Advancing Chiropractic

Aristotle believed that the basic motive driving anything and everything in the cosmos is the tendency to move toward becoming what it is “meant to be.” He believed that things develop true to their own innate Form. After all, even a tiny acorn is potentially a magnificent oak tree.

When I first heard the term “Advancing Chiropractic,” I thought to myself, “ChiropracTIC needs no ‘advancement,’ it is what it is. But then I thought, “As our practice members become disconnected from the Source through subluxations, they start tuning out messages from Source, and relying on ego (the educated mind) to make life choices. Sometimes, it seems like the profession of chiropractic has become much like those practice members.”

As Innate Intelligence is more able to express itself when It has corrected an interference to Its purpose, living beings move toward expressing their absolute fullest potential, and becoming what they are meant to be.

Similarly, as interferences to the expression of ChiropracTIC are eliminated, ChiropracTIC can advance and move toward becoming all it is meant to be. What the interferences to this great philosophy, science and art might be, is the topic for other articles, but for those who are reading this right here and now, we know where to start.

In caring for our practice members, we don’t need to put in more from the outside. They just need to be clear of interferences to the expression of their own Innate potential.

Similarly, this great chiropractic profession doesn’t need more outside influence or more input from the outside in, it needs to be cleared of interferences. Because ChiropracTIC is pure in and of itself, as interferences are removed, ChiropracTIC will advance and progress toward becoming what it is meant to be; it will better express its own true Form.

To the ChiropracTORs who have signed on to this mission of Advancing Chiropractic, I believe you have the Idea. With our collective mental energy and power, we will clear the interferences and ChiropracTIC will again become pure and magnificent.
 

Chiropractic is for Peculiar People
Bill Decken, DC, LCP

Author Margaret Manning writes about the things that make people peculiar in A Slice of Infinity. The past several years in our culture it has not been uncommon to see young males walking around with their pants seeming to be falling off their backsides. A wide variety of body piercing and tattoos are also observable in males and females in a variety of age groups. To some generations this is peculiar. It would also be peculiar to find a blond hair blue eyed Chinese person. Similarly, the public schools where I live will be experimenting with a school dress code to see if it has a positive effect on learning in the inner city schools. The kids, of course, think that will make them peculiar.

Peculiarities make us unique. We can also discuss the qualities and characteristics that make a chiropractor or a chiropractic patient unique. When a behavior/style/language is considered to be peculiar it is often associated with being bad, but this does not have to be the case. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary the word peculiar is derived from the Latin word meaning private property. To be peculiar is to be exclusive, particular or special. This is definitely the case with chiropractic.

Chiropractic was born in the heartland of America in 1895. While modern medicine appeared to be moving more in the direction of drugs and surgery, the founder of the chiropractic profession was interested more in the innate, biological ability of the body to heal itself. The word chiropractic, meaning practiced by hand, was selected to set this healing art apart from medicine and all other healing arts. The chiropractic adjustment is given to assist the body in its striving to restore and maintain the highest levels of health. The name and the underlying philosophy (natural, innate healing) made chiropractic peculiar.

Chiropractic was not intended to be a treatment for low back pain or any other ailment. It was intended to help the people function better. However, many people who receive a chiropractic adjustment notice symptomatic improvements in a wide variety of ailments. This has caused some in both the public and the profession of chiropractic to adopt a more medical, treatment-oriented mindset of chiropractic. This is not necessarily a negative but it does not enhance the position of chiropractic as being exclusive, particular or special.
The result of this type of thinking is that many folks do not seek the services of a chiropractor to help them achieve and maintain the highest levels of wellness they could be enjoying. The peculiar chiropractor educates the public differently, giving them the information they need to make life enhancing choices.

The peculiar health care consumer is looking for an approach to their health and the health of their family that does not involve waiting until something “falls apart” or “breaks down”.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1993-the most comprehensive published study of alternative therapies-reported that 34 percent of adults had used alternative therapies in 1990. However, about 72 percent of these users did not inform their physician that they used such therapies. Altogether, the amount spent on alternative therapies totaled $13.7 billion in 1990, with $10.3 billion of that amount spent out-of-pocket. Moreover, in 1994, there were 59,000 licensed alternative medicine practitioners in chiropractic, oriental medicine (acupuncture and herbal medicine), and naturopathy. About 50,000 of these providers were practicing in chiropractic.

The health care consumers referenced in this study were peculiar. They stepped outside the box and many looked at the value of a chiropractic adjustment. The alternative aspect of chiropractic care goes further than merely getting adjusted until one feels better. Chiropractic, and the peculiar chiropractor, offers an alternative viewpoint on health and healing. If an improved nerve supply can help a body heal, the same reasoning can be applied to proactive health care. Having the spine checked on a regular basis ensures proper function of the nerve system and hence the body.

