Chirocast

Stonehenge is 5000 years old and is aligned with the summer and winter solstices. Even that many centuries ago, they knew alignment was critical. If they wanted to see the sun through the stones on June 21st, they had to be set up in extremely specific ways. If we want the brain and the nerve system to perform optimally, then the spinal column requires that same specific alignment. A related question then would be, "what are you aligned with?" Dr. Rubin explores these topics as he shows pictures from his tour at Stonehenge in June.

As chiropractors, aren't we all taking the 'Road Less Travelled?" Isn't that part of our heritage? We have been marching to the beat of a different drum since our inception. But because of that, we have the ability to help make profound differences in children's and adult's lives, often when other 'roads' have failed them. Blaze your own trail! Originally posted in 2016.

Why do we do what we do? Sometimes the patients we encounter present us with a high degree of technical challenge, and we wonder, "are we ready for it?" Then you dig deep and, as Dr. Sid said, you do what you are trained to do. This podcast was originally released in the Spring of 2018.

If you take care of children, especially special needs kids, you will invariably discuss the topic of nutrition. Gluten free and dairy free are just the tip of the iceberg. Food intake has a profound affect on mood and behavior and an even bigger affect on children. Listen as Dr. Rubin explains his take on 'diets'...

When a patient announces that they just found out that they are pregnant, it is a time of great excitement and joy. However, it's also a time of high anxiety, panic, and worry. The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends a maximum C-section rate at 15%. The US rate is at 32%, while Norway's rate is 17%. What's the difference? We treat a pregnancy like we treat a disease, like it's a problem that needs to be solved instead of a natural process that's been happening for millennia!

Being a lighthouse has many different connotations. You can be a beacon of hope in the fog of life's challenges. You can be the steady light amongst the ever changing sea. Or you can be the tallest tower in the region, the sort of landmark that everybody knows. Be the lighthouse for your family, your community, your patients. Be their beacon of hope during this time of turmoil.

Inertia is what keeps a rock stuck in the ground or a person stuck in less than positive habits. As Issac Newton said, 'A body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest, unless acted on by an outside force.' What is your outside force? What will make you change your direction? Are you stuck in inertia or are you in motion?

Trajectories. It's all about trajectories. If early intervention is the key, isn't neurologically-based chiropractic care for kids, especially those with Autism, the best possible intervention? That was Dr. Rubin's passionate question at the 2019 Autism One conference, where he was honored to be one of the speakers. Listen as Dr. Rubin lays out the problem and then offers a plan of action to reach the kids who need it the most.

Almost 60% of US kids are NOT flourishing??? How is that possible? The study from Johns Hopkins shows that children need to build resilience and family connections in order to flourish. Chiropractically, they also need to build health resilience by working on their brain and nerve system function, as well as ensuring the best nerve system connections so they don't end up as a 'disconnected kid' (as Dr. Melillo would say). Let's build kids resilience and connection and help them flourish! Article found here: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05425

"You never know..." can be a very accurate statement. Back in 1983 while at SUNY Albany for undergraduate, I worked in a facility for the developmentally disabled, before I even knew what my exact career choice would be, Who would have known, over 30 years later, the impact that part time college job would have on my life? Who could have predicted in 1983 that a large percent of the children I see in practice have some sort of developmental disability, and that job prepared me for my speciality in chiropractic? You never can know...

"What greater joy" can you have than to help the kids, families, pregnant women, live better lives? Feel how amazing our lives as chiropractors are! We are so blessed to help children, adults, athletes, everybody, with just our hands! What other profession gets to do what we do, and celebrate it the way we can? Gotta love it!

Just visited the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, looking at Picasso's 1957 interpretation of the painting Las Meninas by Velazquez (from 1656). The same scene, 2 dramatically different representations. This holds true with chiropractic. There were no complaints about either version of the painting. Nobody said one painting was 'rubbish'. Can't we do that in chiropractic? Can the mechanistic chiro's and the subluxation-based chiro's finally agree that we are all trying to help people?

Keeping up with the research, keeping up with the health care trends, is vital to communicate with your patients. For example, it is imperative to know about the recent mumps and measles outbreaks since practice members are going to ask you about it. And we have to face the negative media we are occasionally getting since patients ask about too!

What is the next big thing in chiropractic? Something is about to change in a big way to revolutionize chiropractic. I encourage our profession and our students to think ahead of the curve, because either someone else on the mechanistic side of chiropractic will come up with something, or we will, and I'd rather it be the vitalists. So come on a 'Shark Tank' journey with us...

BJ Palmer describes what chiropractors do as working with 'the subtle substance of the soul.' He doesn't talk in this brief chapter from 'The Bigness of the Fellow Within' about subluxations, adjustments, or even the spine. He talks with reverence about the "tiny rivulet of force" that "animates the internal living world."

Most likely Freddie Mercury of Queen did not read BJ Palmer's "Bigness of the Fellow Within". But he did write, in Queen's hit song, We Are The Champions, that he "considers it a challenge before the human race." Dr. Rubin feels Freddie Mercury was talking about chiropractic...and our challenge is getting chiropractic to the masses. You've heard the statement, "If they knew what we knew, they'd do what we do!" Why hasn't chiropractic reached critical mass yet? That is the challenge Dr. Rubin offers you: can we get the entire country adjusted?

Looking at works of art can be exhilarating because you get a chance to view it from multiple different vantage points, not just visually and physically but emotionally. What does the painting mean to you? How does it make you feel? There are often 2 sides to every story.

When BJ Palmer said "Guard it well," he was referring to keeping chiropractic philosophy pure. The phrase "Not on my watch" was used in WWII, meaning "while I am on guard, I will do everything in my power to make sure America is safe and sound." Chiropractors and chiropractic students: What are we doing to guard it well? To do what BJ asked us to do in 1961?

Thirty years I've been in practice but never in a million years would I have predicted an entire nation (Australia) to mandate that chiropractors shouldn't "use spinal manipulation" on children 2 years of age or younger. As a pediatric chiropractor in the US, it saddens me to think of what this means for our future. I see kids everyday that are 2 years old and younger improving in so many ways it's practically magical. Listen on to hear a possible way around this latest situation. Here is the link to the Australia policy: https://www.ahpra.gov.au/News/2019-03-14-Board-announces-interim-policy.aspx

BJ Palmer wrote "Advertising is Ethical" back in 1950, and explained the importance of 'telling the story.' But with the advent of social media, advertising now takes on a whole new meaning that BJ never imagined, and that is posting of videos and advertorials that may portray chiropractic in a less than positive light. Yes, advertising is ethical, but it is of utmost importance for us to filter what we are saying, writing and especially posting as videos.