Health is all about feeling good right? As long as you feel no pain, then you are healthy. Isn’t that the message that Big Pharma and your medical doctor are selling you? The lie is that symptom free = health. That is why over the counter pain killers (Advil, Alleve, Tylenol, etc) are so popular, and there are so many commercials on TV that tell you to “Ask your Doctor if….” is right for you.
I have a question: What if you feeling worse worse actually means you are getting better? Is it possible for you to be better and worse at the same time? “Feel” can be a bad 4 letter F-word.
Better and Worse
Symptoms can be indicators of loss or improvement of function. We have been conditioned to think that all symptoms are bad. How many times have you been told to be afraid of fevers? Fevers are your body’s way of fighting infection. Uncontrolled fevers can be dangerous, but those don’t happen as frequently as modern medicine would have you believe.
Your subjective perception of the significance of symptoms, needs to be balanced with an objective understanding of what those symptoms mean, in order to understand the proper perspective on function. In chiropractic, we see situations like this happen all the time. We have seen people get functionally better all while they have an increase in their symptoms. If all we do is focus on symptom relief, we will miss out on the benefits of function improvement. That is the medical model which will leave you sick and weak.
Structure Dictates Function
Do you remember taking Anatomy & Physiology in high school or college. A&P is another way of saying structure (anatomy) & function (physiology). Our structure (skeletal system or bones) is the foundation of our bodies. Our spine is especially important because our nervous system connects to our body through our spine, and every tissue and organ is connected to it for organization and stability.
When the spine (structure) is not in proper alignment, it begins to degenerate and breakdown, negatively affecting how everything else works (functions or physiology). Usually there is a direct connection between structure and function. Sometimes, the structure moves in the opposite direction to the improvement in function. Abnormalities happen all the time. So what happens when your function is improving, yet your x-rays look worse? What happens when you are better and worse at the same time?
Regression
The theory of regression, in Chiropractic, states that healing must go through times of adaptation, without skipping those times. If you started life at Point A in life, and we started adjusting you at Point E, regression states that you cannot skip Points B, C, and D on your way back to A. Your innate intelligence will and must pass through each point of adaptation in order to produce health.
In this case…
We have a 27 year old male who suffered an injury in the gym to his neck. He came to us suffering from headaches, double vision from a lazy left eye (that he never had before), facial pain and parasthesias, and parasthesias radiating into his arms. After 3 months of care, all of his symptoms had resolved, including his lazy eye. He was even showing signs of holding his adjustments. And then….. a series of events occurred that increased his stress levels significantly.
He began having low back pain, which he had not complained of before, and his upper back posture seemed to be getting worse. He also started complaining of ankle pain and discomfort.
Now, all of these new issues are related. We are kinetic chains: everything connected through motion. As his spine has changed, specifically his pelvis, other areas of his spine appear to be worse on film, although functionally speaking, he is better.
Structural correction is important. We expect to see spinal change in the proper direction over time. The most important thing is that functional improvement occur. By the grace of God, and the innate intelligence of the body, whenever we correct subluxations, function will be restored and improved. We will always move in the right direction. It is possible to be better and worse at the same time.