Re-trac-ing: Going from Bad to Good and then Bad to Good, for Good!

Thank you Facebook followers for taking a stab at the natural health definition of Retracing (aka Healing Reaction). Here is the "clinical" definition:

"Healing reactions are temporary symptoms that occur only on deep healing regimens in which the body retraces or goes back and heals old infections, wounds, injuries, or other imbalances from the past. Many are related to eliminating toxic substances, healing chronic infections, or metabolic shifts that take place as a body heals and its vitality increases."
(drlwilson.com)

Dr. Wayne's interpretation:
Retracing - When you go the wrong way down the wrong road, getting on the right road involves turning around and seeing some of the same scenery you saw going the wrong way. The only difference is, you're going the right way this time. The good news is that when you are healing and headed the right way, it happens quicker.

Detoxification can cause a well-known healing phenomenon that can be unpleasant for a short period. Things like skin eruptions, diarrhea, headaches, even throwing up can occur. The trick is to manage it and remember you're headed the right way. In musculoskeletal correction, the fascia, muscles tendons and ligaments (soft tissue) all hold a memory for trauma. It's not uncommon to feel muscle soreness while the body is clearing lymph backup in the tissues and 'letting go of old incorrect positions.' We chiropractor's can suffer through this phenomenon with patients as he/she can often assume that the chiropractor or other natural health practitioner is making them worse or not helping.

The same scenario occurs in acupunture. Dr. Wayne treated a diabetic losing feeling because of a greatly compromised vascular system. His health was headed the wrong direction and he went from feeling normal, to feeling tingling, pins and needles, and finally numbness.
After an initial round of acupuncture which put a stop to the trend, he went from feeling numbness (neuropathy), to feeling pins and needles to feeling normal again.

"How can pain be good?" you question.
Especially if you weren't in any notable pain, discomfort before you started treatment? Because the body will hold things in a state of status quo and mask over problems with pain feedback mechanisms to not 'rock the boat.' When we heal, it's like peeling an onion taking off one layer at a time. When the body has a chance and it's relieved of one thing...it will handle the next highest priority.

Think about this...you eat junk for years and eating a cheeseburger and fries doesn't bother you. Then you do a detox and turn back to your old ways again and eat junk again. This time you feel gross and disgusting. Why? You didn't feel gross and disgusting before the dtox? Do you notice trash in a garbage dump? No...you're surrounded by it. But a gum wrapper on a manicured golf course is very noticeable and so out of place. The same with your body.