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Tedd Koren
I’m being attacked and I need your help.
In a few days Mr. Don Petersen is publishing a vicious article attacking me and KST. The last time he did that I got a lot of hate mail – they only read his side of the story and he distorted my response. I received emails, letters and phone calls cursing me and people said they’d have nothing ever to do with me and would tell all their friends, etc.
I need your help. His paper (Dynamic Chiropractic) goes to over 70,000 people, but collectively, if you send this to every DC and healer on your mailing list and ask them to send it to everyone they know, we can offset this irresponsible reporting.
I am appealing to you for help. I know you have many DC, etc. contacts. If you send all of them this article (below) and ask them to forward it to those they know we can balance this out. I can’t do it alone, I only have so many people on my lists. I really need your help. Please write back and let me know you’ll send this out to everyone you can.
Thanks,
Tedd
Leigh Charley, DC writes: This is important! Please send it to all DCs you know even if you (& possibly they) haven’t yet taken a KST seminar. In my opinion KST is the most valuable technique that has ever been taught. It is closer to the roots & principles of chiropractic than any other technique that I’m aware of and is a totally vitalistic/empiric technique. Again, in my opinion, it is perfectly appropriate that dentists, DOs, NDs, etc. be allowed to attend seminars. Is not the goal of health care to enable the greatest number of people to achieve & maintain the greatest health possible? Is it perhaps fear (from the detractors) that KST might cut into their bottom line? Yours in health, Leigh Charley, D.C. (& a proud KST practitioner)
Koren attacked again
(They say he’s teaching lay people to practice chiropractic)
Tedd Koren, DC
Oh no! Not another fight. Is it the Federal Trade Commission again trying to destroy chiropractic? The Quackbusters? Steven Barrett, MD?
Believe it or not, it’s coming from the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) and the European Chiropractic Union (ECU).
I’ve been attacked before. When I’m wrong I admit it. After all who wants to fight a losing battle? But when I’m unjustly accused I fight back. After years of fighting chiropractic’s enemies and almost going bankrupt in the process these groups are accusing me of trying to damage the chiropractic profession. The irony is enough to make a man cry.
I’ve got to take the time from my schedule to put this letter together because too many doctors read newspaper articles and assume they are complete accounts. I’ve been attacked and rumors have been spread. How quickly people forget what I’ve done for this profession. I wish they’d contact me personally before calling me names.
While “condemnation before investigation” is a charge chiropractors have often levelled at the AMA and other medical organizations apparently chiropractors do it to one of their own!
Permit me to explain
After a decade of pain and suffering, having exhausted all that chiropractic (and many other healthcare systems) could offer, I discovered Koren Specific Technique (KST) and was returned to health.
At first I thought KST was solely a protocol that chiropractors could use to improve their chiropractic care. But it had wider applications: dentists could use it to locate infections or TMJ problems; allergists could use it; acupuncturists, homeopaths, nutritionists, energy workers, psychologists and others have studied and used KST. It can even be used by lay people to access information. Legally we require all students to practice in an ethical and moral manner and within their legal scope of practice.
What is KST? It is a healthcare protocol that can be applied to all manner of professionals. See more info at www.teddkorenseminars.com.
I was thrilled about this discovery and how it could help so many people with so many problems.
So one day….
So one day I was invited to speak in Europe to a mixed group of DCs, MDs, DOs (osteopaths), NDs (naturopaths) and HPs (Heilpraktikers or Health Practitioners). HPs are considered healthcare professionals under German law, by the courts and the healthcare system. The WFC and ECU, however, were outraged and demanded we cancel the seminar because HPs were in attendance.
My attorneys and advisors undertook a review of the situation and interviewed members of the Heilpraktiker profession, officials at the Berlin school where I was invited to teach and others and concluded that the regulatory situation in Germany did not warrant canceling the seminar. We also told the WFC and the ECU that we are open to any factual information that would cause us to change our minds about this conclusion. We received none.
Mr. Don Petersen, publisher of Dynamic Chiropractic, hiding behind the by-line “Editorial Staff”, did not interview any of the professionals mentioned above to get their side of the story and attacked me for “teaching chiropractic” to “lay people.” Neither occurred at the Berlin seminar.
