What is Gonstead?
Gonstead represents the gold standard in “hands on” spinal adjusting and remains the leader in chiropractic techniques. Adhering to the definition of true chiropractic as defined by D.D. Palmer, the founder of Chiropractic in 1895, Dr. Gonstead found there was no substitute or better method for analyzing or correcting spinal misalignments than with a pair of skilled chiropractic hands.
Clarence Selmer Gonstead (1898-1978) took chiropractic practice from back alley bone setting to an understandable bio-mechanical science. His life was dedicated to clinical competency. In the 1930s, the chiropractic profession was dominated by its iconoclastic leader B. J. Palmer and his Hole-In-One upper cervical specific technique. At that time the technical skills of the typical graduating chiropractor were crude and rudimentary. Gonstead changed that and gave the profession a logical and bio-mechanically sound system for practicing chiropractic. With a gift of solving mechanical problems, he developed his own ideas on subluxations, x-ray, and adjusting bones through the empirical data he gathered from his large practice. Although perhaps not his intent, Gonstead redefined the very nature of chiropractic. With the adoption of the Gonstead technique by Palmer School of Chiropractic in the early 1960s, his technique assisted the profession in restoring chiropractic to its full-spine roots.
1898
Gonstead was born in Willow Lake, South Dakota on July 24, 1898, the son of Carl and Sarah Gonstead. A few years later his father decided to relocate the family to Primrose, Wisconsin and become a dairy farmer. Growing up a rural farm provided young Gonstead with plenty of opportunities to explore the mechanical world. His enthusiasm for repairing tractors and early automobiles provided him with the kinesthetic tools for his later calling in life.
Dr. Gonstead's home in Mt. Horeb, WI
Surprisingly, little is known about Gonstead’s education, but while in trade school Gonstead became terribly sick. In his own words:
“I developed acute rheumatoid arthritis… One morning I woke up and my toe next to the little toes was really sore. I could hardly step on it. It hurt all day and the next morning it got worse and the third day the whole foot swelled up. I couldn’t walk on it so I couldn’t go to school… that was about a week and it was just getting pretty good and it jumped into my left knee, and that puffed way up one morning. It hurt so much I couldn’t step on it and then it went into my right knee, so I was out of school for about four weeks. For about two weeks I was in bed, I couldn’t even stand having the (bed) covers over my knee. I had a box over it… the knee was that sore. The University doctors were taking care of me then, they’d come out to the house. I stayed on the east side with my aunt. About the second week she said, “Now you’ve fooled around with those University doctors long enough. Now I’m going to call in my doctor.”
Her doctor happened to be J. B. Olson, a chiropractor. Olson came to the house to care for Gonstead and after a series of adjustments and rest, he could walk again. It was a life changing event for Gonstead.
After trade school, young Gonstead took a job working as an automotive engineer. The job allowed him to save enough money to pay for chiropractic school.
1923
Dr. Clarence Gonstead (1898-1978) began practicing chiropractic in 1923 in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, a small farming community of 1,200 residents in south central Wisconsin. Dr. Gonstead’s reputation spread throughout the state, the country and ultimately around the world, as a multitude of patient’s health problems were corrected remarkably fast by his brand of chiropractic treatment. Hundreds of patients were seeking his care on a daily basis, and with his dedication to helping these patients, Dr. Gonstead worked from 8 AM to midnight six days a week plus every Sunday morning from 5 – 10 AM to be able to accommodate these growing patient numbers. When Dr. Gonstead’s schedule was at the limit of his physical capability, he knew the only solution to meet the public’s health needs on the scale the public was demanding, was to build an unparalleled chiropractic treatment facility and staff it with Gonstead trained associates.
1964
The Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic, completed in 1964, was the third and final clinic Dr. Gonstead would design and treat patients from in his little town of Mt. Horeb before his death in 1978. Dr. Gonstead built the largest chiropractic facility in the world. A 22,0000 square foot clinic, it had a waiting room to seat over 1100 patients, 11 adjusting rooms, x-ray facilites and lab, and a lower level to hold Chiropractic seminars. It was to become the most renowned chiropractic facility in the world. Next to his new clinic, Dr. Gonstead added a 78 room, full-service motel to accommodate the clinic’s numerous long distance patients. Dr. Gonstead and his fellow staff members attended 300 to 400 patients on a daily basis.
