by Dr. Judy L. Scher
We have been trained from a young age to view our health through a very simple, binary lens: If we feel good, we are healthy. If we feel pain or discomfort, we are sick.
On the surface, this logic seems sound. However, modern chiropractic care as well as truly holistic functional medicine, reveals that this mindset is incomplete and potentially dangerous. True health is not just about how you feel, but how your body functions at its core.
We often assume that a back injury, a sudden illness, or a diagnosis “just happened” in the moment symptoms appeared. But the truth is, the body’s function usually starts to decline long before the first symptom arises.
The Fire Alarm: A Lesson on Root Causes
Think of your body like your home. Imagine a fire starts smoldering in the basement. As the smoke rises and the heat intensifies, the fire alarm on the wall detects the danger and starts shrieking. It is loud, obnoxious, and distressing—just like pain.
In that moment, you have a choice. You could get annoyed by the noise, grab a pair of wire cutters, and snip the wires to the alarm. The noise stops instantly. You feel relief. The “symptom” of the noise is gone. But has the problem been solved? No. The fire is still raging in the basement, now unchecked and silent, causing structural damage that might be irreparable by the time you notice it again.
This is exactly what happens when we rely solely on painkillers or symptom-suppressing medication to handle our health. We “cut the wire” to stop the pain signal. We feel better temporarily, so we assume we are better. But the underlying dysfunction—the inflammation, the misalignment, the stress, the “fire”—is still burning.
Modern culture has conditioned us to believe that silence (no symptoms) equals safety. This approach is a major contributor to the rising tide of chronic and debilitating illnesses we see today. We are a culture obsessed with silencing the alarms while the fires burn down the foundation. We treat the effect, but ignore the cause. This is also why by the time many see a doctor, whether holistic or allopathic, the body has been in a chronic state of dis-ease for some time.
The “Silent” Danger of Feeling Fine
Consider this: Heart disease is often called the “silent killer” for a reason. For many people, especially women, the very first symptom of a heart condition is a heart attack itself. Similarly, serious conditions like pancreatic cancer often present with only mild indigestion until they have reached advanced stages.
In these cases, the patient likely “felt fine” for years while disease was building. The absence of symptoms did not equal the presence of health. Similarly, a nervous system that isn’t communicating clearly can cause long-term decline before you ever feel a “twinge”.
Re-thinking Symptoms: The Body’s Intelligence
Conversely, we are quick to judge symptoms as “bad.” But are they always?
Imagine you eat spoiled food. Within an hour, you are vomiting or experiencing diarrhea. You feel terrible. You might say, “I am sick.” But in reality, your body is expressing a profound state of wellness. Your nervous system detected a toxin and immediately initiated a violent, effective response to expel it and return you to wholeness.
If your body didn’t produce those “bad” symptoms, that toxin would enter your bloodstream, leading to severe illness or death. In this scenario, the symptoms are proof that your body is communicating and functioning perfectly.
The Missing Foundation: Brain-Body Connection, Function Over Feeling
This distinction—between feeling and function—is the cornerstone of true health. It is also why Chiropractic care was not founded merely to treat back pain or suppress symptoms, but to establish optimal communication between the brain and the body. Feeling absolutely has its place and its significance, especially how you feel about what you feel, yet your sensory nerves, the ones that give you sensation, only make 20% of the autonomic nervous system. Which means 80% of nerves are silent to you and have to do with function.
True healthcare isn’t about cutting wires; it’s about putting out the fire and reinforcing the structure. Yet, the strongest foundation for health is often the one most overlooked: the connection between your brain and your body.
Your nervous system is the master controller of every function in your existence. It coordinates your immune system, your digestion, your movement, and your healing. When you get sick or injured, you don’t just need symptom relief; you need optimization. You need a nervous system that is clear, reactive, and capable of orchestrating the complex healing process without interference. The nervous system even has a direct relationship with how well you absorb nutrients to nourish yourself. It’s called the enteric nervous system. Often called the ‘second brain’.
I recall a time in chiropractic school when I woke up with a 102-degree fever. I felt awful and called my chiropractor to cancel, thinking I should stay in bed. The Assistant on the phone stopped me. She said, “Get in your car and come in. You need to come especially because you are sick. You want to do everything you can to optimize your body right now.”
She was right. I got adjusted—not to “cure” the fever, but to ensure my body had the clear communication lines it needed to do its job. Sometimes, an adjustment helps a fever spike slightly to burn off pathogens faster. It allows you to heal efficiently rather than just suppressing the process. That experience was one of many that influenced how I support patients in my own practice.
Honoring Life’s Intelligence
Ultimately, this is about a shift in values. It is about moving from fear of symptoms to trust in your body’s innate intelligence.
Your body was designed to be well. It was designed to heal, to adapt, and to thrive. But it cannot do that if the communication lines are down. When we only act based on pain, we are being reactive. When we act based on function, we are honoring the incredible life force within us.
I invite you to adopt a new standard for your life.
Choose to support yourself not just when you are broken, but because you value your potential. Choose to care for your nervous system because you understand that a clear connection leads to a vibrant life.
Aligning with your body’s natural wisdom and to ensure your foundation is strong, is a powerful way to support that journey. Let’s work together to honor the intelligence inside you, ensuring you aren’t just surviving the fires, but thriving in every season of life.
A final invitation
Over the past number of years, especially since covid, there’s been a hypervigilance around being in public when one is expressing symptoms. You don’t want to feel you may ‘give’ someone your cold, flu or worse. There is merit to that, to be mindful of others. And on the other hand, if we are mindful, it is also important to receive support during these times where the body is working hard to heal. If you are unsure if it is the right decision to go into an office, consult with your chiropractor to see what they say.
Expert Chiropractic Care in Santa Fe, NM
If you are searching for a chiropractor in Santa Fe, it is likely because you want to move beyond just masking symptoms. At The Scher Center for Well Being, we specialize in more than just quick fixes for back pain or neck stiffness. We focus on gentle but powerful chiropractic care and nervous system health of our New Mexico community.
Whether you are looking for a Santa Fe wellness center to improve your athletic strength training performance or seeking a holistic chiropractor to help shift chronic stress, our goal is to restore your brain-body connection. We proudly serve patients throughout Santa Fe County, including Eldorado, Tesuque, and Los Alamos, helping them move from reactive care to proactive vitality.
www.schercenter.com