The Evolution of Chiropractic

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Terry A. Rondberg, D.C.

the evolution of

CHIROPRACTIC




2683 Via

de

la

Valle

Suite G 629

Del Mar, CA 92014

Copyright © 2011 by Terry A. Rondberg

All rights reserved. No part of this book or site may be repro‐

duced

or

redistributed

in

any

form

or

by

any

electronic

or

mechanical means, including information storage and retriev‐

al systems, without permission in writing from Terry A. Rond‐

berg, D.C., except by a reviewer who may quote brief passag‐

es in a review.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or

suggest the use of any technique as a form of treatment for

physical, emotional,

or

medical

problems

without

the

advice

of a qualified wellness professional, either directly or indirect‐

ly. In the event you use any of the information in this book,

the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for

your actions. The author and publisher are in no way liable

for any misuse of the material.

First edition

2011

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN‐10: 0615561330

ISBN‐13: 978‐0‐615‐56133‐2



About the

author

Few wellness practi‐

tioners and authors

have had as profound

an impact on the chiro‐

practic

profession

as


During his 30+ years

working in and for the

chiropractic community,

he’s been called every‐

thing from the “modern

day BJ Palmer” to “the

most dangerous man in

chiropractic.”

,

e

ee, non‐invasive, and vitalistic wellness discipline.

Respected by supporters and feared by opponents

his life has been dedicated to safeguarding every

person’s right

to

choose

non

‐medical

wellness

ap

‐

proaches for their health care. Through a commu‐

nication network that has reached to all corners of

the world, he has communicated, with passion, th

fundamental precepts of chiropractic as a drug‐

fr



Dr. Rondberg

has

written

and

fought

against

those

critics who’ve attempted either to categorize chi‐

ropractic as a therapy for back pain or to eliminate

it altogether as a separate and distinct profession.

He’s seen chiropractic evolve from an energy bas

system focused on improving total neurological

function to

a medicalized

subset

of

physical

thera

‐

py – and back again to its roots as an art, science,

and philosophy of “being” that transcends the lim‐

its of traditional ideas of disease care. More than a

passive spectator, he’s been a driving force for th

return of chiropractic to those roots, and is now

leading the

way

to

even

greater

expansion

of

the

profession by positioning it as the key element in a

wellness paradigm that embraces physical, mental,

emotio

ed

e

nal, environmental, and even spiritual well‐

eing.

n as well

s his innovative business procedures.

b

After his

graduation

from

Logan

College

of

Chiro

‐practic, Dr. Rondberg built successful private prac‐

tices in St. Louis and Phoenix. He was noted for his

emphasis on public and patient educatio

a



In 1986, Dr. Rondberg began publishing what has

become one

of

the

leading

monthly

chiropractic

newspapers – The Chiropractic Journal – with a

worldwide readership of more than 70,000. In an‐

nouncing its launch, he stated: “The Journal was

born out of a belief that members of the chiroprac‐

tic profession need, want and deserve a reliable,

credible source

of

news

and

information

relating

to

our profession. We want a newspaper that will re‐

spect our intelligence by bringing us the facts relat‐

ing to important events going on in the associa‐

tions, courts, legislative halls, colleges and other

places where our future and the future of our pro‐

fession is

being

determined.”

He went on to say: “Chiropractic is a wonderful

profession practiced by many fine men and wom‐

en. We hope to bring an abundance of good news

of its accomplishments — and those of individual

doctors. We

trust

in

universal

principles.

We

be

‐lieve the members of this profession, of whatever

school of thought, possess much wisdom, honesty

and dedication, but do not have a corner on those

or other virtues.”



Today, The Chiropractic Journal remains the prima‐

ry source

of

information

on

affirmative

activities

within the profession, including global humanita‐

rian efforts, individual achievements, and positive

media coverage.

Dr. Rondberg also founded and published the Jour ‐

nal of

Vertebral

Subluxation

Research

(now

the

Journal of Subluxation Research), a peer‐reviewed

scientific journal publishing original research on the

impact of subluxation on human neurologic func‐

tion.

In 1989,

Dr.

Rondberg

established

the

World

Chi

‐

ropractic Alliance as an international professional

organization, creating a global network of contacts

and resources. Using highly refined motivational

methods, a thorough knowledge of electronic

communication, and exceptional organizational

talents, he

guided

the

group

from

its

earliest

stages

through its present status as a major association

recognized as an NGO (Non‐Governmental Organi‐

zation) with the Public Information Office of the

United Nations, with members on five continents.



During the course of his career, at critical junctures

Dr. Rondberg

has

been

intensely

involved

in

the

political process on both the state and national le‐

vels. Through his work in Washington, D.C., he

formed productive relationships with numerous

Senators, Representatives, and other government

officials, as well as top lobbyists. Demonstrating a

keen understanding

of

the

political

process,

he

was

instrumental in the passage of a major piece of leg‐

islation that was signed by President George W.

Bush in 2001, as well as several other bills and gov‐

ernment actions. He also served on the Depart‐

ment of Defense Chiropractic Advisory Committee

to help

establish

the

protocol

for

making

chiroprac

‐

tic services available to active duty military person‐

nel.

Over the past decade, Dr. Rondberg has written

and published three highly acclaimed books that

have sold

more

than

half

a million

copies

through

‐out the world, generating widespread publicity

along with a reliable source of revenue. A sought‐

after speaker at chiropractic events, he also au‐

thors several blogs and websites, taking full advan‐



tage of electronic media to communicate his mes‐

sage to

the

profession

and

the

public.

Dr. Rondberg’s latest efforts have been directed to

providing several vital tools for wellness practition‐

ers and their clients and patients, including Integra‐

tive Outcome Measurements, a scientific health‐

related quality

of

life

(HRQOL)

assessment

tool,

which provides a subjective evaluation of various

components of wellness.

In this volume, Dr. Rondberg reviews the evolution

of chiropractic from his unique perspective as a

chiropractic leader,

supporter,

and

practitioner

and

explains the stages of its growth. Additionally, he

considers its ultimate destiny as a true vitalistic ap‐

proach to well‐being that can help all people lead

healthier, happier, and longer lives.

Other books

by

Terry

A.

Rondberg,

D.C.

¾ Chiropractic First ¾ Under the Influence of Modern Medicine ¾ Chiropractic: Compassion and Expectation ¾ The Philosophy of Chiropractic (Green booklets) ¾ Chiropractic Malpractice Prevention Program (co‐

authored with Timothy Feuling)



CHAPTER 1

–

The Beginnings

In 1895, there were fewer than two billion

people on the planet. Yet, one of them, David Da‐

niel (DD)

Palmer,

founded

a profession

that

would

change the face of health

care forever. The achieve‐

ment can never be over‐

stated, especially consi‐

dering that his creation

(chiropractic) became

the

first and only alternative

approach to loosen the

medical industry’s iron

grip on health care.

In his book “The Chi‐

ropractor,”

DD

Palmer

was

open

and

honest

about

how he came to “discover” chiropractic. “The me‐

thod by which I obtained an explanation of certain

physical phenomena, from intelligence in the spiri‐

tual world, is known in biblical language as inspi‐

ration,” he wrote.



Never restricted by known physical sciences,

Palmer established as the basis of his entire concept

the existence of a Universal Intelligence that mani‐

fests itself in living beings as “Innate Intelligence.”

He further proposed that health is the expres‐

sion of this Innate Intelligence through Innate Mat‐

ter, via Innate Energy.

As a “magnetic healer,” he understood the

work of magnetic and energy forces in play

throughout the environment and in our own bo‐

dies. His application of chiropractic was his unique

way of influencing those subtle energy fields.

Palmer’s son, Bar‐

tlett Joshua (BJ) Pal‐

mer, later took up the

work his father had

begun and developed

chiropractic into a field

that in a few short dec‐

ades became so in‐

fluential it posed a

threat to the domina‐

tion of allopathic med‐

icine.

These two men –



the founder and developer of chiropractic – were

intelligent, far‐sighted, dedicated and determined

individuals. The profession, and the entire world,

owes them a great debt of gratitude.

They weren’t, however, infallible, which

doesn’t make them any less great. It simply means

we need to view them in the context of their times

to truly understand their concepts and goals.

The same is true of so many other great indi‐

viduals in history. George Washington and Thomas

Jefferson, for example, were true political and so‐

cial geniuses who overcame great odds to found a

new nation based on ethical and moral principles.

Yet, both owned slaves, a situation we now natu‐

rally find abhorrent. Would they, if they lived to‐

day, own slaves? Of course not. The times and atti‐

tudes have changed radically.

No doubt if DD Palmer were alive today, he

would alter some of his concepts and conclusions

in light of advanced scientific findings and our un‐

derstanding of the interconnectedness of all energy

forces on earth. He was never reluctant, even in his

own lifetime, to change his ideas and conclusions.

He wrote his books on paper; he didn’t chisel them

in stone.



In his book, “The Glory of Going On,” BJ Pal‐

mer told his fellow chiropractors: “You HAVE in

YOUR possession a SACRED TRUST. Guard it

well.” He admonished them to “keep this principle

and practice unadulterated and unmixed.” Still, BJ

was an open‐minded teacher, who encouraged his

students to use their own reasoning power to arrive

at solutions to problems.

And BJ loved new technology. He owned the

first automobile in the Davenport, Iowa area. In

1922, when the medium was still in its infancy, he

purchased a local radio station to spread the chiro‐

practic message. He adapted existing technology to

the Palmer School of Chiropractic, and built new

instrumentation and research tools. He was un‐

afraid of trying new things and of advancing the

science of chiropractic to keep up with the sciences

of physics, biology, chemistry, and medicine.

Yet, he never forgot the main principles passed

down by his father, DD Palmer, that the essence of chiropractic was the elimination of interference to

the vital energy forces governed by Innate Intelli‐

gence.

In rethinking chiropractic for the 21st century,

it’s important to maintain our strong admiration



for the Palmers and all those who worked with

them in the opening decades of the profession. We

need to remind ourselves of the pioneering and

courageous work they did and the remarkable

achievements they made.

It’s also essential to keep the basic chiropractic

principles at the heart of our understanding of the

discipline – the “bottom line” premises about the

existence of Universal and Innate intelligence, as

well as a grasp of how that intelligence works

through matter via energy.

Thanks to advances in quantum physics, an

abiding respect for the Palmers is NOT incompat‐

ible with a strong scientific grounding. As this book

will explore, their original views on chiropractic

meshes perfectly with today’s awareness of bio‐

energy fields, cellular biology, and body‐mind

connection.



CHAPTER 2

–

Historical Foundations

Throughout their lives and careers, DD and BJ

Palmer refined their ideas about the process of chi‐

ropractic, subluxations,

nerve

interference,

and

other aspects of the profession. They tried, adapted,

and discarded new technologies. Yet, the basic chi‐

ropractic foundation never changed.

The major underlying precepts were (and re‐

main):

⇒ There

exists

a Universal

Intelligence,

which

brings organization to all matter and main‐

tains its existence;

⇒ All living things have inborn, or “Innate” Intelligence which adapts universal forces

and matter for use in the body;

⇒ Every

living

thing

has

ALL

the

Innate

Intel‐

ligence it requires to maintain its life and

optimal health;

⇒ Health is the expression of the Innate Intelli‐

gence through Innate Matter, via Innate

Energy;



⇒ When there’s interference with the trans‐

mission of Innate Energy, the result is a de‐

crease in the expression of Innate Intel‐

ligence, which chiropractors call dis‐ease

(not to be confused with disease!).

A review of these basic precepts is always

helpful.

Universal Intelligence

Our existence isn’t mere “luck” as nothing in

the natural order of the universe is random.

Since chiropractic is a deductive science, it be‐

gins

with

a

major

premise

upon

which

all

other

conclusions are based. That primary assumption is

that a Universal Intelligence is in all matter and

continually gives to it all its properties and actions,

thus maintaining it in existence.

Blind faith or religious fervor had nothing to

do

with

the

adoption

of

this

premise.

This

is

a

con‐

clusion based upon observation of physical evi‐

dence. Just look around you. Is it logical to think

that everything in the universe is the result of ran‐

dom selection or mere chance? Is it luck that a

birdʹs wing is perfectly designed for flight, right

down to the tiniest pinfeather? Is it just accidental



that a plantʹs roots travel downward into the

ground where it will find water and minerals, and

its leaves grow upward where it will find sun and

air? If we lived in a truly random universe, at least

some plants would send their roots straight up‐

ward, and bury their leaves in the soil. It’s unlikely

anyone has ever reported seeing such a plant.

Believing the universe is devoid of intelligent

organization is like thinking that the Great Pyra‐

mids of Giza were the result of a rock slide. Could

any random action have possibly created them?

The Empire State Building? A bird’s wings? The

roots and leaves of a plant?

Intelligence is clearly behind the natural ʺwon‐

dersʺ that surround us, just as architectural won‐

ders owe their existence to human intelligence. Ob‐

viously, human intelligence isn’t responsible for the

complex order of the universe – it hasnʹt yet begun

to understand even a tiny part of it! It had to be

something much greater. That ʺsomethingʺ is what we call Universal Intelligence. While we aren’t sure

what it is, where it came from, what its intent is –

or even if there is an intent involved – we do know

that it must exist, or nothing else would.



Is this Universal Intelligence God? No one

knows. There’s no way to ʺproveʺ the existence of

God, or describe Godʹs characteristics. Nor is there

a way to prove the existence of Universal Intelli‐

gence, or describe its characteristics. How, then can

anyone say whether they mean the same thing?

Some people believe God is the source of that

Universal Intelligence. Others can accept the con‐

cept of a Universal Intelligence without believing in

a God. Either way, through observation and deduc‐

tive reasoning we know that such an intelligence

has to exist in order to prevent all matter from

passing into chaos.

