Reggie Gold once stated, “Chiropractic doesn’t have a philosophy, Chiropractic is a philosophy.” Our Chiropractic technique, which is the most recognizable part of Chiropractic, is the practical application of our Philosophy. Think about this, can chiropractic be practiced without its principles? The adjustment is how we engage with the world, but our philosophy gives meaning and understanding to the adjustment and to chiropractic. Applying our technique is a fine art that takes years to master, applying our philosophy requires the courage to stand against societal norms. While most know about the adjustment, it is our philosophy that makes us attractive to an unhealthy society. I challenge you to consider how our philosophy is intertwined and inseparable from its application when you hear Reid’s story. A few years ago, four-year-old Reid came in for his first visit. Six months before our visit, he reverted to diapers. Mom was deeply concerned and sought the help of his pediatricians and a child psychologist, to no avail. Consider a lifetime unable to control bowel movements; the emotional toll and ridicule would be unbearable. Our first encounter was unremarkable, and aside from the effects a hospital intervention birth, there were no history of trauma except for the typical bumps and falls of a toddler.

The greatest challenge for the Chiropractor is to take that bold step outside societal norms and explain our philosophy. A challenge made more difficult when sitting with a worried mom looking for help for her child. It is easy to retreat to the safe explanation; ‘chiropractic can help with that’, but this was not an option.

Mom learned from our exam that Reid had a vertebral subluxation, possibly due to interventions from birth or from the many bumps and falls of toddlerhood. My explanation was simple; I shared with mom that chiropractic is about connection and awareness, that everything in Reid’s body is controlled by his brain by nerves that pass between the bones of his spine. I told mom that I found a subluxation which is an interference between the life force in the brain and the proper function of the body. Mom was engaged so I continued, for there to be proper function of all the parts of his body, including his bowels, they must be connected to his brain. Finally, I said, it is possible that a subluxation is interfering Reid’s awareness of the sensation of having ‘to go’ which he learned earlier in his life and that we will not treat his condition, we will adjust his spine to remove the interference. Mom was ultimately fine with my explanation, so we proceeded.

Did you catch principle 29 (there can be interference with the transmission of Innate forces), principle 30 (interference with the transmission of innate forces causes incoordination or dis- ease) and principle 31 (interference with transmission in the body is always directly or indirectly due to subluxations in the spinal column) in my simple explanation to mom? Did you sense my
trust in Principle 3 which describes life as requiring connection between intelligence and matter, between source and body? Finally, did you see principle 33, the law of demand and supply, in our example? Innate is aware of the need for elimination, innate creates the demand for elimination and innate supplies the force to allow for elimination. Reggie Gold summed up principle 33 in this simple statement, there is an innate awareness of every innate need in the body’. The innate response to the needs of the body requires connection; a vertebral subluxation interferes with that connection; and the adjustment restores the connection between life source and the body. When connection is restored, proper body function is restored.

The day after Reid’s first adjustment, awareness was restored and innate was properly expressed. Today he is a young teen, full of life with an understanding that his body functions because it is intelligently designed. For Reid, it was our chiropractic philosophy, and not just its practical application, that changed the course of his life. Never underestimate the power of our philosophy, indeed it is the only thing that will change the health of this world.