Blair Chiropractic Society

About Dr. Blair

Background | Dr. Blair's Credits

Dr. William G. Blair
Chiropractor, Research Scientist, Husband

Background:

William George Blair was born in Pemeta, Oklahoma on July 30, 1922. He attended elementary, Junior and Senior High School, graduating in 1940 in the top 10% of his class in spite of considerable absences for health reasons. He had been diagnosed with bronchial asthma at the age of 9 months. His parents tried every method of healing sources including chiropractic with no results.

After graduation, he attended Oklahoma A&M College for 2 years. At this time he was told he must go to a more favorable climate for his health. He chose to go to Lubbock Texas because of relatives living there. No real improvement was shown so he moved to Albuquerque and finally to El Paso. In El Paso he met his wife and was married on July 20, 1946. It was his wife that introduced him to upper cervical chiropractic. He had never had upper cervical chiropractic before. His wife’s mother had been a close friend of a chiropractor practicing in Houston, TX. Her friend was a full spine doctor but recommended that Bill go to Dr. Leon Halsted in El Paso, since he was a Palmer graduate and did upper cervical work that she thought would help Bill the most. Bill decided to go to Dr. Halsted. He was X-rayed, adjusted, told what to expect and sent home. His results were almost immediately good, he had less trouble breathing and he just generally felt better.

This change made him so enthusiastic that he wanted to help others as he had been helped. Since he had been primarily a salesman, a career that he didn’t relish, he wanted to immediately go to school to become a chiropractor. So he packed up his family and they moved to Davenport, Iowa.

After he graduated from Palmer, he moved back to Lubbock, a city that he liked and wanted to live in. Dr. Blair rented a small building and converted it into an office in front with a small apartment in the back. His practice started in December 1949 and began to grow beyond his wildest dreams.

It did not take very long before he realized to began to think that something was missing. He had done extensive study on X-rays to make sure he understood the theoretical, structural and mechanical relationships of the spine. Being a perfectionist, he wanted to make perfect X-rays, give totally correct adjustments and have the best results possible. Therefore when one patient did much better than another, he studied their X-rays, their neurocalgraph readings, and their adjustments, trying to learn what he could do to make the other patients results more satisfactory. His patients noticed his dedication to perfection. He did his best to make sure the steps he took to make sure his adjustment was the correct one and that it was very carefully given to assure the best he could do. Dr. Blair noticed that some patients seemed to miraculously improve while others had only mediocre results yet he had done everything in the best most careful and specific way that he could.

So in May 1951, Dr. Blair began to research and study the X-rays of his very successful patients and compare them with the not so successful cases. He studied them form every angle that he could think of and slowly a pattern began to develop. Getting a patient in alignment correctly as taught by Palmer was important but he began to notice that the information gained from these X-rays could be correct one time and obviously inaccurate at other times. What was the difference ? This took time and lots of study before Dr. Blair came up with the conclusion that there could be a malformation ! We don’t look alike on the outside so why should we be identical on the inside ??

Dr. Blair began making stereoscopic views - A.P. Open Mouth, Nasium and Base Posterior together with the usual flat views. With all of these views he could then determine whether malformation existed or not. He studied all bone specimens he could find-Palmer’s Osteological collection, Dr. L.G.Fraser’s work on anatomical measurements, any real bone specimen that he could find. This study finally came to the end result- that malformation is the rule and not the exception . This was a revelation!

Here Dr. Blair realized that just placing a patient in front of a film will produce a cervical X-ray, but will it produce a precisionally, correctly, aligned view for that patient? In order to do that, he knew the patient had to be placed in his habitual head carriage and posture to determine the absolute position of the patient for the spinograph.

This took many ideas, many hours of studying X-rays, new ways to make X-rays, new methods of positioning and on and on with every conceivable idea that came to his mind. Through these studies, Dr. Blair developed a new method of positioning the patient. The films made from both systems were impossible to tell one from the other, yet they could each reveal different alignment information. This showed that one could lead to wrong or ineffective adjustment while the other could lead to a more effective and correct adjustment.

