Red Flags About Chiropractic Therapy

Chiropractors usually deal with back or neck problems by manipulating the spine and have become an established part of the healthcare system. However, many will be surprised to know that chiropractic therapy is largely deemed dubious or questionable. Still, many conventional doctors refer third patients to chiropractors, and many insurance plans are willing to cover such treatments. Billions of dollars are spent annually on chiropractic treatment in America. As of 2018, there are roughly 70,000 chiropractors in North America and they have “treated” more than 35 million Americans (adults and children) annually (source).

What’s problematic with chiropractic theory is that some are involved in marginal practices, occultic medicine, or quackery. The following is from Christian authors John Ankerberg and John Weldon in their book Can You Trust Your Doctor?:

…they are promoting a health system that does not work based on its stated principles and that rejects the findings of modern scientific medicine as these relate to its theory and practice. This is why “The scientific foundation of the practice has been generally disputed”. Medical encyclopedias often note that basic chiropractic theory is unproven:

This theory has never been scientifically validated.

Physicians believe that no scientific basis for chiropractic theory has ever been established and that it is ineffective in the treatment of such common ailments as hypertension, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and infectious diseases.

(Can You Trust Your Doctor?, pp. 203-204)

There is a lot to say about the Chiropractor field but the focus here will primarily be on its occult origins and potential dangers. This is all surprising even to me. Many years ago I had a friend from church who was a Chiropractor and I went to him for treatment (spinal decompression). I falsely assumed chiropractors were legitimate medical doctors (they are not)! However, I don’t believe he was ever involved in any occultic practices that some chiropractors are known to be involved in.

The Questionable Nature of Chiropractic

According to the book Can You Trust Your Doctor?:

The Catalogue of the Palmer College of Chiropractic-West defines chiropractic in the following manner:

“Chiropractic is a natural health care system using the inherent healing properties within the body, It is based on the promise that displacement (subluxation) of the vertebrae can cause imperfect performance of the human nervous system by interfering with the flow of nerve impulses to and from the systems, organs and tissues of the body, thereby making the body susceptible to disease.

By adjusting subluxations of the spinal column and its immediate articulations, chiropractic helps restore and maintain normal nerve function, communications and body balance…. The human body thereby adapts to the environment and resists disease. Maximum physiologic potential is the relationship between structure, primarily the spine, and function, primarily the nervous system of the human body, as that relation may affect the restoration and preservation of health.”

(Can You Trust Your Doctor?, pp. 204-205)

There are three basic categories of modern chiropractic practice:

… First, traditional Palmerian chiropractic which continues to rely upon the occultic, quack, and unscientific theories developed by the founders of chiropractic, Daniel and B.J. Palmer; second, new age elective chiropractic which, in addition to chiropractic, uses a variety of other new age occultic techniques; and third, legitimate chiropractic which seeks to remain within the realm of modern medical scientific practice.

Unfortunately, it appears that the majority, perhaps the great majority, of practitioners fall into the first two categories.

Anyone concerned about his health should avoid chiropractors who fall into the first two categories. These categories are often labeled as the chiropractic “straights” and “mixers.” Nevertheless, there is no hard and fast boundary between them as one critic observes:

Although straights may be labelled “cultists” for adhering to Palmer’s dogma, the additional modalities mixers employ are apt to be just as non-scientific. Mixers utilize calonics, iridology, unproven devices, applied kinesiology (muscle testing), megavitamins, herbology, crystals, variations of acupuncture, glandular therapy, craniopathy, and a seemingly endless array of dubious diagnostic, prescription, and therapy procedures.

(Can You Trust Your Doctor?, p. 206)

It also reads [brackets mine]:

In one of the standard compendiums on new age medical techniques, The Holistic Health Handbook, prepared by the Berkeley Holistic Health Center, Reikeman actually defines chiropractic as “A new age Philosophy, Science, and Art which focuses on correcting interference with the nervous system….”

Consider another example. Well-known chiropractor and developer of Touch for Health, John F. Thie, observes the connection between chiropratic and ancient Chinese philosophy based upon the meridian system, the flow of chi, and acupuncture points. He observes,

There is a great similarity between the Chinese health philosophy and the philosophy of chiropractic. Palmer used magnetic healing techniques which he may have earned from the Chinese. Oriental acupuncturists are now coming to the Western chiropractic Colleges, and they, too, are finding great similarities between the two methods of healing.

