I’ve been in chiropractic for 35 years now. Actually, longer if you consider my time as a patient and student before starting practice.
That means I’ve been around the block a few times. My initial motivation was to get better myself. I’ve continued to seek out anything that would help me.
However, a lot of what I tried either didn’t help or seemed to help for a while but then stopped working. I’ve held onto only those strategies that made the biggest and most consistent improvements.
I have made plenty of mistakes along the way, but my attitude has enabled me to find the combination of practices, treatments, and strategies that consistently get the best results and help myself and others stay active and healthy.
Do you think doing something that feels good but makes no difference is worth the time?
This is a lot of what traditional medical and physical therapy is about. Let’s give it an example. Have you ever hurt yourself and got in a hot shower or hot tub? It feels great. After you feel less pain, maybe a little less, maybe a lot less. But, if you really hurt yourself it only takes a few hours before the pain is back and raging.
Pay attention to the lesson I learned the hard way with the first time a bunch of feel good treatments did nothing for me.
Shake and Bake but Nothing is Getting Done
Let me set the scene for you, the year is 2003, and I have an incredibly busy practice that combines chiropractic, physical therapy, and medical specialties.
This day was significant because up until that time I felt great physically. I was in great shape, worked out regularly, and felt strong and fit. I wasn’t ready for the onset of neck and arm pain because I’d never had anything this painful that would last this long.
Little did I know that my experience with this pain would be a turning point in my own healthcare and how I treated patients..
Because this was my own body and impacted my ability to do everything, I had a lot to prove.
Spoiler alert: Initially I really didn’t know what to do. What I was sure of was I didn’t want to even contemplate surgery.
Pssst, do you want more understanding of whether your chronic condition could be corrected? then you may want to consider scheduling a Consultation or Initial Exam with me at Life Chiropractic in Grass Valley, CA..
3 Ways that Led to My Failure in Traditional Chiropractic
When you look at how I failed at finding my own solution initially, you could easily think the reason I failed was due to the severity of my injury. It turned out to be a disc herniation in my neck. But, the reality is that I really had little understanding of the power of correction.
In reality, there were 3 things I was doing that led to my failure.
#1. I was using Physical Therapy “therapies” that Don’t Do Much!
My chiropractic education taught us to use modalities like ultrasound and electrical muscle stimulation and diathermy. I really didn’t question their use or more importantly their effectiveness. I used those instruments for years.
This led to the point where I found myself in chronic pain seeking relief. Those modalities offered me little to nothing beyond a few minutes to a few hours of diminished pain.
My friend from chiropractic school Gene,has a totally different approach to supporting the body in healing. Even though we went to the same school somehow he found his way out of the use of a bunch of ineffective therapies much sooner than I. .
The Solution:
Instead of utilizing a bunch of electrical instruments to force how the body responds, I now focus my attention on supporting the body’s return to balance and its inherent capacity for healing..
This has led to the identification of the most consistently effective treatments to restore balance and the development of a 4 part program to support a return to and re-establishment of balance. Balance is that state of the body where it is capable of healing.
Remember, if you have chronic problems – neck pain, headaches, back pain, sciatica, fatigue, anxiety –, you may be missing out on relatively simple approaches to help your body return to balance..
#2. A Lack of a Method to Identify the Primary Imbalances
Remember, I was practicing traditional chiropractic, which meant the focus was on restoring mobility but not on restoring alignment and balance.
Traditional chiropractic can be effective in simple cases and offers pain reduction and relief. But, it fails to identify core imbalances and correct them. While this can help with pain it leaves the imbalances uncorrected which leads to more severe problems, like arthritis down the road.
The Solution:
I developed a way of assessing the body that helped me identify which imbalances and misalignments are primary and causing the problem, and which are secondary or compensatory.
It is often the compensations that are causing the pain. So traditional chiropractic or E-stim or some other therapy can help temporarily reduce pain. But, without correcting the core imbalance nothing really changes long term.
No, that isn’t right. Things slowly worsen over time.
A little introduction to this method can be found here Corrective Chiropractic Care.
#3. Forgetting Pain Should Not be the Primary Indicator for Correction
It’s easy to look back at this and think how natural it is to view chronic issues as a challenge that the body is having difficulty correcting, but we’re saying that with all the hindsight in the world.
At the time pain was the barometer by which everything was based.
If the pain got better, then the person was better. If they didn’t have pain there wasn’t a problem.
But, pain is but one indicator of what is going on. Yes, it is often an indication of imbalance. But, more often than not when the pain is gone the healing has just started.
The Solution:
Changing how I approached people to offer them the greatest help was the thing that led to consistently correcting chronic health challenges..
I’d almost rather not know what someone is feeling when they visit. It allows me to focus on what is out of balance, what the priorities are, and how to best help them back into a state of greater balance.
In fact I’m often pleasantly surprised that when I take care of one imbalance, another compensatory imbalance corrects itself immediately.
Rather than put the focus on the pain, the focus is on how to assist the body in returning to a state of balance.
Perseverance Pays Off
I wish I could say that I never failed in my time as a chiropractor. That would be impossible, though, because people are so different, and not everyone gets well..
However, my success rate skyrocketed once I stopped trying to get rid of the pain and started to help restore balance.. I have now made it my mission to help people overcome the challenges of chronic neck pain, back pain, headaches, and anxiety..
Here at Life Chiropractic in Grass Valley, we live and breathe corrective chiropractic because it empowers people to take back control of their bodies and their health.
Clients have said:
“Dr. Bill is the best chiropractor ever! We are extremely blessed that he now has his practice in Grass Valley. He is extremely intuitive and has decades of experience.. He finds and does the adjustment(s) that are very specific to you and your holding patterns. These adjustments create the opening to let your body naturally heal on its own. We are so grateful for Dr. Bill! He is a brilliant human and incredible healer.”
and
a year ago
Life – changing chiropractic care!! Working with Dr. Bill changed decades old pain and holding patterns in my back. I feel like a completely different person… I can breathe easily in my upper chest and ribcage which I have struggled with for years!
He is EXTREMELY skilled. I feel extremely safe being adjusted by Dr. Bill – which initially I was nervous about. He also offered helpful tools for some of my other challenges such as insomnia and everyday stress. I feel lucky to have access to his care…
Schedule your first visit to Life Chiropractic in Grass Valley here: Schedule Here