If you are a peculiar health care consumer and you have found a chiropractor that thinks like you, consider yourself blessed. If not, consider challenging your chiropractor to provide you with regular spinal check-ups with adjustments as needed for a lifetime of chiropractic care.

If you are a peculiar chiropractor who sees the benefit of regular, lifetime chiropractic care for the people you serve, congratulations on seeing the original intent of the chiropractic profession. You offer an exclusive service that is not duplicated by any other health care professional.

Please join us and sign onto our Mission Statement to help protect Chiropractic’s identity for future generations. If you are in agreement, please tell others to visit our web site.

Does Chiropractic have a Right to Exist?

This question is most certainly met with an obvious answer in the reader’s mind. A short explanation of the legal threshold for our justification will likely be enlightening.

We begin back at the forming of our democratic society in the 1700’s. The settlers in what would become the United States of America often fled oppressive dictums and feudal systems that devalued oppositional views to the status quo. Given this most uncomfortable memory of their repressive homelands, the founding fathers sought to be inclusive in their formation of a new way of life. A new country founded on principles of equality and fairness towards the personal decisions of its people was a revolutionary act in government.

It has been often said that Benjamin Rush, MD, a signer of the Declaration of Independence made no exception for freedom of the citizens’ health decisions.

“Unless we put Medical Freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship . . . to restrict the art of healing to one class of men, and deny equal privilege to others, will be to constitute the Bastille of Medical Science. All such laws are un-American and despotic and have no place in a Republic ... The Constitution of this Republic should make special privilege for Medical Freedom as well as Religious Freedom.”

His insistence upon this keystone of American health consumerism carried much weight in the drafting of the documents of our free society. This concept remained largely accepted and unchallenged through much of the 1800’s.

In 1888 a landmark case in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin brought more definable legal structure to Rush’s original principle. In this case, Nelson v. Harrington, several important determinations were made that define a separate and distinct health care profession:
A separate profession must have:
1.) Separate theoretical principles of cause and cure
2.) Schools that teach said principles and rules
3.) Profession that adheres to said principles and rules

It was this case and it’s triune of requirements that paved the way for a successful defense in the first Chiropractic case of Shegataro Morikubo, DC, PhD in 1906. The grounding philosophic principles that guide scientific explanation, clinical reason and practice are not only important to the practitioner, but form the buttress of Chiropractic being a separate and distinct profession.

How does this matter affect us now over 100 years later? From the perspective of the courts we seem to be setting a pace for extinction. Do we meet the requirements to remain in existence as a separate and distinct profession?

In support of our separate and distinct status, our theoretical principles have stood the test of time. Though many who oppose maintaining our philosophic principles have been publicly vocal, their arguments are based upon mis-education and misunderstanding. Arguments are often against what they have mistakenly determined to be philosophic positions of Chiropractic. When given equal time in the arena of debate our principles have not been defeated. Further, they have gained support through not only public opinion, but also scientific discovery.

Whether our schools teach our philosophic principles is a matter of record. Sadly most do not and others still do not promote them as being anything more than an interesting point of study. Let us be clear in saying that there is not a 100% irresponsibility of our schools in this matter. Do we have any schools at all fulfilling this task? Yes. Is it a small minority? Yes. Is the momentum in our educational system toward the elimination of our separate and distinct principles? Most certainly!!

Consider this. In recent years there has been an increasing trend of individual state boards to eliminate the possibility of receiving educational credit for coursework in the realm of philosophical separation from the medical model. Every year more states move in the direction of elimination of our status as a legally separate and distinct profession through this action. It is mostly based upon ignorance of both the philosophic basis of Chiropractic, but more importantly it is further speeding the path to Chiropractic extinction.

Thirdly, is our long established separate theory of ‘cause and cure’ prevalent in our clinical principles as a profession? What would many practitioners confess about their own philosophic misgivings? One only has to briefly consult the written works of modern Chiropractic authors on their opinions of our philosophic state to see the obvious and disappointing answer.

It is evident that as a profession our leadership has been misled down a misbegotten path toward elimination of our legal right to exist. As stated this process has several decades of momentum behind it. That is not to say that it is an impossible task to right the ship and chart a course to retain our separate and distinct status. It will certainly not be an overnight process to correct decades of poor leadership by a handful of misguided individuals, but it certainly can be done.

It is through the efforts of individual Chiropractors that the profession will be saved from extinction. Working with groups like Advancing Chiropractic toward a common goal of preserving what we have as Chiropractors is the way to begin the process. I encourage each of you to reflect deep within yourself and make this small commitment for all that Chiropractic has provided you. Read the information here on our site and sign on with the hundreds of others who know what we have to lose if we continue to ignore the legal implications of our profession being misled by a vocal minority.