Chiropractic is a controversial health care system that originated in the United States in 1895. The National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) finds it remarkable that the chiropractic profession has existed for a century without having made a single notable contribution to the world's body of knowledge in the health sciences. The reason for this failure can be found in its origins and in the continued presence of antiscience attitudes. This includes the fields of the care and prevention of back pain and the value of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT), the areas in which chiropractic has dominated the health care services marketplace. Recent pronouncements on the value of manipulative therapy for back pain have involved medical research, not work done by doctors of chiropractic (DCs). DC publicists have been quick to grab the credit for these findings for marketing purposes, but deserve little credit. Some research projects are now under way, but chiropractic still does not play a significant role in researching the causes and treatment of the human ailments from which it derives most of its income.
In the Beginning . . .
Chiros (hand) + practos (practice) literally means "done by hand." Chiropractic was invented in 1895 by Daniel D. Palmer, a layperson in Davenport, Iowa [1]. Because he sold goldfish commercially, Palmer is referred to by some historians as a "fish monger." It is more interesting to know that he practiced magnetic healing beginning in the mid-1880s in Burlington, Iowa. Palmer searched for the single cause of all disease. The standard story about chiropractic's "discovery" is that Palmer believed he had found the single cause of disease when he "cured" the deafness of janitor Harvey Lillard by manipulating his spine. (Palmer may have learned spinal manipulation from Andrew Still's osteopathic school in Kirksville, Missouri). Lillard is said to have lost his hearing while working in a cramped, stooped position during which he felt something snap in his back.
Palmer's version of this event has always been disputed by Lillard's daughter, Valdeenia Lillard Simons. She says that her father told her that he was telling jokes to a friend in the hall outside Palmer's office and, Palmer, who had been reading, joined them. When Lillard reached the punch line, Palmer, laughing heartily, slapped Lillard on the back with the hand holding the heavy book he had been reading. A few days later, Lillard told Palmer that his hearing seemed better. Palmer then decided to explore manipulation as an expansion of his magnetic healing practice. Simons said "the compact was that if they can make [something of] it, then they both would share. But, it didn't happen." [2]
Chiropractic's true origin appears to have been of a more mystical nature than the Lillard tale denotes. Palmer was an active spiritualist and apparently believed that the idea of "replacing displaced vertebrae for the relief of human ills" came in a spiritualist séance through communication with the spirit of Dr. Jim Atkinson, a physician who had died 50 years earlier in Davenport [3]. As a young man, Palmer regularly walked the six or seven miles to the estate of his spiritualist mentor, William Drury [4]. It was one of Drury's followers who told him of her vision of a door with a sign on it reading "Dr. Palmer." She said that he one day would lecture in a large hall telling an audience about a new "revolutionary" method of healing the sick [5]. Predisposed to magnetic healing by his belief in spiritualism, Palmer was drawn to the practice by seeing the financial success of illiterate "Dr." Paul Caster of Ottumwa. Palmer's grandson described his technique:
He would develop a sense of being positive within his own body; sickness being negative. He would draw his hands over the area of the pain and with a sweeping motion stand aside, shaking his hands and fingers vigorously, taking away the pain as if it were drops of water [6].
Palmer began speculating that the flow of animal magnetism may become blocked by obstructions along the spine [7]. Palmer taught that chiropractic was "an educational, scientific, religious system" that "associates its practice, belief and knowledge with that of religion" and "imparts instruction relating both to this world and the world to come." "Chiropractic," Palmer stated, "sheds enlightenment upon physical life and spiritual existence, the latter being only a continuation of the former." [8] Individual chiropractors sometimes deny that they believe in Palmer's biotheological "Innate Intelligence," but when pressed as to their basis for practice, they must face the physiological facts described in a scientific brief on chiropractic:
If there is partial blockage of impulses in a nerve fibre . . . the impulse is transmitted more slowly in a zone of partial blockage, and resumes all its characteristics as soon as it reaches normal tissue. Thus, it is impossible for a partial blockage of nerve impulses in a particular zone to affect the flow, since the impulses would resume their normal flow [9].
Unsupported by science, chiropractors must either fall back on Palmer's pantheistic views or admit that the "subluxation" theory is erroneous. Without this theory, chiropractors are reduced to spinal manipulators whose primary treatment modality is shared by osteopaths, physiatrists, sports trainers, physical therapists, and others. Without subluxation theory, chiropractic's claim that it is a unique and comprehensive "alternative" to standard medicine is lost. D.D. Palmer had only modest success in promoting chiropractic. It was his son, B.J. Palmer, an eccentric promoter and Iowa radio industry pioneer, who developed chiropractic into a successful business enterprise.
The National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) finds it remarkable that the chiropractic profession has existed for a century without having made a single notable contribution to the world's body of knowledge in the health sciences.
If the NCAHF believes this, they don't know medical history. It isn't remarkable at all, but just the normal human experience. Docs used bloodletting and purging from ancient times until early modern times with making any notable advances. It is in the nature of humanity as to easily deceive yourself into thinking you know a lot more about medicine than you do. The surprising thing is that there are any scientific advances in medicine. There was a tremendous period of medical advance, starting with the germ theory and mostly ending about 35 years ago. Right now we have a US government that funds unproven chiropractic treatment for our veterans while having an army of FDA bureaucrats whose job it is to stop new treatments from getting into the marketplace. (I don't believe there is much good science in the phase III drug testing, it is more a matter of gaming the government system, but that is for another thread.)
" spinal manipulators "
BTW, It is odd to hear those that attempt to state what chiropractors are in a negative way only state such a phrase as "spinal manipulators". Having been to and known chiropractors for year, they work on all parts of the body.