Question from Email- Education Process of a Chiropractor

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Donald Corenman
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May 31, 2011 at 10:36 pm

Post count: 52

#4608

Hi Dr. Corenman,
I am a third trimester student at Palmer Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. I found your website while searching for information about chiropractors who also chose to pursue a medical education. It was common during the early years of chiropractic to be licensed as both, but not so much anymore! The reason I am writing to you is because I am curious about the process you went through, and what your motivation has been throughout your career. (I tried to send this message through the contact form on the website, but it would not go through)
To explain the basis for my questioning, I have to explain a little bit about my background and current situation first. My undergraduate degree was not in a health science field, but in cinema. I became certified in Montessori education after college and taught children ages 6-9 for two years, at which point I realized that teaching was not for me. During this time, I was dating a girl (to whom I am no married) who attended Palmer. She brought me to class one day, and I was hooked on both science and chiropractic philosophy. That same night, I applied to both Palmer and a local community college to complete basic science coursework that had not been a part of my undergraduate curriculum. As stated before, I am now approaching the end of my first year, and there are two things of which I am completely certain: the human body is an incredible thing, and there is never a point where I will stop learning.
The curriculum at Palmer both satisfies and frustrates me at the same time. We are given a wealth of information but it is ‘just enough’ for what we need to know in practice. But since chiropractors are now recognized as primary care health practitioners, I don’t agree that ‘just enough’ is enough! Many of my classmates would shrug this off by claiming they will never use immunology, and will refuse to diagnose in practice. While I recognize their decision to limit their scope of practice, I feel that it is a complete disservice to future patients to write something off as ‘not needed’. It is here that I began to consider practicing as a chiropractor for a few years, but with the intention of furthering my knowledge by later applying to a medical program. The patient comes first, and I want to be able to offer the best quality of care. With that being said, I had a few questions for you about your choices. Had you wanted to be a chiropractor, and then decided you could better serve as a medical doctor, or was it your goal to become licensed as both? Were you able to apply any of your DC coursework to your MD courses? While attending medical school, did you face any hardships from fellow students or faculty because of your DC degree? What kept you going through it all after undergraduate, chiropractic school, medical school, residence, and fellowships?
I understand that you are a very busy person, but I would greatly appreciate some guidance! Thank you for your time, Dr. Corenman, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

May 31, 2011 at 10:38 pm

Post count: 8660

#4609

You are now coming across the great dilemma of chiropractic but at an early phase. Chiropractic has so much to offer but is also taught with much dogma. To take on the mantle of “primary health care practitioner” but not use the knowledge of physiology, immunology and medicine is doing a disservice to patients. The core philosophy of subluxations causing dis-ease is simply not supported by any research or literature.

Chiropractic is a wonderful treatment for many disorders but if your patient comes in with pelvic inflammatory disease from an infection and you are going to “take on everything that comes in your door”- to be called a primary health care practitioner, you must diagnose and treat this individual. Do you adjust this patient when they really need antibiotics? Do you adjust the patient with severe back pain from an undiagnosed osteomyelitis and cause further damage? As a chiropractor, I needed more knowledge. I thought the medical route would give me a better understanding of the disorders my patients had.

If you want to become a great healer, open you mind to the achievements made by all the specialities. Look into the philosophy of Osteopathy and you will find that Stills was very close to DD Palmer in thought as well as location. Find out about the history of Homeopathy and why in the 1900s, it was the most respected profession in the USA. Yes- above medicine. Look into acupuncture and you will find similarities to chiropractic.

Use the knowledge gained from so many great individuals such as Lister and Osler. DD and BJ Palmer made great discoveries and brought together a wonderful treatment method but it is not the only discovery that has had great outcomes.

Then look into medicine. The profession has downfalls (the egos are difficult to deal with and the politics) but if you really look with a practiced eye, you will find the most scientific but caring profession. The amount of knowledge to gain blows the mind and takes years to master. If you however, start with a chiropractic background and then learn medicine, you have a base point to make much more sense of it all. I think that chiropractors that go into medicine make great doctors. You already know how to listen to patients and take care of them on a personal level. If you just add current medical knowledge to that mix- you will give spectacular care.

I’ll compose and send you another email regarding the trials and tribulation of going from D.C. to M.D. There are some challenges!

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

Donald Corenman
Keymaster

May 31, 2011 at 10:39 pm

Post count: 52

#4610

* The following is a response that we received via email*

Dr. Corenman,

Thank you for your response, it is very much appreciated! I don’t mind if you put it on the website forum (though I would be grateful if you could remove my last name), as I am sure that there is at least one other person who is having the same thought pattern. Last trimester, we covered a bit on A.T. Still and osteopathy, as well as Hahnemann and homeopathy. It is amazing to see how the healing arts have changed over the course of history, and the sacrifices that individuals have made for the sake of mankind.

Again, thank you for the words and guidance. It’s not a decision I will be making any time in the near future, but one that I will constantly be working towards. I look forward to further correspondence!
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Donald Corenman, MD, DC

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Eric S

Sep 26, 2021

by Eric S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Successful pars repair at 46 years old

Back in November of 2018 (at 46 years old) I came from Vancouver BC to have a pars repair done with Dr. Donald Corenman at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado. I'm finally posting this review nearly three years later in late 2021. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to know the final result before I posted my review. Unfortunately in that time Dr. Corenman has retired. Nevertheless, I want to post this review of Dr. Corenman and his staff at the Steadman Clinic in their excellent treatment of my L5 pars interarticularis.

