As an old guy, I am very careful not to fall.  After all, I don’t want to break a hip right?  You probably don’t like to fall either.  But what about when you were a kid?  As a kid you fall thousands of times while you learn to do all the things that a kid does, walk, run, climb, ride, skip, skate, board, ski, slide, etc.  As an adult you learn that falling is bad and so as you age you generally stop sliding, climbing, skiing, boarding, skating, skipping, riding, and running, or at least some of these.  You might still walk but most adults sadly try to minimize that too.  It is true that kids don’t have bad backs but they have hundreds more subluxation events than you or I do as adults.  And in fact it is during these years that the subluxation process begins to take hold of their spinal/neurological development.  So, it just makes sense that kids need to be checked for subluxation.  I wish I had been when I was a kid.  Perhaps I wouldn’t have the disc herniations and some of the health issues I have had as an old guy.  Perhaps I wouldn’t have some of the pains I have endured.  And although I am reasonably healthy, perhaps I would be healthier.  I wish.    

This article is not to beat the dead horse that if you have kids you should bring them in.  You know my very firm stance on that.  This article is for the parent to learn how to check their own kids, or for you to give to parents you care about so that they can check their kids.  This method works well for the 6ish and over crowd.  The younger ones harder and usually need the experienced chiropractor’s approach.  But go ahead and try.

Step 1: Have your child take off her shoes and shirt (For the sake of brevity, I will use a female).  Put your hands on her hips.  Note if one hip is higher.  Do the same for the shoulders.  Note if the spine appears curved or twisted in any way.  Anything less than perfect alignment indicates subluxation.

Step 2: Have your child lie face down with her head straight.  Have her tuck her chin to her chest to open the neck bones.  Using your finger or thumb, press next to her spine from top to bottom on the left and right sides.  Use moderate force similar to how I examine you.  If she says ouch or flinches at any point she probably has subluxation.

Step 3:  With her chin tucked like before, press right on the spine on the little bumps from bottom to top.  Again, if she says ouch she probably has subluxation. 

That’s it.  Let me know what you find.  A child is most likely to have subluxation in the neck first.  84% are subluxated at birth.  The low back comes later.  While kids don’t have bad backs like you and I, our subluxations began when we were kids and if our parents knew what you know, we surely wouldn’t have the backs we have today.  

Do you like taking drugs?  The legal ones I mean??  None of us like taking drugs but how many of us live a lifestyle that can minimize our future need for drugs?  Look at your elderly family members.  They don’t like taking drugs either but most take several just to get by.  Your time is coming.  So what are you going to do about it?  What can you do about it?  I learned my lesson while in the hospital at the age of 39.  At what age will you learn yours?  I hope today.

            Life is fragile and all of us will see it end at some point.  But most of us want to postpone that moment as long as possible and all of us would like for the time we have here to be as healthy as possible.  And the healthier you are the less likely that you will need to see a medical doctor and if you don’t need to see a medical doctor then you don’t need to take drugs.  And remember from Article #5, the practice of medicine kills more people than everything except heart disease and cancer.  There are a bunch of things that each of us can do to reduce our chance of needing medical care and you know most of them.  Hopefully you are doing some of them.  But what role does subluxation play in this equation? 

            Published in the Medical Times, Dr. Henry Winsor, M.D. did cadaver studies on 75 humans and 22 cats.  No, I don’t know why he included cats.  In those cadavers he found 221 diseased organs.  Of the 221 diseased organs, 212 of them had their nerve supply coming from areas of the spine with the greatest misalignment (96%).  This means two things.  First, when you die you are going to have at least 2 diseased organs.  Lovely.  Second, that there is a correlation between misalignment of the spine (subluxation) and disease.  This is known as the neurological basis of disease or somato-visceral disease. 

