I.N. Toftness, D.C. 1909—1990
Irwing Nordin Orlando Toftness was born
on a dairy farm in Shell Lake Wisconsin in 1909. He was that
oldest of 11 children. Their were four boys and seven girls in the
family.
At an early age I.N., as he came to be called, showed a particular
curiosity about the world around him.
When he was about 12 years old his mother took him to a local
chiropractor because he had a lazy eye that would not respond to medical
treatment. After a few adjustments his eye returned to normal. After
that he remembered his mother occasionally commenting about how
wonderful the chiropractic profession is; that a doctor can help people
with their hands alone. These comments by I.N.’s mother stuck with him
until he graduated from high school.
Upon graduation in 1928, he decided that chiropractic would be a good
profession to go into, so he went off to Davenport Iowa to the Palmer
School of Chiropractic.
While at Palmer, he sat in on lectures by B.J. Palmer. He said later in
life that B.J. was a big influence on him.
After leaving Palmer in 1929 he got a job at the Wisconsin Chiropractic
Hospital in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. At that hospital I.N. told of
how detailed records were kept
of each patient and how important he found this to be. This record
keeping and the observation of patients be came very important to him
later when formulating some of his theories and ideas.
In 1932 a chiropractor in Cumberland Wisconsin became ill. He had heard that a local boy from Shell Lake had just became a chiropractor and was working in Prairie du Chien. So he called I.N. and asked him if he would come to Cumberland and take over his practice until he recovered. Subsequently the chiropractor died and I.N. purchased the practice from the widow for $25 which was primarily for the waiting room furniture which was the only thing of value.
In 1932 it was nearly impossible for a chiropractor to get a
license to practice chiropractic in the state of Wisconsin. The
state medical society had convinced the state legislature that
it was important to pass a basic science law that would “protect
the public”. The basic science law was primarily implemented to
keep chiropractors out of the state. Most of the chiropractors
at the time had only 6-12 months of education and
most couldn’t pass the basic science exam. So I.N.
practiced in Cumberland without a license until 1935 when
he was arrested for practicing chiropractic with out a license.
At the trial the State proved that I.N. didn’t have a license to
practice chiropractic and they proved that
a license was required to practice , but the defense
proved that the law was instituted to keep chiropractors out of
the state and the jury ultimately came back with a “not guilty”
verdict.
I.N said many times after that incident that it shows that when
the laws of the land get ridiculous enough the people will rise
up and force them to be changed.
I.N practiced HIO exclusively for eight years.
But in the late thirties H.B. Logan was traveling around
the country giving seminars on “Basic Technique”. I.N. took the
Basic Technique course and
changed his entire practice to Basic Technique. What he
found, after a period of time, was that some of the patients
that didn’t get well under HIO got well under Basic and some of
the patients that didn’t
get well under Basic got well under HIO. But the dilemma was
that he didn’t know which patients would respond to which
technique. This insight forced him to conclude that their needs
to be a way to know when he should adjust the cervical spine as
taught by B.J. Palmer and when to adjust the sacrum as taught by
H.B. Logan.
Enter the Toftness System of Chiropractic
For More Information Contact:
Toftness Foundation for the Advancement of Chiropractic Research
102 Keller Ave., S.
Tel: 715-268-7500
FAX: 715-268-9859
Internet:
toftness@amerytel.net