Chiropractic philosophy

OBJECTIVE: To explore how the topic of vaccination arises during interactions between chiropractors and their patients, the advice that is given to patients, and the factors that influence the opinions of the chiropractors. METHODS: Data were collected in semistructured interviews with a purposeful sample of chiropractors in Calgary, Canada. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis and constant comparison. Participants were chiropractors who had participated in a postal survey of immunization-related beliefs and behaviors and who consented to contact for further study...

Chiropractic is one of the most controversial and poorly defined healthcare professions with recognition and licensure in the United States. Chiropractic was started by D. D. Palmer, a magnetic healer who formulated the vertebral subluxation theory. The profession was developed by his son, B. J. Palmer. Although the definition of chiropractic as a method of correcting vertebral subluxations to restore and maintain health is questionable, spinal manipulation is of value in the treatment of some types of back pain...

BACKGROUND: There is little homogeneity of opinion in the chiropractic profession about its essence and identity. Matters compromising the establishment of a coherent identity include the issue of vertebral subluxation, philosophy, mercantilism, poverty of qualifications in some chiropractic college faculty, and lack of intellectual productivity in some chiropractic college faculty. DISCUSSION: The Chiropractic profession has mislabeled rhetoric, supposition and cant as philosophy, whilst showing sparse evidence for the existence of more than a few chiropractors writing in philosophy as a discipline...

BACKGROUND: More than 100 years after its inception the chiropractic profession has failed to define itself in a way that is understandable, credible and scientifically coherent. This failure has prevented the profession from establishing its cultural authority over any specific domain of health care. OBJECTIVE: To present a model for the chiropractic profession to establish cultural authority and increase market share of the public seeking chiropractic care. DISCUSSION: The continued failure by the chiropractic profession to remedy this state of affairs will pose a distinct threat to the future viability of the profession...

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has grown in popularity and prominence in the world of orthodox medicine since the 1980s. The focus of this article is on the process of developing practice guidelines (one type of EBM) and its effects upon chiropractic, a profession with a "philosophy, science and art" that is constructed upon divergent epistemological and methodological tenets (namely, the idea of "vitalism"). The EBM movement is conceptualized as part of a larger political economy surrounding the health care environment that creates a new set of imperatives for orthodox medicine, and also branches of alternative medicine that are in the process of professionalization...

BACKGROUND: Concerns have been raised about the beliefs and behaviours of chiropractors related to immunization; however, none have systematically examined the relationships between beliefs and behaviours. PURPOSE: We examine the immunization-related behaviours and beliefs of chiropractors in Alberta, Canada, and explore the relationship of beliefs to immunization-related behaviours with patients. METHODS: Data were collected in 2002 from a postal survey of Alberta chiropractors...

Chiropractors may be well-positioned to play an important role in health promotion, injury and disease prevention, and on geriatric care teams, due to their practice style and holistic philosophy. The bottom line in aging care is that someone in the health-care world must provide health promotion and preventive services to older patients before the wave of aged patients profoundly overwhelms our health-care system. Chiropractic services are safe and relatively low-cost, and patient satisfaction with them is very high...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

After briefly reviewing the development of the germ theory of disease, the author delineates the opposition that the germ theory met from many practitioners, especially chiropractors. This paper explores the evolution of chiropractic's position regarding the germ theory of disease and its dominance in medicine's approach to prophylactic therapy by surveying the chiropractic literature. If the number of monograph and journal publications is indicative of the degree of chiropractic sentiment against the germ theory, the opposition to the theory was heaviest in the 1940's, trailing off to only the occasional monograph or journal article in the 1970's and beyond...

D.D. Palmer has been a much ignored man in the discipline he founded. The same applies to several early concepts he used to develop from a mere healer's background: D.D. Palmer invested them with an entirely different meaning. When considered, they help to understand the inner logic that allowed for chiropractic survival. There was an alchemy in the creation of chiropractic and the senior Palmer was the alchemist. He has not been recognized even within his own profession for the self-taught scholar and clinician that he was, knowledgeable about the various medical and scientific theories of his time...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

This paper sketches Palmer's Portland period, and relies upon five issues of DD's periodical, the Chiropractor's Adjuster, to supplement traditional sources. The early activities of the D.D. Palmer College of Chiropractic are reviewed, and Palmer's travels throughout the region are noted. Old Dad Chiro's widespread influence in the profession is apparent from the diverse correspondence reprinted in his magazine, including letters from chiropractors in at least 22 states. During his Portland years his intent to "adjust" the "mistaken" ideas of chiropractors and his anger at son BJ became plainly and painfully evident...

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become a popular form of healthcare and the predictions are that, it will increase further. The reasons for this level of popularity are highly diverse, and much of the motivation to turn to CAM pertains to a deeply felt criticism of mainstream medicine - many people (are led to) believe that conventional interventions, including immunisation, are associated with the potential to do more harm than good. Thus, it is hardly surprising that CAM also lends support to the "anti-vaccination movement"...

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Although there is overwhelming evidence to show that vaccination is a highly effective method of controlling infectious diseases, a vocal element of the chiropractic profession maintains a strongly antivaccination bias. Reasons for this are examined. The basis seems to lie in early chiropractic philosophy, which, eschewing both the germ theory of infectious disease and vaccination, considered disease the result of spinal nerve dysfunction caused by misplaced (subluxated) vertebrae. Although rejected by medical science, this concept is still accepted by a minority of chiropractors...

The concept of manual therapy, specifically manipulation of the bodily joints as in the practice of chiropractic, can no longer be deemed an invalid system of health care. Practiced for over 2,000 years by a variety of ancient civilizations, the art of manipulation for the purpose of correcting and restoring joint function has continued to flourish, despite opposition. The climate, however, is changing. The art of chiropractic is increasingly being seen as a uniquely devised and administered technique whereby high velocity, low amplitude thrusting maneuvers are specifically directed by the skilled practitioner toward spinal segments and peripheral articulations in an effort to correct aberrant mechanical function...

Osteopathy and chiropractic represent two challenging domains with a specific degree of multiplicity and complexity. This makes a complete appraisal difficult and impossible to appreciate in one single analysis. These disciplines exist since more than one century. An hermeneutic approach permits to understand their genesis but indicates also the nonsense of trying to transfer and apply earliest principles nowadays. It seems that most, but not all, practicing clinicians take into account recent developments in physiology, biomechanics and pathophysiology...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.