Understanding Fevers

You weigh yourself on the scales. You take the temperature of your child. A doctor takes your pulse and measures your blood pressure. These measurements are compared with hundreds of other people from which averages are obtained.

Which begs the question, “Is average normal?”

Averages have a place, but they can distort reality and treat us as if we were mechanisms, like a wristwatch.

Most watches don’t know when you’ve changed time zones. Or that daylight savings time has ended. In other words, your wristwatch doesn’t have the INTELLIGENCE to ADAPT to the environment. But your body does.

That same intelligence that grew and developed you inside your mother’s womb is the same intelligence that lives inside your nervous system today!

The Brain and Nervous System allow us– to think, move, perceive, coordinate…ADAPT! 

This is why we shouldn’t see fevers,  elevated blood pressure or other such findings as the problem. They’re just signs that the body is ADAPTING to something. 

Have you ever went out for a jog and your pulse rate went up?? (I hope it does).  Well, you better get on some Statins because that’s not “normal”.

Have you ever walked into a doctor’s office (nervous) and had your blood pressure reading be thru the roof? (white coat syndrome). 

Rushing in to artificially lower the body’s temperature can actually serve to lengthen the time it takes the body to do the needed work.

Well, we better put you on some hypertensive medication to keep you at the “normal” range of 120/80. 

Most of the “signs” or “symptoms” we experience are just a REACTION to our environment (stress).  It is our Nervous System ADAPTING our body to the environment. Therefore, the problem isn’t always the “sign” or “symptom”, rather our environment (lifestyle). 

Does, 65 year old, Mr. Jones really have heart disease because he is running low on cholesterol lowering medications or is it because his nervous system has lost it’s ability to adapt to his lifestyle over the years? 

This is where the problem lies: At the same time the body is giving us a sign that something is changing, modern medicine and pharmaceuticals are telling us that the body is incapable of adapting and we need to cover up our symptoms.

Where Chiropractic sees the body as an ADAPTING creation, modern medicine sees the body as a mechanistic wristwatch that dysfunctions and needs intervention, breaks down easily and needs pieces replaced frequently to work properly. 

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Most people automatically think that a fever is something bad that should be lowered as quickly as possible. Not so fast!

It’s important to remember that by itself a fever isn’t an illness.  It’s usually a sign of some underlying problem. What’s the problem with your blood pressure going up when you go for a run? 

The problem is: Your legs NEED MORE blood and oxygen with an increase in activity! – this is normal – your nervous system perceives your environment (physical stress), and instead of doing nothing and your legs cramping up, your nervous system, tells the heart to kick it up a notch.

So, what’s the problem with a fever? Nothing, really. It’s a natural way the body responds to fight viral and bacterial infections. Rushing in to artificially lower the body’s temperature can actually serve to lengthen the time it takes the body to do the needed work. To tie this in with the example above, if your heart did not pump any faster when you went out for a 5 mile run, it would obviously take much longer to go 5 miles than if your heart was functioning normally.

Most fevers are usually not cause for concern until they reach a temperature of 104 degrees F and only then if the fever lasts for three days or longer. This doesn’t mean you should ignore the fever so keep an eye on it and monitor it. 

A fever means the body is in a battle and has “set the thermostat a bit higher,” using temperature to help subdue the enemy. 

Which ultimately means: you are ADAPTING NORMALLY! (Healthy)

"Healthy kids get sick because they've made poor nutritional decisions and they need to get adjusted."



Chad Schleiger, D.C.
Elkhorn Chiropractor