New Year | New You
As the new year dawns we are once again faced with new year resolutions. Do we make them, keep them, or just forget about them? These resolutions are made to improve ourselves and hopefully the quality of our lives. How many times do resolutions fall by the wayside soon after they are made? This year we would like to challenge ourselves. Instead of making resolutions that are difficult to keep, we should pick one area of our life we want to improve and do it well. Call it a lifestyle improvement instead of resolution. This is for us!
We would suggest making chiropractic a healthy habit to keep all year long. Chiropractic brings sanity to health! Chiropractic takes your most important asset, your health, and gives you a perspective to better experience this thing called health and to maximize your experience while on earth.
Unfortunately we can’t base our health on how well we feel. What is evidence that supports chiropractic? A study done in Scotland in 2001 by Francis Smith MD checking for spinal stenosis (When combined with the word spinal, stenosis defines a narrowing of the bone channel occupied by the spinal nerves or the spinal cord) The study showed that out of 154 – 10 year olds who had MRIs to evaluate for stenosis, 9 % already had asymptomatic (absence of symptoms) disc disease. This means that subluxations (spinal misalignment) had been there for a long time, possibly since experiencing a traumatic birth. This disc disease in these 10 year olds could have been prevented with a gentle adjustment shortly after birth and periodically (every 6 months on average) throughout the children’s life. Dr. Smith’s study went on to show that 37% of 20 year olds also had disc disease that was asymptomatic. All ages can suffer from headaches, ear infections, abnormal bowel routines, allergies etc. due to spinal misalignment. This is why we encourage children and adults have regular chiropractic check ups to at best avoid or hopefully alleviate these ailments. Newborns should be checked and evaluated shortly after birth so any misalignment can be found and corrected. Babies who are adjusted have better sleep and bowel function. Adults who are adjusted regularly enjoy many benefits including better sleep routines, improved immunity and an overall feeling of well being
In 1918 BJ Palmer developed chiropractic and knew it could change the world. In 1918 there was the Spanish flu epidemic where many, many died. 1 in 10 of the worlds population died, most in the first 6 weeks of the epidemic. Roughly 20,000,000 people died world wide, 500,000 being Americans. Historical medical records show that in Davenport Iowa where chiropractic was founded at the same time in the same city 50 medical doctors treated 4,950 patients and 274 died. While 150 chiropractors and chiropractic students gave spinal adjustive care to 1,635 people and there was only 1 death. They concluded that patients had 140% chance of survival is they sought chiropractic treatment. One could argue and say that the reason there was such a high death rate with those treated by medical methods was because those patients were worse off. Oklahoma City solidified the findings when 136 patients diagnosed with the Spanish flu were told they were hopeless cases and should go home and get their affairs in order because death was imminent. 36 of them sought chiropractic care and 32 of them lived. Overall there were 950 deaths out of every 10,000 people who sought medical treatment verses 25 deaths out of every 10,000 people who received chiropractic care. This put chiropractic on the map. A quote from BJ Palmer “you have more faith in a spoonful of medicine than the Power that animates the living world”.
It is important to understand the chiropractic philosophy. The key to chiropractic is not to just treat symptoms, which is why many seek chiropractic care. The key to chiropractic is to prevent ailments by keeping the spine in correct alignment which allows correct movement of the bones and the nerves to function uninhibited. Seeing a chiropractor only when you have back or neck pain is like buying an IPhone just for the calculator.
Whatever your New Year resolution is we want to be part of your wellness plan for 2018. We will do our part by recommending when future appointments should be set and if not booked at the time of your last appointment we will call you when it is near the time doctor has recommended you return for your adjustment. We will also send postcards telling you it is time if we are unable to reach you by phone. Please call us at your earliest convenience to schedule your appointment when we leave you a message or when you receive a postcard. We are here to help and hope you have the best 2018!
