CF 189: w/ Dr. Brett Winchester: Chiropractic Excellence, Inspiration, & Being The Best Evidence-informed Chiropractor You Can Be
Today we’re going to be joined by the illustrious potentate himself, Dr. Brett Winchester. You all are in for a real treat today folks. They say that the US Marines are the tip of the spear, well, when it comes to our profession, he’s just that. If you don’t get something out of this interview, you’re just not paying attention, my friends. Get ready for the waterfall of knowledge nuggets heading your way. But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music
Purchase Dr. Williams’s book, a perfect educational tool and chiropractic research reference for the daily practitioner, from the Amazon store TODAY!
OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around. We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers. I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast.
If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.
Go to Amazon and check our my book called The Remarkable Truth About Chiropractic: A Unique Journey Into The Research. It’s an invaluable resource for your patient education and for you. It can save you time in putting talks together or just staying current on research. It’s categorized into sections so that the information is easy to find and it’s written in a way that is easy to understand for practitioner as well as patient. You have to check it out. Just search for it on Amazon. That’s the Remarkable Truth About Chiropractic by Jeff Williams.
Then go Like our Facebook page,
Join our private Facebook group and interact, and then
go review our podcast on iTunes and other podcast platforms.
While you’re there, join our weekly email newsletter.
You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #189 Now if you missed last week’s episode , we talked with Dr. Rob Pape of the Quadrant Analysis procedure as well as Practice Mechanics. Excellent discussion and plenty of nuggets dished out on that episode. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class.
On the personal end of things…..
Trucking along with the medical integration. Nothing worth doing is easy. If it were easy, we’d all be in the middle of it. But I do think that once it’s up and running, we’re going to be doing great and getting patients well. And….maybe even free up a little of my time as well. It’s a big time for me. Setting up relationships with medical supplies companies, with pharmacies, figuring out how our NP orders scripts through the EHR, and figuring out stuff that just has never been a part of my life. It’s interesting. All the while getting contracts signed and getting new accounts set up that I share with the medical director and getting cabinets put in the room to store the things I never needed stored.
I bought a damn autoclave and then bought a damn centrifuge, y’all. Seriously, it’s all new to me but I’m getting there. My biggest concern is that everything is ready to roll on day one perfectly. Which means I’ve set myself up for failure. That’s because we’re definitely going to forget something. It’s just going to happen. No doubt about it. There are so many moving parts and different supplies to get that there is literally zero chance of having it all on Day One.
But it’ll all unfold.
How’s practice going for you folks? Send me an email. I want to know how you’re all doing. I’m still hovering around about 160 or so appointments per week. That’s not much for the straights but for an evidence-based dude with therapies, exercises, and things like that, it’s quite a bit.
The joke of a chiropractor up in Oklahoma that sees like 100 patients in three hours including 9 new patients….160 wouldn’t mean much for that doctor….and I use the term loosely when I say doctor…. It takes longer than that when done properly and responsibly though, doesn’t it. Listeners of this show know that. You’re smart. You get it. We’re not where we were pre-COVID and I’m afraid the Delta-Vid has some folks scared again and staying at the casa. I don’t blame them.
Who knows if we ever totally get the VID under control but either way, it’ll become a way of life, we’ll adapt, and things will stabilize eventually. One way or another. That’s enough about me, Delta VID,and the personal happenings. Our guest is too good to waste time. Let’s get to our amazing sponsor first.
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Dr. Brett Winchester lectures throughout the world, teaching his functional approach to patient care.Combining manual therapy, including joint manipulation and neuromuscular stabilization, with therapeutic exercise, Dr. Winchester effectively treats functional pathologies and acts as a catalyst for patients working to enhance their performance. Dr. Winchester is the founder of Winchester Spine & Sport located outside St. Louis, Missouri.His current appointments include:
Advanced biomechanics course instructor at Logan College of Chiropractic
Technique instructor at Logan College of Chiropractic
Biomechanics instructor at Maryville University
Instructor and board member for the Motion Palpation Institute
Chiropractic Rehabilitation Diplomate instructor
Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization instructor trained by Pavel Kolar
Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) certified
Gestalt Performance (owner)
Dr. Winchester’s published research includes topics such as offering a multidisciplinary approach for treatment of the pregnant population and foot dysfunction.
Various chiropractic journals have also featured Dr. Winchester for his patient-driven treatment model.He also has authored two chapters for textbooks. Dr. Winchester enjoys treating professional and collegiate athletes and has gained a reputation for his sports medicine background.His expertise has placed him at the forefront of the ulnar collateral ligament rupture epidemic in professional baseball pitchers, providing insights into causation and effective treatment protocols.+ Dr. Winchester served as the chiropractor for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2014-2018 and still consults with various Major League Baseball teams.
Still, his passion remains with diagnosing and treating the ailments of a diverse patient population with conservative-based protocols.
Welcome to the show Dr. Winchester! It’s great to have you with us on the podcast. Thank you for joining us.
Just briefly before we get into the meat and taters here, tell me a little about your family Everyone has the chiropractic story. Of all of the professions in the world, why are you a chiropractor?
People say they don’t know how I get all of the things done in the day that I do, reading through your bio, I can say the same about you. What does a regular day or week look like for you?
Where did you make the break from traditional philosophy-based chiropractic teaching and move firmly and confidently into the evidence, the research side of our profession?
What’s the future of chiro look like?
Why is being good at manipulation so important?
We both exist on the evidence-based spectrum of this profession.
What is your response if the more philosophy, vitalistic-based side of the profession says we are medi-practors and that practitioners like us don’t value the adjustment?
Why do people suck at joint play?
What makes for great adjusting?
What does a multi-modal approach mean?
What is it truly like to work with a professional sports team like St. Louis Cardinals? Is it worth it? Or is it just too much?
With your involvement in Motion Palpation Institute, MDT, the rehab diplomate and all of the rest, for the docs out there looking to take the next step toward being the best, what do you think made the largest leap forward for you in terms of knowledge that led to significant positive results in your patients?
What would the colleagues that are close to you say is your best attribute?
And the worst?
Tell everyone about the Gestalt Podcast, where does the name come from, and why they need to tune in?
I think that about wraps up for this episode. Tell me you’ll come back sometime.
Alright, that’s it. Keep on keepin’ on. Keep changing our profession from your corner of the world. The world needs evidence-based, patient-centered practitioners driving the bus so get active, get involved, and make it happen. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.
Purchase Dr. Williams’s book, a perfect educational tool and chiropractic research reference for the daily practitioner, from the Amazon store TODAY!
The Message
I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventatively after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!
Key Point: At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!
Contact Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms. We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference.
Connect We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.
Website https://www.chiropracticforward.com
Social Media Links https://www.facebook.com/chiropracticforward/
Chiropractic Forward Podcast Facebook GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1938461399501889/
About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger
Today we’re going to talk about Evidence-Based Chiropractic, We talk about the primary spine care model integrated into a primary care setting. What happens when that’s the mode of treatment? Then we’re going to talk about some Frozen Shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) research in JAMA recently. But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music
OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around. We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers. I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast. If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.
Like our Facebook page,
Join our private Facebook group and interact, and then
go review our podcast on iTunes and other podcast platforms.
While you’re there, join our weekly email newsletter.
You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #158 Now if you missed last week’s episode, we talked about chiropractors that spread misinformation, we talked about patients needing movement, and we talked about love. I’m a softy at heart believe it or not. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class. Evidence-Based Chiropractic is catching on!
On the personal end of things….. We are sitting here on a Monday 12/21 as of the typing up of this episode. Christmas is upon us. Nothing crazy special going on beyond that. There are a couple of things I’ll mention. The first is that I got the Mirror gym you hang on a wall. It’s basically like having a trainer in your living room. Lots of you are already used to this sort of a deal with products like Peloton but it’s new to me and it’s pretty awesome. I’m doing stuff like Tai Chi, yoga, boxing, kickboxing, and stuff like that.
Stuff I’d never do otherwise and it’s pretty darn cool. We turned what used to basically be a dog room into a small gym and it’s been pretty cool so far. I’m enjoying it. I’ve always been a skinny dude stuck in a big dude’s body. So, now that I’m down 33 lbs on weight watchers, and I’ve added the home gym to the mix, I feel like I’m on the way to realizing the skinny dude. Eventually. Lots of work left to do first though.
Secondly, I’m getting the vaccine in a day or two if everything works out. I have mentioned several times on the podcast that I have very positive relationships with a lot of folks in my local medical community. Through that network, my wife and I will be getting ours this week. I’m ready to get that dude and start moving on with life.
No, I’m not worried about it. Understanding I have some level of influence and some level of leadership with my friends, family, and patients, I feel it’s important to get out front and set an example on this deal. Especially being a chiropractor. When you see so many of us disenfranchised because of the vitalists in our profession out there preaching the harms of vaccines when they wouldn’t know how to make it through a research paper on the vaccine to save their lives…..well, wouldn’t it be refreshing to see evidence-based chiropractors stepping up and leading the way on this vaccine? Here’s my stance on it. Maybe it helps you if you’re on the fence. Maybe it doesn’t but here it is anyway. I’m not an epidemiologist or a maker of vaccines. I have researched masks, COVID, the transmission of Covid, and things like that. Not as much on the vaccine on the vaccine itself though.
Scientists understand so much more about that sort of research than I’ll ever know. A Fox Poll says 61% of Americans will get the shots while only 23% are strictly against taking it. There were 16% unsure. Probably the ones waiting to see if everyone does OK with it before they step up. And I don’t think that’s unreasonable. The point is, those getting it like me…..I’m not the minority on it. For me, it’s not only about life or death. I have a 20-something-year-old patient that can’t go back to work because she’s still positive 6 weeks later. I know a nurse that was positive for over nine weeks. I know Patients that had to go to physical therapy for weeks. Long haulers is a real deal. In the end, it’s an easy decision for me. I’m not worried at all really.
There’s risk crossing the road. If I get sick, I have to close my office for at least 2 weeks if not more. That means I lose a lot of money, there will be patients drop off of the schedule, we’ll miss new patients, and I’ll be sick AND anxious the entire time. If COVID doesn’t make me nauseous, the destruction of my business while I’m out sick will. Besides myself, I have 13 or so other employees and their families depending on my presence. My business depends on my presence and does not run when I’m not there. That’s a little different than a lot of other folks. I’m not doing that if I can prevent it. If a vaccine allows me to prevent it, well then, a vaccine it is.
We chiropractors work within inches of people’s faces and in close contact with them. That puts us at more risk than the average Joe and, if we have it, puts our patients at serious risk of getting it from us. If you’re like me, we work with a lot of elderly and immunocompromised patients. I’m not willing to put them at risk like that when all I had to do was trust in science and just get the damn vaccine. They ran human trials on 35000-45000 or so people with no unacceptable issues. That’s a huge sample size. I’ve seen this thought on the FTCA group before. It’s probably a Bobby Maybee special quote but, back before Facebook, people would have just taken the vaccine.
They weren’t worried about this stuff back before Facebook told them to worry about it. No matter what’s out there these days, you have people casting doubt on it for zero reasons. Maybe it’s a call for attention at all costs. Who knows? But it’s to the point now where science and experts are constantly doubted and discounted. And that’s about as dumb and dangerous as can be. It was OK to cure smallpox and polio but COVID……nah bruh.
If there were real questions, would basically the entire medical complex be in line taking it? My guess is that they wouldn’t. What if someone can afford to be out of work or out of their office for 2-4-6 weeks and they want to wait to get it? I think it’s reasonable if someone wants to wait to see if anyone has adverse effects before they take it. I don’t think that’s unreasonable at all. But I think that it’s just delaying the fact that almost everyone is going to do fine with it and most people are going to end up getting it.
They started it in England two weeks ago. Nothing has happened. Because they already did the test trials to make sure nothing would happen. Considering the success of the testing, I think the people not getting it are at far more risk than the people that are getting it. Besides all that, I’m ready to get back in my life. Traveling, doing fun stuff, having a life…..important stuff. Like seeing my mom and step pops and being able to visit my dad in the nursing home for the first time since March.
More power to those that have been doing those things all along but for the above-mentioned reasons, we have not.
So that’s where I’m at. We are all on our own walk and we all need to do what we think is best. Staying healthy, staying open and available, and continuing to provide for my family, my staff, and my patients are what I think is best. So, I’m out front on this. It’ll be good for my patients and family to see a picture of me getting my vaccine on social media. It’ll be good for my patients to see it.
And it’ll be good for those in the medical community that is friends with me to see it. It’ll reaffirm that no….I’m not one of THOSE chiropractors. I encourage you to be out front with it if you get one. Be a leader and blaze the trail. And Merry Christmas, Dammit.
Item #1 The first one today is called “Implementation of the Primary Spine Care Model in a Multi-Clinician Primary Care Setting: An Observational Cohort Study” by Whedon, et. al. (Whedon JM 2020) and published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics on September 1, of 2020. And that’s a blistering blast of hotness. If you don’t recognize the Whedon name, he is very prolific in chiropractic research.
Why They Did It
The objective of this investigation was to compare the value of primary spine care with usual care for the management of patients with spine-related disorders within a primary care setting.
How They Did It
They retrospectively examined existing patient encounter data at 3 primary care sites within a multi-clinic health system
Designated clinicians serve in the role as primary spinal care as the initial point of contact for spine patients, they coordinated the care, and they followed up for the duration of the episode of care
A primary spinal care doctor may be a chiropractor, PT, or medical or osteopathic physician trained in primary spinal care for spine-related disorders
They had sites where the primary spinal care was implemented as well as control sites where they just stuck with the usual care model
They examined clinical encounters occurring over a 2 year period from February 2016 to March 2018.
What They Found
Primary spine care was associated with reduced total expenditures compared with usual care for spine-related disorders
At site one, the average per-patient cost was $162 in a year and $186 in year two.
That is compared to site II, a control site, where the cost in year one was $332 and $306 in year two. And in site three, also a control site offering only usual care, where the cost in year one was $467 and year two was $323
Wrap It Up
Among patients with SRDs included in this study, implementation of the PSC model within a conventional primary care setting was associated with a trend toward reduced total expenditures for spine care compared with usual primary care. Implementation of PSC may lead to reduced costs and resource utilization but may be no more effective than usual care regarding clinical outcomes.
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Item #2
Our second item today is called “Comparison of Treatments for Frozen Shoulder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” by Challoumas, et. al. (Challoumas D 2020) and published in JAMA Open on December 16, of 2020 and it does not get one degree hotter than that people!
Why They Did It
The authors here wanted to know the answer to the question, “Are any treatment modalities for frozen shoulder associated with better outcomes than other treatments?”
How They Did It
It was a meta-analysis of 65 studies with 4097 participants
They searched Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, and CINHAL in February 2020.
Studies with a randomized design of any type that compared treatment modalities for frozen shoulder with other modalities, placebo, or no treatment were included.
Data were independently extracted by 2 individuals
Pain and function were the primary outcomes, and external rotation range of movement (ER ROM) was the secondary outcome
Length of follow-up was divided into short-term (≤12 weeks), mid-term (>12 weeks to ≤12 months), and long-term (>12 months) follow-up.
