7. Questions & Answers

My daughter has been told that she has Scoliosis. Our doctor says that not much is known about this condition and that diet won't help, that the condition is inherited. The only thing he can do, he says, is to refer her to a bone specialist who will probably put her into a brace and she may have to wear this brace for a year or two. What do you think about all this?

How old is your daughter?

Fifteen on her next birthday, which will be in two more months.

Not having seen your daughter's condition, of course, I can make no specific recommendations nor offer any valid opinion as to what the full application of Natural Hygiene principles and practices might permit her body to accomplish, but I can say this: under full Hygienic care, her general condition would improve. It might well be that he would have to wear a brace for a time, but, with proper food, a lot of rest, and getting out in the sunshine and performing suitable exercises, her improvement would be much more rapid and, in all likelihood, she would not have to wear that brace for nearly as long a time as if she did not meet her systemic needs adequately as would be the case, no doubt, if she were placed under allopathic care, especially when the physician in charge fails to recognize the importance of a physiologically- and biologically-correct diet. At age fifteen, she should not delay another moment to get started. Having a good posture at this important time of her life, may well determine the quality of the rest of her life.

My daughter has the same condition. Her spine is crooked—forming an S curve. My husband and I are both Hygienists, but our daughter thinks we are way off the path. She won't eat anything but what the "crowd" eats and that's hamburgers, french fries, cokes and even beer when they party. What can we do?

There is little that you do except perhaps to lay it all out for your daughter. In this lesson, you have learned the importance of posture, how this crooked spine can influence adversely every single function within the body. Try to get your daughter to read this section and perhaps her future may become more real to her. In your own home, you can see to it that only good food is in the refrigerator. Learn how to prepare natural "delights" such as banana ice cream and you might hold a fruit party for your daughter's friends. Also, promise her a reward for good behavior after a certain short period as, for example, a theater party or a camping trip; whatever she would like to have or do most. Use this as an incentive. When you have done all this, you have done your best.

It seems to me that everybody has different ideas about how to tackle body defects; at least, physical and structural imperfections. One chiropractor I know puts bottles of pills on the chest of his patients and then recommends zinc or calcium or whatever to the client if there is some spinal malposition. Why are your methods any better than his?

I never knew health to jump out of a bottle of pills and magically into the body. Taking hundreds and thousands of pills can never straighten a crooked spine. The only possible means to correct a body defect which has been caused by a failure to meet systemic needs is to begin, and at once, to meet those needs and to move bones and muscles so as to balance the incorrect action of other bones and muscles. The correct diet and lifestyle will take care of the inside, the internal needs of the body, while the exercise and other Hygienic biodynamics will help the body to repair the defect to the extent possible, as determined by the age, present condition of the individual person and by how well he applies himself to his program.

Not everyone would be able to have the patience to correct structural defects since it seems to take so long.

We have a simple answer for this question. Without patience, knowledge, determination and willpower, the unfortunate one must just learn to live with his defect! Furthermore, his/her life by the very nature of the life process, will be less enjoyable, less productive and curtailed in many ways—not a very enticing exchange!