Palm Harbor Local

Why Chiropractic Is Changing and What Most People Still Get Wrong with Dr. Michael Becker

• Donnie Hathaway • Episode 211

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Dr. Michael Becker from Align 2 Thrive Chiropractic joins Palm Harbor Local to break down what most people misunderstand about chiropractic—plus how the profession is evolving beyond “just back pain.”

What You’ll Learn:

  • Why chiropractic is shifting toward wellness, nervous system regulation, and specialization
  • The truth about “chiropractic is dangerous” and why soreness can happen after care
  • What car accidents can do to the spine (even when they feel minor at first)
  • Why trust and relaxation matter as much as technique during an adjustment
  • A surprising look at pediatric chiropractic and early development

About the Guest:
Dr. Michael Becker is a chiropractor and owner of Align 2 Thrive Chiropractic in Palm Harbor, serving the community with a focus on restoring function and helping patients move and live better.

Subscribe to Palm Harbor Local, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who still thinks chiropractic is “just cracking backs.”

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SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Palm Harbor Local, the podcast dedicated to building community and sharing inspiring stories from the heart of Palm Harbor. I'm your host, Donnie Hathaway, and today we are joined by Dr. Michael Becker, who's the owner of Align to Thrive chiropractic right here in Palm Harbor, Florida. Now, Palm Harbor Local is all about spotlighting individuals and businesses who are making a difference, overcoming obstacles, and fostering connections right here in our hometown. If you're passionate about growing together, getting involved, and celebrating the people who are making Palm Harbor thrive, you're exactly where you need to be. In today's episode, you'll discover how Michael was introduced into chiropractic and some common misconceptions about chiropractors as a whole. And we'll also talk about Michael's journey as a chiropractor and why he's set up to serve the Palm Harbor community. Now don't forget to connect with us on Instagram at Palm Harbor Local for behind the scenes highlights and join our weekly newsletter at PalmHarborLocal.com. Now let's dive in and build community together. Dr. Michael, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm excited to chat with you. We were we were just talking and you know we've I've had lots of converse conversations with chiropractors and stuff, and everyone's got their different approach and different philosophies and stuff. So it's always great to have multiple conversations, right? Totally. But I I want to start with um with your background. Like what what got you into becoming a chiropractor?

SPEAKER_00:

If we say chiropractic chose us, not the other way around. And yeah, I I have a story. Um so when I was going through puberty, I had something called idiopathic transient toxic sinovitis. Look at me like what? Tell me more. Yeah. Idiopathic, meaning they don't know what caused it, transient, and went from right hip to left hip, different bouts, different cases of it. Uh toxic synovitis. So my synovial fluid or like the ball and socket kind of lubrication of the joint um was overproducing, was causing pressure to the nerve into my femur, and it was excruciating pain. Um, I remember waking up and just like no change of pressure, couldn't even open my mouth, like everything hurt, hurt. And um went to the hospital. Um, you know, uh had to get carried downstairs, all this, and laid up in the bed for days and all these tests, MRIs, CAT scans, uh uh they thought I was faking out at some point, and uh taking a huge needle and sticking it into that ball and socket joint to try to pull some synovial fluid out to culture it, hence the idiopathic, it wasn't bacterial, it wasn't viral. You know, going through puberty, I guess my body was kind of flipping out. And no answers. And my mom luckily worked for a chiropractor at the time, and uh she called him and was like, hey, uh, like we we don't know what's going on. Could you come check them out in the hospital? And she agreed and kind of gave me a little side posture hug, you know, uh, and um woke up the next morning and like no pain. Like weird, gone. I had a fever, my body was attacking itself and like no fever. Got up, was able to walk to the bathroom, no problem, and just opened my eyes. It was like, hey, there's there's something more to the body. And I thought the medical field had everything figured out, and to be there and to see that, um just throwing everything at me to no resolve. Uh was like, well, this is this is cool. This is something I'm interested in. And throughout my life, he uh he's kept nudging me into chiropractic, and here I am looking to buy his practice, uh, you know, 20 something years later.

