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Many of America's alternative healing systems function as vehicles for the transmission of alternative spiritual philosophies. Chiropractic medicine, Osteopathy, Holistic Healing, Therapeutic Touch, and Alcoholics Anonymous are but a few of the alternative healing systems that have deep roots in the American metaphysical tradition. So, too, do various New Age healing practices such as color or crystal healing that believe in the existence of “subtle energies.” It is clear that many of those who are drawn to our alternative healing systems do so not just for relief from physical ailments but also for spiritual growth and edification.

The sixth chapter shows how the biography of B. J. Palmer recapitulated situations faced by his father. Endowed with energy and creativity, B. J. Palmer was dispossessed of leadership when a rationalizing profession rejected proprietary models, especially B. J.’s autocratic claims to power. This was symbolized by B. J.’s forceful introduction of the Neurocalometer, a controversial proprietary device that split the membership of the Universal Chiropractors Association. The chapter considers how in later life B. J. Palmer made a “spiritual turn” toward New Thought that imparted an elaborate metaphysics to Chiropractic Philosophy, which endures in the Straight chiropractic movement. When B. J. Palmer died in 1961, his son, David Daniel Palmer, was already managing most of the day-to-day operations at the P.S.C. “Dave” Palmer aligned the soon renamed Palmer College of Chiropractic with mainstream standards of education. The chiropractic profession also normalized its position in American society, with a series of legal and policy victories, including the federal anti-trust lawsuit, Wilk vs. A.M.A.

The influence of secularization has been greater in the field of medicine than in most any other area of modern cultural life. It is for this reason that contemporary fascination with alternative healing systems that postulate the power of “subtle energies” is of particular interest to the cultural historian. Practitioners of therapeutic touch, acupuncture, traditional chiropractic, and various other forms of “energy medicine” all espouse belief in healing powers recognized by neither the religious nor the scientific traditions that have historically dominated Western cultural thought. The popularity of contemporary “energy medicine” testifies to how fully the American metaphysical tradition has filtered into the vocabulary with which middle-class Americans interpret their lives. The beliefs (doctrines) and practices (rituals) that constitute alternative healing systems enable persons to establish an interior connection with sacred powers that go well beyond the conceptual worlds of either orthodox science or orthodox religion. This chapter also discusses chiropractic medicine, the holistic health movement, and New Age energy healing.

Chapter four continues tracing the institutional growth of chiropractic, with special consideration to the role of ideas and theories in building the profession. This chapter considers the years between 1903 and 1910, when D. D. and B. J. Palmer tried unsuccessfully to share power at the Palmer School of Chiropractic. As the number of practitioners grew, the Palmers benefitted from professional collaborations and also faced competition from past-colleagues who became rivals. One of the first and most bitter disputes was with Solon Langworthy and his associates at the American School of Chiropractic and Nature Cure. In their publication Backbone, the American School chiropractors credited themselves with the discovery of major aspects of chiropractic theory, including the concept of spinal subluxations that today are widely understood to cause pain and bodily illness. Although short-lived, the American School marked the beginning of a debate between “Straights” and “Mixers” about whether to allow chiropractors to incorporate other therapies.

Chapter five addresses the eclipse of D. D. Palmer by his son, in leading both the proprietary school and the burgeoning chiropractic profession. B. J. Palmer presented himself as the rightful heir and loyal exponent of his father’s ideas, but he used legal measures and the court of opinion to block D. D.’s involvement in the chiropractic movement. It is in this climate of marginalization, the chapter argues, that D. D. Palmer made his most elaborate “religious turn,” with the creation of the Third Chiropractic Theory. Living in Southern California, D. D. Palmer befriended the metaphysical writer William Juvenal Colville. This chapter analyzes the Third Chiropractic Theory, and considers the possible influence of Theosophical ideas for its emphasis on “Tone” and “Vibration.” It compares D. D. Palmer’s Chiropractic Philosophy with the spiritual theories proposed by Andrew Taylor Still, creator of osteopathy, after he was sidelined from his profession.

The third chapter presents the steps by which early chiropractic became an organized system of health care: the elaboration of chiropractic theories, the establishment of training institutes like the Palmer School of Chiropractic (P.S.C.) in Davenport, Iowa, and the making of a collective consciousness for the profession. Though their relationship was fraught with hostility, D. D. Palmer had considerable help from his son, B. J. Palmer, in developing chiropractic, which they had to distinguish from systems like osteopathy, with which it often was confused. Spinal therapeutics were a major part of 19th century health culture, but not originally central to chiropractic treatment or the First Chiropractic Theory. After the Santa Barbara Incident, the Palmers adopted the neurocentric logic of Progressive Era popular physiology, where maintaining the health of the nervous system through care of the spine was prioritized in the Second Chiropractic Theory.

To combat pseudoscience, students must first understand that science is not just a collection of facts but it is a way of discovering the nature of the physical world. The way that scientists go about their business is best learned by active learning strategies such as studying case studies of famous discoveries, rather than hearing about them via lecture as revealed wisdom. Equally, the follies of pseudoscience are best exposed when students discuss how extraordinary claims fail to live up to the canons of science where evidence is the final arbiter of truth.

