For Doctors

I just got back from a seminar this weekend that focused on my public speaking skills. I've attended this once before, but thought I could use a refresher on these skills. What I received was a "big picture" experience. I usually have a hard time with the big picture. I would love to have a step by step plan of success written out to follow. This would seem much more efficient for me. However, there is nothing that would work like that. The truth is that what works for one, just won't work for the other in a step-by-step manner. This is why we need to get the big picture. So, there are two big things that I am reminded of from this weekend. Firstly, commit! I need to whole heartedly commit to chiropractic, commit to the people of my community and commit to myself; to be the best I can be. That's scary and hard for me. This doesn't mean I've been doing a bad job, just not fully committed. Secondly, I'm reminded of a phrase that says, "they won't care how much you know until they know how much you care." I like to think my patients know that I care about them, but do I fully foster that relationship and am I being 100% with that patient each time I see them? Am I helping my staff to do the same thing? Do I go out to the community and look for educational opportunities just so I can help more folks? Sadly, I'm not completely there yet. I will be though!

Ear Infections Everywhere!

There have been a surge of new patients in the office for ear infections. Usually these kids have been young, around a year old, but have been all the way up to nine years old. The typical history taken at Old Orchard Beach Chiropractic for these kids goes like this: Delivered C-Section as an unplanned emergency, around lots of other kids, several rounds of progressively stronger antibiotics, doctors planning to put tubes in the ears. All these parents want another opinion of what can help and often wind up in our office for an exam and chiropractic adjustments. Most alternative health experts agree that this problem first occurs with c-section delivery. If a baby loses out on the trip down the birth canal, there are beneficial "bugs" that the baby misses out on. Often we think of a c-section as being a procedure where a "window" is opened in mom and baby is carefully taken out and mom is put back together. What occurs, though, is get baby out as quickly as possible, making as small as a surgical incision on mom as possible. An ensuing "tug-of-war" with baby's arms and legs happen more frequently than not. This easily puts strain on the neck muscles and misaligns tiny vertebra causing irritation and eventual symptoms to the little one. We often hear that these kids around lots of other kids and their germs all the time! This, in itself, documents a diminished immune capacity for the little one with ear infections unless all the other kids have active ear infections too. So it's not the germ that's to blame, but baby's body not working as well as it could. As antibiotics are used, infections aren't the only things killed off. All the beneficial bugs in the intestines are killed off too. The first bug to regrow is almost always "yeast". This yeast causes a lot of inflammation that further taxes the immune system as it works to keep inflammation in check. When another infection occurs in the ears, a stronger antibiotic needs to be used as the body has more "bugs" to fight. If things get bad, doctors wind up suggesting various surgeries including adenoid and tonsil removal as a hope to get rid of diseased tissue that is not healing! Consideration for putting tubes in the ears is often started because of the fear of rupturing an eardrum. However, the outcomes of having tubes placed and having an eardrum rupture and heal on its own are nearly identical. The good news is that chiropractic adjustment help a great deal. When coupled with supplementation and sometimes referrals to naturopathic doctors, health can return without hopping on the antibiotic roller coaster.

Families that can't afford to get sick

This month has been inspiring that there are families out there that "get" the big picture of health. We hear of so much doom and gloom with the economy that there are many people asking me if my practice is doing okay. I'm here to say that chiropractic is doing "just fine!" It's become evident to me that even families without insurance are happy to get under chiropractic care because it makes sense that their bodies will function better if their nervous system is functioning better. These same families have come to realize that it's not the money spent on true "health care" that negatively impacts their financial health, but the lost time and productivity when they're sick that has a bigger financial impact. There have been tons of surveys, but the biggest eye opener is that when families wind up in financial crisis (in this case, bankruptcy) due to medical circumstances, 70% of them had health insurance at the time. The most cost effective way of maintaining your health will always be to head disease off before it attacks. Families are learning this in droves and are embracing it! Old Orchard Beach Chiropractic will always be a place that is open to families to achieve their health care goals.

Sore Tush Rule - Staying Healthy

Well, after a month off the bike due to various climate reasons here in Maine, I hopped back on my trainer for a 45 minute spin. Boy was my butt sore! I figure I ride most of the year long with some days of 60 to 80 miles and some weeks putting in 200 miles. It should be a piece of cake to ride only 45 minutes. I learned an important lesson that we all should keep in mind. It's far easier to stay healthy than to get healthy! For me, in this instance, I probably could have ridden 30 minutes 3 times a week to keep my firm derriere, but instead I took a complete vacation. This can translate to any healthy habit. I see it all the time in chiropractic. Mrs. Jones comes in after not being seen for 10 months and says, "I was doing so well that I thought I'd take a little time off. At first it only got a little worse, but now it is just like before I started care." Mrs. Jones needs to learn the sore tush rule.