            A study published in Topics of Clinical Chiropractic studied 414 geriatric patients living in the same community.  Of the 414, 23 were chiropractic users.  When comparing the chiropractic to the non-chiropractic patients they found that the chiropractic users rated their health better, had fewer chronic conditions, less or no arthritis, greater mobility, could exercise more regularly, less nursing home needs, and much fewer hospitalizations.  The exact results are available on the information tree by our check out counter. 

            I have chosen these two studies to illustrate the single point that subluxation does lead to disease and infirmity.   I’m glad we are working to zero out your subluxation.  What about your family?  The sooner the better.     

THIS IS A TRUE STORY.  THE NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED.

Miracles do happen.  Nancy was a 40 year old woman who had been sick with constant and daily headaches as well as migraines for decades.  Why did she choose 5/29/01 to do something about it?  She didn’t know that it would take more than a year to get well just in time for the birth of Caroline 16 months later on 9/22/02.  She couldn’t know that if she had not begun care when she did that Caroline would not know Nancy today as mommy, and Caroline’s life would be very different, and much worse as a result.  Was it God?  Was it chance?  Coincidence?  You decide.  But it was a miracle.  

            It was supposed to be the happiest day of a young mom’s life, but when you are addicted to drugs real happiness is simply not possible.  In the life of the addict, being high is as close as you get to being happy.  She gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Caroline who also happened to be addicted to drugs, thanks to the maternal-fetal blood connection at the placenta, which drugs readily cross.  What was to become of Caroline?  The short-term effects range from body malformation to behavioral issues.  Mental retardation and other neurological damage are common long-term results.  If Caroline’s birth mother were to raise her, what would her life become?  How would she fare?  Would she become part of the cycle?  Would she survive?  Could she thrive?  This is the story of Caroline’s life.

            Nancy was a 40 year old woman who had never had a baby.  She was married to a caring husband and both worked full-time.  Nancy could not consider having a baby.  She certainly would not consider adopting one, and not for the reason that one might think.  Nancy was too sick herself to consider the idea of caring for a child on a daily basis.  Nancy suffered from headaches on a 24 hours a day basis 7 days a week.  Some days were more tolerable and other days she was not able to function.  And other days still life was in the classic dark room of the migraine sufferer.  Over-the-counter and prescription drugs got her through most days yet miserably.  Weekend family events were especially difficult.  Nancy would begin to drug herself two weeks in advance of a weekend outing just to get through.  In her own way Nancy was addicted to drugs just to be able to get through life.  Nancy was certainly in no shape to help another drug addicted soul such as Caroline in any way.  A crying baby.  On call 24 hours a day.  Unimaginable.

            Nancy had been told by fellow church goers to see a chiropractor for 2-3 years.  She ignored them in favor of neurologists and medication.  Ironically, it was a visit to the emergency room on May 13th, 2001, Mother’s Day, that pushed her over the edge.  They could not tell her what was wrong and sent her back to the neurologist.  Frustrated, she called my office shortly after and I met her 16 days later.  I examined her for subluxation.  I taught her about subluxation and then we began care that would take more than a year to get under control and some years after that to get really stable.  But it was just in time to get well enough for the event that was to come 16 months later.

            That day was the day of Caroline’s birth.  Nancy had heard about the birth and she and her husband decided to adopt Caroline.  Today Caroline is a healthy vibrant child of 7 at the time of writing of this story.  She is an A student, is well adapted, and healthy.  The pediatric neurologists attribute her progress not to anything other than the time, love, and attention that Nancy and her husband have given to Caroline day in and day out.  Caroline is successful and has completely overcome her very shaky start due to the commitment of one person, Nancy, who just a year or so before could not have considered caring for an infant, let alone one with two strikes against her.  What happened?  Someone told her about chiropractic and kept telling her.  Nancy finally followed that advice in her own time and just in time.  The timing was the miracle to Nancy and Nancy was the miracle to Caroline.  By the way, Caroline is also a chiropractic patient.

