 17 new committee members! Whilst at congress I also joined the Committee Support Team, which oversees the productivity of each committee and reports to the Board, and finally I was nominated for and accepted a place on the Consensus Statement Committee. Chris Wood joined and is now the Chair for the Website Committee. He also joined the Marketing Committee. Both of these committees are very important for promoting the purpose and message of WCCS both internally and externally. Paul Holmes was integral in finalising the WCCS Wikipedia page during congress joining the WCCS Wikipedia Committee. Julie Dropinski joined the International Media Committee who are responsible for organising, collating and facilitating a WCCS global World Spine Day. Individuals including our delegates worked tirelessly sometimes from 6am till 2am the following morning to ensure the business of congress ran smoothly and that McTimoney were represented at every turn. The days were long, dynamic and intense with the business of congress taking up most of the days but we were also spoilt with some incredible speakers. We had the President of the European Chiropractors Union, Dr Øystein Ogre, speak about the integration of chiropractic with traditional medicine. Dr Iben Axen talked about her research to find out how the typical patients with low back pain (LBP) react in the chiropractic office. Dr Steve Williams, a world expert on chiropractic paediatrics and craniopathy, gave a talk on how vital paediatric chiropractic is for laying the foundations of future well-being in adulthood. An orthodontist, Silvia del Cid and Chiropractor Amaya Alonso DC who specialising in temporomandibular joint dysfunction and its effect on overall health showed us how anomalies in bite alignment completely changed global spinal posture and the amazing transformation that occurs once corrected.
following which the whole WCCS crew were invited up on stage afterwards to do an impromptu rendition of the Macarena in front of the audience...when in Spain do as the Spanish! Philosophy night allowed us to delve deep into our own belief systems under the guidance of four major chiropractic gurus Val Pennacchio DC, Aaron Morris DC, Jaime Pinillos DC and Amaya Alonso DC . And finally a leadership development evening conducted by the irrepressibly inspirational Lou Corleto whose energy, compassion and insight swept us away until two o'clock in the morning with every person involved leaving transformed. Despite the full pack days and nights we did manage a much needed day off to visit the local sites, to partake of traditional Spanish tapas and sangria and a visit to the Alhambra Palace a stunning piece of Spanish history nestled in the hills of Granada.
Being able to attend WCCS AGM and represent McTimoney is an incredible and valuable opportunity and I could not be more proud of our delegation for the massive impact that we had on everyone at the AGM. We were all instrumental in securing McTimoney's voice in the development of our profession and inspiring genuine interest from students who wanted to learn more about our fantastic approach to chiropractic and learning. We were so proud to be able to educate people on what we do and why in an environment where differences are celebrated and admired.
BCC and MCC did a magnificent job of organising such a tremendous event this year and have now passed the baton onto Life University in Atlanta, Georgia for WCCS 2015. We at McTimoney WCCS have an exciting year of planning, fundraising and friendship to look forward to make sure that our voice is sure to be heard for years to come. We are always thankful for the support of BPP Student Association, McTimoney Chiropractic Association (MCA), McTimoney College of Chiropractic and McTimoney Trust which help to fund our presence at these events, we have big plans for the future and look forward to continued support for attendance at other events and for up and coming McTimoney WCCS Chapter initiatives. |