Articles

Chiropractic "The Movie"

Chiropractic currently has no place in mainstream media. However, we do have at our disposal one of the most fascinating icons in history, B.J. Palmer. The man was charismatic, audacious, maybe even crazy. Bottom line, he'd make a great movie. Imagine if the story of this man's life was told with all the magic of Hollywood. It would be educational, it would be entertaining, and more importantly…it would be excellent promotion for chiropractic. Medicine shows us heroes all the time. It's going to be hard to compete with the likes of Patch Adams and ER, but we have heroes of our own. My recommendation to market chiropractic into the new millennium is to commission a biographical movie about B.J. Palmer.

For this to be successful, I am suggesting that we put aside our pride. This movie will need a brutally honest "warts and all" approach. Don't worry, it will be fun. We'll include all of B.J.'s idiosyncrasies. Who won't enjoy watching a grown man re-arrange all of his hotel rooms to ensure that his bed is in line with the magnetic energies of the planet? We will watch him nurture this new healing art from his family and bring it to the world. He will travel and collect exotic art to make his "little piece of heaven." He will give Ronald Reagan his first job and pioneer this new technology called "radio." He will also put to use another mysterious new technology called "x-ray." The man becomes obsessed with collecting human spinal specimens and amasses the largest collection of spines on the planet. His obsession with chiropractic and innate nearly drives him and those around him insane. We will watch him inflame and split the profession multiple times. It will be epic. It will be a biography. It will be…a biopic!

So how do we make this happen? All we have to do is hire a script writer. We'll find the best in Hollywood. We will commission a script and then sell it to a major studio like Fox or Dreamworks. They will then furnish a budget for the film and bingo-- we have a major motion picture (I may have simplified this process slightly). Might I suggest that Johnny Depp play B.J.? The really hard part will be securing the rights to the Palmer story, and then writing an honest script while not upsetting the entire profession (guess what, everyone's going to be upset no matter what we do, might as well be honest)! So what will come of this? If this movie grosses even 20 million dollars domestically, which is modest, it will have reached more people on its own than our entire profession has in its history. Millions of people will leave the theatre knowing what chiropractic is, what a subluxation is, and having met a great American Icon they didn't even know existed! Most importantly, we will have indirectly inspired more people than ever to be proactive about their health with chiropractic care.

back to directory

Chiropractic, Unscientific or ahead of its time?

Manohar M. Panjabi is this world renowned researcher on biomechanics. He literately "wrote the book" on spinal biomechanics, I know this because his book was the required text for our biomechanics class at parker. Good stuff, I never actually bought it, but I read the required chapters from the copy at the library. Funny thing though... Panjabi has been a fervent opponent of chiropractic for years.

This likely has something to do with the official stance of the AMA not to associate with chiropractors AT ALL before being found guilty of anti-trust by a federal judge. This occurred in August of 1987, it was called Wilks vs. AMA and when it was over found the AMA guilty of conspiring with other health care organizers in a "lengthy, systematic, successful and unlawful boycott" designed to restrict cooperation between medical doctors and doctors of chiropractic in order to eliminate the chiropractic profession as a competitor in the U.S. Health Care system

Im not making this up, you can read the abstract from the entire trial here. Warning, big file!

Anyway,

Such a stance from the leader of spinal biomechanics might give the impression that Chiropractic is unscientific, eh? Unscientific, or ahead of its time!

In July of '05, just last year, Mr. Panjabi published a study in the European Spine Journal. The study was entitled "Original Article, A hypothesis of chronic back pain: ligament subfailure injuries lead to muscle control dysfunction."

In his article he goes on to talk about a NEW HYPOTHESIS based upon the concept that subfailure injuries of ligaments (spinal ligaments, disc annulus and facet capsules) may cause chronic back pain due to muscle control dysfunction, is presented.

He describes his "new hypothesis" very eloquently in the following sequential steps:

1) Single trauma or cumulative microtrauma causes subfailure injuries of the ligaments and embedded mechanoreceptors.
2) The injured mechanoreceptors generate corrupted transducer signals, which lead to corrupted muscle response pattern produced by the neuromuscular control unit.
3) Muscle coordination and individual muscle force characteristics, i.e. onset, magnitude, and shut-off, are disrupted.
4) This results in abnormal stresses and strains in the ligaments, mechanoreceptors and muscles, and excessive loading of the facet joints.
5) Due to inherently poor healing of spinal ligaments, accelerated degeneration of disc and facet joints may occur.
6) The abnormal conditions may persist, and, over time, may lead to chronic back pain via inflammation of neural tissues.

