President's Report

Dale Comrie BAppSc(Chiro).

Firstly, I would like to thank Peter Werth for the six years he has tirelessly dedicated to the Presidents position and having been part of the executive since its inception more than 17 years ago. After only a few weeks as President I am starting to realize the enormity of the job he did, in combination with being Conference Organizer.

After several years on the Executive and four as Secretary, it was my time to ‘step-up’, with just a gentle push! The learning curve looks steep and I feel a little under-qualified for the job but I have a dedicated and talented support staff and executive team, to help guide and share the load.

COCA’s main directive has and will continue to be Continuing Education (CE). The executive is currently working hard to provide a quality, value for money, and diverse range of CE which will appeal to our professions. The body of online and distance education products is continuing to expand, which we hope will appeal to all, but especially the practitioners outside the major cities.

As a sole private practitioner I believe that I have a solid understanding of the professional needs of practitioners with regard to CE (with a practice emphasis), professional services and representation of our professions to the public and legislative bodies.

One criticism that I regularly hear of COCA is that we are delving into the political realm, which should be the domain of the Professional bodies of CAA and AOA. In my view COCA is not a political body but we do make regular government submissions to help strengthen the voice of Chiropractic and Osteopathy. With our membership numbers we become a major stakeholder for Chiropractors and Osteopaths, and as such have the opportunity to help present a united front to advance our professional identities.

I hope that over time the perceived gap between COCA and CAA can be addressed and the profession can understand the need for both bodies; COCA as the major provider of CE and professional education/training services, and CAA and AOA as the professions major political and lobbyist bodies. Of course there will be some blurring of the lines but in the end the professions will be served and receive exceptional services.

It is my opinion that COCA should help maintain our practitioner’s skills and knowledge base to help make us better, safer and more patient centered experts in musculoskeletal medicine. The science of professions needs to be sound, so that our philosophies can hold.

On another note; the 7th Biennial Conference was held in Melbourne in October due to a little quirk of fate that Sydney became a lock down with the APEC Meeting.

Craig Liebenson was as entertaining as ever as the keynote speaker. On the Friday he ran a practical workshop on musculoskeletal rehabilitation, which was spent balancing on foam rolls and rehab balls. Craig has an ability to entertain and provide practical information without getting a sore backside from sitting in a darkened room all day.

Much to the horror of Chiropractors everywhere we had the ‘enemy’ in our camp to stir things up! Robin McKenzie, Physiotherapist and founder of the McKenzie Institute, spent his session and some more, lecturing as he knows best – with a practical demonstration. The key to his presentation was that the McKenzie technique is a scientifically validated tool for identifying a disc injury and treating those difficult disc or radiculopathy cases that we all can scratch our heads at sometimes.

The conference was full of quality information from quality presenters. The trend that we are hoping to continue is that of practical material blended with the standard lecture format.

I wish everyone a Happy Christmas and Merry New Year and look forward to a productive 2008.