Oil Change

Image by Skica911 from Pixabay

This is an actual conversation. I swear this really happened.

I was sitting in my car at one of those oil changing places and, of course, I had the window down and I could hear the conversation the oil change man was having with the driver in the car one bay over.

“Will you read me the mileage on your vehicle, sir?”

“Sure. 175,221, why?”

“We recommend that you have your car’s oil changed every three thousand miles or three months. We will put that number plus 3ooo miles on a little sticker, with the date three months from now, so that you will know when it is time to have your next oil change.”

“I see. Well, you can save your little sticker because my car has this handy dandy red light that comes on when I need oil. When it comes on, I’ll be back. You can bet on that!”

“Sir, we don’t recommend you waiting for your red light to come on, because oftentimes your car is already damaged if you wait for the red light. Sometimes the damage can be expensive to fix. Sometimes a car can’t be fixed.”

“Well, young man, I wasn’t born yesterday and I know you boys are in the business of up-selling folks, you know, selling them things they don’t need. But don’t worry, I won’t let your secret out (he said with a wink). Even though we both know that all them other cars have the same red light.” (He did have an Owyhee County license plate, hence “them”!!)

“Sir, it’s called routine maintenance and it is a very cost effective strategy to keep your vehicle in good working order, potentially saving you a ton of money down the road.”

“Fine and dandy son, but I’ll trust my red light just the same. How much do I owe ya?”

Can you believe that? I could not believe what I was hearing either! Was this man really going to wait until it was too late to change his oil again? Was he really waiting for the red oil light? YES HE WAS!!

Hopefully, most of you reading this, save for those in Owyhee county, would not even consider this to be a reasonable thought process. You take action before the idiot light goes on. You can, and do, maintain your vehicles. It is a no-brainer. Maintenance will save you time and money in the end, and you know it.

But when it comes to our health, most of us reading this, wait for the red light to come on.

Why?

Part of the misunderstanding comes from the misguided notion that health equals no negative symptoms. If we don’t have any pain, then things must be OK, we must be healthy. If the proverbial red light does come on, in the form of pain, we take action. But not before. Prevention and maintenance of your health do not enter the equation because they seem unnecessary, a luxury, like you have been up-sold.

Again, why?

Is it time? Money? Procrastination? Ignorance?

I’m going with ignorance, and ignorance is a choice! (Ignorance is not synonymous with stupid BTW). Here are some things to not ignore.

The list goes on and on, including changing your heat filter!

We can help you with two of the above. You already know we will gladly check your spine. But I’m guessing most of you don’t know that we also order blood work! We can get you THE MOST comprehensive panels done for around $175. We can then generate a report that explains all the values that are too high and too low. Then we can make a plan to move you away from a potential disease process, before the red light goes on.

I did this for myself in early December and I am grateful I did. Getting things moving in the right direction before a problem arises is money well spent. I cannot believe how much data and the concise explanations that are included with this draw!

I would highly recommend it. Contact the office if you’re ready to go.

And make sure you get adjusted before the red light comes on.

And get your oil changed!!

Cheers, 

ks

PS-thank you for reading and, of course, the oil story is fiction.

Cheers again!