SPEAKER_01:

Crazy. Yeah, yeah. So so like once that happened, did you know, like, okay, this is what I want to do with my life, or was it it's still like built on top of that?

SPEAKER_00:

It it was always uh in my head, in my head. Um, and then I was going to college and uh was talking about wanting to do research and you know, figure stuff out, and life came about um family, friends, dying, just crazy stuff. Uh just really kind of slowed me down and made me think like, why am I here? Like and found philosophy and then always had chiropractic in the back of my head. Like as a philosophy major, what are you gonna do? Teach or write a book? Which, you know, like cool. So I I went to uh continue in education for uh chiropractic. Um my mentor was like, hey, come out to Orlando, you know, sit in a class, see if you like it.

SPEAKER_01:

No experience with chiropractic other than just being a patient at that point.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, yeah. Okay, yeah. And so I just drove out to Orlando, sat in and on a class, and they're talking, oh, the spondylosis of L5 on L4 can cause a spondylosthesis. And I was just like, you know, another language was being spoken, and uh I I was like, okay, uh, don't know why I'm here. Um, but I I gave it a whirl, I sat in a class and I walked around the little market or booth, people selling things, and Life University was there, and I signed up for my email and they kept calling me every few months. And uh I had graduated college and they kept calling, and they're like, hey, come check us out. I was like, you know what, this this would be a good idea. And uh saw the school, fell in love with their philosophy, like as a philosophy major. I could see where they sourced all their their philosophy and how tied together, and uh it just felt like that was it. Like uh that was kind of like okay, like uh, but it was always there in my mind. Uh so to have that like um momentum, that right time, right place, it just felt like this is what I was meant to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool. So so you've been how long have you been a chiropractor now?

SPEAKER_00:

All right. I uh I graduated in 2019. Okay. Um so yeah, that was six years going. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And you just opened your own practice?

SPEAKER_00:

Correct, correct. We bought uh a former hundred percent chiropractic franchise, and we've gotten out of the franchise to make it our own.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

So um started this week. My my fiance who I met in school has joined the practice, and yeah. Um, so we have a good dynamic going, and that kind of brings me what I want to talk about more and open on back to our first question, too, yeah, is uh like pediatrics and you know, pregnant moms and car accidents. There's uh so much to chiropractic that I think this profession is finally getting to a place where we can specialize. And if you think of medical doctors, and we'll take the eye, for example. There's uh a doctor who focuses on the anterior chamber, the posterior chamber. So such specialized medicine, and I think chiropractic is starting to get specialties that we're we've grown as a profession enough that we can start to divide our skills, that you're not just one of everything. There's neurology, there's sports. Uh it just it goes on and on.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, let's say, like prior to you know, the last few years or whatever, it's more like an injury chiropractor. Like, is that kind of like the philosophy? I I feel from my perspective, like chiropractic, like it was, you know, I have an injury, you're gonna go see a chiropractor if you're trying to avoid surgery or something like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the the common understanding, and even my understanding before I I went into school was like, hey, you got a low back pain, you got a headache, you got car accident, you know, go see a chiropractor. Um, but I I've obviously learned so much more to chiropractic and the body that um I I like to joke with my patients and say, like, I I'm not doing anything, like you're it's all you, man. I'm just here to show you the way. So yeah, the the body is an amazing tool, and if we can use it right, we can heal, we can run, you know. Uh what was it, 45k or something after only doing Dr. Caleb of the Captain?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

When he did what an animal, like uh props to him.

SPEAKER_01:

Was it it was it 43 miles or 45 miles, something like that? More than I've ever done.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I used to be a runner, I've never ran that hard.

