Yesterday I had a woman cry in the waiting room of my office.  She cried because she had been hurting for so long.  She cried because her problems had been a tremendous burden to her.  She cried because yesterday was the first time in years that she had felt any relief, whatsoever.  Her back and neck were pain free and her knee was able to move normally for the first time since her knee operation.

For her, the realization of what I do and how I help people came with sudden emotion.  This isn't the first time I've witness this sort of thing.  In fact, it isn't the hundredth or two hundredth time I've seen it.  If I had to guess I'd say maybe the thousandth or more.

Last month I saved a woman's job.  She had been through the entire Medical Workmen's Compensation Apparatus without any improvement.  Doctors and pills, pills and doctors.  She had had 12 weeks of Physical Therapy without ANY sort of improvement.  When they were certain they couldn't help her anymore they were going to discard her.  The job she had for nearly 30 years was going to be terminated.

So what was this horrible problem that no one could solve?  Shoulder weakness and pain.  I assessed her shoulder and found it to have a partial dislocation that us Chiropractors call a "Subluxation."  I tested her strength and the shoulder was weak, I adjusted it, her shoulder was strong again.  PROBLEM SOLVED!  What good does it to rehab a shoulder that wasn't sitting properly in the joint?!  It took a "lowly" Chiropractor to figure this out.  To further stabilize her shoulder, I then rehabbed her Rotator Cuff muscles properly, discarding exercises her PT had improperly given her.  After a few weeks of treatment her shoulder was better than it was before the problem this whole thing started! 

I wrote a long and carefully-worded letter to her Workmen's Compensation Administrator, saying essentially, "This is a healthy patient, re-examine her and see."  They did and she was able to keep her job.  All work restrictions were removed.

How many times has this happened for me?  Maybe a hundred or so.  I often wonder how many more times it will take before the general public understands that Doctors of Chiropractic can do some "amazing" things to help a person and their body heal.  But it really isn't a question of time or the number of good deeds.  Chiropractic doesn't suffer from a lack of effectiveness, a lack of research, a lack of satisfied patients, or a lack of anything else except one.  Public Relations.  We have a serious Public Relations deficit!  Simply put, the world doesn't know enough about what we do in order to choose us.

I know this for a fact.  How?  The huge sense of Zerendipity that people have when they heal over from a serious condition using Chiropractic Care.  The Zerendipity tells me that they previously thought so little of what I do that it was a huge surprise that I was not only able to help them, but to help them get completely better.  This concerns me.

Zerendipity is a sign that individual Chiropractors and the Chiropractic Profession as a whole, must do more to get our message out.  We help huge amounts of people each day realize their true health potential, shouldn't we get credit for that?!  And if not credit, shouldn't others that are suffering at least know where the hell to go?!  Do all our new acute patients have to be chewed up and spit out by the medical machine before we get a chance to help them?!  Wouldn't it be better if people chose Chiropractors first and then if it didn't work go to the MD's second.  If research models are correct this would save huge amounts of money and trouble.

This post is as much for other DC's as it is for future and current Chiropractic Patients.  Do more.  Write, tell a friend, do presentations, but let others know.  Spread the word, so others don't have to suffer needlessly. 

Health starts with a healthy Nervous System and for that a Doctor of Chiropractic is a logical first choice.  Secondly, joint problems should not be rehabbed UNTIL the joint is moving properly.  Chiropractors are a logical first choice for this also.  Only a Chiropractic Adjustment can restore normal motion to a joint.  No amount of Physical Therapist stretching or exercises can accomplish this! 

I want a day where Zerendipity about Chiropractic doesn't occur, because at that time society will truly understand enough about Chiropractic Treatment to access it appropriately.  To people that read this that have never been to a DC, maybe consider it next time you have an injury or illness.  Hopefully you aren't surprised about how much it will help.  ;)