Posts Tagged ‘chiropractic’

Real Body Parts

October 17, 2014

robotWhen I was a teenager, I dislocated my patella (kneecap). It didn’t heal well. Later I had surgery on it (big mistake in this case!). That healed even worse, which led to more surgery. Each time, it had a harder time healing than the time before. Finally, we decided to leave well enough alone. Later in life, my knee degenerated, not from the initial injury but from the surgeries. My patella was scraping on my tibia. I reasoned that orthopedic surgery has come a long way in the last 30 years. Surely they know what they’re doing by now (at least better, which they do to a certain extent). So I agreed to a partial knee replacement. They basically replaced part of my patella and part of my tibia, the parts that rub together, with metal pieces lined with plastic. That was six years ago. Now my knee is starting to squeak like an old door hinge that needs WD-40. Something is breaking down or scar tissue is getting in the joint. They can’t tell without doing some arthroscopic surgery.

Why am I relating this sad tale? I’m not looking for sympathy, but there are a couple of points I want to make. First, this whole fiasco with my knee is what led me to becoming a chiropractic physician. At one point, I was planning to become a medical doctor. But there was something about medicine’s general philosophy that was bothering me, which I couldn’t quite put into words. So I was looking around at alternatives. I looked into chiropractic and became a patient. I found that there were some issues in my low back, right where the nerves go to my knees. Part of the problem is a malformation, which cannot be fixed. So it wasn’t that I had found the answer to solve all my knee problems, but what it did was to open my eyes. I finally realized what was bothering me about the approach that had been applied to my knee problems. No one had ever even asked the question of WHY my knee wasn’t healing right in the first place! No one had looked for an underlying cause. Since there was a problem interfering with my knee’s ability to heal, how can any rational person expect it to heal better with repeated surgeries??? So I became a chiropractor and have devoted my life to looking for underlying reasons for health problems. It’s also the reason I have taken on other disciplines as well, such as the Body Code and the Emotion Code.

The other point I wanted to make is about artificial body parts. As mankind started developing functional artificial body parts, such as joints, hearts, etc. and simultaneously starting to develop basic robots, imagination took flight and we started dreaming of all kinds of superhuman body parts. When I was young, I watched the TV show “The Six-Million Dollar Man”, then later “The Bionic Woman”. Both of these shows portrayed people who had greatly superior abilities due to their artificial body parts. They were faster, stronger and almost invincible. In the Robin Williams movie, “Bicentennial Man”, he plays a robot that is virtually immortal. They had to change him just to make it so he could die.

The reality is that man has not been able to come close to what God has created. It really bothers me when people talk about the human body like it’s just barely functional. So just about anything modern medicine can do to it will surely help. Holistic health practitioners recognize that the body is an absolutely wonderful thing. Our primary goal is to remove interference and let the body function as it was intended. With my knee and its artificial parts, we are unable to use those natural methods to correct complications that I’m having with the partial knee replacement. In fact, my orthopedic surgeon told me to not even exercise it since that will cause it to break down even faster. With our God-given body parts, the body is equipped to handle natural stresses on the tissues. It’s in a constant state of repair and replacement.

So don’t be in a hurry to allow technology to replace what God has given you. There are certainly times when there is no other way, when the body’s natural processes have become completely overcome and technology is the only answer. But whenever possible, seek out natural forms of healing that work with the body rather than trying to replace the body’s functions or anatomy.

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Chiropractic, Energy medicine | Leave a Comment »

Thinking Like A Winner

April 5, 2014

Mental PowerSuccess, in any area of your life, is 90% mental/emotional and 10% physical action. That’s my experience at least. In a football game, I think that the pep talk beforehand can be as important as the practices and scrimmages. The game must first be won in the head before it can be won on the field. Can you imagine a boxer being interviewed before a big bout saying, “I really think I’m going to get creamed but by golly, I’m going to go in and do my best”? I had a young rugby player in my office the other day who was saying that they were going up against a team that they had no real chance of beating. I told him that if he thought that way, they’ve already lost the game. I loved to watch the skiers in the winter Olympics before making their run. You’d see them going through the course perfectly in their head. They weren’t thinking about falling or missing turns. They were seeing themselves doing the best run of their life. In this instance, I’m referring to the champions. Those who gave into fear and doubt didn’t do so well.

It’s much easier to see these examples in the sports world. But most of us aren’t professional athletes. Our games are much more subtle and complex. The principles can be applied in a very similar manner however. Occasionally, we’re surprised by outcomes. We lose when we think we’re going to win, or we just happen to win when we were sure we would lose. For the most part though, things turn out pretty close to what we expect. If we don’t win the game first in our own mind, then it’s far less likely that we’ll win in real life.

