As a chiropractor in Escondido for a long time, I have observed that there are two kinds of patients. The first kind is the patient who wants to just feel good. The second kind wants to perform at their optimum potential throughout their life.
If you feel that you are the first kind of patient, I am very concerned about you. Feeling good can range anywhere from taking an aspirin for a headache to injecting heroin for one’s next high. These examples though seemingly very different are actually very similar. I just want to feel good. (Preferably as fast as I can.) This is that person’s theme.
Understand that taking a pill or having a procedure for “instant gratification” will have a deleterious effect on one’s ability to perform at their optimum potential. Take the example of an aspirin for headaches.

1)  There is a cause for one’s headache and it is not due to a lack of aspirin. With the, “make me feel good consciousness,” the underlying cause is not investigated or contemplated. As a result, the cause of the headaches continue to worsen.
2)  There are side effects of the aspirin- many, even lethal.
3)  The symptoms of a headache are there for a reason.
a.   To warn that person to settle down or possibly avoid a situation which may be causing the headache.
b.   The pain is the signal to the brain that there is something abnormal going on. Erase the symptom with a drug and the brain has no information so that it may integrate and create that person’s eventual healing process

This “make me feel better” patient will never truly get better, in fact they will get worse.
Remember the fable of the three little pigs. The pigs that built there houses quickly with hay and twigs wanted to have fun and play. As the story goes the houses of those pigs were the ones that the wolf blew down. That wolf in this analogy is sickness and death. The pig that worked at building a strong brick house even though it took longer and was harder is the one who survived the wolf.
Chiropractic in its pure nature does not work for the first kind of patient.
Oh sure, they might feel better after an adjustment now and then, but in the long run they will quit and say, “I don’t believe in chiropractic.” The challenge for that first kind of patient is that it takes work and time.
Chiropractic does work and there is nothing to believe. Exams, x-rays, leg length and thermography show the vertebra out of alignment causing nerve irritation thereby causing pain or disease. The spinal misalignment causes the problem and is hard fact for anyone to literally see. Some may even say that chiropractic is more costly. I say in the long run it is cheaper. Consider the following factors of just wanting to feel good.

1)  The side effects of drugs or a quick fix.
2)  The ongoing degeneration or disease process that goes unnoticed because of the ongoing medication or short term approach.
3)  An early death.

I prefer a different attitude.  I believe the second kind of patient who is into achieving optimum potential will have a longer more gratifying life. Here are the characteristics of the higher thinker.

1)  They think long into the future for their successes.
2)  They are honest with themselves and know they are the cause of their problem.
3)  They investigate where they may be out of balance with the laws of nature (attitude,  spinal alignment,  sleep/rest,    nutrition,  exercise,  sanitation and natural first aid).
4)  They seek advice from professionals not so much to feel good, but so they may achieve their optimum potential.
Example-
Will a grandmother be able to reason and think quickly with her grandchild if she is being drugged with 5-12 medications? These medications are usually designed to relieve symptoms of arthritis, but also act in dousing the central nervous system. I would much rather have a grandmother distracted with pain but making good decisions than a grandmother drugged, not having her full capacities mentally to take actions when necessary.

To truly become the person one knows they can become, look at one’s function and lifestyle first, then think for long term solutions. Undergoing chiropractic therapy in Escondido is one of those solutions.

In good Health

Raymond R. Rickards D.C