Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'"
I see people weekly that have not had experience with chiropractic because no one shared the idea with them. The most successful patient this week suffered for two years until a coworker invited him to the office.
He has one of the worst spinal problems I've seen in the last few years. I'm talking about serious neurological problems, that have progressively gotten better over 8 months. It hasn't been an easy road, but rarely are the good roads easy. I had to compliment him on his ability to hang in there, he is now reaping the rewards of his persistence.
I had a thought while I was talking to him, that this might make sense to you, if you or someone you know is struggling with chronic back pain, bring them in Monday. The Gateway office will be open till 4:30 and any new people you try and help will be free on Monday.
If they have no experience, you can share some of this with them and hopefully change their lives for the better.
For one, your body is a self healing organism. If you cut your hand, you don't have to stare at the cut and tell your body to heal.
But...
What if the cut is infected? The cut won't heal. The infection has to be dealt with, before the body can take over and heal.
So...
How about the spine? If you have chronic pain and someone tells you that you have an infection in your spine, you are pretty committed to getting it out. What if I tell you, your spine is out of place and stuck (subluxated)? It doesn't sound so scary, but just like an infection, a subluxation prevents your spine from healing. That can happen in an instant with something like a car accident, or over 10 years sitting behind a desk.
It is very common to have a patient come in with hand numbness and to take an xray, only to find a subluxation in the spine that affects the hands. It is also super common to also find good spinal joints with one isolated problem with massive degeneration 20 years after a car accident. It highlights that one joint that could never heal.
Here's what we know.
1. Your spine needs motion to work properly and heal properly.
2. If 2 joints in your spine are stuck, it can't move, therefore the bodies natural ability to heal itself is compromised.
3. If a subluxation stays long enough, that section of the spine deteriorates from lack of nutrition and proper healing.
4. You look old, you act old, you are old.
Disease is a deficiency or a toxicity. The spine is now deficient of nutrients, because it doesn't move right.
Now, think about this. If you've ever been over weight, you'll totally understand this. Let's say you're busy like most people, you don't always eat good. Over 10 years, it's pretty easy to pack on 10-20 lbs. So lets say you don't watch your diet for 20 years. You can easily gain 40 lbs. You already know, it'll be a lot harder to lose 40 lbs. Spinal degeneration progresses over time if subluxations (misaligned and malfunctioning joints) are left untreated.
So here is the big picture.
If that section of the spine starts to die, it will affect and slowly destroy the nerves surrounding that section. Your health is directly affected by the health of your spine. Your body can only be as healthy as it is can, given the circumstances it has to deal with.
You could be an organic farmer, eating the best diet in the world, yet still have health problems and spine problems. If the spine is damaged and not helped by a chiropractor, diet won't help you, because the joints need motion to pump the good nutrition in and pull the cellular waste products out. This is malnourishment of the spine.
Here is the short and sweet of this guys success.
1. He's been in the office 2x/week for 8 months. Remember, his spine was very far out of place, very stuck, very deteriorated and he had very advanced neurological problems.
2. He eats good.
3. Dislikes pain pills
4. Started taking Cataplex ACP to speed healing.
Motion, Nutrition, and Time will do wonders for the spine. Time is by far the hardest one. Most of the spine is made up of ligaments and ligament type tissue, which means it has a very low blood supply. Therefore, it heals slow. This is why pain pills can be so dangerous. You can easily get a false sense of healing.
I'm sure you're thinking. "won't he ever be fixed?"
No, he won't.
It's too far gone. But, with regular maintenance, he'll lead a perfectly happy and normal life. Really, that's what we all want anyway.
The lesson is "Don't suffer, needlessly", even if you can. Pain is your friend. Not an enemy. Pain tells you something is wrong. It's wise to listen to your body, it's trying to tell you something is wrong.
The coolest thing about chiropractic, is that we don't give you anything and don't take anything away. We just unleash the natural healing power in your body that has been shut off with subluxations.
P.S. Monday will be a Free Service day for New Patients. I want to encourage you to help others. Sometimes you have to drag them in. People have a tendency to suffer because they are used to it, and "it's not that bad". The human being can deal with a lot, but that doesn't mean it likes it. Help someone Monday.