Do I Believe in Chiropractic Medicine?

Supposedly this is a painting of the first chiropractic "adjustment"

That is the question that was asked of me recently by a client. This question was offered to me in a hushed manner as if it was a taboo or risky thing to ask somebody.

In reality, I can understand the demeanor of the question due to the previous issues between the chiropractic profession and societies like the American Medical Association.

Curious to what my answer was? I told her that I do NOT believe in chiropractors...Pause...I also do not believe in physical therapists, athletic trainers, medical doctors or osteopaths. However, I do believe in critical thinking, sound clinical reasoning, clinicians that get results, evidence based practice, and the scientific method. There will always be good eggs and bad eggs in any profession. There will always be some patients that will respond to some clinicians/treatments/therapies/exercises better than others. It doesn't mean they are bad but they weren't appropriate at that moment in time.

I think she has lost her marbles.

As Charlie Weingroff would say, "I don't care if all you do is spread peanut butter on somebody, if it makes them move better or with less pain from baseline to post-testing."

Test - Intervention - Retest.

That is starting to be my new gold standard for how I feel about different clinicians. I could turn this into a profession bashing fest but its almost like discussing stereotypes...they just are not true for everybody. Not to mention it would be unprofessional of me. ;-) 

I am also biased towards systems of evaluation like SFMA/FMS/PRI/MDT because they guide treatment and funnel down issues to specific dysfunctions. This is a step in the right direction compared to trying to guess why somebody strained a hamstring, or treating all shoulder impingements the exact same way.

In conclusion, when you really start to look at stuff on a broader scale you will notice that the overlap between professions of physical medicine is constantly increasing and the points of distinction really aren't that distinct. I also see the need for more clinicians to be willing to work together. Do not let ego get in the way of referring to another provider just for the sake of keeping your cash flow constant. The real future is who can become distinct by delivering the best outcomes and results to the patient. This is customer service after all.

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3 Lessons I Learned In My First Year As A Clinician

I am quickly reaching my one year anniversary since finishing my undergraduate education and becoming a certified athletic trainer. A lot has happened since then including starting work on my master's degree, my master's thesis and working with many different athletes and teams via my graduate assistant position. I have learned a lot and it would be impossible to list everything but I figured it would be a good idea to reflect back on a few major themes.

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First Post.

Howdy potential future readers. I am not sure if I will ever get any future readers but hello if I somehow do garner your attention. I am starting my first blog, this blog, because I would like to create a source or forum where I can communicate ideas with others who may or may not have similar ideas with myself. This type of atmosphere can help me learn from others, help others or debate with others.

The fact that nobody agrees on anything is great. It is a good thing in the world of science and it keeps the regular world from becoming too boring. I would like to write about topics that interest me and as a 23 year old graduate student and Certified Athletic Trainer (not trainer) I have interests in diet, running, health, science, cycling and health care. Some may feel like the future posts will be too far ranging at times but I see all of these topics as inter-related and integrated with each other.

I hope to share personal stories, stories of others, related news and articles of research related to the aforementioned topics and more. I am not promising myself or anyone that I am an English laureate. I can't even promise myself that my writing can rival the average 5th grader's writing but I will attempt to create legible posts for your sake.

My first real post will be based upon the topic of the never pleasant runner's trots and its relationship with diet. This preview to my first topic might repel some potential readers and it may catch the attention of others. Just like runner's trots, it is probably a risk that I shouldn't take.

Below is a couple of pictures of myself to help give voice to my writing.

Grizzly Adams did have a beard.

Evaluating an athlete's injury.

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