Patients and the public often think of Chiropractic as a “back pain” thing. Not so. The first Chiropractic patient was deaf and had no back pain. After being adjusted his hearing returned. Chiropractic has always been about the nerve system.
Below is an article I have written for the Washington State Chiropractic Association. The audience is Chiropractic doctors, but you may get a better understanding of how Chiropractic helps so many people in so many ways.
The Philosophy of Chiropractic
This is part of the Chiropractic story that we tell ourselves, and others. It is the “why” part, and it is the one and only part that distinguishes us as a profession and gives us a legal right to exit. It is also our unique contribution to the world as a healing service. It guides and informs our “what” and sometimes our “how”.
Google “The Philosophy of Chiropractic” and the results are predictable: Sherman College occupies the first few places, then Palmer of course. And on about page 13 the ACA shows up with Philosophy listed under the major heading of “History” – (just kidding, it’s not page 13). I checked these real quick to see if what I might be thinking would still be in the ballpark of contemporary Chiropractic practice. I didn’t click on any links but from what could be seen, what I have to say might be of interest.
The Philosophy of Chiropractic starts with the acceptance of the fact that we have incomplete knowledge of health and healing – the “nature” of life you could say. Working knowledge and day-to-day use of that understanding is embodied in the phrase “The Big Idea”. Coined by BJ (Do I need to add Palmer, I wonder?) it was meant to, among other things, focus attention on the cause of health rather than the reflexive focus on what causes disease. That cause is an organizing energy inside of each of us. It is what makes us more than the sum of our parts. This force heals the cuts, and beats the heart. And in our acceptance of incomplete knowledge we hold it’s ancient Innate wisdom above our own understanding. Rather we strive to recognize its effect and understand its limitations, so that we can serve it’s cause while we serve our patients.
Getting “The Big Idea” means acquiring a Chiropractor’s “mentality” or understanding. It means being able to apply that perspective in a clinical (or other) setting.
Chaos and confusion rein in the worlds of scope of practice (what we do) and how we do it (science) but, in the words of my mentor, Dr. E.L. “Bud” Crowder, there are “things we do” and “things we talk about”. While he drew a tight noose around what he considered appropriately “Chiropractic”, he could apply chiropractic thinking across a wide range of practices. Dr. Crowder, a 1947 Palmer graduate would have been around to hear BJ’s famous “Green Light” lecture – when the profession was given a “green light” to adjust below C2. (Note: BJ didn’t label the lecture “Green Light”, others did after; he referred to it as One Step Back to Take Two Steps Forward… his noose was pretty tight indeed.)
But, you ask, how does that “mentality” show up in practice today? Here is just one example: I joined Dr. Art Thompson in practice in 1986. He was another 1940’s graduate of Palmer. One day he was telling a story about a patient who didn’t respond immediately to his care. He referred her to the University of Washington, where they found nothing and sent her back. He sent her back the UW again and they eventually found brain cancer.
The story was told to make another point, but I asked the question: “What made you think she wouldn’t respond to chiropractic care, eventually?”
And he said, “It didn’t act like a subluxation.”
Let that soak in, in my view it’s worth deep contemplation.
Michael Gurian, author of The Wonder of Aging, talks about the “Grandparent Brain” referring to the neuroplasticity of being a grandparent. Being a grandparent changes your brain. So does getting The Big Idea, developing a Chiropractic Mentality, and using that to offer something no one else can offer to the sick and suffering as well as to those who seek to experience full health.
This kind of thinking is challenged in our practice every day and in many, many, ways that go under appreciated and un-discussed. Whether it’s a third-party insurance company forcing us to follow a set of guidelines (CareCore) that contain no reference to “subluxation” or to “adjustment”, or a scientific study carefully pointing out that, while tests for finding the subluxation are important enough to talk about, they (or their results) are not why we then do what we do. (See Spine, Volume 33, Number 25, pages 2809-2818, 2008. The Turner study is a classic that should be studied carefully by all chiropractors but I beg to differ on this point, obviously.)
