Our bodies can be described in many ways. Before you dive into this article, choose three adjectives to describe your body at this exact moment in time. I’ll go first: a bit tired, capable, and awe-worthy.
Thinking about the past year alone and what my body has been through, and what it will go through in the future – I’m just filled with hope. When you’re sick and feel like there is no end in sight, when you get good news after a blood draw (read more here about what a blood draw reveals about your health), or when you wake up (if you are having a tough time sleeping read Dr. Breus’ insight here), stretch and just feel thankful to be alive – our bodies have endurance, are powerful, and do so much for us, especially behind the scenes.
When asked what he feels is the most under-represented topic in health in the media, Dr. Adam Del Torto, a chiropractic specialist, explained with “most media outlets … sponsored by big pharm,” it is important to remember “there are different approaches to health.”
In just one hour of watching television, Del Torto said he counted six pharma-sponsored drug commercials.
With most of the population watching television we can assume the impact it has on the masses. A drug to solve my symptom/problem/health condition? Many will without taking a breath, nod, and sign up.
Medication is not the only answer, nor is it always the answer.
“Good health is not something we can buy. However, it can be an extremely valuable savings account,” said Anne Wilson Schaef.
Enter the picture, chiropractic care.
“Chiropractic is a natural approach where we use the body’s ability to heal itself to help assist it to do what it does best,” Del Torto said.
As Del Torto vitally points out, “Look what this body created all by itself with no help from the outside.”
Our bodies are truly miraculous. Many new parents or parents to be commonly exclaim they “welcomed a miracle.” Let’s not forget that our entire lives are miracles, it’s not just something to celebrate on the anniversary of the day we entered the world.
“Who are we to think that once we are born that all of a sudden [the body] loses that innate intelligence and we have to step in to assist it to do what it did — the miracle it produced,” Del Torto stated.
I couldn’t agree more. Have you pondered this before?
“Chiropractic focuses on the nervous system, which is the governing system, the controlling system of the body and by removing the interference in the nervous system and allowing it to express itself at its full capacity, your body can pretty much heal most things.”
Are you giving your body the opportunity to heal itself with the help of an experienced specialist?
While Del Torto shared his respect and understanding for medical doctors and their approach to health by treating a patient’s symptoms and disorders with medication, he offered that “there are so many situations where medicine is absolutely necessary, but not as a first line of defense.”
He also frequently sees that once patients have “been through the whole medical gambit of surgery, drugs, more, now they are drug-dependent.”
It’s so common. “Most people, once they can’t get their health back, they get depressed and then the doctors start treating the depression. The whole mode of treatment shifts from the original treatment goal to ‘Let’s just manage their depression.’”
Something many of us have experienced is what comes along with taking a medication.
“Every medication has side effects,” Del Torto noted.
“They aren’t even side effects. They are the effects of the drug. They may not be the desired effects of the drug, but they are still the same effects.” Many are quick to dismiss this notion.
Del Torto expanded stating, “You can put them over here on the side and say ‘oh these aren’t the ones, these aren’t the desirable [side effects] so we will call them side effects but they are the exact same effect the drug has on the body that you are targeting.’”
If you read or need a recap on Cranial Facial Release (CFR) from the first article with Dr. Del Torto, “it’s one of those treatments that just accentuates the body’s ability to heal itself.”
“The brain controls everything,” Del Torto said. Through chiropractic care, “Just the lightest amount of mechanical pressure on the control centers of the brain has dramatic effects to visceral area / dysfunction.”
While most associate chiropractic care with back or neck pain, including headache (Dr. Friedman has exceptional insight in this interview), Del Torto stated how many of his patients reap many rewards from their visits. Patients will start getting adjusted [over a few sessions] and they say “‘my menstrual pain has gone away,’ ‘my constipation has gotten better; is that possible doc?’”
He says, yes.
I was immediately fascinated when Del Torto shared a recurring theme in his practice (unrelated to CFR or neck/back pain), “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had patients come into my office, not even knowing anything about their family goals or anything and they are trying to get pregnant and they couldn’t get pregnant.”
Upon evaluation in general chiropractic care, he would adjust the L3 vertebrae which, for women, is “the exact vertebrae that controls your uterus.”
“I would just go in because it was subluxated and adjust it and they would come back 3 months later and say ‘We’d been trying to get pregnant for 5 years and we just conceived.’” This result has been achieved over two dozen times in his 39-year career.
Here he is making dreams come true without them sharing their struggles. I know many things in our lives are personal and we consciously choose to not share them, but I hope you team up with medical professionals who you feel comfortable with sharing any discomforts, goals, more. You never know what beautiful possibilities, relief of symptoms, or strides in your health may be made by opening up the conversation.
Each of us have a choice with our health regarding what we deem the best decision or preferred approach for ourselves.
His focus and approach in life has been more conservative. “The one that has the least chances of adverse reactions or least invasive of the procedures,” is his first choice. “And if that doesn’t work, you always have the option to move further up the ladder and take a more radical approach.”
If you haven’t explored all the options (Western medicine, Eastern medicine, Naturopathy), let this serve as a reminder that it can be helpful to put all the cards on the table, review carefully, and employ sound decision-making for your health. Achieving and maintaining good health is no small task.
“Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted,” Denis Waitley.
In my opinion, time is our most valuable asset.
What do you want more time for?
Dr. Adam Del Torto practices chiropractic medicine, specializing in the balloon assisted cranial adjusting technique. He has been featured on Access Hollywood, E-Channel, and Celebrity News, and has lectured at many chiropractic forums. More about CFR can be read here: http://www.cranialfacialrelease.com/home.html
Coming next: Can Vitamin D improve your health?