This chapter explores the far-reaching influences in American religion and medicine of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist and mystic, and Franz Anton Mesmer, who developed Mesmerism, the forerunner of hypnosis. Swedenborg’s theology filtered into homeopathy and the religious movements of Shakerism, Transcendentalism, Unitarianism, Mormonism, modernist Buddhism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, and New Thought. Mesmer’s theories about illness contributed to the development of osteopathy, chiropractic, and hypnotherapy. Before the development of chemical anesthesia, some nineteenth-century doctors performed complex and successful surgeries on patients who were sedated only by hypnotic suggestion. Ideas and practices derived from Mesmer and Swedenborg converged in the nineteenth-century mental-healing practice of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, a New England clockmaker and the first American to discover that beliefs and mental states can affect one’s physical health.

Central to the question of methodology in research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is the practitioner-patient relationship, the most unambiguously rhetorical element of clinical medicine. Increased interaction between practitioners and patients in any medical model may have unintended—and unquantifiable—therapeutic effects. Chapter Four examines how research on CAM configures practitioner-patient interaction, particularly in relation to prevalent models of medical practice, including patient-centered care and evidence-based medicine. It argues that studies of CAM posit practitioner-patient interaction as a potential contaminant in trials of acupuncture and chiropractic, wherein attempts to control for placebo effects are, in many cases, attempts to control for interaction effects. Probing these interaction effects can further contribute to new understandings of how practitioner-patient encounters can influence health outcomes. Finally, the chapter examines patient autonomy, closely linked to interaction and central to discourses about CAM both in the texts under study and I medical discourse more generally. The actual extent of autonomy afforded to patients in medical settings, alternative or not, is often illusory, framed within generic and rhetorical processes that necessarily tilt the course of decision-making in particular, and predictably biomedical, directions.

The first chapter relates the story of the discovery of chiropractic by D. D. Palmer in the mid-1890s, and discusses the meaning of the history of their profession to chiropractors. It traces the history of ideas behind early chiropractic theory and introduces two main themes as important to the emergence of alternative medicine in the nineteenth century: vitalism and populism. Vitalist ideas run the spectrum from mostly rooted in science to highly theological. D. D. Palmer understood chiropractic as a science, but he incorporated metaphysical spiritual ideas to create Chiropractic Philosophy. This chapter also proposes chiropractic as part of an American cultural tradition of popular physiology, that rejects elite medical authorities and claims the right to choose one’s health care as an essential democratic right. D. D. Palmer was suspicious of higher education and elite knowledge, which he emulated and rejected in creating chiropractic. Palmer’s writing shows him to be a populist intellectual of a type distinctive to the Progressive Era.

Chapter seven focuses on the later 20th century, and considers how the U.S. experience bears on the profession as chiropractic grows internationally in the new millennium. Chiropractic has prospered due to Americans’ enthusiasm for holism and desire to control their own health care. Though relatively well positioned, chiropractic faces new versions of longstanding challenges, such as factionalism in the profession. This chapter returns to the question of spirituality to show how metaphysics may bear on chiropractic as it takes root in other countries. Some chiropractors, including the Palmers, have maintained connections with Western esotericism, especially to Rosicrucian orders. The chapter also considers the role of chiropractors in extreme political and social movements, including white nationalism, and argues their participation is an effect of the populist mindset cultivated within alternative medicine. The chapter presents an overview of the early international dissemination of chiropractic. Globalization offers opportunities for the chiropractic profession, but it must overcome a wide range of reactions from within receiving cultures.

Chapter four takes as a case study Christian defenses of chiropractic. Chiropractic’s harmonial philosophy of Innate Intelligence is premised on Western metaphysics, and meets religious needs to identify causes, attribute blame, and find significance. Chiropractic’s founders renounced Christianity and modern medicine; until recently, most Americans rejected chiropractic as a medically and religiously suspect “medical cult.” Chiropractors did not enter the mainstream by jettisoning religious views, but by straddling metaphysical, biomedical, and evangelical vocabularies to appeal to a therapeutic culture: claiming the prestige of modern science while appealing to anti-modern longings for natural, spiritually pure remedies. Promotional literature uses scientific-sounding language, and most chiropractors identify as Christians, yet most chiropractors hold and selectively voice vitalistic beliefs. Evangelicals who worried about theological orthodoxy yet wanted pain relief reclassified chiropractic from an illegitimate, New Age spiritual practice to a legitimate, scientific complement to medicine and prayer for divine healing, based on perceived efficacy.

There are no quick and easy ways of overcoming ADHD; more importantly, there are no outright cures. Many misguided or dishonest individuals promote all manner of alternative ‘treatments’ for ADHD. The media often play an active role in irresponsibly promoting discredited treatments. If you plan to start any treatment, first be certain that you understand the risks involved. You should obtain reliable information from your child’s doctor before becoming involved in any treatment. This chapter explores unconventional treatments for ADHD, including the evaluation of alternative treatments, the role of the media, and some widely promoted treatments (dietary treatments, herbal treatments, technological treatments, exercise programmes, manipulation of the spine, and meditation).

