Chapter Three Life's Treasures

"Wonders of opportunity exist for only a brief moment in time, you have to have vision in order to spot them, and take advantage of them." ~John Sculley

We want to share a story about a young boy, who was very happy, energetic and extremely active.  He was always playing, enjoying sports, and other outdoor activities like swimming, camping, fishing, and hiking.  Although he was very active he never had pain.  That is, until he was about twelve years old.  Then for no apparent reason, he was struck with severe mid back pain.  The situation worsened attimes.  While bending down or leaning over the desk at school; he would become stuck in that position and unable to straighten at all.  During these episodes of immobility, the pain would take his breath away.  He felt as though a knife had been driven into his spine.  As you might imagine this is not a normal situation, especially for a child.  The episodic duration would vary from a mere minute to perhaps thirty at a time.  Gradually the back pain became a constant daily condition but the "locking up" episodes diminished.  His parents took him to medical doctors for evaluations.  They could not find any problem or explain the episodic pain and immobility.  His family at that time had no knowledge of chiropractic; therefore, it was not an option.  As pain became a constant companion, it was measured by the degree not its presence or absence.  More frustrating than the pain was the inability of the medical doctors to diagnose or treat the condition.  They said it was growing pains and would go away, it didn't.  As years went by he learned to cope with the pain.  The episodes of immobility had stopped.  However, the mid back pain was now slowly traveling towards his low back!

One summer after many years of suffering he experienced a particularly bad episode of pain.  His family urged him to seek medical attention again, as it had been so many years since he had been examined as an adolescent.  This time they suggested seeing an orthopedist that might be more knowledgeable than the previous doctors.  Reluctantly, he conceded to appease them.  Though he thoroughly believed no new information would be discovered.  The young man was examined, x-rayed and was told once again, there was no answer.  The doctor did not know what could be wrong.  He suggested that an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) be performed to provide a possible answer.  The young man refused this for several reasons.  One, it was too expensive.  He also felt in his heart and soul that his condition was no different than the past.  Lastly, he did not want to be confined inside a small MRI unit since he was claustrophobic.

After his last attempt to seek answers from a medical physician and not being given any, he resigned himself to what he had already known.  He would just have to live with it.  He had watched his mom suffer with back pain that did not slow here down.  She worked hard all her life at home and on the job, employed in meat rooms and deli departments of grocery stores.  She lifted, cut and packaged meat.  She suffered with back pain since she whas a 16 year old girl.  The doctors diagnosed her with a missing vertebra in her spine.  They wanted to perform surgery on her back and expected her to be in a full body cast for several months.  But her mother said no to that.  Believing that his back problem likely had a hereditary link to his mother's the young man was resigned to the fact that he would spend his life in pain.

Finally a co-worker suggested seeing his Chiropractor.  It took much persuading on the co-worker's part.  In his mind a chiropractic doctor was no different than a medical doctor and would most likely not have a different answer or produce a better result.  All others had failed to help him so he saw no point in spending more money for another doctor to tell him that he did not know what was wrong with him.  At that time, he was ignorant to chiropractic as many people are still today.  That is to say he had no experience with chiropractic.  He did not know any Chiropractors, nor did he know anyone who went to a Chiropractor other than this colleague.  He could not say exactly what finally convinced him to go to a Chiropractor but he did ultimately go.  That was the day that changed his life!  He admits to having a negative attitude when he first walked into the Chiropractor's office, but it soon disappeared.  What seemed to be a genuine caring attitude as the staff greeted and welcomed him to the office initially impressed him.  The reception area was open, the staff was fully visible and they were interacting with the patients who were sitting there.  In fact, even the patients seemed friendly; they spoke to one another and were smiling!  This was a stark contrast from most doctors' reception rooms, where most people are unhealthy and seem grim.  The doctor saw him almost immediately, and he was pleasantly surprised that he did not have to wait.  The doctor explained the procedures and then he was examined and x-rayed.  Another moment of negative thought occurred as he heard that the doctor wanted new x-rays.  After all, he had just been x-rayed by the orthopedist.  The doctor explained however, that he wanted to see a standing view of his spine in weight bearing position.  The Chiropractor further explained that in the previous x-rays, he had been lying down, and that in this position, the true biomechanical relationship of the spine would be obscured.  The doctor also mentioned that he would compare the two sets of x-rays.  This explanation made sense, so he agreed.  When the man returned he brought the other x-rays.

The doctor spent more time with him comparing the x-rays, explaining his condition and suggesting a course of treatment.  Apparently, an undetected childhood disease called Schuermann's was hidden in the spine.  While no outward signs were present, this condition was present in the young man's spine and caused distortion of the vertebrae.  The doctor showed him what it had done to the shape and quality of his spine.  The Chiropractor confirmed what the man had felt all those years:  It was not in his head and it was not growing pains!  It was something that he as a layman could actually see!  Then his joy turned to anger.  All the other doctors examined him and took x-rays of his spine.  Why hadn't anyone else seen this?  Of course, part of the answer is that medical doctors are not trained to look at the spine and its relationship to the nervous system.

He began his treatments and started to feel different.  The doctor eased his suffering, improved his health, and changed his life.  He was very impressed by several things.  The doctor never rushed him and was fully willing to engage in dialogue, prompting him to ask whatever questions he liked.  It is not often that you can actually spend time with a doctor in a very busy office.  This doctor took the time for him.  What really thrilled him was that the doctor actually uncovered the problem and revealed why he had been having pain since he was a boy!  After all these years someone actually said, "I understand and here is what is wrong."  Not only that, but the doctor also told him how he was going to help him and that the method of care would have nothing to do with liing on medications.

