Chiropractic On The World Stage with Special Guest Dr. John Maltby

A 105-degree fever, weeks of rapid weight loss, and no clear answers sent Dr. John Maltby down a path he never expected. One chiropractic visit changed everything and that moment eventually led him to 48 years in practice and a new role as Secretary General of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC). We sit down with John to hear the full story, from a teenage health crisis to building a long-term practice in a small farming community, and why he believes chiropractic’s impact grows when we stay focused on results that matter to real people.

We also get specific about what the WFC actually does and why its relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO) is such a big deal for global health. John breaks down how the WFC represents chiropractic to the WHO, helps open doors with governments and health leaders, and supports a simple vision: access to chiropractic care for all people, of all ages, in all nations. Along the way, we talk about the profession’s biggest obstacle: internal division that confuses the message when the world is asking one question, “How can you help our people be healthy?”

From low back pain as a leading cause of disability worldwide to the everyday goal of staying mobile as we age, we connect chiropractic, rehabilitation, and quality of life. John also shares why the adjustment remains the profession’s unique core, plus an exciting look at sports chiropractic momentum and how close chiropractic is to being part of every Olympic team. Subscribe, share this with a colleague or patient, and leave a review, what do you think chiropractic should be known for globally?

Transcript

Welcome And A Big Milestone

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hi, I'm Dr. Arlan Four, the chairman and founder of Activator Methods International. And uh we're bringing you today Activate Your Practice, which is our podcast. And I'm happy to report to you that our 2025 numbers, we had over 2,400,000 people that downloaded this podcast. So we are reaching more than chiropractors. And today I have the distinct honor to have a very important person. He's the new Secretary General of the World Federation of Chiropractic, Dr. John Maltby. John, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Good to be here, Ron, and thanks for inviting me.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Well, John had a bit of a I would say a surprise this year that uh he got shoved into the position of the Secretary General when someone else uh was resigning. And uh I've known John for a long time, and he always tells me he's the son of a plumber, and uh he's just uh a smart son of the plumber. And uh so welcome to the podcast, John.

The Health Crisis That Changed Him

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Good to be here. Good to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

And uh give us a little history on uh what was your chiropractic story? In other words, how'd you start?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Well, my chiropractic story probably started in high school. My sophomore year, I was a pretty good swimmer, doing really well. My junior year, I dropped sick with 105 temperature, bad throat, lost 25 pounds in two weeks, uh, went the whole medical model, thought I got well and didn't get well, ended up at the Air Force Academy, got sick again, came home and uh was lying in bed, and one of my friends, a guy named Dave Cobble, came by and said, uh, you need to see a chiropractor. And I go, What's a chiropractor? Never heard of it. So he actually took me to a lay lecture on chiropractic and listened to the guy's story. The next day I went to a relatively new chiropractor in Westminster, that uh Southern California, a guy named Mark Worthlund. He took X-rays, adjusted my neck and my full spine. My fever broke immediately, and I never had that problem ever again. I had my first successful season since my sophomore year of high school. And uh yeah, so so it magically changed my life. Uh my intent was always to go become a lawyer and go into politics. Uh stuff happened around the early 70s that really discouraged me with that. So I said, I'm not gonna do anything to do with the politics. Why don't I be a chiropractor? Let's touch one person at a time. So I took$600, jumped in my Rambler, and drove to Davenport, Iowa. And uh the rest's been history. I've been in practice next week. We'll be 48 years in practice in Blythe, California, a small farming community on the Colorado River. And um Debbie and I just celebrated 50 years of marriage. I got two kids. My son's a chiropractor and uh 11 grandkids.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Um what got you involved then in chiropractic politics? Because you said you didn't want to get into politics.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Well, it it started in California, the second largest country of chiropractors in the world at that time with 14,000. And I got calls said, Hey, would you be interested and get it on the ICA California board? I go, Yeah, I'll show up. Well, then it kind of grew, some stuff happened about a year into that. Uh, they needed a president, and they go, Will you do that? And I go, yeah. Well then, same thing, kind of like with ICA. Uh, there was an opening, there was a battle going on anyway, so I became Western Regional Director, and then the next year I became president because of a very similar situation. And then about 10 years ago, Jerry Klum called me and asked me to take his place on the WFC board. And I said, Okay. And I was planning on stepping off and stepping back and getting away this year, and stuff happened, and I got a call, said, You need to do this job. And my wife supported me on it. So here I am.

