Missoula Chiropractor says “Pain is NOT Your Problem!”
Chiropractic patients commonly seek out care for an ache or pain. Understandable isn’t it? Patients believe that as soon as their pain is gone, they will be better. The irony is patients do not actually come in because of pain. People in pain become patients when pain starts to prevent them from activities they love to do. Pain becomes a motivator to take action so they can return to a certain quality of life. The wellness revolution is in full swing. As we gain a stronger understanding of human potential we see a tremendous capacity for longevity and the expression of vibrant life. Scientists have discovered isolated populations of people that live extremely long lives without any evidence of disease (120-150 years). Most people will spend more money on their “health” in the last two weeks of their life than they do their entire lives!Dr. Eric Plasker said it best, “Many people spend the first 50 years of their lives ignoring their health while they accumulate wealth, only to spend the next 50 years losing their wealth to buy back their health. Knowing that your longevity potential is 100 years gives you an opportunity to place your health at the top of your value scale.”
Does anybody really want to manage pain? As a society and a human being, wouldn’t we rather understand: 1.Why the pain is there 2. How to fix it at the least amount of cost so that it does not return? Of course! Drugs and surgery are not the answer and Americans are finally starting to see the light. That boat is sinking. For too long the medical community has left people with three choices 1. live with the pain and do nothing 2. Take medication to reduce pain but risk side-effects 3. The last is surgery which can have a high failure rate depending on location. Who wants to bet on those odds? The intent of this article is to identify how the differences in philosophy between medicine and chiropractic have a dramatic effect on outcome. Often medicine “misses the forrest for the trees.” When we look at the metaphysics of medicine vs chiropractic, we discover a vastly different nature of reality. Medicine utilizes a reductionistic model of health. The goal is to break the body down into its parts to be able to understand the whole. For example, they study cells, organs, tissues, biochemistry, physiology, etc… Each is its own branch of science. When a patient comes to a medical doctor with a symptom, the doctor runs tests to see if the body is producing something in excess or if it is deficient. The most common solution is to control the biochemistry with a pharmaceutical drug or perform surgery with the ultimate goal of normalizing the body.
The nature of the Chiropractic model of health is that the body is a self-regulating and self-healing “organism.” We are much more than just a compilation of cells, organs and tissues. We are a thriving, complex and dynamic living being. Our nature cannot be reduced to a double blind randomized control trial. We do not fit into this paradigm because of the complex nature of our existence. We belong in a holistic model and for good reason. The very nature of holism takes into consideration the entire being. Holism looks at the dynamic interaction of the body on a structural (cells, muscles, organs, tissues, nervous system etc…), biochemical (macro and micronutrients, enzymes, cofactors, air quality), and emotional level (thoughts, circumstances of life a.k.a. “stressors”, 2500 words per minute running through our brain telling us who we are and what our potential is.) The health of the human body cannot be broken down merely into systems. One system cannot be considered without taking into account the other. They are one in the same and each system depends equally on the health and function of the other to maintain human life. When each system is doing its job appropriately, would you say that the organism is dying or thriving? Obviously thriving!
Structure, biochemistry and emotions are interdependent. Each affects the other. When one of the three branches of human health become stressed what happens? There is absolutely a direct impact on the other two systems. Emotional stress can have such a deleterious effect on the body that it compromises the structure of the musculoskeletal system. This usually manifests as pain. The answer to the problem for the medical community is to put a metaphorical band aid on the pain. This comes in the form of anti-inflammatory drugs and pain killers. The real issue the person was having was emotional in this example! When the doctors prescribe, it is like yanking the batteries out of the smoke detector. The patient feels better and believes nothing is wrong! In the meantime, the house is still burning and damage is accumulating. Is there any surprise that the pain returns? Often worse! The diagnosis was blown from the start. The real problem was emotional, not structural. The structural problem is an outcome or effect of an emotional cause. Have you ever been so angry at a friend or family member that it felt like your blood was boiling? This was your emotions causing changes in your biochemistry in the form of elevated blood pressure. Can you imagine someone who lives in a state of emotional overdrive. Is it any surprise now why they have high blood pressure?
