When you look for Miracles, Miracles Can Happen
By Cliff Fruithandler DC
I have always been the optimist. I grew up with westerns where the good guy always won. Be a good guy and you couldn't lose was my philosophy. Looking back, I was always lucky, not that bad things didn't happen, they did, but something better always came out of it.
In middle school the coach told the class to run around the field twice. The race was on. After the first lap there were a hundrend kids ahead, and only few behind. As we finished, the coach took the last 10, the slowest to the side. We knew who we were, the fat kids. He asked us what team we wanted to be on, I said Gymnasitics. He then told us all we had to do to make the team was to pick up our speed, and the quickest way to do it was to run every day with a wet suit and ankle weights. I did and within 2 months at age 12, I was faster and almost skinny.
I was put on the gymnastic squad, and with an unfortuanate fall from the rings, without the spotter catching me I fell. I had severe pain in my back going down my right leg. My parents took me to the GP then the orthopedist, then the neurologist. I was drugged, injected and told to rest which I did for 10 days. My life had ended. This is the 60's, my father who worked as a mover, had back problems occasionally and went to a chiropractor. He told my mother he was going to take me. Of course mom said, over my dead body. Well we snuck out the next evening and I limped into a 2 room office with my father for support. There was reception room where I watched a lava lamp flow for half an hour while waiting nervously. A patient walked out and the Chiropractor waived me into his other room. In one room he had a desk, two odd looking tables and an X-ray. He did an exam and next thing I know I heard a snap craclkle and pop and my pain was gone. I walked to my father's office a few doors down feeling on top of the world. After each of the next three visits, as I left I was energized, feeling better than I had ever felt in my life. I knew then, that this is what I wanted to do. I never changed my direction.
As an intern all I wanted to do was create the miracle I had felt. I had taken every extracurricular class and specialty club I could. I was armed and ready. Amazingly all my patients had the most bizarre conditions. These patients I inherited from the student chiropractors before me. I would not fail, if there was a solution, I would find it.
Fist was a women who had general back pain, and constantly belched, to the point that the small treatment room smelled like hydrochloric acid. She had had previous chiropractic care with good results, but the beltching never stopped. My conclusion was she had a hiatus hernia and I treated her with Applied Kinesiology reflexes and adjustments. The pain went away and with in a few visits, and the beltching reduced in frequency over the next week, became very strong and then just stopped. Wow my first miracle. Applied Kinesiology and Chiropractic treatment really worked, it cleared 5 years of belching.
My second patient came in with classic herpes zoster, a severe pain in the midback radiatating along the 8th rib to the anterior. It had been present for five months and was not getting better with traditional treatment or chiropractic. I adjusted her midback, and after talking with my Chinese Acupuncture instructor, place needles to reduce the pain. With in the week the pain subsided, and in two weeks was gone. Another miracle, acupuncture and adjustments worked.
My third patient presented with Bells Paulsey, her entire left side of the face had no muscle strength. She couldn't close her eyes, flare her nostil, fully close her mouth or smile. Here was a challenge. She had been to the neurologist to no avail. She had some upper neck tenderness and pain prior to the Bells Paulsey. I treated her neck with chiropractic, cranium with Ostepathic Craniopathy, and performed acupuncture with electrical stimualtion for the bells paulsey. Her neck felt better immediately. In the middle of her 3rd acupuncture treatment she was able to close her eyelid. By the end of the 30 minute treatment she couild smile and lift her eye brow. With each treatment the stenghth returned to the face and with in 2 weeks one could only see a slight drop in her eyebrow. She was normal.
My fourth patient had a primary complaint of chronic recurrent back and knee pain. He had good results with the student clinic over many years, but the pain would return with in a few months. I knew I had to do more than adjust the spine. I tested all of his pelvic muscles and found one sided weaknesses in the psoas, gluteals, and Sartorius muscles. I ascertained that these imbalances still present after the adjustments were the cause of his flare ups. I worked him up with Applied Kinesiology, balancing he muscles and utilizeing minimal chiropractic. After the first treatement his knee pain went away. After the 3rd treatment the back pain. He returned once a month while I was there for a tune up, but no pain in the next ^ months. I looked forward to seeing him as he brought me the best homemade Italian sausage I have ever known. He visited me in Flordia several times (no sausage) and took me out to lunch. His back pain didn't return. Again, look for a miracle, a miracle can happen. I got the best sausage of my life.
