Raymond Chiropractic

While every joint in your body is susceptible to damage, the spine is the most vulnerable. In fact, the neck is the most injured area of the spine in automobile accidents. The scariest thing about spinal injuries from car accidents is the effects of the damage may not show up for days, weeks, or even months after the accident. Many people walk away from car accident feeling fine, but later on feel the ill effects associated with the accident.

Broken bones and deep cuts DO NOT have to be present for the serious damage to be present. Many people make the routine trip to the emergency room. This trip usually involves a long wait, numerous x-rays, and prescriptions being written for pain killers, muscle relaxers, and anti-inflammatories. Nothing is broken and stitches are not needed, so they are sent home with a pocket full of pills.

While the drugs help manage some of the symptoms associated with the accident, corrective care is not given. Things get tighter, scar tissue starts forming, headaches often begin to present, and other problems, such as numbness and tingling into the legs or arms, start to occur.

We pay good money for car insurance. Part of this is to ensure that, if involved in an accident, our medical care is covered. You are entitles to get the care that you need to recover and return to your pre-accident status. If you do not take the appropriate steps necessary to correct the damage done in an accident in a timely manner, you may miss the opportunity to have the responsible party pay for the care that you need.

It is extremely important to have your spine and nervous system checked as soon as possible after any accident. You cannot rely on how you feel as to whether or not to get checked. Left untreated, the damage could become permanent. There is no reason to wait. Many people regret not taking care of their problems right away. Do not become one of those people.

Show me someone who has rolled a car three times and walked away without a scratch…I’ll show you that person a year later suffering from back pain, neck pain and headaches.

Any accident, no matter how minor or severe, warrants chiropractic care!

Dr. Raymond runs a family Chiropractic practice in Austintown, Ohio. Consultations are offered at no charge to determine your specific health needs. To schedule an appointment, have questions answered, or to have a free health information packet sent to you, call 330.799.4400 today.

I just finished seeing a new patient, who, in all respects, has run the full gammut of our traditional health care system. This young man had an accident a couple of years ago and since has been on a steady decline in health and has been ingesting a steady supply of pain killers just to function throughout the day. This gentleman, who has a young son, told me that he has been suffering for such a long, thoughts of taking drastic measures had even entered his mind in the past. He has been to doctors, many, many doctors, who haven't been able to tell him why he is feeling so poorly or why he continues his steady decline. He has been referred from specialist to specialist, with no apparent end in sight. The final diagnosis from all of those doctor visits...Fibromyalgia.

He sat before me, broken, with no ideas on how to be corrected. I got the distinct impression that I was his last resort on this viscious cycle he had been riding for so long.

I performed my intial evaluation on this patient, sent him home and stayed late into the night evaluating his exam findings. I located a number of potential problem areas and felt deep inside that these dysfunctional areas where having a drastic impact on this man's life. I couldn't wait for him to come back into the office so that I could explain what my findings were and then lead this patient down the road to health. After I performed my first adjustment, this hopeless man all of a sudden looked alive again. The light shined in his eyes as if a veil had suddenly been lifted off. He told me that his pain just dropped in half following whatever I just did to him! For the first time in a long time, he felt relief, he felt hope.

Following my treatment, my patient felt immediate relief of his symptoms and then he began directing a barrage of questions towards me. The questions ranged from the whys to the hows. The main one though was the one I expected the most...."How come noone ever found this before with me?" I couldn't really tell him why noone ever located his problems, but I explained to him that most physicians simply treat symptoms. They never really treat causes. I was different. I look at the the cause of dysfunction, not the end results. To see how this gentleman responded helped to reaffirm my decision to enter into this health care field. Chiropractic works. Such a simple statement, yet so powerful.

I told this patient that the road wasn't always going to be easy, nor was it going to be quick, but we were on the right path now and we are going to continue moving forward towards his goal of getting healthy. He understood, he smiled, he thanked me. He thanked me for caring, he thanked me for explaining, he thanked me for giving him hope. It wasn't gratitude I was looking for though, all I wanted was to be the one who could help this man.