After fifty-one years of practice, Gonstead sold the clinic and Gonstead Seminars to Alex and Doug Cox. Today the clinic is owned by the non-profit C.S. Gonstead Chiropractic Foundation. The Gonstead seminars continue in their original format under the leadership of Alex Cox’s son, John Cox. This group continues to teach the material across the globe to chiropractic students and doctors.
1978
In 1978 Gonstead died at the age of 80. Throughout his life he was deeply concerned with questions about bio-mechanical dysfunction and its role in neuromusculoskeletal pain. In his later years, he delved into chiropractic’s more complicated clinical questions such as subluxation’s role in Type O disorders (diabetes, bradycardia, asthma, etc.). In turn, Gonstead’s reception by patients and by his professional colleagues brought out the ideas inherent in his work. His work is recognized as a cornerstone of contemporary chiropractic practice.
Gonstead is credited with several innovations in chiropractic. Some were modest: consulting with Electronic Development Lab to produce a better nervoscope (a descendant of the neurocalometer), and refinement of the knee-chest table and zenith Hylo table. Others were more ambitious: an x-ray line marking system, a chiropractic x-ray machine, split screen x-ray film cassettes, and adjusting the cervical spine in the chair position.
For all of his life, Gonstead maintained a commitment to the craft. He never abandoned the tools that defined his schooling—the neurocalometer and x-ray. He was driven by a desire for technical control and mastery of the perfect adjustment. In the end, his legendary reputation as a great healer confirmed the value of his unique method.
Preserving the Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic —
A Case of National Support
The Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic is a work of architectural art…and it is falling apart. Read and see a slide show of its current condition at www.gonstead.com and learn how you can help through the Gonstead Preservation Group.
Photo of Cadillac given to Dr. Gonstead by Elvis Presley after he adjusted him. Currently being preserved by the Gonstead Preservation Group.
In Dr. Gonstead's words:
"Find the subluxation, correct it, and then leave it alone."
The Gonstead Chiropractic Approach
"The goal of the Gonstead doctor is to do the least to achieve the most."
-Dr. Gonstead
The Gonstead Concept of chiropractic begins with a basic biomechanical principle of physics. Every engineer, architect, builder and carpenter knows the importance of a proper foundation in constructing a building, for this insures durability and long life. Any slight change or shift in the foundation can cause a great amount of deviation in the top part of the structure and, perhaps, ultimately, its collapse.
The body’s foundation is formed by the pelvic girdle. When this bony structure consisting of hip bones and the lower bones of the back is level, there will be maximum balance and stability in the spinal column. When the pelvic girdle or any of the vertebrae (bones making up the spinal column) become tilted or rotated out of their proper position, dramatic changes may occur in the body.
These misalignments can cause pressure on the discs that separate the vertebrae. (The condition of the disc is the key to the patient’s health problem in many cases.) Vertebra can become misaligned either from the cumulative effects of several minor episodes or from a single accident. Nature frequently is able to cope with these jolts to the spinal column without assistance. Sometimes, though, vertebrae tilted or rotated out of their normal position can be too much for nature to deal with effectively.
In order to more fully understand what occurs, we should know that the discs are really pads between the vertebrae and consist of a spongy substance surrounded by fibers of cartilage. When there is misalignment of a vertebra, there is uneven pressure on the disc causing it to swell and protrude. (One often hears this referred to as a slipped, herniated or ruptured disc.)
