Monday, September 20, 2021

How Upper Cervical Care Improves Mental Health

 

A person’s mental health is a complex dynamic influenced by upbringing, genetics, emotional habits, and biochemistry.  From therapy to nutritional choices to spiritual practices and more, there are several options to improve the psychology of the mind, but it is important to remember that the psychological and the physiological are not mutually exclusive.  It is well-established that the mental affects the physical; remember, also, that the physical affects the mental.  Accordingly, the intricacy of the upper neck’s relationship with the skull is an important area of consideration when it comes to mental health.  

 

Upper Cervical Care, the specialty purposed with correcting and monitoring imbalance between the head and neck, has been helping people with mental health problems for a hundred years.  Dr. B.J. Palmer, the developer of the chiropractic profession, operated a psychiatric hospital for 35 years dating back to the 1920s.  Chiropractic was the only treatment rendered for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, mania, depression, and other neurologically-based psychological disorders.  The incredible results astounded conventional thinkers of the era and have unfortunately been lost to history.  

 

Dr. Palmer’s successes and those of the doctors who have followed in his footsteps are traced primarily back to the brainstem, located in the water bottle opening-sized space where the skull’s base meets the top two vertebrae in the spinal column.  The brainstem is the body’s regulatory organ, constantly routing the data between the other organs.  Most of the discussion about it being compromised by a head/neck misalignment centers on the body below that area, the disruption of normal communication it causes and the consequent cascade of physiological problems that then develop, immediately or gradually.  The brain above is similarly affected.

 

Problems in the brain lead to mental health issues.  Everything in the body is connected, though, so the underlying cause of the problem in the brain can be located elsewhere.  The brain depends on a number of things to work properly, including its cell tower-like interplay with the brainstem, receiving necessary blood supply from feeder arteries that travel up each side of the spine, and the constant flow of fluid that protects the brain from touching the skull and that acts as the highway for nutrients and the cells of the immune system.  Head/neck misalignment, often referred to as a (brainstem) subluxation, adversely influences each one.  It interrupts blood flow to the brain, acts like a dam in a river to brain-protecting fluid flow and disrupts optimal brainstem function like a dimmer switch on the main fuse in a home; the limbic system, which is the part of the brain that controls emotions, interprets the effects of head/neck misalignment as acute stress and activates the fight or flight response, causing a wide variety of reactions including but not limited to altered focus, quicker emotional triggers, fatigue, overproduction of stress hormones, and increased blood pressure.

 

Nicknamed the atlas, the top bone in the neck intersects with the skull’s base and the second spinal vertebra to form the human body’s most delicate protective relationship, and is incredibly dynamic in its movement on account of being held in place only by muscle.  Since it lacks the interlocking joints of its skeletal peers, the top bone is more vulnerable to the effects of head trauma, which everyone suffers to varying degrees of severity, particularly during childhood.  

 

Concussions have gained tremendous awareness in recent years, much of the talk centered on the emotional implications; and rightfully so.  For context, a concussion (mild traumatic brain injury) is caused by a trauma delivering 95 Gs of force.  It takes just 5 Gs of force to cause a head/neck misalignment, which reinforces the long-held standard in the chiropractic profession that 95% of the population will have suffered a head/neck misalignment by their 40th birthdays (85% by age 18, 75% from birth or other early childhood trauma).  Upper Cervical Care has earned its reputation as one of the best kept secrets in healthcare, but the awareness of something so common as the upper neck misalignment must grow exponentially to match the significance of the problems it can cause.     

 

American healthcare has a well-developed tendency to promote allowing the dam to break and then cleaning up the aftermath, often ignoring the gradual cause and effect relationship that defines most problems, mental or physical.  Given the complexity of the mind, it is time to broaden the fact finding focus so that the whole picture can be seen, including the physical dynamics such as the head/neck relationship that can heavily influence brain function and alter mental health.  Parents often tell their kids to get their heads on straight, a point made to instigate better emotional patterns.  The purpose of Upper Cervical Care is to literally get the head on straight, and it can be quite an effective tool to support better mental health.  

