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Books > Medicine > Complementary medicine > Chiropractic & osteopathy
Andrew T. Still's thorough account of osteopathic medicine details
the discoveries and cases which contributed to the development of
osteopathy. Written and published at the end of the nineteenth
century, Philosophy of Osteopathy is a manual which attempts to
overview the major aspects of the osteopathic discipline. Although
much of Still's understanding is outdated in comparison to modern
medicine, his accessible descriptions made this book a valuable
reference text for aspiring osteopaths and physiotherapists for
many years following its original publication. Chapters generally
concern distinct areas of the body, as well as some theoretical
questions which - at the time - hadn't received an answer. Andrew
T. Still regards good osteopathy as an art form, and thus does not
shy away from a passionate tone during parts of the text. Unusual
subjects, such as the uses of earwax and the possibility that man
has undergone a slow decline in his bodily resilience, lend color
to the book.
Chiropractic is by far the most common form of alternative medicine
in the United States today, but its fascinating origins stretch
back to the battles between science and religion in the nineteenth
century. At the center of the story are chiropractic's colorful
founders, D. D. Palmer and his son, B. J. Palmer, of Davenport,
Iowa, where in 1897 they established the Palmer College of
Chiropractic. Holly Folk shows how the Palmers' system depicted
chiropractic as a conduit for both material and spiritualized
versions of a ""vital principle,"" reflecting popular contemporary
therapies and nineteenth-century metaphysical beliefs, including
the idea that the spine was home to occult forces. The creation of
chiropractic, and other Progressive-era versions of alternative
medicine, happened at a time when the relationship between science
and religion took on an urgent, increasingly competitive tinge.
Many remarkable people, including the Palmers, undertook highly
personal reinterpretations of their physical and spiritual worlds.
In this context, Folk reframes alternative medicine and
spirituality as a type of populist intellectual culture in which
ideologies about the body comprise a highly appealing form of
cultural resistance.
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