Help Contact Us
Dynamic Chiropractic Canada
VOLUME 30, NUMBER 4
Search Extended Search
DC Deals & Events
Newsletter
Browse Editorial Topics
Previous Graphs
NCCAM Featured Content
NCCAM's Advisory Council Welcomes Six New Members
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) welcomes six new members to the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The council serves as the principal ...
 
In the News: Resveratrol
Resveratrol is a naturally occurring chemical found in red wine and other plant products and is sometimes sold as a dietary supplement. Recently, a study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute ...
 
In the News: Placebo Effect
Recently, several news outlets have been highlighting research studies of the placebo effect. The placebo response can be defined as the benefit patients receive from a treatment that has no active components. ...
 
Soy Protein Supplements Do Not Reduce Plaque in Arteries of Postmenopausal Women
Soy protein supplements containing isoflavones do not significantly reduce the progression of atherosclerosis (build-up of plaque in the arteries) in postmenopausal women, according to a recent study published ...
 
Message from the Director: New Directions
The need for careful research on complementary and alternative health practices remains compelling. Tens of millions of Americans are spending $34 billion per year (mostly out-of-pocket) on a variety of ...
 
Safe Use of Complementary Health Products and Practices
As with any treatment, it is important to consider safety before using complementary health products and practices. Safety depends on the specific therapy, and each complementary product or practice should ...
 
Depression and Complementary Health Practices
Depression is a medical condition that affects nearly 21 million American adults each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Mood, thoughts, physical health, and behavior all may be ...
 