 

Thinking good things for you,

 

Dr. Chad

Monday, March 29, 2021

Upper Cervical Care vs Vertigo and Other Balance Disorders

 


Everything maintains a delicate balance in life.  Relationships, finances, and mental health are some of the more practical things that require balance day-to-day, exemplifying a comparable balance maintained inside the body routinely throughout our lives.  There is fluidity to it all, like a never-ending game of percentages, a shift toward a school grading scale equivalent of “A” level balance and the subsequent positive momentum that comes with it followed then by the pendulum swinging the other way in a test of resiliency sometimes too hard to pass.  When it comes to problems with balance and equilibrium suffered by those diagnosed with conditions like vertigo, Meniere’s disease, and others, resiliency has been weakened to a significant degree, so what factors shape the loss of that delicate balance and what can be done to correct them? 

First, it is important to understand how balance and equilibrium are established.  The brain depends on feedback from the eyes and the inner ears.  The position of the eyes is a dynamic constantly read by the brain, as is the amount of fluid in each of the various inner ear canals.  This awareness is accomplished through the hub of the body’s internal communication network, the brainstem, and the nerves branching from it.  An even keel can typically be upheld so long as the feedback loop between the brain, eyes, and ears remains clear of distortion through the brainstem. 

Unfortunately, there is a simple but common problem that can throw balance and equilibrium slowly and progressively into chaos. 

Due to the importance of eye position and inner ear fluid equality, the head needs to remain at least reasonably level.  The head sits on the top bone in the spine, which connects to the second bone to form the triumvirate serving as the body’s defacto foundation; the human body is built from the top-down structurally, not the ground-up.  Uniquely, the top bone in the neck lacks the interlocking features that prevent it from moving too much, making it more mobile, but less stable, a fact amplified in the early years of life before development is completed.  Trauma of all types tends to influence, in addition to the point(s) of impact, the end of the path of least resistance; in the body, the point of least resistance is the top of the spine, held in place predominantly by muscles.  When trauma occurs, the top bone in the neck regularly gets knocked out of its proper alignment.

Losing proper alignment of the head and neck frequently causes the brainstem to be compromised, akin to interfering with a cell tower in a phone network; it also immediately causes the head to tilt, throwing the eyes off level and the inner ear fluid out of balance.  75% of the time[i], this situation occurs in the first several years of life.  Before age 20, the percentage jumps to 85%, and by age 40, to 95%.  Head/neck misalignment is one of the most common ailments in the world.  The human body is innately wired to adapt, so it compensates for the tilt of the head, but borrowing from the earlier used game of percentages / school grading scale analogy, its ability to sustain the resiliency necessary to be even keeled with something so fundamental in an abnormal state is slowly weakened over time. 

The restoration of optimal head/neck alignment is an essential component to reversing the downward trend, allowing the body to readapt and return to normal balance.  Otherwise, the development of various balance disorders, or some other of the myriad diagnoses related to head/neck misalignment, is highly likely.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution.  The upper neck is very dynamic, so it often does not take much for it to be influenced negatively, but problems with it can be rather easily corrected by an Upper Cervical Chiropractor.  A head/neck misalignment is unique to all other misalignment types and thus must be handled with a great deal of precision – no cracking, popping, or manipulation.  X-rays are taken to identify the exact nature of the misalignment, down to the nearest millimeter and degree.  The correction based on the x-ray findings requires minimal force; it just has to be very specific so that once head/neck alignment is restored, the body can maintain it like a good habit replacing a destructive one. 

Other causes of balance disorders do exist, of course – due to their intended influence on the nervous system, pharmaceuticals quite frequently list various forms of dizziness / imbalance among their common side effects – but none are more prevalent than head/neck misalignment.  The goal for anyone suffering from vertigo or Meniere’s is ideally to engage the body to optimally adapt and heal, which makes the brainstem functioning normally and the head/neck being balanced foundational to returning to a healthier state.

Visit www.triaduppercervical.com or call 336-992-2536 for more information.



[i] Gutmann G, Manuelle
Medizin (1987) 25:5-10)

Monday, February 15, 2021

Introducing Naturopathic Doctor, Sandra Dean

Greetings! I’m Dr. Sandra Dean, Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine with a specialty in Homeopathy and Botanical Medicine. I am so thrilled to be announcing my partnership with Dr. Chad McIntyre and the Triad Upper Cervical Clinic in opening my Living Waters Naturopathic practice in Kernersville, NC. After several decades of dedication to the study of natural health, it is so exciting to be sharing in the vision of a balanced approach to health with this community.