During the Age of Technology such notions

were often criticized as being ʺunscientific.ʺ What

critics really meant was that the premise couldnʹt

be proved, and wasnʹt arrived at through inductive

reasoning. Of course, neither was the idea ʺAll men

are created equal,ʺ or that there were vacuum

cleaners called black holes (a theory, by the way, also scoffed at when first announced). Yet, the first

axiom doesnʹt require proof, and the second was

valid even before proof was found. And so it is

with the premise of Universal Intelligence. It, too, is



a ʺtruthʺ so basic that it transcends science and can

be arrived at only through deductive logic.

Today, a broader view is being accepted as

science expands in the areas of ʺnew physicsʺ and

quantum mechanics. New ideas are cultivated,

with deductive reasoning recognized as a valid

form of logic. At last, the realization that a Univer‐

sal Intelligence must exist is being taken for

granted.

Chiropractors smile at the notion that ʺscienceʺ

is only now ʺdiscoveringʺ that idea. After all, the

entire profession is built around that profound yet

simple truth. Doctors of chiropractic understand

there’s order and intelligence to the whole uni‐

verse. By deductive reasoning, they also know this

order and intelligence applies to every part of the

universe, including the human body.

That conclusion leads directly to another of the

principal premises of chiropractic philosophy: A

living thing has an inborn intelligence within its body, called Innate Intelligence.

No word in chiropractic philosophy is as filled

with meaning as the word Innate , for it refers to the

sole element that sets living beings apart from non‐



living things, and is the reason that chiropractic

exists.

Innate Intelligence “Innate Intelligence” is in every living thing

guiding it on the path to health.

In discussing

Innate

Intelligence,

it’s

necessary

to clarify the concept of intelligence. It’s important

to understand we’re not talking about education or

the ability to learn things. Human beings can at‐

tend school and learn computer programming, or

ʺpick upʺ several foreign languages when they tra‐

vel. But

this

isn’t

what’s

meant

when

we

say

intel

‐

ligence.

The intelligence weʹre talking about is the

ʺknowledgeʺ that every living entity is born with,

and which allows it to adapt to the environment in

order to survive. If you put a plant on the window

sill, in

a day

or

so

it’ll

have

positioned

its

leaves

to

face the light. Turn the plant around and in another

day or so, it again will have turned its leaves to re‐

ceive the light it needs to maintain its normal func‐

tions.



The plant doesnʹt use logic to figure out that it

needs light, or decide to turn its leaves around to

face the window. It isn’t self‐aware, and while it

doesnʹt ʺthink,ʺ the intelligence it possesses allows

it to go from a tiny seed to a lush plant; to send

roots into the soil to find water and nutrients; to

search out and utilize light and air; to transform

those elements into additional leaves, roots,

sprouts, and even more seeds, which will be car‐

ried on the wind to start the process all over again

somewhere else. Not random action, but intelli‐

gence. Not education, but inborn knowledge. In‐

nate Intelligence.

But what is this intelligence? Where does it

come from? How does it work? Nobody has defin‐

itive answers to these questions. Living things

aren’t chance collections of molecules and atoms.

They’re all organized into functioning entities that

adapt to their environment. Therefore, we accept as

a basic principle that there’s an order to the body, which we’ve chosen to call Innate Intelligence. Like

Universal Intelligence, we don’t have the ability to

understand exactly what this intelligence is or how

it works. We only know it exists.



It’s the Innate Intelligence that regulates the

number of heart beats per minute in a newborn ba‐

by. It “tells” the baby how to ingest and digest nu‐

trients and eliminate waste, how to develop and

utilize white blood cells to fight infections, how to

communicate its need for outside assistance. No

one has to teach an infant these things.

Yet, Innate Intelligence can only guide the

child’s internal functioning. It can’t enable her to

manipulate her environment or do more than her

body will permit. Anymore than a plant can turn

on a lamp if it needs more light, the baby canʹt, for

instance, walk over to the refrigerator and get a

snack if sheʹs hungry. That action will take training

and education rather than inborn (Innate) intelli‐

gence.

It’s remarkable that every living thing pos‐

sesses 100% of the Innate Intelligence it needs.

Youʹll never see a plant that ʺknowsʺ its roots need

to grow into the soil, but doesnʹt also ʺknowʺ its leaves need to grow upward toward the light. Can

you imagine the poor plant pushing both its roots

and its leaves downward because it only had 50%

of its Innate Intelligence?



By its very definition, Innate Intelligence is al‐

ways normal, and its function is always normal.

This means our bodies ʺknowʺ exactly what they

need and how to adapt to the environment in order

to function best.

If our physical and emotional health relied ex‐

clusively on our Innate Intelligence, we’d all be

ʺperfectlyʺ healthy. But there are other factors at

work. A master carpenter might be an expert in

building a table, but with his arm in a cast he canʹt

apply force to his hammer, or without the proper

tools it’s unlikely the table he’s working on will

come out very well.

Your Innate Intelligence runs your body ex‐

pertly, unless it’s hampered by the lack of force

(Innate Energy) or proper tools (Innate Matter).

Without these, the result will be a less‐than‐normal‐

functioning.

Since Innate Intelligence has the ʺexpertiseʺ to

properly maintain the human organism, chiro‐practors donʹt address that area. Neither do they

concentrate upon the “tools” – the body and inter‐

nal organs. Instead, they’re concerned with the In‐

nate Energy (or force) providing the link between

the Innate Intelligence and Innate Matter.



Universal Forces

...

Innate

Energy

Tame a lightning bolt and you have the Innate

Force in the human brain.

The universe is filled with natural forms of

energy. In fact, astronomers say the universe was

created by a burst of energy, which pre‐dated all

matter. The ̋big bangʺ theory is still debated, but we need no theories to witness energy at work all

around us. Wind rushes through the trees, water

cascades down a mountain, lightning streaks

through the sky, solar radiation heats our earth.

For the most part, these environmental forces

co‐exist

peacefully

with

all

life

forms.

At

times,

however, they demonstrate their magnificent pow‐

er and destructive potential. The wind increases to

hurricane velocity and rips roofs off houses; flood‐

waters carry buildings away; lightning sets off rag‐

ing fires.

Such destruction

can

seem

meaningless,

so

we

often talk about ʺMother Nature going crazy.ʺ But

scientists and environmentalists now acknowledge

that the devastation has its purpose in the natural

scheme of things.



A fire started by lightning, for example, is an

efficient way to thin a stand of trees. When a forest

becomes overgrown, the lush vegetation cuts sun‐

light off at the ground level, making it impossible

for new seedlings to grow. The ʺdestructionʺ of a

fire provides the new generation of trees the light

and compost it will need if the forest is to survive.

When that same forest is ʺmanagedʺ by hu‐

mans, the naturally set fires are often extinguished.

Then, these same caretakers deliberately set fires to

do the job the extinguished fire would have done.

There’s a purpose to the fires, and to the hurricanes

and floods.

There’s an order to their appearance, and an

intelligence in their functioning. The Universal In‐

telligence ʺknowsʺ that forests need thinning, and

uses the Universal Matter available to it to accom‐

plish this. The link that enables the intelligence to

use the matter is natural energy, or Universal

Forces. For most of human history, the most we could

do was try and stay out of the way of these forces.

In modern times, our educated minds have devel‐

oped means of adapting them for constructive pur‐

poses. We build wind‐powered generators, hydroe‐



lectric plants, irrigation canals, dams, and solar

heating panels to harness these energy sources.

Weʹve even learned to adapt for our purposes the

electricity showcased in a lightning bolt.

Living things are like microcosms of the un‐

iverse. Weʹve seen how they’re each endowed with

a portion of the Universal Intelligence, called the

Innate Intelligence. They also possess the ʺspecia‐

lizedʺ version of Universal Forces, which chiroprac‐

tors call Innate Energy. Our Innate Intelligence

takes the Universal Force of electricity and adapts it

for constructive use, just as our educated minds

have adapted natural forces.

It’s well documented that the human body

runs on electricity. Many medical testing instru‐

ments record and measure the electrical impulses

generated (or, some say, converted from some oth‐

er source) by the brain for use in the body. There

may also be other innate forces at work in our bo‐

dies that we haven’t yet identified, but electricity is the one we’ve proven to exist.

Because Innate Energy is being adapted in the

body by the Innate Intelligence, it can never be de‐

structive as can ʺwildʺ Universal Forces. And, since

Innate Energy is created and directed by the Innate



Intelligence, 100% of what’s needed by each partic‐

ular living thing is available. The energy is required

to impel the cells to function according to the wish‐

es of the intelligence. In nature, matter remains in‐

ert until energy is applied. Air and water remain

stagnant, and the internal molecular structure of

the tree stays stable – until energy’s applied. Only

then do changes occur in the matter to cause mo‐

tion and function.

It’s the same process in the body. The Innate

Intelligence can’t manipulate matter without ener‐

gy. Muscles are unable to expand or contract ac‐

cording to the instructions of Innate Intelligence

unless energy is present. In fact, in the absence of

Innate Energy, the body ceases to function – ceases

to live.

Innate Energy, then, serves as the vital link

that enables the intelligence to express itself

through matter. Taken together, these three ele‐

ments – Innate Intelligence, Innate Energy, and In‐

nate Matter – make up the ʺTriune of Life,ʺ one of

the most important concepts in chiropractic philos‐

ophy.

In some respects, the “energy” component of

chiropractic is the key concept. Today, we apply



more scientific terms to it, such as neurological

functioning or bioelectrical current, and the field of

energy “medicine” is growing in acceptance even

among the most empirical scientific researchers.

The importance of the neurological component

of the subluxation, and of chiropractic, can’t be un‐

derestimated. Time and again, DD and BJ Palmer

spoke of this concept and it was an absolutely es‐

sential factor.

“We Chiropractors work with the subtle sub‐

stance of the soul,” said BJ Palmer.“We release the

imprisoned impulse, the tiny rivulet of force that

emanates from the mind and flows over the nerves

to the cell and stirs them into life. We deal with the

magic power that transforms common food into

living, loving, thinking clay; that robes the earth

with beauty, and hues and scents the flowers with

the glory of the air.”

The Triune The Triune of Life = Innate Intelligence + In‐

nate Energy + Innate Matter.

According to the precepts of chiropractic phi‐

losophy, every living thing has 100% of the Innate



Intelligence it needs AND 100% of the Innate Force

it needs. It also has a given physical form, to make

up the third element of the Triune.

In order to have perfect health, there must be

100% of intelligence, 100% of force, and 100% of

matter. In other words, all three elements must be

present in optimum quantity and quality. We’ve

already seen that this is always true of the first two

elements. Nevertheless, the structure of our ʺmat‐

terʺ – our physical bodies – is sometimes less than

100%. There may be flaws in them or their ability

(temporary or permanent) to allow expression of

the intelligence.

That means that ʺperfect healthʺ is a relative

term for human beings. Each of us can only be as

healthy as the limits of our physical matter. Those

born with a congenital heart defect, for instance,

can only be as healthy as their structures will per‐

mit.

People who’ve undergone amputation of an

arm can’t re‐grow the limb, even when there’s

100% intelligence and 100% energy. There are limi‐

tations inherent in the human body that can’t be

transcended by Innate Intelligence.



However, within the limits imposed by our

particular physical structure, our Innate Intelli‐

gence and Innate Energy will strive to maintain the

highest level of health possible. Sometimes, that

effort is thwarted by interferences to the normal

transmission of the energy.

To see what kind of interference a body may

be experiencing, we need to understand how the

Innate Intelligence directs the body parts through

Innate Energy.

As noted, the brain generates, or converts, the

electrical impulses, which spur the individual cells

and tell them what they have to do to adapt to the

body’s needs. Those impulses are propelled along a

complex system of nerves connecting the brain to

the organs, tissues, glands, and cells of the body.

Think of the nerve system as a thick rope,

made of numerous individual strands bundled to‐

gether. When this nerve ʺropeʺ exits the brain, it

travels down the spine, protected by a flexible bony

structure. As it progresses downward, sections of

the rope separate and pass through small openings

between the spinal bones (vertebrae). Later, they

separate further until each individual strand con‐

nects with its designated target.



Occasionally, the vertebrae become subluxated

(out of their proper alignment), and close off part of

the opening. This can ʺimpingeʺ on the nerve and

decrease or distort the normal flow of Innate Ener‐

gy through the body. The result is similar to

putting a kink in a water hose – the water still

flows through the hose, but not at full strength.

When there are subluxations, they interfere

with the 100% expression of intelligence through

100% energy and the body is said to be in ʺdis‐

ease.ʺ This shouldn’t be confused with the term dis‐

ease , which refers to specific conditions medical

doctors name, diagnose, and treat.

The chiropractic term dis‐ease refers to a situa‐

tion where there’s less than 100% expression of In‐

nate Intelligence. Since everyone’s body is different

and every bodily change can have many different

ramifications, chiropractors don’t become involved

in the futile exercise of labeling a condition or try‐

ing to administer drugs or therapy to treat its symptoms.

Chiropractic goes to the root of the problem

and works to restore the bodyʹs ability to reach

100% expression of its Innate Intelligence. It does

this by finding and removing any subluxations that



might interfere with the flow of Innate Energy.

Once that flow is restored, the body will resume its

natural striving for optimum health.

The working of the Triune of Life – Innate In‐

telligence, Innate Energy, and Innate Matter – is the

supreme accomplishment of Universal Intelligence.

It would be ignorant as well as arrogant to think its

design could be improved upon.

Chiropractors donʹt attempt such a task. In‐

stead, they focus their efforts on permitting that

design to function as it was meant to – without in‐

terference.



CHAPTER 3

–

Medicalizing Chiropractic Although many of the first students to receive

training in chiropractic were medical doctors, the

concept of

a drug

‐free,

non

‐invasive

way

to

allow

the body to heal itself didn’t appeal to the medical

establishment. It wasn’t long before the medical

industry perceived chiropractic as the competition;

even as a threat. The attacks on chiropractic (and

any other alternative form of health care) were

swift and

aggressive.

