Recently, while flying home from San Francisco, I discovered the seating assignments had been organized by Innate, not the airline computer. You may be smiling, as many chiropractors have had the experience when traveling that the person seated near you needs to hear the chiropractic story. Sea level or 35,000 feet, subluxations have got to go, and chiropractors are ready, willing and able to talk.

Sharing the front row was a middle age couple, frustrated, desperate, innocent. The husband was not well and it was obvious that the experience was taking its toll on him. Physically he had the tone of defeat, heavily looking down, his eyes reflecting that his life force had been dulled. His wife was devoted and her husband's champion, but exhaustion was seeping through despite her efforts to keep it together. My heart went out to them. Could anyone have doubted that subluxations were present?

There was quite a bit of turbulence, we traveled the sky as if attached to a giant washing machine. In our mutual discomfort and efforts at distraction we turned and conversed beyond the typical pleasantries. They told me their story -- of his ALS diagnosis, years of typical treatments yielding no progress, her efforts to keep hope alive and create a lifestyle for their family not dictated by this disease.

She explained that she read about this M.D. on the East Coast who had a "supplement" of some type that was promoted to treat the cause of ALS. Right about now, I started feeling some internal turbulence.

It was a big deal for her to read this, they were searching for something that could make a difference. While they didn't know any more about it than what they had read, they were willing to take their 1st plane trip in four years, all the way to the other side of the country. It was as though they were traveling towards hope.

I introduced chiropractic into the conversation, identifying myself and asked her whether they had ever received the benefits of chiropractic care. She looked at me, and in a polite but confused manner she said "What does cracking your back have to do with getting healthy?" Gently, clearly, without doubt or hesitation, I explained just exactly what subluxations are and what chiropractic care has to do with promoting health.

If your sympathetic system is now in overload because of her understanding or language, know that this is not the end of the story but actually the beginning.

At an earlier point in my development as a chiropractor, I would have heard what she said and felt frustrated (how could they not know?), unappreciated (why weren't they flying cross country to a chiropractor?), and misunderstood (why don't people get it?), resulting only in a state of fatigue and disappointment for me.

But I've learned to ask myself better questions -- questions that don't tear me down, but motivate me to go forward, that decrease the reasons for my plane experience to repeat itself. I also realize I cannot take on every single situation or person and do not let it defeat me, but use that awareness to focus on where I can touch lives.

I thought about what had triggered this family to grasp at hope, what caused them to act. They had READ about it. Today, reading is often how people discover their choices. Today, people read to get information that drives their action.

So, my question to everyone is, have you jumped in and written your contribution to the chiropractic story? Have you written a case study for a peer-reviewed journal? People are reading and need subluxation-based material, so it's got to come from us.

Previously, I had published a case study in JVSR (the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research) concerning the response to chiropractic care of a person experiencing severe psoriasis. JVSR is an online publication and referenced in several key databases. I was contacted by people from all over the U.S. asking for referrals to chiropractors who could help them. People had read about it.

One of my first projects included in promoting women's health within the chiropractic community was to create a paper for JVSR on the topic "The Role and Relationship of Chiropractic and Women's Health Issues," which includes a call for papers. Published recently, I will not go into detail about it here, it speaks for itself and can be found at www.jvsr.com. For those who don't yet subscribe to this awesome journal, it costs just $100 per year, and you can subscribe on the website.

Sometimes chiropractors miss the opportunity of publishing case studies because they misunderstand that it may not directly affect their practice. Do you doubt the laws of the Universe? Of course, contributing on a bigger scale comes back.

If the hectic aspects of life have disconnected you from developing your chiropractic potential, take a step toward expressing what is true to you. Write your story, write about the miracles that happen through your hands. Write for the families out there who are searching the Internet looking for hope. Write for the chiropractic community, kindred spirits need to hear from each other. Write to support subluxation-based care. But most of all, write for yourself.

At the WCA Council on Women's Health, we encourage chiropractors to write case studies that express the relationship of chiropractic and women's health, and you have our support. For help or how to, you can contact the editor of JVSR, Matthew McCoy, at editor@jvsr.com.

To become a member of the Council on Women's Health, register at www.worldchiropracticalliance.org/councils/women.htm. To contact Board members: Veronica Guttierez at veronicapgdc@aol.com. or myself at mbdcawe@aol.com

(Madeline Behrendt, D.C., vice-chair of the World Chiropractic Alliance Council on Women's Health, is author of "A Woman's Experience/A.W.E.," a practice manual offering a subluxation-based perspective on diverse aspects of women's health. Dr. Behrendt's articles have appeared in numerous print and electronic publications, and she has completed a research paper for the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research.)