Have you ever done something in your life that, looking back, was just a really dumb thing to do? No? Perhaps you would like to hear about a couple of mine. One day when I was about 8 my father was working in the garage. I snuck a Philips-head screwdriver out to the front lawn to perfect my professional knife throwing skills. On TV, when you see a knife thrower, he has a collection of sharp knives, a beautiful assistant holding a cigarette in her mouth who is standing in profile in front of a wooden background. On this day I had my dad’s screwdriver, the lawn, and instead of a beautiful model, I had my foot. On my final throw, I got the timing perfect and embedded the screwdriver into my flesh. It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t have a model, eh?
Oh, what about the time I was making a balsa gliding plane by hand. I was carving balsa wood with an X-acto knife kit and learned the very valuable lesson to not point the sharp end toward one’s own body. The entire inch-long knife found its way deep into my left hand before I even knew what had happened.
Oh oh, what about the time I cut off the pad of my left index finger during a chili cook-off, or about the time I severed a tendon in my right hand shoveling ice. Yup.
And what do these stupid events all have in common other than being proof of my carelessness? If you look carefully at my foot or my hands, you may see that commonality. It is that the human body makes scar tissue…and sometimes in abundance.
Think of scar tissue as organic duct tape. I like this analogy because scar tissue is essentially a very sticky protein that does not stretch. Sticky and unstretchable…duct tape; right? This organic duct tape is made by the body whenever there is an inflammatory process, any inflammatory process, anywhere. Inflammation can be brought about by things such as a cut, a scratch, a contusion, an ulcer, gum disease, arthritis, spinal subluxation, and even smoking. Therefore, whenever you have inflammation, you have scar tissue. Conversely, wherever you have scar tissue there is or was inflammation. Inflammation and scar tissue go together just like Forrest Gump’s peas and carrots.
It is this marriage of inflammation and scar tissue that makes ridding the body of inflammation so important for your health. Studies now show that chronic inflammation/scar tissue is either the cause of or at least part of the cause of a great many “diseases of aging,” diseases such as cancer, heart disease, emphysema, asthma, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, in fact, all the arthridities, strokes, many of the complications of diabetes, most of the complications of smoking-related diseases, tendinitis, bursitis, nearly all the –itisis, dementia, and probably Alzheimer’s. And this is just a partial list.
Sometimes it’s the inflammation that is the demon, and sometimes it’s the duct tape. But since the duct tape comes from inflammation, it is the inflammation that is the main target to reduce. The less inflammation your body has the longer, healthier life you will have. You can actually measure inflammation in your blood. You can naturally reduce inflammation through the regular use of diet, exercise, weight control, supplementation, and stretching. Probably the largest collection of inflammation and duct tape in your body is in your spine, and the best tool to reduce that is, of course, regular adjustments. Every step you take now to reduce your inflammation and duct tape will add quantity and quality of life to the other end.
Oh, what about the time I was making a balsa gliding plane by hand. I was carving balsa wood with an X-acto knife kit and learned the very valuable lesson to not point the sharp end toward one’s own body. The entire inch-long knife found its way deep into my left hand before I even knew what had happened.
Oh oh, what about the time I cut off the pad of my left index finger during a chili cook-off, or about the time I severed a tendon in my right hand shoveling ice. Yup.
And what do these stupid events all have in common other than being proof of my carelessness? If you look carefully at my foot or my hands, you may see that commonality. It is that the human body makes scar tissue…and sometimes in abundance.
Think of scar tissue as organic duct tape. I like this analogy because scar tissue is essentially a very sticky protein that does not stretch. Sticky and unstretchable…duct tape; right? This organic duct tape is made by the body whenever there is an inflammatory process, any inflammatory process, anywhere. Inflammation can be brought about by things such as a cut, a scratch, a contusion, an ulcer, gum disease, arthritis, spinal subluxation, and even smoking. Therefore, whenever you have inflammation, you have scar tissue. Conversely, wherever you have scar tissue there is or was inflammation. Inflammation and scar tissue go together just like Forrest Gump’s peas and carrots.
It is this marriage of inflammation and scar tissue that makes ridding the body of inflammation so important for your health. Studies now show that chronic inflammation/scar tissue is either the cause of or at least part of the cause of a great many “diseases of aging,” diseases such as cancer, heart disease, emphysema, asthma, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, in fact, all the arthridities, strokes, many of the complications of diabetes, most of the complications of smoking-related diseases, tendinitis, bursitis, nearly all the –itisis, dementia, and probably Alzheimer’s. And this is just a partial list.
Sometimes it’s the inflammation that is the demon, and sometimes it’s the duct tape. But since the duct tape comes from inflammation, it is the inflammation that is the main target to reduce. The less inflammation your body has the longer, healthier life you will have. You can actually measure inflammation in your blood. You can naturally reduce inflammation through the regular use of diet, exercise, weight control, supplementation, and stretching. Probably the largest collection of inflammation and duct tape in your body is in your spine, and the best tool to reduce that is, of course, regular adjustments. Every step you take now to reduce your inflammation and duct tape will add quantity and quality of life to the other end.