I wanted to tell the story of Steve! I asked him, he added to it, so here it is.
Steve has been a patient for about five years, started getting adjusted by me shortly after he had started off with Watermarke church after it had launched. He was part of that initial steering team, and we spent time together with a few other men praying over the church most weeks. I have gotten to know him pretty well over the years.
Introduced him to CrossFit, which he now coaches some classes at my gym as a Level 1 certified coach, he works IT at Buckhead Church, has two kids that he did not have five years ago. He has a pretty solid spine. Good cervical curve, nice atlas angle, only issue is some odd lower back problems that come up once and awhile, even though he does not have significant cause for those in his structure (he has less these days, which I would attribute to the strength and balance developed in his spine from his exercise habits).
So after five years, I would say he sees the value in continued maintenance care, though I believe it has become a little routine for him. Its ok, it happens to everyone. If I had a chance to convince all of you to come back through a doctors report every year, you would never lose this intensity and desire for the best health in your body. So Steve has been adjusted twice since September 15th. Which is less than I recommend for anyone. Maintenance is two to four times a month if you really want to maintain. If you don’t mind decline (especially if you sit for any amount of time during the day), then less than the recommended adjustments will get you decline.
So why am I seemingly picking on Steve? He got a migraine quality headache the other day, the first one in his life. And as his wife was texting me asking what they should do, the first thought I had was “get adjusted”. Though it was happening at an impossible time to get adjusted. Funny, they were so shocked when my response was “take meds to get to sleep”. I have said it before, I don’t hate meds, just their overuse. If you have never suffered a migraine quality headache in your life, and all of a sudden you are faced with one… take some drugs and go to bed! I am not a sadistic individual, nor a masochist so if it happens to me, you know I’ll be in bed with some meds!
So he came in the other day, seems as though the entire headache was neurologically based, and structure caused it. I don’t believe it was a migraine, but rather more of a tension type headache, just severe. He came in and said, “figured I needed to be adjusted because I had this funny numbness working up the left side of my body.” Sure enough, he needed to be adjusted.
So here are the questions:
What does it mean to have a headache followed closely by a very significant and odd pattern of numbness? Is it benign, or is that enough of a sign to say that there is a significant problem starting in the spine (subluxation)?
What if Steve had been adjusted 8 times in the last two months, would that have erased the cause of the symptom, so that he would never have suffered the headache, or the underlying more significant neurological cause?
The truth is, we don’t know. There is no way to tell if we could have eliminated the problem, but there is enough information in this situation for me to feel as though the chance would have been high that he would not have had the problem that he did.
I ask God to guide my hands, and for knowledge to rule my process. I don’t know how many times we have helped someone skip over a problem that was developing, but I do know that we have had much success in helping people. Our recommendations are based on a very real system and very real understanding of spinal degeneration. Don’t take them lightly, and don’t become routine in your pursuit of health! Steve is a great guy, and he knows I love him, now I look forward to getting him back on the path that will keep him free of damage!
Have a great weekend – hope to see you next week – Dr. E