 

As a traditional naturopath I focus on preventative medicine, and investigate the root causes that create body imbalances. With my extensive training at Trinity College of Natural Health, and the Australasian College of Natural Therapies and other certifications, I am able to offer a variety of natural modalities which I use to evaluate the whole body, mind, and spirit. In my practice, I use functional testing to measure the current energetic state of specific organs, glands and tissues, resonating toxins, food sensitivities, blood sugar imbalances, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. These evaluations provide a comprehensive picture of the acute or chronic stress that may be present. This information is used to create an individualized wellness plan that includes non-invasive natural therapies to restore health. I am not a medical doctor, and as such, I do not prescribe pharmaceuticals, diagnose, or treat diseases. The therapies I recommend are complementary to western medicine, and while it is obvious  there are too many factors at play to allow for a magic bullet cure, I do still strongly believe that the body can heal itself when allowed to do so, particularly when combining the proper guidance with nutrition, lifestyle modifications, and nurture that it needs.

 

As a child, I always had a deep interest in plants and nature. My curiosity for natural medicine began after battling migraines, and seizures for most of my childhood. After years of seeking conventional medicine resolution without success, my mother turned to natural therapies and herbal remedies that remarkably restored my health and well being in my later teenage years.

 

As life often does at times, I found myself being nudged back to the path of natural medicine after working for the airlines in the early 2000’s.  During that time, I was living  in Manhattan's Upper East Side.  I was primarily flying international flights, with a crazy schedule in different time zones, often eating poorly and noticing the drastic decline in my health once again with a heavily weakened immune system.  During the same timeframe, my grandfather, who we called “Papa Murphy” was diagnosed with cancer, and was given six months to live. It was simply devastating news, as he was my best friend. He began a whole foods diet, and followed a regimen with supplementation, herbal medicine, meditation techniques, and lifestyle modifications under the care of a Naturopathic Doctor. His body responded extremely well, and was so happy to have been able to share another 10 wonderful years with him!  He made such a huge impression on me that I also began a program to restore my health in the same way, which by no surprise, worked and my health improved significantly.

 

It was only a few months later, I once again found myself at a crossroads when I was confronted with the devastating effects individuals choices can have on one another and the world around us after witnessing the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers from the rooftop of my studio  brownstone apartment.  It was on that roof,  that I instantly made the decision to leave New York City, and the airline industry behind to go go back to college to immerse myself in an education with natural medicine, so that I could follow my passion to help others overcome sickness and hopefully bring some real and positive change to a world that needed it. I relocated to Colorado to dedicate my studies to botany. After graduating from the Australasian College, I spent nine months in New Zealand, researching Maori ethnobotanical plant medicine, volunteered on an organic, biodynamic farm and worked as an intern with clients in a holistic health clinic.

 

While abroad, I also fell in love with, and eventually married my soulmate, Jason.  After we married, we resided in the high desert southwest city of Albuquerque, New Mexico for about ten years where he worked in flight testing, and I began my natural health career path with my own natural products and education training company for progressive health brands throughout the southwestern region of the US. I continued to study and research plant medicine under seasoned herbalists from New Mexico and the surrounding states.

 

In 2011, Jason and I relocated to North Carolina to pursue our dream of raising children, homesteading, bee keeping, farming, and creating a plant sanctuary to protect the forest botanicals that are at-risk of becoming endangered. Our farm is called Living Waters Farmacy, where we offer a variety of herbal teas, and a monthly subscription herbal remedy bundles that teach people the simplicity of herbal medicine making.

 

I am honored to join the Triad Upper Cervical  community,  and I  look forward to sharing knowledge and experience with you. Please reach out to me  if you have any questions, or if you would like a complimentary fifteen minute consultation.

 

Contact me: Sandra@LivingWatersNaturalWellness.com.

Monday, January 18, 2021

Info to Empower and Reduce Fear in 2021 (from Health Coach, Tricia Sheehan)

Dear Friends,
 
Last August I organized and hosted a free online event, Healthy and Ready For Anything with a passion to help people feel more prepared and empowered not fearful and angry during the Pandemic. With those fires of fear stoked by political unrest it seems we are in a more dire situation than ever before in our lifetimes. I remain as passionate in my endeavor to be HELPFUL during this difficult time and in that spirit, compiled the information below.