After he left my office, I started thinking a bit more about the power of what I do, and a quote from B.J. Palmer floated to the top of my conciousness. It couldn't have been more fitting, so I'll end this post with it. The quote is entitled "The Big Idea". and that is exactly what it is. It explains why I do exactly what I do ever single day with every single patient. The impacts I can have on people's lives are endless. I truly love what I do.

Enjoy the following quote from B.J.....

B.J. Palmer, "THE BIG IDEA"

A slip on the snowy sidewalk, in winter, is a SMALL thing. It happens to millions. A fall from a ladder, in the summer, is a SMALL thing. That also happens to millions. The slip or fall produces a subluxation. The subluxation is a SMALL thing. The subluxation produces pressure on a nerve. That pressure is a SMALL thing. The pressure cuts off the flow of mental impulses. That decreased flowing is a SMALL thing. That decreased flowing produces a dis-eased body and brain. That is a BIG thing to that man. Multiply that sick man by a thousand, and you control the physical and mental welfare of a city. Multiply that man by a million and you shape the physical and mental destiny of a State. Multiply that man by one hundred thirty million, and you forecast and can prophesy the physical and mental status of a nation.

Now comes a man. Any one man is a SMALL thing. This man gives an adjustment. The adjustment is a SMALL thing. The adjustment replaces the subluxation. That is a SMALL thing. The adjusted subluxation releases pressure upon nerves. That is a SMALL thing. The released pressure restores health to a man. That is a BIG thing to that man. Multiply that well man by a thousand, and you step up physical and mental welfare of a city. Multiply that well man by a million, and you increase the efficiency of a State. Multiply that well man by one hundred thirty million, and you have produced a healthy, wealthy, and better race for posterity. So adjustment of the subluxation, to release pressure upon nerves, to restore mental impulse flow, to restore health, is BIG enough to rebuild thoughts and actions of the world.

The idea that knows cause, that can correct cause of dis-ease, is one of the biggest ideas known. Without it, nations fall;  with it, nations rise.

The idea is the BIGGEST I know of.

~Dr. B.J. Palmer

Many people make their health care decisions based on the health insurance coverage they have. I see this almost every day in my office. This is extremely risky and will lead you down a road of disappointing health. The problem is the philosophy behind insurance. Most coverage is to help overcome a health crisis, rather than improve your health.

Four key components to health are exercise, rest, nutrition, and attitude. Each component will help to improve your health. Improved health means a happier, more fulfilling, and longer life. If you want your health to improve, you have to eat better foods, get more exercise, get ample rest, and maintain a positive attitude.

If your insurance was, in fact, “health” insurance, it would pay for the things that improved your health. Coverage would include your gym memberships, healthier foods, bottled water, better mattresses, and positive books or mp3’s. This will never happen! Therefore, your health insurance is actually “crisis” insurance. They will help you out in times of a health crisis.

Here is how it works. You pay a high, or extremely high, premium every single month. This premium puts you into a particular plan. Based on this plan, the insurance company will help you pay for care if you run into a health problem. Most plans dictate where you can go and what doctors you can see. Some tests that are needed are covered completely, some require you to pay a percentage, and some are not even allowed. Your doctor may not even be allowed to order particular tests that he or she feels are necessary because the insurance company said so.

This just happened to me with one of our patients. This gentleman needed a lumbar MRI, but Anthem said I, as a chiropractic physician, could not order it, or it would not be paid for. I in turn, had to send the patient to his family physician, (1-2 week wait), who then ordered the MRI (another 1 week wait), then had to wait for that doctor’s office to fax me the MRI results(1 more week…). In the end, the diagnosis was exactly what I had suspected, yet we had to wait almost another month to begin the proper treatment!!!! Unbelievable right? It happens every day though.

Insurance is big business. These companies are profit driven. The decision that are made are based on reducing costs, thus increasing profits. Maximizing your health is not an issue. A company being profit driven usually is not a bad thing. But when the decisions being made affect your health, this is a problem!

There have been many stories in the news regarding people getting sicker or even dying because particular health care services were not covered, or were not covered in time. In the past, when you went to the doctor, the first question was “where do you hurt?” Now the first question is “what insurance do you have?”