What They Found
Despite several statistically significant results, only the administration of intra-articular (IA) corticosteroid was associated with statistical and clinical superiority compared with other interventions in the short-term for pain
Subgroup analyses and the network meta-analysis demonstrated that the addition of a home exercise program with simple exercises and stretches and physiotherapy (electrotherapy and/or mobilizations) to the intra-articular corticosteroid may be associated with added benefits in the mid-term
Wrap It Up
The findings of this study suggest that the early use of intra-articular corticosteroid in patients with frozen shoulder of less than 1-year duration is associated with better outcomes. This treatment should be accompanied by a home exercise program to maximize the chance of recovery.
Item #3
Now, on to Evidence-Based Chiropractic. Our third and final one this week is called “Cost comparison of two approaches to chiropractic care for patients with acute and sub-acute low Back pain care episodes: a cohort study” by Whedon et. al. (Whedon JM 2020) and published in the Chiropractic and Manual Therapies on December 14, 2020. Get your red hots right here, get ‘em hot right here. I told you Whedon was prolific. That’s two papers in this one episode that he’s the lead author on and I did not do that on purpose. I didn’t realize who the authors of the papers were until I started typing. He’s on his A-game.
Why They Did It
The abstract for our Evidence-Based Chiropractic talk leads off by saying, “Low back pain (LBP) imposes a costly burden upon patients, healthcare insurers, and society overall. Spinal manipulation as practiced by chiropractors has been found to be cost-effective for the treatment of LBP, but there is wide variation among chiropractors in their approach to clinical care, and the most cost-effective approach to chiropractic care is uncertain. To date, little has been published regarding the cost-effectiveness of different approaches to chiropractic care. Thus, the current study presents a cost comparison between chiropractic approaches for patients with acute or subacute care episodes for low back pain.” How They Did It
It was a retrospective cohort design to examine the costs of chiropractic care among patients diagnosed with acute or subacute low back pain.
The study time period ranged between 07/01/2016 and 12/22/2017
They compared cost outcomes for patients of two cohorts of chiropractors within the health care system: Cohort 1) a general network of providers, and Cohort 2) a network providing conservative evidence-based care for rapid resolution of pain.
They used generalized linear regression modeling to estimate the comparative influence of demographic and clinical factors on expenditures.
A total of 25,621 unique patients were included in the analyses
What They Found
The average cost per patient for Cohort 2 (mean allowed amount $252) was lower compared to Cohort 1 (mean allowed amount $326
Patient and clinician related factors such as health plan, provider region, and sex also significantly influenced costs.
Wrap It Up In general, providers in Cohort 2 were found to be significantly associated with lower costs for patient care as compared to Cohort 1. Utilization of a clinical model characterized by a patient-centered clinic approach and standardized, best-practice clinical protocols may offer lower cost when compared to non-standardized clinical approaches to chiropractic care.
So….just who the hell do you all know that’s been preaching this until his face is about to explode? That’s right, listeners of this podcast. One word, two syllables…..Day-um. Evidence-based and patient-centered care is the future of chiropractic. It is first and foremost, treating our patients with respect and the best care and that’s what they deserve. Secondly, it’s speaking the language of the medical community. Which is the language of research. When you’re using their language, you’re starting to communicate more effectively. I think it’s time for superhero sound effects….boom, pow, snap, kawachow!
Alright, that’s it. Y’all be safe. Keep changing our profession from your little corner of the world. Keep taking care of yourselves and everyone around you. Tough times are upon us but, the sun will shine again. Trust it, believe it, count on it. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.
The Message I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventatively after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!
Key Point:
At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!
Contact Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms. We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference.
Connect We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward. Website https://www.chiropracticforward.com
Social Media Links https://www.facebook.com/chiropracticforward/
Chiropractic Forward Podcast Facebook GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1938461399501889/
About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger
Bibliography
Challoumas D, B. M., McLean M, (2020). “Comparison Of Treatments For Frozen Shoulder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” JAMA Open 3(12): e2029581.
Whedon JM, B. S., Dennis P, Fischer VA, Russel R, (2020). “Cost comparison of two approaches to chiropractic care for patients with acute and sub-acute low Back pain care episodes: a cohort study.” Chiropr Man Therap 28(68).
Whedon JM, T. A., Bezdijan S, (2020). “Implementation of the Primary Spine Care Model in a Multi-Clinician Primary Care Setting: An Observational Cohort Study.” J Man Physiol Ther 43(7): P667-674.
CF 154: The Shake-Up With WFC’s Research Committee Today we’re going to talk about the research committee shake-up at the WFC. I’ve wondered for months now what exactly happened with shake-up and it hasn’t been easy to figure it out either. Who is to blame and what companies are to blame as well? We’ll get knee deep into it in this episode. But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music
OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around. We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers. I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast. If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.
Like our Facebook page,
Join our private Facebook group and interact, and then
go review our podcast on iTunes and other podcast platforms.
While you’re there, join our weekly email newsletter. No spam, just a reminder when the newest episodes go live. Nothing special so don’t worry about signing up. Just one a week friends. Check your JUNK folder!!
Do it do it do it. You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #154 Now if you missed last week’s episode , we talked about how some chiropractors could be better and being careful which guru you’re going to place your faith in. Some are just absolute loons and only driven by profit, not results and not the patient.
The saying is, when you’re focused on the outcomes, you’ll never have to worry about the income. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class. While we’re on the topic of being smart, did you know that you can use our website as a resource? Quick and easy, you can go to chiropracticforward.com, click on Episodes, and use the search function
On the personal end of things…..
Chugging along. Making friends and influencing people. That’s how we do it here. Actually, that’s not true. I’m sure I got the vitalists all fired up last week and probably will this week as well. I’ll probably get some companies fired up too. We’ll see. It doesn’t have a thing to do with anything chiropractic but I’ve mentioned a time or two here that I’m branching out and, as a retirement plan, I’m working on a little side gig in the voice over / voice artist industry. This stuff is fascinating y’all. It really is.
So I went through the steps you’re supposed to go through in getting yourself all set up and now, here I am, I got a commercial demo done. If you’re just feeling goofy and bored, go to jeffwilliamsvoice.com and there’s a demo there you can listen to. Turns out I have the John Deere, Ford truck, eat this burger type of voice and I’m totally OK with that. Anyway, after you get a demo, you start submitting to talent agencies around the world. Well, hell….I don’t have all day to spend on doing this stuff so I can only get a few per day and there are tons of them.
But, in just the first round or so of submissions, I already got signed up with a talent agent out in San Francisco and Los Angeles as well as interest from a talent agency in Barcelona Spain and potentially a marketing firm down in Dallas/Ft. Worth. . So….how damn cool is that? Maybe, one of these days, my side gig takes over my day job. I’m not holding my breath though. But, seriously, my buddy has done it for about 7 years and he’s making six figures. Can you imagine making a good 6 figure salary but no employees, no overhead, you can make that money in your basement in your underwear (sorry for the visual there), and you can do it from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection?
Well, it’s a cool idea and a lot of folks get to do it that way. Who knows? It’s a lot of luck and all that stuff but I’ve never been one that was afraid to take chances or afraid to fall on my face. Either way, it’s exciting and isn’t that what it’s about? Keeping life interesting and exciting? That reminds me, if you need a voice over for a youtube video, your podcast intro, or any commercial you’re doing, remember ol Uncle Jeffro here. I got you covered!
Item #1
Now, let’s get to spilling the tea shall we? I have to start by saying, I don’t love talking about this stuff. I don’t at all. It makes me uncomfortable. Mostly because some of my friends won’t like it. I work with a lot of chiropractors around the nation in different capacities and to be honest, while we work FOR the chiropractic profession, we don’t see eye to eye with each other on WHAT chiropractic is. Still, they’re my friends. So what do I do? Do I just say nothing about things I know they won’t agree with? Or do I talk about it and give my view point on them?
Well, I have a podcast so I guess I talk about it. I could stay out of the messiness of our profession and avoid tough subjects all together I guess. But who ever changed anything by taking that sort of stance? That’s not really any kind of stance at all is it? You change things by standing up, somewhere, and supporting your convictions. So that’s where i’m at. I don’t like. I’m uncomfortable with it, honestly. But the show must go on. Let’s start with what happened. Dr. Greg Kawchuk was the head of the World Federation of Chiropractic. I’m a fan of Dr. Kawchuk. so when I saw on Facebook or Twitter or somewhere that he resigned his post as head of the WFC research committee, it had me a bit miffed. Not only that but a lot of HUGE chiropractors on the committee left with him. Researchers on the level of Jan Hartvigsen for example.
To be specific, those that resigned are
Greg Kawchuk DC PhD Canada – Chair
Simon French, PhD, MPH, BAppSc(Chiro) Australia
Iben Axén DC PhD Sweden
Jan Hartvigsen DC PhD Denmark
Martin Descarreaux DC, PhD Canada
Carolina Kolberg DC PhD Brazil
Every single one of these researchers has been in the episodes we have released. They are big time for our profession. The vitalists, unfortunately, have labeled them subluxation deniers. I label them scientists but….whatever.I say tomato, they say dumb stuff. Their statement of resignation went like this, “Effective immediately, we (Greg Kawchuk (Chair), Iben Axen’, Martin Descarreaux, Simon French, Jan Hartvigsen, and Caroline Kolberg) resign from the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) Research Committee.
We no longer feel it is possible to function as independent academics in our roles on the committee. We urge the WFC to continue to promote the EPIC principles (Evidence-based, People-centered, Interprofessional and Collaborative), and to protect its core values from potential conflicts and outside influence. We wish the best for the WFC and our colleagues who serve on its Research Committee.” Now, it wasn’t all bad because they put Dr. Christine Goertz into the post as the head of the WFC committee and if you’re a listener here at the Chiropractic Forward evidence-based chiropractic podcast…..well then you know what a fan of Dr. Goertz we are. She’s a chiropractic treasure.
But, when I first heard the news, as you can imagine, and as you probably felt when you heard, it was a bit concerning for our profession to lose so many high profile, top-level researchers at once. What’s that going to mean for our profession and why did this happen in the first place? I started paying attention. I started looking for information. What the heck happened? But nothing. Not only nothing on the story but nobody was talking about it either. Like….it was just another event that happened on just another day. No big deal. When, in reality, at least to research consumers such as myself, it was a huge deal! Why did this happen and what the hell is the story?
Well, I’m going to give away the ending here before we really dive in, I’m not 100% sure but at least now I have an idea. A generaly idea. When I decided I was going to do this episode, I put it in our private Facebook group. We only have around 450 members approximately. Again, in case you don’t know, we have a public Chiropractic Forward page. That’s just to get the word out about the podcast and market the podcast. Then we also have a Chiropractic Forward private group where we can share research papers, we can discuss amongst ourselves, and all that good stuff and we can do it privately. I encourage you all to join the private group.
Not if you’re a vitalist. That’s not the group for you. But if you’re evidence-based and patient-centered, then you’re a good fit. Anyway, I posted in there that I wanted to do this episode and if anyone had the back story, please send me a private message about it. That I wanted to get it figured out and tell our audience.
There was a lot of interest in the episode but nobody knew the story about what happened. I asked elsewhere. Nobody knew but everyone wanted to know. I even asked Dr. Kawchuk himself and he was tied up in a research project. Dangit. Unfortunately, the research community’s lack of open communication on this matter has left this up to others to define the narrative. For example, when Googling up this story, I got an article by Matthew McCoy. The ever-so-nutsy vitalist out in Georgia. The townhall crier and huckster of woo. Yes, he’s one of them setting the narrative.
Also, one of the top hits was by our global hater for the ages, Edzard Ernst. What a toolbag. Yes, our global hater sets the narrative on what is happening in the chiropractic world. But nothing from the evidence-based, patient-centered side of the profession. What in the hell is going on here, people? Why in the hell are you all sitting on your hands? Why are you not talking about this, writing about this, yelling about this, or at least pushing back on this? Are we spineless? No pun intended by the way.
It’s just astonishing to me that so little is written about it and that the only information you can find on it is created by flat-earthers or by the apex of chiropractic haters. Finally, one of my colleagues here in the U.S. contacted me through text and we set up a phone call. They gave me the story as well as they understood it and that’s what I’m going to give you. Thank you to this colleague for shedding as much light on this story as you could. I really do appreciate it and I’m pretty sure the rest of our audience does as well.
If we are being fair, a small part of it appears to be Dr. Kawchuk’s fault, a very large part of it seems to fall on the vitalist, subluxation or nothing, rah rah rah crowd, and an even bigger aspect of the whole enchilada I believe can be directly pointed at the WFC’s corporate sponsors that backed the vitalist, subluxation is the only way crowd. I personally blame the companies. Without them bullying the WFC with sponsorship dollars, this wouldn’t have happened regardless of the rest of the dominoes that fell.
Let’s back up a bit. It sounds like it all begin in Berlin in 2019. Those of us paying attention know that it goes back much further than that though don’t we? Oh yeah, with the evidence-based, patient-centered model becoming more and more prevalent and moving the vitalists more and more to the fringe of the world, the louder the minority has become. Still, it appears, Berlin 2019 at the WFC conference was the final straw. Dr. Greg Kawchuk, who again, I’m a fan of, was one of the speakers at the event. His presentation was not vitalist/subluxation friendly.
Word on the street is that his speech was met with cheers but was also met with water bottles being thrown up on the stage and antics like that. Because, you know….our profession is divided in two in case you’ve been hiding in a cave. So, cheers makes sense. I don’t know what makes the other side think it’s OK to throw stuff on the stage but who knows? Maybe that’s just a dumb little European quirk. I had the opportunity to see almost the exact same speech at the Forward ’19 event in St. Louis a little over a year ago. I absolutely loved it. And, no….it was not subluxation friendly. Here was the difference in the speech I saw in St. Louis and the one that was given in Berlin.
Dr. Kawchuk, it is suggested, made a quip during his speech that taking a child to a vitalistic chiropractor is similar to taking a child to a Catholic priest. There are no recordings in existence of this version of the speech but I believe the basic gist of the comment was that if you’re willing to take your kid to a vitalist for 60+ visits, then you should leave your kids with a Catholic priest. OK, let’s address this because this one comment is what the ICA hung their hat on so I think it’s a pivotal thing. I think it’s also why this part of the speech was dropped when I heard it in St. Louis. It is my understanding, first of all, that Dr. Kawchuk wrote a letter of apology but it was perceived as having some “Yeah, but…” sentiment attached so maybe it didn’t come off as sincere as his detractors would want.
But here’s the thing, it wouldn’t have mattered how sincere the apology was, they found something to hang their hat on. They found an achilles heel and they weren’t going to let go of it. Regardless of what Greg said to them about it. Can I just say that I’m a Christian and I’m used to getting made fun of by so many out there in the world. It almost doesn’t even affect me anymore. Notice I said ‘almost’.
Now, I’m not Catholic. But Catholics are Christians so, by association, I should be rather offended as well right? I suppose if I were of the easily offended mindset, I would be. But I’m not because I see it all for what it’s worth. Number one: the Catholic church has had quite a well-chronicled issue in the past with priests and misconduct. I don’t know how you could argue with that and someone bringing it up has become VERY commonplace. That doesn’t make Greg’s comment any more out of place than the 100 other people I have seen mention or make fun of it on Facebook over the past 3-5 years. It’s become very common. Doesn’t make it right but it does make it common.