I fractured my pars at age 42 back in 2014 when rolling on the gym floor, and was denied treatment by the Canadian healthcare system, probably due to my age. First my GP told me there was no surgical option for a pars defect, which was quite incorrect! I tried to live with it, but the symptoms worsened (periodic random spine slippage and weeks of resultant pain after just bending over to tie my shoe, so I eventually learned to mostly squat and hardly bend). When I finally consulted with Canadian spine surgeons, I was told they believed my pars defect had been congenital (since birth). This was absurd, considering I had done extreme martial arts (including jiu jitsu) for years prior, as well as 5 years of reinforcing steel full time in my 20s, probably the hardest job on the back you can find. No pars defect like mine would possibly have allowed this--ergo it was impossible that I had had the defect since birth. I did however have an asymptomatic congenital spina bifida occulta that made me more susceptible to a pars fracture. In 2014 in one instant, I went from having the strongest back people I knew said they'd ever seen, to being unable to safely bend over and tie my shoe without a non-negligible risk of my spine slipping randomly (which would lead to weeks of pain after each occurrence). This was due to the unilateral L5 pars defect, otherwise known as spondylolysis. It was when lying in pain on the floor 4 years later after maybe the 6th spine slippage event post injury, that I had had enough, and resolved to have surgery. If Canada's "universal health care" said no, I would make lemonade from lemons, and find the very best surgeon in the world at pars repairs. That was Dr. Donald Corenman. Dr. Corenman back in 2018 ran a website https://neckandback.com/ that dedicated many pages to the science of every aspect of pars repairs, from eligibility (good discs on MRI), to best surgical techniques (minimal open compared to minimally invasive), best imaging to use (i.e., O-Arm with Stealth imaging vs. older fluoroscopy), the ideal amount of BMP to use and why not use too much or too little, and much more, all to do with pars repairs, pages upon pages of his site just on the pars, with scientific references and his own extensive expert opinion. As a health research statistician, I was very impressed with this. It was in stark contrast to the websites of other spine surgeons which barely gave the pars a word or two, focusing almost exclusively on fusions. I had found the best surgeon in the world for pars repairs, and so after Dr. Corenman personally screened my MRI to ensure my discs were healthy, I booked the surgery.

Being 46 years old at the time of surgery in 2018, with a 4-year-old pars fracture from 2014 combined with a congenital SBO meant my pars fragment was somewhat atrophied, but it was "very solid", said Dr. Corenman in the operative report. Nevertheless, it was challenging with two things to fix, the pars and SBO, and OR time was around 4 hours. Recovery over the following months was guided by a very clear "Spine binder" from the Steadman Clinic with strict rules of "no BLT" (no bending, lifting or twisting), and illustrated physiotherapy guidelines. They even warned patients to avoid fish oil supplements, which could excessively dampen inflammation and hence slow bone healing. They answered many questions I had during months of recovery, with responses coming from the very supportive Lori Fugate (then director of Dr. Corenman's practice), and Ehrich Bean (then physician's assistant at the practice), as well as a couple calls with Dr. Corenman himself after two of the CT scans. Ehrich Bean offered great advice for taking the spine binder conservatively due to the nature of pars repairs vs. fusions. The final post-op CT scan I had was a couple weeks ago at 34 months post-op, and Dr. Corenman had retired, but I got a very positive and informative call from Eric Strauch (current PA at the Steadman Clinic under Dr. Corenman's replacement there, and who had also worked with Dr. Corenman previously). The staff at the Steadman Clinic were extremely supportive all the way through the process. I should mention, the local Canadian spine surgeon did offer me very good post-operative support including antibiotics as needed to deal with a mild surface incision-site infection early on, booking numerous x-rays when I felt something was amiss, as well as booking all four of my post-op CT scans. I am very grateful for that support also.

My final result shows plenty of solid bone across the pars and a healed SBO, with my vertebral body now a solid bone ring instead of being broken at two places as it was pre-op. Does my spine hold up in the real world? You bet! I have recently dug and moved several yards of dirt and sand and gravel by myself (shovel and wheelbarrow!) to fix our water main, pulled roots from the yard, moved several "portable" (these are HUGE) air conditioners up several flights of stairs my myself, and lifted weights. I now run 2 miles (3.2 KM) several times weekly with a hard 100 meter dash in the middle. I bend deeply before each run I go on, with no spine slippage. My spine feels amazing. I can bend over to do exercise, or real word tasks, with no risk of spine slippage.

My sincere thanks to God, Dr. Donald Corenman, Lori Fugate, Ehrich Bean, Eric Strauch, and the Steadman Clinic, as well as the Canadian spine surgeon who offered me excellent post-operative care back in Canada. You have all given me a new lease on life.

Sincerely,
Eric S

Robert S

May 11, 2021

by Robert S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Back Fusion Surgery

I had my entire lumbar spine fused in November of 2018. I had scoliosis , with pinched nerves that were so painful I could hardly walk - and standing for more than a few minutes was impossible. Even sitting was painful.
The fusion surgery produced immediate relief! And the recovery was much easier than I expected.
To this day I can do all the activities I love from hiking, to standing in a stream fly fishing to riding my bike long distances - or just walking down the street with my wife.
Kudos to Dr. Corenman and his staff, (including the two Erics) for taking such good care of me!

Leslie R

Jul 9, 2020

by Leslie R on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

TLIF

I had my TLIF surgery on 6/24/2020 by Dr. Corenman, I can not say enough good things about the Dr or his staff. I was always treated with respect and explained everything throughly, that made it easy for everyone to understand. I highly recommend Dr. Corenman and the Steadman Clinic.

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