This is a story of an entrepreneur, a man of the 19th century who worked hard for a living with his cleaning business. He was deaf, of course. He had lost his hearing 17 years before the incredible day that changed the world. It was while lifting some heavy things that he heard a "crack" in his back. Then he became deaf. Was that all there was to his story?
While working in the building of a doctor, he decided to ask if the doctor could help him. This doctor checked him out and found something that didn't look right. There was part of Harvey's backbone that wasn't in the right place, so he put it back in place with a sturdy thrust. Then Harvey said, "I could suddenly hear the wagons on the cobblestones outside." But there's more to this story.
The doctor thought he had found the best cure for deafness, so he went out and found another deaf man. He worked on him for some time, to no avail. When he decided to dismiss him as a patient, the deaf man begged him not to send him away saying, "Since you have been working with me, my heart palpitations have ceased."
I wish I could have been there to see the puzzled look on the doctor's face. It seems at that time, everyone was looking for and claiming a cure for any number of diseases, including cancer. It was the natural thing to do, since we tend to think something is wrong only when there is an identifiable disease to look at. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the common phrase. This doctor, however, was the first one to begin thinking that there was something else wrong, that it had to do with the spine, and when it was wrong, perhaps other unpredictable things would go wrong. Who was this man and what did he figure out?
The man's name was Palmer, and he was the first chiropractor. Chiropractors work with the nervous system to make sure it runs right. As Palmer noticed in 1895, the nervous system runs all the functions of the body, and if it isn't working right, anything can go wrong. That is a concept that anyone who has not failed high school biology should be able to see right away.
Chiropractic is not medicine, and it is not alternative medicine. It works with a different topic altogether. It works with the nervous system and studies its interaction with the skeletal framework. When the chiropractor finds a measurable problem in the nervous system, he/she tracks it down to the area of bony interference and makes an adjustment. It is like moving the furniture out of the way so you can walk through the living room without stumbling. When the nerve signals can move easily to their targets - literally every cell in the body, we have an efficient system. But there's more!
You've probably heard about the tensions between the medical profession and chiropractic. Well, that's mostly in the past now. There is too much in the world for any one person to know, and all kinds of health care professionals are realizing that they need to work in cooperation so that people can enjoy the best of health. Even hospitals are realizing that they are denying appropriate care to people by not having chiropractors on staff. That's why some oncologists and medical doctors are now sending their patients to chiropractors for specialized, not alternative, care. So how did Harvey regain his hearing?
Don't we all have a natural tendency to think that regaining a lost ability is more important than not losing it. Aren't we all accustomed to waiting until something is unbearably bad before doing anything about it? Picture this...Your tire treads are worn down almost flat, but you still think that maybe you can coax another 10 miles out of them, and since you did, you keep pushing the limit. Then you're driving on a day with gentle rain. The light turns red and the good driver in that brand-new Toyota stops quickly.. I guess more tread would have kept you from sliding into the back of that fine car. Or maybe your back is hurting from lifting your neighbor's piano last week (what are friends for?) and you figure that it will get better eventually. But then you roll over in bed and suddenly cannot move from the pain.
With Harvey Lilliard, there was a point in his spine that was weakening, and he didn't notice it. When it gave out, shifting with a sudden crack, it took out part of his nerves that feed his brain. In his case, the chain of breakdown was so specific, that it apparently affected only his hearing. But there's more...
All the sensitive tissues in the middle and inner ear are nourished by nerves that control the blood supply. Those nerves actually come out of the backbone below the neck. In Harvey's case, it may have been a simple breakdown in those "feeding" nerves that caused his deafness. Could it have been avoided? Good question!
With all the attention given these days to prevention, I don't need to even say the word. However, we must be very clear what we mean when we say "prevention". If we want to prevent breakdown in the nerve system (quick...what system runs every tissue in the body?), we need to be able to check how it is running. Just like putting your car on a computer to check all its systems, you can stop some health problems before they start. But wait, there's something else you need to know.
All branches of the health professions have diagnostic procedures used to spot trouble. Naturopaths have some diagnostic tools, medical doctors have some other tools, and chiropractors have still other tools. Each discipline uses these tools to gain information it considers important. For the chiropractor, these tools tell about the nerve system. If Harvey had the advantages of today's technology, he would have never lost his hearing because his doctor would have corrected the nerve problem before it got real bad. So, what do you think? Is it more important to ask, "How can I correct my problem?" or is it more important to ask, "How did my problem become a problem in the first place?" It may be that you can answer the first question by answering the second.
So what about that car wreck? Just change the tires before the tread vanishes. For health problems traceable to a malfunctioning nerve system, go to your chiropractor. In fact, before you even have an obvious problem, you can go to your chiropractor and get checked for nerve system interference.
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