The public's' perception maybe skewed a certain way by either misperceptions and or improper education on what Chiropractic really is. My intention is to share with you the passion and art of healing called Chiropractic.
Here is a synopsis on the history of Chiropractic so you can understand why Chiropractic was founded; D.D. Palmer in the state of Iowa founded Chiropractic in America in 1895. Through a profound and simple observation he noticed two people who were sitting next to one another and only one of them was sick. He asked himself, why isn't the other guy sick also? What is the real cause of disease?
Palmer theorized that decreased nerve flow may be the cause of disease, and that misplaced spinal vertebrae may cause pressure on the nerves. Thus, he reasoned, if the spinal column were correctly positioned, the body would be healthy. He then studied a lot of eastern philosophy and TCM concepts to look at the body holistically instead of mechanistically.
Shortly after his discovery he started his own school. The concept that the body can be its own doctor shook the medical community. Because of that, Chiropractors were repeatedly thrown in jail, fined and having to defend their beliefs to health authorities.
D.D. Palmer's student and son, B.J. Palmer, assumed control of the Palmer School in 1906, and promoted professionalism and formal training in chiropractic, expanding enrollment to a peak of above 1,000 students in the early 1920s. It was not until the 1950s did Chiropractic became accepted.
Today, Chiropractic is the largest alternative/complementary health profession in North America. It is widely accepted among healthcare professionals and everyone has learnt to coexist in America. With the advances and understanding of the human body through biological science, Chiropractors have been given the opportunity to have a deeper understanding of the intelligence of the body. Chiropractors in and other holistic practitioners remind the medical community how intelligent the human body really is. Pressure from holistic forms of healthcare in America has put pressure on medical doctors to study things like nutrition and even eastern medicine in order to catch up to the needs and education of the public.
Unfortunately most Chiropractors have lost sight of the history because the school they came from did not teach them or through over education, they have forgotten the roots of the beautiful profession that inspired them to touch lives. As a fundamentalist I feel it is important to appreciate what the fathers of our profession who struggled in order to keep the profession alive so people such as myself can have an opportunity to serve. I wish to carry their dream of creating a healthy world that empowers people's lives instead of suppressing lives. I encourage my fellow colleagues out there to live that dream as well. They did not sit in jail so we can treat back pain. They did not sit in jail so we can give people the short end of the benefits of our service.
Today, the public's perception of what Chiropractors do is to just treat back pain, neck pain, and headaches. The profession has moved forward in mainstream society and moved backwards on concept. In a holistic approach, there is nothing the body does unless it has reason for it. In a holistic approach Chiropractors do not use fear to control people, instead we educate them in a respectable manner.
In most cases the product of your state of health is directly proportional to the lifestyle you lived. To treat symptoms alone will not take care of the cause of the problem. Health is not based on a linear model; it is based on a dynamic model that changes and adapts to life or nature. It is part of the Chiropractors responsibility to educate their clients even if the client is only interested in treating their symptoms.
Chiropractic is not a treatment or a cure. It gives people the opportunity to be healthy by removing interference in their nervous system. As a result, the body is able to function properly and fight disease on its own. The body would not have to create pain signals to your brain because something is wrong. Instead it would send signals to the proper cells in your body to fight disease.
If Chiropractors focus on symptoms alone they are doing a great injustice to the people they serve. Health is not as simple as taking a pill or only going to someone when something is wrong. Waiting for symptoms to arise in order to take care of one self can be dangerous. Health comes from a byproduct of your lifestyle. Just like money comes from a byproduct of hard work. Or our promotion is a byproduct of our hard work. When one wants to focus on health and does so, they have higher odds of being healthy than someone who abuses their body.
The training of a Chiropractor mainly focuses on the spine and the nervous system. Most Chiropractic programs require a person to take a few physical therapy and nutrition classes. This gives a Chiropractor general knowledge to give an opinion and to refer but does not make them a master of that craft. A jack of trades is a master of none. Going to a specialist who is properly trained with the correct certificates is advisable.
Lastly I would like to talk about the recent scare that has been emanating our lives because of the recent H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) which is could be a serious threat. The Singapore government has been doing an excellent job to set up precautionary measures to reduce the chances of a serious outbreak. However completely isolating a pathogen that is airborne is a task easier said than done. Minimizing risk and completely isolating an airborne disease is two different things. During the process of isolation there will be a population that will be exposed.
Just like the observation the D.D. Palmer made about the two men sitting next to each other. One of them was sick and the other was not. The reason why the other man was not sick was because he had a stronger body that could adapt to the changing environment. Therefore, if the pathogen is inhaled a small dosage, the bodies' natural defenses is able to cope with it. The SARS outbreak in 2003 in Singapore is living proof of it. SARS took 25 lives and infected 173 more in a period of two months. Health officials isolated the pathogen so it could not spread but things could have been worst. If the germ theory was completely sound, then those numbers should have been higher. An explanation of why those lives were taken and not 4 million others can be related to the state of health those people were in. Statistically 25 lives out of 4 million+ is not bad. To the families of the victims, that statistic means nothing. Even one life lost can affect many lives around them because these people have families and loved ones. One life is worth more than all the gold in the world.
Some of those people may have felt fine before they contracted the virus but physiologically they were not. It is always much easier to prevent disease than to fight disease.
I am making a plea to everyone, especially fellow health care practitioners to promote, educate, and learn. Having an understanding of the body so you can do as many things as possible to keep you and your loved ones healthy is the most important thing. Especially at times like this when people are worried about many things such as job and finances. We must treat life as if it were a holy object, without life all the things we strive for means nothing.
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