How do you get to that point? Maybe you’re good at visualizing successful outcomes. However, if you’re like many people who have experienced plenty of failure, especially in a certain area of your life that you’re trying to turn around (finances, relationships, health, etc.), clearly picturing yourself winning where you have previously failed can be extremely difficult. In many cases, it’s very difficult to do it without help. There are a number of techniques that professionals use to help you change your mindset, such as EFT (tapping), Emotion Code, RPT (reference point therapy), EVOX, hypnosis, etc.

There are also coaches that can help you. In my profession as a chiropractor, I’ve worked with a number of practice management consultants. The problem is that with some people who are really successful in their profession, they don’t really have a clear understanding of how they got there. It may have come very naturally to them and so they never had to consciously work to achieve success. I don’t mean that they didn’t work hard to get where they are. Most of them did. But then they get the idea that if they can teach others to walk like them, talk like them, and act like them, other people should have no trouble achieving the same level of success that they did. The problem with that is that, as I pointed out earlier, success is 90% mental/emotional. So even if you are able to learn to walk and talk and act like the people you admire, chances are you will not achieve the type of success that they have until you learn to THINK like they do. Generally speaking, you don’t get to where you can think like a winner by winning. Instead it’s the other way around. You become a winner because you learn to think like a winner. There are many self-help books out there that can help you with this. I especially like the ones by Leslie Householder. It’s also very helpful to rid yourself of some of your old emotional baggage by using one or more of the techniques mentioned in the last paragraph.

Put yourself in a vibration to receive success (the good things that you want to attain or achieve in your life that will help to bring you joy). Focus on your goals, not on your trials. Remove as many roadblocks as possible. Learn from those who have attained success, especially those who struggled to get to that point. Apply these principles to every area of your life, including your physical, mental and emotional health. Live your life with joy.

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Chiropractic, Energy medicine | Leave a Comment »

The Power of Intention

February 7, 2014

The Power of IntentionWhen my children were young and starting to do chores around the house, we struggled with getting them to do a good job at their tasks. They would go through the motions of washing the dishes, but the dishes didn’t really get clean. They would vacuum the carpet, but not really care if the vacuum was clogged up and not picking anything up. As I think back on it now, they were doing exactly what they thought they were supposed to be doing. Their purpose was to wash the dishes or vacuum the carpet or whatever. Once they went through those motions, their purpose was accomplished and it was time to play.

How often in our lives are we just “going through the motions”? Of course, I didn’t just want my children to go through the motions of doing their chores. I wanted the dishes clean, the carpet clean, etc. That’s why I assigned them those tasks. But it took me a while to get them to understand that concept. In my own life, there have been times when I was just going through the motions, even though I didn’t always realize it. When I was young, I was taught (or so I understood) that if you be good and work hard, you’ll be rewarded with success. Later, I found that doesn’t always work. There were times when I was working like crazy and being a good boy and saying my prayers and so forth, but still I couldn’t get ahead. I realized that there was more to it. So I started listening to CD’s and reading books by people who were experts on how to get ahead in life. Many of them made it sound so easy. I tried implementing their suggestions, but still my progress was very slow and I would finally give up in frustration. I just wasn’t getting it.

Over the past few years, things have been turning around for me. I’ve picked up again on motivational speakers and authors and I think I’m finally starting to “get it”. It has a lot to do with faith. However, I prefer the word “intention”. I see intention as the purpose behind why you do what you do. Having a strong intention doesn’t guarantee success, but it makes it a whole lot more likely and will take you further than having a weak (or no) intention. Have you ever seen a football team come out onto the field where it just didn’t seem like they were there with the intention to win the game? It can be very frustrating when you’re the fan rooting for them to win. In any endeavor, if you don’t have a strong intention to win, the chances of winning are greatly diminished. Having an intention to “do your best” or “not lose” is NOT the same as fully intending to win.

In writing about faith in the past, I’ve referred to one of my favorite examples in the New Testament where the woman was cured of an issue of blood simply by touching the hem of the Savior’s clothes. Jesus felt virtue coming out of him, which in modern terms of energy work, we could say that he felt an energy shift. When he found the woman and determined what had happened, he told her that her faith had made her whole (healthy). I really don’t think Jesus was telling a little white lie to show humility. I believe he always told the truth. So it was the faith of this woman and not really an act on his part. Imagine if a friend of this woman told her to go and touch Jesus’ clothes and she would be healed, but she reacted with an attitude of, “OK, I’ll do it, but I don’t think it will work”. Do you think that she would have been healed? In this case, I would definitely say no.

