)I'm often asked what chiropractic is, and for a recent presentation to my BNI group, I came up with the following summary - Enjoy!) I'd also like to give a special shout-out to Dr. Reggie Gold, who's writings and lectures helped me clarify some of these points.
Our bodies are -
*Self Healing - "The Power that made the body Heals the body, it happens no other way" - BJ Palmer
*Self Regulating - trillions of cells are working in harmony every second of our lives.
This happens best when -
*There is no interference to the master system of our bodies
The Nervous System -
*is the master system of the body
*controls and coordinates every tissue cell and organ in your body
*has limited regenerative capability, and so it is protected by the bones of the skull and the spine
*is the most protected system of our bodies.
The Bones of the spine -
*are mobile, which makes them vulnerable to not functioning properly
Improper Spinal Function -
*can create the Vertebral Subluxation Complex - the VSC
The VSC -
* is caused by Stress - physical, chemical and/or emotional.
When the VSC exists -
*it ALWAYS interferes with the body's ability to live up to its full potential.
The VSC causes -
*limitations on health, healing and performance
*cumulative damage that can become permanent if it is there long enough.
Chiropractic is -
*the ONLY profession that recognizes, detects and corrects the VSC
The purpose of Chiropractic -
*keeping the body as free as possible from the VSC throughout life.
The Chiropractic Evaluation -
*locates the levels of nerve system interference.
*uses state of the art, space certified technology to demonstrate the results of the interference on different parts of your nervous system.
The Chiropractor -
*puts the information from the evaluation and history together with the person to determine a care plan and adjustment protocols.
The Adjustment -
*is a specific force, given at a specific location, in a specific direction, at a specific time.
*is used to remove the VSC, and help to restore the body's ability to self heal and self regulate.
CHIROPRACTIC IS NOT:
*just about making you feel good (although it usually does)
*just about backaches (or headaches, or neck pain...)
*a cure for ANY disease.
CHIROPRACTIC IS:
*the detection and removal of the VSC
*about keeping the body free from the VSC and its potentially devastating effects throughout life.
*empowering your body to function at its best.
If you have a spine and a nervous system - chiropractic is for you.
If you experience stress - chiropractic is for you.
If you want better function and performance from your body - chiropractic is for you.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
365DOH
I'm launching a new project, you can check it out on http://365doh.blogspot.com/. This blog will still be active, and I have a few new posts coming soon. Sorry it's been so sporadic lately.
:)
:)
Sunday, August 23, 2009
I did a guest blog post at Motherwear
... on breastfeeding and chiropractic. In the future, I'm sure I'll do another post on the topic, but for now, here's the link - check it out. Also, if breastfeeding topics interest you, bookmark the blog - Tanya does a fabulous job at sharing up to date information and keeping readers interested and informed. Hopefully this post maintains her standards!
Here's the blog - enjoy!
Here's the blog - enjoy!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
9 months....
Ask anyone who's been pregnant - pregnancy is a time of constant flux - a time that your body needs all the extra support that you can give it. Your body is adjusting daily to changing hormones and size from conception to delivery. Pre-existing unnoticed imbalances in your spine and pelvis become overtaxed during pregnancy. Pains from ligaments and joints you didn’t know existed are common complaints, along with fatigue, headaches, difficulty with activities, nausea, and emotional ups and downs.
Chiropractic adjustments can relieve and even prevent the discomforts experienced throughout pregnancy. Chiropractic care offers not only natural pain control, it helps to balance the muscles, ligaments and joints under stress, it helps with pelvic alignment, and allows the nervous system to function better. Chiropractic care is safe and effective, even with higher risk pregnancies. There are many different ways for a chiropractor to adjust you, and most chiropractors know at least one extra gentle technique appropriate for you when you are feeling at your most vulnerable and delicate.
If you are planning a natural childbirth, care prior to deliver can play a crucial role. Regular care can reduce the need for interventions at delivery, making birth a more comfortable experience for both the mother and baby (or babies). Proper balance in the joints and ligaments supporting the uterus can allow the baby to assume the best possible position for birth.
Chiropractic care can work in conjunction with traditional obstetric care to manage your pregnancy. It is not a replacement for regular prenatal checkups from your OB or Midwife; it is an additional support that can be an essential ingredient to your prenatal care choices.