SPEAKER_01:

Whoop. No, yeah. I think the most I did was 15 with Caleb one time. But yeah, I mean it's um you're right, like our our body is is amazing, and so chiropractic is just like freeing up your body to to do what it's supposed to do.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, yeah. Um, we call the subluxation, you know, um sub below. Uh there's different philosophies, is luxe light, is it you know, uh position? Uh so whatever the definition of subluxation is to you, it is your body having to work harder to process uh efferent, afferent, uh, if we're getting neurology, just ebb and flow, um responding, communicating, reacting. And if our body has to do that in each of the 33 vertebrae, that's taxing you. Uh so taking little torque out of the spinal cord or looking at it as the whole field and focus, like uh uh it's it's crazy. There's a lot of approaches, and yeah, I think chiropractic is starting to get to that specializing and advancement.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So when you're when you're in school and you're learning how to do the adjustments, like talk me through that process, like of doing like your your first adjustment and then just like getting better at figuring out what's needed and stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Dr. Dylan was talking about like how you start to to feel like you you intuitively can pick up on energy, which is bizarre. I I don't like getting into the hand wavy side of chiropractic, but I do have to acknowledge it. You know, walking barefoot on the earth will take away inflammation. Shining a laser light, a light beam at you heals your your shoulder, your tendon. It's weird to think how these little things actually play a huge role in our life and our health. Um bizarre. Bizarre. But yeah, my my first adjustment, learning and growing from there. So my first adjustment was my cat. I uh interesting. Yeah. Uh I came home from school, I was in the pool, my cat's laying out there, and uh, I'm going up rubbing his neck, and just feel his atlas, just seeing how it moves side to side, and um noticing one side different and just a tiny little push. And Clunk uh felt it, and we just looked at each other and was like, cool. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

How much time do you spend uh I guess like studying the body, studying the vertebrae that right?

SPEAKER_00:

Like, yeah, yeah. You uh you have your first year or so of school and it's all science, you know. Uh you start with like palpation of the spine and just feeling joint movement and really feeling the difference. And now, like um, you know, I could just put my hand up your spine and know right away, uh, and I can confirm it. Uh that's the fun part of the job is being the detective mechanic uh and figuring out bodies and feeling what it needs. Um, but the first time you ever adjust a person and you have no confidence, your hands are a little shaky, you feel it, they feel it. Um, and finding the rhythm and getting someone to have that kind of like, ooh, well, like that worked, that was great, and building that confidence. Um, I remember the first occiput, so like the base of your skull on your spine, we learned it in class and we're actually getting to execute it, and we did a pulse oximeter, so measuring the saturation of oxygen in your blood. So the guy had a really, really important exam right after that. And it was like whether you get into clinic or not. So if you mess it up, you gotta wait another three months to try to take it again. Okay. So he was under a lot of pressure, his oxygen level was low in the 80s for a young, healthy kid. That's crazy. Yeah. And um pulse oxum set up, boom, landed the move, right? Uh, I want to get back to landing moves, but uh pulse ox went into the 90s, nervous system, heart rate, everything kind of chilled out. Yeah, and like we have the the meter so we can see it in real time. Yeah. Uh really cool. Um, but yeah, uh kind of switching to landing moves. Like that's what they teach you. And Dr. Dylan was talking about how you become a mediocre chiropractor from school and really picking up that that passion and you know, honing your craft, uh, the the art to it, um, comes later. And you you either figure that out or you're too busy in a book trying to just get the classes done that you you really don't have that passion's always there, but like you're the the capacity, your brains is mush and scramble. So really taking the time to focus outside of the classroom and hone your craft and um it's a mindset, you know, like uh some people naturally have talent, but you can also have talent if you're not naturally there, you just got to work a little harder, right? So keeping that mindset open and not getting frustrated with yourself. I remember being frustrated at the beginning, um just trying to land moves, try to get people to open up, and you're adjusting healthy young people in school, and then you get out and it's like, oh, I've had this, you know, disc injury for 30 years. Can you get it to move for me? I'm like, you know. Yeah. Uh so yeah. Uh yeah, school does prepare you well, but at the same time, you you have to apply all these different aspects together: joint movement, uh, muscle tension, uh where the person's at. Are are they ready to let it go? Are they ready to work on it? Such a dynamic flowing piece of uh health, of life, of function. Uh it's not static. Uh you you always have to work on yourself, keep it moving. Um, and uh all the other great chiropractors you had on this kind of touched on that, you know, like uh when's enough to work out? Is this too much? Showing up for yourself, should I rest? All these crazy things, and it there's no easy answer. Yeah. Uh but I I say you gotta you gotta play with yourself, like things done in play. You you make the pattern in your brain way faster versus just repetition, repetition.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

