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Chiropractic Principles and Philosophy
Some interesting articles have been printed lately
on the issues listed as "Principles and Laws of Healing" and the
"Wisdom of the Body". What is even more interesting is that these
articles are being written by medical professionals. These two
articles were written by Michael Loes, MD and Dr. Zajicek
respectively, and printed in the "American Journal of Pain
Management" and "Medical Hypothesis", again respectively. The
language of these two articles sounds familiar to chiropractors. For
example Loes states in his Principles, "Life (the vital force) is
God-given but not necessarily God-maintained; free choice exists.
Build vital force and health ensues." He also states, "The Body will
make every effort to preserve homeostasis and avoid stasis. Rid
stasis and healing happens." On the other hand, Dr Zajicek in his
article states, "Modern medicine still fails to explain processes
that operate in self-healing diseases. We may thus distinguish
between two kinds of processes that operate in the body: explained
and unexplained. The latter operate in self-healing diseases, and
are either ignored by medicine or called placebos. The unexplained
processes in physiology were defined by Starling and Cannon as
Wisdom of the Body. The Wisdom of the Body is an attribute of live
organisms. It directs growing plants toward sunshine, guides amebas
away from noxious agents, and determines the behavior of higher
animals. It is essential for individual survival and was molded by
natural selection. During evolution the Wisdom of the Body
encountered all diseases, knows how to heal itself, and anticipates
all diseases. The main task of the Wisdom of the Body is to maintain
health, and improve its quality. It controls processes in the body
so as to make them healthier. The Wisdom of the Body has its own
language and should be considered when examining patients." Well
said for a non-chiropractor! But to look back we can see that the
founder of chiropractic, DD Palmer may have said it best when he
said, "That which I named Innate is a segment of that Intelligence
which fills the Universe. This portion of the whole never sleeps,
nor tires, recognizes neither darkness nor distance, is not subject
to material laws, bodily wants are not essential, substantial
conditions are not needed for its existence. It continues to care
for and direct the organic functions of the body as long as the soul
holds the body and spirit together."
It is nice to know that the rest of the health
care world is finally starting to understand the Principles and
Philosophy that chiropractic has been based on for 100 years. |