Christian's Blog

Hola, "You can find me in St. Louis..."

Hope everyone has had a good first month of school. The past weekend was a blast for me because it featured the Shoulder Seminar by the Motion Palpation Institute in St. Louis. I've been looking forward to this seminar since I heard about it in the winter. I've played a variety of throwing sports and I have previous injuries to my shoulder with pitching and catching in my younger baseball days. In fact, I had to 'retire' from baseball in 10th grade because my shoulder couldn't hold up anymore. Thus, my interest in being able to treat the shoulder and baseball/softball athletes has always intrigued me.

Caleb, Kendall and I shared wheels down to St. Louis on Friday night after a few epic games of sand volleyball at National. I think long car rides with friends from school is a very underrated portion of away seminars. Reasoning is we bounce ideas and future plans off each other the whole car ride down. One of the big things I took away was how I can change my setup on a seated CT adjustment  to get better cavitations and increase patient comfort. Caleb explained he was watching Dr. King, arguably the best adjuster in the world (Dr. Elder don't take offense!), and noticed his non-contact hand was doing a motion they didn't usually teach but nonetheless made the adjustment more effective. Awesome. The seminar had been worth it and I hadn't checked in yet!

The 2-day seminar featured a variety of presentations from Brett Winchester, DC, and Corey Campbell, DC, as well as special presentations for an orthopedic surgeon, an ex-softball DC, and two ex-MLB pitchers. This was apparently a Master's Series seminar, so there was WAY more information than a usual seminar. I wish there was a bit more chiropractic thrown in on the first day, but on the second day, being able to complete functional screens on two great college pitchers and improving their future performance was worth it.

It's going to be a great niche to now have the ability to go to any coach and say, "I can screen your athletes and tell you which ones are more at risk for anything from SLAP tears, rotator cuff problems, and tommy john surgery."

If you put a gun to my head and asked me to tell you the top three functional screens to run on any athlete they would be:

1. Glenohumoral Internal Rotation Test
2. Quadreped Test in both coronal and saggital planes
3. 6-8in step-downs

Well, that's it for me. Hope everyone has a great homecoming weekend!

National University's swan parents welcomed four new cygnets last week. Here they are!
You can also watch a video of the little ones on our Facebook page.

Go Cygnets! 

- CC

In this week's post I'll be covering the MPI Gait Seminar that took place this past weekend just down the street from National's Campus.

MPI

Motion Palpation is my favorite club on campus and almost every chiropractic college has some form of this club because it's a tremendous way to practice adjustments, motion palpate joints, and get extra material you don't always get from your standard classes. The Motion Palpation Institute is a fantastic organization geared towards rounding up the best doctors, protocols, and research in the chiropractic field and delivering unbelievable seminars to students and doctors alike.

The Gait Seminar

This past weekend featured MPI's Gait Seminar. The seminar attracted about 200 students, four MPI docs (Dr. King, Dr. Winchester, Dr. Lotus, Dr. Campbell) and two special guests, Peter Breeze and Shawn Eno. Peter Breeze is the head shoe developer at New Balance (just moved from Nike) and Shawn Eno is the top pedorthist and orthotic specialist in North America. Needless to say this event had a ton of top doctors and specialists. Dr. Elder and Dr. Sarah Macchi even made appearances to pitch in even more doctor firepower! The other cool feature of the seminar was that it has been two and a half years since MPI hosted a gait seminar so the whole event had a ton of anticipation and excitement.

What is Gait? It's the study of human locomotion and more specifically the walking cycle of humans. It takes into account the biomechanics of the foot and how that relates up the kinematic chain to the rest of the body. In short, watching someone walk can tell you A LOT about their injury proneness, the roots of their pain, and what segments that you should screen, palpate, adjust, rehab, and/or stretch. Gait is a unique tool a variety of health care professionals use including chiropractors, podiatrists, physical therapists, and pedorthists. According to Dr. Winchester, one of the best doctors I've witnessed teach gait, it can sound like a foreign language and become overly detailed but the best gait docs will use it as a tool to see the 'elephants,' confirm those with functional screen tests, and then treat the patient accordingly.

