Arthritis, Iatrogenic* Cancer and Chiropractic Results

May is Arthritis Awareness Month. So, let's get aware!

The word "arthritis"... what does it mean? I know that it comes with a lot of baggage... "you're getting old"... "Learn to live with it"... "There's nothing anyone can do" But where does the word come from?

"Arth" is Latin for "joint." "Itis" means inflammation, or swelling. For the most part, the reason a joint hurts is because it's inflamed. So, here is what your "genius" doctor has done, providing you with something that you think is of value, a diagnosis... arthritis. He or she has translated "hurtful joint," in English, into Latin, "arthritis." Brilliant! Astounding clinical acumen!

So, the word doesn't really have much meaning. But you still have a problem. Now, are you more interested in naming your problem (diagnosis) solving it and getting well?

Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune disease, one of those conditions where the immune system is out of control... hyperactive, attacking your own tissue. In this case, that tissue is your joints. Back when Medicine was less intrusive, anti-inflammatories were prescribed. Now, they prescribe drugs that attack/suppress the immune system, which can lessen the expression of rheumatoid symptoms. The problem is, by chemically swinging the pathological pendulum of the immune system to the other extreme, side effects include pneumonia, toberculosis, leukemia, cancer. It's OK with them. Other specialists, other drugs to the rescue!

Osteoarthritis is kind of a wear and tear thing, kind of like the tires on your car wearing out funny because the wheels are out of balance and allignment. Easy to understand, but They don't. They pump you full of srong anti-inflammatories. Now inflammation, like every other syptom, is your body's, your Innate's effort to heal. When you interfere with inflammation, sure it feels better, but your joint are damaged further. (So is your cardiovascular system.) But that's OK with Them. Artificial joint time!

Then there is gouty arthritis, basically a chemical imbalance, excess uric acid, causing inflammation of joints. So, there you go with anti-inflammatories and medication to reduce uric acid. The latter involve substantial risk to the kidneys.

None of these medical treatments get to the cause. They cover up symptoms, causing more problems. Such is the way of medicine.

Chiropractic addresses cause. Gout? The nervous system regulates the body's metabolism. Why not correct interference to the nervous system? This is what chiropractic adjustments do.

Osteoarthritis? The joints themselves, as well as the muscles attaching to those joints, are under control of the nervous system. Why not correct interference, Vertebral Subluxations? Unlike most chiropractors, I go beyond the spine. I check and adjust extremities. So, if you are having these problems in a knee, or your hands, and there is misallignment, don;t you think that those parts will function better, heal better, if they are adjusted?

Rheumatoid? The immune system, too, is run by your nervous system. Correct interference, and your immune system will tend towards proper function. this is in sharp contract to medical over-correction, which can end up in something as bad as cancer. [*The word "iatrogenic" means "physician-caused."]

The choice should be clear. Now go talk to friends and family who suffer from any of these types of arthritis. Invite them to the office. You might even save them from iatrogenic cancer.