A Look to the Past & Future
FEATURE
PROFILE
Over 60 Years Serving Chiropractic
INTERVIEW WITH DR. LOUIS SPORTELLI
1981 “Unsuccessful run for the House of Representatives, but a fantastic experience nonetheless.” —
Sportelli running for House of Representatives in PA.
What have we learned from our successes and failures?
Dr. Sportelli has lectured extensively on ethics, risk management, and incorporating sound procedures to risk-proof your practice. He has a keen interest in patient education and wrote a consumer book, Introduction to Chiropractic, which has been widely used by doctors of chiropractic across the world.
His prior involvement in chiropractic nationally and internationally resulted in his serving as president of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) from 1998 to 2000, chairman of the Board of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) from 1989 to1990, president of the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Society 1974 to1975, and served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Blue Mountain Health Systems Hospital Network from 1988 to 2019.
In an interview with The American Chiropractor (TAC), Dr. Lou Sportelli (LS) shares with us some of the highlights from his 60 year career in chiropractic.
TAC: In your long career, tell us about at least three of your most proud accomplishments.
LS: From past to current. First, my early involvement (1969) and the eventual Wilk v. AMA litigation, which created early friendships with George and Jerry McAndrews. Second, my involvement with the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Society and the passage of Blue Shield legislation. Third, the ACA Reader’s Digest Project and ACA involvement with RAND. Fourth, early involvement with helping establish the World Federation of Chiropractic. Fifth, my subsequent involvement with NCMIC.
DR. LOUIS (LOU) SPORTELLI HAS SERVED
in many leadership capacities throughout his 60year career in chiropractic. He currently serves as president of The NCMIC Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and education organization. He formerly served for 25 years on the board, including 20 years as president of NCMIC Group Inc, which provides malpractice insurance and financial services to more than 42,000 doctors of chiropractic in the United States.
TAC: Any regrets? Wasted time? Unfinished business?
LS: There are always regrets, whether the program/activity/undertaking was a success or failure. The key is not the regret but, “What did we learn from the experience?” How did it change future programs and projects? The only regret that cannot be retrieved is time. As you get older, you realize that time is your most valuable possession, and it is limited. Not wasting time on unproductive endeavors is a lesson often learned far too late in your career.
If you don’t know where you are going any strategy will do."
“The difference between a vision and a hallucination is how many people see it with you.”
TAC: To what do you attribute your ongoing success and longevity over all these years?
LS: I am 82 years old, and without a doubt, I attribute my longevity to those early visionary instructors with whom I had the pleasure and opportunity to understand and implement the philosophy of chiropractic, such as “the body is the hero,” and always going back to the fundamental “knowing” that our job is to “first do no harm.”
Chiropractic is a way of life, and the philosophy of recognizing the power that made the body can heal the body causes each decision you make to be a meaningful action. I am thankful to be a chiropractor who participated in helping the profession advance, recognize, and help eradicate the “injustice” done to our profession. Often, as you get completely immersed in a project, some detractors will think you are hallucinating. I love the quote, “The difference between a vision and a hallucination is how many people see it with you.”
TAC: What originally got you interested in being a chiropractor?
LS: My involvement in chiropractic was influenced by a chiropractor who thought everyone should be a chiropractor. He was a 1952 Palmer Graduate, and that was the influence. I had no early miracle cure or hearing restored, just the excitement and energy of a successful chiropractor ’ s influence. Once at Palmer, though, in the late 1950s, the influence of the faculty was immeasurable in creating the passion for chiropractic.
TAC: What is the hardest thing about being a chiropractor?
LS: Funny question. There was nothing hard about being a chiropractor and just practicing chiropractic. The hardest thing was being a chiropractor and not knowing why the medical community and popular press back in the ‘60s and ‘70s were against you and your profession.
Without context and the advantage of hindsight, the hardest thing about being a chiropractor was not knowing why there was opposition. Following the discovery and documents by Sore Throat about the AM A conspiracy, the burden was lifted, the reasons were known, and the fight to correct the injustice would take decades to correct.
TAC: What is the most rewarding?
LS: Easy question. The most rewarding was the “patient success” — some of the miracles every chiropractor will experience in practice seeing the incredible transformations in the health and lives of patients. The second most rewarding thing is to see the paradigm shift in thinking that has taken place over the past 50 years now, that the conspiracies have been exposed, research has been explored, education has improved, affiliations have been limitless, and the general public views doctors of chiropractic as valuable healthcare professionals.
TAC: Which companies do you think have helped provide an infrastructure for the present and future of chiropractic growth?
