This is my latest article published in the Citizen: May 17, 2011.I had a wonderful time speaking to a group of high school seniors recently. It was very refreshing because they didn’t know anything about chiropractic so I didn’t hear the usual conversations that often come up regarding chiropractic.
When I talk to groups of adults I hear the typical questions about someone’s back pain even if it is not the topic of my talk. People seem to be programmed to discuss their spinal surgeries, carpel tunnel syndrome and whiplash when they meet up with a chiropractor.
While I really feel for people who are struggling with long standing pain, I am trying to share a different message about health. People with poor health are looking for reassurance that it is not all in their heads. I truly believe it is not all their heads, but they need to turn their heads in a new direction.
The high school students I spoke to had a fresh outlook regarding health maintenance. The first thing I said to them was, “All disease is the same, so don’t get bogged down in the details.” I explained why it isn’t that complicated and we can avoid feeling anxious over every breaking news story about a disease.
This gets people’s attention because I am asking people to rethink healing. I had to give up old ideas myself; otherwise my own health would have been a personal struggle. I grew up thinking “things happen to you,” but, now I know why. Patterns are memorized by the nervous system as we experience events and behaviors. The same way we learn how to ride a bike is the same way the nervous system reinforces strength or weakness in the body.
Endocrinologist, Hans Selye, made stress a household word so we could understand how repeated exposures of unhealthy events deplete the body of its survival reserves. Scientists use the term “neuroplasticity” to describe how experiences can positively or negatively change the brain.
Because the spinal cord is an extension of the brain, chiropractic can provide the fastest way to reset nervous system patterns like rebooting a computer. This has been shown in experiments using EEG brain scans before and after chiropractic adjustments. Immediately after adjustments, EEG readings showed a higher state of relaxation, health, and healing.
All disease is the same because the stress response of the nervous system is always the same as it attempts to protect the body. Disease symptoms will present differently from person to person depending on each person’s state of health and nervous system patterns.
During my talk I pointed out the various times in my life when injuries and life style choices repatterned my nervous system. Looking back I realized these events could have spiraled into a debilitating condition had I not used my chiropractic knowledge to make changes.
I wish the graduating seniors much success and good health. They get to start young with this information but anyone can take a different look at their health and use chiropractic to change their healing patterns.
