Ours is a society that seeks immediate satisfaction. We demand the “quick fix”. Treating symptoms is comparable to reacting to a flashing light on your car’s dashboard by simply covering with tape. Masking symptoms takes much less work and effort than seeking the actual cause of your pain/symptoms. When all you address are symptoms, the underlying problem persists and your symptoms are likely to continue and if the underlying problem is left unaddressed it often becomes worse.

Pharmaceutical companies comprise a huge money machine that has taken over medicine and has made sure that the standard way virtually all of our heath concerns are addressed involves medication. This illogical approach to healthcare has been fueled and exponentially increased by pharmaceutical advertising. The blitz of ads for medicines continues unabated and is everywhere – television, online, print, radio (all fail to expose this industry’s tactics because the ads underwrite their work. We simply cannot hide from it.

I timed a 60-second commercial recently and only 8 seconds were spent explaining potential benefits from the drug, while 52 seconds outlined the many perilous side-effects! Somehow, the fact that the side-effects are generally listed while we watch a couple walking hand-in-hand through a field of flowers and butterflies while classical music plays apparently leads us to believe that these side-effects are of no great concern.

“Health”care should mean, first and foremost, being preventative and focusing the majority of our attention on maintaining our health and preventing illness and disease. That being said, “health maintenance organizations” (HMOs) and other insurers fail to pay for gym memberships, guidance in proper lifestyle, nutrition or exercise, massage therapy, etc. They pay for prescription of medicines, surgeries and other after-the-fact treatments. We are reactive after we have allowed our health to deteriorate and not proactive and preventative. This is unconscionable. Ironically, these companies would make more money if they would help people stay healthy and avoid the need for expensive diagnostic and surgical procedures.

Whenever I hear the suggestion that chiropractic is voodoo, I have to explain how absolutely logical, effective and safe it is and that it does not have side effects. While medicine can save lives, it should not be routinely used as the first treatment for all ailments. The sensible way to address illness or injuries is to begin with the least invasive and less expensive form of treatment and to exhaust various safer forms of treatment before moving on to more invasive treatments that may come with various negative side effects. This is what drew me to chiropractic in the first place.

Any time your doctor says that it is necessary to perform a given diagnostic procedure or surgery or to take a given medication, ask why and what the intended effect, the side effects and other options are. In the end, you are your true “primary physician” and the only person truly looking out for yourself. You have one body and one life, so stand up for it.