We spent the whole weekend at the gorgeous Sara Lee headquarters pretty much staring at people's feet and walking patterns. If you are fond of people watching, you would love this seminar! Ha ha. The best part was I had been going to gait club at school all trimester and taking time outside of class to learn about the foot biomechanics, so when the docs were crushing through unbelievable material (300+ slides) I was able to actually follow along when they spoke about "Forefoot Valgus posts, heel whips, 1st MPJ dorsiflexion, Modified Thomas, Trendelenberg, Calcaneal Eversion, etc".

Hope everyone has a great week with finals peering its ugly head around the corner!

Adios,
Christian

Beep Beep Beep… The ridiculous noise is coming from my alarm clock and as I reach for the '5 more minutes button' it reads: 4:30am Saturday morning. Blaaa. Two things: it means I got about 4 hours of sleep after Friday night's Tri Mixer; and it also means time to drive to Davenport, Iowa, (Palmer Chiro College) for a Lumbo Pelvic Seminar. 

First Tri Mixer  

If you're wondering how I calculated my ridiculous 'math' equation above, I think it is appropriate to start with the Tri Mixer. I'm supposed to write this blog towards a prospective student of National, so I'll give a quick explanation before the good stuff. First Tri Mixer is a party held on the 2nd Friday of each new trimester and is designed, I believe, mainly for the first tri students to have a fun night out, but the whole school is invited, so it ends up being a blast. They held it at Rita's (a dance club/bar) not far from National the last two tris. 

I had a blast at the last one, however my game plan changed for this one. Given the impending early wakeup call, I opted for a long pre-mixer with a bunch of my friends at Tricia's house (shout out to all my friends :), and just dropped them off at Rita's so they could save money on a cab (yes, I was the DD) and so I could function somewhat the next day - after all, a chiropractic adjustment is a high velocity / LOW amplitude impulse and you need some sleep to do that!  

Iowa and the Father 

This was my second seminar sponsored by National so far and definitely a different breed from the Lower Quadrant one last tri. "Lumbar Spine & Pelvis Analysis & Adjustive Technique" was the full name of the seminar at a venue right next to Palmer CC in Davenport, Iowa, with Dr. Leonard Faye, who many call the 'Father' of the Motion Palpation Institute as the instructor. 

Dr. Faye has been practicing for 50 years and pioneered a more functional view of the spine and the idea of a Modern Chiropractic Movement. To elaborate, in his intro presentation, which is one of the best talks I've witnessed, he spoke about how the BOOP (bone out of place) theory is complete crap (for lack of a better term). He went on to quote study after study that show that although the adjustments work, they work for different reasons than we thought in the past.

He explained that we have to evolve our thinking, because most of the public and some chiropractic schools (National not being one) still believe that a subluxation is literally a bone moved 'out' of place. To grossly over-summarize, a subluxation is not a BOOP, it is a joint segment/articulation that is hypomobile or restricted. The whole basis of Motion Palpation's teachings is to palpate the segments that don't move well and adjust them accordingly so the body can readapt to a properly functioning structure. It's that simple, the scientific literature backs it and more importantly it WORKS PHENOMENALLY, and the general population and MD's are noticing.  

Seminar Treats and Bucket List Crossing

Saturday night we went out with some students from Palmer and Dr. Faye to a favorite local restaurant. Get this: Their drink special was a BACON Bloody Mary. I almost fell out of my seat. A Bacon Bloody Mary??? Quickly seizing the opportunity to combine my favorite food and an epically unique experience to add (and subsequently cross off) my bucket list, I ordered one! When in Iowa… do as the Iowans do! To add to the amazing food, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Dr. Faye himself and got to share stories about hockey (He's from Canada, eh'!) and pick his brain on philosophies, practice building, and life in general. Definitely a memorable weekend and an experience I will draw upon for years to come.  

Philosophy 102: Confessions of a 2nd Tri 

On the ride back from Iowa, Erick and I (Ben passed out in the back lol) were engaged in a variety of topics from the Food Inc. movie (rent it now) to "Return on Education" to "Upbringings."  

