Key Principles

The Vitalistic Principle

Vitalistic principle holds that the human organism can keep itself healthy if there are no barriers to full expression of all its vital functions. The body has the innate ability to heal itself from within.

The life force (or Innate Intelligence) emanates throughout the body through the nervous system. The nervous system, in a sense, is the conduit of the life force. By manipulating the spine and other joints through which the life force passes (the spine itself is a series of joints}, chiropractors see themselves as removing barriers or obstacles to the full expression of this life force, thereby allowing the functioning necessary for health. 

The vitalistic model distinguishes chiropractic from the conventional medical model. Unlike in allopathy and western medicine, chiropractors do not directly treat disease. They facilitate the body's own restorative powers. The vital force cannot be measured scientifically. But it is something chiropractors believe in. Like chi in Chinese medicine, prana in Ayurveda, and the vital force in homeopathy, vital force is a major premise of chiropractic. 

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