Every process requires time.

That seemed to be the main point with patients today. One patient checked much better after adjustment and still had pain. She immediately jumped to the conclusion that the pain must due to something other than subluxation. I reminded her that the body still had to heal. Once the nerves are working properly, healing begins or accelerates.
Imagine a brick falling on your foot. Once the brick is removed, the pressure is gone, but the pain remains. Tissue damage must be healed. The process requires time.
Another patient has had a significant set back in her pain level. She went to ER last night. I adjusted her but she still had pain. By the time she went to the bathroom, her pain level had diminished. The process had only begun. The process requires time.
I could go on and on. Life is a process. Diseases are processes of improper function. Proper function changes disease to health. The process always requires time.

Where Does Health Come From?

Health has been defined by Dorland's Medical Dictionary as "optimal physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Notice that word optimal. Optimal is exactly right, not too much and not too little. If your heart works optimally, it is not beating too fast or too slow. It is beating exactly right.
If you are running, your heart must beat more rapidly than if you are sitting. How does it know?
If you are standing, your blood pressure must be higher than if you are sitting so that blood flows to your brain. How does it know?
It seems logical to believe that life is intelligent. It is that intelligence, what chiropractors call Innate Intelligence, that controls the functions of your body and keeps them optimal. Think of that next time you think you need a bottle of pills. Ask yourself, "Where does health come from?"

Office Open

Although Whatcom County public schools are closed, I am at the office. Drive safely.

"A Slip on the sidewalk...

Dr. B. J. Palmer, known among the profession as the developer of chiropractic, used to start a talk with "a slip on the sidewalk". He would note that the slip was a small thing, but that slip caused a misalignment of a vertebra. He would continue that the misalignment was a small thing. However, that misalignment caused interference to nerves and resulted in diminished health in that one person. The dimished health could be physical or mental. That diminshed health in one person is a small thing. However, multiply that one person by 1000 and you have altered the mental and physical health of a town. Multiply that one person by 10,000 and you have altered the mental and physical well-being of a city. Multiply that one person by a million and you have altered the well-being of a nation.
Dr. Palmer would continue with the reverse. A chiropractor delivers an adjustment and re-aligns the misaligned vertebra. The re-alignment removes the interference to the nervous system. The mental and physical health of that one person is restored. That health of that one person is a small thing. Multiply that person by 1000 and the mental and physical health of a town has been restored. Multiply that one person by 10,000 and the mental and physical health of a city has been restored. Multiply that one person by a million and the health of a nation has been restored.
Dr. Palmer did a much better job of articulating his idea than I just did. I was reminded of that story today when a patient told me that her boss had a sore back after slipping on the sidewalk. The sore back may heal and no longer be sore, but if the alignment has been altered, the interference continues and someday health problems will be traced back to today and ... a slip on the sidewalk.

Office Is Open Today

With freezing rain on the way, I am planning to have normal office hours today. However, if weather gets bad we may close early. If you can come in early, please call.

Office is Open Today

I made it to the office today. There are about 2 inches of snow on the parking lot and I forgot my shovel. Winds are gusty. Bellingham roads are packed snow. If you are going out, be careful.

Open Tomorrow - I hope

Mandy and I swept about 200 yards of driveway this afternoon and hope to be able to get the cars out in the morning. However, 50 mile per hour winds are predicted for tonight. So all the snow may be blown back into the driveway. Stay tuned.