So slowing down and giving yourself that that space to grow, learn, and uh just being curious, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Just right, right, right. I'm fun with it. Yeah, I like that. Almost like anything in life, you could like take that approach, right? Totally. Yeah, yeah. That's pretty cool. And then, like, I mean you kind of touch on this too, right? But not only the skill set do you have to have of like landing the move, right? Is that what you call it? Landing the move. Um, but also like with the with the individual themselves and like getting them to relax or knowing when they're ready and stuff too.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. So it it started off as landing a move, but uh after that it it grew to like uh dancing, you know, like we we have to learn to dance together and you have to learn to let me lead. And lucky for you, I'm a better adjuster than I'm a dancer, you know. These are these are my dad jokes. I love Gragan. Yeah, yeah, I love it, love it.

SPEAKER_01:

We were touching on this before, but but the the idea that chiropractic is is changing, correct? Right? Like talk tell me about like what you've seen since you become a chiropractor. Um you've kind of been in it for a short time, but just your experience with it, like how is it changing? How is it evolving?

SPEAKER_00:

And yeah, um I I think we're we're starting to get to specialties and uh really kind of focus. There's different approaches, there's different techniques. So um being able to understand and go down one pathway will really help people understand what chiropractic is because uh as a society we we either bastardize us or love us, and there's really no in between. Yeah, you know, uh so uh the adaptation, the the sp Congress being shut down over health care. There's so much at play that I really think if we can get more in the spotlight, uh basic way of thinking of it, that we we could change our society. Uh you know, uh chiropractic chiropractic is more than just physical ailments, you know. Uh there's the mental component, uh spiritual even, you know, it it's it's there, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. And a lot of patients uh fight that. And coming around and seeing a transformation of that brain-body connection and spirit connection, it it's it's a beautiful thing. Like uh I'll I wouldn't change my job for anything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

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SPEAKER_00:

Like something changes, and you're like, Yeah, it it's so insidious that you you don't notice your your consciousness, your health increasing or decreasing. And it's usually the the straw on the camel's back that usually gets you to be like, Oh, that's there, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but keeping that kind of clear, open consciousness, your your high functioning, you know. Um it's easy to take for granted, and if you get so swamped and boggled down that you you don't notice it leaving, you don't notice it coming. So being in that well-adjusted, clear nervous system area, it's yeah, is you gotta play with it. You gotta check in with yourself when you get up in the morning, stretch, move around, drink your water, slow your breathing, control it, set your intentions. Uh, it almost sounds a little like you know, you know, out there hippie, but there's something to it. Yeah, yeah. You know, I um I try to avoid that, but here I am. Yeah, you're falling for it. Yeah, yeah. I drank the coolant.

SPEAKER_01:

So talk to About like like injuries, car accidents, because you know, going back to like the way we traditionally thought about chiropractic, it's like that's the only time that you would get it. Yeah. Um, you did you did a lot of that like early early in your career and still do, or correct, correct.

