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BACKGROUND (excerpted from introduction) |
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Growing up in the early 1960s, our family did not consult a chiropractor. To us, chiropractors were heretics and witch-doctors. Our attitudes were simply a result of negative propaganda by the American Medical Association. My mother was a nurse for almost 40 years for Dr. Paul H. Ryan, a wonderful medical doctor in Richmond, California. Dr. Ryan was from the old school of medical training, as was my mother. At that time physicians did not like chiropractors because they were uninformed of the many benefits of chiropractic care. You may be aware that medicine and chiropractic are not the best of friends; indeed, until recently they have been bitter enemies. Due to recent developments in research showing that spinal adjustments can provide almost instant and lasting relief to those suffering from back pain, many medical doctors now grudgingly admit that there might be some therapeutic value to the science of chiropractic. |
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We chiropractors find this recent recognition rather amusing because we know that people have been adjusting or manipulating the spine for thousands of years. Yet it was not until September 18, 1895 that the first "chiropractic adjustment" was given. Dr. D.D. Palmer, a magnetic healer, adjusted the back of his janitor, Harvey Lillard. Harvey had become deaf seventeen years earlier when he displaced a vertebra in his neck. Dr. Palmer grabbed the vertebra and in his words, "I racked it into position using the spinous process as a lever and soon the man could hear as before." Almost immediately, part of Harvey's hearing came back. Over the next few days almost all of it returned. |
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Chiropractic was never really intended for back pain. It is simply an accident (or nature's plan) that it helps sore muscles and ligaments and relieves back pain. Chiropractic is intended to help you live with optimum health, free from disease throughout your long, healthy life. |
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Another significant event over the last few years has also helped the chiropractic profession grow. The American Medical Association (of which not all M.D.s are members) was found guilty in court of carrying on a major campaign to destroy the chiropractic profession. Its members were neither allowed to refer patients to chiropractors, confer with chiropractors, nor even associate professionally or personally with chiropractors. Believe it or not, they were even discouraged from dating or marrying chiropractors!! |
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| Yes, this lunacy was why a group of four chiropractors, Drs. Chester Wilk, Michael Pedigo, James Bryden, and Patricia Arthur sued the AMA for antitrust violations in 1976. They were represented by George McAndrews, Esq. They won their case in 1987 as Judge Susan Getzendanner handed down a 101-page opinion against the AMA. The AMA appealed the decision and lost in 1990 before the U.S. Court of Appeals. The case then went to the U.S. Supreme Court which refused to hear it. Eventually the AMA had to admit its guilt to its membership. It also had to tell the members they could now associate ethically and work with chiropractors on patient cases.
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.. I hope that after you read this book that you will be able to decide for yourself that you want to try chiropractic. It is your life and your body... Chiropractic adds years to your life and life to your years! W. Michael Gazdar, D.C. Check out the Table of Contents, |
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