I have often said, "Chiropractic Works in All Disease"; in fact I have a patient brochure with that title. No, I do not mean that chiropractors provide treatment for ulcers, epilepsy, sciatica, heart arrhythmia, diabetes, brachialgia, migraines, hemorrhoids, etc. And yes, most certainly all of these conditions do respond to subluxation reduction and correction which is chiropractic care. Can you understand chiropractic's nontreatment (nontherapeutic) stance? Treatment means therapy and visa versa. Chiropractors may use therapies as ancillary procedures in their practices, but they do not treat disease. If we can get this through our collective chiropractic consciousness, we will have unlimited horizons in the health care marketplace. The identity of a vertebral subluxation, with no contraindications in regards to adjustment, is all we need to be able to accept the case. Basically, we can help anyone who has a reducible subluxation; chiropractic works to reduce and correct subluxations. It relies on the bodies innate recuperative mechanisms to produce the symptomatic results; the body treats the disease. This is our own unique health care model.
Now let's take the medical disease treatment model advocated by many of the medically inclined practitioners in our profession. Using their model, how many chiropractic "treatments" would a patient have to receive for the "treatment" of ulcers, epilepsy, sciatica, brachialgia, etc. Well, first we'd have to prove that there is "scientific" validity in the chiropractic "treatment" of ulcers, epilepsy, sciatica, brachialgia, or muckyhuckywuckywuc disease -- a never ending task. Then we certainly would have to qualify the results according to age, deterioration/degeneration, vertebral instability, family background, trauma, etc. But really, doctors, this is all unnecessary as chiropractic care does not treat disease, It works in the reduction and correction of vertebral subluxations. This can be clearly seen on before and after x-rays regardless of what Drs. Winterstein, Triano, and Sportelli have to say. Yes, it is a measurable entity, measurable in both millimeters and in degrees. "Oh," but you say such a small misalignment is not significant. Doctors, when a facet joint opens (separates) by less than one millimeter, it is a significant insult to the joint, the capsular ligament, and the foramina it borders. Facet joints, like all other true joints, are meant to function in a closed state. As an example, let's say that we would place a device on your finger and separate one of the joints by one millimeter and lock it in that position. Think of the pain and swelling that would ensue. The same is true of the facet joint, and this swelling of the joint's capsular ligament is a major cause of nerve root encroachment. Allow me to quote Sir Sidney Sunderland, MD, on this subject:1
"Narrowing of the lumbar intervertebral distance, whatever the cause, results in the subluxation of the apophyseal joints in which the facet of the vertebra above is displaced inferiorly across the surface of the facet of the vertebra below. As a result of this displacement, the medical branch of the lumbar dorsal ramus, which is fixed in this region, is involved in two ways:
Yes, my friends, subluxation and its reduction can be proven on x-ray. It may be measured by disc wedge analysis, rotational analysis, and the analysis methods used for retro, anterior, and lateral lesthesis. The most accurate rotation analysis medically speaking is the Bunnel method.2 This, by the way, is the same method I developed in 1960 and have published in my writings and texts since that time. It is a modification of H.B. Logan's method which has been taught in chiropractic colleges for decades. And, in respect to the atlas/axis subluxation, if you don't care for chiropractic analysis, how about "vertical subluxation" of the odontoid and separation of the odontoid from the fovia dentalis ("horizontal subluxation") named and measured medically.3
Do we need more research on our subluxation analysis and x-ray determination of subluxation? Most certainly, and it's about time our research focused on what chiropractic is all about -- the detection, location, analysis, control, reduction, and correction of the vertebral subluxation. And do you know what, doctors? "It works." Subluxations exist; they can be reduced and corrected, and it is demonstrable radiographically.
Now, in comparison to setting a chiropractic standard of care for disease treatment, wouldn't it be much simpler to set a standard of care for the location, detection, analysis, control, reduction, and correction of the vertebral subluxation?
Cast aside your paranoia and insecurity fellow chiropractors, our philosophy states that dis-ease starts first as malfunction; malfunction results in the diseases named by the medical profession ad nauseam. Center stage as the cause of malfunction in the human system is the vertebral subluxation complex. This is a much more tenable explanation for the diseases that plague mankind than the fault-ridden medical germ theory of disease. Yes, the chiropractic adjustment for the vertebral subluxation works, and regardless of what my friend, Dr. Keating, says, "Chiropractic Works in All Disease." As long as the patient has a subluxation, we can be of help. We should be proud of our unique model of health care. Let us ameliorate our unique model of health care; our future will depend on it.
References
Fred H. Barge, DC, PhC
La Crosse, Wisconsin
When sports chiropractors first appeared at the Olympic Games in the 1980s, it was alongside individual athletes who had experienced the benefits of chiropractic care in their training and recovery processes at home. Fast forward to Paris 2024, where chiropractic care was available in the polyclinic for all athletes, and the attitude has now evolved to recognize that “every athlete deserves access to sports chiropractic."
It is estimated that 61% of patients with CTS avoid taking surgical options due to postoperative complications and costly surgical procedures. Chiropractic care offers a comprehensive and effective treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome, addressing the condition from multiple angles. Recent studies also have unveiled a game-changing adjunct to chiropractic treatments for CTS: nerve flossing.
Some doctors thrive in a personality-based clinic and have a loyal following no matter what services or equipment they offer, but for most chiropractic offices who are trying to grow and expand, new equipment purchases help us stay relevant and continue to service our client base in the best, most up-to-date manner possible. So, regarding equipment purchasing: should you lease, get a bank loan, or pay cash?