One of the attacks leveled against me was that I permit various professionals to attend a KST seminar. That is entirely legal. Auditing a class doesn’t mean you are a recognized expert or can practice. You can audit classes in accounting, law, medicine – but that doesn’t make you an accountant, lawyer or medical doctor.
I do give a certificate of attendance for those who have come to the seminar. The certificate merely says they attended a KST seminar and does not say they are DCs or can practice chiropractic.
The WFC and the ECU are affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO regulations make it clear that member organizations are to respect and not interfere with the healthcare system of member nations. It appears to me that the WFC and ECU are violating WHO guidelines while I am not.
Here’s the latest attack
(KST must be pretty good to garner such attention)
A few days ago I received a letter from Mr. Don Petersen, publisher of Dynamic Chiropractic. He had just posted an on-line article criticizing me (see it below or at http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=53614). Be especially aware of Mr. Petersen’s selective use of my material. (See my response in the red paragraph below).
Here is his letter:
Dear Tedd:
Below are a few interview questions for an article we are publishing regarding the recent open letter from the ECU. If you would, please e-mail your responses to these questions no later than noon PST on Tuesday, January 13, 2009.
- The letter from Dr. Druart suggests that you are putting your “financial interests before the interests of patients and the profession.” The amount that we have heard suggests that you have been paid more than $40,000 for giving your most recent seminar in Berlin. For the record, how much were you paid for your most recent 2008 Berlin seminar(s) and how do you respond to Dr. Druart’s statement?
- In his letter, Dr. Druart asks the profession to “say no to Dr Koren.” What response do you have to their request?
- You have previously stated that “KST can even be used on oneself and can be used by lay people (as AK is taught to lay people, as demonstrated in the book Touch for Health, and BodyTalk is taught to lay people). Surely I am not the only chiropractor to teach methods for public or lay use.” This and similar statements have some U.S. doctors concerned that you have or will give KST seminars to non-DCs in the United States. Have you? If so, when and to whom? Do you plan to? If not, how can DCs be sure you won’t in the future?
- Have you conducted seminar similar to your Berlin seminar in any other part of the world where the attendees were not licensed DCs?
- Finally, do you plan to conduct any more seminars in Berlin or in any other part of the world where the attendees need not be licensed doctors of chiropractic?
Thank you for your time. Please note that I have included a copy of Dr. Druart’s letter below. God Bless, Don
Tedd Koren, DC responds:
Dear Don,
Great to hear from you. I think the issues you raise are very important and I am glad to have an opportunity to comment on them. Your story might have been more complete if you had contacted me before you wrote it but I understand how the pressure of deadlines and other journalistic demands to make a living can eat up your time.
First, your on-line article suggests contradictions between my web site and the letter I wrote to the Berlin school telling them not to misrepresent or misuse my teaching or accompanying materials as contributing to their students’ chiropractor credentials.
As I send this to you I am posting it on my web sites and sending it to my mailing lists. I thank you for this opportunity to have a full blown pubic discourse on these matters because they touch on the very essence of our profession and its future.
There are no contradictions between my web site and my letter to the school. Both are very clear that KST is a protocol that can be applied to many healing arts and that knowing KST does note qualify anyone to be or claim to be a chiropractor or have chiropractic knowledge. You quote the following statements from my Letter to the Berlin school:
- “Taking a KST seminar does not give a person the right to say they are chiropractors or to say they practice chiropractic.
- “As I have written to you, the WFC and ECU numerous times, KST is an analysis protocol similar to AK and may be applied to many different health care professions.
- “KST can even be used on oneself and can be used by lay people (as AK is taught to lay people, as demonstrated in the book Touch for Health, and BodyTalk is taught to lay people). Surely I am not the only chiropractor to teach methods for public or lay use.”
- You then say: “But these statements seem confusing when compared to statements on his web site (www.teddkorenseminars.com):
- KST is a healthcare protocol that any provider can use to improve their results and expand their ability to help others.
- KST grew out of my experience with two marvelous chiropractic techniques: Directional Non-Force Technique (DNFT) developed by Richard Van Rumpt, DC and Spinal Column Stressology developed by Lowell Ward, DC.
- “In addition to its chiropractic application, KST’s more universal applications have permitted it to be used by healers of all kinds, even lay people, to access information.
- As a chiropractor, I initially saw KST as a way to improve chiropractic care. I realized that I had ‘something’ when doctors and patients would repeatedly say, ‘That was the best adjustment I ever had in my life!’'”
