Brief Definitions of Chiropractic

Chiropractic is defined in the dictionary as "a therapeutic system based upon the premise that disease is caused by the interference with nerve function, the method being to restore normal condition by adjusting the segments of the spinal column."

The International Chiropractors Association defines chiropractic as follows:

The philosophy of chiropractic is based upon the premise that disease or abnormal function is caused by interference with nerve transmission and expression, due to pressure, strain or tension upon the spinal cord or spinal nerves, as a result of body segments of the vertebral column deviating from their normal juxtaposition. The practice of chiropractic consists of analysis of an interference with normal nerve transmission and expression, and the correction thereof by an adjustment with the hands of the abnormal deviations of the bony articulations of the vertebral column for the restoration and maintenance of health, without the use of drugs or surgery. The term "analysis" is construed to include the use of X-ray and other analytical instruments generally used in the practice of chiropractic.

The definition given by the American Chiropractic Association is:

Chiropractic practice is the specific adjustment and manipulation of the articulations and adjacent tissues of the body, particularly of the spinal column, for the correction of nerve interference and includes the use of recognized diagnostic methods, as indicated. Patient care is conducted with due regard for environmental, nutritional, and psychotherapeutic factors, as well as first aid, hygiene, sanitation, rehabilitation and related procedures designed to restore or maintain normal nerve function.

According to chiropractic, the deviation of the body segments of the vertebral column from their normal juxtaposition that interferes with nerve transmission and expression is called subluxation.

Two chiropractic descriptions of subluxation are:

"The vertebrae are . . . within their normal range of motion, although not functioning at their optimum."

"A vertebral subluxation may be interpreted as 'off-centering of a vertebral segment.' A subluxation is a fixation of the joint within its normal range of movement, usually at the extremity of this range."

In other words, subluxed vertebrae (spinal bones) are characterized by fixation and misalignment within the normal range of motion.

Daniel David Palmer, a tradesman who posed as a magnetic healer, "discovered" chiropractic in 1895. Magnetic healing was a popular form of quackery in the nineteenth century in which the healers believed that their personal magnetism was so great that it gave them the power to cure disease .

Palmer said: I am the originator, the Fountain Head of the essential principle that disease is the result of too much or not enough functionating. I created the art of adjusting vertebrae, using the spinous and transverse processes as levers, and named the mental act of accumulating knowledge, the cumulative function, corresponding to the physical vegetative function -- growth of intellectual and physical-together, with the science, art and philosophy -- Chiropractic. . . . It was I who combined the science and art and developed the principles thereof. I have answered the question -- what is life?

The chiropractic philosophy originated by Palmer is the frame of reference of modern-day chiropractic thinking as exemplified in the most widely used chiropractic textbook at the present time. Palmer put forth the concepts of Universal Intelligence, Innate Intelligence, and Educated Intelligence. Universal Intelligence is God. Innate Intelligence is the "Soul, Spirit or Spark of Life" or "Nature, intuition, instinct, spiritual and subconscious mind." It is the "something" within the body which controls the healing process, growth, and repair and "is beyond the finite knowledge." While Innate Intelligence utilizes the autonomic nervous system, the Educated Intelligence, or "conscious," utilizes "the cerebrospinal division for the volitional expression of its function."

Nature, or Innate Intelligence, has a great capacity to maintain or restore health if it is allowed normal expression within the body. However, mental, chemical, or mechanical stress can produce a greater or lesser displacement of the vertebrae, or vertebral disrelationship, and this displacement interferes with the planned expression of Innate Intelligence through the nerves. This interference then produces pathology.

The chiropractor, by correcting the displacement, allows the Innate Intelligence to effect the cure. The pathology that chiropractors treat by manual manipulation of the spine totals over ninety diseases, including gastrointestinal, genitourinary, respiratory, vascular, and emotional disorders; diabetes; deafness; eye disorders; cancer; arthritis; and infectious diseases such as polio, mumps, hepatitis, diphtheria, and the common cold.