The New Zealand Chiropractors’ Association is warning that the Government’s winter preparedness plan is a continuation of its ambulance at the bottom of the cliff approach to healthcare

Chiropractor and NZCA spokesperson Dr Jenna Duehr says: ‘Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall has announced a winter preparedness plan outlining 24 steps aimed at reducing pressure on the public health system this winter. We’re very disappointed that once again the Minister makes no mention of any measures to improve or boost the overall health of New Zealanders. The Ministry of Health continues to cling to the ‘ambulance at the bottom of the cliff’ approach to healthcare.’

Dr Jenna Duehr explains: `These 24 steps are simply shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. There is no focus on the creation and maintenance of good health by encouraging better diet, exercise, supplementation, hydration and healthy sleep patterns (and of course chiropractic care). When we have a severely strained public health system the NZCA strongly believes the country should develop a more robust, patient-centred, preventative and wellness focused model. By changing the focus from a ‘fix-it’ model to a ‘change-and-maintain-it’ model, involving all health care disciplines, New Zealand can deliver better sustainable healthcare outcomes, less illness, improved return-to-work timeframes and less pressure on an already beleaguered economy.’

The NZCA consistently advocates for better movement, nutrition, hydration, and spinal care as vital ways to maximise wellness and recovery. Our focus is on helping promote wellness and enhancing the body’s ability to maintain and heal itself. The evidence is clear that chiropractors can play an important role in evidence-based, people-centred, interprofessional and collaborative care.

Dr Jenna Duehr adds: ‘Crucial to changing behaviour and improving delivery of effective care are system changes that integrate and support health professionals from diverse disciplines and care settings to provide patients with consistent messages about mechanisms, causes, prognosis and natural history of their conditions, as well as the benefits of physical activity and exercise. Chiropractors are ideally placed to play a pivotal role in this development.

‘Chiropractic care can include different forms of spinal manipulation, commonly known as adjustments, but it is a myth that it involves cracking bones. What is different though, is that unlike the typical medical remedies, we do not have to resort to anti-inflammatory medications, opioids, spinal fusions, and epidural steroid injections to provide pain relief for our clients. Increasingly with the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States, the medical community there is looking at better non-addictive treatments. It is time that the New Zealand health system caught up.’

The NZCA has launched a public website (https://chiropracticnz.org), to prevent pain and disability by addressing spinal problems and engaging in physical activity.

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