In conclusion, abnormal mechanics of the spinal column has been hypothesized to lead to back pain via nociceptive sensors.

The author also notes: 70-85% of the population in industrialized societies experience low back pain at least once in their lifetime. 30% of the population has low back pain at any given point in time. And the total cost of low back pain in the US is more than $50 billion per year.

Thank you Dr. Panjabi.

Okay, any of my fellow classmates, and most of my close friends who aren't even chiropractic students could probably tell you that this dude just totally described Subluxation!!! Just replace the word subluxation with "sub-failure injuries" and there you go. New hypothesis my ass.

For those of you who are concerned, don't be. Dr. Panjabi's article did not go unnoticed. Dr. Dan Murphy, Vice President of Life Chiropractic College West wrote him a letter which I will reproduce for you here:

Dear Dr. Panjabi (originally "Dear Dr. Son-of-a-bitch." Dr. Murphy told me himself, his boss had him edit it!),

Congratulations on your article "A hypothesis of chronic back pain: ligament subfailure injuries lead to muscle control dysfunction" European Spine Journal, July 27, 2005.

The hypothesis you presented is consistent with the perspective offered within the chiropractic community for decades. In the parlance of the chiropractic profession you have expertly and vividly described what is referred to as a vertebral subluxation. The chiropractic community has been studying, writing about and modifying its perspective on the phenomenon you articulated for more than a century.

Our present hypothesis suggests that the altered mechanorecetpive driven motor mismatch his own words) can be corrected by firing of the mechanoreceptors of the facet joint capsules which are activated by means of a chiropractic adjustment. The hypothesis you articulated, explains why chiropractic spinal adjustments have proven to be more effective in treating chronic spinal pain when compared to medication, exercise, and needle acupuncture.

After signing the document, Dr. Murphy goes on to site references for his small letter with 9 peer reviewed articles. The kicker, Dr. Panjabi was an associate editor for every article he sited!!!

I think the take home lesson from this is that Chiropractic was never unscientific, and the medical community's stance against chiropractic must have been for some other reason, more than likely... POLITICS.

back to directory

White Lightning

written by Adrian J.S. Hale and Lindy T. Shepherd

They operate in the shadows, skirting the law to exchange hard cash for the cool white liquid. What is the illicit substance that drives these seekers to such depths? The answer may surprise you: pure, unadulterated milk — not the kind that's advertised with dripping mustaches but the stuff that comes straight from the cow. You may not know it until you want some, but selling raw milk for human consumption is illegal in the state of Florida.

Purchasing raw milk is an underground system of trade, not dissimilar to scoring drugs. If such cloak-and-dagger drama sounds silly just to get a pint of wholesome moo juice, it is. But the situation is complicated by health issues, governmental regulation and the power of the dairy industry. The controversy is an old one, and most states are on the conservative tip, though some allow sales as long as there's a warning label stating that the product could contain organisms that are not healthy. That's Big Brother's beef: that raw milk is loaded with bacteria that can make people sick. On the other side of the argument, the health-conscious claim that raw milk is a far superior food to the processed kind, providing untold benefits including relief from allergies and lactose intolerance, more absorbable calcium and countless other positives. For more discussion of those health benefits, see The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmidt.

Currently, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services allows the sale of raw milk only for pet food, for which a seller must have a license. Thus, we won't discuss specific farms that produce raw milk out of respect for their privacy. (Find a national listing of raw milk providers at www.realmilk.org.) A farm in Live Oak, Fla., became high-profile in summer 2005 when government agents bearing weapons popped up on the property for an inspection. The farmer has been chastised and now has a pet food license, but the message was sent loud and clear to others like him, and the raw-milk trade has gone underground.

