Lessons Learned From My First Broken Bone

Benjamin Franklin once said, "The things which hurt, instruct."  After my traumatic fall in January 2022 when I fractured the distal end of my collar bone, many lessons were learned.  The image on the right shows an X-ray of my shoulder, taken a week after the fall.  Amazingly, it already showed that new bone was created to heal the fracture.  For me personally and professionally, this injury educated me and reinforced many things I was taught long ago.  These are four of the main lessons:

1) The Nervous System is also the Healing System.  Healing from all injuries and trauma is initiated, controlled and coordinated by the Nervous System.  This astounding healing begins immediately after the injury, as the nervous system sends a signal to blood cells in the circulatory system.  As discovered by the orthopaedic surgeon and researcher, Dr. Robert Becker, and described in his book, The Body Electric, this healing process is initiated by a very low frequency electromagnetic signal from the nervous system. This message directs the red blood cells that rush to the injury site to essentially change and become cells of the torn or broken muscles, tendons, and even bones.  In other words, the brain sends a "wireless" message to flood or "inflame" the injury site with blood cells to dedifferentiate (i.e. change) into bone cells.  It's truly astounding, to say the least.  I was only able to drive without severe pain 3 weeks later, when I was finally able to visit my chiropractor in Joburg.  I was severely subluxated from the accompanying head injury that I also sustained from the fall, and those specific adjustments made by Dr Nicole Bernic had a profound effect on my overall well-being and definitely helped to hasten the recovery.   

2) Fractures likely heal better without pharmaceutical drugs.  After I received stitches on my eye brow, the doctor asked if I needed pain medication, as I was obviously in severe pain.  The pain was only severe is certain positions and movements, so I declined his offer, saying, "The pain is keeping me honest."  (To which he replied, "I like that!").  Through the entire healing process I simply avoided anything that made the pain feel worse.  In fact, I even taught my brain to become proficient at using my left arm to adjust my patients, and even brushing my teeth and eating.  I avoided all pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs, so that my brain was more aware of the broken bone.

3) My diet is more than adequate for bone health.  Most people believe that you need dairy for the health of your bones.  I have not consumed any dairy products in 8 years, yet my fractured bone healed in about 5 weeks, less that the 6-8 weeks predicted by the orthopaedic surgeon, and my shoulder was nearly fully functional.  Fortunately, calcium and the many other minerals needed for a healthy skeletal system comes from the ground and don't need to be filtered through an animal for us to benefit.

4) My simple fitness routine likely sped up the recovery.  While I don't exercise as much as I should, I do at least walk regularly and perform simple body weight exercises and stretching daily.  I am quite certain that the strength of my shoulder muscles also helped me to recover efficiently, and possibly made the injury less severe.

Considering that the fall was a hard one, the damage could have been much worse.  While it was a massive inconvenience for me, my wife, and my patients, as I wasn't able to work at full capacity for over a month, the lessons learned are many.  For this, I am grateful, but I am most grateful for our amazing innate healing capacity to allow us to heal, learn, and enjoy an even more meaningful life.

by SJ NANA, DrNana.co.za