You have been raised in a medically oriented and controlled society where you have been carefully programmed with medical ideas. Whatever value you place on these ideas, you must recognize that Chiropractic is different. Chiropractic is not a therapy to treat symptoms or diseases as medicine and all other related therapies are.
Please read the following explanation of my practice. It will save my time and your money once you understand my practice. I do not accept all people as practice members. Those I do accept must be able to display an understanding of what I do, why I do it and what I expect from them. I will be asking questions about this. This explanation will answer those questions.
AN EXPLANATION OF MY PRACTICE
When a new person comes to my office they always come in with certain pre-conceived notions of Chiropractic and what they want me to do for them. I have found no new person who comes here understanding what I do, why I do it and what should happen as a result of that. What I do is different, therefore this explanation is necessary.
I practice Chiropractic, and only Chiropractic. I do not diagnose or treat your symptoms or diseases regardless of what they might be, simply because that is not necessary with real Chiropractic. Ordinary doctors including many who are licensed to practice Chiropractic attempt to treat your symptoms. In this Chiropractic office I treat a major CAUSE of your inability to be your best on all levels, which could also be cause of your symptoms.
Real Chiropractic care involves correcting a condition called “dysponesis” (which means aberrant energy) caused by neurothlipsis (that’s doctor talk for pressure upon or irritation of nerves) which is caused by vertebral subluxations (doctor talk for spinal bones that are stuck very slightly out of their proper position) and so impinging upon, rubbing against or otherwise causing malfunction of the spinal cord or nerves.
And since the nerves run your body and cause everything that you do, including healing, feeling pain, seeing, hearing, heart function, digesting your food, fighting disease, moving your arm, making love, thinking, producing hormones, etc., malfunction of the nerves must cause malfunction of some part of the body. You bring that malfunctioning body to me and by correcting the vertebral subluxations, and keeping them corrected over a long enough period of time for your body to heal, I expect you to improve whatever you came here to improve, no matter what that is. Even if your symptoms do not alleviate because your system has been subluxated/damaged for too long, chiropractic adjustments will help slow down the deterioration that would inevitably occur (and is occurring), thus improving your life immeasurably.
Healing is actually the act of repairing a damaged body. Your own body and only your body is in charge of that. It does that by replacing damaged body cells with new strong, healthy cells just like it built you to start with. No doctor, including me can do that for you. No doctor ever truly cured anything even so simple as a cut finger. The patient’s body and the God given power you were born with is the only healer there is. It determines how fast you heal, or whether you heal completely, partially or not at all. CHIROPRACTIC HELPS THE BODY TO HEAL BY GETTING NERVE INTERFERENCE THAT REDUCES YOUR BODY’S ABILITY TO HEAL, OUT OF THE WAY. Scientific studies have shown that, on average, proper Chiropractic care results in people healing in about ½ the time that it takes to heal without Chiropractic care, and that conditions thought to be incurable frequently heal with Chiropractic care.
WHAT I DO
To understand why and how I do what I do, it helps to have an understanding of what the word “HEALTH” means. I think that you will agree that you have a better chance of getting the results that you are looking for if I can help make you healthier.
Because our society is medically oriented by the many medical programs, movies, commercials, magazines and texts you have read, sponsored by the multi-billion dollar drug cartels, the chances are that your view of health is colored by the medical view. Since medicine looks at all things from the standpoint of medicine/drugs/chemicals, and since chemicals can only change symptoms, the predominant health view from that perspective is symptoms and the changing of them. Most of those changes involve suppressing symptoms, so most people think that health is a condition where you have few, if any symptoms. For example when I ask people how they define the word “Health”, most will say that they think of health as not being sick, not having to take medicine, feeling “good”, having plenty of energy, being able to do whatever they want, and so on.
Interestingly the medical definition of health used by the World Health Organization is : “Health is a condition of total physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” It doesn’t say anything about feeling good or suppressing symptoms.
Actually when you look in dictionaries you will get a number of definitions for “HEALTH”. The one I like best, that I feel best defines health is, “HEALTH IS A CONDITION OF WHOLENESS, IN WHICH ALL PARTS OF THE BODY ARE FUNCTIONING PROPERLY ALL THE TIME.” Health is not about how you feel or whether you display symptoms, but whether your body is doing what nature intended it to do under the circumstances in which it finds itself.
