by Michael Dorausch, D.C.
A stunning article appeared in today’s New York Daily News. Stunning, not because of the content, but that there was no mention of the field of chiropractic. A profession that has espoused the principles mentioned in the article for more than 100 years.
They call it Darwinian Medicine and the headlines read… “It Can Be Good to Feel Bad – Why Fever, Swelling and Morning Sickness May Be Right for What Ails You.”
The article begins with a story about a professor of biology named Paul Ewald. Apparently, about eight years ago Paul sprained his knee. The knee swelled considerably, and he was well aware of the commonly prescribed treatment: rest, ice, compression and elevation (a.k.a. RICE) but he did not follow that path.
Instead, he approached his injury differently, reasoning that the pain and swelling must be offering his body some benefit. “Just because something feels bad, it doesn’t mean it’s bad for your body,” were the words he used. In fact, Ewald found that the pain and swelling served as a natural cast, according to the article. After a few days, the pain began to subside, and soon after, in his words, “the leg healed perfectly.”
According to the article, many scientists are now studying these types of scenarios in medicine. The studying has led to a science known as Darwinian medicine which is defined as “medical understanding based on what the human body, and mind, are designed to accomplish.”
These scientists are hoping that their new understandings will filter into the medical community and into medical education but the article mentions that medical schools are not likely to change what they teach anytime soon. Ironically, chiropractic schools taught these same principles for about 75 years. During the past 25 years or so, many have abandoned them for the more accepted concepts of traditional medicine.
Let’s take a look at this irony. Ewald mentions the treatment called RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) as an example. He doubts there is any real evidence that the treatment works (the body heals despite the treatment). Several chiropractic colleges however, have adopted the traditional medical approach even though these scientists now say it is doubtful that evidence exists to support such a treatment.
In the article, a professor asks “should you take medication to stop diarrhea or aspirin for a cold?” He then states that we (the medical community) don’t really know because they have not performed the studies. Where is the science?
Then come the words as if they rolled off of D.D. Palmers (the discoverer of chiropractic) lips… “One thing that Darwinian medicine should not be mistaken for is alternative medicine” stated one researcher. “This is not an alternative in any way, shape or form.” The science takes a different look at the human body’s function and a different approach towards human physiology, health and disease, according to the article.
You can cut and paste this next quote in your office right next to your x-ray view box…
And be sure to put this one next to it…
How about this for a novel phrase…
In the dim, dark distant long ago, when the sun first bowed to the morning star, this power spoke and there was life, it quickened the slime of the sea and the dust of the earth and drove the cell to union with its fellows in countless living forms. Through eons of time it finned the fish and winged the bird and fanged the beast. Endlessly it worked, evolving its forms until it produced the crowning glory of them all. With tireless energy it blows the bubble of each individual life and then silently, relentlessly dissolves the form and absorbs the spirit into itself again.
And yet you ask ‘Can chiropractic cure appendicitis or the flu?’ Have you more faith in a knife or a spoonful of medicine than in the power that animates the living world?” – B.J. Palmer
Once again, science suggests evidence of principles chiropractors have been espousing for more than 100 years.
New York Daily News: It Can Be Good to Feel Bad – Why fever, swelling and morning sickness may be right for what ails you.
planetc1.com-news @ 11:54 am | Article ID: 1007495696
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