Chiropractors

Patients go through very predictable cycles of healing, usually extending over a period of three months. While evidence of the existence of a three-month healing cycle is anecdotal, there is a physiological logic behind it. Different cells in the body renew themselves over different periods of time. For instance, most red blood cells live approximately 120 days. Skin cells renew themselves every three to six months. All the cells and tissues in the body replace themselves over predictable periods of time. When you treat healing as a natural occurrence (rather than one you artificially accelerate through introduction of a chemical called a drug), it makes sense that replacement of damaged cells with healthy ones would be tied to the cell's normal rate of renewal. So in this way, the natural birth, growth, and death of the cells within the body support the observed phenomenon of a three-month healing cycle.

What is less clearly explainable but also confirmed by observation of the process of healing is the phenomenon called retracing. Say you've been going through a tough time physically for a few years. You've had some pretty bad chest infections, perhaps a few digestive upsets, and also some major problems with your knees. Then you have an episode of back pain and decide to go to a chiropractor. The chiropractor starts you on a course of treatment designed to handle a number of subluxations of your spine. Your back pain gets better quicklybut over the next few weeks, as you continue your treatment plan, you notice some strange things starting to happen. One day you develop a little persistent cough for no reason. That goes away, and then you experience a little stomach sensitivity to certain foods. Then your knees start to ache as they haven't done in a few years. You report your symptoms to your chiropractor and say, "I'm not sure I should keep coming inmy back feels great, but the rest of me isn't so good!"

Your chiropractor then explains that we store memories of every "health event" within our nervous system and other tissues. When the body is finally allowed to let go of subluxations that have been affecting the spine for many years, sometimes old health problems linked to those subluxations begin to show up. What's happening is actually good: The body is releasing vestiges of those old illnesses, accidents, and traumas and returning to healthy, normal functioning. It's as if health is at the center of an onion, and to reach it we have to peel away layers of disease, trauma, and abnormal functioning.

Retracing also occurs with other alternative medical practices, such as acupuncture and homeopathy. This is not surprising, since all these practices are searching to help the body heal itself at the deepest possible level. To achieve that, you may have to be patient, allow the body to process change in its own good time, and be willing to be a little uncomfortable as the body releases residual traces of old illnesses and/or traumas. Only then can your core of radiant, natural, vital health be revealed.