[originally published in KCN, January 2013]
As we find ourselves in the thick of cold and flu season our focus on avoiding germs becomes top priority for many of us. We’re quick to Purell our hands and sanitize everything we touch. But are germs really the issue? The reality is, they’re no more of an issue now than they are at any other time of year. (more…)
[originally published in KCN, August 2010 / cartoon provided by TomLamarCartoon.com]
Listen to Dr. Lamar’s Podcast on this subject!
Tonsils. Appendix. Gallbladder.
Quick! What do these three body parts have in common?
This was the question I recently posed to my patients. I heard many answers: from “These are organs I no longer have,” to “They are all vestigial body parts.”
Here’s my take. Apparently, some healthcare providers consider these “spare parts,” and they are often removed by surgeons as an extreme form of symptom treating. And while I’d never argue against removing, say, an appendix that was ready to burst, I do wonder why it escalated to a point in which its removal became medically necessary.
[originally published in KCN, August 2001 / cartoon provided by TomLamarCartoon.com]
Do you believe in chiropractic?Oftentimes I’ll encounter a new patient who will cut me short of my explanation on chiropractic by interjecting, “Don’t worry Doc. No need to explain. I believe in chiropractic.”
Believe in chiropractic? The idea of having to believe in chiropractic just doesn’t sit right with me. Nobody ever talks about believing in medicine. Chiropractic is not a belief system that you have to subscribe to or take stock in for it to work, nor is it akin to the rank and file of the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, or Leprechaun. No, chiropractic works just fine on its own, ruby slippers or not. I don’t believe in chiropractic, I know in it.
[originally published in KCN, December 2000]
With the Holiday Season upon us comes its not so welcomed compadre: the “Cold and Flu Season.” And with news reporters telling us that our nation’s drug companies are running a little low on the Traditional Flu Shots that we have come to expect, many are being forced to abandon these “shots” of artificial “immunity” for, perhaps, as some new studies are suggesting, something that will ultimately benefit them more in the long run: bolstering their body’s immunity, naturally.
Louis Pasteur reminds us that “the microbe is nothing” and that “the soil is everything.” In other words, if germs (microbes) were seeds, in order for them to grow and “germinate” into viable disease states, they would need fertile soil in which to do so. The question we need to pose to ourselves is “What is the condition of our ‘soil’?” Are you a “Disease Gardener’s Paradise”, or are you actively doing things to make your “soil” an inhospitable residence for “seeds?”
With last week’s FDA announcement that they have finally given the “nod of approval” of a much anticipated Swine Flu vaccine — with availability slated for early October — I was reminded of a Chiropractic blog post I read several months back in the heat of the Swine Flu Media Frenzy. The article, which I am printing below because it was so well written, was about how Chiropractors of yesteryear played an unsung role in helping patients across our country during the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 — a role that many have chalked up to the reason for chiropractic’s success and proliferation as an occupation. It’s a bit of history that (1) you don’t hear about much, and (2), at the very least, should give even the toughest skeptic some pause. D.D. Palmer, the founder of chiropractic — which, by the way, celebrated its 114th birthday two days ago — asked the right question when he said:
“I desired to know why one person was ailing and his associate, eating at the same table, working in the same shop, at the same bench was not. Why? What difference was there in these two persons that caused one to have various diseases, while his partner escaped?” — D.D. Palmer
In a word: neuroimunology. Read my Licking Doorknobs article for more on that. But for now, take a step back into history with ChiroUnity.com’s April 27, 2009 blog post.
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[This entry courtesy of ChiroUnity.com April 27, 2009]
Media reports of Swine Flu in Mexico and now several US cities are frightening to many Americans, who are made to feel helpless. As a result, many will turn to dangerous vaccines out of fear and a lack of honest information. This virus is a strain of H1N1, the same virus responsible for the 1918 Flu Pandemic (often referred to as the “Spanish Flu”).
At this point, most confirmed cases in the United States have been mild and there have been no confirmed fatalities. However, in Mexico there has been a high case fatality rate among young adults, 25-44, with atypical pneumonia, which has similarities with the 1918 flu pandemic.
The media is reporting that the 1918 pandemic was composed of a recombination of H1N1 seasonal flu and H1N1 swine flu. What you won’t hear reported in the main stream media is how chiropractic care afforded life saving relief to so many back in 1918.
The 1918 flu epidemic swept silently across the world bringing death and fear to homes in every land. More than one hundred million people died. In 1918 almost nothing was known about prevention, protection, treatment or cure of influenza. The whole world stood at its mercy, or lack of it.
Strangely enough, around that same time, chiropractic, the only American born health care profession, was close to extinction only 23 years after its discovery. In the time just after the end of World War I, laws against slander were so lenient that medical doctors were allowed to openly attack the chiropractic profession without any regard to truth, legality or the best interest of the patients.
Because medical doctors were making it so hard to have a practice, chiropractors were making mostly house calls. In 1918, chiropractors in Wisconsin began going door-to-door adjusting anyone who had the Flu.
As a result, an amazing thing occurred. Those who were adjusted by a chiropractor didn’t die.
[originally published in KCN, April 2009]
I recently posed the following question to my patients: Suppose, for a moment, that you had to catch a cold. Now, obviously, no one in their right mind really sets out to do such a thing, but, for the sake of argument, let’s just say that your goal was to actually catch a cold. How would you go about doing it? (more…)
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