AMA Recognizes Chiropractic
By Arno Burnier, D.C.

With the recent recognition of Chiropractic by the American Medical Association, clarification on terminology and purpose is needed. It is my experience that the public is thoroughly confused as to what Chiropractic is and does.

To eliminate any misunderstanding let’s make perfectly clear that Chiropractic and Medicine are two separate and distinct professions.

Medicine deals strictly with sickness and disease whereas Chiropractic deals with the restoration, maintenance and enhancement of health. So at the one end of the spectrum we have Medicine which along with the pharmaceutical companies constitute a sickness and disease management industry. At the other end of the spectrum we have Chiropractic which invests itself exclusively in restoring and maintaining normal function and health.

Medicine care for the ill is based on pathology, medication and surgery. It focuses on ways to either suppress symptoms or to stimulate or inhibit effects.

Chiropractic care is based on health, correction of cause, proper function, purification and cooperation with natural processes.

Where you need to be sick to utilize Medicine, you do not need and preferably you should not be ill to undertake Chiropractic care. Where Medicine studies disease processes. Chiropractic studies health and living processes. Where Medicine is at war to fight, attack, bombard, destroy, and eliminate bacteria, microbe, virus and disease, Chiropractic recognizes that a harmonious symbiotic relationship with our environment is possible, by allowing the body to function properly and adapt within the framework of nature’s laws. Where Medicine fights disease, Chiropractic turns on life.

As much as there is a time and place for Medicine, there is a time and place for Chiropractic. Today Medicine is abused, misused and overused: countless unnecessary surgeries are performed every year and hundredths of thousands of live could be saved by carving out the use of prescription medications and over the counter drugs.Where Medicine shines is in the arena of emergency, first aid and crisis care.

Chiropractic is misused and underused by many as well, frequently used as a last resort when it should be first choice. Common sense dictates that the sequence of care needs to be from the least invasive to the most invasive. So, Chiropractic first, Medicine second and surgery last.

In conclusion both professions are fully separate and distinct in principle, reasoning and method of practice. One is not exclusive of the other.