Medications, Chiropractic and Foods
The definition of a medicine is a “Therapeutic agent; any substance, other than food, used in the prevention, diagnosis, alleviation, treatment, or cure of disease…”
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/drug
I was hesitant to write a blog on medications because it is a tough subject for me to write on. For one, I cannot prescribe medicines, with the exception of over the counters (OTC’s), because I am not licensed to do so as a chiropractor. I can go in many directions on this subject, but for now I will start with this. I want to offer a definition (more like a description) of medicines/ drugs as well as tell you why I cannot prescribe medications that are not OTC’s.
I will start with the later. Chiropractic is a form of healthcare that was originally founded with a manipulation of a specific vertebra of a human spine. The “crack heard around the world” from Davenport Iowa restored the hearing of a man in 1895. From there a name was given to this manipulation of the spine from the Greek language, which was called chiropractic, which translates to “done by hand”.
When it was given a name, a philosophy was born which was quite simple and steadfast- the body heals itself by an intelligence that permeates it and is indivisible from a living body. This intelligence is but a reflection of the intelligence that directs the cosmos. This intelligence that our bodies are healed by was called innate intelligence and the comic intelligence was called Universal Intelligence.
The seat of this intelligence was given to the brain and nervous system, or the central nervous system (CNS), which at the time, was explained as the generator of the spark that creates life for a body, as well as, the control center of the innate intelligence to keep the body in harmony and healing. Therefore, if there was a loss or interference to this intelligence and spark the body would lose its ability to adapt, harmonize and would have a hampered healing response. The greatest place of interference to this healing power was given to the spine. So you see that the origins of chiropractic and its message to the world was that the cause of all loss of health and vitality was interference to the innate intelligence. Since the spine protects and is the gateway to the nervous system it is the first place to look to restore health. Whew! That is a tall order, but chiropractic marched on and defined itself over the early part of this 20th century as an alternative form of healthcare that was distinct and separated from the medical model. The medical model was defined as the prescription use of drugs and surgery. To give you some perspective, it was 1885 when Louis Pasteur announced the germ theory, just 10 years before the first adjustment. At that time both healthcare systems were growing as twins (obviously paternal) in the same womb!
Even though chiropractic does not prescribe drugs, there is an internal debate within the profession that is exploring this option. The debate centers on keeping our philosophy and distinctness or join the more pervasive model. So it is important for people to know this history and to realize that there is a whole form of healthcare that is outside the medical model. Chiropractic shares this distinction with acupuncture, naturopathy, homeopathy, herbalism and nutrition.
Which brings me to a clarification of what a drug or medication is. The first clarification (definition) which is written at the top of this article is an older definition. “It is a substance other than food.” Or more broadly, can be defined as something man made, not of nature.
A good example is aspirin. Aspirin was extracted from willow tree bark. Lewis and Clark traveled across the present day U.S. with willow bark as part of their medicinary. Mr. Bayer studied the willow bark and discovered the most potent chemical of the willow bark that helped with fevers and pain that is now called aspirin. You see in this example, the willow bark is nature (food) and aspirin is the medication.
It is the extracting of a chemical from its natural state that makes medicine a medicine and a powerful substance. The extracted substance is not powerful because of itself but because it shifts the natural balance of the original intricate structure of nature. This shift in the natural balance forces our bodies to adapt or accommodate when we take it by mouth or is injected- the original symptoms are relieved, but there is the unwanted residue of side effects. You see a medicine shifts the body in a new direction where it cannot express itself in the way that irritates us and now is in another state.
Food on the other hand has all the “chemicals” that medicine isolates, but not at the levels or concentration as medicine. Our bodies can heal themselves with food without side effects. The key is finding what foods and how are the foods made and prepared so as to help our bodies heal themselves.
