Managing Your Symptoms

Managing Your Symptoms

What Problems Need Attention?

In sports injuries there's a very good rule of thumb - a relative scale by which to grade the severity of an injury. Here it is from least to worst. Least bad is an injury that hurts only when you're doing your sport. If you're a football player, your recently sustained injury only hurts when you get tackled, for instance. Next is an injury that hurts when you're doing your sport or another type of exercise. The football injury also hurts when you're doing aerobics on the elliptical machine, for example. Next in severity is an injury that also hurts when you're doing regular physical activity, such as walking to the store. Worst of all is an injury that hurts not only when you're active but also when you're resting. Pain at rest is usually an indication that the injury needs to be evaluated by your chiropractor or your family doctor. Other levels of injuries may need to be seen by your chiropractor or family doctor, but when you have pain at rest, pick up the phone right away.

Most of us are procrastinators. We let things go until the last minute. Papers, magazines, and books pile up on the desk until the process of finding what we're looking for resembles an archeological dig. Our garages look like our desks. Stuff fills the garage just like stuff covers the desk. Eventually, finding things resembles exploring for treasure in a dark, long-abandoned cave. We're motivated to clean our desks and garages only by the impossibility of adding any more stuff to the clutter and the piles.

Sometimes it seems as if procrastinating is hard-wired into our DNA. This is particularly true when it comes to our health. No one wants to go to the doctor, so it becomes even easier to put off the needed checkup. Whether it's our chiropractor, our dentist, or our family physician, nobody seems to want to pick up the phone, go to the office, and take care of business. Of course, procrastination in relation to our health can lead to some big problems. Tooth pain that comes and goes doesn't seem like such a big deal. But if the coming and going is fairly consistent, then there's probably a cavity that needs filling. You keep putting it off and when you finally get around to going to our dentist, you learn you need an expensive root canal and a crown. That's not good.

Or you're playing pickup basketball on the weekend. You go up for a rebound and get shoved in the back. The next day you have lower back pain. You keep thinking it'll go away, but it's now four weeks later and your back is still stiff and sore. Had you seen your chiropractor the first week, after the pain had persisted for four or five days, treatment might have been pretty straightforward. Now you learn it's going to take at least several weeks of treatment before you can play ball again. Not good. Diabetes is the same thing. ¹High blood pressure is the same thing.² Overweight is the same thing. ³Procrastination with your health always costs more time and more money in the end. Prevention and, if necessary, early detection, are the keys.

When it comes to your health, the opposite of procrastination is managing your symptoms. It's not necessary to run to your chiropractor for every ache and pain or to run to your family physician for every sniffle or low-grade fever. It is important and necessary to pay attention to what's going on with you. Symptoms that linger mean something is wrong and your body needs help in getting better. Once you begin paying attention a learning curve will kick in. You'll develop skill in identifying problems that need attention. The next step, of course, is to pick up the phone, make an appointment, and arrive at the appointment on time. Your chiropractor or family physician will be glad to be of service in identifying the problem and providing appropriate treatment.


¹Bo S, et al: Prevalence of undiagnosed metabolic syndrome in a population of adult asymptomatic subjects. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 75(3):362-365, 2007
²Guyomard V, Myint PK: Optimum control of blood glucose for prevention and treatment of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Curr Treat Options Cardiovasc Med 11(3):201-211, 2009
³Anderson AS, Caswell S: Obesity management--an opportunity for cancer prevention. Surgeon 7(5):282-285, 2009

Your Personal Corporation

Your Personal Corporation

Energy - Your Health Currency

The currency of U.S. corporations is dollars. In Europe, it's Euros. In Japan, corporations use yen. From a health perspective, the currency of your personal corporation is energy. When your personal corporation is doing well, you have lots of energy. Energy inputs exceed energy outputs. When a person is frequently tired, fatigued, irritable, and groggy, his personal corporation is losing ground. Energy outputs are exceeding energy inputs. The long-term outcome of such a set of conditions is disease. Our normal state is to have energy to spare. Even when we have many responsibilities and it seems as if time is always running short, it's still possible to experience an energy surplus. Provided we make the time to eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, get enough rest, and keep our bodies in peak condition with regular chiropractic checkups, we'll have sufficient energy reserves to fulfill all our requirements and have enough left over to enjoy our leisure hours.

You are the CEO of your own personal enterprise. In addition to whatever business you might be running or might be in, your personal corporation consists of the value you generate during your time on Earth.

Some persons such as government officials make choices and take actions that obviously affect the lives of many others. For most of us it may seem that we have less scope and reduced impact, but that is not necessarily so. Our choices and actions affect those people closest to us - our family, friends, and colleagues - and their choices and actions affect persons closest to them. An ever-widening series of ripples continues to flow, affecting more and more people, all stemming from the actions we take and the choices we make today. If we haven't recognized this potential and this power, all that's required is raising our gaze to the horizon and widening our field of view.

In order for a corporation - a personal corporation - to be effective it needs to have a sound balance sheet. If there's a lot of red ink it's going to be difficult to be able to provide goods and services. Depletion of resources leads to depletion of energy. We need to provide a steady stream of raw materials so we're able to create new products that are desired in the marketplace.

Our personal corporations require specific raw materials ^1,2,3

• Healthful, nutritious food
• Regular vigorous exercise
• Sufficient rest
• A positive mental attitude

If we're not receiving sufficient amounts of any of these inputs, the debit side of our balance sheet increases. We don't have enough energy to accomplish our daily tasks, let alone do the things that will make our corporation profitable. With sufficient inputs we have energy to spare and our corporation thrives.

What are some outputs of a healthy personal corporation? A healthy, happy family. A creative work environment. Ongoing engagement in rewarding social activities. An ongoing experience of accomplishment. Self-expression. Peace. Joy.

In order for our personal corporation to continue to grow and prosper, it's basic needs must be met. In addition, it's always a good idea to make sure all the parts are working properly. That's where chiropractic care comes in. Just as an accountant reviews the financial health of a corporation, your chiropractor reviews its physical health. She makes "adjustments" wherever and whenever necessary, enabling your personal corporation to continue to evolve.

¹Fitzbiggon ML, Beech BM: The role of culture in the context of school-based BMI screening. Pediatrics 124(Suppl 1):S50-S62, 2009
²Maizes V, et al: Integrative medicine and patient-centered care. Explore (NY) 5(5):277-289, 2009
³O'Donnell MP: Definition of health promotion 2.0: embracing passion, enhancing motivation, recognizing dynamic balance, and creating opportunities. Am J Health Promot 24(1):4, 2009