The job of the President of the United States is an important duty. There certainly is the potential of high levels of stress when you are placed in charge of running an entire country. A lot of power comes with a title such as that. Unfortunately if you aren't healthy, then any task, whether great or small, can be difficult.
John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States. He is still to this day one of the more popular leaders of all time. Unbeknownst to many is the great deal of suffering that JFK had with lower back pain. It is said in several biographies that it started with playing football at Harvard and then there was an incident at war which further injured him.
It is written that "...except when his back stopped him, he lived, between politics and athletics, a life of marked and exuberant physical activity." And also "At least one half of the days that he spent on this earth were days of intense physical pain."
He was subjected to several spinal surgeries. The first was a lumbar disc operation. The second was to fuse the lumbar spine and put in place a steel plate to reinforce it. The pain was so severe after that surgery that there was even a subsequent surgery to remove that steel plate. It is written that the surgeries left him weaker than ever.
In the spring of 1955, he heard of a doctor that was using Novocaine injections to help certain painful muscular conditions. Her name was Dr. Janet Travell. The injections helped the pain but the relief was only temporary. It was at this time, for the first time, it was noticed that one of his legs was three quarters of an inch shorter than the other side, causing blatant structural insult. Heel lifts were put into place and then Dr. Travell made the suggestion that had the greatest impact on JFK's recovery: the rocking chair. She had him put gentle motion into his joints by using a rocking chair. In a surprisingly short time, "he regained his old vitality back."
Motion. Your genetic design is meant to move. It is only when you can't move and put motion into your joints that suffering ensues. It's unfortunate that President Kennedy didn't have access to a chiropractor at the time. Chiropractors are trained to look for structural imbalance and lack of spinal integrity. Just another example that there is power in motion.
The quotes are taken from the book, "A Thousand Days," published in 1965 by Arthur Schlesinger.
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