Dear Pastor,

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

I was greatly encouraged by your article on May 12, 2006 about the “theology of food”.  It expressed some things that I have been trying to tell my patients for many years.  If you need more information on the subject, I can recommend many books that you can research on subjects around these issues.  If you haven’t read “Body by God” by Dr. Ben Lerner, you should. 

What I wanted to write to you about is another related topic that is near and dear to my heart.  The philosophy of healthcare from a different perspective.   As you might have guessed, I am a chiropractor without an attitude.  By that I mean that I am not a radical or exclusionist when it comes to the medical community.  In fact, my greatest desire is for the medical profession to see the benefits of what we chiropractors do and be able to work together for the betterment of the health of the greater society.  To date, we have been bitter enemies and there are factions within both professions which want to keep the great chasm between them and us fixed.  There are also smaller factions of more open minded people who want unity and have the greater good of patients in mind.  That’s enough of the unity speech, now to the philosophy.

Chiropractic is the art and science of working with the spine and joints to free the nervous system of interference to health so that the patient can experience the innate abilities that their bodies have to be healthy.  Let me translate into my words about chiropractic healthcare.  By the art of laying on of hands, testing and analyzing joint function, we are able to release the power of God that lies within our bodies to give us perfect health.  God didn’t intend for us to be sick and, in fact, gave us a remarkably adaptive and self-healing body.  Without any care at all, we can live long lives that are reasonably functional.  Granted there will be times of pain, there will be accidents, and there will be diseases.  This type of trauma and unexpected illnesses are where medical doctors come in and do their best work.  Better than the chiropractic profession.

 Now let’s look at what we actually do as chiropractors.  Trauma leads to changes.  What doesn’t kill us, doesn’t necessarily make us stronger, we just adapt to it (in the physical sense).  Very rarely is that adaptation for the betterment of the body.  It is for survival, pure and simple.  These adaptations create aberrant function throughout the body.  In organ systems, muscles, joints, and nervous system functions.  Ask anybody who has had a shoulder injury if their body works the same as it did before the injury.  Ask any low back patient if they can work the same way as they did before the injury.  Or if a migraine sufferer is able to function the same as they do without headaches.  They will all say no.  In chiropractic, we are not satisfied with these reduced states of function.  We work with joints (adjusting) to reduce adhesions and adaptations to traumas so that the person can have function restored as near as possible to the design that God gave us in the first place.  We want that nervous system communicating with every organ, every joint, every muscle, every oil gland, and every blood vessel as God intended it to.  We also want every one of those organs and tissues communicating with the brain on an equal level, as God intended.  I hope this makes sense to you.  I believe in the gift that God has given us for health.  I just think that the world gets in the way of how we have that gift of health expressed in us as individuals. 

As a profession, chiropractors look at the body as a whole system.  We look at how subluxations (joint out of place affecting the nervous system) happen and we work with people to correct these sources of malfunction.  A subluxation can occur via thoughts (stress, anxiety, etc.), traumas (accidents, falls, slips, etc) and toxins (chemicals, processed foods, environment, etc.).  By working with people to remove these sources of subluxation, we can help people to feel better and live longer, more fulfilling lives for God. 

Let me once again state that I love our medical community and their manner of treating traumas and illness.  If I am bleeding from an accident, I want a skilled surgeon.  If I have cancer, I want the best oncologist I can find to treat me.  If, however, I have recovered from an accident to the point that the medical physician can achieve, I want to have function restored to as near perfect as we can get it through chiropractic care and physical therapy.  On a regular basis, I have joint pains and the occasional fall that changes how my body functions.  I want that function restored as soon as possible so my body doesn’t adapt to this aberration in function.  If I get a cold or feel symptoms of some other illness coming on, I want an adjustment to boost the immune system early in the process so my body can fight the virus or bacteria as God intended.  If the illness progresses, I want some medical help for my body to get me over the hump and back to where my body can handle the problem.

There is room in this world for all people of God and each can have a purpose that serves God.  We are gifted with different methods of service and different purposes in the Body of Christ. 

I guess my purpose for writing this to you is as much for my benefit as for yours.  I long for a time when chiropractic is accepted on the same level as the medical side of health care.  I wish to work together with the medical establishment to improve health for our world.  God has gifted both types of physicians with healing power and we should be working together to restore health.

Praise be to God our Father and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all ministers of the body and soul.

God be with you.

©Dr. Roy Lubkeman 2006