I have a question on my patient entrance form, which all new patients must answer. It simply states:
What is your reason for consulting this office?
The answer was short, laden with attitude and raised the hackles on the back of my neck. “Because my wife made me.” The rest of his form was blank.
“Where is he?” I asked? My chiropractic assistant who looked shell shocked pointed to room three and as I reached for the doorknob she said, “good luck.” I wasn’t in the mood for attitude that day so I said to my self that I was not going to waste much of my time on a guy with this type of attitude – I would check him quickly get on with my day and get back to the folks who where interested in my services.
I flung the door open and paused for I was staring at a mountain of a man who stood at least six foot four, had a purple Mohawk, a braided goatee and more piercing than I could count. He sat with his arms folded, glared at me and firmly stated, “I am here because my wife told me that I had to come and I want you to know that I do not believe in any New Age, voodoo, witch doctoring crap like this.” He said that he was healthy and wouldn’t volunteer any other information.
I said fine and decided to proceed with my exam more convinced than ever to check his neck, perhaps take an x-ray and then move on. I placed my NCM, a chiropractic diagnostic instrument, on his neck and ran a scan. The needle virtually jumped to the left as we reached the base of his skull. Next I gently felt the atlas vertebra, the top bone in the neck. It was grossly subluxated and rigid. My gut response was to ask this fellow how long he had been suffering from anxiety and depression, so I did. It seemed like I was accurate because his response was angry and he bellowed, “I’m going to kill her, I told her not to tell you.” I looked him in the eye assured him that his wife had not broken his trust and asked if we could chat. He softened and I told him the chiropractic story and discussed how upper neck subluxations can affect brain chemistry. I then asked him if he would tell me his story and he conceded.
Seven years prior his life was moving along fine, he was a professional musician, had a band and was very involved in his church, he was a youth minister and the reason for his appearance was so he could connect with troubled youth. Then something happened – he didn’t know what but he lost what he described as his connection with spirit. He lost inspiration for creating and playing music and he left his ministry. He started to have anxiety and panic attacks and bouts of depression. He described his state this way. “Being a Christian and a musician I felt as if a part of my life had been removed, like my connection to God had been severed.”
He was put on Paxil and medicated to the point where he felt numb. He no longer had panic attacks but he steadily fell into emotional depths, which he had never known before. It took a toll on his faith and on his life. He kept falling and he knew that he was in trouble and simply not feeling the “life” that he needed. He was then diagnosed with sleep apnea and given headgear to sleep, which he detested, stating it made him feel like some sort of robot. If he missed his meds for two days, he would “grow fangs and not be very nice,” to put it mildly.
We examined this now desperate man and took some radiographs, which confirmed the presence of a massive brainstem (upper neck) subluxation. He returned the next day now anxious to receive his first adjustment and full of hope. I put him on his side and adjusted his neck and he immediately jumped off of the table and exclaimed IT’S BACK! His first adjustment was life changing. He experienced a rush of energy flow from his head to his toes and he said it felt like someone had turned on a light. That night he took himself of his drugs and later that week he attended his grandmother’s funeral drug free and he cried for the first time in seven years. He was so grateful to be able to feel emotions again. He started getting adjusted three times a week and within the first three months of care he was back writing and playing music. He could also breathe again. Within six months he was reengaged in his church and pursuing his ministry. A short year and a half later he found himself back in a band touring the world. In the four years he has been under care he and his wife have had two more children and the pregnancies were much easier for mom than her first two as she was receiving g chiropractic care. All six come for chiropractic care along with grandma and grandpa. This past year this wonderful couple opened a music store so that they can share their passion for music and Christ with their community. He gratefully shares that since starting chiropractic adjustments he has never felt so in control of his emotions and so connected to God. Things that have “hassled him since childhood now seem to be no more.” These people are committed advocates of chiropractic care and share their experience wherever they go.
Remember:
There is something in the Chiropractic Innate Principle and Practice. Inside us all is an all –knowing, all-powerful, all-natural personality. Open channels and IT will flow naturally, normally and automatically, working from within, without guidance. If people were Innate living creatures, problems of relationships between peoples and countries would be solved in a normal, healthy, natural manner.
BJ Palmer – 1955
This story was written by my good friend Dr. Peter Amlinger.
Love and Light,
Dr. Brian
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