Chiropractic adjustments can relieve and even prevent the discomforts experienced throughout pregnancy. Chiropractic care offers not only natural pain control, it helps to balance the muscles, ligaments and joints under stress, it helps with pelvic alignment, and allows the nervous system to function better. Chiropractic care is safe and effective, even with higher risk pregnancies. There are many different ways for a chiropractor to adjust you, and most chiropractors know at least one extra gentle technique appropriate for you when you are feeling at your most vulnerable and delicate.
If you are planning a natural childbirth, care prior to deliver can play a crucial role. Regular care can reduce the need for interventions at delivery, making birth a more comfortable experience for both the mother and baby (or babies). Proper balance in the joints and ligaments supporting the uterus can allow the baby to assume the best possible position for birth.
Chiropractic care can work in conjunction with traditional obstetric care to manage your pregnancy. It is not a replacement for regular prenatal checkups from your OB or Midwife; it is an additional support that can be an essential ingredient to your prenatal care choices.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Oh My Aching Head... (aka 2 Kings 4:19**) ... (aka Migraines, Headaches and Chiropractic)
Kelly asked me recently about headaches and chiropractic care, and if chiropractic care could help with headaches.
I'll start with my "chiropractic testimonial", this was honestly the biggest reason I got into chiropractic in the first place. At one point in my life, I had headaches just about every single day. I got migraines frequently, on average about once per month. I lived with both, mostly because I had no idea it could be different. I rarely took drugs because they really didn't help much, and I really didn't like the listed side effects if I wasn't getting any benefit. That just didn't make much sense to me.
At the peak of these events, I started to work for a Chiropractor. One of the benefits of working there was free care, which was fabulous. (As a side note, I had been curious about chiropractic care for awhile - when I was in High School, I had horrible lower back pain periodically, and I wondered if Chiropractic care could help with that. I never brought it up with my parents, however, and I never went. In College, one of my roommates senior year graduated early and went to chiropractic school. So when I was offered a job in a Chiropractic office, it kind of felt like fate or providence that I should start working there.)
So these adjustments that I started getting - wow, they felt great! My daily headaches dropped down to every other day, and then weekly... and I got migraines less and less as well.
So the short answer to your question, Kelly, is that yes, chiropractic care may* help with headaches.
The longer answer is the part that belongs at the bottom of the page - the "*" part of the above sentence.
* In a way, "Can chiropractic care help with headaches?" is the wrong question. As my testimonial above indicates, it is certainly possible that chiropractic care can help reduce and remove headaches. But chiropractic care can help with headaches mostly because it allows your body to correct itself. When I work on someone in the office, my title is "Doctor", but really, I'm more of a cheerleader and a catalyst, so that their body can kick in and do the healing. I remove the interference, they do the healing.
I know it sounds like I'm being picky, and that it's all semantics, but it's important to realize that the body does the healing. My job as a chiropractor is to remove the interference caused by subluxation, and then the body does the rest of the work. It's not always easy to predict what path the body will take as it heals - sometimes symptoms get worse before they get better, sometimes it feels like nothing is being done for awhile.
The thing is, as a doctor, I don't always know WHY you're getting headaches in the first place. It could be physical, chemical or emotional. Headaches, to me, are a sign that something, somewhere is out of balance in your body. I can adjust you, and help you to heal better with care, but if you keep putting the same crap into your body, you are going to keep getting the same result. Did chiropractic care help you? We might have different answers to that - if I did my job and removed subluxations, then I believe, yes, absolutely chiropractic care helped you. But if you were only coming for relief of headaches, then you're going to say no to that question.
**the first AKA on this title is in honor of Heidi Long, should she ever find this blog. If you don't get it, look it up - yes, it is a bible verse.
I'll start with my "chiropractic testimonial", this was honestly the biggest reason I got into chiropractic in the first place. At one point in my life, I had headaches just about every single day. I got migraines frequently, on average about once per month. I lived with both, mostly because I had no idea it could be different. I rarely took drugs because they really didn't help much, and I really didn't like the listed side effects if I wasn't getting any benefit. That just didn't make much sense to me.
At the peak of these events, I started to work for a Chiropractor. One of the benefits of working there was free care, which was fabulous. (As a side note, I had been curious about chiropractic care for awhile - when I was in High School, I had horrible lower back pain periodically, and I wondered if Chiropractic care could help with that. I never brought it up with my parents, however, and I never went. In College, one of my roommates senior year graduated early and went to chiropractic school. So when I was offered a job in a Chiropractic office, it kind of felt like fate or providence that I should start working there.)
