The experiments of Dr. Kluger and Bernheim at the Department of Physiology, University of Michigan (see Pivot Review, Vol. l No. 2) demonstrate the value of fever as a bodily defense mechanism. This has been the position of the chiropractor for many years. However, the fact remains that at times fever can be harmful. It can lead to convulsions and on rare occasions, brain damage. It appears therefore that there are two types of fever - beneficial and harmful. The beneficial fever is the one discussed in the last issue in which the innate intelligence of the body elevates the temperature in order to better fight an invasive organism. This is a normal, natural mechanism of the body. The innate intelligence can elevate the temperature as needed to the degree necessary and for as long as necessary. Unfortunately, many times a well-meaning physician or a concerned mother has interfered with this normal mechanism within the body and has in fact tried to decrease a beneficial fever. In doing that, the body's defense mechanism is overcome and serious complications can occur. As in the iguana experiments, many times the body will still elevate the temperature in spite of the antipyretics or cold baths. Thankfully, more often than not, the body will utilize other mechanisms despite this unwanted intervention and normalize itself anyway. The second type of fever is harmful and can cause complications. The important philosophical principle to keep in mind is understanding that there are two types and the innate intelligence of the body will never do anything to harm the tissues in which it resides. That would not be intelligent and the innate intelligence always functions intelligently. Since the innate intelligence will never do anything to harm the body and since fevers can be harmful, it logically follows that the temperature-regulating mechanism is able to dysfunction. The location of the temperature-regulating mechanism and the means by which the dysfunction occurs is not necessary to a philosophical discussion, but it apparently is related directly to nerve interference at the vertebral level. There are three examples that clinically demonstrate the philosophical principle. Most chiropractors have experienced adjusting a small, feverish child brought in by a concerned parent and seeing the body normalize its temperature almost immediately. This is a clinical demonstration of the body's ability to regulate itself and do it much better without vertebral subluxation. This was obviously a harmful fever which the body did not want. It was due to a dysfunction of the fever-regulating mechanism. When the interference was removed the body began to work better and normalized the temperature almost immediately. It may very well be that many fevers are of this type and eventually the body reduces them even in children who are never adjusted. The body has other means of normalizing harmful fevers due to nerve interference. The body adapts in spite of vertebral subluxation. It just does not adapt as well. This is the first example. The second example is a beneficial fever. The child may not have even needed an adjustment or if he or she did need to be adjusted, it did not affect the fever. The fever runs its course, the little one is perhaps uncomfortable for a while but eventually when the innate intelligence of the body has used the fever to serve its purpose, it will reduce it. The third situation is probably not seen too often. This is the small child who is brought in with no particular symptoms and shortly after an adjustment the child begins to manifest symptoms of being a sick little tyke. The fever-regulating mechanism was not working properly, only in this case, that malfunction manifested itself as a lack of fever when one is needed rather than a high fever when one is not called for. The difficulty is in the parent attempting to determine a beneficial fever from a harmful one. Fever is a symptom. All symptoms are either a manifestation that the body is adapting (the innate intelligence of the body expressing itself with the beneficial fever) or that the body is failing to adapt due to limitations of time and matter (the harmful fever). We know philosophically that the innate intelligence will not elevate the temperature to a point that would be harmful. That would not be intelligent. But what temperature is "too high?" For one person 104 may be in his or her normal range, for another it may cause convulsions. Just saying "if the patient is adjusted, his or her body will normalize itself" is not enough. A patient's body, even though in adjustment, may pass that critical point due to limitations of time or matter in spite of the efforts of the innate intelligence to bring it down. I have never heard of a case of a child who was adjusted going into convulsions but in theory it is possible. The parent is therefore faced with a decision. Is the child experiencing a beneficial or harmful fever? What is the critical point and has it been passed? Am I interfering with the innate intelligence of the body doing its job? Does the child need emergency first aid measures to bring down the fever? These are difficult questions to answer. It's one thing when it is your own body and you have an awareness of its needs, but when it's someone else's, especially your little child, the decisions are tough. But then no one ever said that being a parent was easy. Like most other aspects of health care the key is common sense. Chiropractic does not demand a religious fanaticism but the use of a sound mind. It is incumbent upon the doctor of chiropractic to explain this aspect of chiropractic philosophy to the patient so that he or she can make a common sense judgment for himself or herself or the small child. Some parents will make mistakes, instituting first aid treatment when the fever is not critical. But the more people understand the philosophy of chiropractic, the less parents will be interfering with normal bodily functions, particularly in the case of moderate and slight fevers. Most importantly, the more people understand the philosophy of chiropractic, the better a patient they and their families will be. This will lead to healthier people whose bodies will work properly and never reach that critical point where emergency intervention is necessary.