Thie also observes that modern chiropractic holds certain new age beliefs: The modern “Chiropractor believes that the innate intelligence that runs the body is connected to universal [cosmic] intelligence that runs the world [i.e., “God”], so each person is plugged into the universal intelligence through the nervous system”.

This why new age psychics such as Jaon Windsor can claim that, “The main advantage of seeking chiropractic healing is the aligning of bodily energies”. One text on the history of medicine observes:

Chiropractic began from the assumption that a flow of energy from the brain was the essential life-giving force in the body, and that interference with this force produced disease.

Furthermore, chiropractors themselves have often been involved in the development of many new age therapies:

• Bernard Jensen, the founder of iridology, is a chiropractor.
• George Goodheart, the inventor of applied kinesiology, is a chiropractor.
• John Thie, the inventor of Touch for Health, is a chiropractor.
• Ruth Drown and David Tansley, leaders in the field of radionics, are chiropractors.
• Oakley G. Smith, the inventor of Naprapthy, is a chiropractor. (Naprapthy is the belief that the main cause of dieases is found in the derangement of the soft or connective tissues.
• [Eric Pearl, the founder of Reconnective Healing, was a chiropractor.]
• [John Amaral, the founder of Energy Flow Formula, a somatic energy healing practice, was a chiropractor.]
• [Dr Sarah Jane Perri, Founder of spinal energetics ™, which seems to employ occult energy healing, is a chiropractor.]
• [Dr. Bradley Nelson, a Medical Intuitive, is a holistic chiropractor.]
• [Dr. Brett Jones, who created The Source Chiropractic which involves energy healing, was a chiropractor.]

…

There is a logical reason for this association between chiropractic and new age medicine. First, historically chiropractic has occultic roots. Second, it is largely based on quackery. Therefore it bears more than its share in fostering the very essence of new age medicine: quackery and occultic practices masquerading as medicine. Becuase chiropractic is unscientific and potentially occultic, practioners are naturally drawn to like-minded sytems or to experimentation in questionable areas.

(Can You Trust Your Doctor?, pp. 207-208)

The Occultic Background of Chiropractor Exposed

If one wants to learn about a questionable practice, it is wise to look into the background of its founder. D.D. Palmer, the founder of Chiropractic therapy, was an active spiritist! This is a huge demonic door opener. He said he received chiropractic from the other world from a supposed deceased medical physician named Dr. Jim Atkinson (source).

According to his son, B. J. Palmer, his “Father often attended the annual Mississippi Valley Spiritualists Camp Meeting where he first claimed to receive messages from Dr. Jim Atkinson on the principles of chiropractic” (source).

In D. D. Palmer’s own book, he wrote:

The knowledge and philosophy given me by Dr. Jim Atkinson, an intelligent spiritual being, together with explanations of phenomena, principles resolved from causes, effects, powers, laws and utility, appealed to my reason. The method by which I obtained an explanation of certain physical phenomena, from an intelligence in the spiritual world, is known in biblical language as inspiration. In a great measure The Chiropractor’s Adjuster was written under such spiritual promptings.

(The Chiropractor, p. 5)

It’s important to know this: contacting the dead or spirits by any means is strongly condemned in the Bible (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) and any spirit that comes through is demonic. Often times they come in the guise of someone else to deceive. Thus, it wasn’t Dr. Jim Atkinson who communicated with B. J. Palmer but a demonic spirit!

What’s interesting is that Palmer regarded chiropractic as partly religious in nature. He wrote:

… we must have a religious head, one who is the founder, as did Christ, Muhammad, Jo. Smith, Mrs. Eddy, Martin Luther and other who have founded religions. I am the fountain head. I am the founder of chiropractic in its science, in its art, in its philosophy and in its religious phase.

(Source)

… nor interfere with the religious duty of chiropractors, a privilege already conferred upon them. It now becomes us as chiropractors to assert our religious rights.

