It all started on the banks of the river Seine in Paris around 1974. After the Gala Dinner at the European Chiropractors' Union Convention, a Belgian chiropractor and I fantasized about a novel concept: What if all American chiropractors were able to analyze the spine from a functional paradigm, and deliver adjustments that normalized the dynamic function of their patients' spines? Imagine the power of all of those patients responding, like our patients were responding, ever since we learned Dr. Henri Gillet's methods of motion palpation. Adjusting the joint dysfunctions in the direction that encouraged normal function was so logical and rational; it demanded a whole new knowledge base for practicing chiropractic.
Biomechanics, the locomotor system and the neurology of joints all interweaving into a closed kinematic system, not previously recognized by static systems based on so called normal curves and mis-alignments: It was so exciting - just imagine, all the chiropractors finally agreeing that the common denominator to hundreds of systems was restored motion. The neurobiological mechanisms of manipulation were being discovered, and chiropractic was even better than we thought!
The thought consumed me, and I vowed to take this new way of diagnosing - when, where, why, how, and how often to adjust a patient - to the United States. Because I was teaching part-time at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic, I had organized the dynamic paradigm into what I called the "Subluxation Complex." This allowed a doctor or student to read the basic science and clinical literature and realize the significance of scientific facts in our domain. I left England in 1975 and spent a year teaching at Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, where I realized the changes needed in the U.S. could not be spearheaded from the outside.
A few years later, I was introduced to Dr. Don Petersen Sr., a nonpracticing DC who wrote newsletters and organized seminars. We formed the Motion Palpation Institute (MPI), and he booked courses all over the world, with the mission of creating a paradigm shift from the static to the dynamic concepts of chiropractic.
Success came quickly, and Dr. Petersen began looking for a better way to promote the seminars than merely sending out flyers. I showed him a Canadian newspaper that reported on the current events/news in Canadian medicine. He immediately envisioned a chiropractic equivalent, and I asked him to call it "Dynamic Chiropractic." To help it along, I wrote an editorial for each issue that contested the old paradigm and explained the new; always citing some literature to which the reader could refer.
You know the rest of the story...
Leonard J. Faye, DC
Los Angeles, California
