This is a great post from Shapely Prose, “An Anthropologist on Mars” Go read it. This is kind of what I’ve been getting at with this post but fillyjonk has articulated it much better than I did I think. I got the micro view of how this plays out, she got the macro. I find this Health at Every Size movement compelling.

As I’ve mentioned before, I started to have neck problems last August. For a number of reasons I switched chiropractors and what a difference that switch made to my health. Under his care and instruction, I have eliminated all my neck pain, healed a sprained ankle, a sore knee, a pelvis/soaz issue, a sore shoulder and all but eliminated the  carpal tunnel syndrome that I’ve been suffering with since the birth of my first child 12 YEARS AGO! I went to the chiropractor this week basically for a tune-up and I am PAIN-FREE. He was actually able to write on my chart “Symptom-Free.” And I didn’t have to have invasive surgery, take anything stronger than Ibuprofen, lose 50 pounds, or spend every waking hour at the gym to do it. In the beginning I did have to be pretty consistent about doing some prescribed exercises but I certainly wasn’t religious or perfect in that regard. And I do workout more or less consistently (Hey, moderation in all things including consistency).

The reason that the things I was doing before weren’t working is because my body wasn’t aligned correctly. If it isn’t aligned correctly, you will just keep re-injuring yourself.

So, this is my lesson from that experience. And I know this is a pretty revolutionary thought, so bear with me–I need to expect that a professional is going to actually help. If they’re not helping, I need to get a different professional. When a professional starts blaming my lack of progress on me and I’m more or less doing my 50%, I need to get a different professional. And what does blaming me sound like? “If you would just lose weight, I think we could make better progress.” “Have you done 500 of those exercises a day like I suggested?” and my personal favourite, “Wow, I really don’t know what to suggest, but let me know if you discover anything that works because I’m sure I’m going to encounter this problem again in my practice.”

Now, I’m sure there are chronic conditions that are not curable, just manageable, and obviously some things are going to require surgery and/or drugs. I’m not saying these things don’t exist. But there are less of these conditions than one might think. I’ve been noticing a great many people just accepting their pain as a given, and up until a few months ago, I was one of those people. Do not accept physical pain as the norm.

Waiver: Don’t get your medical advice from strangers on the internet. This is one person’s experience and opinion and I invoke the Scott Adams waiver BOCTAOE (But of course there are obvious exceptions) to everything I’ve written in the previous paragraphs.

Note: Comments that blame fat people for their misery, or are just generally insulting will not be published.