The Journal of Chiropractic Humanities latest release has carried all ten of Simon Senzon’s papers on the Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation and is now available online (open access). The papers, which present a comprehensive overview of and insight into the Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation from 1897 onwards, delves into a range of issues. It looks at early theories and thinkers, factions and developments and then takes on the complex task of dispelling the historical mistakes that often enter arguments against the subluxation. All of this serves to open a discourse on embracing the Vertebral Subluxation as a foundation of the profession.
In the opening arguments of the first paper, Senzon makes a statement that sets the tone for the journey he is about to take the reader on. At the beginning of the series of papers (which is broken up into topics and headings for clarity’s sake), Senzon remarks [1]:
“Some suggest the CVS [Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation] should be a historical term only. I suggest that this may be a difficult position to maintain because a majority of practitioners are content to keep the term, and many chiropractors state that they address CVS in practice. For example, 62% of students in North America sampled in 1 study agreed that the emphasis of chiropractic practice is to eliminate CVS. Some are actively researching and publishing on CVS. It is the diagnosis chiropractic in the United States use for Medicare billing, and textbooks from the last decade use the term subluxation.”
Senzon has taken on a complex and comprehensive task in tracing the histories not only of the profession, but its educational institutions, factions, and conceptual definitions of the vertebral subluxation over the years. This is a feat that has required patience, wisdom and a great deal of time. In fact, it is the realisation of a full decade’s work.
Among the series’ great offerings is a systematic debunking of some of chiropractic’s often repeated myths. Dr. Simon explained [2]:
“I originally wanted to document the history of ideas in chiropractic in such a way that we could correct the misperceptions in the literature,” said Dr. Simon (a chiropractor) in a recent interview with ASRF. “A lot of the things you read today in the literature are just incorrect. There are organizations and there are journals in chiropractic that dismiss the Vertebral Subluxation either as a historical artifact, [or] as narrow concept that was only adhered to by a small group in the profession.
There are these myths that just get passed down, not just through people lecturing about them but have actually been published in the peer-reviewed literature that are actually incorrect.”
Senzon went on to explain how this ‘sort of meme or misunderstood idea’ has spread through people believing it, it getting taught at university and embraced by regulators. “My intent was to set the record straight,” he said.
Remarkably given the complex nature of the content, Senzon’s ten papers are not a difficult read. Tracing the divergent theories and practices of the significant thinkers in all branches of chiropractic from DD Palmer onwards is no small task. The product at the end of it is a brilliant basis from which vertebral subluxation-based chiropractors and thinkers can build and expand.
It seems the history books have been written. Its up to us to write the future now.
REFERENCES:
- Journal of Chiropractic Humanities, Vol. 25, https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-chiropractic-humanities/vol/25/suppl/C containing:
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 1: Introduction
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 2: The Earliest Subluxation Theories from 1902-1907
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 3: Complexity and Identity from 1908-1915
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 4: New Perspectives and Theorists from 1916 to 1927
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 5: The First Research Era from 1928 to 1949
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 6: Renaissance of D.D. Palmer’s Paradigm from 1949 to 1961
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 7: Technics and Models from 1962 to 1980
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 8: Terminology, Definitions and Historicity from 1966 to 1980
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 9: Complexes, Models and Consensys from 1979 to 1995
- The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 10: Integrative and Critical Literature from 1996-1997
- Staff Writer (2019), “Interview with Dr Simon Senzon” Australian Spinal Research Foundation.