It is 100% okay if you do not agree with or like this information. Take what resonates with you and helps you and decline the rest. Perhaps tuck it away as a seed planted for another time. But so many people are asking me for this information that I wanted to get something out. This is not comprehensive of course but it has some additional perspective and resources beyond what was already shared in Healthy & Ready For Anything (https://www.facebook.com/groups/HealthyAndReadyForAnything)
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Here we go....
 
Conventional medicine is understandably struggling to understand Covid (the disease) or even to isolate the exosome SARS-COV-2 (which is not alive. It is a packet of genetic information.)

It's not acting exactly like other viruses although the medical and scientific communities do have much experience with corona viruses. It's been likened to saying.... here is a new human who I do not know but I know basic things about all humans. We won't know for several years exactly what is happening with Covid and why Post Covid Syndrome is so problematic in some people and nonexistent in others. We don't yet know exactly why some people are exposed to it and develop absolutely no symptoms (esp the under 30 crowd), the majority exhibit minor symptoms, and the few experience serious and even fatal problems but the good news is that we are starting to understand and there ARE things everyone can do to protect themselves.

A major theory coming out of the most brilliant and open minded minds in science and medicine are revisiting Germ Theory (Pasteur) vs Terrain Theory (Beauchamp). These men were contemporaries and engaged in great debate about these two competing theories. How amazing and how important that this debate and exchange occurred. Because science is a process not a philosophy or a religion. When you believe in something too much as a scientist you are biased. Can any human truly overcome bias and know Truth 100% ? Open debate is a REQUIREMENT of the scientific process and it is being completely shut down and censored. Let that sink in. Which path leads us to better health and getting past a pandemic?

Science is notoriously slow. Despite very smart and well meaning scientists, this is just how the process works right now. Shutting down debate and widely accepting dogma makes this process even slower. There has been no such thing as "open source" science. Why not? Food for thought.

The current notion in our communities today is that you are either For Science or Against Science. I ask us all to drop that false set of choices. "#BecauseScience" is simply a way to shut down productive important discussion and debate. Anyone who claims to know with perfect certainty something about science is wildly incorrect. There have always been and will always be new studies, new technologies, and new insights that advance human understanding. It is not static and can not be. I bet in the next 10 years our minds are going to be completely BLOWN by the science that is coming.

Also please keep in mind that the term "Antivaxer" was developed specifically to put a negative label on certain people and has its very own marketing campaign. The correct term is Vaccine Risk Aware. Isn't that something we should all be - aware of our risks for any medical intervention, synthetic or natural? We have to sign multi-page documents before surgeries informing us of our risks, why is it different when accepting a prescription or an injection? Why is being Risk Aware getting shut down and censored? Food for thought.

Moving on to the good news. 
 
Research has shown various things to have potential to reduce SARS CoV2 replication and/or onset and/or severity of COVID-19 symptoms. See below for natural and pharmaceutical options.
NATURAL:
-Herbal Medicines
(double checking this just now it seems to have been taken down. Censorship is in full effect and no longer even trying to hide.
Hopefully this will come back up.)
PHARMACEUTICAL:
-Hydroxychloroquine
-Remdesivir
-Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca biologic/vaccine trials are not complete. Actually they are therapeutics not vaccines - explained here: 
 
https://thewallwillfall.org/2021/01/11/this-is-not-a-vaccine/. Take your own position on vaccines for yourself. Don't judge or decide for others. Each person has their own medical history and thoughts on this hot topic. Ask for an insert and read the whole thing especially ContraIndications. Some people should not receive vaccines, this is not pro vax or anti vax this is just facts on the insert. Consider rewards vs risks compared to the rewards and risks of experiencing the illness. Either way exposure to germs is 100% guaranteed, neither pharma interventions or natural interventions can remove the trillions of microbes in our air, water, seas, soil, food, etc. Putting effort into healthy living will put you in the best possible position to deal with any harmful or problematic germ that you encounter whether it's SARS-COV-2 or any of the other of billions of microbes we co-exist with.