In the healthcare work that I do, I’ve often wondered why two doctors would do apparently the same thing, but get very different results. There are many variables, such as the skill of the doctor, the condition of the patient, etc. However, I think there’s more to it. In the 30 years that I’ve been in practice, I’ve seen differences in myself as well as other practitioners, things that couldn’t always be explained. Now I see that a lot of it has to do with intention. One chiropractor can give someone an adjustment without much expectation, another can do it with the intention of helping the patient feel a little better, while yet another can do the same adjustment with the intention of seeing a miracle take place in the life of the patient. Will that last doctor always see a miracle with every adjustment he performs? Probably not, but he or she will see a lot more miracles in their practice than the doctor who never expects miracles or who is not treating with the intention of seeing miracles.

The same is true in every profession or endeavor. There will always be setbacks, but if your intention is to succeed, almost nothing can stop you. Whether you’re sweeping floors, bussing tables, or doing brain surgery, if your intention is to succeed, you’ll not only do a better job but receive greater satisfaction as well. Remember, wanting and needing is NOT the same thing as intending. I spent many years wanting and needing and working myself to a frazzle, but just getting more and more frustrated with not being able to provide sufficiently for my family. Even being deserving isn’t enough. When you’re not raised with a strong intention to succeed, when you’re just used to trying hard and doing your best (which isn’t wrong, but often is not enough to put you over the top), it can be tricky to learn. People who have found success often make it sound easy – “if I can do it, anyone can do it”. However, changing patterns of thinking that you’ve known all your life is seldom easy. I’ve been helped by people like Leslie Householder (author of The Jackrabbit Factor), Wayne Dyer, Russ Rosen, Angela Barrus and others, including my office partner, Joe Kepo’o, to help turn my thinking around. I still have to work at it so as not to drop back into old patterns of thinking, but to the extent that I’ve managed to have more purpose in my life and career, to the extent that I’ve been able to put more intention into what I do, I’ve been able to see far more success, not just monetarily but in helping people to have more miracles in their lives. THAT, my friends, is my true purpose in life. It’s why I do what I do – to change lives for the better through helping people heal both physically and emotionally. Life is wonderful.

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Chiropractic, Energy medicine, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

The Complexity of Healthcare

June 14, 2013

Internal organs

The human body is extremely complex. I believe that any comment or approach that implies otherwise is naïve and an insult to the Creator. I have been treating people for over 30 years and I think I’m less confident now in giving patients a prognosis than I was in the beginning. That’s because I’ve found that people are very unpredictable. We’re not machines produced on an assembly line. Each of us is a unique individual. What’s normal for one person may not be for another. There is a saying that goes something like this: if all you have is a hammer, then you see every issue as a nail. It’s that way in healthcare. If you’re a surgeon, you’re far more likely to recommend surgery. That can be motivated somewhat by greed, but in all fairness, it’s natural to look first for a solution that you typically work with. Someone who isn’t involved with surgery is more likely to consider it a last resort. As a chiropractor, I see many health problems as being related to nerve interference secondary to vertebral subluxations (spine out of alignment). Most of the time, I’m proven right, but I realize that’s usually not the complete picture. Health problems generally have many facets to them.

There is frequently a temptation to oversimplify. We get one or two clues about a possible condition and suddenly we think we know all about it. Non-professional friends and relatives are quick to give you a diagnosis and give you a suggestion for how to manage it. Even professionals may do the same thing. Have you ever gone to the doctor with four different problems and walked out with four different prescriptions? That happened to me a few years ago. I was taught to look at the whole picture before offering a diagnosis, which is the basis of the prescribed treatment. So I wanted to see what my medical doctor would say about some issues that I was having at the time. So I gave him a list of my symptoms. Instead of looking at the bigger picture to see how the symptoms fit together so he could have a good understanding of what was going with me, he looked at each symptom separately and prescribed treatment for each one.

When I was in chiropractic college, which is similar to medical school in many ways, I was always amazed at the number of physiological principles that were not totally understood. It’s important to understand that, in spite of all the fancy instruments, scientific studies and research, healthcare is more art than science. There’s a helpful article about the problems with research entitled “That Study Is Wrong: The Truth About Research”. In actual practice, there is not a great deal of precision. We should certainly strive for greater precision and the ability to duplicate positive results. However, it’s important to understand that it’s not an exact science. That’s why a little inspiration and intuition can be so helpful.

I am constantly amazed at the functioning of the human body. (I realize this all applies to animals also, but the human body is what I work with.) It’s not only a highly coordinated system of many thousands of intricate chemical and electrical processes, but when you add in the mind, the spirit, the electromagnetic fields and so forth, it’s totally astounding! (And to think that all of that came about by accidents of nature! [yeah, right]) I’ve seen lots of people who talk about their body as if it were some old piece of machinery held together by bubble gum and baling wire and that anything they can do to it would be an improvement. That simply is not true. I have great respect for the body. I rely on treatment methods that work in conjunction with the wisdom of the body, rather than fighting against it. There are many drugs (pharmaceuticals) out there that are necessary. However, many drugs are designed to “trick” the body, to make it think that internal conditions are different than what they really are so that we can get it to provide a desired physiological response. The problem is that the body is far smarter than the doctor, not the other way around. So you need to be very careful taking that kind of control into your own hands!

