I was sitting in a chiropractic seminar recently when a well-known chiropractic speaker was giving a strong motivational talk. In the middle of it he spoke of “giving your chiropractic treatment” to your patients. I was really stunned at the use of the word “treatment.” I guess I lead a pretty sheltered life inasmuch as most of the seminars I go to are straight. I have never heard a straight chiropractor use the term “treatment.” We are, at least in that regard, strict in our terminology. Treatment is a medical term. We chiropractors would not use the term diagnosis in the sense of “diagnosing a subluxation.” That is another medical term and we are trying our best not to confuse chiropractic with medicine. We are separate professions with separate objectives. We realize that to stay separate and distinct from the medical profession, we must keep our terminology unique. I think that we do that very well in the straight chiropractic community. However, while we do a good job at avoiding mixing medical terminology, it seems to me that we straight chiropractors often do mix terminology from the opposite side of the spectrum. We tend to use religious or theological terminology very promiscuously in defining chiropractic, our philosophy and our objective. D.D. did it as did B.J., but that doesn’t make it right, especially if our desire is to make chiropractic clearer to the public and I believe both of the Palmers would have wanted that. After all, they are the ones who made up most of the unique terminology that we use today.
There is an overlapping with chiropractic concepts and theological concepts. But that does not mean we should use the terminology interchangeably. In fact, that is all the more reason to use different terms, so that the overlap does not wipe out the clear lines of demarcation. That is the very reason why we use different terms than medicine. The medical doctor is ministering to a person’s physical needs. So are we. But there is a difference in that ministration, hence the terms treatment and adjustment. Determining the presence of something wrong in the body is done by both the physician and the chiropractor. But the something itself is different and exclusive. Medical doctors do not diagnose vertebral subluxations and we do not analyze medical conditions. I like the term Chiropractic Interview rather than Case History. Even though some of the information elicited is the same, the basic objective is different and consequently, we should call it something different.
If straight chiropractors can easily grasp and adhere to all of the above with regard to medicine, why do so many of us still use religious or theological terms to explain our unique philosophy? Why do chiropractors say they unite “man the physical and man the spiritual?” Some chiropractors talk about innate intelligence being “God in man” or “spirit.” These terms belong to theology and have long before chiropractic began. They are unique to the area of theology just as much as diagnosis and treatment are unique to medicine. Some say, “D.D. and B.J. used them!” That is true. I have old ads of D.D.’s and B.J.’s where they used the word “treatment.” For the most part however, they moved on and developed different terms. So should we. If our goal is to clearly communicate chiropractic, then we have to be clear with our vocabulary.v16n1