Figure 1-33 Eighth-generation Tri W-G table employed for Activator Methods Chiropractic Technique.
(Courtesy Activator Methods International.)
Tri W-G, Inc., a Valley City, North Dakota, manufacturer of physical therapy equipment. John Weber, president of Tri W-G, was
contacted in 1971, and a visit to the plant was arranged. The relationship between the equipment manufacturer and the technique
company was cemented when Fuhr's treatment of Weber's wife, whose recent back surgery had not resolved her pain, enabled her
to walk for the first time in 6 weeks. Tri W-G developed a new, chiropractic division. When Activator Methods became an
international company, Lloyd Table Company took over as the Activator table developer and distributor because of its capability
for worldwide distribution.
ACTIVATOR METHOD INSTRUCTION
Weekend seminars have served as the primary mode of delivering instruction in the Activator Method. In the tradition of
postgraduate education that has persisted throughout chiropractic history, Drs. Lee and Fuhr commenced to teach their new
method to any interested chiropractor. This training began rather informally with a fellow Minnesota DC, who responded to
rumors about the new technique and inquired of the Redwood Falls practitioners. By 1970 the pair had decided to offer the
Activator Method on a regular basis to chiropractors near and far. The first of these seminars, which drew 10 curious doctors, was
organized by two of Fuhr's former Logan classmates, Irvin Chessin DC, and Eric Perlman DC, and was held in Garden Grove,
California, at the clinical offices
Figure 1-34 Bernard A. Coyle, PhD, circa 1995. (Courtesy
Bernard A. Coy/e.)
of Carl Remlin, DC. Instructional content included procedures for detecting subluxations by monitoring Leg Length Inequality
and for making instrument-assisted adjustments of the pelvis and lower lumbar and upper cervical vertebrae. It was a humble
beginning.
Weekend seminars in chiropractic have elicited criticism over the years, largely on the grounds that they are unregulated and
offer instruction of unequal quality and sometimes dubious content. Nonetheless, many of the "brand named" techniques
employed by DCs, some of which are taught in the accredited colleges, have their roots in private seminars. Nowadays, many of
these seminars offer license renewal credit through co-sponsorship with a chiropractic school. Although chiropractic college
faculty have sometimes questioned the appropriateness of technique entrepreneurs, sentiment toward technique seminars is not
universally negative. Drs. Barney Coyle and Robert Tolar, former senior administrators at two chiropractic institutions, have
opined the following (Figure 1-34):
Enthusiasm has also sparked a bevy of private entrepreneurial educators, many of whom, despite making claims that have often been quite
outrageous, have made some contribution, even when spumed by the colleges. Too seldom has there been an honest attempt to synthesize what is
offered from diverse activity. It has been too easy to ignore them and shut the doors, thereby allowing some wisdom together with a liberal
quantity of incoherent or forgettable material to fall outside . . . A far
.
