A Little World Within: Neurological Foundations of Chiropractic

A Little World Within: Neurological Foundations of Chiropractic

A Contemporary Study of C. Judson Herrick's An Introduction to Neurology (1915)

"The living body is a little world set in the midst of a larger world."

In 1915, C. Judson Herrick, Professor of Neurology at the University of Chicago, wrote a small book with a large aim. He wanted to teach students to see the nervous system as a working mechanism, not as a catalogue of names to memorise. He traced every function from receptor to centre to response, and he set out a functional framework that has stood up remarkably well for more than a century.

This book follows Herrick's 21 chapters in his own order. Each chapter sets his 1915 argument beside current neuroscience and then shows what it means at the treatment table. Topics run from the neuron and the reflex circuit to the spinal cord, brain stem and cerebellum, then through balance, hearing, vision, smell and the autonomic system to pain, pleasure and the cerebral cortex.

Every chapter includes:

• a summary of Herrick's argument, with passages in his own words
• the modern science: ion channels, synaptic plasticity, gate control, central sensitisation, cortical networks and more
• a "1915 to Today" comparison table
• a clinical reasoning section for chiropractors, osteopathic practitioners and physical therapists
• a case for discussion, covering problems such as cervicogenic headache, cervicogenic dizziness, referred visceral pain, arthrogenic muscle inhibition and recognising red flags
• key points, review questions and further reading

The book also has a glossary of about 160 terms, a selected bibliography and an index.

The central message is simple and practical. The body is already organised to adjust and to repair itself. The clinician who understands that organisation can remove what interferes with it, and achieve the most with the least intervention.

This is the second volume in the series that began with The Roots of Clinical Reasoning: Hippocratic Foundations for the Manual Clinician.

Jiro Yamahata, BCSc., DOMP, is the founder and educational director of PALMS School of Chiropractic in Osaka, Japan. He has taught chiropractic and manual medicine for about 25 years.