To understand why some consumers want their milk raw, know that it is a far different product than what is sold in those familiar jugs and cartons, and that includes so-called "organic" milk. Horizon, Stonyfield Farm and Organic Valley are all owned by corporations that raise cows in "organic" confinement dairies, but the milk is not raw. Wipe those images of rolling hills of grazed grass out of your mind when you consider how modern milk makes it to your fridge. Pooled from several dairies — often large factories — into refrigerated trucks, it is then driven long distances to sterile labs where it is tested, separated, heat-treated, reformulated, then bottled and put back on trucks to be distributed from Wal-Mart to Whole Foods. More than 70 percent of the milk Americans purchase is supplied by four multinational food corporations. Even our local creamery, T.G. Lee, is owned by food giant Dean Foods. In other words, milk is big business, even the stuff that's sold as "organic."

Steve Moreau, a 30-something man of Caribbean descent who lives and works in Central Florida, is a self-proclaimed "real milk activist." He goes out of his way to get milk from a small, local farm with a well-managed herd of 15 old-fashioned Jersey cows. One very important fact is that all the cows he gets milk from eat their native diet of grass. Within an hour of the cows being milked, Moreau is enjoying a fresh glass.

"I'll only drink milk if it's full fat, unprocessed and from grass-fed animals," Moreau says. "I avoid anything pasteurized, homogenized, or from a confinement dairy where they eat grain and graze in their own manure."

Raw milk does taste wonderful. It has the complexity of a good glass of wine, with rich mouth-feel and an intense sweetness that lingers on the tongue. And the risk of pathogens is unlikely, if you're careful about your sources. Rather than describe the essence of raw milk, here are the factors that make commercially sold milk such a different product.

Pasteurization: Ironically, Louis Pasteur, a French chemist, first theorized on the beneficial uses of milk's inherent bacteria. Later, he discovered that heat fends off those bacteria, but it wasn't until pathogenic species of bacteria were discovered in the milk supply that his theory gained popularity in the dairy industry. For most of history, people drank milk that was teeming with bacteria, but it was a good kind that allowed milk to pleasantly sour into products like yogurt, cheese and kefir, extending its shelf life. During the Industrial Revolution, however, dairy production took a terrible turn in poor urban areas, making pasteurization a necessity for public health, as milk carried many diseases.

What is pasteurization? It's the controlled heating of milk to a very high temperature for a specific amount of time. There are many different methods, but the most common is the High Temperature Short Time (HTST) method, which heats the milk to 165 degrees for 15 seconds, then rapidly cools it. The problem is that protein is denatured by the process, and all the enzymes are destroyed, including the ones that actually help digest milk.

Homogenization: Homogenization was invented to emulsify margarine. It was transferred to the dairy industry for one reason — less hassle on the part of dairy distributors. Milk naturally separates into two layers, with a rich layer of cream on top. Once pasteurization made it possible to transport milk for long distances, homogenization was a simple solution for ensuring a unified product. Even the whole milk we purchase today has been completely separated in the factory into cream and skim milk, then recombined. The product we buy as whole milk is a standardized 3.5 percent butterfat, which is completely homogenized into the product. (The rest of the cream is used for ice cream, whipping cream, etc.) Milk is a fat-in-water emulsion, and homogenization basically forces the fat molecules through hair-like pins, crushing them. What milk activists oppose about homogenization is the fact that it changes the structure of the fat molecule's cell membrane. Studies are not yet available that reveal how the body reacts to this man-made molecule.

Grass-fed versus grain-fed: Cows are ruminants, which means they have four chambers that supersede their stomachs. These chambers are designed to be holding tanks where their food is predigested with the help of beneficial bacteria. The rumen is a delicate part of the cow's inner ecology, and what the cow eats provides the pH for proper digestion and nutrient utilization. Grass and forage are their natural diets, which provides them with optimum nutrition. The management of most cows includes some grain, usually in the winter months when grass is not readily available. However, too much grain can totally destroy a healthy rumen (unless drugs are given). For factory-farmed cows, low-quality grains often make up the bulk of the diet. Some of the foods found in the diet of confinement-farm cows are soy hulls, No. 2 corn feed and even chicken manure — all industrial waste products.

When a cow is fed its natural diet, the milk contains a high amount of calcium and other minerals; also, grass-fed animals have been found to have a higher amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) — a good thing.

