Chiropractic, Chiropractic

A philosophy based on deduction from irrefutable doctrine helped distinguish chiropractic from medicine, provided it with legal and political defenses against claims of practicing medicine without a license, and allowed chiropractors to establish themselves as an autonomous profession. This "straight" philosophy, taught to generations of chiropractors, rejects the inferential reasoning of the scientific method, and relies on deductions from vitalistic first principles rather than on the materialism of science.

Unlike the distinction between podiatry (a science-based profession for foot disorders) and foot reflexology (an unscientific philosophy which posits that many disorders arise from the feet), in chiropractic the two professions attempt to live under one roof.

Straights view the medical diagnosis of patient complaints (which they consider to be the "secondary effects" of subluxations) to be unnecessary for chiropractic treatment. Thus, straight chiropractors are concerned primarily with the detection and correction of vertebral subluxation via adjustment and do not "mix" other types of therapies.

While straight chiropractic still retains the traditional vitalistic construct espoused by the founders, evidence-based chiropractic suggests that a mechanistic view will allow chiropractic care to become integrated into the wider health care community.

A focus on evidence-based SM research has also raised concerns that the resulting practice guidelines could limit the scope of chiropractic practice to treating backs and necks.

The following adjustive procedures were received by more than 20% of patients of licensed U.S. chiropractors in a 2003 survey: Diversified technique (full-spine manipulation), extremity adjusting, Activator technique (which uses a spring loaded tool to deliver precise adjustments to the spine), Thompson Technique, Gonstead (which looks at the whole spine with the philosophy that a vertebral misalignment may affect other areas of the spine, emphasizing the mechanical aspects of the spine), Cox/flexion-distraction (a gentle, non-force adjusting procedure which mixes chiropractic principles with osteopathic principles and utilizes specialized adjusting tables with movable parts), adjustive instrument, Sacro-Occipital Technique (which models the spine as a torsion bar), Nimmo Receptor-Tonus Technique, and Applied Kinesiology (which emphasises "muscle testing" as a diagnostic tool).

Canada requires a minimum three years of undergraduate education as a prerequisite for chiropractic school, and at least 4200 instructional hours (or the equivalent) of fulltime chiropractic education for matriculation through an accredited chiropractic program.

Palmer, a magnetic healer, hypothesized that manual manipulation of the spine could cure disease. Chiropractic competed with its predecessor osteopathy, another medical system based on magnetic healing and founded by a charismatic midwesterner in opposition to conventional medicine; however, where osteopathic postulated improved blood flow via manipulation, chiropractic postulated improved neural transmissions.

D.D. and B.J. both seriously considered declaring chiropractic a religion, which might have provided legal protection under the U.S. constitution, but decided against it partly to avoid confusion with Christian Science.

Chiropractors' attempts to establish a positive reputation for their public health role are also compromised by their reputation for recommending repetitive life-long chiropractic treatment.

Source: Wikipedia > Chiropractic