With last week’s FDA announcement that they have finally given the “nod of approval” of a much anticipated Swine Flu vaccine — with availability slated for early October — I was reminded of a Chiropractic blog post I read several months back in the heat of the Swine Flu Media Frenzy. The article, which I am printing below because it was so well written, was about how Chiropractors of yesteryear played an unsung role in helping patients across our country during the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 — a role that many have chalked up to the reason for chiropractic’s success and proliferation as an occupation. It’s a bit of history that (1) you don’t hear about much, and (2), at the very least, should give even the toughest skeptic some pause. D.D. Palmer, the founder of chiropractic — which, by the way, celebrated its 114th birthday two days ago — asked the right question when he said:
“I desired to know why one person was ailing and his associate, eating at the same table, working in the same shop, at the same bench was not. Why? What difference was there in these two persons that caused one to have various diseases, while his partner escaped?” — D.D. Palmer
In a word: neuroimunology. Read my Licking Doorknobs article for more on that. But for now, take a step back into history with ChiroUnity.com’s April 27, 2009 blog post.
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[This entry courtesy of ChiroUnity.com April 27, 2009]
Chiropratic: May be the Best Defense Against Influenza
Media reports of Swine Flu in Mexico and now several US cities are frightening to many Americans, who are made to feel helpless. As a result, many will turn to dangerous vaccines out of fear and a lack of honest information. This virus is a strain of H1N1, the same virus responsible for the 1918 Flu Pandemic (often referred to as the “Spanish Flu”).
At this point, most confirmed cases in the United States have been mild and there have been no confirmed fatalities. However, in Mexico there has been a high case fatality rate among young adults, 25-44, with atypical pneumonia, which has similarities with the 1918 flu pandemic.
The media is reporting that the 1918 pandemic was composed of a recombination of H1N1 seasonal flu and H1N1 swine flu. What you won’t hear reported in the main stream media is how chiropractic care afforded life saving relief to so many back in 1918.
The 1918 flu epidemic swept silently across the world bringing death and fear to homes in every land. More than one hundred million people died. In 1918 almost nothing was known about prevention, protection, treatment or cure of influenza. The whole world stood at its mercy, or lack of it.
Strangely enough, around that same time, chiropractic, the only American born health care profession, was close to extinction only 23 years after its discovery. In the time just after the end of World War I, laws against slander were so lenient that medical doctors were allowed to openly attack the chiropractic profession without any regard to truth, legality or the best interest of the patients.
Because medical doctors were making it so hard to have a practice, chiropractors were making mostly house calls. In 1918, chiropractors in Wisconsin began going door-to-door adjusting anyone who had the Flu.
As a result, an amazing thing occurred. Those who were adjusted by a chiropractor didn’t die.
Today it is becoming more and more accepted by the health care community and public at large that chiropractors are great back doctors. I would agree. The scientific literature certainly supports our primary method of treatment for back pain, and more insurance companies are covering our services for it. Considering our history of long uphill battles to gain “acceptance” as a viable health care profession, it is understandable that we might be drawn to settle into this “comfortable chair” of being labeled as back pain specialists. But to do so would really be undermining the true potential that the art, science, and philosophy of chiropractic has to offer. 
When I was in elementary school, I remember a poster that hung on the back wall of the school cafeteria. It read “You Are What You Eat.” A simple, but wise, phrase, and one that I’ve come to appreciate with the passing years. However, despite my chiropractic education, and the nutritional courses within it, the idea of sitting down to a nice, piping hot plate of back pain has never crossed my mind. Well, according to the research in Dr. Neal Barnard’s book 
[originally published in 
Don’t worry, we aren’t suffering from an aspirin inventory crisis. No, my title for this article really has nothing to do with that. Instead, its about a concept that is so basic — so logical — that it alludes many in our population. 
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