Number Two: did that belong in this speech? Well, I wasn’t the speaker so how do I know. I know that I saw the same speech last year without the comment and it seemed very effective and very welcome to everyone that was in attendance. So, it appears it would have been just as good and ultimately less offensive to some. Knowing what we now know, it doesn’t appear that it was a good choice to go with for that particular speech to that particular crowd. I would say that I enjoy a great and entertaining speech and the one I saw in St. Louis by Dr. Kawchuk was just that. It was actually pretty dang amazing.
I became an instant fan and hearing of the Catholic priest comment later on did nothing to dampen my fandom. I suggest people lighten the hell up and quit being so damned dramatic. Water off a duck’s back. Oh my goodness, someone said something you didn’t like or agree with? Poor thing. Bless your heart. So, Greg gave them something to hold onto and go on the attack with. OK. Do you think the ICA got irate over the priest comment? Or do you think they got irate because the speech was anti-vitalist, anti-subluxation?
Honestly….think about it. Let’s be smart. Which do you think it was? It should already be clear what I think it is. So, the speech is made and the vitalists lose their damned minds and the ICA decides to deal with this travesty. Nobody but the higher ups over there know exactly how it all went down but, by all appearances, it looks like they started leaning on sponsors to pull support from the WFC until changes that the ICA deemed appropriate were made. So, basically, the ICA decided to be a bully and start flexing on the playground.
They could read the tea leaves and with scientists like Kawchuk, Hartvigsen, and the others steering, the future wasn’t so bright for the ICA bullies so they started figuring out how to pull the purse strings. That’s what it looks like to me. It looks like companies like ChiroHealth and Foot Levelers leaned on the WFC to remove Kawchuk. In advance of that, Greg just resigned. Then, the other top-level researchers resigned in solidarity and, I would imagine, in protest to what was happening.
And I don’t blame them one bit. Here’s the thing here; it is my opinion and the opinion of others that these vendors used our money that we paid them to bully the WFC at the urging of the ICA to oust Kawchuk. And it is my opinion that they used one sour comment to do it. When I feel pretty sure that they bullied the WFC simply because they didn’t like that the speech and the research committee seemed anti-subluxation. Here are the companies that pulled support simultaneously at this pivotal time for the WFC:
Standard Process
ChiroHealthUSA – USA
Chiro Diplomatic Corps
NCMIC – USA
National Chiropractic Council – USA
Koala Mattress – Australia
Life Chiropractic College West – USA
Life University – USA
Lloyd Table Inc – USA
Breakthrough Coaching – USA
Chiropractic Education Australia Ltd. – Australia
Da Vinci Labs – USA
Integrated Assessment Services Inc. – Canada
Japan Federation of Chiropractic Professionals – Japan
Mettler Electronics Corp. – USA
Tokyo College of Chiropractic (Formerly RMIT University) – Japan
Sidecar
It looks like vendors like ChiroHealth, Foot Levelers, and several others used the money we paid them, to then turn around and bully the WFC research committee because they gave a speech that was anti-subluxation. Used. Our. Money. I repeated that for a reason. They use our money to get rid of the world’s biggest and best researchers because they didn’t like what they said. On the other hand, these are the companies that continued to financially support and sponsor the WFC:
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Parker University
Logan Chiropractic College
New York Chiropractic College
Southern California University of Health Sciences
University of Bridgeport
University of Western States
National University of Health Sciences
Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
Anglo European College of Chiropractic
Madrid College of Chiropractic
Nordisk Institute
Dynamic Chiropractic
The American Chiropractor
Chiropractic Economics
I would like to thank this group that chose to continue to support the WFC, thus continue to support research and science. Thank you for not being bullied by the ICA and the loud minority. Now, let’s be fair. Maybe it was just that times are tough. COVID has us all down. I know it’s got me down. Did they pull or reduce support for the WFC because of the ‘Rona? How are we to know? I don’t know. You don’t know either. But it seems pretty danged coordinated in conjunction with Dr. Kawchuk’s resignation doesn’t it? I mean….doesn’t it? It’s your choice to continue working with these companies but I’ll tell you this much, being evidence-based as I am….I will be second-guessing my commitment and participation with them going forward.
Honestly, how could you not? As my colleague so eloquently stated to me, “Their power is our power.” Again, nobody knows the exact motivation of these companies. I sure as hell don’t. I just know what it looks like. What if enough of us contacted these companies and griped about this? We can collectively tell them we don’t approve of that sort of influence. We don’t approve of them using our money to bully our research community.
What if this were to serve as a rallying cry for activism over apathy? For a bunch of crappy stuff to take place, all it takes is for good people to just sit on their hands and do nothing. This can be a rally cry for the WFC and Dr. Goertz, for the ACA, CARL, for the FTCA, and for this Chiropractic Forward Podcast. But, as my esteemed colleague said, there’s a cover charge to getting your voice heard and social media doesn’t quite cut it. Now, how much of all of this was theater and how much was legitimate?
If Kawchuk was going to be let go because of the financial pressure by the ICA and these companies, was his resignation simply to keep the ICA from getting a win? It seems they reduce exposure by just going to their universities and doing their research there anyway. They’re not out front taking all of the heat and they’re still doing all of their research and all that anyway. Makes you wonder why anyone would want to be out front like that anyway, doesn’t it? I don’t think it was theater.
I think Greg got tired of dealing with the vitalist crap and said to hell with you people. I think the ICA bullied these companies and the WFC to push him out under the guise of a priest comment but really because they didn’t like the anti-subluxation sentiment of the research coming out of the WFC. And I think the companies did exactly what the ICA wanted them to do. So, I think the vitalists and subluxation people won at the end of the day. It’s all looking like a bunch of stinky garbage on the part of the vitalists but, sometimes those unafraid to get down in the slop are the ones that win the battle. Doesn’t mean they win the war. Just the battle.
Here’s what I believe. I believe right and truth win every single time. Eventually. So, let’s look at it from that perspective. There are mountains of papers supporting spinal manipulative therapy. There is a paucity as the researchers say….a paucity of solid, respectable research backing the vitalistic, subluxation theory that was generated in the late 1800’s. Here in 2020..it just hasn’t formulated into a solid, well-researched fact, folks. I’m sorry. Don’t punish the messenger. Anecdotal evidence and charismatic gurus with guitars don’t make it true or make it right.
Here’s something else I believe strongly, when you have people like McCoy and Edzard Ernst setting the narrative for our profession because we’re not willing to discuss something openly, well, then we’re just asking for it, folks. You either want a well-respected profession or you don’t. Or, do you want a split all together? The Primary Spine Practitioner program through the University of Pittsburgh may be a good first step for some of you that are bent on the separation. Can’t we all just get along? I don’t see it happening. I really don’t. I don’t see how our profession can be unified.
Vitalists refuse to follow or even notice solid research that doesn’t confirm their bias. Outright refuse. They insist it’s appropriate to see regular healthy people once per week for life. Evidence says that’s not appropriate so, therefore, evidence-based chiropractors say it’s inappropriate and it gives us a bad name. So, what do you do about that? You can’t fix it. Evidence based folks can’t continue in a profession where part of the crowd makes them appear illegitimate.
Vitalists refuse to conform to any appearances of being evidence-based. So, what’s the answer? You tell me. I don’t see a clear answer. I think it lies with the middle group that is neither evidence-based or vitalistic. They’re just out there making a living and getting through their days but are pretty much apathetic to either. When something happens that activates that group, I think that’s what will be the deciding factor on where this profession goes.
I disagree with 99.9% of everything Edzard Ernst says but I agree with this comment wholeheartedly when he says, “In my view, the problem of the chiropractic profession is unsolvable. Giving up Palmer’s obsolete nonsense of vitalism, innate intelligence, subluxation, etc. is an essential precondition for joining the 21st century. Yet, doing so would abandon any identity chiropractors will ever have and render them physiotherapists in all but name, Neither solution bodes well for the future of the profession.”
I would say that he left out the fact that many PTs are now adding spinal manipulative therapy to their arsenal so maybe PTs are rendering themselves chiropractors rather than the other way around? I would also add to Ernst’s comment that a recent nationwide poll showed that people go to chiropractors to get rid of their pain. They do not go for wellness, vitalism, weekly visits, or innate intelligence talk. In the comments of Ernst’s post a chiropractor chimed in and said that in his opinion, the profession has a better chance of providing a valuable healthcare service without the ICA members which make up only about 5% of the profession tagging along and raising a stink whenever someone challenges their model or views.
Researchers should have the freedom to speak thei truth without fear of reprisal of companies that we essentially fund. It goes a hell of a lot deeper than a bad joke folks. It’s an attack on evidence-based chiropractic and an attack on the research community. And we’d better all start seeing it that way because now, the ICA has a win and you can believe they’ll be back for more. If these companies reduced or withheld funding to pressure the WFC based on the ICA’s pressure, we should let these companies know how we feel about it. I see chiropractors going forward in the world treating pain, following current research, and current widely accepted guidelines. Guidelines that are based in the research literature. I see a profession that accepts a certain standard and a profession that hopefully begins to take policing its own seriously.
Otherwise, we’ll continue to be the pimple on healthcare’s butt. And that’s the way I see it. And before anyone says it, I’ll say it first…no, I do not want to be a medical doctor. No desire at all. But being a chiropractor doesn’t mean that I have to blindly accept and promote a philosophy from the late 1800’s. They are not mutually exclusive. In any way. The adjustment is the cornerstone of my personal practice and the way I treat patients. It’s just not the end-all-be-all of what I do. And all of this mess when we are at the precipice of actually breaking through in the healthcare industry. I’ve said it so many times on this podcast but there is no better time to be a chiropractor.
Y’all, it’s a perfect storm. The opioid crisis. The research backs every freaking thing we do OUTSIDE of the subluxation theory. Literallly everything we do. Spinal manipulative therapy, exercise/rehab, low level laser, massage, acupuncture, balance and proprioceptive training, and things like that. Research backs it all up. It just can’t back up the subluxation stuff. But we are at a point that we can actually get more patients in our doors if we are a respectable, evidence-based, patient-centered profession. Again, you can disagree with me. You can cuss me. But you’ll always know where I stand and according to me, I stand for what’s right, I stand for the truth, ethics, morality, and I stand for patients and their right to be treated like respected individuals and not targets that have to be closed.
IF we can’t agree on that, then maybe you can at least respect me and respect the fact that I’m willing to make a stand for what I believe in. Because honestly, I don’t see a lot of folks standing up on this deal. Maybe it’s just me. I would assume these things would be common sense. Alright, that’s it. Y’all be safe. Keep changing our profession from your little corner of the world. Keep taking care of yourselves and everyone around you. Tough times are upon us but, the sun will shine again. Trust it, believe it, count on it. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.Store Remember the evidence-informed brochures and posters at chiropracticforward.com.
The Message
I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventativly after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!
Key Point: At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!
Contact Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms. We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference.
Connect We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.
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About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger
CF 153: Some Chiropractors Could Be Better Today we’re going to talk about chiropractors, the subluxation – vitalistic group in our profession and we’ll probably make some grumpy vitalistic enemies out of these chiropractors in the process. But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music
OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around. We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers. I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast. If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.
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You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #153 Now if you missed last week’s episode , we talked about spinal instability clinical pearls and we tal ked about degeneration and the facets. That was some good stuff you need to to have in your back pocket. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class. While we’re on the topic of being smart, did you know that you can use our website as a resource? Quick and easy, you can go to chiropracticforward.com, click on Episodes, and use the search function
On the personal end of things…..
I’m doing hte same stuff you’re doing for the most part. I’m just struggling through this second wave of COVID. Trying to stay smart and trying to stay healthy. I wish I could say the same for everyone around me. For example, I just had a staff member start this week off by telling me she started working a part time job on the weekends because she got an apartment she thought she could afford but it’s not as easy as she thought. Anyway, at this part time job, her buddy drank out of her drink. She’s like, oh well, it’s just my friend. No big deal. Yeah, no big deal friend called her today…..2 days after that…..and is feeling bad and going to get tested. Now, does that mean my girl has it? Of course not. The friend wasn’t even symptomatic so the chances are low she has it in the first place and if she does have it now, the chances she was shedding the virus then are low.
Still…..come on man. Be smart. My daughter goes to school with 1000 plus kids every day and I don’t let her take a sip of my drink or anything like that. Much less a buddy at my part time job. Hell no. hell no. So those are the things we get to battle with, right? We can control everything about what we personally do but we can’t control our kids at school with their friends. We can’t control my other kid at college and his behavior. We can’t control our staff when they’re not here at work. We just do our best, keep our fingers crossed, and keep working diligently. And hopefully safely. Not because I’m necessarily scared of getting it. Mostly because I don’t want to shut my practice down for 2 weeks minimum. Who can afford that? So let’s get on with pissing people off, shall we?
If you don’t understand by this point that there is a divide in our profession that simply cannot be healed, tied together, or unified, well….I don’t know what to do for you. You just need to pay more attention. If at any point you have thought the two groups could come together, you are fooling yourself. This profession either needs to be split into two completely different degrees and entities or the vitalists need to practice their minimal practice and sit in the back seat and shut the hell up. Yep….shots fired. I know. I’ll explain more as we go. Every now and then I get fired up and this is one of those times. I’m triggered. I’m the grumpy old ‘get the hell off of my lawn’ guy. More specifically, I’m ‘raise your damn game and quit actiing like fools’ guy.
I should tell you why I’m triggered first. As our listeners are well-aware, I am a member of lots of Facebook groups but the most notable would be the Forward Thinking Chiropractic Alliance. Most friends and family would classify me as conservative in finances and life in general but when it comes to my profession, I’m all about progressive change and forward momentum. So this group fits me very well. Anyway, one of the members posted a screenshot of a doctor– trust me – I use that ‘doctor’ term extremely loosely here – it was a post of this guy claiming that with one table, by himself, he treated 99 chiropractic patients and 9 new patient exams all in 3 hours. I did the math for you all. That’s right at 2 minutes per patient.
Well, for many of us, that’s not too far off of the mark for established patients. Some of you are boutique practices and spend 30 minutes to an hour with each patient and charge out the wazoo for that. But, for most of us, we are adjusting, passing off to our staff for therapy and rehab and moving on to the next patient. I want to be fair here. My face to face time is typically 3-5 mintues with an established just depending on what questions I have to answer, if there’s a new complaint popping up that needs evaluated, new patient education, and things like that. Some slightly less than 3 mintues, some quite a bit longer than 5 minutes.
Now, my patients’ whole visit will clock in on average around 20-30 minutes after therapy and/or rehab but that is delegated to the staff. Here’s the real kicker for me on this joke. The new patients. I can not get past the new patients. Now I’ve seen 7 or 8 new patients in a day while juggling another 50 or more established patients. But damn man…that’s over the course of a 7 hour day. And, while I don’t think it makes me particulary any more special than anyone else, I have a Fellowship in neuromusculoskeletal medicine. I can come to a diagnosis somewhat quickly when compared to others. Still, my exam, unless it’s a simple rib complaint or something easy like that, it’s going to take 30-45 mintues. Easy. And that’s with staff doing their history and intake part.
Them filling out OATS takes time on top of that. Plus, I recorded a 7 minute, ‘Welcome to our practice’ video they all watch. Look, there’s no damn way on this damn planet anyone calling themselves doctor works that many new patients through in 3 hours while juggling 99 established patients and claims they’re doing a good job. No way now how. Nope, no, negatory, NO! Worst of all, he’s a vitalist, practice management guru so he’s offering to show other, impressionable knuckleheads how to mistreat patients all on their own.