Pain is NOT your problem. It is the fundamental answer to the frustration and confusion regarding the pandemic of chronic pain in the United States, and it is the title of this article. It is not the problem. Pain is a symptom which serves as a protective mechanism to prevent further compromise to the body. Surprisingly, the sensory portion of the nervous system, which produces pain, makes up a small percentage of the total nervous system, 10%. The remaining 90% operates thanklessly and silently. When the safety of the body is in jeopardy, the sensory system sends out a warning signal to “Listen up!” How often do you listen? These fast-faced times clearly demand productivity. We have been desensitized to pain. We have been taught to ignore and minimize pain. How many times did we hear “don’t be a baby, walk it off, suck it up, don’t rub it, take an aspirin, etc…” from our mothers, fathers, teachers, preachers, coaches and big pharmacy.
We were LIED to! What if we were taught to be sensory acute to every little ache and pain and to question where they came from? Do aches and pains occur out of the blue sky? No way! They only seem to for an externally driven person. The externally driven person is always the victim. They blame circumstances, bad luck, bad germs and bad genes on the state of their health. Aches and pains are an expression of what is going on inside the body. They are progressive sirens that beep louder and louder the longer you ignore the primary cause of the alarm. If we were trained to appreciate and value pain from an early age, we wouldn’t get to the point of chronic pain. By living internally and being self-motivated, we would now comprehend that everything we get in life is an outcome of our effort and investment. Good or bad! If you are a person suffering from chronic and “unexplainable” pain, I would bet you have been poorly educated in regards to diet, proper exercise and the impact that emotional stress has on your body. You have almost certainly made a small investment and effort in accepting responsibility for your health. Most likely you live externally and have never recognized the root of your problems because nobody told you! I am telling you to start challenging yourself. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and make dramatic changes because you deserve to express life optimally just like your friends and family who do not suffer like you do.
Pain is your wake up call. Pain demands that you change your life and take control. You will be forced to change your behavior and environment as you work to isolate the “why.” “Why” is the pain there in the first place? As you go through the process, you deepen your understanding of health to a point that it cannot contract to its original size. It is not possible to unring a bell! The more you take action and embrace the process, the stronger and more internally driven you become. This leads to knowledge. Knowledge and experience together lead to personal power!
Chiropractic care is an investment in your health. Choosing wellness care over sick and symptom based care is a proactive and preventative action. You can now see how there is no need to wait for the engine to smoke to change the oil in your car. When you consciously shift your paradigm of health and break free from your outdated belief systems which no longer serve you, this is extraordinary action! This is applaudable because it is such a massive shift in thinking. If you join a gym, does the membership card come with 6 pack abs and a tight toned butt? Do they guarantee lower blood pressure for paying your monthly dues? Of course not! A spectacular body and great health take an investment on your part of sweat and participation. You must show up to reap the benefits. You need to put in the work, just like life! You can either be the “observed” or the “observer” and on the inside or the outside. The observed lived consciously and internally. Every practice member within Transformation Chiropractic pays cash for their care. They understand and appreciate that paying for their care is an investment just like training in the gym. People under my care choose to live optimally. They appreciate that life long wellness is a decision. Nobody is forcing them to choose health and vitality. They are educated on the benefits of chiropractic care for prevention. Transformation Chiropractic patients enjoy the journey of wellness. They understand that “wellness” is not a state they can race to. There is no point where you have “made it” because a pinnacle does not exist. There is only one absolute destination in life and that is death. How we choose to utilize the iterim is our human potential. By holding ourselves accountable to the process of achieving this potential, we live internally and practice free will!
Dr. Shaun Stuto is a missoula wellness doctor and owner/founder of Transformation Chiropractic. Transformation Chiropractic is a chiropractic wellness center in downtown Missoula, Montana. Visit our site today and learn more about how you can start creating a life of abundant health.