SLCSAW #29 Major Accidents and what to do

Rebuilt U: A show about unlearning

What happens when Dr. Altman's date night turns into a nightmare?

I was sitting in a restaurant with my wife having a nice date night 6 weeks ago. We got a phone call that instantly altered our life. You think bad things will never happen, until they do.

It was loud in the restaurant so we didn't hear the phone in time and just got the voice mail from my son. "Hey, Grace (my daughter) was in a ski accident and broke her leg"...CLICK.

Of course calling him back didn't work. As a parent, having one of your kids seriously hurt is one of the worst feelings. Then having to wait...and wait...and wait for news is like the air being sucked out of the room.

The ski patrol called me back and told me she broke her femur and would likely need surgery. What !!!

My nightmare kept getting worse. So my evening started on a date and 5 hours later, we were in a deserted waiting room at 12:30am while my daughter was in surgery.

Life has so many twists and turns.

When people hear "femur fracture", the cringe face always shows up. People know inherently it's one of the most painful things you can have as a human being.

So what do you do?

Now, I have a teenage daughter with a major bone break, surgery, and almost toddler-like dependence.

#1 I'm thankful it wasn't worse. #2 I'm thankful for the countless people who helped her. #3 I'm thinking, how fast can she get back to normal.

The ripple-effect is incredible.

Accidents happen every day. Heck, every day in Salt Lake there is a car accident. I saw a video yesterday of a car falling off a parking garage onto the sidewalk. Unbelievably, no one was hurt. You just never know.

So what does it take to heal?

#1 Time #2 Raw materials (nutrition, nutrition, nutrition) #3 Rest #4 Maximal coordination of healing (proper nervous system function)

Each injury and tissue heals at a different rate. Bones heal faster than tendons and ligaments. This is one of the reasons people in car accidents take longer to heal, they mostly have ligament injuries. Even if you cut your hand, you'll still have a scab for 3 weeks.

What you're like before an injury and how you eat after makes a big difference. If you are healthy and robust before an injury, you'll be back in short order. If you are sick and frail, it'll take forever to heal.

Your body needs vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. to rebuild tissue. There is no short cut to this. You can't build a house without raw materials. What you eat and the supplements you take matter. Medications don't do that. If your medication list is longer than your supplement list, you may want to rethink how you are doing things.

Rest is critical. There is a reason they cast broken bones. If you break your leg, it would be illogical to sign up and try and run a 5k race. People do this all the time with low back injuries. The moment they feel better, they want to garden or exercise. Injured tissues can be used, but shouldn't be overly stressed.

So, my daughter is going to start walking this week, not running.

I see a huge advantage for patients getting adjusted. My daughter has been getting adjusted since the day she was born. The first day she got home her spine was a mess, from the crash, from surgery, from being confined to a bed, from crutches.

Your nervous system controls everything happening in your body, everything. That control is influenced by the health of your spine. If your spine is out of alignment, injured, irritated, or degenerated from neglect, it can adversely affect your nervous system. You can't exercise or stretch this out. If you are taking pain killers, you definitely won't feel problems.

Let's say the tires on your car are out of alignment, does your car still roll down the street? Of course it does. Can you drive your car back into alignment? Of course not. The longer you leave the alignment out, the faster the tires wear out.

Right?

So, does the performance, traction, and safety of your vehicle improve over time, or degrade? Seems obvious, but the same thing happens to your spine and nervous system.

If you want to heal fast and well, you need the coordinator of your body working well. You won't hear that from other doctor's, but I'm telling it's 100% true. I've seen it for 2 decades and lived it.

I wrote this email for a few reasons.

For one, I want you to learn a bit more about healing and to understand that it can be faster and better.

Two, I want you to think about accidents. For most people, insurance is fairly useless now-a-days, unless you're in an accident. Couple things to think about, raise your auto accident coverage, in Utah it's called PIP, and look into getting an Aflac policy. It's not amazing, but it helps. The auto accidents are much more likely to happen. Too many people suffer, and don't seek care because they are worried about bills. The Aflac helps pay.

Third, this is a fairly stripped down version of my last 6 weeks. I think there is a lot to learn. To give you an example, my daughter was taking 16 supplements, 3 medications, and broth. She was off pain killers in 3 weeks. We had to have a white board to keep it all straight.

I would consider this an advanced health care lesson. I want to give you the opportunity to learn more. I'm not sharing the details with the general public, so it won't be in the emails, the blog, or the podcast. If this is interesting to you, you'll be able to learn more from our private Facebook group. You can get access by signing up for any of the classes at Rebuilthealth.com You'll get an email with an invite.

Why?

Well, if you aren't doing the basics, the advanced stuff really won't matter. If you are signed up for classes and are not in the Facebook group, let me know. You may have signed up before the automatic invites started. I can send you an invite or get you into an alternative option :)

Have a great week. -Dr. Altman