He loved his chiropractic experience.  One day the doctor suggested that he should consider returning to school to become a Chiropractor.  The doctor felt that he would be right for chiropractic and that he would enjoy it as much as he did.  From the moment the suggestion was made, it was like a surge of energy, a sense of urgency and heightened awareness that went through his mind and body.  It was a feeling of great excitement and anticipation.  There had never been anything that made such a quick and strong impact on him as this.  He knew it was right.  In fact, he felt as though he did not have a choice.  This was his destiny.  He made the most important decision of his life.  Within nine months, he left his job, his home, his friends, and family and moved to Kansas City to become a doctor of chiropractic.  That man is Dr. Rick Barrett.

Chapter Five Pro-Adjuster--A Breakthrough in Healing

"There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world: an idea whose time has come." ~Victor Hugo

Imagine thirty to forty years ago, if we told you that dentistry would be painless, that doctors would watch television to perform surgeries, that brain surgery for tumors could be done with a laser, that fetuses could be operated on within the uterus, that knife-less surgery could be perfomred--you would not have believed us.  By the same token, would you believe us if we told you that chiropractic manipulations and reorientation of the nervous system could be done painlessly without any popping or cracking sounds, and no jerking or pulling of the body or neck?  Would you believe that newborns as well as the elderly with osteoporosis could be treated effortlessly?  The facts are all these things that were never heard of before, perhaps once just dreams in someone's head are now reality and commonplace procedures.  The future is now!  Advances in computers and engineering technology have been able to uniquely blend with chiropractic in order to both analyze and treat the human body in such a way that was never before realized.  The potential for the human being to end pain and to achieve their peak nervous system enhancement has never been greater.  Humans are consistently asking their bodies to perform at higher level.  Now we have the techniques and the technology to match the demands placed on the spine and the nervous system.  We now have the capability to fine tune our own energy and enhance every aspect of our lives.

What if there was something you could do from the day you were born to extend your life, improve your performance and maximize your health?  Would you do it?  Of course you would!  That's whqt people call a "no brainer".  It is easy to look back on life from a new vantage point and say, "I should have done that differently".  Financial experts will tell you that simply putting one dollar a day into a mutual fund will yield one million dollars in twenty years.  Can you imagine that great reward by a simple daily action?  How many of us look back and say, "I wish I had done that."  Creating a simple daily habit can have a tremendous impact on the future.  This is true of one's health also.  We can create health in our bodies through some simple actions that will compound over time to pay hugh health dividends!  Wishing does none of us any good.  Only actions will produce results.  If the past can not be changed, let's alter the future.  Start today by creating a new reality of your own health.  Certainly we wouldn't want to wait another 5 years and say, "Wow, look at all that time we've wasted, again!"  Would you?  None of us can go back in time and start our finances over.  In the same way, we cannot rewrite our health history.  What can be accomplished however is changing the way our health will be managed for the future.  There may be an opportunity with a child or grandchild, however, to create something for them from the very beginning.  All of us can make a conscious decision right now, in present time, to improve our health now and in the future.

The method to achieve maximum health from your body now and in the future begins with a simple anatomical concept.  The nervous system (the brain and all the nerves) controls every function of your body.  If this network is interfered with, pain ensues as bodily malfunction does, resulting in sickness and diminished overall health.  That "something" you can do to improve performance and maximize health is to maximize the health of your nervous system.  There are several ways to do this.  The number one way is allowing a doctor of chiropractic using the Pro-Adjuster equipment to analyze and treat your nervous system.

Several hundred years B.C. Hippocrates advised that the spine should be looked at and evaluated as the source of many diseases.  This ancient wisdom is increasingly applicable today.  Your spine consists of a "backbone" (column of spinal vertebrae) and the nervous system, the spinal cord and spinal nerves that exit through openings between the vertebrae.  Twenty-four bones are stacked up one on top of the other from your skull down to your tailbone.  Muscles and ligaments are attached to these bones for movement and stability.

A vertebral motor unit consists of one vertebra on top of another separated by a soft cushion called a disc.  A hole is formed by the shape and positioning of the two vertebrae.  This hole allows the spinal nerves to pass through unobstructed.  The nerve roots send electrical and nutritional energy to every organ and tissue of your body through millions of nerve fibers.

If the vertebrae are misaligned in some way they will be unable to move and function as designed, thereby creating aberrant motion.  These misaligned vertebrae are termed subluxations, fixations or motion defects.  These fixations/motion defects create a situation where the vertebrae may be rigid (hypo-mobile) or too fluid (hyper-mobile).  The end result is Nerve Impingement Syndrome.  Ultimately this translates to nervous system interference resulting in pain or ill health without pain.  It interferes or stops the flow of electrical information from being successfully passed through, the "flow is impeded".  Impedance is simply something that is blocking another thing.  Just as traffic accidents would impede the flow of vehicles.  Traffice would pass through an area where an accident has occurred more slowly with few vehicles at a time.  Another example of this would be a dam which impedes the flow of water.

The nervous system is the electrical wiring of your body that allows you to perform.  Much like the wiring of your house allows lights to function and perform at optimum levels.  Visualize a standard dimmer switch in your house.  By turning the switch you can create more impedance to the electrical flow.  By doing this, it is demonstrated easily that less electricity traveling to your light bulb means less light.  Therefore there is less than optimum performance produced form the bulb.  It is capable of more but can not give it because of the impedance.  When they are misaligned, the vertebrae and discs can act like a dimmer switch impeding nerve flow, creating malfunction, ill health and poor performance from the body.

This situation can successfully be treated using the Pro-Adjuster.  Restoring proper motion of the vertebrae with the Pro-Adjuster results in less impedance to the spinal nerves, resulting in improved, proper nervous system function, resulting in improved bodily performance, resulting in improved health!