What WFC Does With WHO

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Well, discuss the current pos you know, your WFC Secretary General. It's a big term, you know. Tell me what does it involve?

The Profession’s Biggest Roadblock

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Well, the WFC, first of all, is 40 years old. Um, it was an organization that was started for one thing to bring representative representation of chiropractic from around the world and develop direct relations with the WHO. So as a result, the WHO is the uh pardon me, the WFC is the only chiropractic association in the world that has what uh non-state actor affiliation with the WHO. So that we actually go, we have standing, we serve on committees. I think the big thing I want people to understand is we represent chiropractic to the WHO. We are not here to represent the WHO chiropractic. As of right now, we have 95 countries that are involved. We have seven regions, uh we do our assembly, our educational conferences, but the main thing is fulfilling the vision of the WFC, which is very simply all people, all ages, all nations have access to chiropractic care.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Um what's the biggest obstacle to chiropractic moving forward?

Low Back Pain And Global Reality

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, well, I you know, I usually get in trouble for this, but I'm pretty used to getting in trouble. I think it's the chiropractic profession sometimes. I think it's the naysayers out there, the ones, the guys that want to create division within the profession. Instead of those of us just saying, you know, enough, stop it. Let's come together, let's figure out the things we agree on, and let's advance chiropractic. Because when I go to different countries and I go to Rwanda, I spend a week in Rwanda meeting with, you know, top top cabinet members and we and presenting chiropractic. And if we would have gone in with the different arguments that are going on, they would have no idea what we're talking about. They want to know one thing. How can you help our people be healthy? That's it. You know, and that we are the alternative to drugs and surgery. That we are not physical therapists. We do something that is unique and that's the adjustment. Okay? Can we do the other stuff? Of course. But but our mission is to open up doors for chiropractic around the world. And because of our affiliation, WFC's affiliation with the uh WHO, that opens those doors. And that's what the naysayers don't understand. It's about getting the doors open. So I've always said, you know, for some reason we've had a we we we kind of want to fight among ourselves. What's the old saying? We circle the wagons and shoot to the middle.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Well, you know, uh, this has been a several years ago, but uh Dr. George Goodman from Logan invited my wife and I to come to Switzerland and to come be a delegate to the WHO. And uh as I looked in the auditorium that day, it was kind of divided in half. I just my overview. Half of it was infections in the in the world, the countries that were not up, you know, third world countries. The other half was all of the musculoskeletal problems that plagued the United States and the people that were suffering from arthritis and from all the different things that were were structural problems. And I thought, oh my gosh, chiropractic's got a big role to play. And I just I I thought we we need to have we needed to let them know what we do.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Right. And again, that's the point. If I in fact, when I go to Rwanda, when we sit down, a lot of people understand this. The number one disability in the world is low back pain. And I always like to say in in the United States, what does that mean? If you're disabled because of low back pain, you got state disability, you got work comp, you got insurance, you got all these different access to the what does that mean in a third world country if you're disabled because of low back pain? It means your children die. You can't work to feed your children. I mean, so it's a whole lot bigger picture.