*Notes:
- Not a definitive list.
-There is no known, FDA approved cure for Covid.
-Talk to your doctor before trying any of these treatments. (Doctor comes from the Latin word for "teacher"- just keep that in mind.)
- This is not medical advice. Only your personal healthcare provider who knows your individual health history can legitimately give that. But each and every one of us can learn and become the CEO of our health. It's time to engage, not blindly follow what anyone else is saying. Doctors are not the only ones with answers. No one doctor can know everything about everything. No human can be 100% right about 100% of the things. Learn and ask. Learn and ask. Reevaluate. Learn and ask. :-)

(Credit to Daniel Chong for compiling this list so concisely. I have many many more resources but didn't want to overwhelm.)
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I hope this was helpful and was the info so many of you have been asking for. If you didn't ask for it and are receiving this email, I thought you might be interested or find value in this information.

Blessings and good health to everyone!

Much love,
Tricia

Get Your Head On Straight and Get Your Life Back

(This article was originally published in the August 2020 edition of Kernersville Magazine and is reprinted here with permission)

Dr. Chad McIntyre has had a long history of serious bumps and bruises.  In fact, his unrelenting pain caused by sports injuries and car accidents forced him to take matters into his own hands.  What he discovered was that despite years of traditional medical and chiropractic care, it was specific, gentle correction to his upper cervical spine that gave him his health back.  Amazingly, a small tweak to his foundation led to whole-body recovery.  Three weeks after his first correction, he felt the best he had felt in over ten years.  His shoulder, neck, and upper back pain subsided, his digestive system returned to normal, and he regained his focus.

“You can simplify health into a basic formula,” Dr. Chad explained.  “Is your body’s ability to adapt to physical, chemical, and emotional stressors greater than or equal to the various stressors working against it?  Do you know if your body is structurally balanced?  Most do not, but structural imbalance makes you less healthy.  What are you eating?  What are you thinking about?  Is it constructive or destructive?  Are you aware of whether your body is functioning normally or abnormally?  The brainstem controls function; it can be compromised and you be relatively unaware of it, quietly weakening your body’s ability to adapt.”

This formula has worked at Dr. Chad’s office, Triad Upper Cervical Clinic (TUCC), for over a decade now. Celebrating its 11th anniversary earlier this year, TUCC is unique in its approach to wellness.  The science to the success of Dr. Chad’s practice is rooted in the brainstem.  This is incredibly important because the brainstem controls and regulates the functions of the various systems of the body (heart, lungs, digestion, immune, etc.).  It acts like a tower does in a cell phone network by routing the communication between the brain and the rest of the body in both directions.  However, the brainstem rests in a delicate area.  It exits at the base of the skull and sits in the ring of the top vertebra of the spine.  When the delicate balance between the skull and top vertebra is lost - even by a millimeter or two - the brainstem can become compromised.  Normal internal function is disrupted and a chain reaction begins which may cause a variety of health problems.  On top of this, the head and neck relationship form the body’s structural foundation, so when it shifts, the rest of the body is forced to compensate, which causes muscles from head-to-toe to be pulled out of balance and leads to a variety of aches and pains, and symptoms throughout the body.  It is no different than the way a home or a building’s foundation not being level causes the windows, roof, and walls to shift.

It has always been important to Dr. Chad and his wife Sarah that they remain active in the Kernersville community so they can set a good example for their son and daughter.  But as shown with past health ailments, staying involved would not be possible for Dr. Chad without the proper healthcare in place.  That is the beauty of being a testament of your own craft.  TUCC removes irritation to the brainstem in order to restore both optimal internal function and structural balance.  The correction is very gentle and safe for people of all ages and can help anyone regain mobility and activity.  Although it is a specialization within chiropractic, it requires no twisting, turning, cracking, popping, or uncomfortable jerking of the head or neck.  Triad Upper Cervical Clinic is the only one of its kind in the Triad.  TUCC corrects only the top two bones in the neck with the understanding that their proper alignment ensures your body’s structural balance from top to bottom.

Dr. Chad practices a ‘less is more’ approach, advocating for the  elimination of destructive functional and structural habits and a shift into prevention and maintenance mode once better habits are formed.  It makes all the difference when it comes to health and wellbeing.  Dr. Chad explained, “The last several decades have removed personal responsibility from the equation, making people depend on interventions.  Health, though, is about choices and habits.  People have to be re-empowered to make their own choices -to make better choices that form better habits.  We teach that health is shaped by proper function, nutrition, structural balance, exercise, and attitude.”