LS: Obviously, my bias cannot be overlooked in my response. Of course, in my mind, NCMIC has been a key component in the global advancement of chiropractic, and it would take an entire journal to list the contributions made by NCMIC. However, companies have helped, and I again will confess my bias, but I am old-fashioned enough to consider it imperative to know how long the companies have been around and contributed to the chiropractic profession when it was an emerging, young, and fragile profession. I submit that Foot Levelers and Standard Process were there in the early days when no one else was. I am also aware of the danger of omission, that I have missed some companies who may have participated, but every company could not be named. Those that I have mentioned were there from the beginning.
The second group important to the infrastructure growth of the profession were those involved in legislation, licensure, accreditation, and education. Many do not give enough credit to NBCE, but without a national board, national licensure and credibility would not have been achieved. Without FCLB, licensure would not have been possible in all states. Without CCE, our colleges and educational system would not exist. Student loans and college expansion would not have been possible. Without NCMIC funding research scholarships, fellowships, and pilot projects from the early years of FCER to the current NCMIC Foundation. The progress of our profession would have been immeasurably hindered. Without our national associations — ACA and ICA — there would have been no national recognition or ability to confront problems of a national consequence. They are often maligned and under-appreciated.
"The hardest thing about being a chiropractor was not knowing why there was opposition.”
The third group includes mass communication and media. There have been three major national publications that go back many years. The American Chiropractor (now in its second generation), Dynamic Chiropractic (now in its second generation), and Chiropractic Economics (now in its second generation) were essential. These national publications provided information in the early days when the only means chiropractors had to receive and generate news of a survival mindset existed. The struggles of the profession started BC (before computers) and before the internet, and before cellphones and email. Without these publications in the early days of advancement to inform us of national issues, the profession would not have been able to survive; information was critical.
TAC: How do you see the next 50 years of chiropractic in the United States? Internationally?
LS: I see the next 50 years as being full of significant importance and relevance for chiropractic worldwide. Why do I say that? Because half of the population is afflicted with musculoskeletal conditions. The details and data for that statement are easily obtained and validated. A recent ahnost unbelievable undertaking by Palmer College to initiate and fund a nationwide survey by Gallup. That survey data changed much of the old ingrained mindset and demonstrated that the profession was gaining acceptance and utilization. It was a game change in public opinion. With that statement comes the stark realization that the economic cost to manage just this singular problem is enormous. When you couple the lost time and disability cost, the number is staggering and unsustainable.
Additionally, the research emerging also demonstrates that the comorbidities arising from NMS conditions are opening up an entirely new area of research and data. The realization that chiropractic has been overlooked and underutilized is now emerging, and “economics” will drive decisions to include chiropractic as a frontline first provider.
There are more colleges internationally than there are in the U.S. This phenomenon is going to continue because the demand for cost-effective care in so many countries will drive the demand for educational institutions in these countries.
In the next 50 years, there will be chiropractic services in every healthcare facility, from hospitals to federally qualified health facilities, the Veterans Administration, and freestanding integrated healthcare facilities. Chiropractic will be incorporated into the new integrated healthcare facility of the future. Big data coupled with AI coupled with technologically advanced health sensors and advanced monitoring will totally change the delivery landscape of the future, but chiropractic will be an integral part of the system. The early research into neuroplasticity, autoimmune disorders, and advanced biomarkers will create a greater understanding of the ability for each profession to identify its strengths in the healing process. Chiropractic has been underutilized, but current research and economics will change that model.
TAC: Any words that you’d like to share with the readers?
LS: I have been fortunate to have had some personal involvement in the incredible history of this profession over the past 60 years. I would strongly suggest that history is so important, and that your readers review and understand the rich and damaging history that could have completely destroyed the ability of chiropractic to exist. The story explained in the book Contain and Eliminate tells of the impossible victory achieved by chiropractic. History is important to know because it provides the context for the vision for tomorrow.
If we asked the DCs of the 1900s where the profession would be in 1950, they could not imagine the reality. If we ask the DCs of the 1950s where we would be in 2023,1 seriously doubt that anyone would have had the vision (or hallucination) that there would be residency programs in hospitals and that major universities, like Harvard, Yale, University of Minnesota, Duke, and University of Pittsburgh, would have programs including chiropractic.
Know history and understand the past; the vision of tomorrow is truly unlimited. If the same effort tomorrow was exerted by the leaders of the past, this quote by Joseph Ranseth says it all, “If we wait for others to take action on our behalf, we’ll be waiting a lifetime. But, if we change our mindset to a mindset of hope and faith in what’s just, then nothing is stopping us.” We determine the future destiny of chiropractic by our collective participation.
TAC: Thank you Dr. Sportelli for your time and your years of service to the chiropractic profession.
To contact Dr. Sportelli email him at: [email protected].