Solo crappery if you will. Crappy treatment all by themselves. With his crappy guidance. What a crappy deal. I have 34 mutual friends with this person and that’s just disappointing. It truly is. Many of you know who I’m referring to but I see no point in mentioning names because the last thing I want is to bring him even more attention. Especially when I don’t see the reason even one person would pay him any at all. I have no way of knowing how long they’re spending with new patients but let’s just agree that it’s not 30-45 minutes.
There’s no way. I know this because if he spent 30 minutes with each of the 9 new patients, that would be about 4 and a half hours. Much more than the 3 hours he talked about in the post. We are forced to assume it is much less than that. So let’s play with the math. Three hours is 180 minutes. I think we can all agree on that. A former attendee to one of his seminars said he bragged in the seminar that he could adjust a patient top to bottom in just 30 seconds. As a sidenote, he taught how to have the trash can right next to the door so that he could tear the face paper and grap the door knob in one smooth motion so as to have the door open and showing the person out before they’re even off of the table. That way, you don’t have to talk to them. So you don’t have to talk to the patient……you get that?
Good Lord, can you imagine a doctor having to speak to their patient after treatment is provided? The horrors!!! Anyway, let’s say 30 seconds is his record but it actually takes one minute on average per patient. If 30 seconds is the fastest, can’t we assume there will at least be some greeting involved in the appointment? Some questions from time to time? There may be some 30 second appointments in there but there may be some minute and a half and some two minute appointments as well. I think that’s fair.
So, if each of the 99 established takes an average of one minute, which is stillsubstandard care by the way, if they all average one minute, then that leaves 81 minutes to examine and evaluate 9 new patients. That means he has roughly 10-15 minutes for each new patient to do the following if he’s going to adequately assess the patient and have a specific diagnosis outside of subluxation slaying and spine whispering. He’s got to:
Review the history taken by the staff before he came in
Review the range of motion if taken in advance by the staff
Review the vitals
Meet the patient and listen to their story
Assess gait
Assess standing posture
Check yellow flags and discuss any that are present with the patient
Check for red flags – not everyone needs x-rays
Check reflexes
Check dermatomes
Check muscle strength (not freaking AK)
Check neurodynamic positions for radiculopathy
Assess for Ehler-Danlos and hypermobility
Check orthos
Check neuro testing
Check for extension/flexion bias positions in some cases
Come up with an accurate diagnosis
Educate the patient on their diagnosis
If chronic pain is part of the case, he has to educate on CNS upregulation and the biopsychosocial aspect of pain which is at least a 5 mintues conversation.
Teach proper movement and biomechancis to remove the daily pain triggers
He has to answer questions the patient may have
Hell, I wonder if he’s ever had someone lay on their stomachs propped on their elbows for 3 minutes to see if they can identify a home self management strategy for their low back pain? Hell no. Three minutes wouldn’t fit into this doctor-centered model. I have no way of knowing but I’m guessing the exam consists of ‘checking subluxation’ and telling them to lay down.
Pop, pop, pop, the ridiculous power is on, see you tomorrow for you next life-saving adjustment. It’s silly. And it’s insane. And it’s not evidence-based. And it’s not patient-centered. It’s not special. It doesn’t take talent other than being able to sell targets garbage. It’s the lowest common denominator and nothing more.
The point being made here is that one cannot do an adequate, responsible, and appropriate exam in this amount of time. And assuming they average only one minute per patient face to face, that’s substandard as hell. Would you want your kid or brother or sister or mom or dad shuttled through an office like a bullet from a gun? Or would you want them to go to someone that cares, connects with them, slows down a tad and takes their time to listen and work with them? The answer is obvious and if you tell me you’d rather your family go to this guy or anyone like them, then you’re just being obstinate and disagreeable.
It’s obvious which style is superior in healthcare. Maybe working on an assembly line you’d like to see fast, efficient, and little attention given to the specifics. But not in healthcare. This model, I’m sorry to be blunt here….this model is garbage when we are working with the breathing, ever-changing human body. And….oh this guy loves him some of him. Oh my goodness. If someone likes to look in the mirror every morning, it’s probably this guy. Now, he’s selling his unique brand of BS to others. He’s doing a good job of it too. He’s got sycophants all over now learning how to shuttle them out of the office without having to speak to them.
They’re in the comments section of this post proclaiming him a rock star! BS. Rock on! I can’t wait to do this when I get out of school! You’re an inspiration. How awesome!!! Blahditty freaking blah. BS, BS, BS. I would comment, “What an embarrassment to our chiropractic community! What a fool! What about exercise and rehab? What about quality over quantity? You give our profession a bad name. You’re one of the reasons we have zero cultural authority and can’t pass a bill in the legislature because you and your followers are irresponsible!!!” You know….things like that. Now, I’ve been asked why I talk bad about other chiropractors.
Running them down and such. I don’t call it that at all. I call it policing our own and calling out BS when it’s right under your nose. I don’t know about you but I don’t want BS under my nose. It stinks. And not only can I smell it, but everyone else I come into contact with smells it as well. So, basically, these people’s actions reflect on me, my business, and my livelihood. And yours as well. So if you’ve been going along to get along thinking it doesn’t matter, it does matter. It matters to your bottom line.
Can you imagine if we were to have more cultural authority and more integration into a regular healthcare protocol…..can you imagine how full our offices would be? Low back pain is the number one reason for disability globally folks. Yet we only see 10% of the damn population. It’s obvious why and the Palmer Gallup poll laid it out. The biggest reason people don’t go to chiropractors is because they don’t freaking trust us. Because of fools like this. Lots of high volume clinics like this slay subluxations non-stop for weeks and weeks. Some see people every week for life. Think about a self-adjuster. The more they did it, the easier it got to the point they created instability in their neck, they have consistent chronic pain, and now they’re a mess.
Can we see this happen in patients that are adjusted too often for too long? Of course we can!! These spine whipering TORs are many times creating instability and causing chronic pain. Which is the damn thing the knuckleheads are supposed to be treating in the first place. But they were too lazy to get educated beyond college and some continuing education each year about proper documentation and how to adjust an elbow. What if they have a hypermobile EDS patient that really needs weight training but they just keep hammering away at what they call subluxations? This is low quality garbage for people that aren’t taking the time to properly evaluate their patients in the new patient exam. In one of his videos he says, “The patient doesn’t care about anything other than does the doctor care and can he help me?” Again, I use that doctor term exceedingly loosely. I have to just say that he is 100% wrong. Yes, patients do care about those two things but you know what else they care about?
They also care that their doctor is smart. Is on top of his game. Is making decisions in the best interest of the patient and not the clinic or the doctor’s wallet. They care about proper biomechanics so they don’t re-injure their back. They care that if they’re hyper mobile, maybe they shouldn’t be adjusted and should focus on weight training instead. They care that a slight decrease in neck curvature isn’t really the harbinger of death and disease some chiros act like it is. They want to know their doctor is making decisions on their care based on accurate diagnoses. Is making decisions on their care based on research and not philosophy. Trust me, they care about a hell of a lot more than How incredibly arrogant of this supposed doctor to think he has the only answer to what patients care about. They’re not freaking sheep with little to no thought processes.
They’re smart as hell in many cases and they absolutely care about a whole lot of stuff is missing. Saying they don’t is selling them short and it’s unfortunate that he’s going around teaching that. One more example of him being doctor-centered rather than patient-centered. “I….the doctor….knows what the patient really wants and cares about. They can’t think for themselves.” Garbage. Of course patients don’t care about the biopsychosocial aspects of pain. They don’t even know what the hell that is. But we as professionals should absolutely know and absolutely care and leverage it to our advantage. We should know about upregulated CNS and educate patients about it. Because it matters. The question might be, “Why would people keep going back?”
Well a lot don’t but, in general the ones that do have typically had the crap scared out of them based on x-rays that usually shouldn’t have even been taken in the first place. “Looky here, loss of curvature, that is so concerning. I’m really worried about this and what it means for your future if we don’t get that fixed. That’ll be 58 visits this year at a cost of $4800. That’ll be upfront and here’s the contract to hold you to it.” Predatory, unbelievably unethical, astoundingly unprofessional, and embarrassing. Fro every patient referred to a clinic like this, I’d guess they lose one that thinks they and every other chiropractor on the planet is insane.
Thank you vitalists. I really appreciate it. So much. thank you. Clinics like this only see their successes. So they think they’re amazing. I’ll be honest, I see A LOT of patients coming to see me from practices like this because patients can’t stand being shuttled through like cattle, not being listened to, feeling that the care is substandard, being scared by the doctor into treatment, being scared into contracts, and things of that sor They feel taken advantage of and they don’t like it. And I don’t blame them. I just appreciate them for giving me a chance to show them that the majority of chiropractors don’t engage in foolish crap.
That we can play an integral part in resolving their pain. I have heard the most embarrassing stories about chiropractors from patients that escaped clinics like this. A chiropractor can still focus on subluxations but do it in an evidence based, patient-cantered way. Wanna help more people? Hire more docs to handle that patient load and be able to have the time it takes to spend with the patients to do a proper job. Serve more people. Just hire more people to do it. I just want better from this guy and people like him. I want a standard in our profession. I want more from our profession. I want to have a conversation with someone in the medical field or someone that knows very little about chiropractic and not feel the need to apologize for guys like this.
He’s clearly a talented guy and a leader on some level. I just wish the talent was more focused on evidence-based, patient-centered endeavors. Basically, I don’t have a problem with people practicing under the subluxation model when they’re not advising against vaccines. We didn’t learn enough about them to be a damn authority on it. Stay out of the conversation either direction. It is not ours to have. Can you imagine telling a mother not to get a baby vaccinated and then the baby gets measles? Steer clear of that conversation. Anyway, I don’t mind people practicing that model. At the end of the day, we are all moving bones. The adjustment is the cornerstone of my practice but it’s only a piece of my practice. IT’s not the end-all-be-all. IT’s a puzzle piece but the piece is the biggest piece of my puzzle and it’s right in the center of the puzzle. Nothing more nothing less.
It’s not spiritual. It’s just a really big, very effective tool I have. My issue is the thought that a thorough and comprehensive exam is not necessary. That connecting with patients is not important. That talking with them, answering their silly questions, and educating them is not important. It all is very important and all of it, like it or not, takes time. It just does and time is a constant we must all contend with and work within the contraints of. So….that’s me, folks. Raw. And mostly censored because trust me, I cuss like a sailor when I’m not on this podcast. I could make this discussion so much more colorful and it’s deserving of the cuss words. I know many of you know this guy and you think he’s the bees knees and you’ll probably tune out here and think I’m just an awful person because
I’m talking this way about him but here’s the deal, we cannot let quackery and foolishness not only permeat what should be an evidence-based, patient-centered healthcare discipline…..but it is pervasive. Not only is it permeating, but it’s pervasive. You don’t have to look far to find a sycophant. I have 34 nutual friends with this knucklehead afterall. What more do I need to say? So, more akin to the medical field, we should recognize BS, we should call it out, and we should educate against it. And that’s what I’m doing. Every week. It’s not the subluxation-based thing that gets me. I’m used to that. It’s the culture around it that is insane.
Don’t vaccinate, as long as you stay adjusted, don’t worry about COVID, or any other disease, I say a knucklehead guru in school telling me adjstements pushed cancer out of guy’s body. Come on, man. When New Mexico had a shortage of practitioners and allowed chirorpactors to go to two extra years of education to get an advanced practitioner certificate to help prescribe and help handle the patient load, you know who showed up to testify against their own colleagues? Vitalist, subluxation-based, crazy-eyed imbecile chiropractors holding on to green books, the words of BJ, and a philosophy created in the late 1800’s.
Yeah, great look folks. You know who is against the ACA’s push for Medicare parity? Yeah, not just the usual suspects like the AMA. Nope, hell, the AMA’s best teamates against chiropractic are the vitalists. Yeah, I’ve seen the sychophants of Matthew McCoy railing against us being treated equally under Medicare. Explain that for me….someone….please explain that. Again, it’s not the subluxation. I don’t personally use or care for that word or philosophy but that’s not it. IT’s the insane leaders of that cult and the culture surrounding it that makes me want to punt baby bunnies into the damn stratosphere. So, if you’re a subluxation person, my beef is not with you as long as you’re not scaring and taking advantage of your patients. As long as you’re not telling them to see you 80 times this year to keep them healthy and all that. I have no beef with you.
Especially if you’re a Christian. Telling a patient that they were made imperfectly by a God you put every bit of your faith in makes no sense. at all. Y’all I’m a Christian. God makes no mistakes. He didn’t put us on Earth imperfect and in need of a chiropractor every week of our lives or be a miserable wreck of a person just waiting around on death’s doorstep. What a foolish concept for the faith-based models out there. The Body By God group. It’s silly. Sure be faitful, no problem there. But don’t tell people that they need you.
Otherwise, God can’t express himself fully without you. Yes, that is one of their talking points in case you were wondering. Insanity. Current guides tell us to use spinal manipulative therapy for movement dysfunction, use exercise and rehabilitation, use low level laser, use heat, yoga, acupuncture, and soft tissue manual therapy, use balance and proprioceptive training as well. These are all ways of leveraging modalities to great effect in resolving pain. They also teach us to NOT create dependency in the patient upon us.
They shouldn’t depend on us. We should be teaching them ways to self manage ongoing pain at home and see them for periodic flare-ups. That’s evidence-based and that’s patient-centered. 180 degrees opposite of what this practice I’m speaking about is doing. There are so many amazing chiropractors in the world that have raised their games to such a level that they can command respect and money for their opinions and treatment. Then…..there just aren’t. They’re educationally lazy but they can sure talk a great game. I’d like to see eveyrone raising the level. Raising the standard and taking this profession into an era of growth, progress, and respect.
Item #1
It’s called “The disappearance of the primary care physical examination – losing touch” by Dr. Paul Hyman(Hyman P 2020), and MD and it was published in JAMA on August 24, 2020. Damn the sizzle!!
It’s an article so high points we will hit upon He starts out by asking, “What is a physica examination worth?” He says he’s noticed that physical exams seem to be falling by the wayside in recent years and that fact has been highlighted for him since looking at the daily schedule and determining which will be see face to face in the days of COVID. He says that an exam is clearly needed at times for a diagnosis but that he’s realizing other ways he commonly uses exams as well. He says it is a means through which he pauses and physically connects with patients. It’s a way to demonstrate his knowledge and authority to the patient.
He says it’s also a chance to persuade patients and reevaluate their narrative. On the part about demostrating your knowledge, what are you demonstrating when you do a minimal, piss ant exam? Whether you know it or not, you may be demonstrating your lack of knowledge, right? Especially when that patient has had enough of your crap and goes to someone that knows what they’re doing. When the patients say, “This is awesome! The other chiropractor didn’t do any of this,” well, we have a pretty good idea of where you’ve been before getting to us. He goes on to say, “When patients and I disagree on a plan, the physical examination not only provides data, it also acts as an arbiter.”
He makes an excellent point here when he says, “In an admission of my own insecurity, the physical examination remains one of the few domains where I maintain a sense of professional skill and authority. I have never been much of a proceduralist. The mainstay of what I offer to patients is the ability to listen to them, to use critical thinking skills, and to offer my knowledge and experience. But those skills are sometimes challenged in a world where patients research their own health and develop their own medical narratives.
