Slippery Slopes, Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones

The problem that has confronted and damaged the straight chiropractic movement and probably caused Reggie Gold to abandon it in the 80’s was the realization that the diagnosis issue was a slippery slope that would lead chiropractic down the road to the practice of medicine.The issue of diagnosis has become more of a stumbling block in the past 35 years. When it first occurred, chiropractors who had a traditional understanding received by BJ and the other pioneers reacting to the illogical wrongness of the cure-all charge, thought they saw a value to diagnosis. They had an understanding of thr cause-correction idea and that getting sick people well meant correcting the interference between the expression of the innate intelligence through the matter. Some, adhering to BJ’s traditional approach, thought that the principles would override the diagnosis issue and would create TSCors. Diagnosis would only be a stepping stone to chiropractic like it had been since 1895, despite medicine’s opposition. Unfortunately, they did not count on the following factors:

1. The decrease in teaching or eliminating the old-time BJ philosophy.

2. The increase in teaching medical subject matter, including diagnosis.

3. The chiropractic colleges either closed or began or continued to enroll students who had no understanding/foundation in TSC. Some did not know any of the profession’s history. The TSC mindset of the profession mistakenly thought the new students would grasp an understanding either by osmosis, by the small, dwindling groups, national and state organizations, seminars or the impact of “old-timers” influence. The desire to incorporate drugs into the profession and ineffectiveness of these efforts should have demonstrated this desire is a pipe dream. Any growth of the profession was due largely to this new philosophy and the desire to be a ”chiropractic physician.” There may be a few students and chiropractors who somehow grasped the TSC philosophy but the therapeutic mindset can see the direction the profession is going and can bide their time. They are willing to allow us to become “slipped disc jockeys” and totally abandon LIFE (innate intelligence thru matter) restorers. Stumbling blocks and slippery slopes do not allow for any forward progress. Only a stepping stone as the foundation for the future of the profession can preserve chiropractic as Palmer envisioned it. OSC, largely rejected by the majority of the profession, is that foundation.