When I was a teenager, I was involved in several motorcycle accidents and one severe car accident. With each accident was a trip to the hospital and some x-rays where with no broken bones the advice was to go home rest and you will be fine.
Well, I was not fine. At seventeen I got very sick. After several rounds of antibiotics and corticosteroids which did not seem to help, I was sent to “specialists” who had did not have any better solutions. Before I was eighteen my low back started hurting which was a warning sign that I had a problem with my spine.
Fortunately, at the suggestion of my brother, I discovered chiropractic and went to be checked to see if my low back pain could be relieved. The chiropractor told me that he would check my spine for subluxation (misalignment/nerve interference) and if that was the case, I was in the right place and he could help me. He explained that as he corrected the subluxated areas of my spine that I would start to function better. He stated that chiropractic is based on these scientific facts:
Gray’s Anatomy states that every organ system and function of the human body is under direct control of the central nervous system;
An intact nervous system will lead to optimal functioning of the human body. (Dorland Medical Text)
The chiropractor also explained that I was born with intelligence and designed to be healthy. He told me that you have to have a healthy functioning spine to have an intact nervous system, allowing optimal function of my body. Stress is what caused my subluxations and I had had plenty of that!
He explained as that he did not treat or cure the symptoms or conditions; his job was to detect and correct the subluxations in my spine. Symptoms which he also called “body signals” were merely how my body responds when it is unable to adapt. As he corrected my subluxations I would function better, adapt better and the healing part was all up to me.
I was all in!
I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I started getting adjusted three times a week. My chiropractor explained that the frequency of adjustment, which he called the “rhythm of healing” was to help teach my body a new better habit of being subluxation free. My back pain was gone after two weeks. My body had healed from the inside out. Other health symptoms cleared up as well. The results of chiropractic treatments were fantastic and life changing in a very good way. Chiropractic had addressed the cause of my symptoms.
Now to back up a little bit, my mom had a life changing event at sixteen years old with chiropractic. Basically, a pinched nerve in her back had stopped her from digesting her food. As a last-ditch effort my grandfather took her for a chiropractic assessment. This turned out to be a life saving decision for her. However, where that chiropractor failed her (and me, for that matter) is that he did help her understand the principles of healing and how chiropractic is a major contributor to overall healthy function of the body. My mother was a believer but not an ‘understander’ of chiropractic.
Now, I would like to be able to tell you that from my personal experience I had a huge paradigm shift from the (outside-in) treating of symptoms model to a (inside-out) functional wellness model. However, I started chiropractic school and I stopped getting adjusted at that time because I thought I could not afford care. I had competed in several bodybuilding competitions, I had been eating really well, exercising a lot, and looked healthy. Within a few months time though, I broke out in shingles which was the start of me getting sick again. I reverted back to seeking ways to treat my symptoms (which was ironic, considering my own life-changing chiropractic experience in my late teens as well as now being that I was in chiropractic school). I wanted to just feel well again. Yet none of the prescriptions were curing my health issues.
I graduated from Palmer West in California so sick, the doctor that I had seen suggested that perhaps it was just allergies that had developed living in a new part of the country. Back in Alberta now, I started getting regular specific adjustment and once again I regained my health. This was finally my paradigm shift into to a functional wellness model which included chiropractic. This is what changed the life of me and my family - forever.
I am proud to be a principled chiropractor and I am on a mission to share true functional wellness lifestyle with as many families as possible.
What is the True Meaning of Health?
As a prospective patient, I remember sitting through an orientation called “The Doctor’s Report”. During the Doctor’s report I was asked “What is the true meaning of health?”
As I had always being involved in fitness my hand shot up to answer with, “When you feel good”. Which at the time was again ironic because I at the time being what some may call a fitness fanatic, I did ‘look good’ but at the time was not feeling good. I had been eating healthy, working out several times a week, yet I had symptoms that seemed to persist.
The chiropractor responded by correcting me and explaining that the answer is in the word itself. True health is expressed in the body’s ability to HEAL. I obviously had severe subluxation (misalignment/nerve interference) and lost my ability to function properly and eventually lost my health. Thinking back to my childhood, I must have lost function in my earlier years being plagued with poor health, then later on several accidents which had seemed to only compound the issues.
As a parent of two young boys (Max and Xavier), I take a special interest in seeing children be raised naturally and to be healthy. I can vouch that when my wife Diana was pregnant and someone would ask what we were having, “Is it a boy or girl?”
My answer always was “It doesn’t matter, just as long as they are healthy.” Our health is our most valuable asset and many of us don’t realize this until we get sick. As my young family grows, I am amazed at the child’s eye view of the world and their ability to dream incredible dreams.
As an adult (that has been tainted by the world), those dreams seem silly and less attainable. Somewhere along the way many of us seem to lose hope. We become ‘realistic thinkers’ and we set ‘attainable’ goals. At Atlas Family Chiropractic our dream is to bring the hope back by beginning the process with improving your health.
There is Always Hope
Regardless of the past or your current health concerns there is always hope. We have created a culture within our office that allows our practice members the ability to dream again! For some members a dream might be to walk up a flight of stairs, for others it could be completing an Ironman, or just being healthy with the ability to adapt to this stressful world we live in.
Chiropractic is a unique profession and we feel blessed to be a part of it!
We look forward to you joining us in our mission: create a culture of true HEALTH for the community of Airdrie.
Welcome to the Atlas Chiropractic Family!
Sincerely, Dr. Glen Johanson
Chiropractic does NOT treat or cure conditions or disease.
Chiropractic has one objective: To detect, analyze and correct subluxations.
