Hi. I'm your spine, and yesterday you sent me on a 15-year trip to disk degeneration, locking of joints, nerve strangulation and mechanical fusion. The sad thing is, I yelled for help, but you didn't listen.

It could have been caused by a fall, improper lifting, improper bending, an accident, or many other ways. Whatever you did, you felt a sudden stabbing pain.

That pain was me, telling you that you had slipped a disk. But you ignored me; in fact you muted my warning by taking a pain reliever.

Don't you know why they're called pain relievers? All they do is cover up pain, doing nothing to find and solve the cause for the pain.

As I was saying, yesterday you "slipped a disk." Wait - that's the wrong word for it - actually a vertebra slipped out of line and is now locked out of place. It's a relatively minor problem now, provided you waste no time getting me to a Doctor of Chiropractic and continue with his prescribed treatment.

Just one pain-relieving visit to your D.C. cannot repair the damage you've done. A single visit is merely a Chiropractic pain reliever; what I need is a program of Chiropractic treatment.

If my condition is only eased or left untreated, a slow, insidious, very predictable pattern of events will follow...

During the first five years, your pain relievers or occasional Chiropractic adjustments will be able to mask the pain when it occurs. The swelling in your disk will soon subside, but degeneration will have begun its slow course up your entire spine.

Between the fifth and 10th year the pain will return, forcing you to take stronger and more frequent doses of your trusty pain relievers or more pain relieving Chiropractic care. My locked vertebra will be unable to provide the bending motion for which it was intended and will call upon the vertebra directly above it to assume the task.

But one vertebra was not built to do the work of two and the strain will cause my second vertebra to slip out of line. When my second vertebra locks out of place, the problem is compounded: now my third vertebra must do the work of the two below it.

See how that works? The compounded workload, this crippling ailment marches right up the spine at a faster and faster pace. As the 10th year approaches, severe pain will come at frequent intervals.

By the 10th year you will have chronic back pain. The degeneration will have resulted in a locking of the injured joint in your lower back and with that, strangulation of the nerves running into your legs.

The final stage of disk degeneration will occur between the 10th and 15th year.This is the time of mechanical fusion of the injured joint. By then, you may have difficulty controlling bladder and bowel functions. Your legs will no longer receive adequate messages from your nervous system, causing you to walk with a slower gait - and maybe even need a cane or a walker.

That's the trip you sent me on yesterday. It's just that sure and just that predictable. But, it's within your power to stop. Today, right now, take me to a Doctor of Chiropractic. By simply using his hands, he can relign it as quickly as you misaligned it, so please keep taking me back as often as he advises.

Once he has me straight again, he can rehabilitate my injured disks, vertebrae, and ligaments with roller traction and therapy. Only after that program of rehabilitative treatment will I completely return to normal.

Even as your pain relievers offer only a temporary relief from the pain, so does occasional Chiropractic adjustments. I need more than this. I need a supervised program of Chiropractic rehabilitative care.

Please follow your chiropractor's advice. To regain true health I need the in-depth therapy that goes beyond mere pain-relieving adjustments. And remember, the next time you feel a pain in your back, it's me, your spine, telling you that something's wrong.

Written by Peter G. Frenandez, D.C. Copyright 1992 CliniCorp
If you would like a free copy of this information, stop by the Bly Chiropractic clinic today and ask for the original pamphlet, "I Yelled For Help but you Didn't Listen..."