As you may or may not know, I’m a student at Life Chiropractic College West in Hayward, California. I began the program with a few reservations. I knew what it was that I wanted to really be helping people with, but wasn’t entirely sure that Chiropractic was exactly the right way to go about it, frankly. I knew that I could use the body as a lever on people’s sense of Self, and figured that the worst-case scenario was that I would be a doctor of using the hands to help people heal, and could do what I really wanted while under a Chiropractic smokescreen.

Before I explain precisely how I had a turnaround in my understanding of Chiropractic and just how well it fits into my view of healthcare, I want to describe as clearly as possible what Chiropractic isn’t, what it is, and what it really can be, when it’s done well.

What Chiropractic Is Not

Chiropractic is not cracking bones. Chiropractic is not jerking necks and making them crunch. It’s not injury rehabilitation. It’s not physical therapy (although physical therapy is technically under the scope of practice of Chiropractors in California). It’s not nutritional consultation or traction. It’s not putting bones back where they go over and over again every week because your normal life puts them in the “wrong” place.

If your experience of Chiropractic has left you with the feeling that this is what’s going on, then your Chiropractor wasn’t doing a very good job. In fact, if your Chiropractor hasn’t been actively educating you on what they are doing with your body, how what they do works, and what kinds of results to expect from treatment, grounded in Chiropractic’s effects on the nervous system, they’re doing an abysmal job. They probably missed entirely the point of their education, and are really just doing fancy physical therapy and spinal manipulation.

In part 2 of this article, I’ll talk about what Chiropractic really is,  how it really relates to yoga, meditation, and the capacity of the human organism to grow into understanding and enlightenment.