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The Great Debate – Reggie Gold

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I watched this old Reggie Gold video on YouTube. Despite being filmed long before I was born, I think this held some good insight into subluxation and the grind of old time medical doctors. This is an interview with Dr. Terry Rondberg, DC, Dr. Jerome Williams, MD, Dr. Reggie Gold, DC, and Dr. John Grant, physician.

Reggie Gold did an admirable job of defending the chiropractic philosophy in this interview. When this interview was originally taken, the relationship between medicine and chiropractic was clearly still tense from attempts by the AMA to degrade the credibility of DCs. Dr. Rondberg and Dr. Gold both had a united front for the purpose and abilities of chiropractic. It is for the “restoration and maintenance of health (Dr. Rondburg).” It is about the alignment of a vertebra compared to the above and below segment. The consequent compression and damage of misalignment leads to malfunction of organs at end of the nerve fibers. This ideal stems from the view of the whole body suffering from the presence of a subluxation regardless of the symptoms. This is similar to inadequate nutrition causing a lack of resilience of the body rather than specific disease (Dr. Gold).

The first half of the interview seemed to be focused on getting the DCs to admit they in some way treated symptomatology. The moderator was continually attempting to get Dr. Gold to say that since a patient may seek chiropractic care to help with asthma (a diagnosis) must mean a DC is treating the disease. It seems to be the vitalistic worldview that medicine and moderator don’t like or cannot comprehend. Reggie maintains that the DC is content to address the damaging effects of the subluxation as an entity of itself instead of a diagnosis. This elicits an “agree to disagree remark” from the MDs.

Meanwhile, Dr. Grant clearly explains the goal of medicine is to treat what seems appropriate for the individual parts of the body (disease). Both MDs agree with the major premise that nerve damage is bad when it causes symptoms while holding that the practice of chiropractic is based on faith and not science. Dr. Williams even claims there is no doubt in its lack of scientific validity. He says “there is no doubt” about as many times as Dr. Gold states he would like to finish answering the question. Dr. Gold correctly points out that faith isn’t a complete explanation for the favorable outcomes of chiropractic care since most patients use it as a last resort and its outstanding results on animals.

I respect Dr. Grant for accurately identifying that there is a force that heals the body. He stated, “…some [patients get better] from what we do, sometimes by faith in us and sometimes because the body has a way of healing itself.” He also agrees that medicine is limited in its ability to offer permanent, long-lasting cures to diseases beyond symptom removal. Conversely, Dr. Williams was unreceptive to the possibilities of chiropractic. One of his first remarks stated that he knew very little about chiropractic care, but had already concluded from simple research it is ineffective. This man I considered to be smug and a borderline annoyance. 

It was interesting to see this discussion forum that took place long before I was born to learn from the leaders in healthcare from that time. The debate on the validity of chiropractic is still seen today so this topic is still very relevant. It is up to each doctor to weigh their own personal philosophy and hone their healing art, but there is clearly something involved in the power of the chiropractic adjustment. Dr. Rondberg and Dr. Gold could recognize it clearly. Hopefully, I can do my part in advancing this profession we call chiropractic.

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