So these adjustments that I started getting - wow, they felt great! My daily headaches dropped down to every other day, and then weekly... and I got migraines less and less as well.
So the short answer to your question, Kelly, is that yes, chiropractic care may* help with headaches.
The longer answer is the part that belongs at the bottom of the page - the "*" part of the above sentence.
* In a way, "Can chiropractic care help with headaches?" is the wrong question. As my testimonial above indicates, it is certainly possible that chiropractic care can help reduce and remove headaches. But chiropractic care can help with headaches mostly because it allows your body to correct itself. When I work on someone in the office, my title is "Doctor", but really, I'm more of a cheerleader and a catalyst, so that their body can kick in and do the healing. I remove the interference, they do the healing.
I know it sounds like I'm being picky, and that it's all semantics, but it's important to realize that the body does the healing. My job as a chiropractor is to remove the interference caused by subluxation, and then the body does the rest of the work. It's not always easy to predict what path the body will take as it heals - sometimes symptoms get worse before they get better, sometimes it feels like nothing is being done for awhile.
The thing is, as a doctor, I don't always know WHY you're getting headaches in the first place. It could be physical, chemical or emotional. Headaches, to me, are a sign that something, somewhere is out of balance in your body. I can adjust you, and help you to heal better with care, but if you keep putting the same crap into your body, you are going to keep getting the same result. Did chiropractic care help you? We might have different answers to that - if I did my job and removed subluxations, then I believe, yes, absolutely chiropractic care helped you. But if you were only coming for relief of headaches, then you're going to say no to that question.
**the first AKA on this title is in honor of Heidi Long, should she ever find this blog. If you don't get it, look it up - yes, it is a bible verse.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Pay cash at the doctor's office - a great link
http://drtim.wordpress.com/2007/02/23/the-case-for-cash-when-health-insurance-isnt/
He makes some great points for paying cash for your care.
He makes some great points for paying cash for your care.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Informed Consent
All health care providers are supposed to be using Informed Consent (IC) in the office. At the root, IC is about each person being able to make their own health care decisions, and not having things forced on them by a health care provider. Legally there are many parts to IC, but the name implies the two biggest: Information/Informing and Consent.
This is from the AMA website, and is a nice summary of the process:
What isn't recognized in far too many offices that I've seen is the right of the individual to make a choice - to consent or not consent to a procedure once they have been informed of the risks, benefits, and alternatives. I think the place that this is most evident is in pediatricians offices with vaccinations.
This particular post isn't about vaccinations (I'll save that for later), but they are a good example of where IC breaks down most often. I've heard about parents getting kicked out of a pediatricians office if they weren't following the CDC vax schedule to the letter. I've seen firsthand how the risks of vaccines can be minimized to maximize compliance and cooperation. And I've heard about the issue of IC being bypassed entirely when someone other than a parent brings a child in for shots and no questions are asked (that particular incident will likely result in an entire post at some point).
There is, too often in my opinion, an attitude from many doctors that what they are selling is all good, no bad, and so important that their services trump informed consent. This is a scary path to start down, because if we have no say at what gets put into or done to our bodies, who are we giving that right to? The doctor? The government? The AMA? The pharmaceutical companies? Someone else? Where does it end?
In the end, we are each responsible for our own health. We can still choose what to put into our bodies and what to do to them and have done to them. Policies like IC are crucial for us to be able to keep our autonomy! So the next time you go in and see any health care provider, take your health back in your own hands - ask questions, demand answers, and exercise your right of refusal. Just because a perscription is written, it doesn't have to be filled. Just because a procedure is recommended, it doesn't have to be performed. If you don't feel right about something (and yes, I'm fully aware that this can include the services of a chiropractor), ask questions until you do, or refuse the procedure.
Your body. Your health. Your responsibility.
This is from the AMA website, and is a nice summary of the process:
It sounds great, right? And it is - when it's actually used.Informed consent is more than simply getting a patient to sign a written consent form. It is a process of communication between a patient and physician that results in the patient's authorization or agreement to undergo a specific medical intervention.
