Regina chiropractor challenged by Crown at sexual assault trial

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The way seven women described being touched by Ruben Adam Manz was beyond what should be done during a specific neck stretch.

With that, the chiropractor agreed Monday.

But when it was put to him that he’d abused their trust and touched their breasts precisely as they described — “under the guise” of a neck stretch — he firmly denied the suggestion from Crown prosecutor Jackie Lane.

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“I have never touched any patient’s breast that I have done a PNF stretch on,” Manz responded, using an acronym to describe Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation, the specific technique he told court he used to stretch the complainants’ necks.

“I care deeply about my patients’ health and it is completely against what I believe in as a chiropractor, when you’re focused on the patient’s health, that you would do something so horrific as that.”

Manz stands charged with seven counts of sexual assault against seven women who were his patients. None can be identified due to a court-imposed publication ban that’s standard in sexual assault cases.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges when his jury trial began Nov. 4.

Manz began his testimony in Regina’s Court of King’s Bench on Friday, when he refuted the women’s claims to one of his own lawyers, Kathy Hodgson-Smith.

She concluded her questions for Manz on Monday, asking the chiropractor what effect the allegations had on him.

“I felt a deep sense of sadness and betrayal,” Manz responded, noting he became fearful of treating female patients.

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As a result, he said grief over deaths in his family has gone unresolved, adding that his children had to change schools in the wake of charges. This was in addition to the damage to his business that he testified to Friday.

At issue in the trial is a stretch Manz said he performed on the women. He’d described a supporting hand gripping the shoulder, with his fingers extending to just below the collarbone.

Previously, Manz had provided detailed explanations about his process and the human anatomy.

On Monday, Lane provided him with a diagram from a textbook. While he was not familiar with the text, he took no issue with the diagram.

However, Manz said he disagreed with a description provided by the text that the breast begins at the collarbone.

“I don’t think anybody’s breasts start at the clavicle,” he said, using the medical term for collarbone.

Manz agreed that a woman’s breasts are a sensitive area and they are sexualized “in today’s society.”

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Lane spent time going over the way he approaches consent, noting that the form he has patients sign does not mention skin-on-skin contact. He agreed it doesn’t, but added that the form is the one his insurer requires him to use.

Skin-on-skin contact “comes with the territory” of seeing a chiropractor, Manz said, denying that such contact has ever surprised any of his patients.

While he maintained that no patient has ever withdrawn consent for treatment, he did acknowledge to Lane that patients have asked him not to perform certain adjustments.

He’d told Hodgson-Smith that the soundproofing in his office is bad despite his efforts to address it. Manz could hear other professionals speaking to other clients from his own office, he told court.

Lane wondered if he’d had any concerns about patient confidentiality.

He did, he testified.

Did he tell his patients they might be heard by others when they came for appointments?

No, he replied.

“Did you think that was an issue for patient confidentiality?” Lane asked.

“It hasn’t been, so far,” he said.

The Crown lawyer spent a lot of time questioning Manz on his memory.

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He’d told court earlier, and confirmed Monday, that he had memory of certain appointments with some of the complainants. Regarding some of these appointments, Lane put it to him that he’d conducted tens of thousands of appointments since, with which he agreed.

Near the end of her questions, Lane told Manz she would agree with him that, had he been doing the stretch he described, it would be “impossible” for him to touch the complainants’ breasts.

“But I’m going to put it to you, sir, that you weren’t doing the PNF stretch,” Lane said.

“I disagree with you, wholeheartedly,” he responded. “I was always doing a PNF stretch and I was doing it properly.”

It was unclear at midday when the defence would call its next witness.

bharder@postmedia.com

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