I firmly believe that our bodies were designed by an all-knowing, loving Creator. Our bodies have great wisdom. For the most part, if we remove interference and give them what they need (physically, chemically, emotionally, etc.), then all we need to do is get out of the way and let them function as they were created to do.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Chiropractic, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Moon, Stars & New Paradigms

June 6, 2013

moonstarsI recently got to look at the full moon through a telescope. It was so amazing. I’ve seen detailed pictures of the moon, but this was very different looking at it myself. What was so astounding to me was the fact that I was seeing something that I had seen thousands of time, and yet I never saw it like this. It was like seeing it for the very first time.

There’s another astronomical fact that causes me deep reflection. When I look up at the night sky, whether through a telescope or just the naked eye, I realize that I’m not seeing how the stars are, but how they WERE. The closest stars are 4-6 light years away. Most of them that we see are much further away. What that means is when you look up at the stars, you’re actually seeing the past. You’re seeing the stars as they were several years ago. While it’s very cool to actually be able to witness the past, it’s also a little disturbing that I cannot see the stars as they are right now. Astronomers can come up with extremely powerful telescopes, but even they cannot see what’s happening in the distant cosmos right now.

I used to put a lot of faith in science and research. It seems like the older I get, the less faith I have in it. Research, even the highly respected double-blind studies, can be biased, results can be manipulated or misinterpreted, and so forth. Even when research is done very carefully and without bias or agenda, we can be limited by our senses, our degree of understanding, and the methods used in gathering data. I’m definitely not saying that we should do away with science. Quite the contrary. However, we just need to recognize its limitations. Many people have set aside religion in favor of science. But then they treat science as if it were a religion. To be scientifically minded is to be open minded, not clinging to dogma or preconceived notions of how the universe operates.

As I progressed in my practice as a chiropractor, over the years, I realized that body, mind and spirit all work together. I needed to learn to see things in new ways. I didn’t have to set aside the scientific model that I had been clinging to. I just had to open up its boundaries to allow new ideas in. I had to realize that the way I was looking at the human body didn’t tell the whole story. As I opened up my mind to new ways of gathering information, including tapping into the storehouse of data contained in the subconscious mind, I was able to accomplish much more with my treatment and help people with a broader range of problems.

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Chiropractic, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The Power of Hope

May 30, 2013

hopeMy father died of brain cancer when he was only 55 years old. It was a tragic event for our family. I wished I could have done more to help him. I was just barely starting chiropractic college at the time. Even if I would have had all the training and experience that I have now, it was unlikely that I could have saved him, but I would have given it my all in trying. The approach of the medical doctors really bothered me. I know they would have also saved him if they could, and I realize that they were being honest with him. However, they robbed him of a crucial element of healing — hope. They told him that he would definitely die. In fact, the treatment that they put him through, which left him sick and bald, was, as the doctors put it, for research purposes only. By giving him a definitive prognosis like that, they essentially declared a death sentence. Every prognosis is nothing more than an educated guess. No doctor can absolutely predict the future. There should always be a balance between best guess and positive thinking.

I once heard of a lady who had some routine lab work done. The results the doctor got back for her indicated that she had a fatal condition and so he gave her only a few months to live. The lady believed him, got all of her affairs in order, and sure enough, in a few months, she passed away. Shortly thereafter, it was discovered that the lab had mixed up her results with someone else’s and that there was in fact nothing wrong with this lady. She died simply because she believed she would. She had lost hope.

On the other hand, I’ve heard of many people who were given only a short time to live, but they refused to give up. So years later, they were still alive and kicking. What you believe about your health, as well as the faith you place in things you are doing to preserve your health, will definitely have an impact on how healthy (or sick) you really are. One of the things that I never tell patients is that they just have to learn to live with their condition. It doesn’t mean that I will be able to help everyone and give them the relief they’re seeking, but that doesn’t mean that no one can. I believe it’s the height of arrogance for doctors to take the attitude that if they can’t help a certain patient with a particular problem, that a solution doesn’t exist. I tell my patients that although I can’t make specific promises as to how well they will progress under my care, I will always hope for and strive for the best. Because I don’t put limitations on the potential benefits of my treatment, I do sometimes witness miracles.

Certainly it’s unethical for any kind of doctor to make promises that he or she knows will not come to pass, whether it’s to make a buck or to build up his or her ego or just to make the patient feel better about the situation. However, no doctor has the right to rob someone of hope or to place limits on the patient’s ability to heal.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Chiropractic | 1 Comment »