6. EVERYTHING IS LOST IF YOU DON’T MAINTAIN YOUR HEALTH.

It is customary at the beginning of Chiropractic care for many patients to ask the chiropractor "When will I be better?"  I think by now you can appreciate that this is a question that is very hard to answer because there are so many varying factors that at best it must simply be largely guesswork.

Take the example of a child who has buck teeth. The parents decided they will try to remedy this situation and proceed to have braces put upon the teeth of a child. If the braces were removed after only two months do you think the teeth would stay where they wanted them? Obviously not- the braces have to be checked, to be tightened, to be adjusted, perhaps over a period of two years and then maybe they can be removed and the teeth will stay where they are. This is very similar to the situation of the spine. People want to have a spinal problem or a situation that has been with them often for many years and within one or two adjustments and within a period of a week or so, want to be totally healthy again and never have to visit the chiropractor again.

Quite simply, it doesn’t happen like this. You must undergo a corrective period, which is then followed by a maintenance period, carried on by preventative maintenance adjustments which in theory should last (if you want to stay healthy) until the end of your life. For most people under chiropractic care the very first thing to go is a great percentage of the symptoms that brought them into the office in the first place, but you find some people, who really don’t grasp how the body functions, start to neglect their care and within six months or so, are right back to where they were beforehand, (just like the crooked teeth).

Often they say I tried chiropractic once, but it didn’t work - and this is such a shame, because they simply decided to neglect their health and to maintain their health, and unfortunately go from bad to worse.

You must maintain your health because without it, all is lost, believe me, and the best way to get the greater benefits from good food, from adequate rest, from suitable exercise and from the positive feeling and attitude of living, is to make sure there is no interference to the nerve system, that allows the link between what the brain organises, and what goes on in the rest of the body, all over the body, all the time.

Vertebral subluxations are the number one cause of interference to these nerve pathways in most people (a bullet lodged against the spinal cord or within the brain might cause more) and the chiropractor's job is to make sure from now until your last regular check-up (at age ninety-nine or whenever) you have all these subluxations corrected wherever and whenever they may arise and this can only be done by your regular fortnightly or monthly check-up.

It is a sad state of affairs when the whole health care system within the western world is generally based upon waiting to get sick and then trying crises type therapies just to mask and hide the symptoms. Generally nothing is done to promote preventative health because they need symptoms before identification or attempted identification can be done. Chiropractic's greatest strength is to maintain health and raise internal body function and hopefully prevent possible problems in the future, irrespective of age, race or ability to pay.

You must take responsibility for the maintenance of your health, and the chiropractor will do everything to make sure you have the best spine, because remember, vertebral subluxation is not the cause of everything but it is the number one cause of everything. Think about this. The body needs to work right before any repair can happen.

I want you to stay under chiropractic care by whatever regular check-up period you can manage, given your circumstances, remembering that once a fortnight or monthly check-up is the best for you and for the members of your family.

If there is any problem with this I hope you would feel that you could approach me and talk it over with me.

Please remember we are trying to help here.