I love telling chiropractic stories, so this one is still in development really, but why not give you an early snapshot? I have been taking care of members of the Fossier family for over 7 years now. Rick (dad) played hockey with me back when I was still playing. His sons, Mitch and Zach were little kids back then (teenagers now).
Recently Rick moved himself and Mitch up to Detroit for the winter hockey season. Yeah, I know, sounds kind of weird, but with dad being an ex Yale University and Michigan State hockey player, the sport is deep in this family’s blood; and Mitch is more than a talented hockey player, he has great potential. Anyways, they found a condo outside of Detroit, and Mitch is playing for a high level hockey team.
Now one thing about Mitch, is that he is good in a sport that requires a lot of strength and power… and grit. He is good, and he is very small for his age. Strong, but small. So it wasn’t but five or so weeks ago that he broke his collarbone, for the second time in as many years. Not a great situation. He came back home, I X-Rayed him, looked at the break, looked at his spine, and gave my opinion.
“He needs to strengthen his shoulders, his spine is curved right at the level of the collarbone causing nerve pressure. It might be curved right now because of the injury, and the antalgic (pain produced) position that he is in. Or it might be more chronic of a position… he needs a chiropractor up there regardless.”
Well, it was just about ten days ago that Rick contacts me about Mitch, and lets me know that he has had no energy, can’t hardly climb the stairs without breathing really hard, and his heart rate is just shooting through the roof. He is concerned that there is something wrong with his heart. I remember the x-rays, and immediately re-explain the nervous system.
DrE – “Everything is controlled through the nervous system, and the heart is maintained by the two nerves at the top of the thoracic spine, which are right where the curvature is that we found. He needs to get those nerves working!”
RF – “We have an appointment with a cardiologist to check his heart out, what do you think?”
DrE – “Sure check it out, but it is probably fine. And even if there is something wrong with his heart, the thing that heals his heart, that organizes that tissue into normal functioning heart tissue, the thing that arranges cells in the exact pattern to insure a functioning heart and heart valves, are those nerves. So IF something is wrong, he needs to get that part of his spine straightened.”
So he flew home, and stayed an extra day so I could adjust him. They got checked out by the cardiologist and the diagnosis was clear. The heart looks great, nothing is wrong with the heart! Whew (I could practically hear that in the text message). But honestly, I would not have thought there would be anything wrong with his heart. It came on suddenly, immediately following trauma… the chiropractic model was too obvious of a fit here.
So Mitch has found a chiropractor in Michigan, he has been getting adjusted a lot, and he is doing great. Feeling better, much more controlled heart rate and rhythm… performing much better on the ice. On his way to 100% healing, or he might already be there.
This isn’t the first time we saw something like this in our office in a teenager. Lauren was 17 years old, she had a sudden onset of tachycardia (rapid heart rate), to the extent where she had hit 200 beats per minute while sitting at her desk in school. Complete fear had engulfed this girl, and her parents. Doctors at Emory tested her and could find no reason for her rapid heart rate.
The problem continued, and frequency continued. Now, let me give you some background on Lauren. She was getting adjusted in our office about twice a month for the prior year. So it might be easy for someone to think that chiropractic had failed her, wasn’t working, etc. The reality is that Lauren had not been committed to care, there were bigger problems in her spine, and we had never even given those a shot. Once the problem with the heart got bad, her parents still weren’t ready to commit to more care (I am sure they thought there was nothing more to be done by us). It wasn’t until the docs finally said “The nerves to her heart are giving the wrong signal, so we are going to burn those nerves off, and install a pacemaker, which will maintain her heart rate.”
They wanted to give this girl a pacemaker at 17 years of age!! So she got full re-examined, showed serious irritation to the nerves going to the heart, and started getting adjusted three to four times a week. It was about four weeks later that she was completely done with that symptom. No surgery, no more docs.
Interesting thing is that you may have heard me tell the story of Lauren’s son before. Dillon was her baby who had seizures in his first hours of life, until getting an adjustment at the hospital. Safe to say that she has had her full measure of chiropractic stories!
Be well, stay adjusted, and keep the faith!