Bet I have your attention now! What could I possibly be talking about this week? Well, let’s read on as I have a little story to tell you.

Once upon a time, there was a little town called Drugville. It was a small little town that had a mill, a scout troop, a few schools and a big garbage dump. Not only did they have this big garbage dump, they also had a rat problem. Lot’s of them.

One day, little Johnny was walking down the street and stumbles while eating an ice cream cone. The ice cream cone falls and all of the sudden, out from the alley, a big rat comes out and starts eating Johnny’s ice cream. Needless to say, Johnny freaks out and runs home to tell him mom. In minutes, she is on the phone to the Mayor.

Elsewhere that day, Mrs. Pitts is putting her garbage out. She lifts the lid of the can and sees 4 or 5 rats in there, munching away. Horrified, she drops the lid and runs into the house. Minutes later she is bending the Mayor’s ear. Something must be done!

The Mayor is in a bad spot. He’s up for re-election and the last thing he needs is his town overrun by rats! He decides to take action. “Let’s kill them”, he says. He calls Burt Pharma from the Acme Rat Killing Company. Burt assures the Mayor his problems are over, he’ll handle it. The Mayor calls everyone back to put them at ease.

Burt goes to the dump and puts down his magic chemical and in days the rats are dying all over the place. Everyone is overjoyed and the Mayor is looking good.

Eight weeks later, Martha Jones is enjoying a family picnic and reaches into her basket to pull out a cheese sandwich, only to end up with a Rat busily nibbling away at her food!

Many other incidents occur and again the Mayor is on the phone to Burt Pharma. “What can you do, I’m never going to get re-elected at this rate.”

Burt digs deep into his vault of chemical poison and brings out the heavy guns. Within a day or so, there is not a rat to be found. Things appear to finally be resolved and everyone is overjoyed!

That was until about 8 weeks later when Cindy Sue was eating her school lunch on the bench when she heard a sound near the garbage cans. You guessed it. They were back!

Well, the mayor had to look for a new job, and Burt Pharma moved out of town.

Why did the rats return? Was it because the drug wasn’t strong enough? Did they develop an immunity to it? Did the drug fail to kill all the rats off and some escaped? All these answers, although seemingly logical, are incorrect. The correct answer is that the rats will keep coming back because you’ve only treated the symptoms and not corrected the underlying cause of the problem which is the dump (food source).

So what in the world does this have to do with health and wellness, Dr. Schneider?

The rats keep coming back because you’ve only treated the symptoms and not corrected the underlying cause of the problem. You can kill rats all day long (the symptoms), but until your get rid of the dump (the cause) the problem will only return again. Chemically altering function, poisoning tissue cells or surgically removing organs is an external approach to health. An internal approach would be maximizing your health potential by maximizing bodily function.

So what in the world does this have to do with health and wellness, Dr. Schneider? Treating symptoms does not improve health. Correcting the cause of the problem does.

Your spine and nervous system are essential to healthy living. Subluxations of the spine (misalignments that alter nerve function) cause nerve interference. A properly functioning nervous system is necessary for a properly functioning immune system.

You can either get rid of the dump or spend your life dealing with rats! The choice is yours. Hopefully, you’ll make the right one. Schneider Chiropractic 661-2225.