The Language of Symptoms: Clinical Foundations of Chiropractic

The Language of Symptoms: Clinical Foundations of Chiropractic

A Contemporary Study of James N. Firth's A Text-Book on Chiropractic Symptomatology (1925)

Jiro Yamahata, BCSc., DOMP · PCC PRESS · Chiropractic Clinical Reasoning Series

"Don't depend upon any one symptom, but let your opinion be guided by the general makeup of the disease as a whole." — James N. Firth, 1925

In 1925 James N. Firth, Professor of Symptomatology at the Palmer School of Chiropractic, published the seventh of the school's Green Books. Disease by disease, from typhoid and tuberculosis to the eye, the skin and hernia, he described the definition, causes, pathology and symptoms of each condition and ended every entry with the vertebral "places" he believed should be adjusted. For a generation of chiropractors it was the textbook of clinical recognition.

This book reads Firth's text from beginning to end, in his own words, and examines it against modern pathology, epidemiology, neurophysiology and clinical evidence. Much has stood up well: his insistence on a full history, careful inspection, temperature, pulse and urine, and his naming of the danger signs. His vertebral places survive only in reformed form, as segmental innervation, referred pain and somato-autonomic reflexes. And his central claim, that adjustment corrects disease, is set aside, with reasons.

Inside you will find:

• 35 chapters in seven parts, following Firth's text: history and inspection, the fevers, the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, renal and nervous systems, constitutional diseases, intoxications, the eye, the skin and hernia, and two closing chapters on testing the vertebral places and on symptomatology today

• In every chapter: learning objectives, Firth's argument with page references to the 1925 edition, contemporary understanding, a "From 1925 to Today" comparison table, clinical reasoning for the manual clinician, a case for discussion, key points, review questions and further reading

• Clear safety guidance throughout: red flags, the urgency of referral, and the manual clinician's role in recognition, communication and co-management

• An appendix restating Firth's vertebral places with a contemporary reading, a glossary of his vocabulary, a bibliography and an index

Throughout, the book keeps to the series position: clinicians do not treat or cure disease; they recognise it, refer it, and find and reduce interference so that the body's own capacity for regulation and repair can work.

Part of the Chiropractic Clinical Reasoning Series, for students and practitioners of chiropractic and manual therapy. Companion titles: The Roots of Clinical Reasoning, A Little World Within, The Body Itself, More Than Machinery, From Source to Periphery and The Logic of the Specific.