SPEAKER_00:

Got out of school, worked at the joint, which uh was great, great uh start to my career. I I got my hands hot, as I like to say, got to touch tons of different types of people, um, and it was awesome. Sometimes miss it, but you know, it was also grueling, grueling work. Uh I uh I got really busy, uh which was really cool. And it's great for coming out, like being burning to get all these people to only want to see you and come more often and you know, educate them. Uh it was a great experience. Um I got to help tons of people, and that's why I like personal injury. Um, so getting to that, like uh I moved back to Florida. Um, the fiance type A person had a job before we even got here. Me, uh, I'll figure out as I go. So I uh I started doing coverage work, you know. If an office needs a doc, they're going out of town, vacation, and started bouncing around the state doing, you know, a couple days here, a couple days there, and wound up in a personal injury clinic in Winterhaven. And they liked me so much, they offered me a job, and I was like, yeah, why not? You know, and uh started to adjust people straight in accidents like per exclusively, and uh got to really see like the the benefit of bad injuries being healed. Like you don't have any pain, you don't have any headaches, like really like if I I was you know, like I know chiropractic works, but just to see how well it works, it was like wow, yeah, this is cool. Yeah, so I was doing personal injury for a while, and in school, it's like, oh, you're in your ambulance chaser, you know, you're doing it for the money, you're gonna mess up the philosophy, lose your principal. And um, I actually got to do the opposite of that. Like I got to experience people who had never heard of a chiropractor, like, I'm only here because my attorney told me to be here, to them being like, when can I come back? You know, uh, really cool.

SPEAKER_01:

So, what do you what what type like usually like uh like car accidents? Yeah, that was some slip and falls and things like that. And so what happens, like I guess to the body, let's talk about like that. Like, so they get into a car accident, like what's going on with a sore neck or something?

SPEAKER_00:

Even yeah, a sore neck, you know, I just got bumped at a red light and wasn't that fast. So I'll be fine, you know, once the ache goes away. Um so what really happens is that you have ligaments that cover your entire spine. I call them your passive support system or the rubber bands that hold everything together. Yeah, and like a rubber band, if you stretch it out, it doesn't retain its shape. There can be motion at that segment, and that little translation can start to push out that disc into a lateral recess most commonly, um, and start to encroach on a nerve. And that makes the body have to kind of tighten up and protect itself. Your body is smart, it's always trying to take care of you, and to keep you going in the meantime, it will overreact, which beats you up in the long run. So kind of making sure the body isn't just going to that path of least resistance, uh using your breathing neck muscles as postural muscles and pulling these curves out of order and compressing everything just to make sure it doesn't get worse or that instability doesn't, you know, kill you in some cases, right? So allowing the body to kind of do what it does naturally rather than the path of least resistance and just like your brain craves stability, it's gonna take it and make it happen, you know, so we're not walking around cockeyed or sideways. So that intelligence that that comes with our body, um, sometimes it it needs a little help. If you're just surviving, it's hard to get to thriving. So showing people that path of this injury happened sucks, it's gonna be with you for the rest of your life. Here's ways to avoid a surgery or an injection, but it takes effort from you. I I can show you 50% of the way, you have to finish the other 50. And if I can give you tools that you know you might not have noticed this injury for 20 years, but if I show you the way now, you can prevent that from limiting you and your life later in life.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So very rewarding to get to introduce people who would never have known. Yeah. Just think, hey, uh, you know, my neck's a little sore.

SPEAKER_01:

Just help me all right, fix me up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you kind of touch on this, right? But it's like chiropractic is just a piece of like the overall health of your body, your skeletal system, and everything, right? It's just right freeing things up.

SPEAKER_00:

So there's uh a big divide in our profession between straight chiropractors and mixers, right? Uh people who use other modalities to help. And yeah, I I can get both sides, but I think the the lifestyle we live, the fast-paced, uh, sometimes you need more than just an adjustment. Um, the the repetition, the time, um, the stress on your body, like you do you really have time to heal. Like you, you're healing, boom, as soon as you get adjusted, but how long can you maintain that? You know, sometimes you need the little extra help and to get the body to kind of act as a harmonious being rather than its pieces. You know, you you get a herniation in your neck, and all of a sudden your shoulders are gonna start protecting your neck and not be able to have that full range. Uh, you know, I can't look up anymore. You know, I hear that all the time. So just getting the body functional to what it was supposed to do, sometimes that you need a little extra to get there.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I I hear people with injuries or like I have a stiff neck or whatever, and they just they just live with that too. Yeah, it'll go away eventually.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and then they come to me and they're like, Yeah, I thought it would go away, but here it is two months later. Yeah, I was gonna come here or the hospital, but uh I saw your office. Yeah, I'm like, great.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So what what brought you to Palm Harbor?