(The Chiropractor, p. 1)

The practice of chiropractic involves a moral obligation and a religious duty.

(The Chiropractor, p. 2)

And:

By correcting these displacements of osseous tissue, the tension frame of the nervous system, I claim that I am rendering obedience, adoration and honor to the All-Wise Spiritual Intelligence, as well as a service to the segmented, individual portions thereof – a duty I owe to both God and mankind. In accordance with this aim and end, the Constitution of the United States and the statutes personal of California confer upon me and all persons of chiropractic faith the inalienable right to practice our religion without restraint or interference.

(The Chiropractor, p. 12)

Again, I will quote from the book Can You Trust Your Doctor? further exposing the Palmers’ occult background:

“The occultic background of chiropractic can be seen in the life and activities of D. D. Palmer and B. J., his son. Connections to the occult may also be noted in ancient practices similar to chiropractic that were connected with occultic religion. Chiropractice or “Chiropraxy,” for example, has been practiced among the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, and Hindus. Palmer himself confessed that practices like chiropractic were not new and were associated with ancient pagan religion and cults and also in various contemporary occultic societies of his day.

But our principal concern here is not ancient chiropractic, but the occultic activities of the Palmers themselves. Both D. D. Palmer and his son were interested in the occult; one or both were interested or involved in radionics, masonry, phrenology, spiritism, and Eastern religious beliefs such as reincarnation.

For over nine years, prior to discovering chiropractic, Daniel Palmer had been a psychic healer, a practice that during his day was associated with and/or part of magnetic healing. He was trained under one of the most famous magnetic healers in America at that time, Paul Castor. Palmer even confessed that chiropractic evolved from magnetic healing and was an outgrowth of it.

Palmer had also been phrenologist (diagnosing by head bumps) and was interested in spiritism.

Although the nineteenth-and twentieth-century practices of magnetic healing were sometimes explainable on psychosomatic principles, they were also indistinguishable from the practices of modern spiritstic psychic healing. This can be seen by comparing authorities such as Dr. Nandor Fodor in his Encyclopedia of Psychic Science under the leading “Healing, Psychic” and Slater Brown’s chapter, “The Magnetists” in his text The Heyday of Spiritualism.

Magnetic healing, also associated with animal magnetism or mesmerism, was often spiritistic phenomenon. Indeed, magnetists routinely claimed that their powers derived from the spirit world.

This is why Palmer’s confession that he was a magnetic healer is so significant:

I was a magnetic healer for nine years previous to discovering the principles which comprise the method known as chiropractic. During this period much that which was necessary to complete the science [of chiropractic] was worked.

In fact, as is common with most occultists, Palmer even transmitted his psychic powers to his son:

Prior to becoming a magnetic healer in Davenport… he had been a fish dealer… Those who knew him in his later career decare him to have possessed an unusually magnetic personality and qualities of a psychic order. These were strongly inherited by Dr. B. J. Palmer…. Both father and son are said to have been privately interested in spiritualism [spiritism] which seems in fact verified by the latter’s possession of various works on this subject.

That both D. D. Palmer and his son could properly be classified as occultists should be clear to anyone who examines their philosophy and activities. The texts by D. D. Palmer such as his Textbook of the Science, Art, and Philosophy of Chiropractic for Students and Practioners and B. J. Palmer’s Answers and The Bigness of the Fellow Within are illustrative.

Consider the following statement which B.J Palmer quotes approvingly:

Occult power really exists and is the most forceful end result brining things into the world. Eveyone may absorb as much of it [occult power] as he will from divine energy. All nature shows that it is to be used for securing the needed things of life. One must learn to absorb and use it as surely as one must learn to draw if one would paint or to use one’s legs if one would skate.

This is why he strongly implies that one who uses chiropractic is engaging in the use of occult power and why in early chiropractic theory “God,” “Divine Energy,” and “Occult Power” become blurred.

The Palmers call this psychic energy that is used in the occult by a specific term, “Innate.” Innate was a mysterious, divine life force within all men that flowed from the brain through the nerves to the organs of the body. But all manifestations of occult or psychic power fall within the domain of manifestations of the Innate:

There are within the enclosure of this human shell certain active (dormant because unrecognized) spiritual energies.

