Have you ever had one of those moments where truth seemed to be screaming in your face and all you could think was 'this can't be right'? One of those moments came to me when I first thought of myself as an 'alternative care provider'. For years I wondered how chiropractic could be considered 'alternative' when we used x-rays, MRI, lab work, orthopedic testing, and have an education quite similar to most medical doctors. What makes chiropractic so alternative? Or probably a better question would be what is 'alternative care'?
Alternative care providers believe in and assist our body's innate ability to heal itself given the right nutrition, thoughts, energy, care..... When I get cut or catch a cold it is easy to recognize the innate ability my body has to heal from the inside out. When it comes to cancer and more serious illnesses it becomes more difficult to recognize that my body is capable of healing itself from the inside out. And if my leg gets cut off, send me to the hospital for some outside in treatment.
Allopathic health care, otherwise known as the traditional western medicine most Americans seek, is based on the belief that healing best occurs from the outside in. Drugs and surgery are used instead of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle to restore function to the body. Diet, exercise, or any alternative health care are occasionally used in conjunction with drugs and surgery, but rarely instead of. For the most part allopathic medicine treats the body as if it is not capable of healing from the inside out. It is the band aid approach to health care, and wouldn't it be nice to have everything fixed so easily without any effort of your own?
When a patient tells their medical doctor and they have been cured by prayer, chiropractic, acupuncture, nutrition, or any number of other things, western or allopathic medicine will typically conclude that the patient is either wrong about being healed; it was a misdiagnosis; or at best that it was a rare instance in which placebo worked and that patient somehow has a superior ability not held by everyone to heal themselves from within. Maybe healing is no less subjective than the pain or disease itself.
I have come to believe that the real joy of healing is not putting the band-aid on, but taking it off to discover our body's ability to heal itself. It is the truth screaming at me, telling me that no matter how good the band-aid is, true healing comes from within. I realize now that everything our body needs to heal is already within us. I no longer shy away from being labeled an alternative care provider, but embrace the thought of creating a new way of thinking for Americans.
