Payson, Utah — In consultation with new patients, I will quite often hear the phrase, “Oh doc, I’ve learned to live with….” And my response is almost always the same, “I’m sorry to hear that!”

Such was the case several weeks ago in the office. A sprightly young 80 year old lady in consultation asked me, “Is this pain do to old age, I had an MRI and it showed nothing, I’m I going to have to learn to live with it?” The thought of gardening in the spring and continuing to be active seemed impossible.

Well, it turned out that she had one knee replaced a few years back, and her spine had suffered damage as a result and she had severe degenerative arthritis. This was a straight forward chiropractic problem, and within 1 month, her concern of continued disability has turned to bright hope of future health. YES. Her spine was majorly imbalanced, and the result was that she had severe headache and hip pain and could no longer stand for more than a few minutes. However, after a few weeks of corrective care, she is indeed walking/standing 80% better with no headaches ALREADY.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of well-meaning doctors still advise that a certain amount of pain is just a “normal” part of life, and that the best approach is to mask the symptoms with medications or attempt to surgically alter the symptoms. When those approaches fail, it’s back to the wastebasket diagnosis and advice of, “You’ve got arthritis. This is due to your age. Here’s your narcotic refill, and it’d be best if you would just learn to live with it.”

Well, folks there’s a better way. Many of you, as patients reading my blog, can attest to this fact. So, I welcome your comments and suggestions for your blog entries