No, I’m not going to tell you that subluxation causes cancer if that’s what you think this is about.  But before we get into our current topic I must point out that subluxation does appear to reduce your ability to remove free radicals from your blood and that free radicals do lead to cancer.  So perhaps…maybe…we’ll see.  Instead, let’s talk about…

DIAGNOSIS.  Have you ever had one?  Cold, flu, infection, pneumonia, heart failure, gall stones, heart attack, bladder infection, ulcers, etc.  Medics change those names to Latin and charge accordingly, but a diagnosis is a word that everybody agrees describes the collection of symptoms and findings that you have.  Once the diagnosis is made, the treatment is prescribed, and then a prognosis is made to predict your likely future.  If you have the diagnosis of heart disease, you see a cardiologist.  If you have gall bladder disease, you go to an internist.  If you have varicose veins, you see a vascular surgeon.  Different diagnosis, different medical doctor.  With that in mind, what diagnoses should see a chiropractor?  Low back pain?  Neck pain?  Headaches?  Numbness and tingling?  What about a cold?  What about ulcers?  What about heart disease?  And so what about cancer? 

           

            We all have several things in common.  We all went through some sort of birth process.  We all fell lots and lots of time growing up.  Learning to walk, to climb, to run, to ride, to slide, to skate, to roll.  We all have had hundreds or perhaps thousands of subluxation events.  That’s why you’re here in this office after all.  We all have subluxation, and if you have subluxation you get it corrected by a chiropractor.  It’s important enough that you spend your time and money doing it.  But what most of us don’t have in common is cancer.  Most of us are not suffering from it, thankfully.  But here’s the very IMPORTANT QUESTION, who has more stress on their body, the patient who has subluxation only, like you and I, or the patient with subluxation and cancer?  The answer is quite obvious.  Cancer patients not only have to deal with the subluxation that you and I deal with, but also the cancer, the radiation, the chemotherapy, the trips to the doctor, the emotional stress, the financial stress, the fear and who knows what else.  So at a basic common sense level doesn’t the cancer victim need subluxation relief more than you and I?  Of course.

            As the team chiropractor I treat college athletes at UC Riverside who get subluxation care for no other reason than to improve their body’s function to give them an extra edge in competition.  I suggest to you that the cancer patient has more to compete against than the college athlete.  That could be said for just about any diagnosis as well.

            The mistake we all make is pairing chiropractic with back and neck pain.  We are not back doctors.  We only use your spine to access your nerve system.  We are nerve system doctors.  When you think chiropractic think subluxation, nerve stress, nerve interference, reduced body health and well-being, dis-ease, and disease.  Any person with subluxation will benefit from what we do and the worse the diagnosis, the more important that they hear the subluxation story. 

            Remember that chiropractors DO NOT treat the disease in the patient.  That is medicine.  Instead we treat the patient who has the disease.  And whether it’s a cold or cancer, don’t the people you love deserve and need the best functioning body they can get?   

Richard would have been 24 this year.  He would have completed high school and college.  Perhaps he would have a family and a career, a future, children of his own.  But it was not to be, for in 1993 at the age of 8 he met his killer in the form of Dr. Joseph Verbrugge, an anesthesiologist.  After 3 surgeries he just ran out of luck and never awoke.  This was the life and fate of Richard Leonard of Denver Colorado.  I pose the question; did Richard really need to die from the medical treatment for ear infections? 

            His first surgery was at the age of 3.  Tubes were inserted to help drain his chronic middle ear infection.  This led to more infection, more scar tissue, more surgery, and eventually a planned tympanoplasty and mastoidectomy, what was thought of by the medics as a minor procedure.  Dr. Verbrugge was considered a surly man who was not to be questioned.  The doctors and nurses in the operating room were unwilling or afraid to confront him, he didn’t do his job, and Richard died.  It all started with an ear infection.

            Now I have no ability to say with certainty whether Richard’s fate, and those of many just like him, could have been altered, but I believe it to be the case with all my heart.  Was he ever checked for subluxation?  Was he ever adjusted?  I would guess no to both.  Why and what does this have to do with ear infections and life?  The answer…Everything!

