Chirocast

Being trauma informed is so important in today's practice, since the amount of children who have experienced some sort of trauma is way more than is even being reported.

Every quarter we ask students who are about to graduate to write down their top questions that they want to ask someone who has been in practice for 36 years...and here are the answers!

A recent article stated that ADHD really isn't on the rise...it is because of increased awareness and better diagnosis. Really? Have they been in a pediatric chiiropractic office like mine recently?

Who am I? I asked myself that a lot as a recent graduate from 1989 - 1993. Who am I to be successful, to run a business, to be a chiropractor? My parents had barely graduated high school...how could I do all this? Then I heard Dr. Sid and everything changed...

What is your intent when you adjust your kiddos, parents, athletes? Your intention while you adjust is almost as important as the adjustment itself!

Please be careful about what you post on FB, Instagram etc. Make sure the pictures and videos that you post are not only going to serve your practice well but serve the profession too!

1 in 2 kids in Australia either have a chronic health condition or have a neuro-developmental issue. That means we pediatric chiropractors have a lot of work to do!

Back in 2022, the CDC released the changed developmental milestones with the rationale that the new milestones would be easier to understand and help in early intervention. It had the opposite affect...now they are less clear with more ambiguity and kids now have longer to reach milestones which delays early intervention!

Chirocast around the world begins today! Once a month (or so), we will post an interview with a former intern or an ICPA colleague from all across the globe, asking about the current status of chiropractic and especially pediatric/family based chiropractic. We have over 100 former interns and 10% of them are from outside the US, so am excited to share a global chiropractic perspective with you!

The CDC just released the latest prevalence rates for Autism, which was 1 in 36. It is now 1 in 31. Does that mean there are better ways to diagnose? Yes. Does that mean there are more people being diagnosed who before the DSM V came out would have been considered another diagnosis? Yes. But those 2 factors do not explain the total increase in prevalence.

To know one child with Autism is to know one child with Autism. Each person with Autism has their own unique 'language' and it is critical to learn their language quickly when you first meet them during your examination in order to create the best rapport with them possible.

History is so important, whether it is chiropractic history or any other genre. Why? Because there are valuable lessons to be learned from the trailblazers of the past. Modernized Chiropractic, the first textbook in chiropractic, gives us some amazing gems as we glimpse into the early days of the profession

Retained primitive reflexes (RPR's) are critical to test for in every child no matter what age or what condition they present with. RPR's indicate a nerve system that is not functioning optimally and remediation exercises can be very beneficial for kids.

Every quarter we get great questions regarding practice management submitted to us. It is so fun to answer looking back at a 36 year history and able to help chiropractors start their business or associateship right!

"The adjustment with that extra something" is a saying from BJ Palmer regarding how chiropractors either adjust their practice members as if its a job to do or they adjust them thinking about how far reaching a healthy spine & nerve system will take them!

What do you do to separate yourself from other docs and health providers in your area? BJ Palmer called it, "the adjustment with the extra something." Make yourself stand out!

Chiropractors are so fortunate to hear amazing stories every day! Listen to two typical examples of why being a pediatric, brain-based chiropractor is so rewarding!

"The Myth of Normal" is an incredible new book by Dr Gabor Mate, talking about what chiropractors have said for years...the US healthcare system is normalizing pathology!

Two of the most powerful forces on the planet, (not gravity, etc), are the power of fungi and the power of water. Fungi can take down a tree, water can carve the Grand Canyon...and they do this with incredible patience. They don't rush and expect immediate results like we do when waiting for a text back.

Modernized Chiropractic may have been the first chiropractic textbook (published in 1906), but it had some very forward thinking ideas. My 2 favorites are the importance of the chiropractic adjusting thrust coupled with the concept of spontaneity. In this case, spontaneity doesn't mean impulsive or without stimulus; rather it is a way to describe how the body can change course towards health!

Everywhere I look, the term Polyvagal is there! It is amazing how many people are talking about it, whether on social media, in journals, news articles...it's all over! And I'm so glad since it is one of the key elements in a successful pediatric practice.

Reading an interesting book called, Autism and the Predictive Brain. The author fascinatingly discusses how the brain really creates responses through prediction rather than only through sensory information that is incoming. Dr Rubin then discusses how the predictive brain theory interplays with letterboarding in children with Autism.

Why do we do what we do? What is the philosophy and intent behind every adjustment? That is what our practice members truly sense and feel and connect with during each adjustment.

Becoming trauma informed is not just a buzzword or a fad. So many children and adults have had some sort of trauma in their life. During the taking of the practice member's case history, and then during your examination and subsequent adjustment procedures, being trauma informed is an essential tool.

"Functionating" and "Neuroskeleton" are 2 of my favorite words from DD Palmer's 1914 posthumously published book called The Chiropractor. They talk about the essence of what it means to be a neuro based, brain based chiropractor over 110 years ago! Let's get back to the basics!

Dr Sid had these amazing sayings that he would drop on you at every DE meeting or assembly at Life University. Here are a few of my favorites...

Evolution...is that what humanity is doing? Or are we de-evolving? Using research and journal articles as background, Dr Rubin talks about what some are calling De-evolution. Originally presented at the ICPA 2018 Conference.

'Why', 'how', & 'what' are usually the start to the questions soon-to-be graduating students ask regarding their impending futures. The key concept: there are no mistakes. Every choice you make in business (that is legal and honest) is the right one...you can always move, change from being a sports chiropractor to being a pediatric chiropractor, switch practices you are associating in. There are no mistakes, just lessons to be learned from.