This is the bottom line. Our daily routines rarely see the types of physical activity we need to maintain good health. We need to actively pursue exercise and other healthy activities to keep us at our best. When we take a little time off, our health slides back to the state it would naturally be with the routine we live. For most of us, this is just not optimal!

So my butt was sore for a few days, but I hopped back on the bike quickly and rode for about an hour. It felt better much quicker. I now have a routine again established where I spin for an hour as I listen to a teleconference twice a week. Adding this to my winter gym workouts will have me ready to hit the road again when mother nature allows!

Health Care

So what is health care? Most people would say that it is seeing your doctor when you are sick, but I would assert that this is sick care or crisis care. Health care is care that is required to keep your mind, body and spirit at its healthiest level - that you can not do for yourself. It must be performed by a health care specialist. Most well known types of health care include: dental cleanings, massage, chiropractic adjustments, counseling sessions. It is funny that these professional services are not included with what we would often call "necessary". That is because our usual way of managing "health care" is really rehabilitation from crisises. If we define being healthy as having optimal physical, mental and spiritual health, then the rehabilitation form of health care simply doesn't work as the means of achieving health and keeping good health.

The most difficult part of participating or not participating with these forms of health care is that you typically don't notice immediate problems when you miss a visit. If you miss a dental cleaning, pain may not insue for several years, but often problems that arise are very difficult to reverse. The same is true for chiropractic care. Someone may be able to "heal" from a car accident and slowly feel better without care, but some years down the road, the effects are often still visible on x-ray. Even the effects of missed counseling sessions could be viewed by not seeing the change that was once desired. True health care is of the utmost importance to those that really want health and vitality.

Self Care

I've been a little lax in my self care lately. I guess the good thing is that I recognize it and am back to changing it. I know a lot of people fall off the bandwagon in December. I just don't think they equate it to self care. I had to ask Shannon yesterday to stop baking so much! Can you believe it? Here's the problem; she doesn't eat sweets anymore so that means I now have twice as much to eat when she bakes. Since I have very little self control, I'd just rather it not be in the house. Anyway, it's a great time for new year resolutions and a return to self care. Most of us innately understand this; we just have a hard time sticking to this aspect of health. Here are the most important things I see for self care (those things we have to do for ourselves that no one else can do for us):

1) Eat a healthful, natural diet at least 80% of the time (include lots of high quality water).
2) Exercise several days a week (preferably cardio and strength training).
3) Pray daily.
4) Spend time with family.
5) Participate in spiritual development daily (include meditation and reading of good books/scripture).
6) Get adequate sleep (the recommendation for adults is 7-9 hours a night).

I'm sure there are more, but it's easy to note the things that are easy to skip. My new year's resolutions will include these!

The Big Picture of Health

If you're sick of being sick, you may need to understand health a little bit better! Firstly, it's not your fault. We're taught from a young age to see the doctor when we are sick. We go to the ER when we fall and bleed badly or break an arm. When we have tonsillitis, we make an appt. with the doctor for some antibiotics. Every parent knows this and often demands it (now who's the doctor?)! So, here's the problem. For most of us, the extent of our health knowledge is, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." If it was that simple, Washington would be the richest state in the world and we would have far less grapefruit because Florida would be figuring out how to switch crops. Anyway, there is a lot more we need to do for health than just see our doctor when we are sick.

Secondly, it is your fault! If you believe that your health is one of the most precious possesions you have, you need to treat it as such. There is so much information available for you to make educated decisions on healthcare. I've seen people study cars for a year or more before deciding to make an investment that for most will be 5 years or less in their possesion. Think about the planning that goes into buying or building a house. Most people move residences at least 6 times in their lives. Our health is ours forever.

I'm here to tell you that most of us have been duped! For over a hundred years now we have been led to believe that crisis care, the care you receive when you've made a mistake or had an accident, is actually healthcare. It's absolutely not. If you've read my profile, you understand that self care and healthcare consists of things you do before you get sick or lose your health. These things are things that guard and preserve your health. The analogy with driving would be do you obey traffic laws, look carefully at what is going on around you and use common sense when operating your car or do you just drive as fast as you can, ignoring all rules of the road and other peoples' safety, wreck your car and then limp to the mechanic and ask him to fix your wreck? I know there are a few that will say the latter, but for the majority of us, we would rather be prudent and act safely. Please do the same with your health. Big pharma has invested billions (yes, with B not an M) yearly to make you think of healthcare as drugs and surgeries. This is crisis care though. This happens after you've wrecked your body. I'll talk more about self care and health care in the future, but just know already that you have a lot of personal responsibility here. Some things to think about are diet, nutrition, exercise, meditation, prayer/spiritual health, gyms, massage, chiropractic, accupuncture, vacation, safe driving courses, etc. More to follow...