Mobility Motion And The Adjustment

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Well, in the United States, uh as I the older I get, the more I see people, you know, that lose their ambulation or ability to get around. And that's one of the staying ambulatory is one of the biggest things that I can see. And that's where I think you'll agree, chiropractic comes in in great form.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Oh, it's all about motion. You know, it's all it's all about structure. I mean, what's the basic law of physics? Form equals function. What do we deal with? We deal with form. We deal with, you know, you know, getting the spine in a normal position that it was designed to be in. Because if you deviate from that normal, then you you you change the function. And so we as chiropractors need to make sure that we maintain what makes us unique. And that's what makes us unique. We adjust, we're correcting the spine. Can you do the other stuff? Yeah, I don't care. But everybody else does the uh the other stuff too. What's unique to us? The correction of the spine.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

You know, I practiced for quite a few years. And I Monday, it was always my big day, and I had a young student doctor follow me around one day. He said, Why do these people all coming? I said, Because they want to stay mobile. And a lot of more geriatrics in that day. And their biggest reason for coming to me for continued care was to keep their mobility. Right. And so I think that's something that we can get out of.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, the big word out there now is rehabilitation, okay? I mean, there's big committees and WHO is doing a lot of stuff under the rehabilitation. Well, guess what? We we we do that's what we do. I mean, we rehabilitate the body by specifically dealing with spinal structure. Again, can we do other stuff? Of course you can. But chiropractic is unique and it's making that message clear on a global scale.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

And I think for all the patients that are listening here, that if you can keep mobile and keep from being immobile, that's that's to what your goal is. All about motion. Absolutely. Keeping your, you know, all about motion. Somebody said to me, how do you get around as good as you do? And I said, I've got two schnauzers, you know, that I have to walk daily. And uh that's why they say pet owners are more, you know, healthy because they're out walking their dogs.

Sports Chiropractic And Olympic Momentum

SPEAKER_00 9:56

And remember, I'm still in practice. I'm still seeing patients, right? And this time of year, you know who I'm seeing. I'm seeing the snowbirds. I mean, it's not uncommon. The average aged patient on visit in in my office any day is 70 to 80 years old. Okay, and the whole idea is to keep them moving. We live for motion. If you don't move, you die.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

So, what do you see as the biggest opportunity moving forward?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

I think the biggest opportunity, uh and and this is a great weekend. Here we are at Parker Vegas, and to see the enthusiasm that people now are starting to look more globally. Because of electricity, the world's got smaller. We have the ability to see what's going on around the world. And we and when we tell people about what's happening in chiropractic in third world countries, in Latin America, in Mexico, and we started to see, I met with Fix yesterday, the sports chiropractic group. I mean, we're that close to having chiropractors officially part of every Olympic team. We're that close. In fact, it was an interesting they shared with us statistically, they kept the numbers. The number one sought-after service by athletes is dentistry. That's crazy. Dentistry. Yeah, they get free dentist care. But but but but the thing is interesting that number two, 34% is chiropractic.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Because they know what they have to do as athletes.

Closing Thoughts And Sponsor Mention

SPEAKER_00 11:27

I mean, and and and nothing against the other ones, but the other ones out there are like half of what we are. So they actually seek if chiropractors are available, they seek them. They want them. Between the World Games and the Olympics, I mean, it's really, really exciting. So it's that type of exposure. And that these some of these athletes who don't have chiropractic in the country can come to these events and find out about chiropractic. Guess what? They're doing everything they can to get it back in the country. So, because of that, because of speed of light information, because of the things that we're doing within the WFC to communicate that globally. I think it's really exciting. I think it's really exciting.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Well, I just want to wish you good luck in your new venture here as the WFC Secretary General. And I know that you're going to be traveling a lot and seeing a lot of different things. And perhaps after you've been around for a year and can see more things, then we'll put you back on the podcast so that we can let everybody know what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Perfect. Thank you, Ron. You're very welcome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Dr. John Maubee, Secretary General of the WFC, the World Federation of Chiropractic. Thanks for listening to Activate Your Practice Podcast. Remember, this is brought to you by SoftTech Table Company. You can find more information on this table at Softechtables.com.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Softtech manufactures specialized treatment tables designed to help chiropractors who utilize the activator method, maximize their time, and the success of their procedures. Upgrade to the only adjusting tables endorsed by Activator Methods at SoftechTables.com.