The physical examination remains a place where I offer something of distinct value that is appreciated.” You cannot make a difference in patients’ lives when you don’t know what the hell is wrong with them because you didn’t have the knowledge it takes to be accurate or because you only took 10 minutes to examine them. CHIROUP ADVERTISEMENT
Item #2
This second item is called “Chiropractic, one big unhappy family: better together or apart?” by Leboeuf-Yde et. al. (Leboeuf-Yde C 2020) from February 2019 and published in Chirorpactic and Manual Therapies.
Again, it’s an article so hittin the high spots. They say that the profession has a long history of internal conflict. Today, the division is between the ‘evidence-friendly’ faction that focuses on musculoskeletal problems based on a contemporary and evidence-based paradigm, and the ‘traditional’ group that subscribes to concepts such as ‘subluxation’ and the spine as the centre of good health. This difference is becoming increasingly obvious and problematic from both within and outside of the profession in light of the general acceptance of evidence-based practice as the basis for health care. They argue here that the situation within the chiropractic profession corresponds very much to that of an unhappy couple that stays together for reasons that are unconnected with love or even mutual respect. We also contend that the profession could be conceptualised as existing on a spectrum with the ‘evidence-friendly’ and the ‘traditional’ groups inhabiting the end points, with the majority of chiropractors in the middle. I personally call the ones in the middle agnostics.
They take a little subluxation/innate talk to heart but think evidence-based is the way to go but are not motivated about learning any of the evidence and research. Or just don’t know where to go to find it. They say this middle group does not appear to be greatly concerned with either faction and seems comfortable taking an approach of ‘you never know who and what will respond to spinal manipulation’. We believe that this ‘silent majority’ makes it possible for groups of chiropractors to practice outside the logical framework of today’s scientific concepts. In their conclusion they say, “There is a need to pause and consider if the many reasons for disharmony within the chiropractic profession are, in fact, irreconcilable. It is time to openly debate the issue of a professional split by engaging in formal and courageous discussions.
This item should be prioritised on the agendas of national associations, conferences, teaching institutions, and licensing/registration as well as accreditation bodies. However, for this to happen, the middle group of chiropractors will have to become engaged and consider the benefits and risks of respectively staying together or breaking up.” No matter where you stand on it, it’s though-provoking and I’m sure to find email inbox filling. Lol.
I’m sure I get plenty of hate mail on this episode but I’ll get a lot of support as well. I cannot simply sit by and see BS and sweep it up under the rug. We have to meet it and stand boldly in front of it, and turn it away. For the betterment of ourselves, our profession, and our patients.
Alright, that’s it.
Y’all be safe. Keep changing our profession from your little corner of the world. Keep taking care of yourselves and everyone around you. Tough times are upon us but, the sun will shine again. Trust it, believe it, count on it. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.Store Remember the evidence-informed brochures and posters at chiropracticforward.com.
The Message I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventativly after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!
Key Point: At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!
Contact Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms. We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference.
Connect We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.
Website https://www.chiropracticforward.com
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About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger
Bibliography
Hyman P (2020). “The Disappearance of the Primary Care Physical Examination—Losing Touch.” JAMA Internal Med 180(11): 1417-1418.
Leboeuf-Yde C, I. S., Young K, Kauchuk G, Hartvigsen J, (2020). “Chiropractic, one big unhappy family: better together or apart?” Chiropr Man Therap 27(4).
CF 151: Chiropractic Integration Into A Medical Setting Today we’re going to talk about chiropractic integration into a medical setting But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music
OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around. We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research.
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You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #151 Now if you missed last week’s episode , we talked about the fate of a big pharma company and we talked about the outdated use of MRI diagnosis of cervical dysfunction. That’s not necessarily the way to do it anymore in 2020. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class. While we’re on the topic of being smart, did you know that you can use our website as a resource? Quick and easy, you can go to chiropracticforward.com, click on Episodes, and use the search function
On the personal end of things…..
Well….how’s your week? Mine? It’s just eh… If you listened to a couple of weeks ago, I had a big week with some good numbers that looked like we were getting back to pre-COVID numbers. I was sniffing that level once again. Then, a three-day snow and ice storm decided that things were going a little bit too smoothly around here and shut us down for basically Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week.
As a result, we went from 172 visits the week prior down to last week only seeing 71. So….roughly 100 visits just pissed off last week. Which left me pissed off. It’s been a mess this year and I’m no different than most. For that reason, I’m not going to sit here and gripe about it. We’re back in the ’70s this week so here’s to trying to reclaim those lost appointments and keeping our patients on track to getting better.
Where we started the great week with 50+ patients on a Monday, this Monday we’re starting out the week with 26. Blah. But 4 new patients so, let’s hang our hats on the good stuff, shall we? And yes, we shall.
This has absolutely been the year of making lemonade out of lemons. If you’re not strong mentally, this year is a bruiser, man. And let’s be honest, I’ve had ups and downs. I’m still having them.
Hell, this week, as in many places, now that it’s time to rebuild after three lost days to weather, now the second COVID spike is in full swing. Yep, a bad day around here used to be 70 new cases. It was that way for 6 months or more. Now, in the last 2 weeks, we’re looking at averaging 240 or more cases per day. The hospitals are full and they’re bringing help in from out of town. I could let that work my head over but I won’t. Or…..at least I’ll try not to let it work me over.
Have you ever watched The Secret? I sort of recommend it if you can absorb things in the right context. OR, I can just summarize it for you. Basically, it’s all about having a vision so strong that you basically will something to happen. If you believe it enough, the world will bend itself to make it happen for you. For example, from the movie, if you believe that there will always be a close parking spot available for you when you go shopping at different places, then you will indeed find close and wide-open parking spots.
Or, if you really want a Ferrari, and you dream about it, feel yourself sitting in the seat, and feel the rev of the engine while you grip the steering wheel, etc….well, then surely, eventually you will indeed have yourself a Ferrari. Lol.
Well, if you listen to this podcast enough, then you know damned well that I don’t buy into that kind of garbage. But there is a message in it that I do like and support. That message is that our lives are built on and based on our ability to be positive or negative basically.
I have an example from today for you. On the way to work this morning, not 2 blocks from my house, I almost got into 3 car wrecks within a time span of about 2 minutes. Seriously. At one point I had to stand on my brakes and throw everything into the floorboards. This while I was simultaneously yelling and hollering at this fool stopped in front of me.
I could go into particulars on how it happened but that wouldn’t matter. What matters is that at that point in my day, I made a conscious decision. Was I going to let that ruin my day or was I going to see it for what it was and move on from it?
In The Secret, they say that our mentality from day to day affects our relationships with others. From our business interactions to our personal and family interactions. And it’s true. If you extrapolate that further, our mentality will either draw people TO us or push them AWAY from us.
So, if I let that close encounter affect my mood from there on throughout the day, potentially, whether I was conscious of it or not, it could have affected my interactions with patients, staff, and then later at home.
Alternatively, if I kick it out of my head and try to have a positive take on it….I didn’t get in a wreck after all!!! It could have been worse, right?
That was my decision and I decided that it was over and I’m going to forget about it, not dwell on it, not be mad about it, and just move forward.
On a larger scale, while I talk and share a lot about my business’s progress post-COVID here, for the most part, I’ve tried to adopt the ‘can do’ attitude. My generation Gen X is known for it. It is what it is. Let’s put on a smile, strap up our belts, and put one foot in front of the other.
And that’s what’s making it happen here. We’re like Rocky in Rocky III. Clubber COVID Lang keeps slapping me around and punching me in the nose and when it’s not Clubber, it’s Thunder Lips throwing me out of the ring. Lol. Sometimes it’s like you just can’t win. And if you dwell on that crap, well, you know what happens. It affects everything you do and all of your connections.
So, if Clubber Lang and Thunder Lips keep kicking your ass every week, put a smile on, stay doggedly determined, and come out swinging. All of this crap has a time limit. It will end eventually. Make sure you’re on top of the heap when it does. Everyone loves an underdog.
Item #1 First one of the day is called “Implementation of musculoskeletal specialists in the emergency department at a level A1 VA hospital during the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic” by Schielke et. al(Schielke A 2020). and published in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine on October 8, 2020,
It’s not a research paper as much as an article so let’s get going with the highspots.
They mention how the Rona depleted ER resources about the same time that pain management was deemed to be non-essential
They say that low back pain presenting in the ER has become more and more common and less traditional providers may be better suited to manage musculoskeletal pain.
Bolstering the idea of alternative providers being involved, are the more current guidelines recommending nonpharmacologic treatment for low back pain. At least initially.
Early conservative management for ED LBP has been associated with reduced pain and disability even when compared to patients with conservative outpatient physical therapy referrals
Multiple studies point out integrated ED MSK-specialist (MSK-S) reduced length of stay, imaging utilization, and opioid administration rates, and improved overall ED metrics when compared to patients seen by typical ED providers
Additionally, a 2018 systematic review and meta-analysis supports nonpharmacologic interventions for reduction of overall ED utilization and length of stay, and are effective in reducing pain in the ED with the potential to improve patient satisfaction, outcomes, and quality of life
VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) 2019 proprietary data revealed approximately 60% of cases presenting to the ED were urgent/emergent MSK complaints, primarily LBP
As the health department postponed non-essential healthcare due to COVID, the plan to integrate non-traditional providers was amped up and happened on March 30, 2020, lasting through June 8th.
Designated MSK-S care was provided during peak hours by chiropractic and physical therapy departments.
A “hub-and-spoke” arrangement was developed and per protocol, initial ED triage assessed for any serious spinal pathology, and a medical symptom evaluation was performed (“hub”). If diagnosed as MSK LBP, MSK-S referral was made with direct same-day hand-off (“spoke”).
Incorporation of MSK-S was shown, anecdotally, to be effective in treating acute MSK complaints as providers and patients were both able to benefit from the conservative options available in the ED
From the ED administration viewpoint, a liaison between ED and other sub-specialties utilizing a hub-and-spoke paradigm shift allows for the delivery of more efficient healthcare. With the positive feedback from the administration, ED providers, staff, and patients, integrated MSK-S clinics continue to develop within that VA system.
A 2018 review article by Kim et al. called for the use of an MSK-S in the ED and also provided clinical implementation guidance for any healthcare systems looking to adopt a similar practice.
Wow!! That’s pretty cool. Do you know what I did with this? I sent it to my friends in the medical field. Why not? The worst saying in the history of man is “We’ve just always done it that way.” What if there’s a better way? Of course, we know there is. The trick is in getting them to know there is.
Item #2 Our last one today is called “Integration of Doctors of Chiropractic Into Private Sector Health Care Facilities in the United States: A Descriptive Survey” by Salsbury, et. al`. and published in the Journal of Manipulative Physiological Therapeutics in February of 2018. Not new but pairs well with our first item.
Why They Did It The purpose of this study was to describe the demographic, facility, and practice characteristics of doctors of chiropractic (DCs) working in private sector health care settings in the United States.
How They Did It
They conducted an online, cross-sectional survey using a purposive sample of DCs working in integrated health care facilities.
The 36-item survey collected demographic, facility, chiropractic, and interdisciplinary practice characteristics, which were analyzed with descriptive statistics.
What They Found
The response rate was 76%
Doctors of chiropractic reported working in hospitals (40%)
multispecialty offices (21%),
ambulatory clinics (16%)
or other (21%) health care settings
Most (68%) were employees and received a salary
More than 60% reported co-management of patients with medical professionals.
Integrated DCs most often received and made referrals to primary care, physical medicine, pain medicine, orthopedics, and physical or occupational therapy
Although in many facilities the DCs were exclusive providers of spinal manipulation (43%), in most, manipulative therapies also were delivered by physical therapists and osteopathic or medical physicians.
Wrap It Up
Doctors of chiropractic are working in diverse medical settings within the private sector, in close proximity and collaboration with many provider types, suggesting a diverse role for chiropractors within conventional health care facilities. Alright, that’s it. Y’all be safe. Keep changing our profession from your little corner of the world. Keep taking care of yourself and everyone around you. Tough times are upon us but, the sun will shine again. Trust it, believe it, count on it. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.
The Message I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventatively after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!
Key Point: At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!
Contact Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms. We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference.
Connect
We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.
Website https://www.chiropracticforward.com
Social Media Links https://www.facebook.com/chiropracticforward/
Chiropractic Forward Podcast Facebook GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1938461399501889/
About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger
Bibliography
Schielke A, B. A., Walsh R, Rajagopal P, (2020). “Implementation of musculoskeletal specialists in the emergency department at a level A1 VA Hospital during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.” American J Emerg Med.
CF 140: w/ Dr. Chris Howson:Chiropractors In Hospitals & Drop Release
Today we’re going to be joined by Dr. Chris Howson of the great state of North Dakota where we’ll be talking about chiropractic integration in a hospital setting as well as his new invention called Drop Release.
But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music
Subscribe button
OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around.
We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers.
I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast.
If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.
Like our Facebook page,
Join our private Facebook group and interact, and then
go review our podcast on iTunes and other podcast platforms.
While you’re there, join our weekly email newsletter. No spam, just a reminder when the newest episodes go live. Nothing special so don’t worry about signing up. Just one a week friends. Check your JUNK folder!!
Do it do it do it.
You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #140
Now if you missed last week’s episode , we talked about chiropractors affected by COVID, 2019 opioid overdoses, and insurnace compensation for chiropractic. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class.
While we’re on the topic of being smart, did you know that you can use our website as a resource? Quick and easy, you can go to chiropracticforward.com, click on Episodes, and use the search function to find whatever you want quickly and easily. With over 100 episodes in the tank and an average of 2-3 papers covered per episode, we have somewhere between 250 and 300 papers that can be quickly referenced along with their talking points.
Just so you know, all of the research we talk about in each episode is cited in the show notes for each episode if you’re looking to dive in a little deeper.
On the personal end of things…..
I am writing this on 8/17/20 which means I’m taking my son to college this afternoon for his freshman year. It’s my first kid to fly the coop and we’ll see how it goes. Many of you did this same thing years ago. Many of you don’t even have kids so I won’t dwell on it long.
I’ll just say, especially to the young ones, there’s no time to waste. Whether it’s starting your own retirement account, starting your kids a college fund, or asking that girl on a date. There’s no time to waste because landmarks like I’m going through this week…..they arrive before you know it. Almost by surprise even.
Before you know it, you’ll look up and you’ve been in business 20 years, your kids are graduating, you looking at retirement in the next 10-15 years and you don’t know exactly how it all happened. But it did and if you’re not a forethinker, it’ll punch you square in the nose and make your eyes cross.
Just a word from your wise ol’ Uncle Jeffro.
I don’t want to talk too much because we have a guest today. Before we welcome him, I want to do a proper introduction.
2004 graduate of Northwestern.
Practicing in Grand Forks ND,
has spent the last 9 years in an integrated practice setting.
Has a strong background in sports and applies that “get em back on the field” mentality to all his patients.
Member of FTCA, NDCA, and ACA.
Currently pursuing the orthopedic diplomate.
Inventor of the Drop Release.
Tell me a little bit about yourself and your family.
I always say that chiropractic isn’t something that immediately comes to mind when one is deciding what they want to be when they grow up. So how did you come to be a chiropractor?
Where did you go to school?
What in your background or your schooling best prepared you for your current practice setting? Did you have any mentors that were particularly impactful along the way?