My fith patient who I inherited from another intern was as odd as they come. She had generalized whole body pain, always tired, exercise increased symptoms, there were days you couldn't touch her. She had pronounced pain in the neck shoulder and lower back. All present for many years. She also had extreme digestive difficulties and an entire book could be written here. This was 1980, in todays world we would call her Chronic Fatigue and Irritable bowel syndrome. She treated with me for my entire internship. I spent many days in the library and talking with my mentors. She responded to most therapies, was grateful for each visit. I used everything in my power including prayer. My instructors all gave advice and recommendations. I tried them all and slowly but surely she improved. While at a AK seminar with Dr George Goodheart and Wally Schmidt, they each gave me a few 'new' emotional techniques which made the difference. Utilizing these along with new herbals and nutritionals we made addtional progress. She was humbling and the first I couldn't resolve. As angry I was with not coming up with the answer was as happy she was with where she had gone. As I said goodbye, she thanked me from the heart. She told me her life is so much better now. Not to worry, 'Rome wasn't built in a day" it takes time. She gave me a list of all the 'fun' things she could do. She was content and we knew she would continue to improve. She had begun swimming as recommended. She told me she couldn't do a lap the first time out. Today she could swim 20 laps. She had transformed from a cryer to an optimist. She saw the good in all rather than the bad. My incomplete treatment was perhaps my best. Her story inspired me for the beginning of my career. We can't cure all, but we can always make a positive footprint to the future.
My sixth patient, Sam, was what I thought to be impossible. He had phantom leg pain. His leg was removed from the knee down 10 years prior at the VA, and he had pain in his" foot". It had been present for 10+ years. He also had treated with prior interns for many years for recurrent back problems secondary to use of crutches. He could not use his prosthetic leg due to the pain it caused. I prayed to god for a solution. I used acupuncture which helped on an off for the 'foot pain'. Chiropractic and AK surely helped the neck and back pain but it returned. His shoulder and arm pains improved with massage, trigger point therapy, myofascial release, and physical therapy modalities, all gave good symptom relief but the" foot" pain always returned. At around his 15th visit I decided to try an experimental cold laser for his acupuncture treatment. A miracle occurred. The phantom leg pain melted away.
I continued on the research Laser team which we felt was great for the skin and meridian therapy. We even did acupuncture facelifts and breast augmentation. Today they call it a photo facial.
The highlight of my internship was the week before graduation. As an intern (not paid) we all had side jobs. I worked as a waiter at Putting on the Ritz. A week before graduation, in comes Sam. Walking with his wife and without crutches. He asked for my table. I congratulated him on his new leg, it was the first time I saw him without crutches. He talked to all of my customers about how his pains all went away and he could use his 'wooden' leg and walk again. I was on a high. . My other tables left and I had the best tips of my 4 year career. I gave Sam and his wife a big tearful hug good bye. After he was gone, I picked up the last plate and found an envelope under it with a long thank you note for saving his life. He confided that he was suicidal when I had met him the first time. He said I gave him hope, and hope turned into reality and a new life. He wasn't a wealthy man, but he was happy. He left me a $250 tip with the thank you note under his plate. A waiters dream, a 300% tip. Absolutely a miracle.
I realized my passion come true. Being fat and slow got me on the Gymnastics team. A bad fall got me to the Chiropractor. The innate energy change of the adjustment was so powerful that from that moment on I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Be a chiropractor and create miracles. As a physician we do the technical. Our higher power has put us together with directions on how to fix us. It is our plight to find the directions and use them. Through ancient wisdom, research, trials errors, intuition and common sense we can find and use natures energies to heal. It is our challenge. If you look for miracles, miracles can happen and do every day. I am thankful to god for giving me his gift and guidance to help others.
Today's times are stressful if we choose for it to be. If we choose to be grateful for what we have, rather than angry for what we have lost, our lives will always be fulfilled. For every problem there are many solutions. Never give up looking. I knew chiropractic worked for me, and persevered even when others called us quacks. I figured that there must be a basis to acupuncture, as it has been around for 5000 years, yet I didn't believe in it until I saw the miracles that occurred. People laughed at me when I did kinesiology as quackery, until George Goodhart the originator became the first US Olympic team Chiropractic physician. Today these are mainstream treatment protocols.
My new toy is pure energy medicine, it's called Asrya. It's not a cure all, but has the potential to normalize the body using energetic frequencies including homeopathic and acupuncture. It can work when all else had failed. The diagnostics are uncanny. It truly works with the innate for the body mind and spirit. I have spent one year trying to disprove the Asyra, but it keeps proving itself worthy. I never dreamed I would be treating Allergies, Diabetes, hormonal imbalances, hypertension, MS, Scleroderma, Autism and a whole list of autoimmune diseases. Although Chiropractic and Acupuncture have shown good results with a great variety of issues, I tended to stay in the pain control arena. Today my dream has come true. I have a true General Practitioner's practice. Neck and back pains are still my bread and butter, and are usually very easy to treat. I enjoy challenges, impossible cases. I am looking for miracles. The more I look the more I can find.
I love Bioenergetic medicine. My favorite saying and motto is this definition "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting to get a different result". If you are looking for change, do something different. Miracles do happen when you look for them. Why be a pessimist, if you can be an optimist?
Author: Clifford Fruithandler DC
Source: Clifford Fruithadler DC
Copyright: Clifford Fruithandler DC 2010
