The prestigious “Science & Medicine” magazine published its first chiropractic article in the September / October 1999 issue.  The article, written by Tedd Koren, D.C., was published in a series of articles the magazine called, “Complementary and Alternative Medicine.”  The article itself covers a variety of issues in chiropractic from the history of chiropractic to the understanding of subluxation.

One of the more notable areas of the article was a portion that listed three of the “vitalistic” views held by chiropractors.  These were listed as:

• The body is intelligent and behaves in a purposeful way.  Something inside living creatures causes them to respond and learn.
• Illness is reactive, curative response, and symptoms are beneficial phenomena that should not be suppressed or eliminated.
• Vitalist therapeutics seeks to strengthen the patient powers of resistance and compensate for a predisposition to become ill.

Perhaps one of the best portions of the article was when Dr. Koren listed the many types of problems people come to chiropractors for.  After reciting this long list he summed the care up by saying, “It must be remembered that the purpose of the spinal adjustment is correction of the Vertebral Subluxation Complex, not the treatment of these various disorders.” Dr. Koren concludes by quoting the founder of chiropractic, Dr. D.D. Palmer, “Pressure on nerves causes irritation and tension with deranged functions as a result.  Why not release the pressure? Why not adjust causes instead of treating effects? Why not?”