Why I Became an
Upper Cervical Doctor
Hello everyone. In the past few years, many people have asked me why I chose to become an
Upper Cervical Doctor. Depending on the day or the particular situation; I give
people 30 to 60 second explanations on why I do what I do. At times, that short
encounter gets the point across, but in reality it barely scratches the surface
of what burns inside me.
When I was 21 years old, I thought I was
as healthy as I could be. My diet was the best had ever been, I was running
sprints, lifting weights, and getting plenty of sleep every day. My body was
like a machine. I was unquestionably in the best shape of my life. So I thought.
Little did I know, I was as sick as I’d ever been; I just didn’t ‘feel’ sick.
So, before we dive into my story, allow me
to go over a very elementary anatomy and physiology lesson with you. Our body
is made up of trillions of cells. Everyone knows that. Those cells work
together in different structures and networks and are collectively called
tissues. Some of those tissues form muscles, some of them glands, and some of
them our vital organs. So, you can make the very clear assumption that the
cells in our body make up every part of our body. Have you ever wondered what
keeps all of this running? What keeps our cells alive? What keeps our heart
beating? What keeps our lungs inhaling and exhaling without even thinking about
it? The answer is our NERVOUS SYSTEM. We go to the eye doctor to get our eyes
checked and to meet our vision needs. We go to the dentist to make sure our teeth
and gums are healthy. When was the last time, or have you ever had, your nervous
system checked? If the nervous system is what controls our eyes, our teeth, and
every other part of our body…. Doesn’t it make sense we should be concerned on
how that’s functioning?
Back to my story, that’s the sad
realization that hit me in a not so kind way. In the general doctor’s eyes, I
was as strong as can be. My resting HR, blood pressure, body weight, body fat%,
everything was in tip-top shape. However, my nervous system, which controls
every function in the body, was not working. Not only was it not working, it
was breaking down on me.
My Upper Cervical
Story
During the early
summer of 2010, I was working at a car manufacturing plant for some summer
cash. I was lifting heavy tarps that easily weighed over 60-70 pounds
constantly from 7:00 am - 3:00 pm. I was pretty good at it due to the fact I
was the only one in the plant doing it. Therefore, I had nobody to talk to or
no distractions. So, I would sing my favorite songs out loud and just worked
all the day long. It was peaceful, it was fun, and I got paid to move around
and lift stuff. Every kid’s dream job! After work, I would go lift weights or
run with my younger brother, and also played in a men’s league softball team.
Due to a complication with my nervous system called a brainstem subluxation (more on that in a
bit), all of this just severely wore down my body in a matter of two-three short
weeks. I developed a severely painful and debilitating case of sciatica down my
right hip and leg. Sciatica is very common and varies in severity with every
patient. My discomfort can be described as sharp, electric-like stabbings all
throughout my low back and leg all the way down to my ankle. It was incredibly
painful to sit, twist my torso, bend down, or roll over in bed. Every day
continually got worse. My relationships with my family and loved ones changed
that summer. I was in so much pain and discomfort, my behavior, attitude, and
outlook on life changed. I became bitter, and wanted people to be sympathetic with
my problem. The problem was nobody knew what was causing it or how to fix it. I
was going to a full-spine chiropractor EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK, getting STEM
therapy, massage therapy, and adjustments five times per week. However, after
every adjustment, it only got worse and the sciatica was even more debilitating.
Within a matter of weeks, I couldn’t even get out of bed without tearing up
from the pain. I also was driving over two hours to see a Traditional Chinese
Medicine Doctor once-twice per week to receive acupuncture, massage, and
homeopathic herbal treatments for my pain. Needless to say, I had to quit my
job before I really even got going. I spent a few good hours looking for the
best surgeons from all over the country who could fix this for me. I narrowed
it down to a Neurosurgery clinic in Texas, and the Cleveland Clinic for Neurosurgery.
I was in so much pain I wasn’t even going to bother with doctors near my
hometown. I wanted this pain gone, and gone forever.
What happened to my
body? I mentioned earlier, I was in my early 20’s, best shape of my life, ate
extremely healthy, as strong as can be. Why am I going backwards and why so
quickly?
By the grace of God and only the grace of God,
I had heard about Upper Cervical Care before in the past from a co-worker. I kind of put that in the
back of my memory and never thought anything of it. However, in such a
desperate situation and in so much severe pain; I decided to try Upper Cervical
Care before going under the knife. I drove 2 hours to get examined by Dr. Chad McIntyre of theTriad Upper Cervical Clinic in Kernersville, NC. Now to preface this doctor visit, I have
been to MULTIPLE doctors looking to fix my problem. Everybody always looked at
my low back and leg because that’s where the pain was. As I hobbled into Dr.
Chad’s office in so much pain, he took me in the back to examine me. He didn’t
look anywhere near my low back or leg. He asked me about it, but knew that
wasn’t my problem. He took a few x-rays, and did some specific, Upper Cervical
examinations, and explained to me that my nervous system was malfunctioning. He
explained to me that the hub, or main control center of our nervous system, is
our brainstem. The brainstem is what connects the brain to the rest of the body
and is responsible for routing all of the messages from the brain to the body
and vice versa, therefore being responsible for every function, and I mean
EVERY function in our body.
