Philosophy

Wish I'd Said That

“The principles of philosophy cannot be put in words like other studies. Acquaintance with them must come after a long period of instruction and close companionship, then suddenly like a blaze kindled by a leaping spark, knowledge is generated in the soul and sustains itself there.” Plato Dec.3, 2010 December 2010

3,000 Miles in Search of Philosophy

  “Below is an article written by three Northwestern University of Health Sciences students chronicling their trip east to learn more about straight chiropractic.”     How much does chiropractic philosophy mean to you? Is it apparent in your office? Recently, a band of chiropractic students embarked on an adventure that spanned ten days and … Read more

A New Model for the Mental Impulse

One of the challenges in explaining chiropractic to practice members, as well as people in the scientific community, is getting them to understand the metaphysical aspects of the mental impulse. This is especially difficult in practice. In fact, it may be the reason why some chiropractors mix. Straight is not a relative term. Instead of … Read more

Chiropractic and its Role in the Health-Care Profession

 Introduction/Historical Background Many in the chiropractic profession, including some of its leadership would like to move chiropractic further into the medical/therapeutic disease-treating model. They would like to see chiropractic travel the same route as the osteopaths, becoming part of the medical community. Their belief is that widespread acceptance will come with mainstreaming. Others, perhaps representing … Read more

Are Vertebral Subluxations Always Bad?

            One of the beautiful things about the philosophy of chiropractic is that it does not teach us what to think but gives us tools to help us think.  Challenges to our positions and assumptions are important to a living viable philosophy.  Someone may ask a question or make a statement that challenges the very … Read more

Neurological/Orthopedic Tests

As with any procedure in chiropractic, it must be analyzed in light of our chiropractic objective to locate analyze and correct vertebral subluxations. No test designed to elicit medical information or to demonstrate the presence or the absence of a disease entity is of value in accomplishing the chiropractic objective. There are no medical tests … Read more

Insurance

Position Paper #11   – Insurance     Until the mid-seventies, insurance was never an important issue among straight chiropractors. First, there were relatively few insurance plans that covered chiropractic and second, the straight chiropractic community had yet to clearly define itself by its objective. While insurance inclusion of chiropractic has begun to wane there … Read more

X-Ray

X-ray has a long association with chiropractic. Many cite the fact that 1895 marks the discovery of x-ray as well as that of chiropractic. Historically, it was used to substantiate bony palpation findings and to note spinal abnormalities. Later, different forms of line analysis were developed to help the chiropractor determine the presence of a … Read more

Cause of Disease

The cause of disease as it relates to chiropractic has gone through significant changes in the past 100 years. Historically, straight chiropractors saw the vertebral subluxation as the cause of all disease. This idea was clearly in conflict with medicine and precipitated much of the interprofessional animosity we know today. As the chiropractic profession developed … Read more

Diagnosis

The issue of diagnosis is without doubt the defining issue of Objective Straight Chiropractic. It is the historical factor that brought the modern straight chiropractic movement into existence. Consequently, it is probably the most divisive issue separating objective straight chiropractic from every other approach to the practice of chiropractic. It is important to understand that … Read more