The first chiropractic adjustment was delivered in Davenport, Iowa on September 18th, 1895.
On this fateful day, Dr. D.D. Palmer adjusted Mr. Harvey Lillard, a deaf janitor, ultimately restoring his hearing. Word spread far and wide that Harvey’s deafness had been reversed. At first, Dr. Palmer believed he had discovered the cure for deafness. Many deaf people from all around the region visited Dr. Palmer in hopes of restoring their hearing through chiropractic adjustment. Alas, most of these people were unable to do so.
However, something curious did occur. Many of these people reported headaches disappearing, energy increasing, allergies resolving, breathing improving, and many other positive health changes. If he had not discovered the cure for deafness, what had he discovered? This led Dr. Palmer and the many chiropractic pioneers who would follow to develop the philosophy, science, and art of chiropractic.
Three Paradigms of Thought
Like any profession, chiropractic has advanced over time. New insights, both philosophically and scientifically, have brought about evolution in thinking and understanding. In this professional evolution, three paradigms of thought have emerged surrounding chiropractic.
Paradigm One
The first paradigm maintains that chiropractic cures all disease. This was the understanding of the Palmers and those they taught in the earliest days of the profession. The seemingly miraculous way in which so many people were able to resolve health challenges and restore their quality of life, even where all manner of medical intervention had failed for decades, was enough to forge an initial belief that adjustment of the spine and clarification of the nervous system was all that was needed for anyone to get and stay well.
Problems emerged with the first paradigm over time. Namely, it would become evident that certainly not everyone was able to resolve every condition through chiropractic care. Many people, even if their lives would improve in some areas, would continue to suffer with a certain health challenge. Why is it that some conditions would improve through chiropractic care, but others did not?
Paradigm Two
This led to the second paradigm. The second paradigm puts forth that some sick people get well through chiropractic adjustment, but others do not, due to the particular nature or advanced stage of their condition. Chiropractic as a treatment of a limited array of musculoskeletal disorders falls in this category. This relegates chiropractic to nothing more than a subspecialty of physical medicine, with the same goal of the practice of medicine in general, the resolution or management of the signs and symptoms of disease or injury. Unfortunately, most of the chiropractic profession, and even its schools and organizations, exist in this very limited paradigm today.
Well, if chiropractic is only about treating back pain, headaches, sprains and strains, and disc issues, how do we explain what happened with the very first adjustment? And how do we explain all the many cases of people who do heal from other chronic ailments while under chiropractic care? Do we ignore these outcomes simply because they do not fall into our neat, medical, musculoskeletal box?
Furthermore, does this mean that anyone who does not present with signs and symptoms of disease should never consider caring for their spines and nervous systems? Should we allow ourselves and our loved ones to stay subluxated and to develop spinal and nervous system deterioration simply because we have no symptoms at the moment? Should we never care for ourselves and our families proactively, but wait until disease and handicap develop to focus on after the fact, reactionary medical treatment?
Paradigm Three
To a substantial portion of the profession, this second paradigm did not make sense. So it happened that a wonderfully charismatic and skillfully articulate chiropractic leader named Dr. Reggie Gold brought the third paradigm into existence. In Reggie’s own words:
Paradigm three is neither based upon a claim to cure all disease, nor an attempt to prejudge which diseases might become cured if vertebral subluxations are corrected. In fact, it has no disease treatment basis at all. It is totally non-therapeutic in its intent and practice. Chiropractic holds that a vertebral subluxation, by its very existence, inhibits the body’s ability to fully express its inherent potential.
Dr. Reggie Gold
Every vertebral subluxation, by definition, includes some alteration of nerve function from perfection to something else. Vertebral subluxation is, at the very least, a change in the body’s structure, and every scientist knows that a change in structure must inevitably result in a change in function. Therefore, all vertebral subluxations must result in altered function. In short, people with vertebral subluxations are better off without them.
Should an infant with a vertebral subluxation but no determinable disease symptoms be left subluxated until symptoms occur? Symptoms are the last stages of malfunction, not the first. By the time symptoms have occurred, years of opportunity for repair may have been lost. Why not correct vertebral subluxations when they occur, rather than wait for years of damage to produce symptoms?
We live in a country that spends billions of dollars a year on the treatment of sickness and disease, but precious little on health. Our chiropractic profession is supposed to lead the world into a new and more intelligent way of thinking, not follow the mistakes of the past. We can choose to conform to the errors of the past, or we can step proudly to the forefront and lead the way into the future.
Why We Adjust
The art of chiropractic is exclusively focused on a singular objective: the location and correction of vertebral subluxation for the purpose of restoring and maintaining nervous system integrity. The reason to be adjusted lies in caring for the spine and nervous system, not for treatment or resolution of signs or symptoms, but for its own sake.
However, the purpose of the nervous system is to coordinate function. So when the nervous system functions well, every biological aspect of the living being has a chance to function in optimal coordination, and the self healing, self regulating properties of innate intelligence are most clearly expressed. All manner of improvement in health and quality of life are possible as beneficial side effects of the restoration of the expression of life.
Care for Your Spine for Its Own Sake
Call us or book online. Sick or well, your spine and nervous system are worth caring for.