In the communications process, you, as the physician providing or performing the treatment and/or procedure (not a delegated representative), should disclose and discuss with your patient:
- The patient's diagnosis, if known;
- The nature and purpose of a proposed treatment or procedure;
- The risks and benefits of a proposed treatment or procedure;
- Alternatives (regardless of their cost or the extent to which the treatment options are covered by health insurance);
- The risks and benefits of the alternative treatment or procedure; and
- The risks and benefits of not receiving or undergoing a treatment or procedure.
In turn, your patient should have an opportunity to ask questions to elicit a better understanding of the treatment or procedure, so that he or she can make an informed decision to proceed or to refuse a particular course of medical intervention.
What isn't recognized in far too many offices that I've seen is the right of the individual to make a choice - to consent or not consent to a procedure once they have been informed of the risks, benefits, and alternatives. I think the place that this is most evident is in pediatricians offices with vaccinations.
This particular post isn't about vaccinations (I'll save that for later), but they are a good example of where IC breaks down most often. I've heard about parents getting kicked out of a pediatricians office if they weren't following the CDC vax schedule to the letter. I've seen firsthand how the risks of vaccines can be minimized to maximize compliance and cooperation. And I've heard about the issue of IC being bypassed entirely when someone other than a parent brings a child in for shots and no questions are asked (that particular incident will likely result in an entire post at some point).
There is, too often in my opinion, an attitude from many doctors that what they are selling is all good, no bad, and so important that their services trump informed consent. This is a scary path to start down, because if we have no say at what gets put into or done to our bodies, who are we giving that right to? The doctor? The government? The AMA? The pharmaceutical companies? Someone else? Where does it end?
In the end, we are each responsible for our own health. We can still choose what to put into our bodies and what to do to them and have done to them. Policies like IC are crucial for us to be able to keep our autonomy! So the next time you go in and see any health care provider, take your health back in your own hands - ask questions, demand answers, and exercise your right of refusal. Just because a perscription is written, it doesn't have to be filled. Just because a procedure is recommended, it doesn't have to be performed. If you don't feel right about something (and yes, I'm fully aware that this can include the services of a chiropractor), ask questions until you do, or refuse the procedure.
Your body. Your health. Your responsibility.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Welcome to my Blog
I've finally decided to join the blog-verse and start my own blog. This blog will be dedicated to health, chiropractic, happiness, health care, and anything else that catches my fancy. Awhile back now, I had a radio show called Vital Health Radio on Valley Free Radio in Northampton, MA. This blog will, at least in part, be the next incarnation of that show.
Tomorrow, I'm going to kick off the blog with a post about the issue of Informed Consent, since it has recently come up quite a bit in several conversations that I've had. For today, however, if it's all right with you, I'll start with a brief introduction.
My name is Mindi Palmer Fried, I'm a chiropractor, with a Family Wellness Chiropractic office (Motion Chiropractic Center) located in Easthampton, MA. I specialize in the care of pregnant women, infants, and children of all ages. I am board certified by the Academy Counsel on Chiropractic Pediatrics. I've been in private practice now for coming on four years, and I've been practicing chiropractic since 2000.
My philosophy on chiropractic is really about going back to the basics - our bodies are self healing and self regulating, as long as there is no interference. We chiropractors look for the interference [which we call the vertebral subluxation complex (VSC)]to the life force or innate intelligence in your body, and remove the interference through specific applications of force that we call adjustments.
If you've got questions, feel free to ask. If there's something you'd like me to address, let me know. I'd love to have feedback about the things that I post. I'm all for discussion and debate, as long as it is respectful.
Tomorrow, I'm going to kick off the blog with a post about the issue of Informed Consent, since it has recently come up quite a bit in several conversations that I've had. For today, however, if it's all right with you, I'll start with a brief introduction.
My name is Mindi Palmer Fried, I'm a chiropractor, with a Family Wellness Chiropractic office (Motion Chiropractic Center) located in Easthampton, MA. I specialize in the care of pregnant women, infants, and children of all ages. I am board certified by the Academy Counsel on Chiropractic Pediatrics. I've been in private practice now for coming on four years, and I've been practicing chiropractic since 2000.
My philosophy on chiropractic is really about going back to the basics - our bodies are self healing and self regulating, as long as there is no interference. We chiropractors look for the interference [which we call the vertebral subluxation complex (VSC)]to the life force or innate intelligence in your body, and remove the interference through specific applications of force that we call adjustments.
If you've got questions, feel free to ask. If there's something you'd like me to address, let me know. I'd love to have feedback about the things that I post. I'm all for discussion and debate, as long as it is respectful.
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