Social media isn't social at all. A better name would be, "Antisocial Media" since the anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide rates have skyrocketed since the supposed social media started with MySpace in 2003 and Facebook in 2004. Listen to the stats and you'll have no choice but to agree...social media is hurting our kids, especially our tweens and teens

Pediatric Chiropractic is a disruptive force in health care. Watching the US health care system since 2020 literally prove to world how unprepared it is to really improve the health of our country, it is time to do something different...and chiropractic IS that something different. Recorded in 2022 at a SABCA meeting.

One of my favorite books is "The Brain That Changes Itself" by Dr. Norman Doidge. It taught me about the importance of neuroplasticity, how the brain really does have an ability to change itself WITH THE RIGHT INPUT! Chiropractic and functional neurology are great input for the nerve system. Originally posted in 2017.

The nerve system is like a tree; the roots are the brain of the tree, the trunk like the spinal cord, and the branches and leaves like the peripheral nerve system. BJ Palmer was the original brain-based chiropractor, since he was writing this style of thought (or as he would have written, thot), way back in 1910.

Even from 1906, BJ Palmer defined chiropractic as brain and nerve system based, with expectations of working with "all...of the three hundred articulations of the human skeletal frame." Chiropractic and chiropractors are not limited to the spine but use the spine as home base while we 'tune' the nerve system. Listen to this interpretation of BJ Palmer's Science of Chiropractic Volume I

Chiropractic is based on the combination of philosophy, science and art. DD and BJ Palmer's textbooks, commonly known as Green books, are chiropractic's foundation. Each of the 39+ books reflect one or more of the concepts, so Chirocast will spend the next year or so reading brief passages from each book to give you a flavor of chiropractic's relationship with its roots: The Green Books

In 2022, the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics changed the developmental milestone list, effectively removing crawling and changing many milestone timelines such as increasing time allowed for walking and talking.

The Polyvagal Theory really took the world 'by storm' over the last few years. I first heard it mentioned at an ICPA seminar in 2010 or so, and published the first ever chiropractic and polyvagal paper a few years later (http://bit.ly/2yxfNxN). Now it is everywhere and most parents of kiddos with Autism have heard of it. Originally released in 2023, recorded live at The Wave at Life West.

Fascinating article that came out a few months ago regarding how emotional regulation and proprioception are related bidirectionally...in other words, your emotions and your body awareness are linked in both directions. Here is the article: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2023.0247

There's that famous Marianne Williamson quote that starts off by stating: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." Wow...I first heard that back in the 1990's and it still resonates with me today. Posted originally in 2015

What's your why? Why are you doing what you are doing? What is the big picture behind your going to work everyday? My why is the kids. How can we help more and more kids...because if we help kids then we change the future...and we change the present since we are helping the parents and the rest of the family too! This podcast was originally posted in 2015.

Every quarter a question is posed: what is the single most important question you have regarding starting a practice? Whether you are starting you own, buying an existing practice, or jumping into an associate job, these are the questions being asked.

Tongue tie practically dropped on the scene around 2005 or so and has been a bundle of confusion since. Here is a more chiro-centric approach to this issue

In 2014, a Life University student approached me after class and said "You should post some of your talks on a podcast!" I looked at them puzzled and asked, "What's a podcast?" 10 years and almost 600 episodes in, I thought it fitting to repost the first Chirocast podcast. Enjoy!

There is a different speed of the delivery of health. The nerve system delivers its messages almost instantly, whereas the circulatory system takes longer. This creates potential delays in the way health can be expressed. Chiropractic helps provide detours for these delays.

Coordination is what chiropractic adjustments improve upon, especially when applied consistently and in conjunction with neurological exercises. A healthier, stronger body is more coordinated...all its pieces are working in harmony. Newton's law of motion vs inertia is also applicable with improved coordination.

The word momentum is not just for physics...it can also apply to your health. What is the trajectory of the momentum of your health look like? Are you moving towards health or towards sickness and what BJ Palmer and Ralph Stephenson called dis-ease?

Five lessons learned early on in practice still teach me to this day, especially the concept of being 'wowed' every time something amazing happens, which it does so regularly that you can become a little less 'wowed'. This is a replay from 2018, a Life U graduation speech. Here's another wow...this was the 200th episode posted, today's is 574! WOW!

Two recent articles talked about how Alzheimer's responds to lifestyle changes. That is an amazing breakthrough on the one hand, but on the other hand, doesn't it make sense that someone with any neurologic issue, from Autism to Alzheimer's, would improve if they ate better, exercised more, and did stress-reduction protocols? Wouldn't we all be healthier with those lifestyle improvements? Here are the 2 articles: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11157928/ https://alzres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13195-024-01482-z

How do chiropractors work with kids on the Spectrum? How does ABA Therapy works with kiddos with Autism? Can the 2 professions work together to get better results? Listen in to the conversation...

According to BJ Palmer, the son of the founder of chiropractic, DD Palmer, took health "out of the realms of the accidental field and put the doing into an intentional field." Did DD Palmer realize how big the thing was that he was doing? Probably not at that moment...but now chiropractic is international!

There is a great website called the Big History Project (https://bhp-public.oerproject.com/) that puts billions of years of history of the universe into bite sized chunks (including an 18 minute TED talk). During this presentation, Dr Rubin discusses Big History as it relates to chiropractic (originally posted in 2014).

Ever wonder how modern dentistry has become one of the most prestigious in the health care industry after its very humble beginnings? In the 1950's, dentists were pulling teeth in dingy offices. Then they organized and created a plan, and worked that plan, and now look at them! What is chiropractic's plan? Good question... This podcast was originally aired in 2015.