Both these sets of statements make the same point. That point is that knowing KST does not qualify anyone to be chiropractor or say that they are a chiropractor. Since these points were in a letter to the Berlin school it is also clear that the people I teach are on notice that this is the case.
This position is significantly reinforced by the additional statement on my web site which for some reason you left out of your report even though it appears between the last two points from my site that you quote:
- “The application of correction procedures is of course dependent upon and limited to the individual’s knowledge, and legal permission (licenses, etc.) to work on others.”
Second, (and this is very important) Chiropractors who attack German Heilpraktikers (HPs) put American trained Chiropractors working in Germany at risk.
Currently German law allows American trained Chiropractors to take the HP exam and practice, advertising themselves as American trained Chiropractors. MDs in Germany appear to be attempting to close down this opportunity by confining the right to practice Chiropractic techniques to MDs. If they are successful, then American trained Chiropractors will no longer be able to practice in Germany. The attacks by the WFC on HPs in Germany assists the MDs in their objective. The many American Chiropractors practicing in Germany under HP licenses do not support WFC’s attacks on HPs. Here is what one of them says (they prefer to remain anonymous because of ubiquitous WFC intimidation tactics):
… I already have friends who are HPs who I also call colleagues … so I am no stranger to the idea that HPs can and do adjust patients and can also do a good job. We should just be careful with the terminology that is being used to describe these Freshman Chiros and I would personally like to see some guidelines and also like to know who the gatekeepers are to who decides on these issues which could potentially change the face of Chiropractic in Europe …. But all in all I am open to the idea of finding some kind of middle ground to allow for progress in the profession
An American trained chiropractor writes: I have been working for 19 years in Germany and can assure colleagues that the ECU has not “one thumb in his nose” but the whole two hands.
The Chiropractic profession does not own Tedd Koren and his technique, does not own George Goodheart and AK, does not own Donald Epstein and Network. Chiropractic needs intelligence and freedom to evolve and to grow. The GCA (German Chiropractic Association) and the ECU have not been very intelligen. Today the associations have to assume fully their responsibilities and their incompetence. Once again the ECU and the GCA cannot be credible. (Name withheld by request)
OK, let’s deal with your questions.
1. Peterson asks: “The letter from Dr. Druart suggests that you are putting your “financial interests before the interests of patients and the profession.” The amount that we have heard suggests that you have been paid more than $40,000 for giving your most recent seminar in Berlin. For the record, how much were you paid for your most recent 2008 Berlin seminar(s) and how do you respond to Dr. Druart’s statement?”
Tedd Koren responds:
I make about 15% of revenue over expenses on a seminar and run about one seminar a month. Our seminars are unlike most others in that we provide one-on-one Mentor instruction, meals and lifetime support. They are very expensive to produce. If I made more I would give more seminars. However, each time you write about this issue the demand for KST seminars grows.
2. Petersen asks: “In his letter, Dr. Druart asks the profession to “say no to Dr Koren.” What response do you have to their request?”
Tedd Koren responds:
“Say yes to Dr. Koren!” Here’s why:
A. KST is good for patients. More people are being helped than ever before.
RN spent $18,000 at the Mayo clinic to find out why her leg was swollen. They couldn’t help. One KST adjustment and her leg is normal. Todd Newman, DC
I started attracting a lot of disc patients after my KST seminar. The response is almost 100%. Sasha Langman
A patient with chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and poor sleep has rejoined the world and is sleeping for the first time in years. Many young athletes love the improvements in their athletic performance including my 16-yr.-old son. Kathleen Lavis, DC
It’s awesome! A patient who doesn’t feel anything no matter what you do, responded w/about 10 consecutive “WOW”s in a row. Chris Ambrosio, DC
I recently cleared a person for a phobia of driving over bridges which she had had for over twenty years. She called about 2½ hours later to say that she had just driven over the Zilwakee Bridge, her greatest fear, and this was in the middle of winter. KST is amazing. Steve McLean, DC