We have talked at length on this podcast about integrating into the Federally Qualified Health Centers or FQHCs but your situation is a little bit different. Can you explain what you’re doing and how you got there? And how it’s different from an FQHC.
What kind of patient is your typical patient in the hospital setting? Are you just confined to acute low back or what?
Have you had any issues or had to stand your ground when it came to those in the medical field that don’t necessarily love the chiropractic profession?
Numbers
Do you see your model as something that can be repeated in TX, NC, CA, to Florida? And how? How could those interested start on the path you’re blazing up in ND?
Do you see your current way of practicing as your life long way or do you have plans to be in the private sector down the line?
So, we get along very well because we are both go getters and entrepreneurs. If people have been listening, lately, I’ve been giving them a code for a discount on a new little invention called Drop Release. You happen to be the inventor of Drop Release. I actually first met you in person at the Forward ’19 event in St. Louis when you were working your Drop Release exhibit booth. Tell us all how you came up with the idea. How did you take it from concept to reality? That’s the biggest hurdle most folks don’t get over.
We might as well give them the code to save some money on Drop Release if they want one, don’t you think?
Thanks for joining us, Chris. I appreciate it.
Alright, that’s it. Y’all be safe. Keep changing the world and our profession from your little corner of the world. Continue taking care of yourselves and taking care of your neighbors. Tough times are upon us but, the sun will shine again. Trust it, believe it, count on it.
Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.
I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots.
When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few.
It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient.
And, if the patient treats preventativly after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!
Key Point:
At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints….
That’s Chiropractic!
Contact
Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes.
Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms.
We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference.
Connect
We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.
Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger
CF 131: New Information On 5 Actions To Change Clinical Practice Today we’re going to talk about moving toward being patient-centered. There are 5 actions recommended. What does it even mean? I might just ruffle some feathers here but a damn I do not giveth.
But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music
OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around. We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers.
I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast. If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.
Like our Facebook page,
Join our private Facebook group and interact, and then
go review our podcast on iTunes and other podcast platforms.
While you’re there, join our weekly email newsletter. No spam, just a reminder when the newest episodes go live. Nothing special so don’t worry about signing up. Just one a week friends. Check your JUNK folder!!
Do it do it do it. You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #131
Now if you missed last week’s episode , we were joined by Dr. Kevin Christie with The Modern Chiropractic Marketing podcast and author of a new book that’s coming out on chiropractic marketing. Kevin is a rising star in chiropractic and is a must-not-miss. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class. While we’re on the topic of being smart, did you know that you can use our website as a resource? Quick and easy, you can go to chiropracticforward.com, click on Episodes, and use the search function to find whatever you want quickly and easily. With over 100 episodes in the tank and an average of 2-3 papers covered per episode, we have somewhere between 250 and 300 papers that can be quickly referenced along with their talking points. Just so you know, all of the research we talk about in each episode is cited in the show notes for each episode if you’re looking to dive in a little deeper.On the personal end of things….. Still climbing in the patient numbers. Where I’m located here in Amarillo, TX, there is a population of approximately 280,000 people. Last week, on Thursday and Friday we added 3 total cases of COVID on Thursday and only 2 cases on Friday. Then the following Monday, we added 11. So, as you can see, the numbers here are no longer high. People are sort of ‘over it’ and you can see that and hear it when you talk to the patients. Hell, I’m sort of over it but still being smart. I’m having friends to the house again but we stay outside by the pool and have a couple of adult beverages. I have a friend that is a musician. Last weekend, he played a rodeo on Woodward, OK. He said there were probably 1,000+ people at the event and it was indoors. So, in Woodward, OK at least, they are REALLY over it. No way in hell I’m grouping up with that many people indoor or outdoor right now. It just doesn’t make sense to me for now. I guess if I were 28 and at the top of my game physically it wouldn’t make any difference to me either. But going to an event where people are yelling and cheering right behind, beside, and in front of me….big nopers right now. Ain’t happnin’
I noticed that while cases seem to be leveling off across America, they’re not increasing or decreasing as much as you’d like but, what I noticed is that the deaths are going down. Fairly signficantly. So wouldn’t that fit with the news that started coming out a couple weaks ago about the virus losing some potency? People are still getting it but not as many dying from it. Another explanation could be that we’ve gotten better at treating it. Either way, that’s not my lane so I’m not going to act like the expert. I’ll just say hell yay-us and keep the good news coming so we can all get back to life as it was meant to be lived. I hope you’re all well and staying healthy. As always, if you care about the kind of information I share every week and you listen consistently, I’m proud of you. I think you care about the right stuff and even though I don’t know you all, I consider you my friend.Item #1 Let’s kick this week’s research reviews off with this one called ‘It is time to move beyond body region silos to manage musculoskeletal pain; five actinos to change clinical practice’ by Caneiro et. al(Caneiro JP 2020). published in British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2020. We got a hot one over here!!
This paper actually has a lot of big names in the industry like Caneiro, O’Sullivan, O’Sullivan and Jan Hartvigsen. If you don’t know Jan’s name, you just haven’t been a regular listener.Why They Did It They say that current clinical research, education, and practice approaches musculoskeletal pain and conditions in silos. Basically it’s a focus on body regions like the knee, hip, neck, shoulder, etc. But current thinking actually shows that the pain disorders are frequently comorbid and share common biopsychosocial risk profiles for pain and disability. They say that a shift to focusing on the person is what is needed and that this would encourage the doctors to:
focus on the patients’ context and modifiable biopsychosocial factors that influence their pain and disability
Use education to facilitate active management approaches (targeted exercise therapy, physical activity, and healthy lifestyle habits) thus reducing reliance on passive interventions
Consider evidence-based surgical procedures only for those with a clear indication and where guideline-based non-surgical approaches have been rigorously adhered to.
Well who the hell can’t get behind all of that? Honestly, it’s odd when you think about it that in the year 2020, we’re still saying that surgery should be evidence-based and follow certain guides and that conservative treatment should be first basically. How’s that not just common sense and common procedure in 2020? We’re supposed to have freaking flying cars by now but the medical field doesn’t have this stuff down they way they should just yet? It’s money. I know. I understand it. But it’s frustrating as hell all the same. In this paper, the authors say to be truly patient-centered, they have five actions they recommend for managing a person with musculoskeletal pain, irrespective of body region.
Screen for biopsychosocial factors and health comorbidities. Notice this is #1 on their recommendations. If you’re just getting them in a pop a crack a lack and sending them on without this step, your results are going to be less than you or the patient desires. They say we need to communicate clearly with the patient to identify potential biopsychosocial drivers of the pain and then provide the therapy to fill that gap. These things include pain beliefs, emotional and coping responses to pain, social contest, physical and lifestyle factors and the presence of comorbidities. They recommend using the Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire.
Embrace patient-centered communication. This one is huge and this is one of the key things we learned in the Fellowship training for the neuromusculoskeletal medicine program. Clinicians should use open and reflective questioning to elicit the patient’s understanding of factors, which include the pain experience (tell me your story), causation beliefs (what do they think is the cause of the pain?), coping (what do you do when the pain increases?), impact (Tell me how your symptoms affect your ability to move and function), concerns (do your symptoms worry you?), beliefs (why do you think you shouldn’t bend/lift, or run?), social factors (tell me about your home life or work life), goals (what are you rgoals?), and expectations. Yes, to an extent, updated research and thinking has us behaving a bit like a psychologist I think. It’s not my favorite stuff. But, when you learn and consider how much pain is held in the brain due to these yellow flag indicators, then you start to realize that pain, certainly chronic pain, cannot just be treated at a peripheral source. You have to address the pain from a central sensitization perspective at least equally or you risk never being able to help these patients.
Educate beyond words using active learning approaches. doctors have to embrace education as a central part of patient care if we are going to change behavior. We have to dispel myths about pain, imaging findings, and activity engagement (for example, hurt does not equal harm). They say that behavioral learning like exercise therapy can be used to bust myths that are unhelpful. Myths and beliefs that lead to things like fear avoidance.
Coach towards self-management. A large portion of the chiropractic profession wants and desires patients to depend on them week after week, month after month and that’s just not real world stuff. And it’s not helpful for the patient’s recovery either. We should be empowering patients to engage in exercise, valued activities and a healthy lifestyle with confidence. Can you feel the difference here? “Mary, I know you’re only 35 but you already have some degenerative discs in your neck and I’m so concerned about it. This should be considered urgent and I’m going to need to see you 5 million times for the rest of your life.” Is that helpful or is this helpful? “Mary, I know you read on your rad report here that there is a finding of a degenerative disc in your neck but the truth is, that’s very common and not something you should be concerned with. Certainly not over-concerned with. I actually prefer the word ‘deconditioned’ over ‘degenerative.’ A good percentage of 30-40 year old patients have some mildly deconditioned discs but these rarely ever cause any issues. You’re young, you’re strong, and you’re healthy. We’re going to get everything moving correctly and then I’m going to give you some excellent exercises to really focus on the region and build plenty of support. You’re going to do great.” When you stack those two next to each other, it’s easy to see how harmful one is as opposed to the other more positive, more hopeful one. I got a little side tracked there, the point is, help them take control and self manage. Active amnagement relieves pain and improves function across pain conditions and health comorbidities.
Address comorbid health factors. They say clinicians should refer for co-care in teh presence of comorbid mental and physical health complaints like high levels of emotional distress, eating disorders, and type 2 diabetes. The authors say they contend that multidisciplinary care needs to be integrated, with consistent messages across the team to prevent care fragmentation and patient distress.
Wrapping up the paper, the authors say Patient-centered care will optimize the value of healthcare provided. Shifting funding to support high-value evidence-based care options and educating society will be critical to enable this transition and will likely be cost-effective. Integrated cross-discipline clinical networds are required for effective co-care. We believe clinicians are ready to change, but they require the support of health systems and payers. One word….two syllables. Day-um. You day-um right. But, health systems and payers are stuck on the part of our profession that doesn’t care about movement, function, yellow flags, exercise, or proper patient-centered practice. They’re stuck on the portion of our profession that is TIC or TOR or principled or whatever the hell useless drivel they’re using this week. The hardcore, philosophy, doctor-centered, faith-based rather than evidence-based group of chiropractors are smaller but they’re so much louder. And dangerous. They’re flat-earthers. They’re the reason the evidence-based group will never reach any kind of cultural authority. You can have a GROUP of guys and girls go through years of continuing education and maybe get a couple of diplomats in neuro or orthopedics or rehab….wahtever….and they can be the smartest chiropractor on the planet and almost 100% of their patients get well. And then you have just ONE lowsy-ass guy or girl go and bait and switch just ONE patient into 80 visits in a year with a contract and all of the bells and stupid whistles of a doctor-centered practice, and that group that worked so so hard loses every ounce of legitimacy. Because of ONE jackhole that refuses to understand or read research or refuses to sacrifice some money in the interest of their patients well-being. It’s gross. It’s awful. But it’s chiropractic. We are already looked at with a side-glance untrusting gaze. So any deviance of behavior that would be widely considered normal is magnified. Just one ruins the batch for all of us. I remember a preacher once saying that you gain trust in drops but you lose it in buckets. The reality in chiropractic is that just one faith-based, doctor-centered jackhole loses trust in ALL chiropractors in buckets. For ALL of us. My plea is to start sharing this podcast with your subluxation friends. Especially the young students that haven’t yet decided to be ‘principled.’ Maybe we can help lead them down the right path from the very start. The more people are exposed to the research and to the idea of being patient-centered, the more they’ll latch onto it. They have to. One is borderline evil, and the other is not. It’s backed by science. One destroys reputations for the sake of the dollar. One builds reputations and respect. One is built on ideas and theories over a century old that cannot or have not been proven while the other is backed by science and progress. How is it even a damn choice to begin with?
We’re either a healthcare profession. Or we are a faith. True healthcare professions do research and then they do more and they change according to what works well and they drop the stuff that doesn’t, and on and on to the point of really being on the cutting edge of the science and on the health of our patients. I’ll never understand how such a percentage of our profession can’t get on board with that. Whatever the answer to that question might be, it’s that answer that keeps us at the bottom of the cultural authority ladder. Unfortunately, I don’t see if changing any time soon. Not until the governing boards decided it’s time to change once and for all. Alright, that’s it. Y’all be safe. Continue taking care of yourselves and taking care of your neighbors. Tough times are upon us but, the sun will shine again. Trust it, believe it, count on it.
Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.Key TakeawaysStore Remember the evidence-informed brochures and posters at chiropracticforward.com.
The Message I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots.
When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few.
It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient.
And, if the patient treats preventativly after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health! Key Point: At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints….
That’s Chiropractic! Contact Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms. We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference.Connect We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward. Website
Social Media Links https://www.facebook.com/chiropracticforward/ Chiropractic Forward Podcast Facebook GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1938461399501889/ TwitterTweets by Chiro_ForwardYouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtc-IrhlK19hWlhaOGld76Q iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/chiropractic-forward-podcast-chiropractors-practicing/id1331554445?mt=2 Player FM Link https://player.fm/series/2291021 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-chiropractic-forward-podcast-chiropractors-practicing-through TuneIn https://tunein.com/podcasts/Health–Wellness-Podcasts/The-Chiropractic-Forward-Podcast-Chiropractors-Pr-p1089415/ About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger
Bibliography Caneiro JP, R. E., Baron CJ, et. al., (2020). “It is time to move beyond ‘body region
silos’ to manage musculoskeletal pain:
five actions to change clinical practice.” Br J Sports Med 54: 435-443.
CF 103: Chiropractic & The Brain, Forward Head Posture Hurts, & Smoking Hurts Worse
Today we’re going to talk about spinal manipulation’s effect on the brain, forward head posture and neck pain, and we’ll talk about how smoking is related to pain throughout the body.
But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music
OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around.
We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers.
Welcome, I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast.
If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.
Like our facebook page,
join our private facebook group and interact, and then
go review our podcast on iTunes and other podcast platforms.
We also have an evidence-based brochure and poster store at chiropracticforward.com
Do it do it do it.
You have collapsed into Episode #103
Now if you missed last week’s episode on headaches, contraindications to adjusting, and more info on maintenance care, then make sure you don’t miss that info. Go listen when you get done with this one.
Just a quick re-cap, some of the more recent very popular episodes have been when we had Dr. James Lehman on ths show for episodes 96 and 97. Those were huge for listeners.
Then, right after those, we had a couple of shows on Marketing Evidence Based practices. Those were big shows for us too.
Our all time biggest episodes though have been #13, 14, and 15. They were early in our existence. They’re called Debunked: The Odd Myth That Chiropractors Cause Stroke. And then there was episode 80 with Dr. Anthony Nicholson on Decoding Chronic Pain. That was amazing. It was a mini-course on chronic pain and I promise, it’s one you don’t want to miss.
Anyway, for those that are newer to our podcast, you’ll have to check those out and see what you think.
On the personal end of things, Dad is still in a struggle for independence. If you’ve been around stroke victims in the early weeks, it’s tough stuff. I don’t wish it on a single soul. Well, there’s this one attorney I used to know. Lol.
Kidding. I Kid….
When it’s my time, man….I just want it to go lights out. BAM. Seeya! It’s been nice but I gotta go hang with Jesus and my family I haven’t seen in a while. Buh bye.
We don’t get to choose but I sure hope that’s the way it goes. I never want to be a burden on anyone just so I can keep breathing. I want to check out and say adios amigos, hasta luego.