            It turns out that subluxation, often from the birth process, can cause dysfunction of the Eustachian tube, the little tunnel that connects the middle ear with the back of the throat.  The job of this tube is to drain the middle ear.  When it doesn’t do its job, fluids back up in the middle ear and the bacteria have a party, which we call an ear infection or otitis media.  The medical treatment is antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and tubes.  But wouldn’t the logical treatment be to fix the cause, the Eustachian tube dysfunction, caused by the subluxation?  And therefore, wouldn’t it be better just to correct the subluxation anyway before there is a diagnosable medical condition?  Of course.

            Joan Fallon, D.C., co-founder of the International Chiropractors Association Diplomate program in chiropractic pediatrics, reviewed 116 cases of otitis media in her practice and published the results.  Of the 116 cases, 112 resolved with adjustments only in 5 days or less, 2 took 7 days, and only 2 needed medical intervention.  I studied under Dr. Fallon in the early 90’s at the time my second child was born.  I remember the first time he had a raging left-sided ear infection and I applied what I had learned from Dr. Fallon.  The very next morning Ricky’s ear was normal and clear.  That is not an exaggeration.  I have done this over and over since with the kids you see today on our Well Adjusted Kids Club picture board. 

            So while the vast majority of ear infections will respond to subluxation correction, I still contend that it is smarter to correct the subluxation prior to the onset of infection, or whatever other health problem that subluxation may lead to.  And I also contend that if Richard Leonard’s parents had been told by a friend to take him to me or Dr. Fallon or so many other pediatric-oriented chiropractors, he might on this very day still be here perhaps with his own kids getting them adjusted by the very chiropractor that saved his life.  And it’s with this information that you may one day save a life.  Share the story.    

Dr. Rick’s lost it this time.  Doesn’t he know a fetus is not yet born?  He can’t think that he can actually adjust a fetus, can he?  Well I’ll go ahead and read this article out of respect for my whacked out chiropractor and because he’s such a captivating writer :-)  Now if you are thinking the above I understand, but there is a way that adjustments can help a fetus and it is important that you convey this information to everyone you know who is or might become pregnant.  You really can alter and perhaps even save a life, really.  Read on.

            The transition from being inside the mom to outside the mom is a big moving day for most of us.  It is dark, wet, warm, safe and comfortable one minute.  Then it is bright, cold, dry, and people are slapping you the next.  That change is potentially one of the most dangerous days of your life.  There are so many things that can go wrong.  But some of these dangers can be reduced by the application of chiropractic adjustments to correct subluxation in the mom.  Here are some examples:

            A study done by a chiropractor who was a nurse mid-wife prior to becoming a chiropractor found that the length of labor for women who have been adjusted throughout their pregnancy is about half that of the national norm, adjusted for 1st, 2nd, 3rd pregnancy of course.  This is what we call water-melon seed babies.  Like a watermelon seed squeezed between your fingers, the baby just shoots out.  Hopefully it won’t be quite that fast but it will be faster than the average.  This is not only good for mom since she wants labor to be as short as possible, but it is good for the fetus too.  A quick delivery reduces the chance of heart stress, the use of forceps or vacuum extractor, and the probability of C-section, not to mention other birth traumas.  A traumatic birth can and does result in subluxation, severe injury, and even death.  The adjustments have helped the fetus.

            The same chiropractor, who is also the founder of the International Chiropractors Association Council on Pediatrics as well as the founder of their Diplomate program on chiropractic pediatrics has observed that she has never seen a pregnant woman under chiropractic care develop toxemia of pregnancy.  Toxemia is known to result in danger to the fetus, premature labor, and the need for premature C-section.  Again, the adjustments have helped the fetus.

