Do I need an Exam?

Do you ever notice how no chiropractic office evaluates each patient the same?

Some offices want X-rays performed, some offices want blood testing, some just “feel” the spine. Truly, there is no consistency when it comes to the practice of chiropractic. We believe this is the core reason why chiropractic is under-utilized in our

In deciding how to best care for every patient that comes to seek our help, it is important for us to evaluate every current type of procedure, equipment, and system available. We also continue to do this regularly as technology and research changes. You should expect this out of every Healthcare provider you visit. If there is new information or technology that can help you get healthier, then you should demand it. Our patients demand the best care, and we demand it of ourselves!

With that in mind, we have charged ourselves with this objective:

To invest in the best advanced technology to care for our community.

It is not an easy task to research, evaluate, and invest in the best technology year after year, however it is important to us if we are to get the best results possible for you.

If you demand the best care possible, we are the place for you.

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Give credit where credit is due.

It is very easy to take the credit when a patient feels better. Especially when the patient blames you for a pain that goes away, and many chiropractors will even brag. “We make pain go away!”

It’s a lie. 

Chiropractors do not remove pain in any way. Chiropractors don’t treat pain, take away pain, or lessen pain. So, why does a patient get better when under care at Adjust?

There is an intelligent design to the human body. There is also an intelligent healing ability that you posses. This is what is referred to as innate intelligence. Innate intelligence is the “thing” that does the work.

Chiropractors simply remove interference to the inherent ability you have to heal. We understand that the messages for innate intelligence use the nervous system to get the work done that is necessary for you to be healthy. If these messages are not getting through properly, innate intelligence is not able to perform its work.

This is an important distinction to understand. So, while I would love to take credit for every healing thing that occurs when a patient is under care, I know that reality says something different. The truth is this:

I do the best I can to give an adjustment to the spine so that the messages are as clear as possible.

Healing takes time

This statement may seem obvious, however understanding this simple law of life should allow us to make decisions that are better for our health. Let me explain..

In today’s society, we want to feel better as quick as possible (notice I said, “we”, because I include myself). Of course, feeling better is a great thing. It allows you do to the things that you couldn’t do previously. Often, this is why feeling a certain way while the body is healing, limits you in a good way. After-all, too much activity on a body that needs to heal will slow the healing process, or stop it in its tracts.

However, has society placed so much weight on feeling better that they have placed that want above healing better? I believe so.

Healing takes time. Feeling better does not. I can feel better in seconds with the right drug. However, healing always takes time.

Our best patients get this principle. They want to feel better, however they place more weight on healing. These are the people in our community that get healthy and stay healthy.

What are results to you?

We talk a lot about results with our patients. However, what I have learned over the past 17 years in practice is that the term, “results” is relative. One person sees results as simply relief in their back pain, while another would like to run a marathon! So, the differences can be profound from one to the next. Not only are there differences in patient’s definition of results, there are differences in the Chiropractor’s definitions as well!

What does Adjust mean when they talk about results? Well, it can be summed up in 2 words:

1. Performance– We know that no two people are alike. While a walk to the mailbox for one may be as much of a struggle as a 50 mile bike ride for another, we know that we must design a corse of care for every individual differently. This is what allows us to get you performing better. Whether you want to have better mental capacity, or increase sleep quality, performance increases will make your life better.
2. Adaptation– We do not expect, nor do we want our patients to live in a bubble. Meaning, we want you to be able to experience life without fear of catching a cold, or hurting yourself. This is called “adaptation”. The environment you live in is constantly changing, we know that if your nervous system is healthy, you will be able to adapt to the changes in the most beneficial way possible at that time. This is true health.

Maybe after reading this, your want for more than jut less pain in your life allows you to realize that less pain isn’t really what you have been looking for all this time. Maybe you have been looking to do the things that less pain would allow you to do. Limitations in this manner are important to acknowledge. Once you know exactly what they are, then you can set your goal and make steps to get you closer to that new goal of achieving results in _________________ area of your life.

What did you just say?