As far as practice goes, all days are not created equally are they? This was one of those days. Where to even start really?
I had to get after staff members for not doing rehab long enough. I don’t like repeating myself 100 times but I also don’t like getting after the staff members. I hate it. But it has to be done from time to time.
Then a PT told one my new patients not to go to the chiropractor until after he is done working with them because the patient is ‘gummy’ and an adjustment wouldn’t stick. Now, what the hell does that mean exactly? We don’t take bones from one place and put them into another. Adjustments don’t need to stick. They need to create movement. And alignment isn’t a real thing. Son of a mother, people.
I’ve never had a PT directing my patient’s treatment in my office before so that was a fun surprise.
Then a re-exam patient shows up 5 mintues before lunch. Talk about wanting to choke a patient. In a loving way of course because I love my patients but choke indeed.
Then an attorney on a case on a patient that I’ve seen just three freaking times calls the office. He wants to get me and the insurance adjustor on the phone at the same time. He wants to know what my bill is going to be, how many times I’m going to see the patient, etc… Yeah no. Not happening.
You have a question? Email me and tag the insurance adjustor. Want a specific answer, yeah…no. Everyone is different, every injury is different, and everyone heals at a different rate. I can give you a very rough estimate at best. Suck it Mr. Attorney, aka Mr. Waste My Freaking Time.
Then I have a new car wreck patient that doesn’t want me to see his previous radiology reports because they told him nothing was wrong and he doesn’t want me making up my mind about him based on radiology reports. Are you serious? You can’t make this crap up y’all.
Then, there’s some inner office fussing going on. It’s not a big deal but just un-needed on top of the rest of it while I’m trying to switch CPAs, balance and close out the month of November, and just keep my crap together long enough to go out to the rehab hospital to see my Dad.
Lol. Wow, what a brain dump I just laid on you all. I apologize but again, I share personal aspects of what’s going on day to day because I know many of you will 100% identify and if you don’t, you can probably learn from my experiences. If you don’t learn how to handle them, then maybe you can learn how to NOT handle them. Lol.
I’m OK with that too.
I can’t remember if I shared on the last episode but did you know the new slang for 100% is hundo p? It’s true. So, I hundo p guarantee that tomorrow will be a better day because I played whack a mole all day today and those little bastards are going to have headaches and will lay a bit lower tomorrow.
At least I hundo p hope so.
Before we dive into the reason we’re here, it’s good to support the people that support you don’t you think? Well, ChiroUp certainly supports evidence-based practices.
If you don’t take advantage of this deal, I just think you might be crazy.
If you’re a regular listener of our podcast, you know I’ve used ChiroUp since about June of 2018. Let me tell you about it because I’m about to give you a way to do a FREE TRIAL and, if you sign up, only pay $99/month for the first six months which is pennies compared to what it’s worth. So listen up!
ChiroUp is changing the way we practice by simplifying patient education and here’s what I mean:
In a matter of seconds, you can send condition-specific reports to your patients with recommendations for treatment, for their activities of daily living, & for their exercises.
You can see how this saves you time – no more explaining & re-explaining your patient’s care, because they have access to it at their fingertips.
You can be confident that your patients are getting the best possible care, because the reports are populated based on what the literature recommends and isn’t that re-assuring? All of that work has been done FOR you.
There are more than 1000 providers worldwide using ChiroUp to empower their treatments, patients, & practice – Including myself! **Short testimony**
If you don’t know what it’s all about or you’d like to check it out, do yourself a favor and go to Chiroup.com today to get started with your FREE TRIAL – Use code Williams99 to pay only $99/month for your first 6 months
That’s ChiroUp.com and super double secret code Williams99.
Item #1
Our first item is titled “Smoking Is Associated with Pain in All Body Regions, with Greatest Influence on Spinal Pain”, published in Pain Medicine Journal in October of 2019, and authored by Smuck, Scheider, and Ehsanian, et. al(Smuck M 2019).
Why They Did It
The authors wanted to examine the interrleationship between smoking and pain the US
How They Did It
It was a cross-sectional population-based study
It was done nation-wide
They collected related demographicsin 2,307 subjects from 2003-2004
What They Found
Smoking is most strongly associated with spine pain, followed by headaches, then trunk pain, then limb pain.
Wrap It Up
The conclusions is, “Current smoking is associated with pain in every region of the body. This association is strongest for spine and head pain. Given that pain is a strong motivator and that current smoking was associated with pain in all body regions, we recommend that these results be used to further raise public awareness about the potential harms of smoking.”
So we already knew that smoking was related to low back pain and disc issues from research we’ve covered here before. Now we know it goes beyond that. It’s everything everywhere basically.
Honestly, can you think of anything that could actually be good about regularly inhale smoke all day every day? Like….anything at all? Of course not. And you know what’s going to piss some of you off? Other than some touted ideas on stress and pain relief, can you tell me what on Earth could be good about inhaling marijuana smoke regularly into one’s lungs. All day every day. Wake and bake is no better than smoking folks. I promise. When all the research shakes loose, you simply cannot inhale substances regularly and it be OK.
As a side note I just want to throw some personal commentary in here. I had a conversation with a patient this week about another chiropractor here in my town and some of the beliefs and ideas that was laid on them on their visits with them.
You know…..the things that push patients away and makes them come see other chiropractors. Things like don’t vaccinate your kids (regardless of your stance on the matter, don’t be a bully about it to your patients. It’s gross and unprofessional), things like don’t use cell phones because of radiation, things like pushing supplements more than an actual adjustment with exercises, things like we need 70 visits and $4000 from you this year to fix that loss of curve in your neck. Things like pushing the newest thing like CBD, multi-level marketing like supercharged water.
From a patient’s perspective, if you went to your medical doctor and they’re pushing a ton of stuff from out of the blue….stuff beyond normal and customary medication. Things supplements that cost A LOT of money. They’re pushing CBD and selling if from their office, etc etc….
Well, those people look like snake oil salespeople. It’s not a good look, it’s off-putting, and we should hold ourselves to a higher standard. You can make plenty of money in this profession without selling your dignity and continually jumping on the hot new bandwagon.
The golden oldies are still the best ROI, folks. Spinal manipulative therapy, exercise/rehab, physiotherapy, massage and manual therapy, acupuncture, and honest and high ethics.
That’s your winning formula, y’all. Not CBD, special magical water, oils, and stuff like that.
It’s just not.
I swear I feel like I’m being controversial today but I’m not trying to be. I’m just speaking my mind and in the US at least these days, that is not a popular thing to do. We are at the point where 50% of the country hates the other 50% and anything you say, even when backed with facts, is taken as offesive material by half the country.
Random thought just now. If kid slang for 100% is hundo p, for 50%, is it fitty p? Just a question I have. That’s all.
Item #2
Now, item 2. This one is called “The Relationship Between Forward Head Posture and Neck Pain: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” published in Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine in November of 2019 and authored by Mahmoud, Hassan, Abdelimajeed, Moustafa, and Silva, et. al(Mahmoud N 2019).
November 2019 – hot stuff. fog your glasses up steaming plate.
And can I just say Oh how I wish my last name was Moustafa? Powerful – elegant – a little bit of hell yeah there.
Why They Did It
Despite claims that FHP may be related to neck pain, this relation seems to be controversial. Thus, our purpose is to determine whether FHP differs between asymptomatic subjects and those with neck pain and to investigate if there is a relationship between head posture and neck pain.
How They Did It
15 cross-sectional studies were eligible for inclusion
It was a systematic review and meta-analysis – so basically high-level information and research
What They Found
The conclusion of the project was “This systematic review found that age played an important role as a confounding factor in the relation between FHP and neck pain. Also, the results showed that adults with neck pain show increased FHP when compared to asymptomatic adults and that FHP is significantly correlated with neck pain measures in adults and older adults. No association was found between FHP and most of neck pain measures in adolescents.”
Now, you curve people don’t start getting our of hand. Can’t we see a world where a person does not have Forward HEad Posture but still has a loss of a curve. However, that loss of curve doesn’t cause a lot of issues? Of course we can. Because we have recent research that shows loss of a curve isn’t that big of a damn deal long-term.
This paper is on forward head posture specifically and it doesn’t take a research paper to envision sitting with consistent bad posture and developing upper cross syndrome is going to set a person up for some chronic pain issues. I can easily make that leap with you. And with these authors. Count me in.
Item #3
This one is called “The effect of spinal manipulation on brain neurometabolites in chronic nonspecific low back pain patients: a randomized clinical trial” it was published in Irish Journal of Medical Science in November of 2019 and authored by Didehdar, Kamali, Yoosefinejad, Lotfi, et. al(Didehdar d 2019).
November 2019 – Pow- firecracker hot right here. Watch your fingers
Why They Did It
In patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain (NCLBP), brain function changes due to the neuroplastic changes in different regions. They wanted to evaluate the brain metabolite changes after spinal manipulation, using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy
How They Did It
25 patients enrolled
They were randomly assigned to lumbopelvic mainpulation or sham manipulation
They were evaluated befre the study begain and at 5 weeks after treatment.
The Numerical Rating Scale and the Oswestry Disability Index and the H-MRS outcome assessments were used to quantify the results
What They Found
After treatment, pain and functional disability were significantly reduced in the treatment group vs. the sham group.
This paper gets heavy into the neurology so, in order to keep you on board here, we’ll straight to the conclusion.
Wrap It Up
The authors concluded, “In the patient with low back pain, spinal manipulation affects the central nervous system and changes the brain metabolites. Consequently, pain and functional disability are reduced.”
We did an episode on what an adjustment does way back on episode #56. That was also the episode where I talked about a popular group of millennial chiropractors that pour on the theatrics and sales talk and teach other impressionable chiropractors to do the same.
And then claimed to make degenerative arthritic spurs disappear after adjusting 3 or 4 times a day for like 2 or 3 weeks. I can’t recall exactly now but go back and listen to episode 56. It was a fun brain dump and is probably something you’ll enjoy if I’m guessing. I’m putting the link right here at this point in the show notes at chiropracticforward.com so go give it a looksee.
How do you describe a manipulation? If you were on an airplane sitting next to a neurosurgeon and he asked you exactly how manipulation works and affects the body and pain, what would you tell him? Have you thought about it?
The folks at ChiroUp have thought about it and probably because they’re DACOs, the DACO program also has an interesting description to offer.
Dr. Brandon Steele with ChiroUp offered a good explanation for cavitation back in October on their blog. I’ll leave the link for you in the show notes.
He described the need for better communication with the patients regarding cavitation and whether something “goes” or pops. Too many times, patients equate a successful treatment with cavitation. You know what we’re saying here.
To quote Dr. Steele’s blog, he says, “Joint manipulation improves range of motion across individual and multiple vertebral segments. A recent paper by Anderstt et al. (2018) confirmed that cervical manipulation results in facet gaping. This force also improves regional motion across multiple spinal levels during and post-manipulation.
“This study is the first to measure facet gapping during cervical manipulation on live humans. The results demonstrate that target and adjacent motion segments undergo facet joint gapping during manipulation and that intervertebral range of motion is increased in all three planes of motion after manipulation. The results suggest that clinical and functional improvement after manipulation may occur as a result of small increases in intervertebral ROM across multiple motion segments.”
Evidence-based chiropractors can bridge the patient education knowledge gap by incorporating current research into simple explanations.”
The DACO program I’ve been discussing put it all into an excellent description. Check this out and let me know what you think about it.
“Chiropractic adjustments exert their effects upon the nervous system in a variety of ways.
In recent years the neuroscience community has taken great strides in uncovering the mechanisms at play. These include analgesic responses at the dorsal horn level, as well as activation of the descending inhibitory pathways from brainstem regions such as the periaqueductal gray.
There is also a compelling body of research that suggests profound changes in sensorimotor integration within the cortex.
It appears that manipulation relies upon signaling properties of the muscle spindles that lie embedded in the paraspinal tissues. As the spindle registers rapid lengthening of the muscle it transduces this into a large proprioceptive barrage.
The unique nature of a manipulation seems to alter the responsiveness of second-order neurons in the dorsal horn and make them less sensitive to incoming nociceptive signals from injured tissues.”
Good stuff. The more you know, the better you are. The better you are, the more you stand out and the busier you are.
The right kind of busy. Not busy because you scared people into treating with you. Not busy because you made a big deal out of something insignificant.
Busy because you’re freaking smart as hell, make good reasonable recommendations. Busy because you took the time to get the extra education to be able to help your patients beyond what your local competitors can do. Busy because you’re honest and you know that treatment should have a start and it should have a finish.
Busy because you’re an evidence-informed, evidence-based chiropractor and high level research backs everything you say and everything you do.
There are few things more satisfying than saying, “Would you like for me to send you the research paper on that?”
Store
Part of making your life easier is having the right patient education tools in your office. Tools that educate based on solid, researched information. We offer you that. It’s done for you. We are taking pre-orders right now for our brand new, evidence-based office brochures available at chiropracticforward.com. Just click the STORE link at the top right of the home page and you’ll be off and running. Just shoot me an email at dr.williams@chiropracticforward.com if something is out of sorts or isn’t working correctly.
If you’re like me, you get tired of answering the same old questions. Well, these brochures make great ways of educating while saving yourself time and breath. They’re also great for putting in take-home folders.
Go check them out at chiropracticforward.com under the store link. While you’re there, sign up for the newsletter won’t you? We won’t spam you. Just one email per week to remind you when the new episode comes out. That’s it.
The Message
I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment instead of chemical treatments like pills and shots.
When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us that patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain just to name just a few.
It’s safe and cost-effective. It can decrease surgeries & disability and we normally do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient.
And, if the patient develops a “preventative” mindset going forward from initial recovery, we can likely keep it that way while raising the general, overall level of health of the patient!
Key Point:
Patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment offering the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints….
That’s Chiropractic!
Contact
Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show or tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on iTunes and other podcast services. Y’all know how this works by now so help if you don’t mind taking a few seconds to do so.
Help us get to the top of podcasts in our industry. That’s how we get the message out.
Connect
We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.
Dr. Jeff Williams – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger
Bibliography
Didehdar d, K. F., Yoosefinejad AK, Lotfi M, (2019). “The effect of spinal manipulation on brain neurometabolites in chronic nonspecific low back pain patients: a randomized clinical trial.” Ir J Med Sci.
Mahmoud N, H. K., Abdelmajeed S, Moustafa I, Silva A, (2019). “The Relationship Between Forward Head Posture and Neck Pain: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med: 1-16.
Smuck M, S. B., Ehsanian R, Martin E, Kao MJ, (2019). “Smoking Is Associated with Pain in All Body Regions, with Greatest Influence on Spinal Pain.” Pain Med.
CF 101: What Makes A Good Chiropractor – 9 Characteristics
Today we’re going to talk about going to a chiropractor and how to tell your out-of-town loved ones how to choose a good one on their own. Without your help even! We’re also going to talk about being the kind of chiropractor that your colleagues are happy to send their family to.
But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music
OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around.
We’re the fun kind of research. We’re not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research oh no…. we’re talking about research over beers.
Welcome, I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast. If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do, like our facebook page, join our private facebook group and interact, and then go to chiropracticforward.com and check out the store link. Sign up for our weekly newsletter there too.
No spam there, just reminders when we post a new episode so you don’t miss any!
You have collapsed into Episode #101
Now if you missed last week’s episode, we covered a lot of research. It was Episode 100 so make sure you don’t miss that info.
