(Excerpted from Dr. Norton’s soon to be published book: Where Does It Hurt? Dr. Norton’s Surprising Stories and Transformative Insights for Releasing Pain and Restoring Whole Body Health)

From Nearly Dying to Daily Dying

Martha was brought into my office unable to walk about six weeks ago and placed in a chair in my consultation room. She was bent over about 35 degrees to the left. She had been bedridden for six weeks with debilitating mid to low back pain radiating into her right hip and leg that she rated a 9 or 10 on a 1-10 scale of severity. She broke into tears at my promise to help her get well.

Martha’s life was drastically altered one spring day in 1985. She was driving down the freeway in the 75-80 mile an hour flow of traffic when a dog ran out in front of her car. She locked up her brakes attempting to miss the dog when the vehicle behind slammed into her at full speed. She was spun into the undivided median area and remembered hoping she would not end up in the way of opposing traffic, before she went briefly unconscious.

“I shouldn’t have lived”, she told me. Martha was taken by ambulance to the hospital. They didn’t x-ray her or provide any other diagnostic assessments to determine the extent of her injuries. They didn’t even offer her any medication. They simply informed her that she would be sore for awhile but then okay.

Martha was 38 at the time of the accident. She hadn’t had any pain or health concerns prior to that turning point day.

Well, that immediately changed. Martha began to struggle with neck pain and severe headaches, including the migraine variety. She suffered back pain accompanied by feelings like her legs were on fire.

She hurt steadily and badly for the next 11 years!

Martha kept returning to her medical doctor periodically but without help. She was eventually provided with some exercises which offered no relief.

The Safe, Protected Place of Avoidance?

In 1996, Martha endured the death of three close family members within one year coupled with elevated pressure in her work world as a purchasing agent. As these stresses piled on top of her already painful and compromised system, Martha became more and more depressed. She returned to her doctor who prescribed the antidepressant Paxil. The medication worked to decrease her emotional lack of ease to some degree and so the dosage was increased until her difficult feelings appeared to be erased.

There was another seeming positive benefit. The severe pains throughout her physical body disappeared as well.

However, increasingly Martha began to experience undesirable side effects from remaining on this drug. Physically, dry mouth and a “swishing feeling” in her head became irritants. On a deeper, mental, emotional, and even spiritual level, she was also suffering.

She said “I just started feeling like a walking zombie”.
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<Pain Point>

Martha told me that over the next years she would frequently find herself sketching out a drawing of a person stuck inside a cube. “I knew that person was me. It was like I was viewing the world going on outside but I couldn’t touch it. The medication was the walls of the cube that kept me from feeling any pain, but at the same time I lost the feeling of being able to participate in my own life”.
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(Stay Tuned Next Month for Part 2)

Visit our web site!

Visit Dr. Norton's web site. The Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center web site is packed with a vast amount of news, tips, and health information. Also check out and interact with our new Ask Dr. Norton Chiropractic Health Forum. If you are experiencing pain, or just want more information on your health or how we do business, please stop by!

News & Events

1. Tune in to the Progressive Parenting radio program on California Central Valley’s 790 AM on December 2nd and 16th from 10am - noon to hear Dr. Norton’s two-part interview on Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective? He will challenge this supposed scientific certainty and question the appropriateness of the public’s blind acceptance of this medical ritual.

   Dr. Norton will review the foundation of your body’s self-regulating nature established in his interview back on November 11th , clarifying that you and your kids have an innate immune capacity (if properly nurtured and strengthened) to resist or at least overcome most infectious disease. As you have noticed, not every exposed person develops an illness and the extent of consequences is extremely variable even when an illness is contracted.

   He will discuss the difference between true and artificial immunity and why vaccination falls short, the unknown and dangerous vaccine ingredients, and the possible severe short and long-term side-effect consequences of vaccination, the benefits of getting childhood diseases, the foolishness of flu shots, and how you can take control of your own immune status.

   Tell some friends and family and tune in for some compelling and surprising information that will empower you and possibly save the life (or at least the quality of life) of someone you care about!

2. If you haven’t investigated our brand new Chiropractic Health Forum yet, then please go to www.DrMatthewNorton.com and click on the “Ask Dr. Norton” box. You can ask a question, post a testimonial, read an article, or keep up with the latest learning opportunities and other developments. There will constantly be new information for your perusal and edification as well as the opportunity to participate. We would love to hear from you!

Visit our Center!

Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center (View Map) at 5670 N. Fresno St. Ste. 102 in Fresno, Calif. Call us at (559) 490-9550 or contact us here.

If you are in the California Central Valley call Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center at 559-490-9550 or visit us online at www.DrMatthewNorton.com for a virtual tour and to schedule an appointment to see if we can help you.

You will also appreciate the valuable tools on the Learning Resources page of the website if you are not in our area!

Healing Hints

1. Never, ever give up seeking a true solution for your pain or illness challenges! Consider the monumental uphill task Christopher Reeve faced in his recovery and healing efforts. Then attempt to comprehend the courage and persistence he continually brought to his nearly impossible situation. Summon a mere fraction of his focused determination and transfer it to your predicament and you will almost certainly succeed in stimulating healing.
   
   
2. Car accidents nearly always involve injury! When you hear the traffic reporter mention a “non-injury” accident, realize that there may not be blood or a disengaged limb, however, the spines and nervous systems of the drivers and passengers have almost certainly been seriously impacted. Without immediate diagnostic and corrective attention from a chiropractic specialist, the moment of trauma will frequently be the beginning of a long downhill slide into chronic pain and health problems.
   
   
3. Please don’t fall prey to the prevailing fallacy that lower speed collisions or minimal car body damage equates to lack of injury to you, the car occupant! This misunderstanding may be the most costly health mistake you ever make. The scientific research on whiplash trauma has consistently failed to demonstrate any such correlation, even though the insurance companies would like you to believe otherwise for financial reasons. The issue relative to human injury is one of acceleration/deceleration and this is not connected to the extent of car damage.
   
   
4. The pain that you are trained to believe is the only or primary indicator of injury, may not occur in the days, months, or even years following the accident. I lost count in the hundreds to thousands, how many people coming into my office with pain or other health problems had progressed into severely advanced degenerative spinal decay and nervous system disturbance before they ever experienced any significant pain concerns.
   
   
5. If you have endured a car accident of any magnitude at any time in the past, whether you have suffered any pain or other symptoms at all, please get your spine checked by a doctor of chiropractic ASAP for the sake of your health and future quality of life! Call us at 559-490-9550 to schedule an appointment or for more information.

About Dr. Norton

Dr. Norton unites his passion for learning, teaching, and healing with a compassion for those who are struggling with pain and illness or not performing at their peak. He brings to his work a high level of academic achievement and cutting-edge bodymind research. However, he also brings a deeply caring heart transformed by difficult personal life experiences. Read more.