Why He Went to Jail… For Chiropractic? or Biofreeze & Standard Process???

To the left is a photo of the most jailed Chiropractor in history. That’s right. This man went to jail frequently, unwilling to give up practicing Chiropractic. This concept is tough to contemplate in our day and age of expanding scopes of practice.

In fact, how many of us would truly go to jail for Chiropractic?

By my estimation, not many.

In this day and age of insurance reimbursement, malpractice, and the fear of getting turned into the state boards, I believe most Chiropractors would give up whatever they were doing to avoid jail and maintain the pedigree of “Reputable Chiropractic Physician”, even IF what they were doing was actually beneficial.

But in reality, most of what goes on in Chiropractic offices and the CCE-corrupted schools around the country cannot be classified as beneficial. What research out there shows that ultrasound is a beneficial and lasting solution to chronic pain? None. High volt? Ditto. Lasers? I’m not going to get my hopes up. Besides, if I need some red lights to shine on a sore muscle, I can just grab my son’s Megatron Transformers toy that shines red lights when it talks. Biofreeze? People can just buy a tube of IcyHot at the store for a heck of a lot cheaper.

But here’s the kicker… people can go to a physical therapist’s office for all that stuff. Or an osteopath’s office. Or an orthopedic MD’s office. And if they have all those choices, why in the world would they come to us???

Because we are different. Let me correct that. We should be different.

Herbert Ross Reaver understood this. He understood it so well that he went to jail 12 times as a result! 12 times!!! Herbert Reaver knew that the Chiropractic Principle of restoring open nerve channels through which the Innate Intelligence can heal the body was so important, he sacrificed his good name and his family’s name in order to practice it.

The first 8 times he went to jail, he only had to pay a fine before going on his way. His last four arrests carried harsher sentences, with one being six months of hard labor! All this because he was being accused of practicing medicine without a license. The sad part is that Chiropractors practice medicine without a license all the time in today’s Chiropractic profession, yet they don’t go to jail. Oh, the sad irony.

It was after the last jail sentence that he had enough, moving his family to St. Petersburg, FL from Ohio, where he was jailed all 12 times. It was here that he practiced 15 years without having to worry about getting arrested. Finally.

But the point is Herbert Reaver didn’t go to jail so he could prescribe a Standard Process Congaplex Chewable, or rub Biofreeze on someone’s gluteas maximus, or improve their VAS score from a 7 to a 3. He didn’t care if someone’s active range of motion was below the normal range, or that they had taut and tender fibers.

He went to jail because he cared about restoring nerve flow to someone’s body through ChiropracTIC. He understood the Innate Intelligence did the healing, not him. Yet today, the schools teach students that WE are the healers, that we, too, can be great doctors, that we are portal of entry physicians (depending on whether your state board is misguided enough). This is erroneous thinking, yet it is grossly prevalent in today’s Chiropractic profession.

Herbert Reaver was truly a man’s man and a ChiropracTOR’s ChiropracTOR. He practiced for 71 years, giving Chiropractic adjustments up until the Tuesday before his death at the age of 93. Not once in those 71 years did he worry about functional assessment protocols, reducing inflammation, or suggesting alkaline diets.

Herbert Reaver lived, breathed, and practiced the simple Principle of Chiropractic. Time for all of us to get on board with him once and for all. It was men like him that we all owe our profession to. Let’s start doing the right thing and truly honor those that came before us by “straightening up” our Chiropractic philosophy and principles and doing away with all that mixer nonsense like prescription drugs, MUA, and Needle EMG.

Be a VOICE for the Principle and get dialed into the PCA. Start right now by leaving a comment and exercising your VOICE.

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