Chiropractors

were

thrown

in

jail, denounced as “quacks,” and threatened with

bodily harm as well as professional censure.

Doctors of chiropractic reacted in two different

ways.

Some stood their ground, defiantly refusing to

change

the

original

chiropractic

principles

and

purpose. They continued to define chiropractic as a

way to allow the body to experience normal nerve

function, without interference by subluxation. They

continued to emphasize the impact of adjustments

on neurological function.



Yet, others felt the medical industry might be

appeased if they were to carve out a smaller niche

for chiropractic. Instead of addressing health issues

in general, they pinpointed back pain as the major

target of chiropractic care. They backed off the con‐

cept of impacting the whole neurological function‐

ing of the body, and framed chiropractic as a mus‐

culoskeletal therapy. They also adopted medical or

quasi‐medical terminology in order to gain at least

some acceptance by allopathic medicine.

Applauded by some DCs and condemned by

others, the adaptation of medical purpose, vocabu‐

lary, techniques, instrumentation and even dress

had a profound effect on the chiropractic profes‐

sion.

Slowly, a portion of the profession moved into

the medical sphere, forgetting or ignoring the neu‐

rological component of subluxation and redefining

chiropractic solely as a mechanical “manipulation”

of vertebrae to relieve musculoskeletal conditions. At first, this move appeared to reduce the

pressure put on chiropractic by the medical profes‐

sion. But, as chiropractic grew in popularity, the

resistance was renewed.



Until 1983, the American Medical Association

(AMA) had labeled chiropractic ʺan unscientific

cultʺ and barred its members from even associating

with DCs. Finally, in 1976, a group of chiropractors

headed by Dr. Chester Wilk took the AMA and

other medical groups to court, accusing them of

violating antitrust laws and conspiring to destroy

chiropractic. They introduced evidence showing

that the anti‐chiropractic actions were primarily

based on economic factors. The AMA was afraid of

the loss of income caused by millions of people mi‐

grating from medical to chiropractic care.

In 1987, a federal judge ruled against the AMA,

finding it and several other aligned organizations

guilty of an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of

trade ʺto contain and eliminate the chiropractic pro‐

fession.ʺ In her ruling, she noted that the ʺAMA

had entered into a long history of illegal behavior.ʺ

While the AMA was no longer permitted to

openly forbid members to work with chiropractors, the ruling failed to stop the organization from en‐

gaging in more subtle forms of anti‐chiropractic

rhetoric and practices. It reinforced the idea of chi‐

ropractic as a limited therapeutic approach, push‐

ing it into progressively smaller boxes until it was



designated as a possible alternative, under medical

supervision, for the treatment of low back pain in

adults.

Medical alternatives While the AMA was working to “expose” chi‐

ropractic, the

scientific

community

and

the

press

were becoming more and more open about expos‐

ing the risks and faults of medical interventions.

Despite efforts to rein in the news media, reports

surfaced about dangerous drugs, unnecessary sur‐

geries, conflicts of interest in research journals, and

government complicity

with

drug

manufacturers.

As stories became more frequent, the drug in‐

dustry stepped up its advertising and marketing

campaigns. Billions of dollars were poured into

print and broadcast media outlets that were reluc‐

tant to risk losing income by “offending” their ad‐

vertisers with

negative

news

coverage.

Increasing

‐

ly, news stories related the latest so‐called medical

“miracle.”

Still, it was impossible to keep a lid on the

growing problems of medical errors and risks.

Numerous negative statistics, reports, and articles



made it into the news during the post‐Wilk vs.

AMA case period. And, it would be an unders‐

tatement to say that many – if not a majority – of

these problems increased in frequency and severity

as health care moved into the 21st century. The following sections provide a glimpse of

the risks inherent in medical treatment, as docu‐

mented by scientific research papers or reported by

the press.

Plight of the elderly Medicine created the attitude that growing old

is a disease

that

needs

to

be

treated,

practically

en

‐

suring senior citizens would become one of the

most vulnerable segments of the U.S. population.

For one thing, misdiagnosis is an ever‐present

reality, especially where the expectation exists that

a particular condition “comes with the territory” of

being old.

Despite

better

knowledge

today

about

the aging process, stereotypes remain – even if sub‐

consciously – affecting the way materia medica ap‐

proaches seniors’ mental and physical health

needs.



Then, there are those countless numbers of el‐

derly Americans taking multiple drugs at the same

time (it’s been estimated as many as 15 different

prescriptions – and frequently many more). Yet, as

incredible as it may seem, their doctors often aren’t

even aware of the potentially dangerous effects of

drug combining. And, as will be shown, it’s unrea‐

listic to expect that pharmacies will catch the omis‐

sions and mistakes doctors make.

Additionally, there are the not‐infrequent inci‐

dents of the elderly being administered inappro‐

priate medications.

This unfortunate situation can be partially ex‐

plained by doctors and hospitals commonly re‐

commending visits, drugs, and tests that will be

covered by Medicare or Medicaid. Recommending

a diet and exercise program proven to reduce prob‐

lems associated with arthritis, for example, doesn’t

generate income.

Ultimately, the sole way the profit‐directed

medical and pharmaceutical industries can perpe‐

tuate themselves is by making certain people con‐

tinue to see their doctors and fill their prescrip‐

tions. And the only way to guarantee that is to by‐

pass natural and relatively inexpensive therapies



that would be likely to make them truly (and safe‐

ly) healthy.

Half of all Alzheimer’s

patients don’t really have the disease

New research shows that Alzheimer’s disease

and other

dementia

‐type

illnesses

are

often

mis

‐

diagnosed in the elderly, leading to incorrect

treatment and medications.

That was the conclusion of a study released in

2011 that was to be presented as part of a plenary

session at the American Academy of Neurology’s

63rd Annual

Meeting

in

Honolulu.

“Diagnosing specific dementias in people who

are very old is complex, but with the large increase

in dementia cases expected within the next 10 years

in the United States, it will be increasingly impor‐

tant to correctly recognize, diagnose, prevent and

treat age

‐related

cognitive

decline,”

said

study

au

‐

thor Lon White, M.D., M.P.H., with the Kuakini

Medical System in Honolulu.

For the study, researchers autopsied the brains

of 426 Japanese‐American men who were residents

of Hawaii, and who died at an average age of 87



years. Of those, 211 had been diagnosed with a

dementia when they were alive, most commonly

attributed to Alzheimer’s disease.

The study found that about half of those diag‐

nosed with Alzheimer’s disease did not have suffi‐

cient numbers of the brain lesions characterizing

that condition to support the diagnosis.

Most of those in whom the diagnosis of Alz‐

heimer’s disease was not confirmed had one or a

combination of other brain lesions sufficient to ex‐

plain the dementia. These included microinfarcts,

Lewy bodies, hippocampal sclerosis or generalized

brain atrophy. In most of these cases, however, the

patient had been treated – incorrectly – for Alzhei‐

mer’s, based on the misdiagnosis.

Misdiagnoses increased with older age. They

also reflected non‐specific manifestations of de‐

mentia, a very high prevalence of mixed brain le‐

sions, and the ambiguity of most neuroimaging

measures. “Larger studies are needed to confirm these

findings and provide insight as to how we may

more accurately diagnose and prevent Alzheimer’s

disease and other principal dementing disease

processes in the elderly,” said Dr. White.



SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology,

press release, Feb. 23, 2011.

Pharmacy computers don’t catch

dangerous drug interactions

As of 2009, a total of 3.9 BILLION prescriptions

for more

than

24,000

different

drugs

were

dis

‐

pensed. The average number of retail prescriptions

per person in the US was 12.6.

Given these numbers, it’s not surprising that

many people leave the drug counter of their local

pharmacy with pills that, when taken together,

have harmful

or

even

deadly

side

effects.

It’s

esti

‐

mated that at least 20‐25% of all patients are given

prescriptions that pose dangers when taken togeth‐

er. According to the Centers for Disease Control

(CDC), 27,658 unintentional drug deaths occurred

in the United States in 2007 alone – most of them

caused by

prescription

“medicines.”

To “solve” this problem, sophisticated com‐

puter programs called clinical decision support sys‐

tem software were developed to alert pharmacists

to potential problems with drug interactions. How‐

ever, a study conducted at the University Of Ari‐



zona College Of Pharmacy found that only 28% of

pharmaciesʹ clinical decision support software sys‐

tems correctly identified potentially dangerous

drug‐drug interactions.

The study was conducted at 64 pharmacies

across Arizona. Members of the research team

tested the pharmacy software using a set of pre‐

scription orders for a standardized fictitious pa‐

tient. The prescriptions consisted of 18 different

medications that posed 13 clinically significant

drug‐drug interactions. Of the 64 pharmacies, just

18 correctly identified all of the eligible drug‐drug

interactions and non‐interactions.

ʺThese findings suggest that we have a funda‐

mental problem with the way interactions are eva‐

luated by drug knowledge databases,ʺ said Daniel

Malone, Ph.D., UA professor of pharmacy and lead

investigator on the study. ʺThe weakness of these

systems could lead to medication errors that might

harm patients. Pharmacists should become familiar with how their computer system identifies drug

interactions. Consumers should always inform

their doctor and pharmacist about all medications

and other therapies they are using. The risk of

harm from dangerous combinations can be reduced



when patients create and maintain a medication

list.ʺ

A better approach would be to seek drug‐free

care or, at least, reduce the number of prescription

and over‐the‐counter medications.

SOURCE: Journal of American Medical Informat‐

ics, 2011;18:32‐37 doi:10.1136/jamia.2010.007609

Study: Millions of elderly

given wrong drugs

A study published in 2010 revealed that 17% of

all elderly patients are given ʺpotentially inappro‐

priate medications

(PIMs).

ʺThe

study,

which

ap

‐

peared in the March issue of Academic Emergency

Medicine journal, reviewed the records of 470,000

patients over 65 who were admitted to an emer‐

gency department (ED) between 2000 and 2006.

ʺApproximately 19.5 million patients…of eligi‐

ble ED

visits

were

associated

with

one

or

more

PIMs,ʺ researchers noted in their report.

ʺThere are certain medications that probably

are not good to give to older adults because the po‐

tential benefits are outweighed by potential prob‐



lems,ʺ admitted lead author, William J. Meurer,

M.D.

Examples: The two powerful sedatives prome‐

thazine and ketorolac. Promethazine accounted for

about 40% of the errors and can cause side effects

such as confusion and even, in rare cases, seizures.

Ketorolac is a non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug

(NSAID) used as an analgesic, fever reducer, and

anti‐inflammatory.

Similar findings had been published more than

15 years ago in a July 1994 Journal of the American

Medical Association report, revealing nearly 25% of

all elderly patients received wrong drugs.

Among its findings:

** 1.8 million seniors were given prescriptions

for dipyridamole, a blood thinner that, the re‐

searchers said, is useless for all except people with

artificial heart valves.

** More than 1.3 million older Americans were

prescribed propoxyphene, an addictive narcotic no better than aspirin in relieving pain.

** More than 1.2 million were put on the drug

diazepam or chlordiazepoxide, long‐acting seda‐

tives and sleeping pills that can make patients

groggy, dizzy, and prone to falls.



ʺStandard published sources support the view

that the 20 drugs in our primary analysis should

virtually never be prescribed for the elderly,ʺ re‐

searchers stated at the time.

SOURCE: Academic Emergency Medicine

journal (2010; 17:231).

The ‘miracle’ of antibiotics When antibiotics were first developed, they

were considered a “miracle” drug because they

seemed to be able to aid the body in fighting off

infections and invading bacteria. The drugs actual‐

ly were

helpful

for

some

people

with

weakened

immune systems who needed outside intervention

to get through immediate and acute health crises.

But even a “miracle” can be abused.

Medical doctors began prescribing the drugs

after nearly every office visit – even for conditions

that couldn’t

be

helped

at

all

by

antibiotics.

They

pumped the drug into our systems and now, dec‐

ades later, we’re paying the price with antibiotic‐

resistant super‐ bacteria and impaired natural anti‐

body functions. Tragically, despite repeated warn‐

ings from the World Health Organization and more



progressive health care experts, M.D.s still rely

heavily on the drugs.

Antibiotics can destroy ‘good’

bacteria for years

A research article published Nov. 3, 2010 in the

journal Microbiology

came

to

the

startling

conclu

‐

sion that even a short course of antibiotics can leave

normal gut bacteria harboring antibiotic resistance

genes for up to two years after treatment.

What many people forget is that the body is

filled with both “good” bacteria – such as the nor‐

mal microbial

flora

of

the

human

gut

– as

well

as

“bad” or pathogenic bacteria. Antibiotics can alter

the composition of microbial populations and allow

micro‐organisms that are naturally resistant to the

antibiotic to flourish. This reduces the ability of the

body to react to the pathogenic entities, potentially

leading to

other

illnesses.

The impact of antibiotics on the normal gut flo‐

ra had previously been thought to be short‐term,

with any disturbances being restored several weeks

after treatment. However, the review of the long‐

term impacts of antibiotic therapy reveals this isn’t



always the case. Studies have shown that high le‐

vels of resistance genes can be detected in gut mi‐

crobes after just seven days of antibiotic treatment

and that these genes remain present for up to two

years – even if the individual has taken no further

antibiotics.

The consequences of this could be potentially

life‐threatening, explained Dr. Cecilia Jernberg, of

the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Con‐

trol, who conducted the review. “The long‐term

presence of resistance genes in human gut bacteria

dramatically increases the probability of them be‐

ing transferred to and exploited by harmful bacte‐

ria that pass through the gut. This could reduce the

success of future antibiotic treatments and poten‐

tially lead to new strains of antibiotic‐resistant bac‐

teria.”