            Finally, a chiropractor by the name of Webster found that the reason why babies are breech, transverse, or sunny side up (in uterine constraint) is due to the alignment of the spine and pelvis.  Furthermore, he developed a methodology to analyze the mom and adjust her to correct this misalignment.  In 97% of the over 700 women that he performed what became known as Webster’s Breech Technique he was successful in having the baby spontaneously turn to the normal vertex position prior to delivery.  This avoided the need for the dangerous version technique employed by OB-Gyn’s, in which they try to turn the baby using brute force, or C-section, or the dangerous natural delivery of a breech baby.  I have done the Webster’s technique on 5 occasions and am 5 for 5.  Again, the adjustments have helped the fetus.

            So while most of you have never thought of chiropractic care during pregnancy for yourself or your wife, your friends or loved ones there is nothing but an upside, not only to the mom, but to the baby.  Every baby deserves the best start we can give them.  

Mountains are built by the forces of nature and then they are slowly eroded over millions of years by the very same forces.  Therefore, a mountain will never be taller than at that moment after it has been created.  It’s all downhill from there.  (I couldn’t resist the pun.  Sorry.)  Let’s pretend that your job is to take a bucketful of dirt to the top of the mountain for every bucketful of erosion caused by time and gravity.  So how do you stop the erosion?  If the mountain is eroding at a rate of 2 buckets per day you simply need to take two buckets back to the top each day.  Easy peasy.  Were it only so simple to stop the erosion of the human spine. 

            You see, the very same forces that made the mountain made you, and the very same forces that erode the mountain are eroding you, namely gravity and time.  You are infinitely more complex than a mountain but the same sort of rules apply.  We can stop the erosion in some cases and slow it down in nearly all cases, but the rules of erosion stopping MUST be followed.  They cannot be cheated.  There must be at least one bucketful of dirt for every one eroded.  Unlike the mountain, you cannot take time off and then bring a bunch of buckets to make up for the time lost.  In life, time lost is just lost.  There is no make up.  What I am talking about is the degeneration of your spine and the resulting degeneration of your health. 

            There is a direct correlation between spinal health and organ health.  Henry Winsor, M.D. found that in the cadavers he studied, 96% of the time the nerve supply for the diseased organs came from the areas of the spine with the greatest misalignment, or what we call subluxation.  Furthermore, when the spine erodes or degenerates, this cements in the misalignment to more and more permanently damage the nerves and our health.  Therefore, the focus must be on stopping or slowing the erosion by restoring alignment and motion as best as possible.  So what are these rules I speak of?

            Rule # 1) To just get the subluxation under control requires adjustments at least 2-3 and sometimes 4 times each week for anywhere from 4 weeks to 4 months depending upon the case.

            Rule # 2) To correct the subluxation as much as it may be corrected requires 2 adjustments per week when there are a significant number of grade 2 findings on your exam.  Remember back to your examination report, grading system 1-4?  Once there are no grade 2’s then 1 adjustment per week for several months, and for years in some more advanced cases.

            Rule # 3) To maintain that correction requires adjustments on a weekly basis for a lifetime. 

That leads to two questions that I would have if I were you.  First, why weekly, and second, why a lifetime?  The answer to the first question is based in pure science.  It was revealed in ground-breaking research done at the University of Helsinki, Finland, by Dr. Tapio Videman.  Published in 1987 in Clinical Biomechanics, “Experimental Models of Osteoarthritis: The Role of Immobilization” Dr. Videman found that the slightest restriction of motion in a joint will result in “permanent and irreversible” degeneration in that joint in just 2 weeks.  He further found that if you restore normal motion the degeneration will stop but will not be reversed.  To you and I, it means that your subluxations, which are essentially joints that are restricted in motion, must be checked for and adjusted within the two weeks that Dr. Videman found is the magic number.  So, why weekly?  Simply the science of joint mechanics and degeneration.

Why a lifetime?  Well, once you know the answer to why weekly, why a lifetime becomes pretty obvious.  But put simply, your subluxations began in childhood and were added onto during adulthood.  You are aging, time is ticking, gravity is tugging, and the forces of erosion, just like in the mountain, will not be denied.  The mountain, and you and I, sadly, will erode.  It is the human condition.  But, if you want to erode more slowly, to stay on the planet a bit longer, and to live a life that is healthier, more vibrant, and certainly less dependent upon the pharmaceutical industry as you age, you need to make a lifetime commitment.  And not only to your spine and nervous system, but to your health in general.  It pays the greatest dividends.

