Greenawalt Confirms F4CP and Foot Levelers Are Part of Chiropractic Summit Power Bloc
Originally published: 2025-08-06
The Secret’s Out
In a recent American Chiropractor podcast interview, Kent Greenawalt, CEO of Foot Levelers and founder of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP), inadvertently pulled back the curtain on one of the worst-kept secrets in the chiropractic profession: the existence of a coordinated political machine known as the Chiropractic Summit.
While promoting his vision for chiropractic unity and political action focused on back pain, Greenawalt casually revealed that both Foot Levelers and F4CP are active participants in this highly orchestrated, behind-the-scenes secretive coalition. For years, the Chiropractic Summit has operated without transparency, making decisions, sending letters, aligning political messaging, and defining the boundaries of professional legitimacy, all without public oversight or accountability.
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What Is the Chiropractic Summit?
“The Chiropractic Summit brings together all major organizations, colleges, vendors, professional associations, unified under one goal: advancing chiropractic.” — Kent Greenawalt
That single sentence confirms what critics have been warning about: the Chiropractic Summit is not just a collaborative think tank, it is a governing bloc composed of industry insiders, vendors, trade associations, and academic institutions. It makes decisions that impact the profession without open meetings, public minutes, or elected representation.
Greenawalt’s admission that the Summit was able to mobilize 35 leaders to sign a letter to RFK Jr. within 90 minutes of his HHS appointment shows the speed and centralization of their influence. But it also raises red flags: Who are these 35 leaders? Who elected them? And why are private companies like an orthotic company helping shape national chiropractic health policy behind closed doors?
The Contradictions of “Unity”
Kent Greenawalt’s call for unity may sound inspiring on the surface, but a closer look reveals a tightly controlled political machine masquerading as inclusive leadership. His claim that the Chiropractic Summit “brings together all major organizations, colleges, vendors, professional associations” is not only misleading, it is demonstrably false.
“Unity is not just about messaging; it’s about action.”
— Kent Greenawalt
Many of the profession’s most respected and active organizations are deliberately excluded from the Summit. Among them:
Sherman College of Chiropractic — a fully accredited institution — is not invited to Summit meetings.
The Chiropractic Society of Texas, a robust state-level association, requested a seat and was denied.
The International Federation of Chiropractors and Organizations (IFCO) — with decades of advocacy and international reach, has also been repeatedly denied participation.
The Chiropractic Freedom Coalition - Now representing over 60 chiropractic national and international organizations, schools, research foundations, technique groups, practice management groups and others.
When Dr. Keita Vanterpool, a Black chiropractor and leader in the profession, sought a seat at the Summit table, she too was rebuffed and dismissed.
The Chronicle has repeatedly reached out to Lisa Love Smith and the Summit and they will not respond.
So much for unity.
Closed-Door Unity, Open-Ended Hypocrisy
Greenawalt praises the Summit for mobilizing within 90 minutes to send a congratulatory letter to RFK Jr., but where was that urgency when:
The NBCE forced the centralization of Part IV exams, a move widely criticized as unnecessary, expensive, and exclusionary?
The CCE continues to tie accreditation to NBCE testing through Policy 56, despite zero legal requirement from any state board?
Entire factions of the profession, especially those centered around vertebral subluxation, pediatrics, and salutogenic care, were being erased from public messaging during COVID?
The Summit remained silent.
Why? Because the Summit includes the NBCE, CCE and FCLB. They are at the table. It’s actually their table. The institutions pushing the tests, raising the costs, and shrinking the philosophical diversity of the profession are inside the circle, while everyone else is shut out.
What deals are being struck behind these closed doors?
Who gets protected? Who gets excluded? And who gets sacrificed for “unity”?
This isn’t unity, it’s strategic consolidation of power and professional birth control, designed to lock in control of licensing, accreditation, media, and political messaging under the guise of professionalism and progress.
Follow the Money and Influence
Greenawalt boasts that Foot Levelers has given over $35 million to the chiropractic profession, and that F4CP was created “to generate positive press for chiropractic.” But with F4CP’s 2023 IRS Form 990 confirming its financial dependency on a related charity (Foundation for Chiropractic Education) and zero transparency about major donors, it’s now clear that these entities operate not as separate nonprofits, but as integrated components of a centralized PR-political machine.
“We have built strong media relationships and made chiropractic a recognized part of healthcare discussions.” Greenawalt on F4CP
But those “media relationships” largely revolve around vendor-sponsored magazines like The American Chiropractor, the very platform where this latest interview took place. The circularity of influence is stunning: vendors fund the media, the media platforms the insiders, the insiders shape policy, and the public is left in the dark.
The Problem with “Unity”
Greenawalt’s core message is unity: one message, one political voice, one structure. But that’s precisely the danger.
“If one group lobbies a senator with one agenda on Monday and another group presents a different agenda on Wednesday, we lose credibility.” — Kent Greenawalt
What he’s really saying is: dissent is a problem, and control of the message is the solution. The Chiropractic Summit helps to consolidate power among a small, unelected group of interlinked nonprofits, corporations, and educational institutions, and silencing any competing voice that doesn't toe the party line.
The Cartel Has a Mouthpiece
Kent Greenawalt’s interview with The American Chiropractor was meant to inspire the profession with tales of progress and purpose. Instead, it inadvertently exposed the machinery of control operating beneath the surface: a network of tax-exempt organizations, private vendors, and PR outlets acting in concert to shape chiropractic’s political and professional future, largely without the profession’s consent or transparency.
The Chiropractic Summit is not a partnership and Greenawalt just confirmed he has a seat at the table.