The body has one interest…TO STAY ALIVE. Under that definition someone might be the “sickest” person in the room, and yet the healthiest. For example: Suppose that you and several of your friends went for lunch at a Chinese restaurant and had Chow mein. But the food was spoiled and you actually were served a nice serving of food poisoning. On the drive home, one of you gets sick, nauseous, develops a headache. You stop the car and the minute they get the door open they vomit. At this point a policeman pulls up, to find out what is wrong, sees the mess and asks, “Which of you is unhealthy?” Who would you point to? If you would point to the one who is throwing up, why would you? You have all been poisoned. One person is getting rid of that poison. Of you all, who is most likely to live longer?
There is probably no situation more miserable than the symptoms I have described, and certainly they are sick, they have after all been poisoned. But isn’t their body doing its job properly? First they get nauseous to warn that they are going to have to vomit, (that way they won’t mess up the car), then they throw up at the first opportunity getting rid of the poison as quickly as possible. They get a headache so they will sit still or lie down and let the body concentrate on keeping them alive rather than wasting important energy moving around and spreading that poison through their blood stream. That is a smart and healthy body, don’t you think? I could give you many other examples but I think you probably get the idea.
IF HEALTH IS A CONDITION IN WHICH THE BODY FUNCTIONS PROPERLY, WHAT MAKES THE BODY FUNCTION?
To better understand that I’m going to ask you to move your left pointer finger. Really, as you read this, please move your finger….OK, now how did you do that? How did you make your finger function?
It started with a thought in your mind that caused your brain to send impulses down nerves which start in the brain and into the spinal cord, run down the spinal cord which is housed inside the bones of the spine, to an opening between those bones which allows the nerve to come out of the spine and run down through your shoulder, down the arm to the muscles in your forearm and activate those muscles to move the finger. Other nerves which have their start in the finger send nerve impulses back along the same course of nerves to the brain, to tell the brain what is happening at the finger and so allow the brain to control the amount and strength and speed of the finger movement. Now if something would interfere with those nerves, so that the nerve impulses either didn’t get through to or from the finger, or garbled the messages those impulses were carrying, your finger wouldn’t work right, would it?
Have you ever sat with your legs crossed so that you interfere with the impulses going from your foot to the brain and your foot “goes to sleep”? That is an example of nerve interference which is caused by pressure from the weight of your leg pressing against the tissue surrounding the nerve from the foot that causes a malfunction of the body. How would you correct that nerve interference and help the body to function right again? Would you take medicine for it? Get acupuncture treatments or massage? Take vitamins or herbs? None of that would work would it? What you have to do is uncross the legs, getting the pressure off the nerve, and give enough time for the nerve to heal itself back to normal. Then the foot will “wake up”. Too simple, isn’t it?
Well that is essentially what I do in my office. I don’t try to change your symptoms, because symptoms are just signs that something is going on. Just suppressing them artificially only confuses you and your body. It is similar to driving your car with the wires leading to your dashboard instruments being disconnected so you have no idea of what is going on in the car, how fast you are going, whether the engine has enough oil pressure or is heating up, how much gas is in the tank, etc. I don’t think you would think that was a smart way to run your car, and I don’t think it is a smart way to run your body. For legal purposes, I will interject that I DO NOT WANT YOU TO TAKE OR NOT TAKE DRUGS GIVEN YOU BY A DRUG DOCTOR. That is up to you and him. It is not my field, I do not push drugs.
What I do is test and check to find if you have evidence of nerve interference. Once I have determined that you do have nerve interference I can do something about, and what pattern it is in, I then know that the next step is to adjust you to help the body alleviate that interference.