B. KST is good for practitioners. We are fulfilling the promise of chiropractic.
We were told in college to expect a miracle every day in practice. With KST, I see it on every patient, every day. KST is truly 21st Chiropractic. John Tindall, DC
KST restored my faith in chiropractic. Jenn Royer, DC
This takes every bit of guess work out of adjusting. It’s great! Fran Assaf DC
Greatest technique ever…. Daniel Glassman, DC
2009 is not going to be pretty for the economy. Only the strong will survive. You need to have your A game going. You need KST. Peter Kravchenko, DC
Ever get the feeling that everything you’ve studied and practiced in your life has finally come together in a totally usable and well organized form? Sid Mouk, DC
C. KST is good for chiropractic – our profession needs help. KST can help increase chiropractic’s effectiveness and popularity. Look at these sad statistics:
- In 1997 9.9% of the general population visited a Chiropractor. That statistic went down to 7.4% of the general population in 2002. [Tindle HA, Davis RB, Phillips RS, Eisenberg DM. Trends in use of complementary and alternative medicine by US adults: 1997-2002. Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine. 2005;11(1):42.49.]
- According to the Association of Chiropractic Colleges, enrollment in chiropractic colleges had decreased by 35% within five years.
- Currently, over 80% of the general population visits a dentist, while less than 10% visit a Chiropractor.
D. Increased revenue due to KST is good for the Chiropractic profession.
I’d “semi-retired.” Well, forget that! I and KST are in such demand these days that I can barely keep up. I’m more enthusiastic about chiropractic than I can remember being since graduation in1978. Donna Grace Noyes, DC
I haven’t had this much fun practicing since I incorporated AK. KST has opened up an even greater world of healing for my patients. Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, but quite frankly I’ve been busy, busy, busy. John McEachron, DC
PS. KST cured my allergies!
E. It’s good for lay people to come to KST seminars.
Lay people have traditionally been invited to audit all kinds of professional seminars. Doctors often bring CAs, wives, family members, guests, prospective students, current students. Should that be illegal? Three lay people who audited a KST seminar were inspired to go to chiropractic school.
F. It’s good for the public health.
KST helps all kinds of practitioners improve their results. In addition KST helps increases respect for the chiropractic profession. Here we have MDs and other professions learning chiropractic philosophy and insights. They want to learn with and share their professional knowledge with chiropractors who have learned KST technique.
3. Petersen asks: You have previously stated that “KST can even be used on oneself and can be used by lay people (as AK is taught to lay people, as demonstrated in the book Touch for Health, and BodyTalk is taught to lay people). Surely I am not the only chiropractor to teach methods for public or lay use.” This and similar statements have some U.S. doctors concerned that you have or will give KST seminars to non-DCs in the United States. Have you? If so, when and to whom? Do you plan to? If not, how can DCs be sure you won’t in the future?
4. Petersen asks: Have you conducted seminars similar to your Berlin seminar in any other part of the world where the attendees were not licensed DCs?
Tedd Koren responds (to #3 and #4):
As I have repeatedly stated, KST is a protocol which Chiropractors and other health professionals can use to assist patients in improving their health and well being which does not require chiropractic training to be used effectively. For this reason any licensed health practitioners are welcomed at my seminars. In addition to DCs, MDs, osteopaths, dentists, nutritionists, optometrists, naturopaths, craniosacral therapists, orthopedic surgeons, herbalists, specialists in Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and psychologists have attended my seminars both in the US and Europe.
5. Petersen asks: Finally, do you plan to conduct any more seminars in Berlin or in any other part of the world where the attendees need not be licensed doctors of chiropractic?
Tedd Koren responds:
My 2009 seminar schedule is posted on my web site. If I were invited to present seminars where non-DCs are in attendance I would, for the reasons set out above and time permitting, accept such invitations.
Here is DC’s article and its location. Druart’s “open letter” is located there.
Dynamic Chiropractic – January 29, 2009, Vol. 27, Issue 03
http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=53614
Koren Specific Technique Not Chiropractic?
WFC Alleges “Serious Professional Misconduct” By Editorial Staff
Dr. Tedd Koren is well-known in the profession as the developer of Koren Specific Technique (KST), which he teaches in various countries around the world.