The review highlights the necessity of using

antibiotics prudently. “Antibiotic resistance is not a

new problem and there is a growing battle with

multi‐drug resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria.

The development of new antibiotics is slow and so

we must use the effective drugs we have left with

care,” stated Dr. Jernberg. “This new information

about the long‐term impacts of antibiotics is of



great importance to allow rational antibiotic ad‐

ministration guidelines to be put in place,” she

said.

SOURCE: Microbiology 156 (2010), 3216‐3223;

DOI 10.1099.

Antibiotic use increases when

insurance pays

for

it

The serious problem of antibiotic overuse is al‐

ready well documented and medical doctors have

been warned not to yield to patient demands for

the drug. M.D.s donʹt seem to be listening, howev‐

er.

As soon as Medicare Part D drug coverage was

expanded to pay for more antibiotics, doctors be‐

gan writing more prescriptions. In a report pub‐

lished in the August 9, 2010 issue of Archives of In‐

ternal Medicine , researchers noted that antibiotic use

appears to

have

increased

among

older

people

since the coverage was added, with the largest in‐

creases occurring for broad‐spectrum, newer, and

more expensive drugs.

ʺOveruse of antibiotics is a common and im‐

portant problem, potentially leading to unneces‐



sary spending for prescription drugs, increased

risks of adverse effects with no associated benefit

and the development of antimicrobial resistance,ʺ

the authors noted in the article. ʺMultiple programs

have aimed to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use

in inpatient and ambulatory care settings. Al‐

though many of these interventions have helped

curb antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory

tract infections and other conditions, there may still

be substantial room for additional reductions.ʺ

Several studies have shown that as medication

costs increase, patients are less likely to fill pre‐

scriptions or take drugs prescribed for their chronic

conditions. The same appears to be true of antibio‐

tics, concluded Yuting Zhang, Ph.D., and col‐

leagues at the University of Pittsburgh. They

looked at the records of 35,102 older adults before

and after implementation of Medicare Part D. This

expansion of prescription drug coverage was esti‐

mated to reduce out‐of‐pocket spending between

13% and 23%.

Participants fell into one of four groups, three

of which had no or limited drug coverage between

2004 and 2006; the fourth had stable drug coverage



without caps through their employer throughout

the four‐year study.

In Jan. 2006, the three groups with no or li‐

mited coverage enrolled in Medicare Part D, which

greatly decreased the out‐of‐pocket costs for anti‐

biotics. ʺWe found that the use of antibiotics in‐

creased in response to reductions in out‐of‐pocket

price after Part D implementation,ʺ the authors

found. Relative to the comparison group, antibiotic

use increased the most among participants who

transitioned from no drug coverage to Medicare

Part D. These individuals were more likely to fill

prescriptions for nearly every class of antibiotic,

once Part D Medicare began paying for them. In

addition, the two groups with previously limited

drug coverage were more likely to fill prescriptions

for broad‐spectrum antibiotics after enrolling in

Part D.

For the medical researchers, this increase was

considered beneficial in a few cases. For pneumo‐nia, for instance, Part D implementation was asso‐

ciated with triple the rate of antibiotic treatment

among those who previously lacked drug coverage.

ʺGiven the high mortality associated with commu‐

nity‐acquired pneumonia among the elderly, the



finding that changes in drug coverage improve the

likelihood of treatment is encouraging,ʺ the authors

commented.

ʺHowever, we also found increases in antibiot‐

ic use for other acute respiratory tract infections

(sinusitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis and non‐specific

upper respiratory tract infection) for which antibio‐

tics are generally not indicated,ʺ the authors con‐

clude. ʺOur study suggests that reimbursement

may play a role in addressing the substantial role of

inappropriate antibiotic prescribing and use.ʺ

SOURCE: ʺAmbulatory Antibiotic Use and

Prescription Drug Coverage in Older Adults,ʺ Arch

Intern Med. 2010;170[15]:1308‐1314.

For the sake of the children Next to the elderly, children are in the greatest

danger from the medical mindset so prevalent in

this country.

We

all

want

what’s

best

for

our

kids,

and we’ve been brainwashed to believe that this

means pumping drugs into them from the moment

they’re born. The belief that medicine is needed to

ensure health in children is so strong that parents

have actually been accused of child abuse because



they refused to allow their children to be subjected

to the risks of vaccines, medications, and other in‐

vasive medical procedures.

Most children are born into this world with

perfectly healthy bodies, which innately “know”

how to maintain the highest level of health possi‐

ble. They have the right chemicals, in the right

amounts, to function properly in this world. Yet,

medical science believes it can improve on the orig‐

inal design and immediately bombards that body

with dangerous – sometimes potentially deadly –

chemicals. Impaired, not improved, function is the

result. That tiny body not only has to adapt to its

environment, but now has to assimilate foreign

chemicals in its system.

Infants, toddlers, adolescents, and teens are all

subjected to the same treatment with the obvious

result that childhood health problems are soaring.

Chronic ear infections, asthma, childhood diabetes,

and “new” diseases like attention deficit disorder (ADD), are all at epidemic proportions and getting

worse. The reliance on medical treatment hasn’t

helped at all, yet parents are reluctant to reject it for

a better way and the medical and drug industries

continue to hide the truth from them.



While the key phrase of the medical doctor’s

Hippocratic Oath is “Do No Harm,” it’s obvious

that the overuse and abuse of prescription drugs

continues despite the harm it does to our nation’s

children. Then, the pharmaceutical industry relen‐

tlessly pumps out drugs marketed directly at child‐

ren, often using marketing techniques that exploit a

parent’s sense of guilt or helplessness.

There’s no question this must stop before we

further impair the present and future health of an

entire generation.

Yet, it seems unlikely the change will come

from the medical community, and it definitely

won’t be championed by the drug makers. That

means parents must learn to “just say no” to unne‐

cessary over‐the‐counter and prescription drugs. If

they aren’t the ones to do it, their children will re‐

main unprotected from those who apparently are

willing to let them become ill and even die rather

than sacrifice profit.



70,000 kids hospitalized

for accidental drug ‘poisoning’

A study by the Substance Abuse and Mental

Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found

that two‐thirds (68.9%) of the 100,340 emergency

department (ED) visits made in 2008 for accidental

ingestion of drugs were made by children five years of age or younger.

Two‐fifths (42.3%) of the visits involved two‐

year olds, and almost one third (29.5%) involved

one‐year‐old patients. The report showed that

males accounted for slightly more than half (55.7%)

of the ED visits for accidental drug ingestion

among children five or under.

The survey also indicated the incidents in‐

cluded drugs that act on the central nervous system

(CNS) (40.8%), with the two main CNS drugs being

pain relievers (21.1%), and drugs for insomnia and

anxiety (11.6%). The study also found that 15.7% of the ED visits involved drugs for treating heart dis‐

ease, followed by respiratory system drugs (10.3%).

ʺPoisoning is one of the most common child‐

hood injuries. Most of the time it happens right at

home,ʺ said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S.



Hyde, J.D. ʺLocking up drugs and properly dispos‐

ing leftover or expired drugs can save lives. Studies

like this one that measure the impact on the health

care system of accidental ingestion of drugs also

provides us an opportunity to get the message out

to parents and caregivers that there are simple

steps they can take to prevent accidental drug in‐

gestion.ʺ

The study also looked at whether these young

patients needed additional care and treatment, fol‐

lowing their initial treatment at the hospital emer‐

gency department. Most of the children who were

taken to an emergency department because of acci‐

dental drug ingestion were treated and released

following the visit (85.3%). Yet, about 1 in 10 (8.7%)

were admitted for inpatient care and 5% were

transferred to other health care facilities.

The study was developed as part of SAMH‐

SA’s strategic initiative on data, outcomes, and

quality – an effort to inform policy makers and ser‐vice providers on the nature and scope of beha‐

vioral health issues.

SOURCE: Substance Abuse and Mental Health

Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies.

(September 14, 2010). The DAWN Report: “Emer‐



gency Department Visits Involving Accidental In‐

gestion of Drugs by Children Aged 5 or Younger.”

Rockville, MD.

Hospitalized children increasingly

dying from infections – Antibiotic

overuse

may

be

major

factor

Hospitalized children in the United States are

becoming infected with the bacteria Clostridium

difficile more frequently, and children who acquire

the infection are more likely to die or require sur‐

gery, according to researchers from the Uniformed

Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

The findings appeared in the Archives of Pediatrics &

Adolescent Medicine.

C difficile, which can colonize the gastrointes‐

tinal tract and lead to infection, may show no

symptoms in infected patients, while others devel‐op diarrhea, toxic megacolon (extreme inflamma‐

tion and distention of the large intestine), perfo‐

rated bowels or other potentially fatal complica‐

tions. “In recent years, the incidence of C difficile

infection, number of hospitalizations, associated



deaths and severity in adults have been increas‐

ing,” the authors wrote.

Some children appeared more likely to become

infected, including those who had other co‐

occurring diseases, such as inflammatory bowel

disease, organ transplant, or cancer. The risk of in‐

fection was also higher among those who were

white, lived in the West or in urban areas, or had

private insurance.

“We don’t know exactly why we see these

populations have an increased risk. However, it

likely has much to do with antibiotic exposure,

which is a major risk factor for development of C

difficile,” said study lead author Air Force Maj.

(Dr.) Cade Nylund, an assistant professor of Pedia‐

trics at the USU and pediatric gastroenterologist at

the National Capital Consortium pediatric gastro‐

enterology fellowship at Walter Reed Army and

National Navy Medical Centers.

According to Dr. Nylund: “When pediatric pa‐tients are finally hospitalized they tend to be more

complex and more susceptible to infections like C

difficile. At the same time, the patients, especially

hospitalized children, are less able to fend off the



serious effects of these infections, making them

more likely to die.”

Nylund performed this research during his fel‐

lowship in pediatric gastroenterology at Cincinnati

Children’s in collaboration with Drs. Anthony

Goudie, Jose Garza, Gerry Fairbrother, and Mit‐

chell Cohen. Nylund added that a strain of C diffi‐

cile found in hospitals, known as the North Ameri‐

can Pulse Field type 1 (NAP1), may be a partially to

blame for the increasing trend of C difficile infec‐

tions in children. “There may also be increasing

awareness among health care providers, leading to

increased testing in symptomatic patients,” he said.

Based on national hospital discharge data from

1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006 collected by the Agency

for Healthcare Research and Quality, the research‐

ers reviewed records representative of more than

10.5 million patients, of whom 21,274 (0.2 percent)

had C difficile. They found the number of cases in‐

creased by 15% each year – from 3,565 in 1997 to 7,779 in 2006.

Additionally, children with C difficile infection

had an increased risk of death or colectomy (sur‐

gery to remove all of part of the colon), longer hos‐

pital stays, and higher hospitalization charges.



SOURCE: Clostridium difficile Infection in Hos‐

pitalized Children in the United States. CM Ny‐

lund, MD; A Goudie, PhD; JM Garza, MD; G Fair‐

brother, PhD; MB Cohen, MD. Arch Pediatr Adolesc

Med. Published online January 3, 2011.

doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.282

The house of death Hospitals are supposed to be places where sick

people go to get well. Instead, all too often, they’re

places where sick people get worse and very sick

people die in pain and despair. And, they make

hundreds of

millions

of

dollars

for

medical

and

pharmaceutical companies.

Of course, there are well‐meaning and caring

individuals who work in hospitals, but the main

purpose of most hospitals today is to be a profit

center for huge health care conglomerates. Admin‐

istrative and

medical

decisions

are

frequently

made

on the basis of economic advantage, with little at‐

tention paid to the needs of patients or their fami‐

lies.

Worse yet is the fact that many hospitals, par‐

ticularly those in rural areas, have become the re‐



pository of careless or ill‐trained medical person‐

nel. Death rates at some of these hospitals have

been so high they’ve prompted government inves‐

tigations.

Still, Americans continue to flock to hospitals

in record numbers, expecting to find humane and

proper health care. We should, instead, be heeding

the advice of most health care advocates who warn

us to stay out of the hospital at all costs! Medical errors hurt 18% of

hospital patients

A report

published

in

the

New

England

Journal

of Medicine revealed some troubling statistics. Near‐

ly one fifth (18%) of all patients were injured by

medical mistakes during their stay in a hospital.

“Our findings validate concern raised by patient‐

safety experts in the United States and Europe that

harm resulting

from

medical

care

remains

very

common,” researchers admitted.

In almost 3% of the cases in the study, the in‐

jury resulted in or contributed to the death of the

patient. Another 3% resulted in a permanent injury,

and 8.5% were life‐threatening. Nearly 43% of the



injuries – or “harms” as the researchers called them

– required some intervention by doctors or nurses

and resulted in an extended stay in the hospital.

To reach their conclusions, the researchers

randomly selected and reviewed nearly 2,400

records of adult patients from 10 hospitals in North

Carolina. North Carolina was selected for the study

because it has been noted as one of the leaders in

patient safety reform.

The report was particularly disturbing since it

indicates little progress has been made since the

1999 Institute of Medicine study showing that med‐

ical mistakes were responsible for more than 98,000

deaths and more than one million injuries each

year. That report was considered a “wake up call”

to hospitals, which were supposed to take greater

steps in preventing such errors. The Institute of

Medicine had set a goal of a 50% reduction during

a five‐year period.

SOURCE: Christopher P Landrigan, MD, MPH; Gareth J Parry, PhD; Catherine B Bones,

MSW; Andrew D Hackbarth, MPhil; Donald A

Goldmann, MD; and Paul J Sharek, MD, MPH. N

Engl J Med 2010; 363:2124‐2134 November 25, 2010.



