President's Message
The Palmetto State Chiropractic Association, Chiropractic and You
The Palmetto State Chiropractic Association (PSCA) was founded for the purpose of advancing, promoting and protecting (straight) chiropractic. The PSCA includes the word straight in its mission as an historical reference to the style of practice a chiropractor might choose because chiropractic can be practiced in a variety of ways and still be within the Association of Chiropractic Colleges Paradigm and be consistent with the safe and proper practice of chiropractic according to the South Carolina Statute. Let me go back to our roots to make this clear.
According to Daniel David Palmer, the founder of chiropractic, chiropractic was founded on the tone of the nerve system. Palmer reasoned that the proper amount of tone was the cause of life and thus good health. BJ Palmer later defined chiropractic as, “a philosophy, science and art of things natural; a system of adjusting the segments of the spinal column by hand only, for the correction of the cause of dis-ease.” The vertebral subluxation was defined as a condition of the vertebra which interferes with tone, altering its expression in matter and resulting in a state of dis-ease. This means a lack of ease in nerve transmission and not disease.
We conclude that the Palmers focused on the expression of life in people rather than the effects of vertebral subluxation and by doing so defined and developed chiropractic to address a cause of interference with proper tone. Chiropractic adjusting techniques are aimed at removing interference and helping the body re-establish ease. Various adjusting instruments have since been developed for the purpose of correcting subluxations.
The diagnosis of a “condition” is not required in order for chiropractic care to be appropriate, or for a subluxation to be found, even though a person may present in our offices seeking care for a condition. It would be consistent, and quite common, for a health care consumer to select a chiropractor to be on their personal “health care team” as they endeavor to seek higher levels of wellness.
Chiropractic did not exist prior to the Palmers, and the Palmers set forth its foundation, principles, and definitions so as to establish it as separate and distinct from therapeutic professions. The PSCA simply wants to ensure that this approach to the spine, health, and life are advanced, promoted and protected for the benefit of the public we serve.
If this makes sense to you, and you wish to contribute then by all means, contact us with your membership application. If your efforts to educate others about health, life and the role of chiropractic are congruent with these concepts it would be ethical for you to join with us.