I know there were some good solid knowledge nuggets found there within so make sure you’re up to date and not falling behind the rest. Keep up with the class, man!
On the personal end of things I cannot tell you what a trying and what an emotional week it’s been. These episodes are recorded a week or two ahead of time so you’ll note the time difference of when this happened and when it’s making its way live.
On Saturday November 9th, my dad had a stroke. He got out of bed that morning and said he’s got a tall bed so he always has to sort of find his footing before he gets out and walks. He said on this day, he got out of bed and got out a bit awkward and fell.
He hit his head on the end table and cut his head open. From there, he went to the garage to get rags to clean up the bloody mess. Well, from the garage he goes to talk to his wife in the kitchen and there he falls again….hitting his head once again.
At this point, his wife calls the ambulance and off to the hospital they go. My wife and I were in Dallas TX, about a 6 hour drive away. So, I get the call. Take care of my business in Dallas and head back to Amarillo as quickly as we can.
Now, never having been around a stroke victim in the first week or so, I have little experience in this arena. I had no idea what to expect. When we got to the hospital, he was awake and talking to me. Telling me all kinds of stories, basically doing decent but there was weakness on the left side arm and leg.
Now, here’s where it got A LOT more interesting. On day two in the hospital, after taking a walk on the walker, he was sitting and eating and just relaxing when he had stroke #2. This was the more severe stroke. They put him on heparin, a blood thinner, and took him to the critical care unit to keep a closer eye on everything.
Now complete loss of sensation and motor in the left leg and arm and hand. He was very out of it and confused in the CCU.
So that was touch and go for a bit as you can imagine. Very emotional. Very stressful for everyone. Certainly for my dad.
Now, let’s fast forward to today, Monday November 18th, we are now 9 days out from the first stroke and 7 days out from the second stroke. He’s out of the hospital and in a rehab facility where they are trying to teach him to regain his life if possible. At this point, nobody knows where this train is going to take us and when it will get there but, we are hopeful and we are praying. If this reaches you and you hear it, I would appreciate your prayers, your good vibes, or whatever you are willing to send this way.
He could use it and, honestly, his family could too. It’s been a challenge to try to see patients and then spend time at the hospital. It’s hard to be present for your patients when your mind is fixated on your personal problems. I’m sure it goes that way for doctors going through divorces and life changing events like that as well. Mine just happens to be my Dad’s stroke.
So, I’ve usually got at least something to share with you on the personal side of things. This one was a whole new thing for me. I’ll probably giving updates as we go along.
Before we dive into the reason we’re here, it’s good to support the people that support you don’t you think? Well, ChiroUp certainly supports evidence-based practices.
If you don’t take advantage of this deal, I just think you might be crazy.
If you’re a regular listener of our podcast, you know I’ve used ChiroUp since about June of 2018. Let me tell you about it because I’m about to give you a way to do a FREE TRIAL and, if you sign up, only pay $99/month for the first six months which is pennies compared to what it’s worth. So listen up!
ChiroUp is changing the way we practice by simplifying patient education and here’s what I mean:
In a matter of seconds, you can send condition-specific reports to your patients with recommendations for treatment, for their activities of daily living, & for their exercises.
You can see how this saves you time – no more explaining & re-explaining your patient’s care, because they have access to it at their fingertips.
You can be confident that your patients are getting the best possible care, because the reports are populated based on what the literature recommends and isn’t that re-assuring? All of that work has been done FOR you.
There are more than 1000 providers worldwide using ChiroUp to empower their treatments, patients, & practice – Including myself! **Short testimony**
If you don’t know what it’s all about or you’d like to check it out, do yourself a favor and go to Chiroup.com today to get started with your FREE TRIAL – Use code Williams99 to pay only $99/month for your first 6 months
That’s ChiroUp.com and super double secret code Williams99.
Item #1
Now, the reason for this week’s topic: I saw a question on one of the Facebook groups the other day about what are the qualities we look for in other chiropractors before we’ll recommend them to a family member or to a friend.
Quite honestly, I get phone calls, text messages, Facebook messages, and emails from friends and associates that live out of town asking me if I know a good chiropractor where they live all of the time. Literally almost every week. And if I don’t know one, then what is the best way to choose a chiropractor? I’d say my first knee-jerk response is to go to forwardthinkingchiro.com and check the Member Map they have.
Now that still doesn’t guarantee it’s the best referral in the world but it’s a damn good start in whittling out the crazies right off the bat. But, that map unfortunately doesn’t represent every area of every city and it certainly doesn’t get you a good referral in BFE, Wyoming.
So, that’s what we’re talking about here. How do you find someone then if that FTCA map fails us?
I think that any time one decides that they’re going to go to a new doctor….even for you and for me…..If we change doctors, there is a certain amount of apprehension. In choosing a chiropractor, this apprehension can be escalated to a certain extent because all chiropractors are vastly different. In short, there is literally zero standardization. It’s like the wild wild West out there. If you have an ear infection and you go to the ER, you know it’s going to be a pretty standard treatment, right?
Not with chiropractic. You can go in for a little tweak in your back and walk out $3500 lighter with a year long plan. Or you can walk in with a little tweak in your back and get some completely normal, repsonible recommendation.
There are some chiropractors that focus on weight loss. There are some chiropractors that only use an instrument to adjust rather than manual adjusting.
There are some chiropractors that are more driven by philosophy than other chiropractors. There are some chiropractors that use therapy and extra equipment, while other chiropractors only adjust.
So let’s dive into 9 characteristics I feel are important in a good chiropractor.
1. Honesty
Other than the first topic and the last topic, I have not put these qualities in any specific order. But I put honesty at the top of the pile because I feel that strongly about it.
I feel that honesty is of utmost importance in any profession. Especially in the healthcare field. People are literally putting their lives and their livlihoods in our hands. You would like to think our family is putting their lives in the hands of an honest person, don’t you think?
We’ve heard it said time and time again that if a person doesn’t have his word, then he doesn’t have anything. It so so true.
How do you know if a chiropractor is honest when you first visit their office? That’s a hard one to answer. It may simply be a “gut” sort of thing. But usually, if we trust our “gut”, then we don’t get steered off of the right track.
You may not be able to develop a “gut” feeling until the second or third visit but you will most likely get a good idea by then. I would say that, in general, if it takes 3 visits to get your recommendations and really start treating, they may be using sales tactics on you.
If they talk about having to see them once a week for a year or for a lifetime, they may not necessarily be dishonest but they are most certainly unaware of current guidelines and evidence-based protocols.
If they talk about fixing everything in your body based on a subluxation model, I’d say you should save your money and leave. That’s just me. Again, that doesn’t mean dishonesty but it does mean they may not be evidence-based.
2.Evidence-based/Evidence Informed
OK, this one is admittedly a sticky one here. As most chiropractors are well-aware, there is this huge chasm in our profession between those that believe in only adjusting the spine and nothing else and those that are evidence-based or evidence-informed.
Between those that follow a philosophy and those that follow research. Between those that do not believe in the profession progressing and growing and those that believe our profession can and should grow and expand.
There are some research papers that the philosophy group will point to saying these papers prove their theories and minimal treatment but, in truth, from what I’ve seen, they are low quality and no profession worth anything would rest their entire reputation on them.
However, there are TONS of papers, many of which we have covered here on the Chiropractic Forward Podcast, that proves and validates evidence-based chiropractic every day in almost every way.
In general, it is my recommendation that you BE the chiropractor or refer your family TO the chiropractor that follows research, follows the expanding knowledge within, and pushes to move the profession more and more into the current century.
3.Network.
To me, “Network” means, “how plugged in is the doctor as far as his associations, his colleagues, and the profession as a whole?”
On the surface, that may sound like a silly suggestion and to be somewhat inconsequential to you. But I have found that there is an extreme amount of value in being active with fellow chiropractors and state and national associations.
We are able to bounce ideas and questions off of each other whereas someone with no colleague interaction or support system merely has their own knowledge and is sort of on an island of their own making.
Trust me, this is coming from a dude that was on that self-made island years and years ago. I had my basic knowledge from going to chiropractic school but I wasn’t particularly skilled in anything extra. Just basic white paint in a world of oranges, purple, fuschia, lilac, or whatever color you can think of. Sitting here today, I wouldn’t send anyone to me then.
Being active in the Texas Chiropractic Association has allowed me the opportunity to stay plugged in with rules and regulations, new treatments, changes in insurance plans, and options that I would have likely never known about were I not being active in my profession.
4. Knowledge & Experience of Doctor and Staff
I think this qualification really goes without saying. And again, knowledge and experience is of extreme importance in ANY profession. Even an experienced comedian is usually going put on a better show than a rookie.
For instance, I attend a chiropractic conference one weekend out of every month. Chiropractors are required 16 hours of continuing education every year. Some chiropractors will only go to a continuing education seminar one weekend out of every year. I should know, I used to be one of those chiropractors.
But with age comes wisdom and the desire for more wisdom. I would do my best to figure out the chiropractor’s knowledge and their level of experience. This could certainly end up being a “gut” thing as we previously discussed but it’s usually something they’re proud of and something they market.
Trust me, when I finally get that Fellowship of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine, you better believe it’s going to be on the website and will probably look like some sign right out of Las Vegas.
If there’s no sign on the website of extra certification and acheivement, your money is probably best spent elsewhere. I’m ten times the doctor I was when I began the Diplomate program. Or more….exponentially better.
5. Good listener
You’re not going to be able to get this off of a doctor’s website so don’t even try but we can strive to be better ourselves in this department. Myself included. I’ve been at a point where I didn’t feel I could get everyone worked through in one day and I can guarantee you I cut some patients off in the middle of their explanation.
I think that it is very important that a doctor has a good bedside manner. Meaning, that they need to be able to listen, focus on the patient, and fully understand what the patient is saying and what their concerns are. There are those days where we are just doing everything we can to stay above water but in general, don’t be uninterested and think you have the problem solved before they’ve said anything.
Open your ears.
6. Office Presentation.
This may seem like a silly one and I’m sorry if it’s just not important to you, but if I am going to a doctor’s office, I expect the office to be mostly clean and fairly sharp looking.
GASP….what if they went over the top and it looks amazing?
I think that if a healthcare provider takes pride in their office and in their staff, then they’re going to take pride in their results and their expertise. Maybe I’m wrong. You can find those that don’t give a squat about anything in their office. No good pictures, old this, smelly that..yet they’re able to get the best results.
Let’s face it though, is that the exception or the rule? I argue it’s the exception.
An an ideal office, they try to have a welcoming feeling, the staff is dressed neatly, there is as little dirt or dust is on the floor and furniture as is possible, there is no trash on the floor next to the trash can, everything is as nice, as sharp, and as clean as possible.
If the doctor and the staff do not portray an acceptable image, then that may not be the place for you.
7. A sense of purpose.
Have you ever gone to a doctor’s office and felt that they were simply going through the motions and collecting money? I have absolutely felt that way a time or two. I think that the better doctor is genuinely concerned about his patients’ well-being, and how he can help them in the best way possible.
Someone that you can just feel is a little extra. Someone that is knowledgeable and can relate things to you in relate-able terms. Not chiropractic jargon. Someone that you can instantly tell is not there to get into your pocket or to max your insurance. You know what I’m talking about. Someone that is there to get you results as quickly as possible. That’s purpose.
Even on top of that though, it would be nice to find a chiropractor that you felt had the community’s best interests in mind. When you see them donating and giving back to their community, why wouldn’t you want to do business with that person instead of a taker. Takers kind of suck. Takers just make profit but are narcissistic. They don’t get involved with their state or national associations at all. They don’t give anything back to their profession, their school, or their community.
They take that money and spend it only on themselves because that’s all they care about. I don’t want to do business with that person. I want to do business with a giver. Any day all day. Gimme a giver. Thank you, i’ll have another please.
I want a chiropractor that got into the profession of chiropractic in order to heal people. And to heal as many people as he could possibly reach.
Someone that thinks and works on a higher level rather than someone that just shows up to work and does their job. A doctor that is excited and jazzed to be doing what they’re doing in the place where they are doing it.
THAT’S the guy I want to go to!
8. Know when to refer.
Tell me you know when to refer. Tell me you don’t think you can fix everything. Please tell me!!
When we talk about referrals, we can get way off track in the chiropractic profession. Some chiropractors feel they can solve any problem walking through their doors. Ear infection? Pop ya bones? Asthma? Pop ya bones. Cancer? Pop ya bones. Diverticulitis? Pop ya bones?
You know the ones. Yeah you know them. They’re the reason people in the medical field look at all of us like we’re crazy. And if that’s the measuring stick for crazy, then they’re right. Fortunately, most of aren’t like that. But the loud minority is still winning the day in our profession I’m afraid.
As I said before, I am interested in the chiropractor that is plugged in to his profession and to his colleagues. I’m interested in the chiropractor that is plugged in to the healthcare field as a whole. And I’m damn sure interested in the chiropractor who is plugged into research and current, accepted guidelines.
If a doctor gives me a sense that they feel that they are the only one that can handle any condition, or that there is never any need to look outside of their office for additional help, then I am likely going to find another chiropractor. I think it is extremely important to go to a chiropractor that is not afraid to admit when additional treatment should be reasonably looked at.
I for one, look forward to each and every time that I have the opportunity to work in conjunction with a medical provider. I feel that it is a very complete treatment plan when you are able to address all symptoms thoroughly.
Patients have to take into consideration whether they want a chiropractor that is deeply versed in chiropractic philosophy or want a chiropractor that is open to working with the medical community.
9. Love.
I like to throw curveballs here and there. I like to add things you don’t see in most lists. This is one of those things and I saved this one for last because I hope that, after you’re done reading this, this is the one that will resonate the longest with you.
I strongly feel that when you visit a health care provider, things like caring, genuineness, focus, listening, and all of those other things that we’ve talked about above…..they can all be wrapped up into one thing.
And I think that that one thing is love. If the doctor and the staff love what they do, they love their patients, and they love being where they are, when they are there, then people can feel that.
If you walk into an office and it’s cold, there’s no personality, and it feels stiff and stale, then that’s just no fun at all. Where’s the love? How do you show it to your patients?
I want an office that I love to go to and if the doctor and the staff have love as the primary driver of their office and their purpose and it’s something palpable that you can feel….., then I think that all of the other eight qualifications pretty much take care of themselves.
That’s it. I’m sure if I didn’t have so much on my plate I could come up with about 20 more things that are important. Maybe a 100 but I have to get to the hospital to see my dad.
I enjoyed sitting and throwing some random thoughts on the page. I hope you liked it and make sure you come back next week.
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The Message
I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment instead of chemical treatments like pills and shots.
When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show that many patients get good or excellent results through chiropractic for headaches, neck pain, back pain, joint pain, to name just a few.
Chiropractic care is safe and cost-effective. It can decrease instances of surgery & disability. Chiropractors normally do this through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal time requirements or hassle to the patient.
And, if the patient develops a “preventative” mindset going forward from initial recovery, chiropractors can likely keep it that way while raising the general, overall level of health of the patient!
Key Point:
Patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment offering the least harm.
That’s Chiropractic!
Contact
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Connect
We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.
Dr. Jeff Williams – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger
WOW!! Our 100th episode. That feels great to say. We made it to 100 and we should celebrate!! I feel like we should do what got me started which is cover some great research that advocates and validates what we do every single day of our working lives.
