Blinders are used in horse racing as a method to keep the horses looking straight ahead, so as to not get distracted by the horse and rider that may be to the right or to the left. Race horses in particular are known to be nervous and skittish so blinders not only help them to focus, but they help them to perform better and to reduce the likelihood of injury. Good.
We all have blinders that we wear either knowingly or unknowingly for the same reasons, to keep us focused, to help us perform better, and reduce the risk of injury. But sometimes blinders do just the opposite. In my particular case I recall one day in my youth I was riding my 10 speed Schwinn bike going somewhere. At this point I do not remember where I was going but I sure remember the ride there. I was riding against the traffic on busy Katella Ave. on the border of Anaheim and Stanton, heading west. Since I was going against traffic, clearly an illegal act, I rode on the sidewalk so as to avoid meeting a car face to windshield as it were. I clearly had blinders on at the time. I thought that since I was not in danger of being slammed by a car, and since I could see no pedestrians in my immediate future, I was free and clear to look anywhere I wished.
For some unknown reason I wished to look at the field to my left. There was a chain link fence behind which was a large farm field growing who knows what, but I found the plants interesting. I was riding on a nice sunny day studying the local plant-life trying to figure out just what the farmer was growing. That’s when my world turned suddenly upside down. The next thing I knew I slammed my face and body into the concrete sidewalk and my beautiful bike was on top of me. Normally, it goes ground, bike, and then rider on top, not ground, rider, and then bike on top. My blinders had prohibited me from seeing the fire hydrant that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in my direct path. My blinders took away my focus, reduced my performance, and lead to my injury, just the opposite of the horse’s blinders.
Medicine has blinders too, particularly when it comes to the role that the vertebral subluxation complex plays in your health. One example is Jenna, who was in a car accident in which she had a brain injury followed by 1-1/2 years of daily headaches. The medics diagnosed her with headache due to chronic brain injury and prescribed some very strong drugs that didn’t help, but had serious side effects. I examined her for subluxation and diagnosed her with headache due to subluxation in the neck. The treatment for that, as you know, is the adjustment which did help and has virtually no side-effects. My diagnosis was proven right as after a short period of time her headaches stopped and she was able to return to the softball field at Cal. State. Fullerton, where she was on scholarship. She finished her playing career on the field and did not lose her scholarship, which she would have if her headaches had continued.
So while we all have blinders in some way, when it comes to our health we need to be open to all solutions. And when you realize the dangers of drugs and the blinders of medicine, it always makes sense to try chiropractic first, to go from least invasive to most invasive.
We all have blinders that we wear either knowingly or unknowingly for the same reasons, to keep us focused, to help us perform better, and reduce the risk of injury. But sometimes blinders do just the opposite. In my particular case I recall one day in my youth I was riding my 10 speed Schwinn bike going somewhere. At this point I do not remember where I was going but I sure remember the ride there. I was riding against the traffic on busy Katella Ave. on the border of Anaheim and Stanton, heading west. Since I was going against traffic, clearly an illegal act, I rode on the sidewalk so as to avoid meeting a car face to windshield as it were. I clearly had blinders on at the time. I thought that since I was not in danger of being slammed by a car, and since I could see no pedestrians in my immediate future, I was free and clear to look anywhere I wished.
For some unknown reason I wished to look at the field to my left. There was a chain link fence behind which was a large farm field growing who knows what, but I found the plants interesting. I was riding on a nice sunny day studying the local plant-life trying to figure out just what the farmer was growing. That’s when my world turned suddenly upside down. The next thing I knew I slammed my face and body into the concrete sidewalk and my beautiful bike was on top of me. Normally, it goes ground, bike, and then rider on top, not ground, rider, and then bike on top. My blinders had prohibited me from seeing the fire hydrant that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in my direct path. My blinders took away my focus, reduced my performance, and lead to my injury, just the opposite of the horse’s blinders.
Medicine has blinders too, particularly when it comes to the role that the vertebral subluxation complex plays in your health. One example is Jenna, who was in a car accident in which she had a brain injury followed by 1-1/2 years of daily headaches. The medics diagnosed her with headache due to chronic brain injury and prescribed some very strong drugs that didn’t help, but had serious side effects. I examined her for subluxation and diagnosed her with headache due to subluxation in the neck. The treatment for that, as you know, is the adjustment which did help and has virtually no side-effects. My diagnosis was proven right as after a short period of time her headaches stopped and she was able to return to the softball field at Cal. State. Fullerton, where she was on scholarship. She finished her playing career on the field and did not lose her scholarship, which she would have if her headaches had continued.
So while we all have blinders in some way, when it comes to our health we need to be open to all solutions. And when you realize the dangers of drugs and the blinders of medicine, it always makes sense to try chiropractic first, to go from least invasive to most invasive.