Good News Tucson - A Family Values Publication

Pair-A-Docs On Health with Dr.'s Scott & Melody DeMent

Is it your weakness or your strength?

There was a young boy who decided to study Judo. He was like many young children his age but he lost his left arm in an accident. He went to the local Judo school and found an old Japanese Judo instructor. The boy started his lessons and after about three months he noticed that the other students were learning many different throws while he had only learned one.

"Sensei?" the boy asked, "Why have all the other students learned so many moves and yet you have only showed me one?"
The Sensei replied, "Because this one throw, is the only throw you will ever need to know." Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.

Several months later the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match was more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged, the boy used the only move he had and won the match.

He had now moved to the finals. He was amazed that he had gotten this far despite his handicap. The final opponent was a more experienced student, who was also bigger and stronger than the boy.

For a while it appeared that the boy was overmatched. The referee stepped in and was about to stop the match. The Sensei intervened and insisted that they continue. As the bout continued, the opponent made one final mistake and the boy used his throw to win the match. The boy left carrying the winning trophy.

Perplexed about his victory the boy asked, "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"

"You won for two reasons." The Sensei answered. "First you have almost mastered the most difficult throw in all of Judo. Second the only defense for that throw is for your opponent to grab your left arm." The boy's greatest weakness was his greatest strength.

So how does this relate to health? When we get sick, we show signs of weakness. We get a cough. So we follow the drug manufacturer's recommendation and take cough medicine. This stops our cough so that we can appear healthy.

What does a cough do? It helps our body to remove toxins and infection from our lungs. Taking cough medicine does not allow this to happen. When we get a fever we are told we need to lower it. Lower it to what? What is it supposed to be when we are sick? The fever raises the temperature to a level that pathogens cannot survive. (A prolonged, high fever does need to be monitored but can often be lowered by a warm shower.) When we get a runny nose we are told to take an antihistamine to stop the runny nose.

The runny nose also helps to wash out the toxins created by viruses, etc. Again, if we stop it, then how does the body clean itself out? We have an inborn intelligence that always knows what to do. The problem is that most people don't believe it. The minute you see these immunity defense systems in action you call yourself or your child sick and take drugs to stop them. We need to realize that these symptoms are our greatest strengths and not weaknesses.

Dr. Scott DeMent and Dr. Melody DeMent are Doctors of Chiropractic who are married, own DeMent Family Chiropractic. Spinal health and wellness care for the individual and families are their emphasis in their practice. The Doctors can be reached at 298-4999.