SPEAKER_00:

Ah, so uh I bought the franchise. Um, my fiance was working for the previous owners in Brandon. They had two practices and um we started talking and hit it off. Great guys, and they were like, you know what? Uh we think this would be a great opportunity for you and Dr. Michelle. I was a little skeptical, it was like too good to be true type of thing. But you know, everything worked out. The the C's parted, and then you know, I was I was on my path. I've I it felt right. Everything kind of lined up, and here I am.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. When you got into chiropractics, did you ever think you were gonna own your own practice?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Uh the Dr. Augustine, who's nudged me a long way, uh, you know, he'd always drop hints, even when I was a teenager coming into his office uh in high school, he would be like, Hey, maybe you'll find an old man looking to retire by the time you're ready to graduate.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh so, like in the back of my mind, you know, like that that was my plan, you know. He he's got me into it. It would be uh an honor to carry the torch, you know. And uh to think I was starting a practice from scratch, like, no, I might have paid attention to those marketing classes a little more if I did, you know. Yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah, uh it's fun learning to run a business and get everything going and being in charge of your employees. It's uh it's it's a great learning experience. And yeah, you gotta wear a lot of hats at once, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. What's been the hardest thing when since opening up the business?

SPEAKER_00:

Getting my name out there. Uh you know, I I could be the best stock in town, and no one knows, you know. Everyone's walking right next door to Einstein, and you know, like, oh, that's a chiropractic office. And so um just being passionate and keeping my nose to the grindstone. And every time I I talk to someone at the gym or whatever, I'm I'm just always like, hey man, like this is what's going on, there's a way out of it. Let me help you. Yeah, so I'm just always there trying to believe in what I love and share it with people uh who are around me and and get to be part of this community now. So yeah, uh it's it's great. I'm I'm liking it a lot and I'm trying to move out this way.

SPEAKER_01:

Every time I ask that question, like what's the hardest part about business? It's always something along those like marketing, like breaking out there. Yeah. That's that's always the the difficult piece, and it's you know, there's so many different ways to go about it and approach to it. It's always changing, but I think like what you're doing is is the key, right? Just building those relationships and getting them out there.

SPEAKER_00:

I want to be here for a long time, so I'm not in it to nickel and dime people and just make money off of selling pillows and all this crazy stuff. I I truly want to help people whatever way I can. And once I have my reputation, I'm I plan to keep it. That's what I want to do. Yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_01:

So I wrote down like a couple of myths here, and then I'll just read them out to you. We can talk to them or talk about them. But uh, number one, chiropractic care is dangerous and painful.

SPEAKER_00:

Not dangerous. Um, so we have some of the lowest malpractice insurance out of any doctor, and if we were dangerous, we'd be paying a lot. Lots of money. Yeah, so I mean, if the insurance companies don't charge us more than anesthesia or anesthesiologists, there's something to it. You know, that speaks to it right there. Yeah, you know, your body's got to change. I joke and say if change was easy, I wouldn't have a job. So muscles that have been overly exerted and working overtime, they finally get to relax, you're you're gonna be sore. Like you're gonna let out all that lactic acid that you've been building up and metabolites. A lot of pain's already there. And to get a joint to move and relax and uh get circulation, remove subluxation. Uh it takes work, it's not easy. Um so yeah, there there can be pain associated with, but ultimately good pain. Yeah, it's a change, like any everything you experience change.