TUCC enables the brainstem to operate at its best, and any additional healing modalities and lifestyle changes are improved in their effectiveness because of it.  Many TUCC patients report immediate and long-term improvements with conditions such as migraines, chronic pain, vertigo, autoimmune conditions, digestive disorders, and various neurological problems.  However, the procedure itself is not a cure.  Rather, it is what allows you to fully exhibit the ability to heal yourself.

Since TUCC opened in January 2010, patients have traveled from all over North Carolina and Virginia to experience Upper Cervical Care and take back control of their lives.  Triad resident Michelle H. shared, “Since being under Dr. Chad’s care, I have been free of Trigeminal Neuralgia pain, migraines, anxiety and have had many other benefits including improvement with GI function, deeper and more restful sleep, increased focus and decreased back pain.  I now have my daughter under Dr. Chad’s care… she is nearly migraine free and has shown improvement with focus, mood, and GI function.”

If you are ready to change your life, give TUCC a call.  Hope, healing, and health are just around the corner.  Triad Upper Cervical Clinic is located at 432B W. Mountain Street, Kernersville, NC 27284.  Visit www.TriadUpperCervical.com for more information or call 336-992-2536 for a consultation to see how Upper Cervical Care can directly help you.

“My personal experiences with my health led me down the holistic path; Upper Cervical Chiropractic changed my life.  The change we need in healthcare is a shift in focus on the patient’s end toward taking personal responsibility and on the industry’s end toward being proactive instead of reactive.  A lot of people suffer unnecessarily such as I did.  It doesn’t have to be that way,” Dr. Chad added.

What is “The Doctor Inside” Each of Us? (Conclusion)

 

  

For three months late last year, an exploration took place here with the purpose of fundamentally broadening the concept of health, what actually takes place inside of the human body to achieve health, and each individual person’s role in becoming healthy.  The core position taken in the trio of columns leading to this finale was that “the doctor inside” each of us does the healing and our job is to compliment it.  This conclusion will emphasize that the better “the doctor inside” of us is understood, the better defined the road to health will be, and thus the healthier our society will become. 

It is important to have a basic understanding of how various things work.  That is how value is established.  Parents and teachers help kids connect good grades to short-term and long-term rewards.  Industry innovators sell the public on new ideas, often at the natural expense of classic ideas, the value in the former increasing as the value in the latter decreases.  The church instills the importance of acknowledgement in something greater than ourselves.  Both in these big picture concepts and in smaller things such as a pencil for writing or a pillow for a good night’s sleep, grasping their benefit comes from a baseline knowledge of what they bring to our lives. 

Health, increasingly so over the past half century, became too abstract; healthcare, consequently, lost its way.  “The doctor inside” has been rendered largely inconsequential by the conventionalists that serve as the primary educators of health in our society.  Since it has been given little to no value by those trusted to make health-related decisions, it has little to no value to the consumers within the healthcare industry.  Yet, “the doctor inside” has infinite value.  It is the innate intelligence which governs all activity within the body, keeping us alive and functioning; without it, we are reduced to a corpse or any other form of non-living matter.  The average adult is made up of 75 trillion cells, each of which performs 200,000 chemical reactions every split second.  Convert that math into a dollar amount and it equates to wealth beyond imagination.  That is the value of “the doctor inside.”  Human health potential will not be realized broadly across the population until that value is acknowledged.    

A more faith-based interpretation is that God supplies each human-being with the innate intelligence necessary for life, and so “the doctor inside” is an expression of God within each of us.  As referenced in a previous part of this series, label it something else if so desired, but the reality is that this great organizer of all human functions is present from cradle to grave.  It is divine, no matter if you define that adjective as God-like or as just plain awesome.  American healthcare exemplifies the idiom, “throwing the baby out with the bath water,” or the fallacy in eliminating something good when attempting to rid ourselves of something perceived to be bad.  In concerning itself almost exclusively with ever-changing theories and symptom management by chemical bombardment, it has largely ignored the very nature of the human body and the role of “the doctor inside” in facilitating health.  

Adaptability is the key that unlocks health potential, and it is not coincidentally the primary role of “the doctor inside” us.  A broken bone that heals in two months, the presence of all new blood cells in the body every sixteen weeks; these are amazing things that deserve a lot of credit.  Be sure to give the credit where it is due.  If a friend loses their job and their spouse, and then a year later is thriving in a new job and has found love again, we comment on their resiliency and their ability to bounce back.  In healthcare, credit is routinely given to all parties except the one that deserves the lion’s share of it: “the doctor inside.”  The inborn intelligence of the human body is the most underappreciated thing in human history.  We repeatedly look outside of the body for answers on how to heal – usually just when sick – and the answers are there already, innately gifted to us. 

