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#121 The Perfect Age

5/1/2014

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            When I’m checking the spine of a newborn baby it will look very different from my examination of an adult, which will look different from my examination of a pregnant mom-to-be, which will again look different from my examination of a 6 year old child.  I have had patients ranging in age from day 1 to year 90+.  For a person to be a patient the only requirement is that their spine has vertebral subluxation.  If their spine is perfect they don’t need me.  The first step away from perfect is a small restriction of motion of any joint in the spine for any number of reasons.  The next step from perfect would be multiple levels of restriction.  From there we might see curvature loss, then early degeneration, then disc space loss, disc herniation, bone spurs, scoliosis, increasing loss of mobility, eventually total disability.  The time-line from the first subluxation, most likely early in childhood or during the birth process, is long, taking years to decades.  According to well established data, your spine is the most likely organ in your entire body to cause your total disability.  The same data shows we will spend more money on the care of the spine than any other health problem we will ever have.  And finally, your chance of significant back problems developing in your life is 90%.  Only 1 in 10 people will NOT have back problems.  To put this in another light, if you were Angelina Jolie you would have your spine removed to prevent the inevitable problems you are going to have.  But that’s not really an option is it?

When it comes down to it you have only three options.  Your first option is to do what everyone else does, deal with the problems as they come.  But isn’t this the exact option that has resulted in the above statistical nightmare?  That doesn’t seem such a good option, even if everyone else is doing it!  The second option it to live in a gravity-free environment like space, and never do anything that could remotely cause spinal injury or strain.  True, but a silly non-option.  The last option is to take reasonable proactive steps to try to prevent a future disease that is nearly absolute. 

            Let’s look at this through a different lens, if you were told that you have a 90% chance of developing any other disease that you can imagine (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.) and that there were simple, cost effective, and reasonable steps you could take to drastically reduce your chances of developing that disease, would you or would you not take those steps?  Perhaps not…  But I know I would.  But if you would, what age should you start?  What is the perfect age to start these simple, cost effective, and reasonable steps? 

            I have my first grandson who is now 10 months old.  I checked him then and every couple of weeks since.  He has been adjusted a handful of times.  The perfect age for him was the day he was born.  I, on the other hand, did not get serious about my own chiropractic care until I was 39.  Yes indeed, I was a poor example of a chiropractor during the first 13 years of my practice, but I freely admit it as a prime example of someone who knows better and still messes up.  My lack of seriousness resulted in some serious spinal problems that I manage extremely well with the help of my chiropractors, but problems that I would not have had to deal with at all if I had taken these simple steps earlier.  That said, the perfect age for me was apparently 39 (but I wish now it had been earlier). 

            I am reminded of the old adage, what is the best camera in the world?  The one you have with you when you have a picture to take.  The best age to begin to take a serious attitude toward the largest disabler on the planet, the disease that more money is spent on than any other, the disease that you have a 90% chance of contracting, is the age you are this minute.
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    Dr. Rick

    After writing an article per week for a year, I just kept going.  These are most of my collection.  They are written with my existing patients in mind, so some stuff may seem odd or unusual, but would make perfect sense to those who know chiropractic and who know me.  Enjoy and share!  For my personal blog visit: 

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What Our Patients Have To Say

Yolanda wrote:
     
     I used to suffer severe headaches and migraines on a daily basis, usually all day.  I managed to work in an office because I had to.  When I went home at the end of the day I would often close the shades and go to bed.  I could not plan weekend events because I simply never knew how I was going to feel tomorrow.  If there were a special event such as a birthday or wedding, I would begin to medicate myself two weeks in advance to give myself the best chance of making the event.
     Friends and fellow church-goers had been trying to get me to see Dr. Rick for some time before I finally gave in.  Looking back, I don’t know why I waited.  Within a month, I was headache free.  I couldn’t remember what it was like to not feel pain.  I could do whatever I wanted and not live in fear of the headache.  This was a miracle for me, but the story does not end here.
     An opportunity came up for us to adopt a newborn baby girl not long after I began chiropractic care.  This baby was particularly important to me and my husband because her mother is a relative.  Tragically, her mother was also a drug user and did drugs during her pregnancy.  If we could not adopt the baby she would have been put into the foster system since the biological mother was incapable of raising her.
     To keep a long story short, we did adopt her and she is doing fantastically.  There is no sign of any effect of the drugs on her as of yet, and with God’s help, there never will be.  We think that is because of the vast amounts of love and attention she gets from us, her real mommy and daddy.
     What does this have to do with chiropractic?  The reality is that without chiropractic, I would still be nearly an invalid with headaches.  I COULD NOT HAVE TAKEN CARE OF AN INFANT OR RAISED A YOUNG CHILD.  THEREFORE, SHE WOULD NOT HAVE ANY OF THE OPPORTUNITIES IN LIFE THAT MY HUSBAND AND I WILL BE ABLE TO PROVIDE FOR HER.  MY DAUGHTER’S LIFE IS POSSIBLE BECAUSE SOMEBODY MADE ME GO TO A CHIROPRACTOR. 
     You need to tell everyone you know what you know about chiropractic.  Who knows who’s life you will change too.
Andrew's mother, Barbara, wrote:

     Hello, My name is Andrew and I am a happy, healthy one year old.  But I wasn’t so happy or healthy when I first met Dr. Rick a few months ago.  I had been having problems with my ears for four months, I couldn’t sleep at night and I was miserable.  We’d been to the doctor lots of times but nothing was helping.  In fact, all the medicines the doctor had tried seemed to make me worse instead of better!  Both the regular doctor and the Ear-Nose and Throat doctor said that if the antibiotics didn’t work, then they’d just have to put tubes in.  Now my Mom and dad weren’t about to let them do surgery on me, especially since they had been reading and learned that tubes can cause more problems than they solve.  My mom and dad did a lot of praying.  Then my mom heard that sometimes babies who have a traumatic birth like mine have ear trouble.  You see when I was born they used a vacuum extractor and forceps to pull me out.  I guess all that yanking on my head, hurt my neck.  She also heard that chiropractic care can be the answer.  Now she was skeptical because she couldn’t imagine a chiropractor helping ear infections!?!  But at that point she was willing to try anything!!  Happily, a few weeks of adjustments and my ears were all cleared up.  In addition, I no longer had a stiff neck or shoulders and my whole personality was happier.  I have to tell all babies who have ear troubles, don’t let them give you tubes until you at least try chiropractic care first.  After all, it can’t hurt and if you’re like me, you could be perfectly well with no drugs and no surgery.  In my family, we thank God for Dr. Rick, because I feel better, my mom and dad are happier and sometimes, I even sleep through the night.