So how can you stop the erosion?  That’s what this very unique chiropractic program here is all about.  I hope you and your family are along for the ride.  

To paraphrase the great Albert Einstein, “The solution to the problems of today is not available in the thinking it took to create the problems in the first place.”  There are many problems today, the economy, poverty, sickness and disease, famine, nuclear threat, Islamic terror, etc.  While we wage battle on these and others on a daily basis, the real solution will only occur when we change the way we think, a new paradigm, when humanity evolves to the next level.  For example, in 1990 we were still in the middle of the cold war with the Soviet Union.  Nuclear annihilation was only the push of a button away.  In 1991, the USSR just collapsed.  The people knocked down the Berlin wall.  The paradigm changed and the cold war ended, just like that.  That is what Einstein was talking about.  Now let’s extend this argument to drug abuse, both illegal and legal.  None of us want our kids or grandkids to use drugs, but what paradigm are you raising them in?  What are you teaching them?  How are you programming them?  You need to think about this.  Reject it if you like, but think about it.  This is important.     

            The current paradigm is this.  When your child is sick you have a pill or potion that you give him.  There is a pill for every conceivable ailment.  “Here honey.  I know you feel bad.  Take this.  It will help you feel better.”  Scores, hundreds, or even thousands of times throughout a child’s life parents say these words and then the children swallow the drug.  Therefore, as we grow up we learn the paradigm that health and well being is available in a drug.  When we don’t feel well we need a drug.  The body cannot heal itself without a drug.  Thank God for drugs!!  I may not like taking them but I am so glad they are around for when I need them.  This is most likely your paradigm. 

            Under this paradigm we have devised the DARE program.  The DARE officers tell our kids in elementary school that drugs are bad.  Don’t do drugs.  Say no to drugs.  What the kids here is blah blah blah.  The proof is that every study on this subject shows that the effect of the DARE program is zilch, nada.  It is a complete waste of time and money.  We wring our hands and wonder why??  The answer is simple.  You and I have already programmed our kids by the time they get to elementary school.  Their subconscious already knows that drugs are good.  The subconscious does not know legal versus illegal.  It knows when you feel bad you take a drug, period.  

            Then what happens when your baby gets to that awkward age.  “My parents don’t understand me.  My teachers are idiots.  I’m fat, unhappy.”  Etc.  Someone along the way hands him a pill or potion and says that it will make him feel better.  Your baby has been programmed throughout a lifetime that when you feel bad you take a pill.  Her conscious mind may say no, but her subconscious programming takes over.  He takes the drug.  The end product of our current paradigm.

            Now lets look at an alternative paradigm, one in which your baby has been taught that the body can heal itself, that illness is natural and its purpose in childhood is to exercise our immune “muscles” for real battles later in life, that the body does not need drugs to heal, that nature heals as long as there is no interference.  He knows that other kids’ parents give them drugs but he has never taken any.  It is not in her subconscious programming to look to drugs, at any level, for anything.  Drugs are not part of his consciousness anymore than you would use chicken bones to predict your future, or a voodoo doll to cure you.

            This is the chiropractic child.  This is what we are trying to teach our parents to teach their children.  The body can heal itself of anything, or prevent itself from anything, as long as there is no interference to the healing process.  As you know, the subluxation is a major source of interference to the natural healing process.  As you know, it interferes with nerve function and body communications, with the ability of Innate to reach the tissue cells and preserve the balance and health of the whole person.  This is why you will see children in my office on a weekly basis to be checked and adjusted, and more often when they are sick.  They are learning that the body can heal itself.  It might need a little help with an adjustment, but it can do the job.  No drugs, no potions. 

