HOW many times have you heard the statement, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”?

We, as chiropractors, often hear our patrons tell us that they are feeling good and therefore don’t need to be adjusted on a regular basis.

The fact is, if there is a misaligned (subluxated) vertebra in your spine interfering with the proper function of the nerve system, then you are not fine and there is something “broken” or on its way to being damaged irreparably. In fact, the most important system in the body, the nervous system, is broken. The inborn wisdom of your body, which controls and coordinates the function of every cell in the body, is not free to do its job completely. Your body is simply not working as efficiently as it should be.

Have you ever wondered what percentage of the nervous system you can actually feel? Do you actually feel the brain telling your stomach how to digest, or your lungs how to breathe, or your immune system how to function? We only actually only feel approximately 3 per cent of our nervous system. Just because it is not noticeable, does not mean that dysfunction is not occurring or that the damage is not accumulating within the body. The end results could be undesirable and even disastrous.

How many years of accumulated nerve dysfunction, caused by unrecognised spinal misalignments, does it take before a heart problem manifests in the form of a heart attack? Or, for a stomach problem to show up as ulcers? For a deteriorating liver to show up as a terminal case of liver cirrhosis?

When your car just begins to burn or leak oil, you do not notice it. Further, if the warning system is not working properly, you may continue driving the car, completely unaware, until your car is permanently damaged. That is why it is smart to have the oil level in your car checked regularly. You also wouldn’t think of avoiding oil changes because your car has no symptoms, would you? For that same reason, it is in the best interest of your health and life to have your spine checked regularly for vertebral subluxations even if it does not appear to be “broken”.

Recently, my car had a slight electrical problem where it would occasionally die temporarily. Now, most of the time there was no problem and the occurrences were rare. Do you think I waited until the problem grew and until I lost control on the highway without power? Of course not. I had them check it. And when they could not find anything, I had them check it more in depth. Guess what? The problem is no longer there. The danger is gone before it could manifest itself.

Finally, imagine that I control a rheostat connected to a light bulb in your living room at home. Every day, I very slightly apply resistance to the light bulb via the rheostat. The decrease in energy flow is so minute that you never even notice the decrease in light production in your living room. After about one month of this, the light bulb is only producing about 40 per cent of its normal output capability. But, the change has been so gradual in nature that you do not even know anything is wrong. Now, if I were to suddenly remove all the resistance via the rheostat, you would get a very noticeable burst of light as the bulb increased quickly back to 100 per cent output capacity. That is like a manifestation of a bone putting pressure on a nerve. If that nerve goes to your heart, then how do you think heart performance would be affected over the years with only 40 per cent capacity? Or even a 10 per cent deficit over your entire lifetime? This is why people who felt “good” their whole lives suddenly drop dead of a heart attack.

Remove the interference, and the power that made the body, can flow through the body and heal the body (even when you are unaware that it needs healing) via optimum performance levels. Let your chiropractor turn your light back on and keep it on.

And, recall, it really has nothing to do with age. It has to do with motion, and function. You can be 60 years old and have a perfectly functional, healthy, pain-free spine (most likely with regular chiropractic care); or, you can be 10 and already be experiencing the degenerative effects of subluxated spinal segments and decreased nervous system output. Everyone who has a brain and spinal cord (nervous system, spine, etc.) will benefit from regular, lifelong natural chiropractic care. When combined with our new superfood super supplement package, we will vow to make Jamaicans the healthiest people on the planet through our chiropractic care regimen.

And, the next time you submit to your sickness care practitioner and accept the fact that your pain is caused by you and your “getting old” and having “arthritis”, please recall an example of a “patient” actually thinking for themselves and becoming enlightened by simply asking a valid question: An 89-year-old patient is told by a doctor that his knee pain is caused from arthritis and his old age, but as the patient was about to accept this diagnosis and exit the doctor’s office, a thought came to his mind. He quickly returned to the doctor and asked, “But, doctor, my other knee is just as old and it does not hurt me at all, so how can this be due to my age?” Of course, the doctor had no memorised, trained response for that one.

Think about that people. The institutions only teach how to control conversations with fear and confidence, statistics and popular sayings and beliefs. They do not teach how to interact, to think outside the box, to actually have compassion for other people and to use simple logic and common sense to realise that maybe something that has been perpetuated for centuries may in fact, be sincerely wrong. They do not teach doctors how to listen. Likewise, maybe something they were taught to fear and destroy actually helps people and is a tool available for actual healing assistance. What I would like to remind the ethical medical doctors that remain in this world of is the following: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. My enemy is sickness, disease, poor health, and a low quality of life. If that is also your enemy, then you must consider the probability that as a natural health practitioner, I am your ally. Utilise me as such, and just sit back and watch the people get better.

Recently, I had a referral letter from a frustrated medical doctor in May Pen who had unsuccessfully been attempting to treat a lady with back pain for over six years. He did not even take the time to seek out my name. The letter was handwritten on a blank sheet of paper and simply said, “Dear Chiropractor”…see if you can help this woman’s condition, in a nutshell. Well, I did help that woman as early as her very first visit. She continues to improve. I don’t need the credit for that. It is not mine to take. The credit belongs to the woman’s own body. The spark that initiated her healing was the unselfish (although, perhaps, desperate) referral and my skills as a spinal mechanic to merely assist her body in her healing process initiation. For that, I am thankful beyond words.

Don’t forget to “Ask Your Chiropractor” every week where your questions may be published and answered in subsequent articles. Address questions to: Dr Chris Davis, the Spinal Mechanic at movethebone@gmail.com; or, Dr Michael Harvey, director, at dr.michael_harvey@yahoo.com or visit www.drharveychiropractic.com