During the past decade, more so than before, there has been an active investigation of the “phenomena” produced among those commonly known as the occult…. Chiropractors have enlarged the field of man’s mental processes by revealing the fact that below the threshold of man’s consciousness lie many gradations…. The powers and activities of this Innate Intelligence… are now being adjusted scientifically.

Innate was also a universal divine energy which manifested itself in the individual in the form of what they termed Innate Intelligence. Thus, B. J. described Innate Intelligence as “God in human beings”.

His father, D. D. Palmer, described “Innate” in the following terms:

That which I named ‘Innate’ … is a segment of that Intelligence which fills the universe.

Innate is said to be part of the “All Wise, Almighty, Universal Intelligence, the Great Spirit, the Greek’s Theos, the Christian’s God, the Hebrew’s Helohim [sic], the Mahometan’s Allah, [homeopathy founder] Hahnemann’s Vital Force, new thot’s [sic] Divine Spark….”

The New Theology enunciated by me more than ten years ago as the basis for chiropractic, is the identification of God with Life-Force… God–the Universal Intelligence–the Life-Force of Creation–has been struggling for countless ages to improve upon itself–to express itself intellectually and physically higher in the scale of evolution.

But the Palmers sometimes describe the manifestations of Innate in the same manner as mediums describe the manifestations of their spirit guides. Thus, Innate can inspire one psychically and provide supernatural revelations on a wide variety of subjects. Also, Innate is itself personal and acts in a personal manner toward the individual. “Innate is a personality…. Innate has lived for centuries, … Innate points the way. Innate opens one or more doors of unlimited wisdom….”

In fact, Innate was believed to be the true originator of chiropractic. Allegedly, because Innate was a personal, divine guide, B.J. referred to Innate as the “other fellow” or the “fellow within.” He taught that this “other fellow” was the real inventor of chiropractic.

In fact, Innate was believed to be the true originator of chiropractic. Allegedly, because Innate was a personal, divine guide, B. J. referred to Innate as the “other fellow” or the “fellow within.” He taught that this “other fellow” was the real inventor of chiropractic.

The ‘other fellow’ [Innate], because of constant and consistent research throughout fifty-seven years, discovered and proved location of a specific cause of ALL dis-ease and developed and proved a specific adjustment technique for its correction, proving its results on thousands of sick by scientific processes which none dispute….

B.J. Palmer also taught that the chiropractor must uncover and utilize the power of Innate if he is to be successful in his practice. Thus, true power in chiropractic was believed to come from the divine within. In fact, this was the same energy Jesus supposedly discovered and utilized in working miracles. Now, because of the Palmers’ discovery, this healing power became available to the chiropractor.

Nevertheless, the following descriptions by B. J. Palmer are not reminiscent of the beliefs and methods of Jesus but of modern occultic psychic healers:

The hand is adapted to work by an internal innate power….

We chiropractors work with a subtle substance of the soul….

Anything and everything the God of the universe knows is potential knowledge within us.

Thus, for both the Palmers, true chiropractic could not be practiced apart from a person working relationship with the Innate. B. J. emphasized:

I can hardly conceived of any Chiropractic school being of service to its students or those graduates to their patients without a workable knowledge of Innate Intelligence…. Nobody can know the fundamentals of Chiropractic unless he knows [personally], understands, and has a workable knowledge of Innate Intelligence.

As we have seen, Innate was really God or divine energy:”Many who read and study our writings re Innate [sic] frequently ask, ‘HOW can WE contact Innate; HOW can WE get in tune with Innate; HOW can WE reach Innate?’ This is equivalent to asking, ‘HOW can WE contact God; HOW can WE get in tune with God; HOW can WE reach God?'”.

Innate is even described as a personal being giving within an individual. As we noted earlier, B. J. Palmer referred to Innate as the “other fellow” or the “fellow within.” Further, like many modern mediums, channelers, and spiritists, he claimed that this personality living within him not only inspired him but actually directed his life:

The “Other Fellow” in this story [of chiropractic] is Innate. Innate was always crowding, pushing ME (little fellow) into doing things. It is fitting and proper that I (little fellow) give the “Other Fellow” (Innate) credit for doing all that the little fellow would like to take credit for but can’t honestly do so.