After realizing the malformations of patients, learning to place them in their habitual head carriage for the spinograph, made Dr. Blair aware that a definition of this finding must be designed. Ten long months later, he developed the "Blair Principle of Occipital-Alanto Misalignment" Although the principle is relatively simple, it took this length of time for observing the overlapping, underlapping phenomenon before Dr. Blair could recognize and put into words the mechanical principle it revealed.

This understanding of the malformation and the ability to see them in spinographs led Dr. Blair to the knowledge that there had to be developed a way of adjusting that would compensate for these malformations. Again, many hours were spent in thinking, practicing, and finally developing the adjustments that he thought would be the best for the new type of misalignment that he had come up with. Since Dr. Blair had always strived for perfection, here he began to emphasize that perfection was the key to making the most accurate X-rays and giving the most accurate adjustment. Dr. Blair knew that achieving the most accurate spinographs and giving the most accurate adjustment would require a dedication far above what most chiropractors want to give. It takes extra time, extra study, extra diligence, and an unrelenting desire to accomplish a goal of perfection in your spinographs and adjustments. Working with this diligence will eventually make it possible for a chiropractor to achieve excellent if not outstanding results. This chiropractor will eventually find that he will be able to make the spinographs and give the adjustment with confidence and ease. Genuine skill comes from practice, concentrated effort, and always working toward accuracy. In time, this process will become second nature.

Dr. Blair made a commencement address to a graduating class at Palmer in which he outlined 4 points for the students to strive for Chiropractically speaking following are these 4 points :

1. Develop your skill. This is a never ending process. In skill it is the small details that count. The more specific contact, the precisely calculated line of drive, correct placement for adjustment, precision and detail in your spinograph. Put that extra something in all that you do and you will be separated from the mediocre and become the special.
2. Augment and utilize your chiropractic knowledge. This means keep up with advancements and new breakthroughs that have been brought about through research. Stay abreast of new developments - each year should make you more competent that the year before. No man remains static, he is either advancing or slipping backwards.
3. Visualize your objectives. Doing this will make you more dedicated to your practice, your patients and your competency in delivering the best service you can do, even if you have to spend a little more time at the office. If you do this, you can probably achieve a more lucrative practice and a future that looks very bright in every way.
4. Express yourself Chiropractically. Give chiropractic answers to health questions. Practice the art and science of correcting vertebral misalignment. After your patient has regained health, help him to maintain it. Chiropractic’s is a health science not a disease science. Stay strictly in your field.

An easy way to remember these points is D-A-V-E

D-Develop your skills,
A-Add to and utilize your chiropractic knowledge,
V-Visualize objectives and
E-Express yourself Chiropractically.

There is a verse in the Bible- Chapter 9, Verse 6 in II Corinthians which says "He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap bountifully" by changing a few words, we can make this revealing verse read - "He which soweth competence and precision will reap outstanding results, and he which soweth carelessness and inaccuracy will reap guilt and mediocre results.

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Credits:

• 1963-1964 Blair Upper Cervical Spinographic research material appeared in the Science Review of Chiropractic
• 1963 Outstanding Chiropractor in the Southern Region of the United States
• 1964 International Chiropractors Association Honorary Fellowship for Outstanding
  contribution in the field of Professional Development, Leadership, Education and Advancement
• 1965 May Received the 1st George Grupe Memorial Award in Texas
• 1965 Award for the Most Outstanding Chiropractor by the Delta Sigma Chi Fraternity
• 1966 Daniel David Palmer Scientific Award
• 1969 - 1970 President of the Chiropractic Society of Texas
• 1970 Montreaux, Switzerland - Seminar on the Blair Technique
• 1983 Life Chiropractic College Science Award
• Doctor of Philosophy of Chiropractic Degree
• Extension Faculty of Sherman College
• Frequent Speaker - Palmer College Lyceums and Homecomings
• President and Vice President of the Panhandle Chiropractic Society
• District Director of the Texas State Chiropractic Society
• President and Secretary of the Lubbock County Chiropractic Society
• Served on committees - Legal and Credentials, World Wide Insurance, Research Advisory Committee, X-Radiation Committee, Peer Review for Medicare all for the ICA
• Technical Articles also appeared in the International Scientific Review, the ICA Review of Chiropractic, the Digest of Chiropractic Economics
• Gave over 35 Seminars on his research
• Was a guest speaker at yearly conventions of Texas, California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and New Mexico

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