Hospital charges: up to

$18,000 per day

As though news of the rampant infections,

medical mistakes, and dismal effectiveness rates

werenʹt enough to convince us to avoid hospitals,

the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

has now reported that hospital stays can cost as much as $18,000 per day for conditions such as

heart attacks.

According to the analysis by the federal agen‐

cy, the average was based on about 2 million pa‐

tient stays for the ʺmost expensiveʺ cases such as

treatment of septicemia, or blood infection, harden‐

ing of the arteries, and heart attacks. These stays

lasted an average of 19 days.

Even though these ʺmost expensiveʺ cases ac‐

count for only 5% of all hospitalizations, the other

95% didnʹt get off cheap. Daily hospital bills for the

remaining 95% of patient stays averaged just under $7,000 and 4 days, and were most likely for child‐

birth, pneumonia, and heart failure.

The report used data from the 2008 Nation‐

wide Inpatient Sample, a database of hospital inpa‐

tient stays in all short‐term, non‐federal hospitals,



and included patients regardless of insurance type,

as well as the uninsured.

SOURCE: AHRQ News and Numbers , October

13, 2010. Agency for Healthcare Research and

Quality, Rockville, MD.

The ‘other’ drug problem in America The biggest health risk facing the average per‐

son today isn’t cancer or heart disease. It’s the side

effects from medication. Prescription drugs can

cause more health problems – and even death –

than all the major diseases we worry so much

about.

More than 90% of all office visits end with the

doctor handing the patient at least one prescription,

even if the visit lasted only a few minutes. It’s rare

for patients to be told about possible dangerous

side effects of their medication. Yet, every drug has

side effects,

and

most

have

a frighteningly

long

list

of them. If as much attention were paid to the dan‐

gers of drugs as to their supposed “benefits,” we

would treat them with the same concern as we do

loaded guns.



Thousands of patients prescribed

high‐risk drugs

According to research published at BMJ.com,

GPs prescribed high‐risk medications for thou‐

sands of patients in Scotland who are especially

vulnerable to adverse drug events (ADEs), expos‐

ing them to potential harm. A number of medications or scenarios pre‐

viously flagged as high risk included non‐steroidal

anti‐inflammatory drugs for certain patients, pre‐

scribing a new drug to a patient on the blood‐

thinning medication warfarin, prescribing drugs

when patients have heart failure, and prescribing antipsychotic drugs for patients with dementia.

Prof. Bruce Guthrie from Dundee University

and colleagues expanded this list, developing 15

indicators to examine how often patients suscepti‐

ble to ADEs were prescribed high‐risk, potentially

harmful drugs. They used the indicators to review data from

315 Scottish General Practices with 1.76 million pa‐

tients, of which 139,404 (7.9%) were identified as

being particularly vulnerable to ADEs.



The results showed that 19,308 (13.9%) who

were in the vulnerable group were prescribed one

or more high‐risk medications.

Some prescribing will be appropriate, as pre‐

scribers and patients balance risks and benefits

when there may be no clearly “correct” course of

action, but the study also uncovered significant

variation in the prescribing practices between the

GPs’ surgeries surveyed. Since the variation

couldn’t be explained by the patient case mix, the

researchers say it suggests there’s considerable

scope to improve those prescribing practices.

Led by Prof. Guthrie, the authors pointed out

how prior studies showed GP prescribing can

cause considerable harm, and they highlighted that

“adverse drug events (ADEs) account for 6.5% of

all hospital admissions, over half of which are

judged to be preventable.”

Patients might be vulnerable to high‐risk drugs

due to their age, other existing illnesses, or because of other prescription medications they may be on.

The authors cautioned that GPs need to be alert to

these risk factors, and be careful about the drugs

they prescribe to these patients.



SOURCE: “High risk prescribing in primary

care patients particularly vulnerable to adverse

drug events: cross sectional population database

analysis in Scottish general practice” BMJ , June 22,

2011.

Fewer drug prescriptions would

save lives

and

money

Lives and money would be saved if a more

cautious approach were taken by medical profes‐

sionals who prescribe drugs, according to a study

from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)

College of

Pharmacy.

The study appeared in the online edition of the

Archives of Internal Medicine as part of the journal’s

“Less is More” series.

According to Bruce Lambert, co‐author of the

paper and UIC professor of pharmacy administra‐

tion, several

studies

over

the

past

decade

have

con

‐

cluded that the use of many new and frequently

prescribed medications was either harmful or not

beneficial to patients.

Using the prior research as a guide, 24 prin‐

ciples were developed that can help prescribers



avoid excessive and harmful prescribing, said

Lambert, director of UIC’s Center for Education

and Research on Therapeutics.

“None of these principles are particularly nov‐

el, nor should they be terribly controversial,” he

pointed out. “But taken together they represent a

radical shift in the way clinicians think about and

prescribe drugs.”

The radical shift is known as “conservative

prescribing,” and if adopted by every prescriber,

could save many lives and dollars, Lambert said.

Physicians need to move away from the mind‐

set that leads them to heavily prescribe the “latest

and greatest” new drugs, to “fewer and more time‐

tested is best,” stated Dr. Gordon Schiff, associate

professor of medicine at Harvard University, who

co‐authored the report. Medical and pharmacy

schools should not solely teach the pharmacology

of drugs, but principles that would make practi‐

tioners better and more cautious prescribers and

users of drugs, he said.

The UIC Center for Education and Research on

Therapeutics is one of 14 such centers in the United

States to study how consumers and clinicians make

critical treatment decisions about therapeutic



products and interventions. The program is funded

by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

(AHRQ), part of the US Health and Human Servic‐

es department.

Other co‐authors on the study were Dr. Wil‐

liam Galanter, associate professor of clinical medi‐

cine; Amy Lodolce, clinical pharmacist, pharmacy

practice; and Michael Koronkowski, clinical assis‐

tant professor, pharmacy practice, all of UIC.

SOURCE: “Principles of Conservative Pre‐

scribing” by Gordon D. Schiff, MD, et.al. Archives of

Internal Medicine. Published online June 13, 2011. No ‘safe’ drugs

Even people who realize that prescription

drugs can be dangerous are often lured into think‐

ing that over‐the‐counter (OTC) drugs are “safe.”

After all, would the FDA really allow dangerous or

ineffective

medications

to

be

sold

to

the

American

public? They would, and they do. And they fail to

regulate any but the most extreme abuses by drug

companies.

A Senate investigation on over‐the‐counter

drugs once concluded that the majority of these

medications were completely useless, and most



posed at least some health dangers. But it didn’t

change the pharmaceutical industry or even the

regulations that are supposed to keep the drug

companies in line.

Since neither they nor the government will do

it, it’s left to the American people to protect them‐

selves from unsafe medications. We need to read

the facts and change the way we think about health

care. Wellness won’t be found in pill form on any

drugstore shelf.

Common painkillers linked

to irregular heart rhythm

Yet another research study has uncovered po‐

tentially fatal side effects of commonly used pain‐

killers.

Many pills used to treat inflammation (includ‐

ing non‐selective non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory

drugs [NSAIDS]

as

well

as

new

generation

anti

‐

inflammatory drugs, known as selective COX‐2 in‐

hibitors) were linked to an increased risk of irregu‐

lar heart rhythm (atrial fibrillation or flutter), con‐

cluded a study published on bmj.com July 5, 2011.



These drugs had already been linked to an in‐

creased risk of heart attacks and strokes, but no

study had examined whether they increase the risk

of atrial fibrillation – a condition which is asso‐

ciated with an increased long term risk of stroke,

heart failure, and death.

So a team of researchers, led by Professor He‐

nrik Toft Sørensen at Aarhus University Hospital in

Denmark, used the Danish National Registry of Pa‐

tients to identify 32,602 patients with a first diagno‐

sis of atrial fibrillation or flutter between 1999 and

2008.

Each case was compared with 10 age and sex‐

matched control patients randomly selected from

the Danish population.

Patients were classified as current or recent

NSAID users. Current users were further classified

as new users (first‐ever prescription within 60 days

of diagnosis date) or long‐term users.

The researchers found that use of NSAIDs or COX‐2 inhibitors was associated with an increased

risk of atrial fibrillation or flutter.

Compared with non‐users, the association was

strongest for new users, with around 40% increased

risk for non‐selective NSAIDS and around 70% in‐



creased risk for COX‐2 inhibitors. This is equivalent

to approximately four extra cases of atrial fibrilla‐

tion per year per 1,000 new users of non‐selective

NSAIDS and seven extra cases of atrial fibrillation

per 1,000 new users of COX‐2 inhibitors.

The risk appeared highest in older people, and

patients with chronic kidney disease or rheumatoid

arthritis were at particular risk when starting

treatment with COX‐2 inhibitors.

The authors concluded: “Our study thus adds

evidence that atrial fibrillation or flutter need to be

added to the cardiovascular risks under considera‐

tion when prescribing NSAIDs.”

This view is supported by an accompanying

editorial by Prof. Jerry Gurwitz from the University

of Massachusetts Medical School. He believes that

NSAIDS should continue to be used very cautious‐

ly in older patients with a history of hypertension

or heart failure … regardless of whether an associa‐

tion between NSAIDs and atrial fibrillation actually

exists.

SOURCE: “Non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory

drug use and risk of atrial fibrillation or flutter:

population based case‐control study,” BMJ , July 5,

2011.



Capsules of gold If medication was given away for free – or if

there were price limits on drugs – the number of

prescriptions written in this country would drop

tremendously. But in our free market economy,

pushing pills (even the legal prescription and over‐

the‐counter

type)

is

one

of

the

most

profitable

businesses around.

This has led to having dangerous and some‐

times potentially deadly drugs marketed like

breakfast cereal or athletic shoes – using celebrity

endorsements, glitzy television ads, coupons, spe‐

cial promotions,

and

full

‐page

magazine

spreads.

The fact that these promotions can be mislead‐

ing doesn’t seem to deter drug company execu‐

tives, who judge their success solely on their bot‐

tom line – without regard to the health and welfare

of the people who are lured into taking their prod‐

ucts.



US spends

$233

billion

per

year

on prescription drugs

A report from the Agency for Healthcare Re‐

search and Quality (AHRQ) shows that, in 2008,

insurers and consumers spent nearly $233 billion

on a wide

array

of

prescription

drugs.

The

number

one class of drugs (accounting for $52.2 billion, 22%

of the total) was metabolic medicine used to control

diabetes and cholesterol.

The next four “biggest sellers” of outpatient

prescription drugs in 2008 were :

• Central

nervous

system

drugs,

used

to

re

‐

lieve chronic pain and control epileptic seizures

and Parkinson’s Disease tremors – $35 billion.

• Cardiovascular drugs, including calcium

channel blockers and diuretics – $29 billion.

• Antacids, antidiarrheals, and other medi‐

cines for

gastrointestinal

conditions

– $20

billion.

• Antidepressants, antipsychotics, and other

psychotherapeutic drugs – $20 billion.

Overall purchases of these five therapeutic

classes of drugs totaled nearly $156 billion, or two‐

thirds of the almost $233 billion that was spent on



prescription medicines used in the outpatient

treatment of adults.

Most industry experts say the prescription and

spending figures have continued to climb since

2008 and will soon top $300 billion, despite over‐

whelming evidence that diet can effectively control

both diabetes and cholesterol in almost all cases.

A study published in the Sept. 1, 2009 issue of

the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that 56% of

patients following what has been called the “Medi‐

terranean diet” (a diet high in fruits, vegetables,

whole grains and healthy fats, including olive oil,

with an emphasis on lean protein sources such as

fish, chicken and nuts) were able to control their

blood sugar without medication. That same group

also showed improvements in triglyceride and

HDL cholesterol levels.

In addition, there is significant clinical evi‐

dence that chiropractic care, including correction of

subluxation, can impact neurologic function and, as a result, have a beneficial effect on both blood sug‐

ar and cholesterol levels. By educating patients

about alternatives to prescription drugs, chiroprac‐

tors can help reduce the negative effects of these

conditions.



SOURCES: Agency for Healthcare Research

and Quality (AHRQ), Medical Expenditure Panel

Survey (MEPS), Statistical Brief #313,“Expenditures

for the Top Five Classes of Outpatient Prescription

Drugs, Adult ages 18 and Older, 2008,” by Anita

Soni, PhD, February 2011.

“Effects of a Mediterranean‐Style Diet on the

Need for Antihyperglycemic Drug Therapy in Pa‐

tients With Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes,”

Annual of Internal Medicine, Sept. 1, 2009, vol. 151

no. 5 306‐314.



CHAPTER 4

–

The Final Step: Energy Healing

To the relief of many, a movement began in the

1980s to restore the vitalistic nature to the chiro‐practic profession, and reinforce its identity as a

drug‐free wellness approach separate from the

medical sphere.

After veering off into a strictly musculoskeletal

paradigm, in keeping with the popularity of the

‘body as machine’ view, chiropractors began to re‐discover the original writings of DD and BJ Palmer

that emphasized vitalistic principles and the neuro‐

logical component of subluxation. And, at least for

a portion of the profession, chiropractic once more

became about something far more than the moving

of spinal bones to reduce symptoms. The vitalistic principle was enunciated in the

very earliest of DD Palmer’s writings on the new

field of chiropractic. The words “Founded on

Tone” are inscribed on the opening page of his 1910



text, “Book of the Science, Art and Philosophy of

Chiropractic.”

In that volume, DD Palmer stated: “Life is the

expression of tone... In that sentence is the basic

principle of Chiropractic. Tone is the normal degree

of nerve tension… consequently; the cause of dis‐

ease is any variation of tone – nerves too tense or

too slack.”

Among other writings that reinforced the neu‐

rological basis of chiropractic was BJ Palmer’s 1931

essay, “The Hour Has Arrived,” which focused at‐

tention on the nerve interference caused by the sub‐

luxation, and noted that it was the chiropractor’s

job to remove interference, not straighten spines. BJ

further stated that the misalignment is but an os‐

seous symptom of a subluxation, and any attempt

at re‐alignment would be a treatment upon effect,

and not an adjustment of cause.

