Monday, December 28, 2009

Never suffer from another headache?

For all their good intentions, many of my colleagues in the healing professions treat only symptoms.

“Tummy upset? No problem; drink this pink stuff. It will coat your intestinal lining so you won’t notice the overproduction of digestive acids being caused by your fat-heavy diet.”

“Your head hurts? Take this pill; it will deaden the pain.”
Don’t get me wrong: there are many valid uses for drugs. My point is that we’ve grown too easy with the idea of popping a pill rather than treating a condition.

Headaches have all sorts of causes, but if we treat only the symptom--the pain--we overlook the cause. Maybe your headache was caused by a compression of vertebrae in the neck. Maybe you have a sprain or other injury that’s causing the pain. Maybe you have a dietary need that’s not being met. With a physical exam and a study of your medical history, we can look for the causal condition and treat it. And who knows? Maybe you won’t have to suffer from another headache.

And if we can stop the next headache, surely we can treat the causes of other conditions ... ulcers, allergies, pre-cancerous inflammations. And pretty soon, maybe you’ll feel wonderful because the electrical/chemical machine we call the human body is running the way it was meant to run.

That’s what chiropractic is really about. Not cracking joints, but increasing blood flow and improving neural activity. It’s also done with diet and exercise and all the other things we know are good for us, but we don’t always do.

No judgments, here. I’m not perfect. I began a diet in November of 2009 to correct my blood chemistry and take a load off my joints. I’m making progress. And I’m setting an example for my patients.

And what if all healing professionals started setting examples to help their patients create lives without pain, rather than just concealing pain?

Maybe that’s what healing is really about.

Please share your thoughts on the roles and responsibilities of healing professionals by commenting on this article.
at 8:17 AM
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4 comments:

  1. Hello Dr. Scharenberg, you make some great points here. I strongly feel we need to take a more pro-active role on our own health. Nothing wrong with taking pills for certain ailments, but there is also so much we can do ourselves. My wife recently lost over 50 pounds, thanks to FA Food Addicts in Recovery Annonymous She lost weight and lost many of her joint pains. She also sleeps better and feels ten years younger. Best, David Dowell oomphtv.com
    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, David.
    I'm glad to hear that your wife is feeling so much better after losing weight. This should always be the first goal of weight loss, to live longer and feel better. The improvement in physical appearance is a bonus, and that never hurts, either. What were the other elements in her weight loss program, besides dietary changes?
    Best,
    Doc.
    ReplyDelete
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  4. A medical doctor will sell you pills.
    A surgeon will sell you an operation.
    A chiropractic doctor will get to the root of the problem and remove the interference that is causing your symptoms.

    My advice:
    Find a chiropractor that stresses diet and exercise as part of his treatment plan.
    ReplyDelete

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