All that philosophizing inspired me to say this: For all you future (and younger, current) National students out there, my advice to you is this… DO EXTRACURRICULAR STUFF. Period. You want to be good? Go to National. Want to be great? Go to National and apply yourself to extra skills outside of your requirements. You don't have to take my inexperienced word for it, take Dr. Faye's word for it. He's been successfully practicing for 50 years and has been on a mission to make students (and docs) better by giving them additional information than they are not taught at chiropractic school to help them earn a professional income. I will say that National does a better job than the rest of the schools and I don't know if that will rub people the wrong way, but hey, it's my blog. 

Deep Thought of the Day

So what do you want out of your future life? Do you want to be Great? Average? Some do and that's totally fine. If you want more… do more, practice more, shadow more, study more, learn more. EVOLVE. Evolve into the MODERN Chiropractor. 

Dr. Faye talked ad nauseam about the Modern Chiropractic 'Movement' that's going on right now and how we can be a part of it. A modern chiropractor has tools the general public has never seen before. They're NOT here to just go CRACK, CRACK, okay you're done, 40 bucks please. The Modern Chiropractor is evidenced based, reads the literature, understands that effective patient care is a left-brained science with right-brained compassion artfully sprinkled in. We are in it an exciting time in all our lives where the sky quite literally is the limit. 

I will leave you with a great quote from one of the top chiropractic students I know, "If I'm already going to spend a ton of money on school, I'd rather leave school with the extra skills that will differentiate me and make me (and my practice) great with 150k in debt than have 140k in debt and just be good." Make no mistake, National is the Harvard of alternative medicine and WILL make you Good, but to be Great, look within and ask what you are capable of… my bet is more than you think!   

Pura Vida.

Week 1 is already in the books!

As with all trimester beginnings, this week has been a roller coaster week of events and adjustments. On a sad note, as you will come to know I am a HUGE Boston sports fan, and if you aren't living under a rock (or don't watch football) the Patriots lost to our bitter rivals, the Jets and their trash-talking (enter word of choice here:) coaches and players. 

Also quick note: the picture above is of me eating my first deep dish pizza in Chicago just before the starting kick-off (cross that off my bucket list!... yes, I take my bucket list very seriously lol). Note the full-of-excitement look, which I definitely wasn't wearing after realizing defeat and seeing Rex Ryan joyfully celebrating his win. There's always next year and I look forward to the Patriots having 3 of the top 100 picks in the upcoming draft! 

OK, back to school!

So without hesitation Trimester 2 begins with a solid lineup of 8ams and the aptly named "terrible triad." The triad is Neurophysiology, Neuroanatomy and Head and Neck anatomy. They get this nickname because apparently they are extremely demanding and have ridiculous rumors associated with them like 25 out of 47 people who took neuroanatomy last tri failed it! I can't confirm or deny that… Dr. Darby do you read these blogs? Lol. With that said, I will be giving it my all to make sure I'm not a statistic! 

As for my other classes I love my Evaluation & Management class and my Intro to Business class. The E&M class is finally the first class where we get to start doing the fun doctor stuff! It's on the chest and thoracic spine and features everything from auscultation of the heart to palpations to adjustments. I love learning adjustments because I am a very visual and hands-on type of person so hitting the books all day is only accomplished by knowing I'm not going to be studying neurophysiology the rest of my life. Adjusting patients and helping them heal and get healthy are my main passions.

Making time for clubs!

This week also featured a bunch of extracurricular activities including my first AK club meeting. I've been interested in Applied Kinesiology for sometime now and have finally made time to start going. We learned how to muscle test the Gracilis, Sartorius, Subclavius, and Upper Trapezius muscles. Muscle testing, according to the president, is really an art form that takes practice and this is one tool I'd like to learn in time for clinic so I'm starting now.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite club, Motion Palpation! The first meeting was Thursday and it is definitely a can't-miss club on campus if you want to be a great adjustor and refine your skills. We learned a seated palpation and the thoracic roll adjustment, which were great for preparing me for my E&M class this tri.  

First week - no tests!

The other best part of first week is that we don't have any tests - which means we get to socialize! My friends and I took full advantage of a long weekend full of some fun nights and a great dinner at this Italian place downtown. It's always a great night when you have to massage your cheeks half way through because you can't stop laughing! Who said school is all work and no play? My Dad's favorite saying: you have to have BALANCE.   

See yall next week!

Pura Vida!