January 2008

Chiropractic isn't a pill

by Dr. Dave Scheiner

Pills were created to treat symptoms and medicine was formed as an avenue of delivery. Most in the chiropractic profession are caught in the web of the medical model in that it claims to be a successful treatment for discomforts and other ailments. Many chiropractors deliver a package of hope to their patients by leading them to believe that their methodologies will in fact alleviate their injuries and other conditions.

Perhaps if we looked back to the late 1800s we'd uncover the origin of this erroneous thought process.

When DD Palmer discovered chiropractic, his belief system was based solely on the body's healing powers; if he removed interferences within the nervous system, that person would experience life more optimally and vibrantly.

It's widely known that DD's first recorded adjustment was given to Harvey Lillard. What most people are unaware of is that he delivered hundreds before that with the intention of allowing life to flow more freely through the individual. At the time of his unrecorded career, he was happy and successful.

The problems arose after he adjusted Mr. Lillard on Sept. 18, 1895 at the Ryan Block Building on Brady Street in Davenport, Iowa. When Lillard got up from the flat adjusting bench, he noticed his hearing had returned and thus Chiropractic as a Pill was born.

As the word got around, people began lining up to receive chiropractic adjustments with the high hopes of having their hearing restored. At first, DD resisted all of this attention and adamantly turned many people away. He was quoted as saying, "Chiropractic is not a treatment or a cure. It gives people the opportunity to have a better quality of living without interference in their nervous system."

People weren't buying that and they started demanding that he see them upstairs and on that flat bench. DD couldn't resist any longer and his ego got the best of him. He even went so far as to hang a banner outside claiming chiropractic cured deafness.

Perhaps one or two people, out of the hundreds who showed up, gained a little hearing back and the rest went home disappointed. Yet, many of the people who remained deaf did begin to notice other symptoms clearing up ‑‑ of the common cold, asthma, colitis, bronchitis, eye twitching, and other conditions ‑‑ and these were reported to Palmer.

With his pride and reputation damaged from the failures of getting the deaf to hear, DD immediately began hanging more banners that read, "Chiropractic...The Cure Of The Common Cold" and "Breathe Right With Chiropractic."

Thousands more began to flock to his office in search of the magical chiropractic adjustment pill to cure them of their ailments. Although a few came away satisfied, the majority were once again disappointed. The medical doctors in the area who caught wind of what Palmer was up to began threatening him and accusing him of practicing medicine in the name of chiropractic.

One medical doctor of that era was quoted as saying, "We give scientific based medicine to those who suffer and Palmer is claiming to cure the sick and get them well by pushing on their bones." He added, "This quackery is founded on nothing more than a hunch with absolutely no scientific foundation."

From the beginning of popularized chiropractic, it was tagged as a treatment of symptoms, and set itself up for failure before it ever had the opportunity to succeed in its true form. Any time we take an "outside‑in" approach and expect wonderful things to occur inside the body, we set the stage for great disappointment.

When we take a close look at low back pain for example, that symptom has almost as good of a chance dissipating without chiropractic as it does with it. In fact, many of your patients tell you, "My low back pain comes and goes." Why would you want to treat something that's there some of the time when you can focus within the person and unleash an essence that's been there all along?

The general public, having been conditioned to see chiropractic as a solution for low back pain, is comforted by care to alleviate the symptom. We live in a society that is symptom‑ and disease‑based. You are a chiropractor and as such are supposed to break out of and be free from the disease and condition paradigm. Teach them that and they will come.

I'm not suggesting that you stop seeing people who come into your office interested in having you ease their pain and symptoms. What I am saying is, you should view each one of your symptom‑based new patients as an opportunity to meet them first at the level they came in at and then passionately share with them what chiropractic is truly about, which will raise you both to new heights.

If you don't share the truth about chiropractic with your patients, the minute they're free of pain, they'll stop getting chiropractic care until they're in pain again. That's how they think chiropractic works, that it's a temporary pain relief method similar to a pill. Is that really helping them have better, healthier lives?

The same holds true if you promise pain relief and they don't "get better" after a couple of visits. You'll lose them and one more person will think chiropractic is a failure when in fact he or she never knew what it was about in the first place.

Chiropractic was given to us to enhance society with its internal wisdom and beautiful essence. DCs are to serve humanity by removing the interference and giving all those who come into our offices a better opportunity to express the essence of who they are. Chiropractic is about freeing the blockages within the nervous system in order to provide those who seek our services an experience of human potential, performance, and enhancement at the internal levels that matter.

The chiropractic adjustment sets the stage for that opportunity. It has everything to do with human and universal transformation and nothing to do with the treatment of anything.

The choice has always been there for you. This profession is not a popularity contest, not about how much your patients like you or not, and certainly not about the money. If your focus is pure, steadfast, and grounded in the magnificent principles of chiropractic and universal truth, your patients will love you and you will have more money than you would ever know what to do with.

Tonight when you're finished with dinner and before you turn on the TV, go outside and look up at the stars. Notice how they flicker, which is actually their way of communicating with one another and with those of us who are able to listen. Concentrate on the flickering for a few moments and realize how there is no interference up there. That communication is exactly the same way the brain communicates its vital information with the rest of the body.

Next time you see a patient, are you going to correct the subluxation and remove the nerve interference to get that person out of pain or to alleviate a symptom? Or, are you going to remove the nerve interference because you trust that person is better off without it?

(Dave Scheiner, DC, attended Life University and become a chiropractor in 1996. He and his wife Laura own Maximum Wellness in Atlanta, where they adjust spines together. Dr. Scheiner enjoys traveling the world, meditation, writing, spending time with his three daughters, and helping the world become a more loving and inspiring place with more loving and inspired people. He may be contacted by e-mail at scribedoc@aol.com )