His decision to teach the technique to German non-chiropractors in June 2007 caught the attention of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC). The organization ultimately sanctioned Dr. Koren after several requests to cancel his Berlin seminar.1
In 2008, Dr. Koren again scheduled a seminar to teach his KST in Berlin on Oct. 24-26. The current WFC president, Dr. Stathis Papadopoulos, wrote letters to Dr. Koren asking him to refrain from teaching the course. The WFC presented its “major concerns with your proposed seminar” in a letter dated Oct. 15, 2008:2
- It is being offered in partnership with the illegitimate Berlin School of Chiropractic which, as you know from complaints made when you gave a similar seminar in June 2007, has no qualified chiropractors on staff, is commercializing low-quality and unaccredited training in chiropractic, and is strenuously opposed by the European chiropractic profession. The Berlin School is able to operate because there is no law to regulate chiropractic education or practice in Germany.
- Your seminar is being offered to non chiropractors – lay practitioners or heilpraktikers, many of whom will go on to claim they are practicing chiropractic. Further, they will be free to teach chiropractic technique in seminars like yours. Past international experience suggests that some will do so, particularly given the large financial returns possible.
- Your seminar is clearly marketed as chiropractic – “professional, low-risk chiropractic from the USA.”
- There is the suggestion that chiropractic and osteopathy are the same thing.
In its letter, the WFC went on to note: “The position of the World Federation of Chiropractic is that your current and proposed activities with respect to delivery of seminars in Germany and elsewhere in Europe represent serious professional misconduct. First, it is clearly against the public interest, encouraging persons without adequate chiropractic training to offer and seek to provide chiropractic services. Second, it is against the interests of the profession, undermining its reputation particularly in Germany, and its continued efforts to gain public confidence and legislative recognition throughout Europe.”
While most of these issues were presented by the WFC in its 2007 correspondence, Dr. Koren’s e-mail response to the WFC on Oct. 17, 2008, included statements to a “Mr. Schwarz,” who is apparently a representative of the Berlin School of Chiropractic.3 It is likely that many in the chiropractic profession will find some of Dr. Koren’s comments surprising:
- “KST is an analysis protocol not a chiropractic technique. Please remove anything that implies that I am teaching chiropractic.
- “Taking a KST seminar does not give a person the right to say they are chiropractors or to say they practice chiropractic.
- “As I have written numerous times KST is an analysis protocol similar to AK and may be applied to many different health care professions.
- “KST can even be used on oneself and can be used by lay people (as AK is taught to lay people, as demonstrated in the book Touch for Health, and BodyTalk is taught to lay people). Surely I am not the only chiropractor to teach methods for public or lay use.”
But these statements seem confusing when compared to statements on his web site (www.teddkorenseminars.com):
- “KST is a healthcare protocol that any provider can use to improve their results and expand their ability to help others.
- “KST grew out of my experience with two marvelous chiropractic techniques: Directional Non-Force Technique (DNFT) developed by Richard Van Rumpt, DC and Spinal Column Stressology developed by Lowell Ward, DC.
- “In addition to its chiropractic application, KST’s more universal applications have permitted it to be used by healers of all kinds, even lay people to access information.
- “As a chiropractor, I initially saw KST as a way to improve chiropractic care. I realized that I had ‘something’ when doctors and patients would repeatedly say, ‘That was the best adjustment I ever had in my life!'”
Assuming KST is “not a chiropractic technique” begs obvious questions. Does it still fit into the chiropractic scope of practice of all states? Should DCs be providing it to their patients, or is it a non-chiropractic technique DCs should be teaching to patients to perform on themselves?
Since KST appears to require the purchase of adjusting equipment and assuming all KST seminar “graduates” can purchase the equipment, are seminars to lay people designed to sell this equipment to a larger market? And since the use of KST by lay people assumes a diagnosis/analysis and use of the equipment, doesn’t this essentially eliminate the need for DCs in the minds of lay persons who can use KST on family, friends and co-workers? What’s to keep lay “graduates” from teaching KST to other lay people?
There is clearly a line between what a DC is qualified to do and what lay consumers should do for themselves. DCs will have to wonder if KST hasn’t crossed that line at the expense of both the profession and the patient.
References:
1. “In Defense of Legitimate Chiropractic.” DC, Aug. 13, 2007. www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=52290
2. Letter to Dr. Koren from the WFC, Oct. 15, 2008. www.dynamicchiropractic.com/koren
3. E-mail to the WFC from Dr. Koren, Oct. 17, 2008. www.dynamicchiropractic.com/koren
4. Response to Dr. Koren from the WFC, Oct. 21, 2008. www.dynamicchiropractic.com/koren
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