Please do not allow you health decisions to be dictated by your insurance company. Just because they may not cover a particular service you need does not mean you do not need it. You will have to do more work and spend more money to be healthy. There can be no better investment than the one you make into your own health.

Chiropractic care may be what you NEED to get well. Whether you have insurance coverage or not, if chiropractic care is what will get you well and get you healthy, then you NEED it. Our office has plans in place to make care affordable, regardless of the type of insurance that you have. So stop relying on your “insurance” list of available doctors, and do what you need to get answers regarding your health care needs. After all, if you wait too long, your problem may become uncorrectable.

Dr. Raymond runs a family Chiropractic practice in Austintown, OH. Consultations are offered at no charge to determine your specific health needs. To schedule an appointment, have questions answered, or to have a free health information packet sent to you, call 330.799.4400 today.

Your health is your most important asset. Like all assets, you must protect it. As you continue to on in life, who can you depend on to help you with your health, and the health of your family? Your insurance company? They do not care about you. Their objectives are to reduce coverage to increase profit. How about your doctor? Most doctors do care about you, but standard practice focuses on reducing a crisis, rather than improving your health. You may get help when your health has failed you, but nothing is done to maximize your health. What about books on health? There are so many contraindications in what we read that it is impossible to know what is right and what is wrong. How about the internet? There isn’t anyone policing the information that goes out onto the World Wide Web. You may read that the grass is purple on the internet, but we all know that isn’t the truth.

One thing is for sure…you are responsible for your health! By now you have heard of, read about, and have perceptions regarding chiropractic care, massage therapy, acupuncture, meditation, exercise and herbs. We are in a new age of alternative health care, though I am hesitant to say chiropractic care falls into the “alternative” category. (Chiropractic care is as main-stream as medicine, though often times very misunderstood.) All of the previous alternative treatment methods have been proven to benefit people without the serious and dangerous side-effects of drugs or surgery. So what have you avoided incorporating these methods into your life? My guess is you just do not know what each really has to offer, and are paralyzed by your misconceptions or preconceived notions.

My specialty, Chiropractic care, is different and unique. Your nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord and millions of nerves that are connected to every organ, tissue, and cell in the body. The brain tells everything in your body what to do. Signals are carried from the brain, down the spinal cord and out to the nerves, A chiropractic exam consists of checking the nervous system for pressure or interference in those signals. If there is pressure, your health is in trouble.

Symptoms may appear as a result of this nerve pressure. These symptoms may include anything from pain, numbness and inflammation, to bowel and bladder problems, stomach dysfunction and headaches. There are treatments for all of these symptoms. For pain, you swallow a pain killer. For inflammation, you try an anti-inflammatory. For constipation, you take a laxative. And for stomach dysfunctions, you put an antacid into your body. So what is the problem with that? The problem is that none of the above mentioned “treatments” correct the problem; they merely manage the symptoms until the body develops either a resistance to the drug, or the side-effects cause new health problems. If your check engine light comes on while driving down the road, you’re not going to just put a piece of duct tape over it and ignore it right? Of course not, you will take it to the mechanic to determine the problem before it worsens and is irreconcilable.

Chiropractors focus on finding nerve pressure, correcting it and allowing the body to function as close to 100% as possible. Health comes from the inside out, not from the outside in! Nothing is added to, or taken from the body. What a concept! Millions of people benefit from chiropractic care every single day. Many seek chiropractic care as a first step regarding their health problem, rather than waiting as a last resort. Many studies have shown that chiropractic care is more effective, less expensive (Up to 40% cheaper than a traditional allopathic approach), and patients are much more satisfied with the results.

One question you need to ask… “If my health problem is being corrected, why am I still taking these drugs?” Contact a chiropractic physician today if you or your children are suffering and not getting answers. If you are nervous about seeking care, think about the dangers of taking the drugs. You and your family do not want to wait for a crisis to occur!

Dr. Raymond runs a family Chiropractic practice in Austintown, OH. Consultations are offered at no charge to determine your specific health needs. To schedule an appointment, have questions answered, or to have a free health information packet sent to you, call 330.799.4400 today.