He wrote: “…it is generally believed that you

could locate a subluxation by palpation; with an x‐ray; by the location of tender nerves, taut fibers, or

contractured muscles. None of these can locate a

subluxation. Any or all of these will locate misa‐

lignments. The majority of Chiropractors work

with the concept that they are the all important fea‐



ture of “adjusting subluxations”; that it is what

they do that replaces a subluxation; and it is with

this thought they proceed to push vertebra into po‐

sitions they think they need to be pushed into. ‘Ad‐

justing’ in their minds means pushing bones into

adjusted positions.”

BJ continued: “I never have such a concept. To

me adjusting a vertebra is what happens when my

hands leave the back; it is that reaction that occurs

when innate recoils in the body of the patient,

which resets the bone into ‘normal’ position.” My

work is an enticement to get INNATE to make the

adjustment. Invariably, when Innate adjusts the

subluxation it stays longer and the (NCM) reading

remains absent much longer and the patient gets

well much quicker, and I can take more dangerous

cases and get them well, where otherwise anything

I did would have failed.”

BJ Palmer also said; “A shove and push ad‐

justment, where we want to feel something ‘move’ and hear something ‘crack’, think we know where

it ought to be put, and proceed to put it there. This

Chiropractor wonders why his case gets better, gets

worse, and might get well by accident; but leaves

him up in the air as to what actually happened. He



knows Chiropractic is right because it occasionally

works.”

In short, it was the original premise that there

is a critical difference between a subluxation that

causes neural interference and a misalignment of

the vertebral bones.

While the terminology has been updated, such

understanding meshes perfectly with the emerging

fields of energy healing based on discoveries of

quantum mechanics and cellular biology. The basic

premise is that the body is, in essence, a complex

energy field and imbalances in that field can result

in illness. By re‐ balancing the bodyʹs energy field

health can be restored.

The ultimate progression in the science, art and

philosophy of chiropractic is, in some ways, the

completion of a circle in that it returns us to DD

Palmer’s roots as a magnetic healer.

Magnetism is one form of energy and the work

done in the late 19th and early 20th century in

magnetic healing was a forerunner of today’s ener‐

gy “medicine.”

The advantages we, as 21st century wellness

providers have, are the incredible advances in

science and technology that have allowed us to un‐



derstand and even measure the energy inherent in

the smallest particle of matter. These advances, par‐

ticularly in quantum physics and cellular biology,

have proven beyond a doubt that what chiropractic

pioneers theorized was correct: the universe con‐

sists of energy and intelligence.

The discovery that astounded nearly everyone

was that even the particles themselves – at a sub‐

atomic or quantum level – are actually a manifesta‐

tion of energy. This energy is present even in an

absolute vacuum, where no physical particles exist.

Matter, when deconstructed to its absolute

smallest units, is energy organized in an intelligent

matter. This applies to all matter throughout the

universe. There are no truly distinct “bits” since, on

a quantum level, there is an interchange of energy

within particles and even the space between par‐

ticles is filled with energy.

This was hinted at by Einstein in his famous E

= mc2 equation: energy is mass vibrating at the speed of light squared. Speed up the vibration suf‐

ficiently, and mass turns into energy (an oversim‐

plified but fundamentally accurate explanation).

What distinguishes various particles of matter

from each other is the speed at which the molecules



vibrate. All matter vibrates to a precise frequency

and scientists have even begun to assign vibration‐

al quantum numbers to various energy levels.

When particles vibrate at a very slow energy fre‐

quency, we view it as physical matter. Particles that

vibrate at speeds which exceed light velocity are

known as “subtle matter.”

Recent research has extended this notion of vi‐

brational “signatures” to non‐physical phenomena

such as thoughts. Each thought pattern “vibrates”

at a specific frequency, making it possible to literal‐

ly read an individual’s thoughts. This knowledge is

being put to work in the development of brain‐

machine interfaces to allow disabled people to ma‐

nipulate wheelchairs and other devices via their

brainwaves alone.

It has also been shown that the normal har‐

monic resonance – or vibrational frequency – can

be disrupted in a human being through stress, diet,

trauma, subluxation, environment, and other fac‐tors.

Although “rediscovered” by chiropractors and

other wellness professionals in the past two dec‐

ades, energy healing is ancient, dating back further

than any type of allopathic treatment.



Both eastern and western cultures have a long

history of perceiving all living things with a dualis‐

tic nature: physical and non‐physical. The latter

was understood by many ancients to be a form of

energy. In Chinese (especially early Daoist philos‐

ophy), it was termed “qi” or “ch’i,” indicating vital

force. Sanskrit labeled it “prana,” meaning vital

life. In Hebrew, the term was “ruach,” or spirit,

breath. Ancient Greece called it “pneuma,” vital

spirit or creative energy. The Latin equivalent was

“spiritus.” The glowing auras and halos found in

Christian religious paintings are thought to depict

the “spirit” surrounding Jesus and the Saints.

Throughout the ancient world, healers knew

that this invisible “something” – energy, spirit,

breath, life force, etc. – was an essential element of

life and health.

For today’s wellness professions, the concept

of the body as an energetic being is vitally impor‐

tant and a critical departure from the traditional medical paradigm of the human body as a closed

physical and chemical system.

By focusing on an individual’s energy system,

we can allow the body to find and maintain its own

vibratory signature. This is the ultimate healing



approach and has the potential to eliminate the

need for almost all medical interventions. Ironical‐

ly, the medical industry is discovering this as well,

although it tends to put a distinctly medical spin on

the approach.

A number of “mainstream” hospitals – includ‐

ing Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut (a major

academic affiliate of Yale University School of

Medicine and a member of the Yale‐New Haven

Health System) – have begun using a form of ener‐

gy therapy known as Healing Touch. Trained vo‐

lunteers place their hands on or above the “energy

centers” of a person’s body to strengthen the

body’s ability to heal itself by restoring balance and

harmony to the body’s energy system.

“Energy healing therapy involves the channe‐

ling of healing energy through the hands of a prac‐

titioner into the patient’s body to restore normal

energy balance and, therefore, health, as described

by the National Institutes of Health’s National Cen‐

ter for Complementary and Alternative Medicine,”

stated the Greenwich hospital in a press release.

It will be a long time before the medical indus‐

try truly embraces this advanced approach (if it ev‐

er does). That gives chiropractors a distinct edge



since we have been at the forefront of the energy

healing movement from the start. We pioneered the

modern field of hands‐on healing and have spent

more than a century facilitating the flow of vital

energy through the body.

The next advance for chiropractic and other

wellness approaches will be a total recognition of

the human body as a network of complex energy

fields interacting with the greater field of energy

surrounding it.

Spiritual implications Despite

the

ridicule

heaped

on

the

early

lead‐

ers of the New Thought movement, DD Palmer

never hid the fact that he was a spiritual seeker and

openly stated he received his inspiration for chiro‐

practic from the non‐physical realm. In fact, at the

beginning, he reportedly explored the religious and

spiritual

ramifications

of

his

discovery

and

consi‐

dered putting chiropractic forth as a spiritual prac‐

tice rather than as a health care regime. This is what

other teachers of the time did. Religious Science

(today primarily known as Centers for Spiritual

Living), Unity School of Practical Christianity (now



referred to as Unity), the Church of Divine Science,

and others all have strong health applications.

In retrospect, we can see that the New Thought

teachings of the late 19th century were touching on

concepts that would be validated later by quantum

physics, and interpreting them in a way that was

consistent with their spiritual and religious beliefs.

DD Palmer’s references to Universal Intelli‐

gence and Innate Energy are what we, today, call

the “information and energy” found in the quan‐

tum level throughout the universe. He understood

that the “innate energy” within the human body is

the same energy as within the stars in the further

galaxies, what Alan T. Williams calls the “funda‐

mental, irreducible primordial energy” and what

others call the “zero point field” – that sea of ener‐

gy, which by logical deductive reasoning, had to

pre‐exist matter.

This energy, as Williams puts it “exists in the

absence of matter, but matter is entirely dependent upon nonmaterial primordial energy and cannot

exist in the absence of primordial energy.”

Since this energy is the ultimate source of all

matter, it is also known as the creative source ener‐

gy, or simple “the Source.”



As noted before, all matter is made up and ex‐

ists as part of this energy, although our unique vi‐

brational frequency (or rate of vibration) gives us

the sensory illusion of separate entities.

Author Wayne Dyer aptly described the rela‐

tionship between the individual and the Source us‐

ing the metaphor of the ocean. If you watch a wave

crested toward the shore, that wave is an “indivi‐

dualized” entity. You can see it, photograph it,

measure it, and surf on it. But the appearance of a

wave as separate from the ocean is quickly dis‐

pelled when it hits the shoreline and merges back

into the ocean. It was never truly separate from the

ocean, despite the “evidence” of our physical

senses.

Humans exist as a bundle of energy within the

vast ocean of energy, constantly exchanging energy

with the Source at gross and subtle levels. While

we can never be totally separated from the Source,

our health and well being (on all levels, including mental, emotional and physical) depend on our at‐

tunement to the Source and on the free flow of

energy between the two.

But let’s not forget the other component of the

equation: Intelligence or information. The way



energy is organized and behaves, even at a sub‐

atomic level, isn’t random. As Einstein put it, God

doesn’t play dice with the Universe (the actual

quote, in a letter to Max Born, was “I, at any rate,

am convinced that He does not throw dice.”). All

the stored wisdom of creation exists within and as

part of the Source, which is both Source Energy and

Universal Intelligence.

DD Palmer emphasized this point in his 1910

book, ʺThe Chiropractorʹs Adjusterʺ when he

stated: ʺ... the Intelligent Energy that operates the

human machine is derived from an Infinite Source,

the Universal Intelligence, and is, therefore, limited

only by the capacity of the brain to transform and

individualize it...”

Another underlying precept is that this Uni‐

versal Intelligence is “loving” – to put it in human

terms. That is, to ensure the survival of all creation,

it’s always directed toward preservation, expan‐

sion, and growth. To put it in more spiritual terms, we live in a beneficent Universe.

This omnipresent (everywhere present), om‐

niscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful)

and beneficent (all loving) Source Energy is what

humankind has always thought of and called the



Divine, or – when imbued with a more personal

nature – God.

Discussing it in these terms takes the entire

topic out of the strictly scientific realm and into that

gray area between science and spirituality or reli‐

gion. But when we shed the problematic terminol‐

ogy, we see there is common ground between the

two camps. In fact, science and religion both dis‐

cuss the same thing, but in different ways.

While most (mainly western) religions have

traditionally seen the desire for evidence as a lack

of faith and therefore required of their adherents

belief without proof, science has long limited itself

to the world of physical phenomena. It has re‐

mained concerned with what can be seen and

measured or at least (at both the macro and quan‐

tum levels) theorized through deductive reasoning

based on existing evidence – anything beyond the

physical being considered too “airy fairy” for scien‐

tific scrutiny. Today, many scientists are acknowledging the

existence of unseen energy fields and of an under‐

lying Universal Intelligence. At the same time,

deeply spiritual believers are embracing quantum

theory as a way to substantiate the existence of a



divine presence. The two camps are drawing closer

and chiropractic is poised at the intersection of the

two.

It’s impossible to ignore the spiritual implica‐

tions of chiropractic’s ability to help the body re‐

store its innate energy balance and achieve reson‐

ance with the surrounding energy field.

By embracing that remarkable ability and fully

comprehending the immensity of the impact we

can have, we’ll be taking chiropractic to the next

and possibly ultimate stage of development.



CHAPTER 5

–

The New Chiropractic

and Science Jeff Rockwell, D.C.,

a 1986 graduate of Life University, and a prac‐

ticing D.C. in California,

is a long‐time teacher of

chiropractic philosophy

and technique. He has

become one of the lead‐

ing proponents of chiro‐

practic as a bastion of

vitalism, naturalism, and

holism. He explains in remarkable detail and clarity

how the understanding of chiropractic as a type of

energy healing is both revolutionary and a return

to its origins.

The following are selected articles by Dr.

Rockwell, reprinted especially for this volume,

with his permission.



Closing the

gap

between

what

we

are

and what we could be by Dr. Jeff Rockwell, D. C.

Several months prior to matriculating to Life

University in Marietta, Georgia (then Life College

of Chiropractic) I had the privilege of spending a day alone with the late R. Buckminster Fuller. I

could write a book about that day and maybe

someday will, but I want to invoke his ever‐

evolving spirit as I begin this article and share a

piece of what I learned from him that day.

I made the trip to Venice Beach, California to visit him at the rather ramshackle motel he was

staying in, my head brimming with many ques‐

tions. One question I asked him was what he con‐

sidered to be our greatest challenges in the years to

come. He quickly responded, ʺThere are three, as I

see it: the first is disbelief in science, where we choose to ignore the scientific findings that may

challenge our assumptions and turn our long‐

cherished theories on their head. The next I refer to

as “escapee mysticism,” where people stick their

heads in the sand and refuse to see what is going



on in the world around them. The last challenge

facing us is what I refer to as radical relativism, in

which the truth can be made into whatever you

want it to be. I see these three challenges as being

intimately connected.ʺ

Science is not our enemy and, in the field of

chiropractic, is coaxing us to allow a new, ex‐

panded description of the subluxation to emerge.

Some choose to ignore current trends in the new

sciences, like the person with his head in the sand.

Others cling to what the forefathers of the profes‐

sion said as if it was religious doctrine. And still

others, in spite of the mounting evidence, revel in

not moving forward, much like the old hippie dec‐

laring that the summer of love is still going on to‐

day.

