Dear Patient and Friend,

In these modern times, the entire world seems to be more and more dependent on drugs. Drugs in war and drugs in peace, drugs to kill insects, drugs to wake you up and drugs to make you sleepy, drugs to speed you up and drugs to slow you down, drugs to relieve pain, drugs for every phase of life, young and old alike. Does this make any sense to you? It makes no sense to me!

More and more, the medical profession is questioning the misuse and overuse of prescribed drugs and are showing serious concern about the side effects of these drugs as well as the potential risk of addiction to them. We can’t listen to the radio, watch television or read a magazine advertisement without being alarmed by excessive urging for us to take drugs or give them to our children for every type of disorder. Take a moment and notice just how this advertising directly affects you and your family. Look in your medicine cabinet at home or your purse and your desk drawer at work. What form of medication do you rely upon? Is it any wonder people suffer needlessly from stress, nervous tension, digestive disorders, headaches and chronic pain? I ask you to STOP and research how you can escape from this medicine trap.

Doctors of Chiropractic do not prescribe drugs. For over 114 years, chiropractors have empowered people to understand that every function of the body is controlled and directed through the nerve system. Health comes from within. When any interference to the nerve system is cleared, the communication from the brain to organs and tissues is improved and the body will be able to function closer to normal. The better we’re able to function, the healthier we’ll be!

Doctors of Chiropractic focus on the significance of the spinal column as one of the keys to health. The spinal column serves as support for the body. It connects the larger bones and the attachment of major muscles. And most important, the spinal column houses the spinal cord and contains openings between the vertebrae for nerves to exit and provide direct communication between the brain and the body. Thus, the spine is the master control center for the entire nerve system and the key to health!

During our busy everyday lives we experience different forms of stress such as physical stresses (accidents, falls, lifting heavy objects, etc.), emotional stresses (children, work, relationship stress, etc.), and chemical stresses (processed foods, drugs, pollution, etc.) These forms of stress can cause mis-alignments of the spinal bones resulting in interruption of nerve flow and proper communication from the brain to the rest of the body. This is called a vertebral subluxation and results in diminished body function, lowered immune resistance and ultimately “dis”-“eases.”

Chiropractic care is a health care approach based upon the body’s natural ability to heal itself and is a very important step in a commitment to optimal health. Optimal health is one of our most valuable possessions. We should value ourselves enough to strive for the highest level of health. When we take responsibility for the choices we make regarding health, we give ourselves the best opportunity to achieve all of our health goals. Chiropractic care can help give us the natural health we deserve when we commit to learning more about our body and take all of the necessary steps to stay well.

To your health,
Dr. Troy

Dear Patient and Friend,

Minimize The Stress - Before adding more things to our lives we must give thought to shedding some of the workload. Stress is a killer of life and vitality. Find ways to minimize it, whether through relaxation techniques, changing jobs or playing more.

Feed The Mind And Soul - Many psychological and social factors may either shorten or lengthen our lives. Getting enough sleep, having a sense of humour, developing a spiritual life, building long-term relationships with people, attending cultural events, and owning a pet have all been associated with extending life expectancy.

Don’t Overindulge - Many times increased vitality can be felt immediately by reducing overindulgence in alcohol, caffeine beverages, junk food, candy and a heavy, high-fat diet.

Exercise The Body - For many people, exercising is not fun and it’s hard to exercise consistently with a busy lifestyle. A fitness plan does not have to be elaborate to produce health benefits. Even a daily 30 minute walk has been shown to improve health.

Exercise The Brain - Staying mentally sharp is just as important as staying physically fit. Challenge the mind with new experiences, such as travelling, reading and being creative.

Eat A Natural Diet With Plenty Of Fruits And Vegetables - Fresh foods contain higher levels of vitamins than do processed foods. My very good general rule of thumb regarding food is: If it came from the earth, it’s good for you, if it came from a package, it’s NOT.

Have A Purpose In Life - Long-lived individuals often feel they have a mission or special purpose in life. Never stop learning, working or finding new causes to promote.

