January 2006

Healing consciousness

by Dr. Will Tickel

For as long as I can remember, we've talked about chiropractic being a paradigm shift in the way people view themselves, their bodies, and their health. "Get the idea," we've told folks, "and all else will follow." Looking back, it's quite likely that the pioneers in this profession ‑‑ those who practiced, say, in the first 50 years or so ‑‑ did more to promote and establish the much‑needed paradigm shift than have most DCs who've followed. I, for one, experienced first‑hand the results of such a pioneer when, back in 1979, my wife and I stepped in for a recently deceased chiropractor.

Dr. Jeannette Nelson practiced for 34 years in rural, downstate Illinois. When we (me, my wife, and innate) first assumed her practice, the mode of payment was cash, as in "Fee: fourteen. Pay: fourteen." At day's end, we went home with cash and personal checks. The only reports came at year's end when some folks asked for a summary of their health investment for tax purposes.

Then things changed. Something rather insidious and far‑reaching came into being. First, insurance reimbursement, then assignment of benefits. With that came an erosion of healing consciousness for nearly all patients and, ultimately, for many doctors.

Third party pay was soon looked upon as a blank check by many DCs (other disciplines, too, incidentally). Initially, with third party pay, incomes rose and the ministry of healing or healing consciousness fell proportionately. A seasoned CA recently described the era insurance ushered in ‑‑ roughly the 1980s ‑‑ as the "Mercedes 80s." Recognizing the shift in intent, the insurance industry attempted to control or manage the collateral damage. Thus managed care, or as the seasoned CA described it to me, the "Whinny 90s." For many, the impact of managed care sliced incomes. Personally, I witnessed marriages dissolve and bought‑off practitioners enter other occupations as incomes plummeted by as much as one‑half or more.

A fortuitous start

As new practitioners assuming the Nelson practice, we were awe‑struck by reports of miracle after miracle cures the patients shared about people of all ages ‑‑ newborn to geriatric. These were inspiring stories that included how the 14‑seat reception area stayed full morning to night, with warm summer evenings causing folks to spill out onto the front porch steps as farmers and others dropped their work, showered up, and came to town for an adjustment.

Fortunately, our experience in the practice of Dr. Nelson so impressed us that we've stayed true to principle in serving the patient. For 25 years now, we've practiced free of outside‑in remedies.

Dr. Nelson was a Palmer grad who started in practice before the renegades at what was then called the National College of Chiropractic in Chicago conspired to make Illinois a "mixer" state. When the mixer lobbyists got therapy included in the law, practitioners like her found themselves on the outside looking in. So, she went underground, becoming known simply as "Mrs. Nelson." J. Clay Thompson, DC, PhC, another pioneer, inventor, and long‑term instructor of Public Health and Hygiene at Palmer put it to me this way: "Every course you took at Palmer was chiropractic in those days. After all, all subjects were taught by chiropractors ‑‑ many of them quite successful and full of fire for the principle. Palmer, at the time, never taught therapy, simply chiropractic philosophy and application."

Interestingly enough, "Mrs. Nelson" was no martyr to the cause. I, personally, saw the modification that her husband Ray made to their single‑car garage to accommodate the automobile her successes as a healer brought her. Ray had actually boxed out the rear wall of the garage to fit the Cadillac's front bumper, thus providing clearance for the garage door behind the longer vehicle.

I say all that to say this. The fatted calf, the cash cow of the insurance industry, has been slaughtered. Unfortunately, it took much of the paradigm shift in healing consciousness with it. It's time, DCs, we took the "thot" back. Or, haven't you noticed?

Others are mouthing our principle as something new and improved. (The initials "DC," nonetheless, do not mean Deepak Chopra.) In a world that's essentially becoming more and more toxic due to chemical changes ‑‑ both external and internal ‑‑ it's time we stepped up the telling of the story of the innate way.

(Will Tickel, DC ‑‑ willtickel@yahoo.com ‑‑ is an internationally known speaker on "things natural." He and his wife, Dr. Pam Tickel, are graduates of a chiropractic college that no longer calls itself such. One son and a daughter‑in‑law are DCs, and two other sons are rapidly pursuing their right to licensure at Life. Dr. Tickel is finishing up a third book on healing, entitled, "Stirrin' it Up! A baby boomer's look at life, liberty, and the pursuit of imperfect bliss." He is available for talks in your area.)