            My vision, which I know will never be realized on any level, would see every child on the planet in every generation raised in a chiropractic setting.  Imagine a world like this.  What would it look like?  I have no scientific proof that there would be less drug use.  But it seems logical.  My own kids were raised this way and have never done drugs, but that is not proof.  But it seems logical.  What if I’m wrong and this is all some sort of chiropractor’s pipe-dream?  Well then we just have a bunch of kids that are healthier than if they are raised in the medical model, and we do have the proof of that.  I hope you and your kids are coming along for the ride.

What can chiropractic care cure?  What conditions do we treat?  Can we help with x, y, or z?  Will this or that respond to adjustments?  All different ways of asking the same question, and it is an important question.  The answer is very simple, but the explanation is perhaps complex.  Chiropractic cures nothing.  We treat no conditions other than the subluxation.  We cannot help with anything other than subluxation.  And we don’t know what will respond and what wont.  Well, then what am I doing here getting treated by a chiropractor would be an appropriate question.  Read on.

            ALL the other types of health care proceed on the following model.  1) The patient tells the doctor the symptoms.  2)  The doctor performs an examination.  3) Makes a diagnosis.  4) Designs a treatment program for the diagnosis.  5) Treats the patient.  6)  Assesses the outcome of the treatment, usually by patient symptoms.  This is the process of therapeutics, applying a remedy to a specific problem, symptom, or diagnosis.  The basic assumption is that the human body needs help in some form to heal.  It needs a cure that doesn’t exist within.  This is certainly how medicine is carried out. 

            Chiropractic is what we call non-therapeutical.  We do not apply remedies.  We DO NOT believe that the body needs help to heal.  And we DO believe that only the body can cure and that all curing must come from within.  Chiropractic’s only role is to remove the most widespread and most dangerous interference to the healing process, the vertebral subluxation complex.  In chiropractic’s purest form, I don’t need to know anything from the patient.  I just need to examine the spine for subluxation and then work to correct the subluxation as much as is possible.  Essentially, the only reason we ask your symptoms on day one is that it is the reason why you came to me, so I must honor that.  You need to tell your story.  But it does little to help me to decide what needs to be done.  This is the exact opposite of medicine.  We do not diagnose and we only do one thing, correct the subluxation.

            With that in mind, then, what types of patients with what type of conditions should see a chiropractor?  Simply, all of them.  CHIROPRACTORS DO NOT TREAT THE DISEASE IN THE PATIENT, WE TREAT THE PATIENT WITH THE DISEASE.  We help the patient’s body to be stronger and healthier so that it can more efficiently deal with whatever disease it may or may not have, whether we are aware of that disease or not.  It is true that chiropractic helps sick people to be well and well people to be even more well.  Therefore, if you have a cold is being freer of subluxation good for you?  Of course.  Pneumonia?  Yep.  How about diabetes?  Certainly.  Cancer?  Absolutely.  From colds to cancer, don’t you, or those people you care about, deserve to have the best functioning nerve system while they deal with their diagnosis, not to mention dealing with the drugs that are being used to treat that diagnosis.  Or even better, shouldn’t you reduce the effects of subluxation before you get sick, while you are well?  It just makes sense to me.

In 1996 the San Bernardino Sun published that it was estimated by researchers that 120,000 PREVENTABLE DEATHS OCCUR EACH YEAR DUE TO MEDICAL TREATMENT.  This is what is called medical malpractice or iatrogenic (doctor caused) disease.  Errors.  Mistakes.  And that was 1996.  In 1998, per the Los Angeles Times, a study revealed that MEDICATIONS KILL 100,000 each year in the U.S.  Unlike the previous study, these are not due to malpractice.  The diagnosis is made and the prescription is given in accordance with standard medical protocol, but the patient reacted to the medication poorly and died.  Also in 1998, as stated in the Sun again, it was found that 90,000 DIE EACH YEAR FROM INFECTIONS THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE WHEN THEY ENTERED A HOSPITAL, but contracted while in the hospital.  This happens so often they also have a name for it.  Nosocomial infection.  The final tally is that 310,000 people were dying each and every year in the late 90’s due to the practice of medicine.  Today, sadly, the numbers are worse.

