"If you don't get this right, you'll never get where you need to be."

A patient of mine was recently relaying to me how he explains upper cervical care to people that he knows.  The above paraphrased quote stuck out in my mind from that conversation because it really gets to the core of what Upper Cervical Healthcare is all about.  He was referring to the brainstem and making sure that it was free and clear of any interference (i.e. a misalignment of the anatomy that surrounds it) that could keep it from performing its absolutely vital role in your body.  When you strip away the whole host of health conditions that have been named in our society, from M.S. to migraines to seizures to Ulcerative Colitis to fibromyalgia to disc degeneration, the undeniable fact of the matter is that if your brainstem is in any way disrupted in its ability to route the communication from point A (the brain) to point B-Z (all the various parts of the body)...then you won't be able to achieve HEALTH. 

What my patient pointed out should be a reminder to everyone of the importance of Upper Cervical Care because of its focus on the area of the body that either directly or indirectly controls all the other parts - not just for people that have already developed conditions, but also for those that haven't yet.  However, I also want his statement to serve as another kind of reminder.  Everyone, be it doctor or patient, too frequently looks for the one, cure all method of obtaining and maintaining health.  Upper Cervical doctors and their patients are as guilty of that as anyone else.  So, I want you to remember that Upper Cervical Care is not an all encompassing model to achieving health.  It is a significant piece of the puzzle...but it's not the entire puzzle.  Which leads me into topic number 2...

The Evolution of the Revolution

Some might say that, slowly but surely, the United States is moving toward a health care revolution.  Never has the currently established system been so flawed and ineffective and never have alternative means to obtaining health been so plentiful.  You've got a lot of new options out there, in this day and age.  Health has become this generation's version of the industrial revolution, where everyone was trying to invent the gadget that would modernize society in a way never thought possible (i.e. automobiles, airplanes, light bulbs, telephones, televisions, etc.).  Take a look at a natural health magazine and you'll read about dozens of new concepts every month.  The established system knows that alternatives are becoming more popular, so they are attempting to capitalize on hot button keywords like "Wellness" and "Prevention" to get people making new mental associations for medications. 

Health, though, is not like coming up with a new model for a better, more efficiently run car or electronic device.  The idea of taking something outside the body and putting it into the body is the premise upon which the majority of the latest and greatest means to achieving health are based...and I'll make a strong argument that it is THAT way of thinking that has helped put us into the mess we are in when it comes to healthcare in our country.  The President's health care reform ideas that we may one day see implemented are noble in their attempts to make change; I've even had people sending me documents and news briefs that show chiropractic coverage improving tremendously through the proposed reform.  But it isn't about chiropractors and alternative health providers getting better coverage to get paid more money...it's about a need for a fundamental shift.  It's about the EVOLUTION of the healthcare revolution. 

The next step in moving forward with health care is taking it outside the symptom-based model and into a realm that is virtually unheard of in this day and age...at least here in the States...to a place where it's not all about symptoms, but a more realistic, logical view that involves the things that it actually takes to be healthy.  With that, I'll leave you with another quote from a patient of mine...

"People call what I tell them about nutrition and getting their bodies working the right way as the good Lord intended 'hocus pocus.'  Well, these are people that live and die by taking their poison (medications) 3 times a day.  THAT's the hocus pocus.  I just don't get it.  Doing the things I'm suggesting kills nobody per year, while that nonsense they take kills over 300 thousand people a year...yet, I'm the one talking hocus pocus?"

Thinking good things for you, as always...

Dr. Chad