Question
Hello sir.
I wish to build STAMINA for continuous running AND I HAVE A MONTH's TIME ONLY to achieve the same.
I regularly run in the morning and it's been about a month since i am following this routine but i have still not obtained the desired results.
Please suggest what to do and what diet to take.
Regards.

Answer
Dear Manav,

Thank you for your question about exercise and diet recommendations.  In order to answer you properly, I抣l first need to give you some background on the chiropractic profession.

There are two branches or schools of thought in chiropractic.  Briefly, they are differentiated by whether they deal with the limited therapeutic approach for aches and pains (commonly termed "mixed" chiropractic because it represents a mixture of a chiropractor with a non-chiropractic matter) or a non-therapeutic approach to optimum body performance (termed "straight" chiropractic because there is no mixing of chiropractic with anything else).  Each form offers different kinds of benefits to the user.  My expertise is in non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.

Therapeutic "mixed" chiropractic is the older approach based on a split from the founding principles of chiropractic about a century ago.  

Non-therapeutic "straight" chiropractic is the more modern of the two.  It deals with a particular, common situation called a vertebral subluxation.  The spine is made of many bone segments which house and protect the spinal cord and the smaller spinal nerve branches that come off the spinal cord and exit between the bones.  These nerve pathways carry information or messages between the brain and the cells of the body.  These messages are essential for the life of the cells.  Without vital brain messages, the cells immediately begin the process of dying; i.e., they can no longer function the way they should to maintain life.

Because the bones are moveable, they can misalign in such a way as to interfere with the messages and, ultimately, the ability of the person to function at their best or express their optimum potential.  People with vertebral subluxations are not able to get all they can out of life.

Vertebral subluxations can be caused by a wide variety of factors, what we'll generally call stresses.  These stresses can be physical (such as exertion, accidental trauma, sleeping posture and mattress condition, the birth process, sneezing, falling down, etc.), mental / emotional (in its many forms, probably the most familiar use of the word stress), or chemical (such as pollution, drugs, etc.), which are, unfortunately, regular parts of daily living for all age groups.  In short, a vertebral subluxation can occur for a multitude of reasons.

Tragically, vertebral subluxations are rarely obvious to the individual they affect.  They usually have no symptoms.  The reason is that most of what goes on inside you happens without your awareness.  As an example, try to "feel" your liver.  What's it doing right now?  You can't know, so you can't know if it's functioning at its best or something less.  To complicate things, nerve pathways that carry messages of control (termed "motor" nerves) have no way of transmitting ache or pain messages, so your body function may be far from perfect and you'd not have any alerting signal whatsoever.  In addition, the branching of the nerve pathways is quite complex and extensive, making it exceedingly difficult to predict or determine exactly how the person will be affected.  In order to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation, it is necessary to have that person抯 spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor using a method of "analysis."  When a vertebral subluxation is detected this way, it is obviously important to correct it as soon as possible.  The term for this is 揳djustment?and can be accomplished in a variety of ways, depending upon the unique vertebral subluxation and the individual person.  

Since vertebral subluxations are caused by so many different things, people choose to go to a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor on a regular basis to enjoy the most time free of the life-robbing effects of vertebral subluxation. There's a saying that non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about your back, it's not about your pain, it's about your life.  Each person has a unique potential in life.  With vertebral subluxation, it's impossible to realize that potential.

Now that you have some reference point from which to start, let抯 address the matter of exercise or diet as modalities to increase stamina.  Note that in defining non-therapeutic straight chiropractic or in distinguishing it from therapeutic mixing chiropractic throughout this response, the focus was always upon the objective, not the method.  Whether a method fits within non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is determined by the objective ?the desired goal ?in using it.  From the non-therapeutic standpoint, then, an adjustment is effected by any of a number of techniques, but is solely and uniquely for the correction of vertebral subluxations because they, in and of themselves, are detrimental to the expression of life.  Generally, modalities, including prescribed exercises or diets, are therapeutic in nature ?they are used in treatment of a therapeutic concern or as a method of healing ?in this case, affecting stamina ?and have no real place in the practice of non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.  

Your question, though couched in a subject often presumed to be a measure of optimum performance, is still about a therapeutic matter; i.e., you wish to force a particular function upon your body.  This is quite different from accepting that it is impossible to know what your body should be doing at any given moment.  It would require your Creator抯 (or creator抯, for the agnostic) knowledge to also know your inborn potentials.  

A key question to ask for your purposes would be, Is someone who is attempting to realize their optimum potential better off with vertebral subluxation / nerve interference or free of subluxation / with the nerve channels open?  It is easy to see that having all the available nerve messages getting through is better than only some of them getting through, regardless of the person's situation otherwise.  It抯 not that you should see a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR exercise or diet counsel for stamina ?you should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, even WITH such concerns.    

As I mentioned earlier, not all chiropractors adhere to this and it is important that you be able to distinguish which ones do if you're going to seek this type of service.  You need to understand very clearly that the practice objectives of therapeutic mixed chiropractic and non-therapeutic straight chiropractic are quite different, as described above.  What I can tell you must not be interpreted from the mixed viewpoint.  Recommendations about exercise are not part of the responsible practice of non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.  That said, it would certainly be wise to have your spine checked for vertebral subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for your therapeutic exercise needs.  Remember, the two objectives are not the same and a therapeutic mixed evaluation will not replace the evaluation of a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor for vertebral subluxations.  

If you are interested in finding out how to locate a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor in your area, please contact me at this site again or at [email protected].  

Manav, I wish you the best in understanding chiropractic.  It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.