A Healthier Family

Is Your Family At Risk?
This story is repeated every day in a million different ways. As you read it ask yourself, which of these children am I?

Tom, Dick and Harry are playing together on their tricycles in their neighborhood playground.

What Happened To Tom?
Little Tommy is pedaling as fast as he can and while doing a wheelie, his tricycle flips over and he is thrown to the ground. He gets back on his tricycle and pedals away.

But unknown to Tommy, the fall has misaligned a vertebra in his spine and "pinched" a nerve that transmits nerve impulses to his stomach. This is called a vertebral subluxation. (Often many nerves are involved in numerous complicated ways when there's a subluxation, but for the sake of simplicity we'll use the stomach.)

A Subluxation
Tommy of course has never heard the word subluxation and perhaps he never will. But in a few days he's complaining to his mother about a stomachache. Since Tommy is a strong, growing boy, it may go away and not return for months. Tommy's mom may just overlook it: "Kids are always coming down with a little of this and a little of that," she may say. "Besides, he's usually better the next day."

As Tommy grows up, however, he finds that certain foods have a bad effect on him.

	*He can't eat leafy vegetables
	*He can't eat spicy foods.
	*He can't eat pizza.

"I like them, but they don't like me," he says as he gets older. He regularly consumes over-the-counter drugs such as Maalox(tm), Pepto-Bismol(tm), Alka-Seltzer(tm), Bromo Seltzer(tm) and Rolaids(tm) to get through the day.

Prescription Drugs
The years pass, and as Tom gets older he finds that his drugstore remedies aren't working as well as they used to. He now goes to his medical doctor, who prescribes more powerful drugs. These drugs have greater side effects.

Tom's problem with his stomach gradually get worse. One day he is diagnosed as having an ulcer. In time, the ulcer may get so bad an operation may be necessary. Tom will have to be careful of what he eats for the rest of his life--or else!

Tommy's story is not unique. You may know many Tommys: if it isn't stomach trouble, it's asthma or bronchitis, or arthritis, headaches, constipation, fatigue, insomnia, backaches or one or another of the hundreds of disease conditions that run through our medical books and our neighborhoods. The world is full of Tommys who live on medicines, and are resigned to a life of aches and pains, sickness and disease, adverse reactions and side effects. They may never know a truly healthy day for the rest of their lives since that very first "fall from grace."

What Happened To Dick?
Our next child is Dick. He is also a bit of a daredevil, overdoes a wheelie, and--you guessed it--falls down and goes boom. He dusts himself off--more worried about tearing his clothes and getting yelled at by his mother than any damage he may have done to himself--and gets back on his bike. Like Tommy, Dickie has gotten a subluxation, and, like Tommy's, it is affecting his stomach.

Dick too doesn't know he has a subluxation, but in time also begins to suffer from stomach problems. Like Tom, as the years go by, he can't eat everything he'd like to and begins to rely on over-the-counter drugs for relief. But one day a friend says to him, "You know Dick, with all your stomach problems why don't you see a chiropractor?"

"A chiropractor?" says Dick, "I thought they were for backaches." But since he has nothing to lose, he gives the chiropractor a try.

Can You Cure Me?
"Can you cure my stomach problems?" he asks the chiropractor. "Chiropractors don't treat diseases; we locate and correct vertebral subluxations, which cause nerve interference. After the subluxations are corrected, the body is better able to heal itself,"says the chiropractor.

The chiropractor analyzes Dick's spine and locates a subluxation--the one that was created when Dick was a child. He performs a chiropractic spinal adjustment, and the vertebra returns to proper alignment.

"Dick, I want to see you again soon to make sure your vertebra stays in position and doesn't resubluxate. In the beginning, the area may be a little unstable and there may be a tendency to misalign," says his chiropractor. Dick begins chiropractic care, and soon Maalox(tm) and Alka-Seltzer(tm) become things of the past. Even his sleep is better, and he has more energy during the day! He has eluded Tom's fate.

What Happened To Harry?
The last child in our trio is Harry. Little Harry also has a spill on his tricycle, but his story is very different from that of his friends. Harry is a member of a family that practices chiropractic health maintenance.

Health Maintenance Family Care
Shortly after Harry's mishap the family visits the chiropractor for their regular spinal checkups. Everybody goes, it's a family event--true health insurance that keeps their bodies working with healthy spinal columns, free from the vertebral subluxations that impinge on nerves and disrupt the flow of messages and energy from the brain to the body. "After all," says Harry's mother, "we go to the dentist to have our teeth checked, why not go to the chiropractor to have our spines checked too?"

Regular Chiropractic Care
"Since we've been getting chiropractic care," says Harry's father, "our whole family's health has taken a terrific turn for the better. We have more energy, we sleep better and we just generally feel better. My wife doesn't get headaches like she used to, and I feel more relaxed and have more energy. Our Harry and Shayna and Seth don't get colds or miss school the way they used to, and their attention spans have even improved!"

The Chiropractor Checks Harry's Spine
"Well, Harry, what have we here? A subluxation! What happened, more daredevil stunts on your bike? Here, let's fix you up." The chiropractor uses the art of spinal adjustment to easily and painlessly correct little Harry's vertebral subluxation. Harry will never know how truly lucky he is.

There are many Tom, Dick and Harrys(and Harriets) living in our homes. Please bring them in for a chiropractic checkup. Why wait until there's a problem before doing something for you or your child's health?

Spinal health is important for proper internal organ function.