It extends from the
brain down through an opening in the base of your skull. The inferior portion
of this vital tissue is protected by the top two bones in our neck, or our upper
cervical spine. Working much like a telephone cable, the brainstem has
millions of individual wires, or nerve fibers, which send signals back and
forth between the brain and every system, organ, muscle, and cell within the
body. We must have 100% brain-to-body communication in order to function
properly and remain healthy.
The top two bones in
the neck are the only two in the entire spine that are held in place by
muscle and ligaments. They are designed to move in six directions and are
considered freely movable. Every other bone in the spine, not only have a disc
in between adjacent bones, but also have multiple inter-locking joints that
only allow the bones to move in 2 directions. As a result, the top two
freely movable bones are much more susceptible to injury misalignment.
If one of the upper two
bones becomes misaligned, two things happen. First and foremost, it
irritates or interferes with the brainstem and negatively affects the messages
from the brain to the body. Wherever those messages were intended to go,
whether it’s your digestive system, pancreas, heart, immune system, or eyes; it
is going to malfunction, become sick and possibly shut down. In my case, I
blew out two discs in my lower back, and my body couldn’t heal it; due to the
messages not being able to get through. My brainstem was having the life choked
out of it, it was a miracle that I only suffered from my severe low back and leg
pain, and nothing else. Secondly, let’s view the upper cervical spine
as a kinetic chain, connecting from head to toe. If either of the top two
bones becomes misaligned, the rest of the body must compensate or adapt,
resulting in total “body imbalance.” In the end, your health and physical body will be
compromised. This condition is called a brainstem subluxation. In my case, my top
bone in my upper cervical spine was misaligned, to the point where my neck,
shoulders, spine, hips, and even down to my feet had to shift in order to
compensate for this malfunction. This shifting caused my spine to curve and
become weak to the point where I had my low back give out at such a young age.
Dr. Chad explained
that we needed to gently move the top bone into the correct place in order to
give my body a chance to heal. If I didn’t have it fixed, I would just continue
to spiral down and have even more severe problems down the road. Immediately
after my first correction, my entire body started pulsating. My face felt like
it was about to explode. I knew we were on to something with this so-called
Upper Cervical Care. Dr. Chad was very understanding and had a very personable
way of educating me about how the Brainstem Subluxation affects our bodies. He
made it very easy to understand that although ALL the pain was in my low back
and leg, that wasn’t the problem. He showed me how the brainstem is what
controls every function of our body and how all of the brain’s healing messages
go down through the brainstem in order to get to the rest of the body. Acting
like a switchboard operator, if there is a glitch, kink, or complication at the
level of the brainstem, the body is simply going to functionally and
structurally break down. Within two days, I was bending down with ease and
going up and down the stairs without hesitation for the first time in what
seemed like forever. After receiving my second correction a week later, I was
back to full strength. I went from not being able to tie my shoes or roll out
of bed, and days away from wanting to schedule surgery, to playing softball and
running sprints within seven days from receiving my first Upper Cervical
correction. It truly was a miracle. I was forever thankful and fully convinced
that this is what I need to do with the rest of my life. If I can make a
specific correction to help alleviate pain and suffering for ONE PERSON, it can
positively impact their life for the greater good. If I can do that for a few
hundred people, we can affect the well-being of a neighborhood. If I can help
restore health and wellness to thousands of people by helping their nervous
system work more optimally, we change the mentality and health of an entire
city. If we had Upper Cervical doctors in every town of every state and nation,
we can change the health of the world. I think you get the point. It would be
amazing to help this world become healthier and less sick, in a natural,
non-invasive manner. There wouldn’t be a need for antibiotics, vaccines, or
steroids to help with different conditions and illnesses. If our nervous systems
were working at 100%, our immune system will therefore be working better, our
organs will therefore work better, and our entire body will work more
optimally. My Upper Cervical story was severe low back pain and sciatica.
What’s yours? Do you have neck or low back pain? Headaches? Fibromyalgia?
Multiple Sclerosis? Arthritis? Neuralgia? Or, do you understand the simple
concept that your nervous system is what controls everything, and although you
don’t suffer from anything to your knowledge, you want to make sure you, your
spouse, and your kids are correctly routing the very important
messages from the brain to every part of your body. Just because you don’t feel
“sick,” that doesn’t mean that your body is working at optimal levels. Other
than direct trauma, all disease processes and conditions take time to develop.
In my case, I was sick, but “felt fine” for a long time before the weak link in
my body, my low back, finally just quit on me.
If
you really want to be healthier, give Upper Cervical Care a try. If you need
help finding an Upper Cervical doctor in your area, please contact me and I
will do my best to direct you to the closest, most qualified Upper Cervical
doc. Don’t be like me. Don’t wait until your body is shutting down, and you have
symptoms, to pursue health. Be proactive; take that step! Live well! That’s my
Upper Cervical story. My mission is to glorify and serve my Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ by bringing specific, Upper Cervical Care to anybody and everybody
who wants to be healthier. Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made, take care
of them. You only get one!
Until next time.
God Bless,
Dr. Josh
"You never know how far reaching something you think, say or do today, will affect the lives of millions tomorrow." - Dr. BJ Palmer
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