According to B.J. Palmer’s text, The Bigness of the Fellow Within, Innate was contacted in the same manner that spirit guides may contact their human mediums: “How do you get into communion with your “Innate?” How do you get in tune with your “Infinite?” You don’t! “Innate” communicates with you and when “Innate” is in contact, you are in tune with the infinite. “Innate” will seek you when convinced you are ready to receive and will then come unsolicited.

Indeed, during the Palmer’s chiropractic treatments, such as nerve tracing, Innate would even assist them “in making a diagnosis”. In this process, the parallels to psychic diagnosis using a spirit guide become evidence.

All of this is not unexpected. Given the Palmers’ interest in spiritism, it is not surprising that they would find their lives directed by spiritistic powers.

New age researcher Elliot Miller of the Christian Research Institute comments:

that B. J. attributed his accomplishments to a living spiritual entity that worked through him. As can be adduced from B. J.’s comments above, he was controlled, directed, and governed by the “Inner Fellow.” He received his ideas by listening to the “inner fellow’s” voice. Truly he could speak of himself as “we,” for there was spiritual person inside of him, empowering and directing his every move. As [Marcus] Bach wrote [in The Chriopractic Story, 1968, pp. 121, 162], “He spoke as the spirit moved him… spoke of his life’s destiny, to be and to prove the power of Innate Intelligence working through the channel of man. That was his theme if THERE WAS ONE.” B.J.”I have achieved nothing. I do nothing. It is Innate that does the work.”

All of this is why chiropractic is logically related to new age medicine. Both Palmers claimed that chiropractic was based on the manipulation of energies. The problem is that it is impossible to distinguish this energy from the mystical energy that is commonly manipulated in many ancient and modern new age health techniques–such as prana, mana, chi, etc. For example, “The ancient [Polynesian] kahunas also used chiropractic techniques in order to stimulate the healing energy known as mana”.

Thus, the Innate was a divine life energy uniting us to cosmic energy or God. When this energy was not functioning properly, it caused disease. Chiropractic manipulation corrected the follow of energy and brought health. This is why the Palmers never separated practice (chiropractic) from theory (Innate).

That is, the “theology” of the Innate life force was necessarily bound together with chiropractic adjustments. This is the reason D. D. Palmer stressed that “Chiropractic links the spiritual with the material”.

Modern chiropractors are divided over the concept of “Innate”:

There is much controversy even among chiropractors over the principle of Innate. To some, this life force is nerve energy; to others, consciousness; to some, electrical impulse; to others, nature; to some, God in man.

But there is no doubt whatever that thousands of modern chiropractors continue to accept Palmer’s early theories of Innate or that such acceptance has become a strong link to new age medicine.

There is little doubt as to the occult involvements of the originators of modern chiropractic. B. J. Palmer went so far as to state:

The Chiropractor says that man cannot get right with God until his subluxations have been adjusted, thus [Chiropractic permitted] educated man to get the proper currents [power from Innate Intelligence] with which to communicate and have fellowship with God. That fact is dominant and is a foundation from cover to cover of the Bible. A man cannot get physical help by prayer, but he can get physical help by adjustments. A man cannot get mental help or spiritual repentance until he can get the proper currents to think the proper thoughts….

(Can You Trust Your Doctor?, pp. 210-215)

I believe, and this should be apparent to discerning Christians, that this Innate Intelligence they were referencing and inspired by, what they described as “God in human beings,” is no other than a demonic spirit masquerading. Indeed, the Bible reads that satan transforms into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 2:11) and deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9).

Potential Dangers of Chiropractic

Further quoting from Can You Trust Your Doctor? it reads:

An article in Psychic magazine reveals the potentially psychic nature of modern chiropractic. The article interviews several chiroprctors and reveals their psychic orientation and also their belief that chiropractic may help to develop psychic abilities:

There is always an energy transfer from doctor [chiropractor] to patient,” says Bill [Streiff], Jr. [the chiropractor]. “It’s a nerve transference, I believe, which works with the nerve energy released by the [chiropractic] adjustment. In this way the patient receives energy from me and is also able to release more of his own. Touch is extremely important in healing; it gets you about as close to the patient as you can get.”