The chiropractic profession currently attracts

into its various offices between 6‐12% of the popu‐

lation. Even if we still saw 20% of the population,

however, I would not declare this a success – not for a profession that has been in existence since

1895. The purpose of this article is to consider even

the possibility of a more contemporary, expanded

view of the vertebral subluxation.



BJ Palmer, the son of the founder of chiroprac‐

tic, said in 1909, that ʺChiropractors have found in

every disease that is supposed to be contagious a

cause that lies in the spine.ʺ There is no doubt in

this authorʹs mind that whatever the vertebral sub‐

luxation may or not be, it can adversely affect the

health of an individual by interfering with commu‐

nication between the central nervous system and

the organs, muscles, and glands of the body. There

has been a good deal of research on this, much of

which was done under the auspices of the late os‐

teopathic researcher Irwin Korr, Ph.D. Much less

has been done by our own profession, perhaps be‐

cause Dr. Korr was taking a less‐linear approach to

the spine, namely a functional one, while the ma‐

jority of chiropractic research has long focused on a

linear, Newtonian view of the spine as a stack of

building blocks needing to be in perfect alignment.

It is remarkable that in 2011, the profession still

refers to the vertebral subluxation as a ̋bone out of place,ʺ or, worse, the “silent killer.” It seems we

have taken a symptom, as much so as a runny nose

or the flu or heart disease, and have sought to era‐

dicate it through the chiropractic adjustment.



Some more enlightened chiropractors today

view the subluxation not as the cause of anything,

but as a manifestation of another, even more causa‐

tive factor. The application of contemporary science

to this issue sheds new light and offers an empo‐

wering perspective on chiropractic theory.

Traditionally, we have used the term “subluxa‐

tion” strictly in terms of the spine and nervous sys‐

tem. We are entering into a newer era, which if we

continue to grow as we should, will someday be

supplanted by yet another, even more‐partially

correct idea of the subluxation.

For starters, it may be worthwhile to drop the

word “vertebralʺ from how we describe the clinical

entity that we address. The subluxation is more of a

nervous system ʺthing,ʺ and less of a spinal ʺthing.ʺ

Additionally, to define the subluxation in such

terms – limiting the scope of chiropractic to the

spine and nervous system – while it made sense

based upon the science available at the time of the discovery and development of chiropractic, makes

little sense today. I seriously doubt that Dr. DD

Palmer, the founder and “intender” of the profes‐

sion, would still choose to use mechanistic, reduc‐

tionist terms to describe his clinical intent.



It is now known by everyone not living under

a rock that the nervous system is not the only

communication system utilized by living systems.

Dr. Candace Pert has shown, for three decades

now, that the nervous system is not the only com‐

munication system in the body. She has eloquently

detailed the role that the biochemical/neuropeptide

system plays in functioning as a circulating com‐

munication system outside the jurisdiction of the

central nervous system.

Neurocardiologists have described the heart as

another brain, and the good people at the Heart

Math Institute in Boulder Creek, California have

created many elegant ways of enhancing it and, by

doing so, the whole body‐mind.

European researchers such as L. Stecco and R.

Schleip have demonstrated how the entire connec‐

tive tissue system functions as a ʺconnective tissue

nervous system,ʺ one which through its piezoelec‐

tric properties helps the central nervous system to heal itself, something the CNS is too slow to do on

its own. The list goes on.

We were never meant to simply feel lumps and

bumps and misalignments. We have sufficient in‐

formation on the bodyʹs basic inherent rhythms



and interconnectivity to understand, and work

from the knowledge of, how the linked systems of

the body act together. This would be a very differ‐

ent use of the hands than is done in any other type

of manual, not to mention medical, care.

The ways in which sensory impressions come

to our hands could, if we were settled enough with‐

in ourselves and took the time to develop the skills,

tell us what might historically have been health for

that person or what might become health someday.

Putting this into words is, admittedly, as diffi‐

cult as describing exactly what we hear and feel

when we listen to great music. However, as doc‐

tors, if we can sense what a state of health would

actually physically feel like in a particular patient,

we could work with that individual without inter‐

fering in their ongoing process of health.

We need to work not only with the relation‐

ship between structure and function, body and

mind, and parts to whole, but individual to envi‐ronment, personal to transpersonal. Our goal might

be – I hesitate to say ʺshould be – to carefully, yet

effectively, encourage the body, via its own phys‐

ics, into a remembrance and reinvention of its

health. How and where to adjust will be dictated



by the body’s own purposeful direction and ex‐

pression of its inherent design.

This may seem like rather nebulous speech but

I donʹt think it to be any less practical and specific

than beloved terms such as ʺmental forceʺ and ʺin‐

nate intelligence.ʺ Speaking of which, embryolo‐

gists in Germany have, since the 1940s, been able to

detect a rhythm that pulsates through the embryo

and fetus – and can even be taught to be perceived

in an adult – every 100 seconds, a pulse which they

believe to be a manifestation of what we would call

innate intelligence.

Through clinical experience, I have noted reli‐

ably positive changes, some of which have seemed

miraculous, when I allow that rhythm within my‐

self to synchronize with that of the patient’s. Even

if, as doctors, we simply learn how to sit each

morning consciously engaging or perceiving this

rhythm, we would go a long way toward being

able to find the health both within ourselves and

the patients we seek to serve. To not do so, in light

of what has long been known by those outside of

our profession, is, in my opinion, chiropractic mal‐

practice.



If you went to chiropractic college in the last

decade you receive an education that hopefully

was much richer than you might have received in

the 1930s. Depending on the school you went to,

you might have been able to use a little, or even a

lot, more chiropractic training, but the scientific in‐

formation available to us now – assuming it is be‐

ing presented in chiropractic colleges – is breath‐

taking.

There are many areas within the new sciences

that serve to deepen their understanding of the on‐

going, evolving chiropractic principle. One such

area is the field of embryology. I have long felt that

the best textbook on innate intelligence is an em‐

bryology text. Embryology – particularly the

branch of it referred to as biodynamic – is the

science of a process; it details the universal guide‐

lines of the physical history of a human being. If we

understand how the body develops, we can get a

better picture of its history and how its inherent plan for health is dealing with it. We can conscious‐

ly work along with the vast memory of a very pro‐

found process that takes a long time to etch itself

into the human form.



Letʹs say, for example, you have a valuable

machine and it breaks. The parts are all there, but

the problem seems to be with some essential inte‐

ractions. You donʹt know which ones to repair. You

can bring in a repair service to make adjustments,

zap it with chemicals, or replace some parts. Or

you can call on an engineer who knows the design.

The way the machine was materially created offers

insight into how it might be retuned for the expres‐

sion of greater health.

The engineer is not just the chiropractor. The

engineer is the patient. The chiropractor exists to

heighten, with receptive attention and informed

action, the health universally inherent in the pa‐

tientʹs design. The result isnʹt just an increase of

health, but also an increase in awareness and other

psychosocial qualities.

At the foundation of the philosophy of chiro‐

practic, of course, are the major premise and the

Triune of life. The major premise states: ʺUniversal intelligence is in all matter and continually gives to

it all its properties and actions.ʺ This is a beautiful

statement and one which can be consciously per‐

ceived. It is also not singular to chiropractic. DD

Palmer studied the metaphysics of his day both



with and apart from Dr. A. T. Still, the founder of

osteopathy. For decades, chiropractors have been

reluctant to admit the connection between the two

men, especially reluctant to acknowledge that Pal‐

mer was a student of Still’s at the Kirkland College

of Osteopathy. To do so does not diminish chiro‐

practic one iota. Instead, it reconnects us with a

very important piece of our history, our lineage,

even. It helps us to recognize that just as the body

is a living system of interacting relationships, so is

chiropractic.

I, for one, value the sometimes overtly spiritual

quality of DDʹs writings and feel that we have im‐

poverished ourselves as a profession by hiding

from them. I draw great inspiration daily from his

saying that ʺThe purpose of chiropractic is to reu‐

nite God the spiritual with man the physical.ʺ In‐

vestigating the new field of neurophysiology and

integrating the best it has to offer with the best that

both of the Palmers had to say on the subject of spi‐rituality and health would only empower the direc‐

tion our profession moves in.

So, how many research articles do you read

daily? The day I met Buckminster Fuller he asked

me how many books I read in a year. He was not



pleased with my answer, replying, ʺIf you told me

that you slept more than two hours a day and read

less than one book a day I would fire you from the

universe forever.ʺ Hopefully he was using some

hyperbole here. I like my sleep and I do not read a

book every day, but I dig into the scientific litera‐

ture daily and feel that it greatly enriches both my

clinical practice and my understanding of my pro‐

fession. Thereʹs no need to fear the scientific litera‐

ture – it will not bite you and if it does it will not

kill you.

We have a responsibility to allow our profes‐

sion, as a living system, to be what it wants to be, to

be alive and evolving. We also, concurrently, have

the responsibility to be both practitioners and scho‐

lars. Could you explain, for example: the principle

of tensegrity and how it relates to chiropractic care;

the work of Dr. Bruce Lipton and the nuances of

the ʺmental subluxation;” Dr. Candace Pertʹs work

on the neurochemistry of emotion; the cellular me‐chanics of touch and its relation to the reflexive ef‐

fects of preparing to give and giving an adjustment;

the relation of autonomic balance to both sympto‐

matic and non‐symptomatic subluxations; how the

patientʹs body instinctively moves towards correc‐



tion, normal function and pain relief, and how not

to interfere with that; what neural tension feels like

and how, both in the central and peripheral nerv‐

ous systems tissues, it poses an impediment to

oneʹs health; biofeedback, EMDR, and PTSD resolu‐

tion and the role it can play in your practice; the

ʺEat Well, Move Well, Think Wellʺ model of Dr.

James Chestnut; the Brain Reward Cascade System

and Brain Reward Deficiency Syndrome; even the

rudiments of Dr. Ted Carrick’s Functional Neurol‐

ogy; and, especially, somatic reeducation?

A note on the latter: if innate intelligence is

real, and science knows that it is, do you really

think it is so insubstantial or weak that it always

requires an outside party to remove interference to

it? In my opinion, adjusting a patient without so‐

matically reeducating them is simply manipulating

them. Interestingly, the non‐medical disciplines

shown to be most helpful with Parkinson’s, MS,

and Alzheimer’s have been Somatic: Feldenkrais and Alexander Technique to be specific.

I hope you “scored well“ regarding the above

questions. If so, congratulations! If not, you have a

lot of rewarding work to look forward to.



For too long, we have hung our hat, so to

speak, on a particular version of vitalism, namely,

that if we remove interference to the central nerv‐

ous system through a vertebral adjustment the vital

force that we call ʺinnate intelligenceʺ could be res‐

tored to normal expression and function. In other

words, if we took our foot off the hose, innate could

flow again. In the process, though, we left out the

principles of naturalism and holism. Big mistake.

Several of my best professors in chiropractic college

– true leading lights in our profession – refused to

change their health habits, eating whatever they

wanted to, smoking and drinking, but always faith‐

fully getting their weekly adjustment. And they

either dropped dead or died a slow, painful death

in their mid‐50s.

How has your study of and practice of chiro‐

practic changed you? For me, chiropractic has re‐

quired me to keep growing. It has also required me

to live my life in a congruent manner. One cannot practice at their best if their entire life is not con‐

gruent. There are a lot of things in life one can do

well enough by just going through the motions, but

chiropractic is not one of them.



Can we – are we willing to – allow our beliefs

to be stretched to new, more expansive horizons?

Are we willing to practice in congruence with the

new sciences, to transcend and include the Green

Books, to serve as adults, and not children or ado‐

lescents, of the chiropractic profession? Are we

willing to allow chiropractic to be what it is – a

magnificent, dynamic, living system?

The life that awaits us by Jeff Rockwell, DC

Maybe the

ʺpatron

saint

ʺof

chiropractic

should

be Curious George. Iʹve always been curious about

how things work, including and especially chiro‐

practic. As a child my parents sometimes admo‐

nished me for this trait. My mother would say,

ʺCuriosity killed the cat.ʺ I guess I was supposed to

file that

ʺvaluable

ʺinformation

along

with

other

lines of wisdom such as ʺmoney doesnʹt grow on

trees.ʺ It wasnʹt until years later, when I was living

in the South, that someone told me the rest of the

old cliché: ʺCuriosity killed the cat, but satisfaction

brought it back.ʺ



In recent years, we saw the explosive success

of the book and film ʺThe Secret.ʺ For many of us it

was especially gratifying as it featured a prominent

chiropractor. Many peopleʹs lives were, and con‐

tinue to be, impacted in a positive way by such

books and movies. But often the results don’t last

long. There’s a piece missing that short‐circuits the

process unless it’s incorporated into the ʺchanging

of oneʹs mind.ʺ I believe that missing piece is chiro‐

practic care.

Most of us were raised in families, churches,

and other social communities where we were

taught what – and even how – to think. Rather than

exposing us to their values, people imposed them

on us. No oneʹs to blame here. This is how things

are done in a subluxated world. In the first seven

years of life, we’re all like ʺLittle Buddhas,ʺ effor‐

tlessly slipping into altered states, seeing ʺenergy,ʺ

talking with imaginary friends, and soaking up our

world and sensory experiences like thirsty sponges. But not every belief we were exposed to was

healthy for our nervous systems.

Some experts in child development consider

the typical indoctrination process to be a form of

child abuse, a violation of the human spirit. Dr.



Andrew Newburg, at the University of Pennsylva‐

nia, has conducted studies showing that dogmatic,

separatist thinking, especially when accentuated by

anger, damages the brain. If this isn’t a form of sub‐

luxation I donʹt know what is.

As we move further into the 21st century,

we’re recognizing that subluxation isn’t a spinal

phenomenon, but a neurological one. This really

shouldn’t be news to anyone, as vitalistic chiro‐

practors have always been attempting to engage

the nervous system to facilitate the expression of

health in their patients.

