Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Will The True Chiropractic Lifestyle Please Stand Up?

In the past, I often had patients that would wait for two weeks with some sort of pain before calling me for an "urgent" adjustment.  Sometimes, that same person would ask me something like, "Doc, are there any exercises that I can do that will stop this problem?"  The other common question was, "Are there any supplements that I should be taking considering that this keeps happening to me"?

At this point, I would worry.  I'd worry that I hadn't done my job in explaining what I offer as a chiropractor.  I'd worry that if I didn't recommend a supplement or an exercise that they would go away.  Or that if I recommended a supplement or exercise and their problem didn't disappear, that the patient would figure that I didn't know what I was talking about and go somewhere else.

But where would they go?  To the chiropractor down the street who just makes sure that he recommends enough things or difficult enough things that the patient won't comply and so he can always blame the patient? "After all, Skippy, how can you expect to get better if you don't stretch 3 hours every day like I told ya' to?"

In my own life, I can see that what we are doing as a society is contrary to a logical expectation for a healthy life.  This is constantly beaten to death in the popular media, so I won't waste your eyes reading another rehashing of all the bad stuff we do.  But as I pursue my post-graduate studies in functional medicine so that I can help those with metabolic problems, immune over-reactions and various toxicity-related pathologies  and as I continue to learn about the musculoskeletal movement pattern deficiencies that lead us like a herd of buffalo into "inevitable" and "normal" arthritic states and varying levels of "stiffness of old age" so that I can reverse that process for my patients... As I study more about how to truly help my patients, with the chiropractic adjustment that resets the microcomputer that controls the body and removes communication interference and stress from the body... Well, I am dumbfound by how screwed up we really are.

I currently am almost 47 years old.  I stand six feet tall.  A few years ago, I weighed about 215 pounds. I ate pretty well, not too many snacks, high quality veggies, good protein, blah, blah blah.  I would get out and play with my kids on the weekends and do the office warrior thing during the week.  But I figured I was "one of the smart ones" who got adjusted regularly, didn't drink to excess, didn't take drugs, didn't eat a bunch of polyunsaturated fats, or avoid fruits and veggies.  I had a small dessert after every dinner, sure, but I didn't jump at a pharmaceutical or run to the MD for every little problem. Surely, I wouldn't develop serious health problems, right?

I have to say, that as I read recent news items like the one that says 1 in 3 Americans will be diabetic by 2050 I started to wonder if I was going to be that "one" after all.  Well, I am coming to the conclusion that we are more screwed up that we even know.  And it is deeper than the dessert, or the exercise, or the prescription drug. It is in the very core of our societal being.  Chiropractic absolutely has it right.  But even chiropractors can miss the big picture... after all, we are human too.  The issue is around what is tolerable, what is unhealthy, what concerns us enough to do something different.

We have all had indigestion.  We've all had a headache.  If you have one, and you take something (or not) and it goes away... No harm, no foul.  This is par for the course.  This stuff just happens.  But if it doesn't go away... Well, NOW we've gotta do something about it. And what are you going to do?  Really... what?  Go to the drug store?  See a doctor? Heaven forbid that you body should adapt and it goes back to once a week or once a month like it was before it "wouldn't go away".  And on we go... Then, you turn 45 and it starts happening once a week again and every once in a while you'll have it two days in a row.  Must be getting older, right?  Par for the course.  Now I see what my dad was always talking about...

No, it is time that we finally go back and relearn the lessons that chiropractors have been teaching us since DD Palmer  and his son BJ Palmer first developed this wonderful approach to real health.  A symptom is not an enemy, it is a signal.  Symptoms are our friends!  Unless we don't heed the message.  If you ignore a warning light in your car, you will be sorry.  We understand that.  The car may even seem to be running fine when the low oil light comes on. But if you don't add oil, you will be sorry.  Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, or next month, but you WILL BE SORRY.

The problem with our society is this dialogue about what is normal.  Stop it, folks!  It is normal for indigestion to occur when you are not digesting properly.  But just because someone downplayed it in your youth, on a commercial, on the radio, the billboard and everywhere else in our society... that doesn't mean you shouldn't do something about it.   And I don't mean to buy something, a Rolaid or a Tums.  Come on, what does the signal mean? Do you buy duct tape to cover that pesky oil light?

I am highly trained to provide biomechanical input with gentle, focused and controlled forces into a complex human machine and remove hurdles to a more complete and vigorous expression of that machines inborn capacity to function and heal. But beyond that miraculous thing we call the chiropractic adjustment, I help my patients on a path toward a chiropractic lifestyle where natural healthy expression of life is actually  achievable. You won't find that in an M.D.'s office.  When you find yourself there, you can be pretty sure that you waited too long to do something right.

Everyone needs a great chiropractor just like he needs advice from a friend.  Everyone needs a chiropractor, just like he needs a good meal and a glass of clean water.  Everyone needs a chiropractor like he needs a brisk walk every day.  Everyone needs a chiropractor like he needs a challenging puzzle, a funny story, a pleasant holiday with the family.

Our problem is that we still see not having a chiropractor, or good healthy food in rational quantities, or a lot of clean water, or frequent exercise, or intellectual challenges, or not provideing for times to relax alone or with friends and family... We see these things as an optional.

And they are... Just like diabetes. Optional.

Edward Harriott, DC
Mission Viejo Chiropractic
24896 Chrisanta Dr. #120
Mission Viejo, CA 92691
(949)360-1112
http://www.mvchiro.com

No comments:

Post a Comment

Your comment will be posted after I have reviewed it.