Alternative Health News
How Chinese Medicine Can Save Western Medicine
Our country is struggling to reduce the cost of healthcare while simultaneously improving its quality and accessibility. I see a partial solution: use Chinese medicine in Western healthcare settings.
Dealing with Fibromyalgia
It is estimated that between two to four percent of the population are now suffering from fibromyalgia, including Irritable Bowel Syndrome and TMJ. Perhaps our massage school education did not include how to successfully deal with fibromyalgia.
Professionalism, Education and Turf Wars
Most professions have discourse about the "professional." Professions define themselves in part by excluding others. I would like to briefly explore professionalism in Chinese medicine.
Expanding Your Massage Therapy Practice
An e-mail survey conducted in December 2011 found that many massage therapists are missing out some potential revenue streams by not offering any additional products or services to their clients.
Challenging Sacred Cows, Round Two
I want to clear up something before I go forward. First, an esteemed colleague and visionary of our profession wrote to me asking if I did not believe in science because of my comment, "While I am not a fan of evidence-based medicine..."
The Heart /Kidney Connection
Are you treating health conditions related to or affected by love? This past November I taught at the Pacific Symposium, a large educational conference put on for our industry by the Pacific College in San Diego, Calif.
A Massage Protocol for Peripheral Neuropathy
My last article in the October 2011 issue focused on diabetic peripheral neuropathy and I want to stress the importance of reviewing that information before proceeding on to this protocol.
Impacting Children: CranioSacral Therapy and Pediatrics
Working with children is an art as well as a science. Using CranioSacral Therapy (CST) on a child can be especially gratifying as a qualified CST practitioner can facilitate significant changes that can positively improve the quality of a child's life.
WIBB Exclusive: Who Runs the Show?
Staffing issues abound. By far, it is the number one complaint of employers and the reason I am most contacted for consulting. It goes something like this. You have a successful practice and are turning away business.
Using the Channel Systems of Acupuncture to Unravel the Mysteries of Disease Progression
Wind is a philosophical representation of change in the Chinese classics. It is also acknowledged as the root of all physiological disturbance. It is stated in chapter 3 of the Su Wen that wind is "the cause of hundreds of diseases."
The Magic of Microcurrent
In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, I found this definition of the word magic: an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source.
Massage Therapy Reduces Low Back Pain
Non-specific low back pain is one of the most common muscular-skeletal issues reported by patients/clients seeking pain relief. Massage therapy is recognized in clinical practice as an effective treatment.
Understanding the Changes of ICD10
Recently, I have been receiving inquiries about the new codes for ICD10. When do they begin and how much of a change will they be?
CAMTC Honors CA State Senator Lou Correa
In closing out a busy 2011, the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) honored California State Senator Lou Correa with its Legislator of the Year award at the final 2011 Board of Directors meeting.
Re-Framing the Idea of Referring New Clients to Other LMT's
Recently, I called a licensed massage therapist to find out about the possibility of getting a session. If I liked her work, I told her, I'd be interested in working with her as my regular LMT. The first thing she said was that she wasn't doing massage now.
Public Health & Gerontology Groups Support CAM
Two large professional groups recently held annual meetings that featured a number of presentations about acupuncture and CAM topics.
Get Optimal Energy with Nutritional Self Care
It is our experience that massage therapists are some of the most giving, compassionate people on the planet. While we might be exceptional at caring for others, many massage therapists put themselves last when it comes to their own self-care.
Entrepreneur or Employee? Which is Right for You?
There is no denying the massage and wellness industry is here to stay. People are becoming far more proactive with their health care and are looking to alternatives to heavy medications and a costly doctor visit.
Practice What You Preach and Go Back to Massage School
For all of us, the massage school experience is (or was) transformational in nature. As students, we were feeling "new" things, literally and figuratively, every day. Our wonder at and reverence for the human body and all of its systems grew by the hour.
The Big C: What Are You Doing About It?
It is the rare to meet a person these days that doesn't have a concern about cancer. Between the constant headlines, to pink ribbons on everything from planes to phones, to hearing that Aunt Stacy was just diagnosed, it is impossible to not be aware of cancer's presence.
Herbs: Revitalizing in Spring to Maintain Youthful Vitality
Spring is the time to revitalize and get moving, but also a time to improve our immune systems so that we can avoid wind-caused health conditions that often proliferate during this season.
Speaking in Code
At this point, I am certain everyone is aware of the CPT codes for billing acupuncture. However, there have been some recent cases where it is clear that not everyone is following the clear-cut rules on how to define and use these codes.
Giving a Big Thumbs Up for Healthy Thumbs
The thumb is one of the most practical and necessary implements of the body. It is the first self-comforting tool to be used, often seen thrust into the mouth of a fetus in the womb.
AAAOM Postpones Annual Membership Conference, Leadership Meeting To Be Held
The decision by AAAOM to postpone its annual membership conference for one year was a difficult one.
Target Your Marketing for Success
When asked what clients they want to work with, many massage therapists answer, "Everybody." When you try to market to everybody, that's called "blanket" marketing.
Positional Release Self Care for Soreness and Other Pains
If your patients are anything like mine, they will report to you that there is commonly a degree of discomfort, soreness or stiffness a day or so following manual treatment no matter how gentle or appropriate that treatment might have been.
Unlocking the Secret to a Thriving Massage Practice
Whether you own a thriving massage practice, you just want to develop a base of recurring customers, or you're just starting to get clients this article will reveal the little known secret to have more joy from your work, get more clients.
Dr. Shi Xue-Min and the Xing Nao Kai Qiao Legacy
To the acupuncture community, Dr. Shi Xue-Min is known as a distinguished acupuncturist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a supervisor of doctoral candidates in China.
Seeing Your Massage Clients Through a New Lens
I've worked with people young and old with complex medical conditions since 1979 when I began my career as an occupational therapist.
Freeing the Heart, Part 2: Equalizing the Pressure
Cardiovascular disease does not happen overnight. It is a progression that evolves over decades and genetic pre-disposition can accelerate this progression dramatically.
Hip and Thigh Pain: The Tensor Fascia Latae Connection
Have you ever had a patient with hip and lateral thigh pain that did not respond to your traditional treatment? Would it be helpful to know which muscles to double check that refer pain into the hip and lateral thigh?
Dynamic Chiropractic – September 12, 1996, Vol. 14, Issue 19
Post Comments
Share |

Philosophy -- According to the Patient

By Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher

It is always interesting how DCs view Dynamic Chiropractic. Some chiropractors see it as a "mixer" publication, although recently, a number of DCs have commented on our "straight orientation."

