The chiropractic philosophy has changed little over the past 100 years. Certain aspects of it have not changed at all. We still acknowledge a universal intelligence and an innate intelligence. We still address our attention toward correcting vertebral subluxation as a cause of DIS-EASE. Contrary to the thinking of some, chiropractic never addressed its attention toward disease. But while our philosophy has changed little over the years, the application of our philosophy has made some major changes. Despite B.J.’s genius mind he really only took us as far as correcting vertebral subluxations to allow the innate intelligence of the body to be expressed more fully in people with medical conditions. That is not to say that B.J. did not see chiropractic as more, he most suredly did. He just never really emphasized it as any more except for rare glimpses, such as B.J.’s utopia (Stevenson p 336).
In the 70’s, the straight community evolved into prevention still addressing indirectly a cause of disease. In the 80’s, we moved into the area of health maintenance (much different than disease prevention). This was a major breakthrough in the application of our chiropractic philosophy and places us (excuse the overworked term) on the cutting edge of health care delivery. We are still evolving within our philosophy and consistent with our objective.
In the 90’s, the direction will be in the area of human potential, the opportunity to enable the human organism to reach higher levels in all areas of life. The chiropractic adjustment does this on two fronts. The following diagram helps illustrate this concept.
The adjustment corrects the vertebral subluxation allowing the innate intelligence of the body to be more fully expressed. This directly affects the potential of an individual in all areas of life. The ability to perform one’s occupational duties, recreational activities and to relate to other people is improved by a better functioning nervous system. Direct neurological functions like eye hand coordination and alertness are affected. The body chemistry is improved as a result of a more normal functioning nervous system. Every activity is improved with chiropractic care, to what degree, of course, depends upon the individual and his or her inborn ability.
In addition to the potential, an individual’s health is improved by chiropractic care. A higher level of health is reached by chiropractic adjustments. This higher level may enable the body to heal itself of medical conditions. Adjustments have been doing that since D.D.’s day and it was the focus until relatively recent times. A higher health level may also enable the body to be resistant to many medical conditions, another historical aspect of chiropractic care. But the direction in the future will be the improvement of human potential by raising the health level. An unhealthy person cannot possibly reach his or her potential in any area of life. The interrelationship between health and all aspects of human function has always been an important function of chiropractic care. The chiropractor more than anyone else impacts upon this function. What we need to do is to begin to communicate this idea to the public. v12n3