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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

A Heart-Warming Story

This a heart-warming story about the power of chiropractic care!

"A 16 year old triathlete / downhill skier who has the innate athletic ability of a one legged blind hippopotamus hurt his mid thoracics inexplicably when waking up one Saturday morning. Being a stubborn teenager, he thought he'd go to swim practice anyway just 'swim it off.' After 50m, he couldn't lift his arms above his head. He was devastated because he equated quitting a workout with failure in life and the end of the world.

A few days later, with his back still hurting, he noticed his heart rate speeding at rates of 170-180 beats per minute for hours at a time when sitting in school. He went to a heart specialist who after some tests said, "Well, your dad had a heart attack, so did your grandfather and a few of your uncles. This problem is obviously genetic. You can reasonably expect to be dead by age 30, and your triathlon days are over. Here are some pills. They probably won't work and they'll make you vomit a lot. "

The physiotherapist could not help the pain in the back. He tried for 6 months.

He lived in a small town in Newfoundland, Canada where there were no chiropractors. Until the day his mom saw an ad in the paper-a chiropractor had just moved there and opened up shop. He was one of the first new patients.

The chiropractor took x-rays, and used all these funny words like 'subluxation' and really made no sense to him. "You're a quack", he said, "but do your thing anyway because I'm having surgery for my back next week and if you break it, the surgeon will fix it."

He had an adjustment. He lifted his arms above his head for the first time in 6 months, pain free. After two adjustments, his heart rate returned to normal. He then sheepishly apologized to the chiropractor for that 'quack' remark and within a week had decided to become a chiropractor.

This guy never won a medal at the Olympics, or never made the team either. He also came from a broken home, dealt with an abusive drunken father in his teenage years and could not afford chiropractic. The chiropractor agreed to keep seeing him weekly for free or for sometimes $2-5, whatever he could scrounge together.

The guy who the heart surgeon said would never be able to train again set the fastest time for the 17km WhitSunday to Hamilton Island Swim, 5 hours and 17 minutes. Only 2 other people had ever done it. Thanks to chiropractic and bull headed stubbornness, he enjoys sports to this day.

He is just a few weeks away from turning 37. He is not dead. He tries to avoid letting his ego into the equation, but is fond of the Homer Simpson like expression, "In your face heart surgeon!"

(P.S. We do love and support our heart surgeons, just want people to look at all of their options before choosing surgery.)

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