True healing takes time. As a chiropractor, it is important for each of my patients to understand this fact. As a whole, our society lives by two misconceptions when it comes to pain and health: first, the healing process is quick and easy; secondly once the pain is gone then the problem has been corrected. Today I will elaborate on the first misconception. In my next post, I will address the second.
The healing process is quick and easy. The thinking behind this misconception is ‘Fix me so I can keep going’ or ‘With my busy lifestyIe, I can’t afford to have pain.’ We have been trained by our society to think this way. My desire is to help educate my patients to help them understand how their body heals and why true healing takes time.
Our bodies are brilliantly designed. They are able to adapt to stress (both emotional and physical), but overtime that stress begins to have its effect. When I take an x-ray of a patient, many times it reveals an improper curvature of the spine that the patient did not know was there. I explain to the patient the improper curve did not happen overnight. It took time to develop. Now, doesn’t it make sense that if the problem took time to occur, then the healing process would also take time?
We all understand this process of healing taking time. If you have ever sprained your ankle, accidentally cut your arm, or torn your ACL, you understand this process all too well. These acute injuries require various amounts of time depending on the severity. What if the patient had been having chronic symptoms for years before coming to my office? What is the appropriate amount of time to allow for true healing for a chronic condition?
As a chiropractor, my job is to find out as much as possible about a specific injury or condition, through a thorough history, examination, and sometimes x-rays. Once all of this information is obtained, I can best tell my patients what care will be needed and how long it will take.
So, maybe we need to adjust our expectations when it comes to pain and our health. With the exception of a major accident, our problems have been there for a period of time. Therefore, results and true healing also take time.
In Part 2, we will discuss the second misconception people have about pain and their health. Which is, once the pain is gone, the problem has been corrected and health has been restored.
Live well today,
Dr. Christensen
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
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