            Next we need to put this in perspective.  How does this rank in the big scheme of things?  Here are the numbers.  Approximately 700,000 die each year from heart disease, 500,000 from cancer, and the third most common natural cause of death is diabetes.  Therefore, the practice of medicine is the third leading cause of death in this country.  Medicine kills more people than all natural causes of death except cancer and heart disease.  In 2007 it was estimated that there were 8.3 deaths per 1,000 people.  This translates into about 2.5 million dead each year.  This means that medicine is directly responsible for 12% of all deaths, or a little more than 1 in 10.  The good news is that you have an 88% chance of dying from something other than the practice of medicine.  Fun, huh!

            Now the usual reaction I get from people is, “Wow.  Interesting.  I don’t like going to medical doctors.  I don’t want to take medications.  I don’t believe in medicine.”  And then they just go on living their lives without changing their behavior.  WHETHER OR NOT WE END UP GOING TO THE MEDICAL DOCTOR OR THE HOSPITAL IS NOT DEPENDENT UPON OUR BELIEFS, LIKES OR DISLIKES.  IT IS BASED MOSTLY ON OUR BEHAVIOR.  Yes, there are times when life is out of our control.  If you break a bone you will need a medical doctor.  If your appendix clogs up you will need a hospital.  But, most of our health is under our control and we must change our behavior to reduce the odds of needing medicine.  Hospitals are chock full of people who don’t like medical doctors, hospitals, and drugs, but they are there right at this minute, many of which wouldn’t need to be if they had changed their daily behavior some years before.  Now it is too late for them.  Mentally walk around the hospital.  1 in 10 will die from the treatment they are getting.  The other 9 will eventually die from something else that may have been prevented or at least delayed if they had changed their behavior in time. 

            The time is now.  Eat better.  Eat less.  Exercise more.  Get rest.  Control stress.  Take supplements.  Work on your relationships.  Drink lots of water.  The list goes on and on.  But first and foremost, get the Innate flowing.  Get the computer operating.  Reduce subluxation and its associated nerve interference.  As in the car, you can put all the right stuff in it, but if the computer is malfunctioning, what good will all the right stuff do?  None. 

            If you read my article, “Genetic Health,” you know that chiropractic patients are healthier at a genetic level than non-chiropractic patients.  This was further confirmed in a 2005 study.  A recent survey regarding children of chiropractors and children of pediatricians shows that the chiropractic kids are healthier.  A study in 1996 demonstrated that the elderly who get adjusted have better health, fewer chronic conditions, less arthritis, can exercise more, have less time in nursing facilities, and much fewer hospitalizations.  In short, the chiropractic patients live healthier, and therefore, longer lives.  They see medical doctors less and are therefore less likely to die from our nation’s third leading cause of death.

            Yes, we will all die from something.  That is the human condition.  But until that day I want to have the best health I can, doing the most that I can, participating in medicine the least that I must.  This is why I get adjusted every week.  This is why I eat better and less, exercise more, get plenty of rest, work on stress reduction, work on my relationships, drink water and take supplements.  But it all starts with the adjustment to correct subluxation as much as possible.  Innate must flow unrestricted.  The computer must operate without glitches.    

What is your commitment to your health?  What about your spouse, children, and those important to you?  Don’t they deserve this information?  Is health an accident or is it due to living a planned life?  Will you just hope for good luck or will you take the necessary steps?  I hope your day of absolution is far in the future with many healthy days from now until then.

This topic is why we offer three levels of chiropractic care.  As in the forest fire, the Initial Intensive Care is about getting the fire under control.  Reconstructive Care is about putting the fire out.  And Wellness Care is the time when the forest (your body) heals and returns to its pre-fire (pre-subluxation) state.  I hope you come along for the ride and bring everyone you care about with you.