That is not at all to say that letting the body simply do its job will lead to perfect health.  Humans are imperfect, made up of organic matter.  There will always be forces in life that work against health.  2020 offered a plethora of examples.  Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that, when optimized, we have the health potential to prevent the vast majority of our most common ailments, and also the potential to overcome them; “the doctor inside” just needs us to remove the variables standing in its way.  Health, then, is a math problem: is the body’s ability to adapt to physical, chemical, emotional, and environmental stressors greater than or equal to the various stressors working against it?  If not, ill health in several among its thousands of manifestations will ensue.  Optimization is made possible by knowing how the aforementioned equation flips to the sum total of stressors overcoming the body’s ability to adapt to them and how then to flip it around again.   

The final piece to fully understanding “the doctor inside” is how it adapts, which is a function of the nervous system.  The term “nerve” can be confusing.  Unlike a blood vessel, its purpose is not self-explanatory.  Nerves are basically electrical wires across which information-carrying electrical impulses travel.  They are the conduits for the brain and all parts of the body to communicate with one another, the roads that “the doctor inside” travels to stimulate healing.  The nervous system is comparable to the electrical system in a home. 

Transmitting an electrical impulse from one location to another, which in the body is a constant exercise in communication between the brain/stem and the various organs, muscles, and tissues, is a matter of timing.  The basketball held a split second longer and Michael Jordan’s famous “Shot” rims out; a moment too late tuning to the right radio station and a life changing song has come and gone without ever being heard.  Timing is everything, within electrical networks as well.  Everyone has experienced this with their cell phone; the signal strength decreases when it takes longer for the phone to communicate with the cell tower. 

The body’s cell tower is the brainstem, which as the hub of and the origination point for all the nerves is also akin to the main fuse in a home electrical circuit breaker.  The brainstem is the most likely point of disruption within the human body network due its delicate surrounding anatomy.  It can be destructively influenced by routine head trauma, especially before structural development is complete during youth, disrupting the timing of electrical impulses in both directions, down from the brain and back up to the brain; fortunately, it can then be constructively influenced by Upper Cervical Care, which non-invasively removes physical obstruction to restore proper communication, clearing the path for “the doctor inside” to travel to the proper place and at the proper time.  

Mostly unbeknownst to us consciously, there is a constant tug of war going on inside our bodies between destructive forces and the resistance to them (“the doctor inside”-controlled ability to adapt).  The dynamic that we must be responsible for is understanding that our input, also part of the equation, can be constructive or destructive.  Fast food consistently versus home-cooked meals with fresh, organic ingredients, for instance, is a decision that swings health for better or worse, especially over long periods.  Another example, so very apt right now, is to or not to pay close attention to things like sugar consumption or a fear-based mindset, which can both drastically alter immune system integrity during a time when it needs all hands on deck.  

Pharmaceuticals are an interesting part of this constructive or destructive conversation.  The reality is that all of them are designed to have an impact on “the doctor inside.”  That bears reiteration: every medication’s purpose is to influence “the doctor inside” us.  Like a tutor in school, a drug is introduced to facilitate the guidance necessary for success.  It is often misunderstood as the source of success, when truthfully its job is to help the body be successful.  The problem, of course, is that this kind of chemical tutelage is unpredictable and often demonstrates the human tendency for miscalculation based on always-changing theories.  We cannot break the laws of life with our theories, and when we try, we ourselves get broken.  Such is why adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals, of which we consume 80% of the world’s supply in America, is the third to first leading cause of death and injury in the United States; and such is why pharmaceuticals, in a revamped healthcare system, would assume their proper position as the last resort instead of representing 95% of recommended options.    

A healthy lifestyle is about eliminating the nutritional, structural, chemical, psychological, and neurological variables that disrupt the ability of “the doctor inside” to reorganize and overcome (when necessary).  Ill health in all its various forms and diagnoses comes from a decrease in the ability of “the doctor inside” to adapt.  Health cannot be achieved by treating the symptoms of being unhealthy.  Harmony, synergy, the optimal expression of innate intelligence – call it what you will – we are our best when we give “the doctor inside” its best chance to work.