WHAT I DO ON EACH OFFICE VISIT…
Each visit I will be examining and evaluating your nervous system for interference. I will be doing special tests, many of which you have never had done by any doctor before, designed to determine the location and pattern of nerve interference and how to best go about correcting it. This will involve many tests, including testing that will involve trial corrections involving gentle contacts, not painful, using less than a pound of force. These contacts will be made in an effort to release nerve interference, by moving vertebrae or skull plates individually with light pressure as well as moving the spine as a whole using contacts in the buttock area that, usually taken on the bones you sit on. This will be followed by similar procedures are called “adjustments”, and are done only by specially trained Chiropractors. You may be surprised that the adjustments are very relaxing, (patients sometimes fall asleep as I work on them) and you will usually see improvement in your health, the way your body works and moves better and becomes stronger with each adjustment I give you.
On each visit thereafter you will be briefly examined to determine the pattern and corrective procedure to be used that visit, and then you will be adjusted, and then I will re-check those findings that were evident on that day’s exam. These visits are usually about 2-4 minutes long, so you should be able to be in and out of the office without interfering with your day too much.
HOW TO USE CHIROPRACTIC CORRECTLY:
To use Chiropractic correctly you need to think of it just like you would if you were going to a gym to build yourself up. You need to work out a program of visits. Then you need to work out properly and regularly for a long enough period to build up your body. If you only go a few times, or cheat by missing visits, or don’t do the full workout program on each visit you are not going to accomplish much. But if you do things regularly and properly for a long enough period of time, you will build muscle.
Now, if you stopped going to the gym, what would happen to your body? It would gradually go back to the horrible condition that it was in to start with.
Chiropractic is the same. If you come as you are supposed to, you will improve your health. Of course you don’t have to follow the outlined program. I have had people come who quit coming as soon as they “feel better”, and you can certainly do that. That is not the smart way to handle your Chiropractic care but that is up to you.
Sometimes people, not understanding just how complex and involved their condition is, and wanting “just to get rid of the pain”, will expect to have me touch them and instantly things will be healed. That is not only unrealistic, but just plain impossible. If you were to get a little cut on your finger, could you put a bandage on it and it would be instantly healed? Of course not; healing is the body replacing billions of sick, dying and dead cells that make up the injured tissue. That takes as long as it takes, and is up to your body, not any doctor regarding how well and long it takes. That is why I point out to people that no doctor, including me ever healed or “cured” anything for anybody, ever. The body does the healing through the power God gave you.
There are people who get symptom relief with the very first visit, but obviously they were not instantly healed. Thank goodness that doesn’t happen more than 1 time in 10. Firstly that gives them the impression that their problem is a “taint nothin” problem and that all they need to do is see me and I will instantly “get ‘em well”. The next time they come in and they don’t get that instant symptom relief they are disappointed or think I’ve done something wrong. More importantly if they get instant relief, that reinforces the idea that they are now “OK”, and so they can do all those things that got them in trouble to start with, so they damage themselves and blame Chiropractic for not working. They quit care and wander from doctor to doctor and never get the results they would have gotten if they had gone through the proper healing process.
The point I am trying to make is that chiropractic is not just about symptom relief, it is about health function and more. EVERYTHING depends upon good nerve supply: Personal balance, moods, how well you relate to your family, how well you relate to your neighbors, how well you drive a car, how well you drive a golf ball… Every single factor of life suffers when there’s a subluxation, so getting adjusted regularly is important, regardless of whether you have symptoms or not, or if these symptoms go away or do not. My goal is not symptom relief, but for you to have a nervous system that is free of interference so that you can function at the highest level possible for YOU.
COSTS and INSURANCE
Cost of care and how that will be paid is also very important. When you go to a chiropractor, it is their profession, and you do have to pay a fee. The chiropractor has given up years to study their subject, paying many thousands to acquire that education as well as continuing education, spent more thousands for their equipment and facilities, as well as day to day expenses of their practice. In my office I charge a fee which is determined by the time I have to spend with a person, my skill in accomplishing something that very few other doctors can, my overhead and taxes, and then leaving enough profit to make it worthwhile to stay in business. That being said, my standard office visit fees are extremely affordable, and if you make the smart choice of becoming part of my membership practice, they are exponentially more so. I will discuss fees with you on your initial visit and explain the options before any services are rendered.