Do you ever get 5 minutes into a conversation until you realize that you and the other individual are talking about something completely different? This is sorta what happened to me the other day, except it happened on a blog. Let me explain..

The subject of the blog was how the CDC is scaring the population with regards to the Ebola Virus. The blog went on to say that Ebola virus has been over-hyped, it is not as dangerous as everyone has stated, and that we should probably focus more on mosquito transmitted diseases.

From a pure “how relevant is ebola” standpoint, I completely agree. However, then the author hit us with this gem:
“The alternative crowd is in on the scare touting potions and lotions to protect the human population from Ebola as well. In fact, they believe that humans were meant to be healthy, and if they are not healthy, something is interfering with this natural normal health state. This is completely wrong. We are a weak species, easily killed by small diseases, viruses, and insignificant traumas all the time.”

As I read that last couple of sentences, I could not help to think, “what is wrong with this guy.” He really things we are a weak species! He is oblivious to the fact that there are more human beings on the planet than ever before. While other creatures become extinct, we thrive in any environment. From Alaska to the Sahara desert, human beings can and do live on, in an environment that seems to be ever-changing. As far as
“insignificant traumas”, I guess the term “insignificant” is up for debate. However, I can personally state that I have seen some pretty significant traumas that people walk away from. Just watching 15 minutes of America’s Funniest Videos is all the research you should need for this. LOL

The entire foundation of what chiropractic believes is based on this premise:
“You were meant to be healthy.”
So naturally, I jumped from my computer when I saw the words “We are a weak species..” Of course we are not built with armor on our backs like a Rhino. Nor are we built with thick hair on our chests like bears in the winter months. However, we are supplied with a brain to help us take care of ourselves. One thing your brain does is to help you reason. It is this reason that has and will continue to make the human race the most advanced living thing on this planet. We don’t need the armor, we can create it. We don’t need to fly, we can build it and fly it. We don’t need to lift 10,000 lbs with our hands, we can build a crane to do that with a touch of a button.

Most importantly, we were NOT put on this planet to suffer, nor should we. YOU are meant to be healthy. Quite honestly, any thought otherwise is a pretty distorted view of life.

What do you think? Let me know!

Respect you

Understanding the innate power of each of us is impossible to completely comprehend. However, we can respect the amazing abilities our bodies seem to posses, whether it is:

• respiration
• circulation
• body temperature regulation
• reproduction
• (insert one of the many amazing qualities here)

No matter your religion, your social status, your race, or sex; you have an innate intelligence within you. This innate intelligence drives processes that keep you thriving in a changing environment.

Respect this wisdom by assuming your body knows more than you do!

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5-steps for a fever

We can all agree:  It is important that your doctor follows their own recommendations. Meaning, as a patient, I would like to know that my doctor is giving me the same recommendations that they would give their mother, daughter or best friend. I demand that there should be no discrimination in care between patient and family. If this behavior is not standard with an individual doctor, it would be a big contradiction that would, for myself, build immediate lack of trust. We can also agree that lack of trust with you doctor is not healthy for either party.

In that light, I wanted to share how we treat fever in our household. We don’t see a fever as a bad thing, and there is good reason for this. For instance, this research presented in 2000 (18 years ago): 

There are numerous sources that point to a fever as the bodies’ natural reaction to infection. It would make sense then, that a fever should run it’s course in order for that infection to be dealt with properly by the individual’s immune system.

If the fever is halted or lowered, whether that be with medicine, ice baths, or other measure, the immune system is crippled in it’s efforts to properly respond. In the past we have dug deeper into adaptation (the response to your environment). In essence, artificially lowering fever would alter adaptation negatively. That does not mean you should raise a fever! We properly support the body in it’s attempt to heal.

So, back to my recommendations for my family. We simply:

1- Monitor the fever. Too long, at too high of a temperature is not good adaptation, or good immune response. At this point, medical intervention may be necessary. What is too long? That depends on the individual. Usually a fever doesn’t stay high, however. Checking it every 30 minutes, you should see a temperature swing.