Many of the beliefs stirring up the most trouble

in the world today date back to the Iron Age. While

some claim ̋believing never hurt anyone,ʺ we see

many beliefs played out that are not the least bit

benign. And as we find ourselves in increasingly

sophisticated technological territory, there are po‐

tentially grave consequences to holding onto anti‐

quated beliefs. Consider, for example, that without the aid of

todayʹs technology, humans killed more than 160

million other humans in warfare based on religious

and nationalistic ideologies. In 2011, there are more

than 20 religious conflicts going on, according to



Amnesty International. The destruction that used

to require armies of thousands can now be created

by a single ̋believerʺ with a suitcase bomb.

In chiropractic, we speak about changing the

world ʺone spine at a time.ʺ Advocates of The Law

of Attraction may talk about changing the world

ʺone thought at a time.ʺ There’s truth in both posi‐

tions, and we can leverage those truths for greater

gain if we exercise our curiosity regarding this

ʺthingʺ called the subluxation.

Subluxation is a disease. That wasn’t a typo. I

didn’t mean to say subluxation is ʺdis‐ease.” You

read it right the first time. Subluxation is a disease

of perception, in which outdated beliefs become

and remain somatized as part of our neurology –

and reality – if left chiropractically unchallenged.

Dr. Bruce Lipton has demonstrated that when

we repeat the same beliefs over and over, we be‐

come a closed system functioning on autopilot.

He’s noted that taking a living system as divinely profound as the human organism, and rendering it

into a sophisticated sort of automaton, causes the

brain to actually shrink in size and atrophy. The

hindbrain, with its propensity for reactive emotions

and dualistic perception of the world, enlarges,



while the prefrontal cortex, with its capacity for

compassionate thinking and unitive awareness,

shrinks in size.

I recall a time, back in the 1980s, when some of

our kinder detractors said things like, ʺChiropractic

may help those with back pain,ʺ or ʺChiropractic

adjustments may, at least, help people to become

more flexible.ʺ I find the latter statement intriguing,

if not a little patronizing. To me, one of the

healthiest and most loving things we could do for

ourselves is to consistently court flexibility of body

through chiropractic care, and flexibility of con‐

sciousness as well.

Functional MRI studies are now revealing that

strong, inflexible beliefs, especially negative ones,

do not make ʺneurological senseʺ to the brain. In

response, it builds up tension in its emotional cen‐

ters – which most definitely include the spinal cord

– and cause the production of nociceptive irritants,

pain‐producing chemicals, and keep a person in a sustained ʺfight or flightʺ neurological state. These

neurological and chemical changes create nerve

tissue atrophy further down the central nervous

system ʺchain.”



We may read one self‐help book after another,

listen to one positive thinking guru after another,

and we change for a few days, a few weeks, even a

few months. This doesn’t make for long‐term hap‐

piness, but can even become dangerous as evi‐

denced by the statistics mentioned earlier.

When asked what makes people think what

they believe is true, many respond that they “just

feel it.” Of course they do. The beliefs have become

embedded into the emotional neurological centers

– which we now know includes the entire posterior

portion of the spinal cord – causing adverse nerv‐

ous system changes and increasing the likelihood

that they’ll continue beating up on anyone who

doesn’t agree with them, regardless of whether or

not their beliefs are true. This includes beating up

on ourselves, as we fight with the voices and condi‐

tioning of our early past, information that’s be‐

come, to the extent we’re subluxated, cemented in

place. We’ve all seen this in our patients, and if we’re honest, in ourselves. We’re fighting a losing

battle because, in a very real sense, we’re fighting

rather than flowing with our lives. A flexible neu‐

rology and a flexible consciousness, along with a



flexible spine, allow us to flow with the ever‐

changing mystery that life is.

That all sounds sweet and poetic, but what do I

really mean? Most of us are familiar with the neu‐

robiologist Candace Pert, PhD. The author of ʺMo‐

lecules of Emotion.” She nearly won the Nobel

Prize in medicine in the early 1970s for her work in

identifying the chemical cause of the ʺrunnerʹs

highʺ – endorphins. Her later work demonstrated

that these type of chemicals, called neuropeptides,

were not only produced by the brain but in other

parts of the body. It was these chemicals that she

named ʺmolecules of emotion.ʺ

Suppose you were to win the lottery tonight.

Great thought, right? If that were to happen, a

group of chemicals would be produced that would

enable you to experience the elation worthy of a

person who’d just won a large sum of money. If, on

the other hand, you fell madly in love with the man

or woman of your dreams, your body would pro‐duce a different array of chemical molecules and

you would experience some version of the intox‐

icating, melting feeling we associate with romance.

If, instead, you had a religious conversion expe‐



rience you might experience divine ecstasy, if the

right chemicals got triggered.

Some people have resistance to thinking of

love, joy, or ecstasy as chemistry. Obviously,

they’re more than mere chemical phenomena.

They, you might say, transcend and include chemi‐

stry. But, we’ve all struggled at some point, trying

to change a habit. Perhaps it was attempting to stop

smoking or drinking coffee. Maybe it was trying to

eliminate procrastination or improve self‐esteem.

Probably it was difficult, our own personal version

of ʺinsanity… doing the same thing over and over

again, expecting a different result.ʺ So, whatʹs the

deal?

The molecules of emotion are like chemical

ʺkeysʺ that need to find the right shaped ʺlocksʺ in

order to produce a specific feeling. These “locks”

are called receptor sites and, according to Dr. Pert,

the ʺkeysʺ or emotional molecules, must locate, as

they circulate through the body, receptor sites on

cells that are structurally suited to receive them. If

the receptor site has had its shape altered, through

mechanical or emotional stress for example, the

molecules can’t bind with them. You can win the

lottery, fall in love, and find God all on the same



day, and what should be a profound experience

will be minimized by the inability of these neuro‐

peptides to find a ʺhome.ʺ How often have we seen

patients come into our offices whose ʺceiling of

happinessʺ or ʺceiling of health and wellnessʺ is so

low that it’s sad.

Pert writes: ʺMemories and beliefs are stored

not only in the brain, but in the psychosomatic

network extending into the body, particularly in

the ubiquitous receptors between nerves and bun‐

dles of cell bodies called ganglia, which are distri‐

buted not just in and near the spinal cord, but all

the way out along nerve pathways to internal or‐

gans and the very surface of our skin.

ʺAn element I think we are skipping in our

discussion of practical applications for mind‐ body

health is bodywork: the touch therapies of chiro‐

practic and other modalities that include the body

as a means of healing the mind and emotions. It is

true that we do store some memory in the brain, but by far, the deeper, older messages are stored in

the body and must be accessed through the body.

Your body is your subconscious mind, and you

cannot heal it by talk alone!ʺ



At a research conference, I once heard Dr. Pert

say, ʺHow we experience our world is in large part

governed by the structure and function of our

spine.ʺ Remember those receptor sites? The region

of the body that has the largest population of them

is the posterior portion of the spinal cord, specifi‐

cally the dorsal horn. Dr. Pert feels that this is the

anatomical location of the subconscious mind and

refers to it as an extension of the brainʹs limbic sys‐

tem. In fact, the emotional brain is not confined to

the brain, but extends down the spine and is

known today as the mesolimbic system.

Subluxation alters the function of the spine.

Dysfunction of the spine causes ischemia or lack of

blood flow to the associated spinal cord and spinal

nerve root tissues, inhibiting their physiology. This

includes, very specifically, the receptor sites we are

talking about. Subluxation alters their physiology

in an adverse manner, making it difficult, at best,

for high quality molecules of emotion to bind there, thus limiting oneʹs experience, embodiment, and

expression of health, happiness, and wholeness.

This distorts our emotional experience of ourselves

and of our world, making it, by necessity, a more

stressful one. Molehills become mountains. We



shift our physiology from safety and trust to defen‐

siveness and divisiveness, misperceiving signs of

threat where there are none. Thatʹs why, to me,

subluxation represents a disease of perception.

Pert continues: ʺThe body becomes the battle‐

field for the war‐games of the mind. All the unre‐

solved thoughts and emotions, the negativity we

hold onto, shows up in the body and makes us

sick.”

Joseph Campbell once said, ʺWe must be will‐

ing to get into the life we have planned, so as to

have the life that is awaiting us. The old skin has to

be shed before the new one is to come.ʺ This is

what happens every day in the greatest of chiro‐

practic offices – hopefully yours. Growth and trans‐

formation requires a sacrifice, a shedding of old

skin. Practice members commit to chiropractic as

part of their lifestyle. They dive further into the life

they’ve planned. We adjust their nervous systems

and allow their bodies to work together as a dy‐namic whole. And our practice members meet –

perhaps for the first time – the life that awaits them.

Chiropractic is a holistic science. Today we

know that the three classically separated areas of

neuroscience, endocrinology, and immunology,



with their various organs – the brain; the glands;

and the spleen, bone marrow, and lymph nodes –

are actually joined to each other in a multidirec‐

tional network of communication, linked by infor‐

mation carriers known as neuropeptides. What

we’ve been talking about throughout this article is

information. I’d like to speculate that ʺmental forceʺ

is the flow of information as it moves among the

cells, organs, and systems of the body. The health

and integrity of our core, the central nervous sys‐

tem, permits this holistic information‐network to

flourish. We can then see, right in front of our eyes,

that there truly is an intelligence running things,

what we as chiropractors are privileged to inti‐

mately know as ʺinnate intelligence.ʺ

Instrumentation One of the major hurdles that had to be over‐

come by chiropractic (and any other wellness field

influencing the body’s neurologic and energy

fields) was the lack of instrumentation capable of

detecting and measuring those fields. Although

some sophistical devices are capable of detecting

electromagnetic energy in the minute quantities

generated by the human body, quantifying subtle



energy has been more difficult, particularly in chi‐

ropractic field offices.

Instead of measuring the energy emanations

themselves, we normally rely on measuring the

clinical outcomes of chiropractic interventions. Us‐

ing standard outcome measurement protocols such

as Health‐Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) studies,

it is possible to quantify the impact of chiropractic

adjustments on the body’s neurological systems.

This has already, in fact, been done frequently

– although primarily within the medical paradigm

of disease treatment. Influencing the energy fields

through interventions such as chiropractic, qigong,

acupuncture and acupressure, magnetic and light

therapy, and healing touch have been shown to

have measurable impact on a number of specific

health conditions, as well as general health‐related

quality of life.

HRQOL as measurement of wellness The move toward measuring overall wellness

and quality of life, as opposed to simply diagnos‐

ing diseases, is a fundamental shift in the health

care culture and one that is essential to the under‐



standing of chiropractic as a means of energy heal‐

ing.

On April 7, 1948, the World Health Organiza‐

tion established its definition of health as: ʺ... a state

of complete physical, mental and social well‐ being

and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.ʺ

The definition, which was considered radical

in its time because it took a more holistic view of

the term, is still in use today.

A more recent and expanded definition, from

the Quality of Life Research Unit at the University

of Toronto states that quality of life encompasses

ʺthe goodness and meaning in life, as well as

peopleʹs happiness and well‐ being. From our pers‐

pective, the ultimate goal of quality of life study

and its subsequent applications is to enable people

to live quality lives – lives that are both meaningful

and enjoyed.ʺ

In its ground‐ breaking report, ʺMeasuring

Healthy Days,ʺ the US Department of Health and

Human Servicesʹ Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention noted that, despite the WHO definition

ʺ…health in the U.S. has traditionally been meas‐

ured narrowly and in the negative. What is meas‐

ured is ill health in its severe manifestations, those



which are verifiable through physical examination

and other objective procedures or tests… Such tra‐

ditional measures of morbidity and mortality pro‐

vide information about the lowest levels of health,

but they reveal little about other important aspects

of an individual’s or a community’s level of

health.ʺ

Thatʹs why, in recent years, health and well‐

ness professionals have sought new ways to get a

more complete measurement of an individualʹs to‐

tal state of well‐ being, or quality of life.

The multi‐dimensional Self‐Reported Quality‐

of‐Life survey (such as that provided by Integrative

Outcome Measurements) is based in part on two

independent surveys:

1) the SF‐36 Health Survey, a standard quality‐

of‐ life test developed by the RAND Corporation

and extensively administered and validated. Use of

the SF‐36 in scientific and medical research has

been documented in nearly 4,000 publications, and

it has been used to measure health‐related quality

of life for samples of the general population as well

as groups with specific conditions, ranging from

asthma to spinal cord injury; and



2) the Self‐Reported Quality of Life (SRQOL), a

survey developed for use in specific healthy popu‐

lations. The SRQOL contains 41 questions covering

physical, mental/emotional, stress evaluation and

life enjoyment domains of health. This instrument

has been validated and applied to several other

populations undergoing wellness interventions.

The National Center for Chronic Disease Pre‐

vention and Health Promotion Health‐Related

Quality of Life noted that: ʺPhysicians have often

used health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) to

measure the effects of chronic illness in their pa‐

tients to better understand how an illness interferes

with a personʹs day‐to‐day life. Similarly, public

health professionals use health‐related quality of

life to measure the effects of numerous disorders,

short‐ and long‐term disabilities, and diseases in

different populations. Tracking health‐related qual‐

ity of life in different populations can identify sub‐

groups with poor physical or mental health and

can help guide policies or interventions to improve

their health.ʺ

Like the founder and developer of chiropractic,

today’s chiropractors do not look only at the spine

or limit their expertise to moving bones to reduce



misalignments of vertebra. Instead, they see the

human body as a fully integrated energy field that

can be affected by structural adjustments. In short,

we’ve come full circle and gathered important in‐

formation and understandings along the way.

¡



Learn more about Dr. Rondberg and his work at

any of the following websites:

The Chiropractic Journal

Integrative Outcome Measurements

The World Chiropractic Alliance

WCA Health News Update

The Evolution of Chiropractic

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