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Dynamic Chiropractic Canada
VOLUME 30, NUMBER 4
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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..."
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dynamic Chiropractic – November 20, 1992, Vol. 10, Issue 24
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I Practice What I Preach -- Really!

By Arthur Croft, DC, MS, MPH, FACO

A funny thing happened to me on my way downtown the other day. There I was driving down the freeway (that's what we call them in California) in my (thankfully) very large and heavily built automobile. Traffic was moving easily at about 60 mph and I was tapping out the beat of a favorite song on the radio when suddenly, for reasons still unknown to me, traffic stopped abruptly. I slammed on my brakes thinking that I was almost certainly going to crash into the car in front of me. Miraculously I didn't hit the car -- well, not just then anyway.

It's funny how whenever you find yourself in a life and death situation (okay, or even a very potentially injurious situation), time seems to slow way down. Milliseconds become minutes. The first thing that occurred to me was that I was pretty lucky. Then it occurred to me to look at the rearview mirror to see if I was going to be really lucky. That's when I saw the business end of the station wagon bearing down on me like a freight train, the driver apparently oblivious to the sudden change in traffic speed.

Now, for years, patients and doctors alike have asked me what one should do in this very situation. Should you just relax, or maybe lie down against the seat? A doctor in Atlanta once recommended getting out of the car. With any luck the driver of the car behind you wouldn't swerve to avoid hitting your car and, in the process, run flat over you. In any case, my recommendation has always been to apply the brake firmly, straight-arm (brace) against the steering wheel (with two hands of course), put your back and head all the way back against the seat-back and head restraint respectively, and wait for the inevitable. So, I followed my own advice. I even went a step further; I closed my eyes. And then I waited, and waited. "Gee," I thought, "I don't hear screeching tires, and it seems like he would have hit me by now. Maybe he swerved out of the way. Maybe ...," -- crash!

What an explosion. He hit me so hard that my car leapt forward up onto and into the subcompact car in front of me, locking our cars together and pinning this woman's car to the road. But not before her car lunged forward into the car in front of it. And there we sat -- stunned. A stuck horn and fan knocking against a hissing radiator punctured the sudden silence. The only other thing I remember hearing was all the sympathetic drivers who passed by and offered wisecracks to cheer us up. But actually I didn't need cheering up -- I was exhilarated. The way I figured it, I was experimenting with whiplash trauma -- donating my body to science, swallowing my own secret potion.

And this is what I can say from all of it. First, it is true that if you are braced for the impact you will fare much better than if you are caught unaware. Second, even with the head firmly pressed into the head restraint, the neck, which is neither supported by the seat-back nor head restraint is still free to move rearward at impact. This results in a rapid short arc of flexion of the upper cervical spine with consequent soft tissue injury. Third, virtually nothing will prevent acceleration and hence injury of the brain. I now have what I would call a grade II injury to my neck and a postconcussion syndrome (PCS) which I would call mild, but otherwise very annoying, since it has affected my sleep somewhat and my short term memory significantly. I hope my donation to science was worth it. After all, Ed Menglermine never did become completely immune to cobra venom even after over 150 self-administered and intoxicating injections of the stuff. He finally died after being bitten by his pet cobra, "Fluffy."

Arthur C. Croft, D.C., M.S., DABCO
Coronado, California

Editor's Note:

For more on personal injury, consult Dr. Croft's video "Advances in Personal Injury Practice," #V-435 on the Preferred Reading and Viewing list, pages xx.

Click here for more information about Arthur Croft, DC, MS, MPH, FACO.

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