Greenwood Chiropractic - When do you really need chiropractic?

When do you really need chiropractic?

There's a story in Japan of a samurai who wanted to challenge his three sons as to which was the best warrior. He devised a test wherein he would place a piece of wood precariously atop the sliding door of his room and call for each son one at a time. He called the first son and as he entered the wood fell and struck him right on the head. The second son opened the door and the instant he saw the wood falling toward him he expertly drew his sword and cut it in two with a single stroke in an impressive display of skill. When he called the third son, the young man perceived something was amiss so he waited outside the door and refused to enter. The father was most pleased with the third son.

Most people don't know this, but the word doctor comes from the Latin docere which means "teach." As a Doctor of Chiropractic it's my primary role to teach clients and to establish their relationship with their health at the highest - not the lowest - level. I will never advise you to wait for the block of wood to fall on your head. It is no different from being a responsible dentist. What kind of dentist would advise a patient to only return if they have a toothache? Only somebody who was not really dedicated to their work and didn't care about your health. If I did not recommend regular chiropractic care for you and everyone in your family then I'm not being responsible to you. I would not advise anyone to get more or less care than they need.

There are some people that never go to the chiropractor and they're just waiting to one day get hit in the head with a big block of wood (so to speak). There are others that respond when the symptoms start and that's when they pull out the sword - the drugs, the surgery or the chiropractic - in a vigorous and heroic response. When the symptoms are gone they go on their way. But the smart person places high value on their health with, among other things, regular chiropractic adjustments - even when they don't have a symptom. I recommend, without hesitation, regular lifetime chiropractic care for every man, woman and child. When the client has a specific condition precludes the use of force-based adjusting techniques then we utilize low and non-force adjusting techniques that are appropriate.

How much do you need? If you have an active existing health problem then you very likely need to be adjusted with more frequency than when you're generally well. If you have long standing Subluxations that have never been properly corrected you will need to get adjusted more often at first. As you improve your spine and nervous system will stabilize and your will tend to "hold" your adjustments for longer and longer depending on your general health and the amount of physical, mental and even chemical stress you're exposed to.

There is no man, woman or child I have ever seen that does not need to be adjusted less than once a month - and I consider that to be the absolute bare minimum. Most people, especially adults need to be adjusted every 1-2 weeks. I didn't make this up. This is a physiological fact. When the spine is subluxated it takes only 2 weeks for permanent erosive damage to occur on the joint surfaces of the spine.

Most people over rate their own ability to know what's going on with their body. The fact is, you cannot feel high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer - or vertebral subluxation. You might feel the effects of these things after a while - but you cannot "feel" when you have a subluxation.

I've run into old clients in a store or other public place before and sometimes they'll say, "Yeah doc, that adjustment you gave me five years ago was great. I haven't had a problem since!" Then I think to myself, "What a lousy job I did educating that person. They're walking around with silent problems in their body causing problems that they will never realize stem from their spine, and all they know is they seem to feel great at the moment. If I were their dentist their teeth would be rotted out by now!" Then I realize that the hardware store isn't really the place to begin their education.

Dr. Philip Greenwood, D.C.
Murrieta, California