Norton Shores Michigan Chiropractor -

When you’re a Chiropractor, you see a lot of incredible things happen for people and their health.  After a while, it is easy to take it for granted.   The body is a truly amazing entity, and people often fail to realize how much everything in the human body is connected.  How a problem in one area will affect another.  In my opinion, the coolest thing about being a chiropractor is that you see changes occur in areas that you don't even treat.

A 63 year old woman named Jackie was referred to me for chronic back pain and knee pain.  This is a common occurrence.  We certainly see a lot of back pain cases here in our Muksegon practice.  We have also established a good reputation for working with knee problems, as well.  The Activator Methods chiropractic technique has a great protocol for knee misalignment.I asked Jackie when her knee pain started.  She said "I had my knee replaced two years ago and I've had this pain above my knee cap ever since.  They told me that I would just have to live with it.”

Uh oh.

How in the world could I help a knee that has been replaced?  I’m certainly not going to adjust a fake knee, right?!

After examination, it was obvious that she was experiencing severe pelvic misalignment, which certainly explained her chronic back pain.  “But what about the knee, doctor?  That’s more aggravating than the back.”

I told her that there was very little I could do to the knee itself.  I saw her slump in the chair, her body language telling me that she was very disheartened.  After trying everything else, I was this lady’s last hope.  I went on to explain that many knee problems can be related to imbalances in the lower back and pelvis.

I couldn’t make any promises in regards to the knee (for all I knew, she had a botched surgery and the pain was coming from that), but I assured her that no matter what happens to the knee, she would be better off with a balanced pelvis and less back pain.  She agreed and consented to treatment.

On visit three, she comes in to see me and she’s grinning ear to ear.  I ask her what the good news is, expecting her to say her lower back is feeling better.  With a glint in her eyes that wasn't there before, she said (in very hushed tones) “Since I saw you two days ago, my knee hasn’t hurt since.”

“Why are you whispering?”  I asked.

“I don’t want to jinx it!”  Jackie exclaimed.  She went on to gush about how amazing I am and how awesome chiropractic care is and asked me why someone didn’t send her to a chiropractor sooner.  I can’t answer that.  Unfortunately, most physicians have a tunnel vision approach to health care:  if medicine can’t fix it, nothing can.

But that’s how chiropractors are different.  We don’t treat the body like a car, only fixing the part that is "acting up."  We look at the body from all angles, relieving the whole patient instead of just focusing on where the symptom is.   Sometimes the site of pain is not the cause of the problem.  You just never know how the body will respond to care until you try.

Well, two weeks have passed and her knee hasn’t hurt since.  She’s been walking more.  She’s already lost ten pounds since we met.  She also can’t believe that she sleeps better and seems to be breathing better.  With every new change, she echoes one word to describe it all: “Amazing.”

The truth is, nothing amazes me anymore in the world of chiropractic.  The body itself is amazing, however. If you take care of it, it can heal.  If you feed it better, it will perform better.  If you fix the CAUSE of the problem, it can recover.