Man, historically, has looked for a simplistic approach to disease. At one time or another it was believed that all illness was caused by demons, night air, “bad humors” and various other entities. Even in modern times medicine has embraced this idea hence the development of so-called miracle drugs. It was in this atmosphere that D.D. Palmer discovered the cure for what he believed to be all disease. While many early practitioners held to this idea with an almost religious fervor, it has passed into part of our history. Later it was suggested that he really meant DIS-EASE.
B.J. was a complex man who looked for simplistic answers. As a result he developed the HIO technique in order to simplify the correction of vertebral subluxation confining it to the atlanto-axial region. While most of our profession has abandoned this position there is still a simplistic attitude that pervades much of the chiropractic profession. Perhaps man has changed very little in the last thousand or so years in his attitude. He still looks for monocausal theories of disease and simplistic cures. Remove the offending organ and you have cured the problem. Simple solution. Pop a pill, what could be simpler than that! The cure for every dreaded disease will one day be discovered in a laboratory and will be condensed into a simple tablet or single injection. Medicine still has a simplistic approach, but we are no better than our medical brethren. A large segment of our profession is still simplistic. Oddly enough, however, despite the charges of the antagonist of the straight movement, it is not the straight. He has long abandoned the simplistic monocausal theory of disease and simple adjustment to cure all of man’s ills. No, it is the broadscope practitioner who still tenaciously holds to a simplistic approach. The proof of this is in his conclusion that he can adequately approach all aspects of health and disease. The straight says that the diagnosis of disease is a complex art and that practiced by the best trained it leaves much to be desired. It is better left to the specialist, especially since it does not help us in accomplishing our objective.
But the broadscope practitioner believes it cannot be that difficult. It can be mastered along with the chiropractic art. The broadscope practitioner also desires to be a doctor of the “total person” as a recent ACA publication put it.
However, as disease is a complex matter, likewise is health. It is rather simplistic to think that one can be an expert in both disease and health. Both are complex areas of the human experience. The straight therefore desires to stay out of the disease area and focus his attention on health or at least one aspect of health, the vertebral subluxation. Health involves genetic, nutritional and environmental factors as well as many others. To believe that one can address all these needs is oversimplifying to the point of naiveté. Yet when members of our profession attempt to address the dietary, exercise and every other need of the patient, is that not the message they are conveying? Are they not saying, “the care of the human body is a relatively simple matter. Despite my relatively limited education I can make the necessary decisions for you regarding your health and, if need be, disease. Granted, the human body is a complex organism, granted the factors that influence it both positively and negatively are complex. But I have reduced these factors to such a simplistic point that you the patient should put your complete trust and faith in me for I am the total doctor and if by chance you have a condition outside my area of expertise I will know and be able to refer you to the proper specialist.”
The human organism is complex. There are no simplistic solutions to its problems. But there are principles. If we utilize those principles we have help in sorting out the complexities. Medical doctors address disease, chiropractors do not. That’s a principle. Chiropractors deal with one aspect of health that impinges greatly on the human species, the relationship between the vertebral column and the nervous system. That is a principle. By acknowledging the complexity of the human organism and our inability to be “total doctors,” our profession will change from the image in society of simplistic, naive, semiprofessionals who believe they have all the answers, to professionals with a proper position worthy of respect from all levels of that society. v6n4