If you wish me to bill an insurance company you must understand that insurance is a contract between you and the insurance company, and that I have no part in it. I have no idea what your insurance will pay and what they will elect not to pay. I cannot accept insurance assignment and therefore ask you to pay at time of service. I will help you to bill your insurance by giving you a receipt so that you can get whatever they will pay. If you take advantage of my membership program, insurance will not cover this, but be please be assured that your investment will end up being less per visit than what most co-pays are.
WITH TODAY’S HIGH “HEALTH CARE” COSTS, CHIROPRACTIC DOESN’T COST. IT PAYS
Your Care in this office:
Chiropractic is based upon the scientific discovery that the brain and nerve system control all the other systems and parts of the body. Understand how important this is: Everything your body does, EVERYTHING, is caused to happen and controlled by your brain through your nerve system. Seeing, hearing, speaking, thinking, remembering, producing hormones, healing wounds, fighting disease, digesting food, utilizing the molecules of that food, moving an arm, making love, causing your heart and circulatory function and anything else you can think of are all the result of the function of your brain and nerves. 60% of the oxygen you breathe in is used by your brain and nerves as well as 60% of the food you eat. Your nerve system (composed of your brain, spinal cord and nerves) is the KING SYSTEM, the master control of your body. And as long as it works properly, YOU work properly.
HEALTH
Most people think that you are healthy if you feel good, have plenty of energy, and can do anything you want, so they are easily talked into taking drugs, which they would normally never touch, (and would never let their 16 year old touch) if they are told that the “medicine” will make them feel better, have plenty of energy, etc. (I’ve always wondered, if that drug is unsafe to take when you are pregnant, what makes it safe when you are not?) But if you think about it, HEALTH is really based on your body WORKING PROPERLY! How could a properly functioning body develop diabetes, get cancer, have a heart attack, develop menstrual cramps, etc? We are told many excuses for these things happening to us, but if the body works the way it is supposed to you have HEALTH, and when it doesn’t you have DISEASE. Think about it.
If you were to be in an accident where it was possible that your spine was injured, the EMT first-aid people would strap you to a brace board for fear that in moving you that you might become paralyzed, or even die. Chiropractors discovered that bones of the spine, which should protect the spinal cord and nerves, can be misaligned in such a way by stress (physical stress-accidents, slips, falls, poor posture, chemical stress-drugs, foods, drink, and emotional stress-relationships, work, life) that they can press against, impinge, or rub the spinal cord and nerves. This causes malfunction of those nerves and whatever parts of the body they serve resulting in dis-ease and disease. The Chiropractor examines, with his special methods to find where these interferences (called SUBLUXATIONS) are, what pattern they are in and then corrects them as well as it is possible at that time.
In this office I use very gentle fingertip contacts, light pressure, an instrument known as an Integrator (which sends a low-force, high-speed impulse at 1/10,000 of a second), and what most people equate to a stretch (which is actually a very specific movement to help re-align the 22 movable bones of your skull) to activate the nerves directly or the muscles of the spine to pull the vertebrae off the nerves they are impinging, to release the interference. The most common fingertip contact will be made at the ends of the spine at the neck, or buttock regions, where leverage allows the best full spine adjustments to be given. The contacts are very comfortable; in fact sometimes people fall asleep as we work on them.
Your care will involve gentle spinal adjustments, done often enough so that your body will develop a forward momentum in correction, over a long enough period to achieve maximum improvement of the vertebral subluxations which I am assisting your body in removing. I treat everyone in my practice like family, and as I get adjusted weekly, adjust my family weekly, that is what I recommend for everyone. Just like brushing and flossing your teeth, an adjustment is like brushing and flossing your nervous system. When you’ve decided you’ve brushed long enough and no longer have the need, then you can also stop getting weekly adjustments!
I have been in practice for almost 20 years now and have learned, used and experimented with many, many techniques ranging for higher forced ‘cracking’ and ‘popping’ to low force techniques that involve a light touch only. I have found the ones that are gentler and honoring to the body are the ones that work best for people, so those are the ones I use in my office.
On a final note, every day I not only pray for all of the people who come to me, but I also pray to God that He only send me people who I can help through Him. That being said, I know that everyone who walks through my door is someone who can benefit from regular chiropractic adjustments.