Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Why Chiropractic is Seperate & Distinct from Medicine - Philosophy

Medical Philosophy vs. Chiropractic Philosophy

By Tedd Koren, D.C.

Chiropractic and medicine disagree on what constitutes health, disease, the meaning of symptoms, and the goal of care. These are philosophical differences that go back over 2,500 years.

"But chiropractic is only about 100 years old. How could we have a conflict with medicine for 2,500 years?" I hear you say. Good question.

The answer is that our philosphical roots go way back, as does medicine. In fact two conflicting philosophies of healing - simliar to that of chiropractic and medicine - can be found from the earliest writings of Hippocrates (5th century B.C.) to the present day. The camps were referred to as the Empiricists or Vitalists and the Rationalists or Mechanists. Medical doctors or allopaths are Rationalists, while chiropractors, classical homeopaths, acupuncturists, traditional osteopaths and others are Vitalists.

This was of viewing medical history was discovered by Harris Coulter, Ph.D. one of the great medical historians of our time. In his magnum opus, Divided Legacy, Volumes 1-4, (written over a thirty year period) Coulter traces the vitalist/mechanist division as it permeated healing.

Let’s look at how vitalists and mechanists view things:

Mechanists assume the body operates like a machine whose whole is equal to the sum of its parts. "Study the body," they say, "study its cells, and its chemistry using disciples such as physics, mechanics and mathematics and the workings of the whole will be revealed."

Vitalists disagree: "Living creatures are fundamentally different from non-living creatures", they say. "The laws of physics, chemistry, mechanics, and mathematics cannot give us a complete knowledge or understanding of biological systems because the whole body is greater than the sum of its parts." Vitalists learn how the body works by studying the living body, not isolated chemicals in a test tube or by making up theories.

This philosophical difference is profound, it colors everything –

Mechanists say: "The body is a dumb machine; symptoms are always bad and must be destroyed. Fevers must be lowered, inflammations must be cooled, itching or eruptions must be suppressed, pain must be eliminated - symptoms are bad in and of themselves and must be destroyed."

Vitalists say: "The body is intelligent and reacts to the environment. Symptoms are its response to environmental stress, a sign that the body is fighting to return to it’s homeostatic balance. Symptoms must be permitted to express themselves so the body may cleanse and heal and return to normal balance."

Mechanists: "The most important thing is to diagnose the disease the patient has and then fight it. The patient’s resistance to disease is not very important."

Vitalists: "More important than diagnosing and treating disease, the individual’s innate power of resistance needs to be strengthened so it may heal."

Mechanists: Everyone who has a certain diseases has the same disease as anyone who has that disease."

Vitalists: people are chemically, emotionally, and structurally unique. When caring for a sick person, we should try to learn why that one person is sick in his or her own unique way, and we should not generalize to other people. 100 people with cancer are, if you look closely enough are really expressing 100 unique conditions that have some things in common but many things unique to their situation. The more their care is tailored to their unique needs, the more successful the results.

Mechanists: "We will ultimately know exactly how the body works, what makes it sick and how to make it healthy.

Vitalists: "The body is essentially unknowable. It has billions of parts, each doing its own thing at a fantastic rate. The body is constantly reacting to its environment and changing moment by moment. How can anyone know what is happening at any one time to all those parts? And doesn’t the very act of observing alter our results?

Rationalists or Mechanists think believe they can know the body and figure out what it needs in advance. Their procedures are often invented. Empiricists sit in awe of the body’s functions and state that the only way we can find out how healing works is see how living bodies react. Their procedures are discovered.

Tedd Koren, D.C., a 1977 graduate of Sherman . Dr. Koren can be reached on-line at TKOREN1@aol.com

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Increased Opportunity = Decreased Involvement ???

I've been on the road again visiting schools in MI. (Ok, I know you're more surprised when I actually tell you that I'm in Georgia.) Most of my contact have been with advisors, and two of them in particular, although at different schools, have repeated this to me almost verbatim.


"... Unfortunately, with the number of students at our school (28,000+ at one & 40,000+ at the other), we're not very closely involved with the students and they tend not to seek us out. The internet is their easiest source of information. In some cases they come up with more information than I could have given them, and at other times, they become even more lost in the multitude of choices."

I'm not a student anymore, but I do have to research schools and try to figure out who the departments and people are who would be the most helpful in connecting me to students and students to Chiropractic. Seriously, I understand - it's a nightmare in some places. One school I visited had 6 different departments that ALL dealt with advising science-based majors or career options.

Six!

And to make matters worse, those 6 departments were completely disconnected from each other & not even aware of what services the other departments offered.

I'm not writing about this to discourage you from seeking out advising services. Exactly the opposite - when there are so many choices, you need to be even more diligent in collecting enough information to make an INFORMED DECISION.

Think about the impact that could have in all aspects of your life - your education & career choices (look back at my post on the student who saved an entire semester b/c she finally connected with one of Life's advisors), your health care options, and even the small choice of looking at the ingredients on the package before consuming the food.

Be proactive, be persistent, don't be afraid to ask, gather all the information... then decide.

So if you can't find the advisor on your campus, or you're not even on a campus, contact an Admissions Advisor at Life University. 770-426-2884

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

No Way to Avoid the Train if You're on the Right Track at the Right Time

Call it coincidence or lucky if that makes you more comfortable, but I'll tell you it's just the way the universe works. I was in Columbus, OH last week to visit OSU & attend the ICA Fitness Symposium. I hosted a couple of meetings for anyone interested in a Chiropractic career and visited advisors on the campus.

I met Vivian, a student at OSU, the last time I visited OSU's campus. She showed up to a drop-in Coffee & Career Talk that I hosted at Caribou Coffee. Vivian is great - she is that person who lights up the room with her excitement & passion. Through the course of her schooling, she had considered several career options, but none of them seemed to quite fit... until she found Chiropractic.

Vivian has already applied & knows her start date for the Chiropractic program at Life University, but she wanted to see me again just to say hello & find out what new & exciting things I could tell her about the campus. Unfortunately, I received a message from her saying she couldn't attend any of my events because she had just started a new job. I told her that I would check the conference schedule for the weekend & we would try to work something out.

Thursday evening, after trekking around OSU's campus for a day & a half, I arrived at the event hotel for the Fitness Symposium. I thought about curling up in my room & ordering in, but decided that the opportunity to network while eating at the hotel restaurant was a better option. I was tired, over-hungry, and not quite all together. As I approached the host stand, I found myself staring at the woman behind it.

Do you ever have that moment when you know that something or someone is familiar, but you can't quite place them because they're not in the context that you know them from?

The woman was watching me... and then we smiled at the same time. It was Vivian!

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."

There is no way to avoid the train if you're on the right track at the right time.