Volume 18 - Number 1
  October 2001

Authority and Reason in Practice or Because I Said So

One of the more disturbing aspects of our chiropractic history is the fact that so many chiropractors have based their work and thinking on authority. People follow their leader because of his/her charisma, the authority or position he/she holds within the profession, or because his name was Palmer. Of course, our profession is also full of iconoclasts, those petty people who attack leaders because of their charisma, their authority, the position they hold within the profession, or because their name was Palmer. I am not so much concerned with the historical aspects of the problem in our profession, my concern is related to what we, as so-called straight chiropractors, do in our practices today. I believe that too many of us run our practices by establishing ourselves as the authority. We try to get our practice members to do what we want them to do based on our authority as the doctor or by the force of our personality. It is something that is easy to do. Often we do it by the sheer enthusiasm with which we present the chiropractic philosophy in our orientation or lay lecture. There is nothing wrong with enthusiasm. It is often what drives the message home. Still we must be careful that it is the message that attracts and motivates people to action and not simply our enthusiasm. Enthusiasm does not last.

Chiropractic is based on reason. We establish our philosophy and practice by a deductive process. It follows then, that we should educate our practice members and motivate them to lifetime care by reason. There is no doubt it is easier to just exert your authority, to intimidate people into following our program of care and into becoming lifetime practice members. Of course, many of us cannot get away with that kind of action. We are just not intimidating people. We can threaten to dismiss them from care. That might work for some but more and more, especially among the younger generation, people do not like to be told what to do. They may act in an immature manner but most people believe they are mature adults capable of running their own lives. They are not like children who have to do as told "because I said so."

I thought about why we say that to our children. It seems to me there are three reasons. First, we do not have a good logical reason to give them. When it comes to chiropractic care, I believe we can give good, logical reasons for weekly lifetime care and just about every other question about our care. The second reason we assert the "because I said so" reason is because sometimes smaller children are not intelligent enough to understand reason. So we use authority, often followed by a threat to their gluteus maximus. When it comes to practice members, I think with a few exceptions, all are intelligent enough to understand reason. It may take longer with some than with others, but most can get it without resorting to threats (dismissal from care, not spanking)! That brings us to the third reason. Sometimes we say to our kids, "because I said so" because we are too tired or lazy to give them a reasonable answer and explanation. We must be careful that we are not too lazy to explain chiropractic to our practice members and be diligent to take as long as is necessary for them to truly understand what we are all about. We must make sure that we take ample time to explain to them what lifetime care is and what chiropractic does and does not do. They need our care. They need to understand why they need our care. They deserve no less.

Mission Trips

Traveling to a foreign country for a week or so to give the inhabitants chiropractic care seems to be a favorite activity of many chiropractors. They come back fired up by the wonder of an extraordinary experience. Usually they share with us the details of how they personally adjusted hundreds of people in a day. Sometimes they will also share their personal, private experience, what the trip really meant to them. Whatever they gain it is clearly of value to them because most seem to go back again and again and they always take new chiropractors with them who are anxious for the experience.

I want to make clear that I have never been on a chiropractic mission trip but my conversations with some of these who have and my experience with mission trips in general have led me to some interesting observations. I think one of the most attractive aspects of these experiences is the fact that the chiropractor is giving chiropractic care with no thought of financial reward. The people in these countries are usually poor and most could not afford chiropractic care even if it was available. Consequently, a chiropractor goes into one of these third-world countries giving totally of himself. He gives his time, his energy and his money. He misses at least a week of work, which may translate into thousands of dollars in income, and additionally pays for his airline fee and whatever other costs are involved. While there he has one of the most extraordinary experiences of his life. Then he goes back to his office and usually practices exactly like he did before the trip. The trip, extraordinary as it was, does not change his practice, his attitude toward HIS practice members, HIS fee system or anything else. In his own office, he still buys into the practice management lie called, "fair exchange." Where was the fair exchange on the mission trip. An adjustment is an adjustment whether given on a $10,000 dollar Hi Lo table in a plush office, on a portable table or even a bench in a jungle. Actually, these chiropractors admit that there was no "fair exchange" because they received much more than they gave.