Another advantage that actual body contact with the patient seems to give the manually oriented healer is a heightening of his intuitive, or psychic abilities in the areas both of diagnosis and of correction of a problem. For example, many “magnetic” or “spiritual” healers claim that they can feel sensations of heat.

Many chiropractors in palpating, or manually checking a patient’s spine, can sense the heat released by nerve pressure with thier fingertips,… [Bill Streiff, Jr. claims]… “I work this [psychic] way all the time.”

“Just to give you an example, ” adds bill, Sr., “if a patient with flu walks into the room, I can usually ‘feel’ it as soon as I lay my hands on him.”

Rob Butts’ method of arriving at a diagnosis follows the same intuitive pattern.

“I just relax and ask within myself where I should work first, and in what way. I am frequently led to some part of the body and later I may wonder why in the world I went there. Academically, [scientifically, rationally] that shouldn’t have been the point, and yet it worked. I don’t usually try to explain my method of diagnosis to the patient…. It seems to me that a chiropractic physician, in general, is more inclined to use intuitive, or psychic, factors in healing. Whether this is because hw roks with his hand on the body, where the energy vibrations come through, or whether this type of [psychic] individual just has a tendency to go into chiropractic, I’m not sure.”

Dr. Butts feels that most chiropractors, if they don’t start out with psychic ability, tend to develop it as they go along… they set up an energy flow which allows more intuitive feelng to come through.

“For example, when I [Bill, Sr.] talk to a patient, I usually say that ‘we’ are treating him. He may not know what I am talking about, but that ‘we’ is me, the physical, and me, the innate intelligence. Sometimes I am aware of the presence of the innate in the room…. This is when I get my best results.”

(John Ankerberg, John Weldon, Can You Trust Your Doctor?, pp. 231-232)

It’s possible if a chiropractor possesses this occultic power (it’s sometimes under the guise of energy healing) and he/she puts their hands on a person in their treatment, those demons that are behind the occultic power can transfer to the patient. Being involved in deliverance ministry, there have been many people who have contacted me who got demonized by the transference via laying on of hands in both the church world and occult/new-age world (e.g., involvement with Reiki). This seems to be, at least in part, the reason the enemy (the devil) (re)introduced chiropractic to the world.

Also, note that other forms of chiropractic therapy are outside of the mainstream. I recall one person who contacted me for deliverance prayer who got heavily demonized from getting involved in a lesser-known method of chiropractic “care” called Network Spinal Analysis or Network Chiropractic, which is blatantly occultic.

Closing Statement

Many of the exposé posts here about certain things are known to be demonic door openers, but being involved in deliverance ministry, to be fair, I have yet to come across anyone who got demonized from receiving mainstream chiropractic therapy or even heard about anyone getting demonized from going to one. However, this doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get demonized such as via laying on of hands when treated by a chiropractor, especially if he/she is involved in the new age.

Should one ever go to a chiropractor? It is claimed that some chiropractors have worked hard to reform their industry and stay within the safeguards of scientific medicine (the extent of the scientific validity of the chiropractic field and its effectiveness as of today is beyond the scope of this post). Moreover, some claim that going to a chiropractor for treatment works. But speaking for myself, I still would never return to seeing one knowing that the practice originated from the demonic realm. If one still insists on seeing a chiropractor regardless of its apparent demonic origins, please seek the Lord first if it’s a good idea —take it up in prayer. He/she should exercise sound discernment by visiting only those practicing it based on scientific medicine and restrict their chiropractic therapy to proven treatments. However, if the chiropractor is involved in any new-age practices, I would absolutely avoid him/her.

Feel free to leave your experience with chiropractic in the comment section.

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If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can receive Him into your heart, and He can deliver you from darkness and sin and have your name written in His Book of Life.

If you are sincere, you can say this simple prayer to the Father (it doesn’t have to be word for word):

“God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself and that is wrong. Please forgive me of all of my sins just as I forgive others. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ in giving His life for me on the cross, I believe in my heart Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead and I long to receive the forgiveness you have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in the Lord and GOD Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.”