And when cows are grazing in the pasture and not standing around in their own manure, there is less chance of passing and harboring dangerous pathogens. E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter are not intrinsic to cow's milk. These pathogens are introduced by surrounding conditions. One California-certified raw dairy, Organic Pastures, has regularly tested its milk for the last four years, and not one human pathogen has been reported. Finally, we all know that pasture-feeding animals is better for the earth. Several websites, for instance www.westonaprice.org and www.eatwild.com, offer more information about the healthy traditions of raw milk.

"We can choose a lot of things out there," Moreau says with a grimace. (Think alcohol, cigarettes and Big Gulps.) "It's just a shame they pick on milk so often." dining@orlandoweekly.com

back to directory

Bigness of the Fellow Within

written by B.J. Palmer

In Medicine, all acknowledge and admit that “Nature” alone cures and heals, and reestablishes health. Yet, where does medicine go to find “nature?” Inside? No, outside!

Chiropractic is concerned with strengthening the body to “suit” the environment.

Ninety-five per cent are moved in thinking and acting by emotions, passions, and prejudices. In this field are “beliefs” and “faiths.” The other five percent are moved in thinking and acting by logic, reason, common sense, and facts. The first group finds it necessary to have a book and a religion of some sort they can read and believe. They would be lost without it. For the second group, it is not necessary to have a book or religion of any sort to use logic, reason, common sense, and facts.

Treatment in the past has generally worked backward from the symptom. The sore was the obvious seat of trouble, so doctors tried to remove it by prescribing a soothing alkaline diet which would heal the ulcer, or they went to more drastic extremes and cut the ulcer out. Recently there have been experiments in severing the vagus nerve, which carried the offending impulses. This last seems very much like cutting the telegraph wires from Washington to avoid hearing bad news. It does not halt the march of events, and the bad news which will reach us one way or another. Probably it will come as all the more of a shock for the delay imposed by the roundabout route. While the actual sore has to be healed, the permanent solution is to stop at their source the sequence of events which lead up to an ulcer. This has been recognized by medical practioners for a long time; in fact, almost as long as medicine can be considered a science. The relation between the mind and the gastro-intestinal disorders has been accepted ever since Hippocrates, in the year 640 B.C., was reported to have cured King Perdicas of Macedonia by the analysis of a dream.” – “Mind and body: Psychosomatic Medicine, Dr. Flanders Dunbar.

In our hasty thinking and anxiety to secure an education, we are prone to say “I have a soul.” Rather, we should say and think: “I am Innate Intelligence; I have a body in which to express myself.

Educated man has builded certain rules, regulation, and restrictions which make sex obscene, lascivious, dirty; puts clothes on sex; builds up taboos and kapus. He has made many unnatural, artificial standards and wrapped them into situations which force men and women to live a dual standard. He has a public life which is affirmed, and a private life which is denied. Too frequently, educated man condones the natural and condemns the artificial. He thinks a few words from a frocked coat makes a right a wrong or a wrong a right. Educated establishes one standard, whereas natural issues have another. Animals live a natural life. Humans and artificial one.

You and I are two individuals, two personalities, two people, living in the same house.

The big fellow within. The little fellow outside.

When you and I can learn to respect and look up to the Innate within, in the same understanding way and with the same admirable respect we think of the God of the universe, we will get somewhere in understanding ourselves.

It is Innate in mother which developed the child.
It is Innate in us which makes us grow, live, and be healthy.
It is Innate which makes us well when sick.
It is Innate which mends broken bones.
It is Innate which cures and heals wounds, burns.
And yet, I read an ad of a Chiropractor which says:“Come to me. I cure hernia.”

Westinghouse could have composed Bach; Bach could have invented Westinghouse; Tesla could have done what Beethoven did, and vice versa.

Innate is ageless; it can never grow old or tired, and you can draw on it all your life, even unto the moment of death.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

How do you get into communion with your Innate? How do you get in tune with your Infinite? How does Educated contact Innate? You don’t! Innate communicates with you and when Innate is in contact you are in tune with the infinite. You don’t seek Innate. You don’t go out on a hunting expedition, asking Innate to come to you. Innate will seek you when convinced you are ready to receive and will the come unsolicited.