During the Progressive Era, the medical freedom movement appropriated the phrase “state medicine” to designate an expanding tyrannical conspiracy between public officials and the American Medical Association (AMA). This chapter shows how activists resisted not only compulsory measures such as vaccination and inspection, but also every other aspect of a system that they portrayed as a plot to deny citizens their treatments of choice. It examines the drafting and judicial interpretation of the postal statute and 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act to (temporarily) prevent the federal government from regulating the efficacy of drugs. It also explores the triumphant campaign by the National League for Medical Freedom, in the early 1910s, to defeat facially innocuous bills that would have merged existing federal agencies to create a National Department of Health. The chapter closes with a consideration of which side of this struggle represented “Progressivism.”

There are no quick and easy ways of overcoming a specific learning difficulty, but conventional management, as outlined in this book, will always bring results eventually. When there is no effective cure for a condition, numerous dubious ‘cures’ arise. The existence of a number of so-called cures is usually a sign that no single one is effective. An effective treatment quickly displaces all others. Some of these treatments are a waste of time and money that could be spent more profitably in other ways to benefit the child. Some may be harmful to the physical and psychological well-being of the child. Some may have detrimental effects on the family as a whole. It is important, therefore, that you obtain reliable information from your doctor or psychologist before becoming involved in any treatment. Do not rely on stories of miraculous cures from those who promote these treatments. Evaluations should be by controlled trials published in reputable journals. Such trials should be carried out ‘blind’ whenever possible, meaning that the person who assessed the performance of children both on and off the treatment did not know which had received treatment and which had not until after the assessments were completed. If the treatment consists of a medicine, the untreated group should have received a dummy medicine (placebo) to make the comparison valid. In addition, the person who carried out the trial should not have had any vested interest in the treatment. An increasing number of independent trials of controversial treatments are now reported in scientific journals. In addition, professional and government bodies often make policy statements about certain treatments based on reviews of scientific data. If you plan to start a treatment, first be certain that you understand the risks involved. Decide upon what objective improvement you wish to see, and how long it should take before this occurs. If the objective improvement is not achieved, treatment should cease. Do not allow yourself to accept some vague qualitative improvements decided upon at a later date. Children with specific learning difficulties always develop new skills, and usually do so in sudden spurts followed by periods of consolidation.

This chapter introduces the notion of medical dissidence: conscious deviation from the main current of professional opinion. Cosmopolitanism is applied as a way of getting to grips with the popularity of Alternative Medicine despite its common dismissal among the literati. Most efficacy claims are not well supported in Alternative Medicine. However, it is not necessarily irrational to give them credence, or to rely on anecdotal evidence, because testimony is so central to nearly all medical evidence, and people are very differently placed in the reasons they might have to believe or disbelieve testimony. In addition, there may be non-curative value in alternative medicine. Cosmopolitanism does not advise an attitude of “anything goes,” but does urge humility on those of whatever persuasion who dismiss other traditions or people as irrational.

Let’s continue on the self-help road to improving fibromyalgia symptoms. Suppose we are eating healthy, well-balanced meals, are no longer smoking, have learned to pace ourselves, cope with changes in the weather, are sleeping well, and have reconfigured the house. At this point, how can the body be trained to reduce pain, stiffness, and fatigue? This chapter will explore how physical, mental, and complementary modalities allow fibromyalgia patients to feel better about their bodies and minds. Therapeutic regimens that help the body and mind, whether physical therapy, yoga, acupuncture, or chiropractic methods, are all based on similar tenets of body mechanics: 1. Fibromyalgia patients will never improve unless they have good posture. Bad posture aggravates musculoskeletal pain and creates tight, stiff, sore muscles. Therefore, stretch, change positions, and have a good workstation that does not require too much leaning or reaching. 2. The way we get around is a demonstration of body mechanics. The fundamental principles of good body mechanics in fibromyalgia include using a broad base of support by distributing loads to stronger joints with a greater surface area, keeping things close to the body to provide leverage, minimizing reaching, and not putting too much pressure on the lower back. Also, don’t stay in the same position for a prolonged period of time. 3. Exercise is necessary. It improves our sense of well-being, strengthens muscles and bones, allows restful sleep, relieves stress, releases serotonin and endorphins, which decreases pain, and burns calories. 4. Don’t be shy about using supports. Whether it be an armrest, special chair, brace, wall, railing, pillow, furniture, slings, pockets, or even another person’s body, supports allow fibromyalgia patients to decrease the amount of weight or stress that would otherwise be applied to the body, producing discomfort or pain. 5. All activities should be conducive to relaxation and stress reduction, whether they be deep breathing, meditation, biofeedback, or guided imagery. There are a surprisingly large number of ways these activities can be carried out. They are discussed in the next few sections.