VERTEBRAL SUBLUXATION A DEDUCTIVE APPROACH
The two questions that seem to arise in the minds of most people concerning chiropractic are: "Does everyone need chiropractic care?" and "How often do I need to be adjusted?" If we start with two simple premises and two accepted facts, we will arrive at two conclusions that will help to answer these questions. Premise #1 Vertebral subluxation is the physical representation of DIS-EASE. This is a chiropractic premise. [Principle No. 31, Chiropractic Text Book, R. W. Stephenson]. Notice the term is "representations" of the causes of disease: bacteria, viruses, toxins, trauma, etc. Some or many may be present in a state of disease. DIS-EASE, on the other hand, is a lack of something, specifically, a lack of normal body function. This lack of normal body function is caused by vertebral subluxation. When a vertebra is out of its proper position, interfering with the function of the nervous system, the body cannot work normally. A lack of normal body function, DIS-EASE, may exist for a long time without being evident. It may be occurring on a microscopic or subclinical level with no symptoms. But a state of DIS-EASE or lack of normal body function is evident by one physical finding, a vertebral subluxation is present. Vertebral subluxation is the physical representation of the cause of DIS-EASE. Premise #2 DIS-EASE is a cause of disease. Notice we do not say the cause but a cause. Most authorities would agree that all diseases have a multiplicity of causes. To say that there is one cause to a disease is not intelligent in light of today's scientific knowledge. Two children are exposed to the same germs, one gets the disease and the other does not. Obviously, germs are a factor in disease but not the only factor. Two men do the same work, are under the same stress and pressures: one develops an ulcer, the other does not. Stress is a factor but obviously not the only one. The following diagram will help explain this premise:
Vertebral subluxation causes a state of DIS-EASE. This affects the resistance of the individual [resistance being the internal capability of the individual to maintain health]. External factors such as the air we breathe, food we eat or do not eat, and microorganisms that we come in contact with can be negative influences. These factors and perhaps others that we do not yet understand combine to cause disease. Which factor is most important is another discussion: the geneticist says heredity; the physician says environment; the chiropractor says DIS-EASE. The point is that each one is a factor, each one plays a role in an individual suffering the symptoms of some disease. DIS-EASE is a cause of disease. These are two chiropractic principles or axioms. They are accepted as statements of fact by the chiropractor. The next two statements are accepted as fact by virtually everyone. The first of these two is: Most people suffer from some disease at one time or another or are about to suffer from some disease. Very few infants reach their first birthday before they have had their first bout with illness. Attendance records in business, industry and in schools indicate almost everyone suffers illness during the course of a year. Many others suffer constant chronic disorders that do not keep them from work but are an accepted annoying fact of life. A good percentage of Americans have eye problems. The American Cancer Society estimates that one out of every three families will have a case of cancer in some member within the next five years. The television advertisements for pain relievers, headache pills, arthritis treatments, digestive disorders, hemorrhoid preparations, indicate that there are millions of people out there suffering from these conditions. Whether the condition is temporary, chronic, terminal, just a part of the aging process, or a childhood disease is not important. The fact remains that most people are suffering from some disease or are about to suffer from some disease.
This leads us to our second statement of fact: Almost everyone prematurely dies from some disease. How long the human body is optimally designed to live is open to discussion. We are not talking about the average life span which is somewhere around seventy-two or seventy-three years, but how long structurally and physiologically the body is meant to last. Authorities argue from 120 years to 1,000 years. That's correct, some geneticists say the body is designed to live 1,000 years. But if we take below the lowest estimate we would still come up with a figure around 100 years. Very few of us make it. However, enough do make it to know the body can last that long. Discounting accidents, war, and homicide we still have the vast majority of people dying before the age of 100. One of the advances of modern medical science is their ability to categorize and name diseases on post-mortem. People do not die from old age or "natural causes" as they did two hundred years ago. Invariably the cause of death can be attributed to one disease or another. Or if not named as such at least identified as a pathological process attributing to the individual's demise. Almost everyone prematurely dies from some disease. From these two chiropractic axioms and two statements of accepted fact we draw our conclusions. The first is that: we conclude most people are living in a subluxated state much of the time. There is no process which does not take time. The healing of a sick or damaged part of the body takes time. Conversely, the process which leads to the manifestation of disease processes and the accompanying symptoms takes time. While the symptoms may appear quickly, the degenerative process or the dysfunction leading up to them probably takes a considerable amount of time. A perfect example is the disease called scurvy which was prevalent among sailors years ago. The lack of vitamin C in their diet occurred almost from the time they left port and science tells us that the body cannot store this vitamin. Yet it was many months before the sailors developed the symptoms of disease. Interestingly, many developed symptoms later than others. The point is, however, that it takes time for the disease to occur. We have previously stated that vertebral subluxation is a cause of DIS-EASE within the body and that DIS-EASE is a cause of disease, and further we stated that most people are suffering or shortly will be suffering from some disease and that most people will die at an age earlier than science estimates we should. Therefore, it logically follows that most people have one or more subluxations in their spine reducing their ability to function in a state of health most of the time. The key word above is most of the time. Ill health takes time to develop. It does not occur in the absence of vertebral subluxation. What is truly amazing is the fact that the human body continues to function at any level when the average person who has never been to a chiropractor probably spends 99 percent of their life walking around subluxated. It has its detrimental effects, obviously, from our statements of fact but people do live the greater part of their lives subluxated. There is another important point to note. Even people under chiropractic care become ill and eventually die from the same diseases as people who have never been under chiropractic care. While studies indicate people under chiropractic care have less illness, less lost work time, the differences are not that great. Furthermore although there have never been extensive studies done, there is no indication that people under chiropractic care live appreciably longer lives than those who are not under care. The conclusion then, considering the above facts, axioms, and statements of fact, is that even people under chiropractic care are walking around subluxated a good percentage of the time. It is obviously less time than the individual who has never been to a chiropractor but probably far more than they should be. We, therefore, come to the realization that everybody is walking around either in a subluxated state, that is, there is an interference in the nervous system, the body is breaking down, resistance is lowered, cellular dysfunction is occurring and life is being shortened by seconds or minutes or hours. Or the person is in a non-subluxated state in which their body is free of interference, working in a coordinated manner, building up resistance, repairing and regenerating itself. Unfortunately judging from the facts before us even people under chiropractic care are spending too much time in the former state (subluxated) and not enough time in the latter state (unsubluxated). Conclusion: Too few people are visiting the chiropractor on a regular basis and most that are under care are probably not being adjusted often enough. The more adjustments received by an individual in the course of a week, month, or year, the greater the amount of time "logged" in a unsubluxated state and the greater the potential for health.