As well ask: How can educated man contact God, get in communion with God, get in tune with the Infinite? How can man, the inferior, contact God, the superior; the servant, the master; the incompetent, the competent? It doesn’t work that way. God contacts man, communicates with man, gets in tune with man. Man however, religiously reverses the order. He talks to God; he thanks God; he suggests to God; he tells God what to do; he asks God for favors; he prays to God.

Education, so far as health problems and religious theories are concerned works from outside in; from below upward. Universal intelligence and Innate intelligence work from above downward, within outward.

How does the Educated Brain become abnormal? Because of a vertebral subluxation interfering within the normal quantity flow of Innate mental impulse supply between Innate and Educated Brains.

We Chiropractors work with the subtle substance of the soul. We release the prisoned impulse, the tiny rivulet of force that emanates from the mind and flows over the nerves to the cells and stirs them into life. We deal with the magic power that transforms common food into living, loving, thinking, clay; that robes the earth with beauty, and hues and scents the flowers with the glory of the air.

We release the prisoned impulse, the tiny rivulet of force that emanates from the mind and flows over the nerves to the cells and stirs them into life.

We deal with the magic power that transforms common food into living, loving, thinking, clay; that robes the earth with beauty, and hues and scents the flowers with the glory of the air.

In the dim, dark, distant long ago, when the sun first bowed to the morning star, this power spoke and there was life; it quickened the slime of the sea and the dust of the earth and drove the cell into union with its fellows in countless living forms.

Through eons of time it finned the fish and winged the bird and fanged the beast.

Endlessly it worked, evolving its forms until it produced the crowning glory of them all.

With tireless energy it blows the bubble of each individual life and then silently, relentlessly dissolves the form, and absorbs the spirit into itself again.

And yet, I read an ad of a Chiropractor which says: “Come to me. I cure hernia.”

And yet you ask, "Can Chiropractic cure appendicitis or the 'flu'?"

Have you more faith in a knife or a spoonful of medicine than in the Innate power that animates the internal living world?

back to directory

Motion is Life

I’m thinking about one of my favorite fishing trips right now. Myself and six of my buddies went fly fishing in northern Arkansas. That weekend we fished the white river and the buffalo river. These are two very full and very fast moving rivers. It really is an amazing area. We caught the most beautiful trout you have ever seen. Tons of rainbows some browns and even a couple of cut throats. I mean we were just catching and releasing fish all day long both days we were there. Those waters were teaming with life, clean, clear, wonderful life.

“Why?” I asked myself. “Why can’t I just dig a hole in my back yard, fill it up with water, throw some of those trout into that hole and have life flourish?” That would be great! Every one could just come to my house for an action packed fly fishing vacation. It would be neat, but it’s not going to happen. You know why? Because life requires motion. If the motion of that beautiful, clear mountain water were to just stop, the wonderful life that lives there would stop as well.

Would you want to take a drink of water from an old stagnant pond with moss growing on top of it? Wouldn’t you rather take a nice refreshing drink of piercingly cold rainwater from a fast flowing stream on the side of a mountain? It’s not a tough decision. It’s the same natural law that governs the inside of every one of our bodies. Don’t let your body become stagnant. Increase your health and inter-beauty by moving your body. You don’t have to go out and buy the first fitness DVD you come across. It’s not difficult. A great way to get some movement or exercise in your life is to enjoy a nice fifteen to twenty minute walk or jog at the end of the day. Be creative! You might even notice your stress levels plummeting down to near nothing proportions. Wouldn’t that be nice?

This natural law is what allows chiropractors to help people become healthier and live better quality lives every single day. Chiropractic adjustments put movement into the spine, that movement allows your body to function properly and heal its self, just like the good lord designed it to in the first place.

When you go for a walk or a jog, lift some weights, or do some stretching. If you have problems such as pain or stiffness when performing active movements like these you may benefit from Chiropractic adjustments. Adjustments help to get your body to a point where it can perform proper, pain free active movements once again.

Just as a carrot or an apple is full of nutrients for your body, movement is a nutrient for your brain. I think some brains are starving for a good meal. Let the main course be motion! Remember to integrate exercise into your life. Your health is in your hands. Make it a priority. Put simply, motion is life.