Maximize Nerve System Function - Be sure the life and vitality flowing from the brain through the spinal column and nerve system are free of interference. Clear the way through chiropractic for the messages necessary for all organs, tissues, immune and other systems to work properly. Maximum nerve system function helps integrate other important health factors including proper rest, exercise, a nutritious diet and a good mental attitude.

To Your Health,
Dr. Troy

Dear Patient and Friend,

Every day, we have a chance to express ourselves to those we love in a very personal and meaningful way. With Valentine’s Day, we have even more of a reason to communicate with our love. Here are some of the thoughts of great lovers throughout history.

Valentine’s Day

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, love, thou art every day my Valentine!
~Thomas Hood

Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand, and Stars, 1939

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.
~Albert Einstein

For you see, each day I love you more today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow. ~Rosemonde Gerard

Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.
~Author Unknown

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.
~Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.
~William Shakespeare

Who, being loved, is poor? ~Oscar Wilde

Grow old with me! The best is yet to be. ~Robert Browning

Love is a game that two can play and both win. ~Eva Gabor

The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of. ~Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670

At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. ~Plato

Soul meets soul on lovers' lips. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. ~Victor Hugo

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. ~Robert Frost

Love is the poetry of the senses. ~Honoré de Balzac

Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination. ~Voltaire

And finally my favourite:
1 Corinthians 13:1-10 (The Message)

The Way of Love

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always “me first,”
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.

To Your Health,
Dr. Troy

Dear Patient and Friend:

I thought that it would be appropriate to start the year with one of my favourite poems, written in the same year that Chiropractic started! Although I’d like to think that Mr. Malins knew the Palmer family and was influenced by them, I don’t think he did, but the philosophy still rings true today. Enjoy!

A Dangerous Cliff
written in 1895 by Joseph Malins

‘Twas a dangerous cliff as they freely confessed
Though to walk near its edge was so pleasant.
But over its edge had slipped a Duke,
And it had fooled many a peasant...

The people said something would have to be done
but their projects did not at all tally.
Some said, “put a fence around the edge of the cliff,”
Others, “an ambulance down in the valley.”

The lament of the crowd was profound and loud
As their hearts overflowed with pity.
But the ambulance carried the cry of the day
As it spread to the neighbouring cities.
So a collection was made to accumulate aid
And dwellers in highway and alley,
Gave dollars and cents not to furnish a fence,
But an ambulance down in the valley.

For the cliff is alright if you’re careful they said,
And if folks ever slip and are falling,
It’s not the slipping and falling that hurts them
So much as the shock down below
When they’re stopping.
And so for years as these mishaps occurred
Quick forth would the rescuers sally,
To pick up the victims who fell from the cliff
With the ambulance down in the valley.

Said one in his plea, it’s a marvel to me that
You’d give so much greater attention
To repairing results than to curing the cause,
Why you’d be much better aim at prevention.
For the mischief of course
Should be stopped at its source,
Come friends and neighbours let us rally.
It makes far better sense to rely on a fence
Than an ambulance down in the valley.

He’s wrong in his head the majority said,
He would end all our earnest endeavours.
He’s a man who would shirk this responsible work,
But we will support it forever.
Aren’t we picking up all just as fast as they fall,
And giving them care liberally?
Why a superfluous fence is of no consequence,
If the ambulance works in the valley.

But a sensible few, who are practical too,
Will not bear with such nonsense much longer,
They believe that prevention is better than cure,
And their party will soon be much stronger.
Encourage them then, with your purse, voice and pen,
And while other philanthropists dally,
They will scorn all pretense and put up a stout fence
On the cliff that hangs over the valley.

Now this story seems queer as I’ve given it here,
But things often occur which are stranger,
More humane we assert to repair the hurt,
Than the plan of removing the danger,
The best possible course
Would be to safeguard the source,
And to attend to things rationally.
Yes, let’s build up the fence and allow us to dispense,
With our over-reliance
On these ambulances down in the valley.