Click here to return to Articles and Information

Chiropractors are NOT Really Back Doctors

Chiropractic did not start out as a treatment for back pain. The first chiropractic patient was a deaf man who got his hearing back. If anything, chiropractic got its start as a treatment for deafness. But it wasn’t really that either. Daniel David Palmer, the founding father of chiropractic was actually looking deeper into health. Prior to adjusting Harvey Lillard, the deaf man who got his hearing back, Dr. Palmer had been studying the nerve system and its relationship with the skeletal system, especially the spine. He had postulated that the nerve system had a certain tone or vibration to it, and that if the tone of the nerve system were disrupted, it would affect the health of the organs at the end of those nerves.

Daniel David Palmer, also known as D.D., was studying the spine because he believed, correctly, that the spinal cord was the vital link between the human brain and every function of the entire rest of the body. Palmer believed that the tone of the spinal cord and the ability of the nerves to carry messages to the body parts could be affected when spinal bones were missplaced, even slightly, or were not moving properly.

Mental impulses, nerve messages, travel from the brain to every part of the body through the spinal cord and nerves. Then the body sends messages back to the brain, also through the spinal cord, allowing the brain to monitor, control and coordinate every bodily function and all healing. Palmer realized that if the spinal bones were even slightly misplaced or were not moving properly as they should, it would affect the tone of the nerve system, disrupting the nerve messages making it more difficult for the brain to properly coordinate the body in an optimal way. If the brain could not coordinate all body function properly, then dis-ease would certainly result.

When Harvey Lillard got his hearing back, Dr. Palmer advertised extensively that he had found a cure for deafness. What followed was that some deaf people got their hearing back, while others did not. Yet, at the same time, people who had deafness and other health issues began to see their other dis-eases and ailments healing up. Palmer quickly realized that his work, adjusting the skeletal system to free up the nerve system, affected much more than just deafness. Heart disease and liver problems were clearing up, as were many other conditions.

There is an ever growing body of scientific evidence bearing out that Dr. Palmer’s original postulates are true. When the skeletal system, especially the spine, interferes with the nerves, there is a disruption of the normal tone of the nerve system, resulting in abnormal function in the organs supplied by those nerves. Dr. Palmer called this a subluxation (sub-luck-say-shun). Subluxations, disrupted nerves, result in dis-ease in the organs supplied by those nerves.

Once again, chiropractic is not really a treatment for back pain. Chiropractors look at the back because the spinal cord is within the back bone. Chiropractors are meant to look for and adjust areas of the spine that are misaligned or are not moving properly called subluxations. Subluxations interfere with the brain’s ability to coordinate the body. When the body is not coordinated properly, almost any dis-ease can result.

The main concern of the chiropractor is allowing the spinal cord to carry messages as freely as possible. This allows the brain to do its job, coordinating the body. When the brain coordinates the body properly, healing and health take place naturally.