The question is--why relegate this activity to once a year or to once a lifetime? I would suggest that there are only two reasons. One, successful chiropractors (people) want to try to balance out what they are getting from their practice. Maybe they feel a little guilty about getting more than they give in their practice or worry about getting as much as they feel that they give (i.e., "fair exchange"). So for a week or two they can assuage their guilt and give simply for the sake of giving. The second reason is that they really do not understand the true aspect of giving or are afraid to embrace the joy of it 52 weeks a year. Now, I am not suggesting that everyone become permanent missionaries to a third-world country. I am not suggesting we give away our care in practice or even that everyone should put a box on the wall. This would be too radical for most people. Perhaps, though, there are things that we can do in our practices, in the areas that we live, to get the same feeling we would on a mission trip. And those who have never been on a mission trip can do these things with much less commitment of time and money and still experience some of the benefits.

Here are a few ideas. How about offering the first visit free to new practice members? Remove a barrier to people getting under care. You may be thinking that will bring in people who are not serious about regular chiropractic care and just want to try a free adjustment. You are right, it will. Isn't that what everyone in a third-world country is doing? However, you will have the opportunity to explain chiropractic to someone and to send them out into the world and back into your community with an adjustment and a better understanding of chiropractic (whether they return or not and whether they reimburse you or not). You will have given more than you received. How about establishing a family fee or giving free care to children? Try giving out a thousand of the Foundation's tapes to people in your community. F.A.C.E. promotes the Tapes for Everyone Program as a way to help build your practice. Try distributing a thousand tapes with no thought as to whether it will bring in people but rather as a means of educating your community. Buy 10 copies of Enhance Your Life Experience and give them out as gifts to people who you think would benefit from reading it.

Do some or all of the above or come up with your own ideas. Do it with no thought of reward. Consider it a gift to your community. When it comes to knowing about chiropractic and utilizing it for the right reason, your town or city is probably a third-world community. Try giving something away every week in your office, just for the sake of giving and who knows, you may have the "mission trip feeling" 52 weeks of the year.

Thot

The Vertebral Subluxation

 It is important in a scientific endeavor to continually reevaluate your findings and your theories, to make sure that they are still valid. I believe it is also important that we continually reevaluate aspects of our chiropractic philosophy. The philosophical aspect of the subluxation is an important area to be addressed. It is important because it is a physiological phenomena. It deals with a physical bone and its relationship to a physical nerve. It is also a metaphysical phenomena inasmuch as it deals with factors that cannot be measured or evaluated empirically. The mental impulse may have a neurological component to it because it travels over the nerve system from the brain but it also has a metaphysical component to it, a message being conveyed by the innate intelligence of the body to the organs and tissues. It is more than just electrical energy.

While some have tried to force the Vertebral Subluxation Complex on us, most chiropractors in the straight community still adhere to B.J.'s definition as presented in Stephenson's Chiropractic Textbook: "a vertebra that has lost its proper juxtaposition with the one above, the one below or both to a degree less than a luxation which occludes an opening, impinges a nerve and interferes with the transmission of mental impulses between brain and tissue cell." I believe, however, that we have come to the point of recognizing another component of the subluxation. It may seem obvious to some but it should be stated. To be a subluxation, the vertebra meeting the above criteria must also be in a position where the innate intelligence of the body cannot move it back to the proper position. In other words, it is locked in the wrong position and the innate intelligence of the body cannot move it. This is a fixation from a philosophical position, not necessarily from a technique standpoint. There are techniques that use the term "fixation" which may or may not be the same thing.

Our role as chiropractors is very simple. We introduce a force into the spine, as specific a force as possible, in as close to the exact magnitude as is necessary for the innate intelligence of the body to utilize in order to correct the subluxation. The innate intelligence does not have or can not create sufficient force to move the bone from the subluxated position. It cannot do so because it needs the nerve system to convey the force necessary to cause the muscle to act in order to move the bone and correct the subluxation. The subluxation is interfering with the conveyance of that force. Ultimately then, it is the innate intelligence of the recipient's body that will correct the subluxation and move the bone to the exact position where it wants it.

From the Mailbox

Dear Joe,

"A patient asked this question: 'How do you know that by … adjusting the spine you are actually improving nerve supply from the brain." Dr. R.B. One of the difficulties that we have as objective straight chiropractors is that we are performing a service that does not necessarily have noticeable benefits. Sometimes it does, often it does not. While that seems to be a problem unique to what we do, there are many procedures in which no immediate results are perceived. People take nutritional supplements not because they make them feel better or because they see an immediate change but simply because they know they are better for it. The same holds true for drinking bottled water. People who exercise regularly do not necessarily notice positive changes. In the medical arena, routine check-ups often reveal serious problems in asymptomatic people. For example, by-pass surgery may be recommended for someone who, on a yearly exam, was found to have blockages in his arteries. People such as this, who do not feel bad to start with, may undergo major surgery often to feel no different afterward (minus the recovery period, of course). Yet, in all of the above, there are people who notice immediate and dramatic changes as well. The same is true for the person under chiropractic care. Some people do not notice changes immediately but notice them gradually over a long period of time. They do not notice changes even though they have occurred. Many people have returned to our office after discontinuing care only to tell us how much better they were feeling when they were getting adjusted regularly. They did not notice the improved function when it was occurring. However, after not getting adjusted for a while, they suddenly realize the difference having a good nerve supply made. This same principle holds true for exercising and eating well. I have seen it in my own life in those areas on many occasions.