Most of these comments are in response to a single article, rather than seeing the publication as whole.

Dynamic Chiropractic is a sounding board, a reflection, if you will, of the entire chiropractic profession. Our "orientation" is all inclusively chiropractic.

As for my own "philosophy," it is that of a lifetime chiropractic patient who is also the son and grandson of chiropractors. Some may find it unusual that a patient would have a health care philosophy, but it is that very philosophy that moves a person to become (or not become) a chiropractic patient.

Consider the terms that two lay persons use to describe prescription drugs:

One uses the terms "medicine" or "medication," indicative of a philosophy of wellness (?) that is favorably focused on the pharmaceutical side of health care.

The other person speaks of "drugs," connotative of the less favorable aspect of pharmaceuticals: side-effects, negative reactions and overdose.

Everyone has their own philosophy of health. It was handed down from parents, modified by friends and impacted by personal experience. It is anecdotal in nature, and has a tendency to ignore the body's ability to heal itself, in favor of some outside intervention. And just like the scientist studying the jumping frog,* it is subject to misinterpretation.

This is where you come in. While it may be frustrating, part of your job as a healer is to teach your patients what health is and how to maintain it. This involves sharing your philosophy with each patient as you care for their individual health needs, helping them to understand what that adjustment accomplished, and why it is better than taking aspirin the next time they have a headache. Sometimes not doing something or doing it correctly is a big key to maintaining optimum health.

Most of the time you will be spoon-feeding you patients: talking about the dangers of reckless antibiotic use one visit; explaining why Aunt Bessie can manage her asthma with chiropractic the next. Through your extra effort, your patients will not only enjoy the wellness chiropractic provides, they will live healthier lives. This will translate to substantial improvements in their quality of life, especially as they get older.

If you want to get a little motivation about how important it is to instill in your patients a chiropractic centered health care philosophy, visit a care home for the elderly. Observe the little old ladies drugged senseless, walking around with "tombstones in their eyes." This isn't how you want your patients to end up. (You'll notice an absence of little old men. They didn't survive their last surgery.)

Your chiropractic philosophy should be shared with every patient, and anyone else who will listen. Lifetime chiropractic patients should stand out as the healthiest people in town.

In the turmoil of managed care and health care reform, many are loosing sight of the fact that health care is still about people and all about wellness. Chiropractic has always made these issues the top priority. Let's continue to stand for the health of our patients and society as a whole.

  • In case you haven't heard the joke, a scientist studying frogs placed a frog at the end of a long table. Hoping to prompt the frog to jump, the scientist blew a loud note on a trumpet. The frog, startled by the sudden noise, leaped. The researcher recorded: "Frog with four legs jumps four feet." The scientist then amputated one of the frog's legs and again blew a piercing note on the trumpet. The researcher recorded: "Frog with three legs jumps three feet." This continued until the frog had no legs. When the researcher blew the trumpet, the frog didn't budge. Placing the horn closer to the frog, the scientist hit several shrieking notes, but the poor frog remained inert. Finally, exasperated, the researcher scribbled into his notes: "Frog with no legs, can't hear."

Just because your patients feel better after taking a drug doesn't mean the drug helped them. The drug may have even hampered the healing process! They don't understand this. Most patients don't know the difference between feeling better and wellness. They come to you to learn.

DMP Jr.

Click here for more information about Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher.

Post Comments
Share |

Do you consult with a tax advisor (CPA, etc.) year-round, or only during tax season?
Year-round
Tax season only
DC News Update
Newsletter
To Your Health
Newsletter

 

To report inappropriate ads, click here.