President's Report

I have been involved with COCA and its predecessor COMSIG (Chiropractic and Osteopathic Musculoskeletal Interest Group) since the inception in 1990. Over this period I have seen the organisation grow from a small collection of like-minded practitioners, meeting to present cases with guest speakers based in Melbourne, to one of the largest continuing education groups within chiropractic and osteopathy.

As I have recently become National President it has been a time of reflection for me. I believe that the organisation has made enormous gains over the past ten years, but that it is still a long way from its full potential. The growth of COCA has been due to various factors.

Initially COMSIG tapped into an area that to some degree was untapped – providing a forum for chiropractors and osteopaths to meet, and “talk shop”. Many other professional meetings were based upon the politics of the professions, technique or practice management seminars. There appeared to be no outlet for broader discussion of patient management, and in particular how more difficult cases could be managed. This lead the way to inviting guest speakers, who were often medical specialists. Many of us had not been able to directly communicate with these types of specialists, and they had little, if no contact with our professions. From these beginnings we were able to organise larger seminars with several speakers from all professions dealing with the musculoskeletal system. In November 1992 we held our first large biannual conference with over twenty speakers, including keynote speaker Professor Nikolai Bogduk. This conference provided the impetus for further growth and provided an excellent forum for multidisciplinary discussion.

From this beginning COMSIG continued to provide seminars based upon diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal conditions – something that appeared fairly obvious to pursue but had not been regularly offered to chiropractors and osteopaths here in Australia. The early driving force for COMSIG was a small and enthusiastic executive, lead by Bruce Walker. It was largely due to his efforts that COMSIG was able to establish its foothold, and grow.

How is this historical perspective relevant to today, and how does the current Executive view the future direction of the College? I believe that we should not lose sight of the format that led to the support of the professions which has seen the College grow to its current level, which now has over six hundred members. The College has the commitment to continue to provide high quality affordable seminars, workshops, distance education modules and clinical audits. This will enable chiropractors and osteopaths to be better practitioners and manage their patients more effectively. This simple philosophy has been the cornerstone of the organisation, and will continue to be so.

Over the last year COCA has provided seminars across the country, and this culminated in the recent biennial Cervical Spine Challenge Conference in Sydney which was very well received. A special vote of thanks goes to John Reggars, who was the driving force behind the organisation and success of the conference. Whilst in the process of thanking people I would like to thank our outgoing president Simon French, who took the helm last year, at a time that was very important for the College. His leadership was focused on issues that were important, and his leadership saw the College further advance and cement its position in the field of continuing education.

I hope to be able to continue the momentum that Simon and his Executive have developed. I would like to thank the members and the Executive for giving me the opportunity to lead this year. I also would like to thank the Executive for maintaining its stability, with all members staying on for this year. I would also like to welcome Peter Chapman from Perth, who will assist in establishing COCA’s further presence in the west.

Also welcome to Dale Comrie from Melbourne who will no doubt bring new ideas and energy to the Executive.

I would like to reiterate Simon French’s comments in his last President’s Report where he stated COCA’s position in respect to the political arms of the professions, and also emphasising our independence.

Following on from the establishment of the five year strategic plan, new initiatives will be rolled out over the next one to two years. This will enable COCA to provide further and better services to its members.

The membership fees and royalties from endorsed products are directed back into continuing education, and enable us to provide affordable and informative seminars for the practitioners in the field. We always try to keep our topics clinically relevant and useful for Monday morning.

If you are not a member yet, please come along to your local seminar, and also visit the website and see for yourself what COCA is all about.

Your new Executive looks forward to an exciting time over the next year. I hope that you will be part of it.

Peter Werth, President