Chiropractic 2025:

Chiropractic 2025: Divergent Futures
integration changes within the central nervous system, but it was unclear whether those changes, whether caused by
correction of vertebral subluxations or an “afferent barrage associated with the adjustive thrust,” 157 were affiliated
with beneficial clinical outcomes.
Research in the scientific exploration of health and healing (which could potentially find overlap with epigenetics
research) can also include the exploration of chiropractic concepts, theories, and principles. For this purpose, the
chiropractic community will need to operationalize and publish key chiropractic concepts such as innate intelligence
and retracing; new tools to detect and measure such forces; and research methods that can test key clinical theories
found in traditional chiropractic principles and philosophy as they apply to health, disease, and healing. From such
operationalized concepts, scientific questions and specific aims can be developed for research that can help develop
new insights and views on contemporary vitalism. A step toward this direction is Life University’s annual Octagon
conference series, which seeks to reconnect chiropractic with the larger field of vitalism—recognizing that most
healing traditions, such as oriental medicine, Ayurveda, and Naturopathic medicine, have similar assumptions, or
principles and clinical theories of their disciplines. These healing traditions also promote research on many aspects
of the body’s self-healing capacity.
Another category of research beyond clinical efficacy and cost effectiveness focuses on epigenetics and the effect of
spinal manipulation on gene regulation. The premise of epigenetics is that the physical environment, combined with
how individuals react to, perceive, and behave within their environment, influences genetic activity. Thus, lifestyle
choices, frequent exercise, and physical care/treatment such as manipulation should influence longer-term genetic
activity. Manipulation influences the balance of inflammatory cytokines (which can amplify or limit inflammation)
and the activity of “molecular chaperones” 158 (sometimes called “chaperone genes” 159 or “chaperone proteins” 160 )
that influence genetic expression by ensuring correct transport or folding of proteins. 161, 162 It has been postulated that
chiropractic care can affect genetic mechanisms by influencing physiological processes that affect DNA repair and
oxidative stress. While several chiropractors question the credibility of the research conducted by Campbell et al., a
2005 article by Campbell et al. found that chiropractic care increased levels of serum thiol, 163 which can provide a
surrogate estimate of DNA repair enzyme activity and human health. Through epigenetics, it has also been posited
that chiropractic care can influence genetic expression by changing a patient’s perception of the environment to
encourage appropriate, constructive responses to environmental changes. 164 Dr. Bruce Lipton posits in “Chiropractic
Philosophy and the New Science: An Emerging Unity” that immaterial vibrational energy fields and physical
chemicals (i.e., the material, physical, or chemical forces of science that serve as the foundation for the idea of
genetic determinism) can control and coordinate the movement of proteins. Dr. Lipton posits that allopathic medical
philosophy falls short of accepting the importance of the immaterial vibrational energy fields, and that biophysics
research shows that vibrational energy waves can be more effective in signaling protein movements than physical
chemicals, and thus are more significant in “controlling” life. Dr. Lipton credits D.D. Palmer with recognizing this
over a century ago. 165
Drs. Lipton and Weissman further explain that environmental signals (either physical or energetic) cause proteins
to change shape and thus create the functions of life, “Because the majority of us have a perfectly healthy genome
and produce functional proteins, illness in this group can likely be attributed to the nature of the signal. There are
three primary situations in which signals contribute to dysfunction and disease. The first is trauma. If you twist
or misalign your spine and physically impede the transmission of the nervous system’s signals, it may result in a
distortion of the information being exchanged between the brain and the body’s cells, tissues, and organs.” 166
New information on epigenetics has implications for personalized care, where providers could differentiate which
patients would be more likely to respond to adjustments, or if some patients would be predisposed to back pain or
back problems. Combining the research and concepts of epigenetics with those of self-healing and vitalism could
prove a powerful impetus for greater acceptance of chiropractic legitimacy and could help move the field toward
achieving much expanded cultural authority.
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