In the late 1700’s Marie Antoinette of Austria married Louis XVI of France. They were about 14 or 15 years of age at the time. They became the King and Queen when Louis XV died. We have all heard that quote of Marie, “Let them eat cake.” She actually never said that. She was a kind queen, a good woman, and a doting mother who was the people’s scape goat for all the woes of France at the time, and lost her head for her troubles. She gave birth to 4 kids, 2 boys and 2 girls. Two survived past early childhood. But she almost didn’t have any kids because King Louis had some trouble in the area of marital relations, so to speak. Their marriage was not consummated for three years. The “doctors” of the time recommended reconstructive surgery on his unmentionable area, but fortunately for Louis he ignored their advice. It was actually marital counseling from Joseph, the Emperor of Austria and Marie’s brother, that got things working properly for the, as it turns out, nervous Louis. But can you imagine surgery of any kind, let alone on reproductive organs, without anesthesia??
Flash forward 100 years at about the time of the American Civil War. A drug called curare was invented that appeared to be a great anesthetic. A rebel soldier takes a lead bullet in the leg. The medic gives him the wonder drug curare and the soldier goes rigid and does not move a muscle as his leg is amputated, which was the preferred surgery for that injury. Well, as it turns out Curare was not an anesthetic, but a paralytic. That means that it paralyzed the patient. He could not move at all during surgery but he could and did feel every cut, every pull of the bone saw, every burn of the cauterization, and every stitch. That’s probably worse than no drugs at all?!
Flash forward another 100 years to the early 1980’s. We have good anesthetics. We can do painless surgery. Instead of just cutting off bad legs surgeons now we can reconstruct hips and knees, etc. In the early 80’s after joint surgery the patient would wear a cast for several weeks until the surgery was healed, and then begin months of rehabilitation. And then came the research of Tapio Vidamen at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He discovered, using rabbits, that a mild reduction in range of motion of a joint will result in “permanent and irreversible” degeneration of that joint in just 2 WEEKS. This changed orthopedic surgery.
Thanks to Vidamen, today when you have joint surgery you will be moving that joint the same day, or at least the next day. No exceptions. Immobilization is bad. It causes joints to wear out very very fast. This research had big implications for the spine too. As it turns out the spine wears our faster than the big joints of the body. This is why spine problems account for more health care dollars spent and more disability than any other health problem.
So from my perspective as your chiropractor, getting people to feel better is a wonderful thing, but it is far more beneficial to you to keep your spinal joints healthy tomorrow and all the tomorrows to come. Therefore, I use the same tools on you that I use on myself. I get adjusted once a week in Wellness Care to stay ahead of the Vidamen 2 week window. I do my Disc Pump exercises daily (or nearly so). I get deep tissue therapy periodically. And if I find any tool out there that will help my spinal joints to last for more tomorrows be rest assured I will share it with you.
Flash forward 100 years at about the time of the American Civil War. A drug called curare was invented that appeared to be a great anesthetic. A rebel soldier takes a lead bullet in the leg. The medic gives him the wonder drug curare and the soldier goes rigid and does not move a muscle as his leg is amputated, which was the preferred surgery for that injury. Well, as it turns out Curare was not an anesthetic, but a paralytic. That means that it paralyzed the patient. He could not move at all during surgery but he could and did feel every cut, every pull of the bone saw, every burn of the cauterization, and every stitch. That’s probably worse than no drugs at all?!
Flash forward another 100 years to the early 1980’s. We have good anesthetics. We can do painless surgery. Instead of just cutting off bad legs surgeons now we can reconstruct hips and knees, etc. In the early 80’s after joint surgery the patient would wear a cast for several weeks until the surgery was healed, and then begin months of rehabilitation. And then came the research of Tapio Vidamen at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He discovered, using rabbits, that a mild reduction in range of motion of a joint will result in “permanent and irreversible” degeneration of that joint in just 2 WEEKS. This changed orthopedic surgery.
Thanks to Vidamen, today when you have joint surgery you will be moving that joint the same day, or at least the next day. No exceptions. Immobilization is bad. It causes joints to wear out very very fast. This research had big implications for the spine too. As it turns out the spine wears our faster than the big joints of the body. This is why spine problems account for more health care dollars spent and more disability than any other health problem.
So from my perspective as your chiropractor, getting people to feel better is a wonderful thing, but it is far more beneficial to you to keep your spinal joints healthy tomorrow and all the tomorrows to come. Therefore, I use the same tools on you that I use on myself. I get adjusted once a week in Wellness Care to stay ahead of the Vidamen 2 week window. I do my Disc Pump exercises daily (or nearly so). I get deep tissue therapy periodically. And if I find any tool out there that will help my spinal joints to last for more tomorrows be rest assured I will share it with you.