2- Get checked for subluxation. Subluxations interfere with proper adaptation. If the body is not adapting, you may need a chiropractor to help.

3- Foods: Don’t force your body to eat anything. Listen to the subtle clues. If you are hungry, eat. If you eat, stay away from junk! No sugar, preservatives, etc.

4- Hydrate: Drink plenty of water.

5- Rest. Get plenty of rest. Recovery hangs it’s hat on proper down-time.

 

Signs of Devolution

Technology has advanced to heights not imaginable by our grandparents. Advances have been not only significant, but also seem to happen weekly. In fact, when a new technology emerges, we are seldom surprised by how it’s remarkable technology. For instance, wireless charging of batteries. Personally, this is a technology I cannot wrap my head around: Why does it not shock me? LOL

I am not interested in trading in my smartphone for a paper calendar, binder for notes, quarters in my pocket for the public phone, or type writer! However, the affect this lifestyle change has had on our health is becoming more prevalent every day. In fact, it has been labeled as epidemic in nature. One of the signs of this condition is known as Forward Head Posture (FHP), or simply “loss of cervical curve”.

• Curves in the spine are designed to protect the nervous system, while allowing movement. FHP has been shown to result in the following:
  intestinal problems
• hemorrhoids
• varicose veins
• osteoporosis
• hip and foot deformities
• poor health
• decreased quality of life
• shortened life span

*Journal of the American Medical Association

Keep your head up, exercise in natural positions, and get your spine checked for FHP.

Chiropractors can help you get and keep your spine healthy so that the most important organ in your body is properly protected: the brain and nervous system.

 

The beginnings of Chiropractic

As an individual that respects the roots of any entity, in this case, Chiropractic, I enjoy learning the beginnings. In this case, there was no chiropractic profession, prior to 1895. People had one choice when it came to their health:

ALLOPATHY: the treatment of disease by conventional means, i.e., with drugs having opposite effects to the symptoms.

It all began for chiropractic with the first specific adjustment to the spine on a man named Harvey Lillard. According to DD Palmer, later named the developer of the Chiropractic profession:

“Harvey Lillard, a janitor, in the Ryan Block, where I had my office, had been so deaf for 17 years that he could not hear the racket of a wagon on the street or the ticking of a watch. I made inquiry as to the cause of his deafness and was informed that when he was exerting himself in a cramped, stooping position, he felt something give way in his back and immediately became deaf. An examination showed a vertebra racked from its normal position. I reasoned that if that vertebra was replaced, the man’s hearing should be restored. With this object in view, a halfhour’s talk persuaded Mr. Lillard to allow me to replace it. I racked it into position by using the spinous process as a lever and soon the man could hear as before. There was nothing ‘accidental’ about this, as it was accomplished with an object in view, and the result expected was obtained. There was nothing ‘crude’ about this adjustment; it was specific, so much so that no Chiropractor has equaled it.”

According to Harvey Lillard, after 2 visits:

I can hear the rackets on the streets.

So there it began…and I am sure Dr. Palmer realized at this moment he was excited for finding this new health discovery. Likely, I would assume he was also a bit fearful, as the Medical profession “owned” the human body, and he had just infringed on this claim.

Regardless, years later here I sit, passing on information to the world with the click of a button, where he had to tell his story millions of times to small amount of people at a time!

Until next time, keep healthy!

Procrastination

The idea of getting a beach worthy body can be compared to waiting to retire to care about your health. By the time June hits, it is a little late to cut the 10 pm trips to the fridge!

Same can be said of waiting to get healthy. Procrastination. We all procrastinate, some more than others. However, there are some things that one should never procrastinate:

A smoke alarm sounding off in your home.

The shrill of your young child in another room

A check engine light on your dash.

Passing up a Buc-ees when you have to pee.

Making healthy choices for yourself.

Whether you realize it or not, your health is your most valuable asset. We, unfortunately, do not always make decisions for our health in this manner, however it does not change the fact that you only get one body…treat it well.