The connection that exists between the brain and all other parts of the human body is the nervous system. Signals pass between the brain, eyes, tongue, stomach, toes and indeed, throughout the entire body on “electrical wires” called nerves. These nerves pass from the brain down the spinal column or backbone, and exit between the spinal bones at 24 levels from the base of the skull to the tailbone, controlling all bodily functions. If the spaces between the spinal bones should become narrowed or cut off due to misalignments or “kink” in your spinal backbone, this is called subluxation, and the nerve signal is then interrupted or reduced at that specific level. The nerve fiber traveling away from this “pinch” has now become “short circuited” as it heads toward the muscle, finger or specific organ it controls. The result is a demonstration of pain, loss of function or degeneration in that specific muscle, finger or organ. Even an everyday headache can result from nerve pressure due to a spinal misalignment. Chiropractors call this condition a SUBLUXATION.
The Gonstead Chiropractic approach is to locate these misalignments in the spinal column, then specifically and gently adjust the segment back into place manually, removing the subluxation and “pinch”. By applying the Gonstead adjustment to the back, the pressure is removed from the nerve while joint function is restored. More importantly, nerve function is restored, and the path of that specific nerve is then again sending and receiving the “electrical” impulses as it should and ultimately, health is restored.
The Gonstead practitioner is well educated in the teachings and application of his tremendously successful technique and case management system.
Beyond the eight years of chiropractic and college education required to become a chiropractor, followed by national and state board licensing requirements to be a practicing chiropractor, the Gonstead practitioner has spent additional time attending Gonstead Seminars to help perfect their application of chiropractic within the Gonstead System. For example, to achieve “Diplomat” status in the Gonstead System, a minimum of 200 hours of class room and practical study must be completed through the seminar. Testing and evaluation by the Gonstead Staff must also be passed. As a patient, to be treated by an individual who has achieved the status of diplomat, you are insured of receiving the Gonstead System as intended by Dr. Gonstead and the current staff of the Gonstead Seminar.
The Gonstead System
Gonstead procedures are the result of extensive clinical research by Clarence S. Gonstead, founder of the world famous Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin and his associates. Doctor Gonstead’s fifty-five years of continuous practice and over four million chiropractic adjustments resulted in the most complete method of biomechanical analysis available for use by today’s doctors of chiropractic. So why don’t all chiropractors use this technique? Because the analysis takes more time and mastering the art of delivering a specific adjustment takes a LOT of practice and dedication.
The Gonstead Chiropractor goes beyond what many chiropractors consider a spinal assessment by conducting a thorough analysis of your spine using five criteria to detect the presence of the vertebral subluxation complex.
Visualization — Visualization is a way to cross reference all the other findings. Your chiropractor is an expert in looking for subtle changes in your posture and movement which could indicate any problems.
Instrumentation — The instrument of choice in the Gonstead System is the Nervoscope. The Nervoscope detects uneven distributions of heat along the spine which can be indicative of inflammation and nerve pressure. This instrument is guided down the length of your back and feels like two fingers gliding down each side of your spine.
Static Palpation — This is simply the process of feeling (or palpating) your spine in a stationary (or static) position. Your chiropractor will feel for the presence of swelling (or edema), tenderness and any abnormal texture or tightness in the muscles and other tissues of your back.
Motion Palpation — This process involves feeling the spine while moving and bending it at various angles. This enables the chiropractor to determine how easily or difficult each segment in your spine moves in different directions.
X-Ray Analysis — X-ray films enable your doctor to visualize the entire structure of your spine. This is helpful in evaluating posture, joint and disc integrity, vertebral misalignments and ruling out any pathologies, or recent fractures that may be present or contributing to the patient’s condition. These full-spine radiographs are taken in the standing, weight-bearing position to fully substantiate the examination findings.
The Gonstead Adjustment
After a complete analysis, the Gonstead chiropractor is ready to deliver any necessary adjustments. The focus of the Gonstead adjustment is to be as specific, precise and accurate as possible, addressing only the problem areas (areas of subluxation). Great care is taken to ensure a bio-mechanically correct position and precise thrust to provide the most accurate and painless adjustment possible. It is the goal of your Gonstead doctor to restore and maintain optimal health by locating and correcting any interference to the nervous system caused by vertebral subluxation.
All information and photos collaborated from Gonstead Seminars, Gonstead Clinical Studies Society, and the Gonstead Methodology Institute. Visit their website for more history and information on Dr. Gonstead and the Gonstead Method.