Fortunately we in the State of Washington practice in an environment where what we do, how we do it and why, are still congruent and coherently articulated in the places that matter. Thanks to a long list of Doctors, starting with the BJ’s and the Art Thompson’s clear through to the Doctors Day, Butters, Campbell and all the others, we enjoy the opportunity to participate in third-party schemes while maintaining our unique identity as Chiropractors. Our support of and investments in the State association and the Trust are leveraged to protect what still exists in very few other places.
No discussion of The Philosophy of Chiropractic would be complete without mention of R.W. Stephenson’s Chiropractic Text Book. A beautiful example of branding, this text highlights chiropractic as the un-Medical health care choice. Where medicine chose to focus on dissecting the body into anatomic “systems”, chiropractic chose to appreciate the 9 Primary Functions. Stephenson also articulated a chiropractic point of view in the 33 Chiropractic Principles.
Wordy perhaps, and a little convoluted for our times, his work does something very important: it helps us better understand what is meant by “natural” and “normal” verses their opposites by relating them to common sense and whether or not something (a diet or an exercise for example) causes someone to hold or not hold their adjustments. In this way he not only gives us a way of thinking about things but also enters the conversation about scope of practice with a chiropractic perspective – and an “alternative” practice “objective.”
How else do we truly offer any real alternative?
Dr. Stephenson wouldn’t have gotten far with his text without close coordination with BJ. And I believe BJ’s many trips to Asia informed his thinking in the development of chiropractic. He wouldn’t have had that much exposure to the Orient without comprehending the principles of Yin and Yang. And in discussing the “tone” first articulated by his father, I think BJ incorporated this more wholistic view of the nature of things.
Words are symbols that convey concepts. Their meanings are a matter of convention. In the pursuit of a better appreciation of Reality, we seem to be as close as anyone else. We are certainly fortunate that our chiropractic ancestors hung their hat on the nerve system as supreme – science is in full support of its importance in health and disease. As we use science to gain a more complete understanding, we seem perfectly positioned to advance our profession on the basis of both reason and science-based evidence that it’s safe, effective and affordable when compared to anything other option.
It’s a sad but true fact, however, that whether it’s policy, science, or philosophy being written about, politics is behind the thin veil. It’s also true that how something is defined and described gets decided by those in control of the conversation, with the loudest voice, and with the most perceived authority.
Still, we have the best job in the world. Of course others will be jealous. For all the best and the worst reasons they want what we have; or, if it suits their purposes, they want to change us into something we are not. We are the ones able to benefit from both worlds in our clinical practice, to understand things from both a medical and a chiropractic perspective and apply our skills accordingly.
No one else does what we do for the reasons we do it, and for that reason we will always get results that baffle those who cannot comprehend The Big Idea (see Turner again).
In conclusion I will offer a quote from Bill Esteb who, though not a chiropractor himself, has gotten The Big Idea. For well over 25 years he has shared that big idea in contemporary language for the benefit of chiropractors and their patients.
“Medicine is interested in the problem with the person. Chiropractic is interested in the person with the problem. Medicine focuses on the circulatory system. Chiropractic focuses on the nervous system. Medicine kills germs. Chiropractic strengthens immunity. Medicine attempts to suppress symptoms. Chiropractic attempts to enhance adaptability. Medicine makes the doctor or drugs the hero. Chiropractic makes the individual’s capacity to self heal the hero. Be proud of the differences. It’s why patients seek out and appreciate chiropractic care.”
Dennis Dilday, D.C.
Dr. Dennis Dilday is a seasoned chiropractor and a founding Board member of the Washington State Chiropractic Association. He has won numerous awards for his service to the profession, including the Chiropractic Society of Washington’s 1996 Chiropractor of the Year. Dennis continues to be on the cutting edge of chiropractic care. He sees patients out of his Everett private practice with passion and proficiency.
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