So, how do you answer the practice members who ask the above question? I suppose a possible response might be "Well, why don't you stop your chiropractic care and see what happens?!" Of course, you would follow up that bit of sarcasm with an explanation of why that is foolish, explaining some of the information that I just presented. I believe, however, it is also important to use this opportunity to explain a chiropractic principle. Chiropractic relates to a law, the law of life, which, because it is a law, works all the time. It may not be evident all the time but it is working. We see the law of gravity working when we drop our car keys. (I apologize to all of you Life students and graduates for the example.) We do not see the law of gravity working when the car keys are sitting on the kitchen table but it is working just the same.

When a subluxation is corrected, force, what we call in chiropractic a mental impulse, is restored to the body. That mental impulse cannot be measured with the technology that we have today just as an individual's blood pressure could not be measured 500 years ago. Yet we have seen enough evidence to know there is a cause-effect relationship. When a spinal bone is dislocated there may be death (hanging). When a spinal bone is fractured and puts pressure on the spinal cord, there may be major paralysis. These are the principles of spinal bones putting pressure on the cord, manifesting itself in the perceptible realm. A principle that is true in the perceptible realm is also true in the imperceptible realm (gravity and the keys). Therefore, a spinal bone out of place, even if misaligned by only a few millimeters, disrupts the proper function of the nerve system. That would be my response to this question.

The ADIO Viewpoint of Life - Introduction

The concept of an ADIO viewpoint is very nebulous to many chiropractors. If one sees chiropractic as just another therapeutic approach and not completely different than all the so-called healing arts, then it is understandable that the ADIO viewpoint would be elusive. Reading B.J. is not all that helpful. He never really saw the ADIO viewpoint. To B.J., chiropractic encompassed everything. It supplanted religion and medicine. It had the answer to man's physical, mental and spiritual ills. In truth, the ADIO viewpoint incorporates the chiropractic philosophy. Our approach to life and health demonstrates our ADIO viewpoint, but it is only a part of it. B.J. thought if people were unsubluxated, they would automatically and immediately begin to think from an above-down perspective. We know that is no more true than that a disease will automatically and immediately disappear following an adjustment. Sometimes it never disappears. There are other factors besides having a good nerve supply that determine whether a person gets well or stays well. Our professional service only addresses the nerve supply and only at the vertebral level. That does not mean we cannot or should not enable people to see and understand the ADIO viewpoint. Neither does it mean that we must teach them that viewpoint. We do not even have to teach people about chiropractic for that matter. Just silently adjusting people all day long with no educational program is legitimately practicing straight chiropractic. However, most of us have realized that to get people to avail themselves of regular lifetime care, for their benefit, it behooves us to educate them.

While the ADIO viewpoint is not part of chiropractic, chiropractic is a part of it. For that reason it is not inconsistent with our philosophy of chiropractic to explain the ADIO perspective of life. Like the chiropractic philosophy, the ADIO viewpoint will make an individual a better practice member, if for no other reason than because the ADIO viewpoint gives people freedom and autonomy, the knowledge and ability to make decisions regarding their life and health. That is beneficial to everyone.

The events of September 11, 2001 have changed the United States forever. The events of that day clearly show us how information and knowledge can truly be a matter of life and death. Knowing the right course of action saved many lives that day and not knowing it cost many others. In the months and years to come people are going to need to have information so they can make intelligent decisions regarding their lives and health. I believe that we as chiropractors can enable people to have a better perspective in many areas in order to make the best decisions possible. Of course, relative to our professional objective, giving them the knowledge of why they should be under regular chiropractic care is the most important knowledge we can impart. Yet I believe our ADIO viewpoint gives us a unique perspective that can help many people in their day-to-day lives. If we convey this information to them, they can become better practice members, healthier people and better citizens. To that end, we will be sharing some ADIO principles and an understanding about the ADIO perspective of life in the next few issues.