SPEAKER_01:

It's there's something, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh I a joke and say, I'm not here to make you feel better, I'm here to help you heal better, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

So I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that. The next one, chiropractic care is not scientific or effective.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh God. Uh everyone has the internet, right? Like, yeah, yeah. Uh there's amazing, amazing studies out. Uh too many to quote, uh, from like your your body just gets more efficient. So after an adjustment, your immune response improves. Uh your your cellular level, your white cells can go around and do their job better. Uh, your reaction times, all things studied, tested, uh, heart rate, variability, uh, stress tolerance. It's out there. You know, if you don't believe it, then you're not looking hard enough.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Uh I think I heard or read this somewhere. Um, like, wasn't chiropractic care like kind of like the the main like health care before kind of like our modern medicine?

SPEAKER_00:

A long time ago, um 100 years, 126. I don't know, I forget. So 1900s, yeah. Okay. Just over the hundred and something year mark for chiropractic. And um, yeah, it was uh a magnetic healer, kind of was trying to do his magnetic healing on a janitor, and noticed by touching his neck that there was a really like tough spot behind his ear. The gentleman fell or something and lost his hearing, and that's how chiropractic came to be. Pushed on this bone, and all of a sudden the guy can hear out of his ear. And that kind of was a turning point uh to become chiropractic. But um, there's something called the Flexner Report way back in the day, and then do your history, do your own research there, and pretty much how big money and changed the way the medical field was set up even back then. So everyone's sort of uh snake oil salesman and things like that. This is a melting pot. So cultures all over the world brought their knowledge of herbs and tinctures and remedies, and all of a sudden, all this was declared unscientific and uh just voodoo, if you would. And uh chiropractic kind of got lumped in with that, and we were jailed as professionals, uh, that we were practicing medicine without a medical license. And there's a picture of uh BJ, the founder, in a prison cell uh adjusting the guards. So uh wow. Yeah, but we went against uh the grain there and um were punished for it. And there are hundreds of chiropractors who were repetitively jailed. Um, and at Life University we have our bell tower, and in the bottom of the bell tower is the perfect size of a prison cell, and on the walls is every chiropractor's name who was jailed for practicing. Crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Like we talked about before, right? But it seems like the tides are are are shifting since post-COVID or last five, ten years.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, right. Healthcare in this country is better off being called sick care, you know. Uh how do you get to this wellness state? How do you stay healthy? Like if your doctor's not talking about your nutrition and your lifestyle and your activity, you know, you you just have a drug dealer. Yeah. Yeah. Chiropractic is only for back pain. That's our window. That's how most people find us. So um not only, but um the the coolest thing is just to see someone who comes in for back pain get off the table and their eyes are just wide open and they're like, I feel younger. I feel like I could go run home instead of drive home. Uh it just that's how you're supposed to feel. And like insidious, like uh how each little stressor adds up, adds up, adds up, and all of a sudden they they just are gone. And obviously they come back, but to be in that clear moment, to be uh a decompressed, uh clear nervous system, your body's functioning how it's supposed to. Some people are just in awe, like myself, still. Still, I get to see that all the time, which is cool.

SPEAKER_01:

That's very cool. Um, and I yeah, like your website does a great job of like listing out all the different, you know, ways chiropractic care can can help you, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Partly that that's to get the word out, uh get everyone to kind of see, oh, you know, um it's not just for back pain. Right. Um, there's more to function, there's more to health. Um you you just gotta understand it, you gotta wanna believe it. Uh I don't have time for that. Or you you gotta make space for your health. If not, sickness is gonna creep in.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, absolutely. Um where can people find you and and just learn more about your practice?

SPEAKER_00:

Right on. Um my practice is between Nebraska and Tampa on US 19. Uh the public's uh Coral Gables. Coral Gables, yeah. Sounds right. I'm still learning here. Uh shopping center right next to the Einstein. Yeah, yeah perfect. Thank you. Great location. Yeah, beautiful.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, cool, man.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, thanks for being here. Oh, it was it was fun. This is it. Like it went by like that. It was awesome. Easy, yeah, easy peasy, right? One more thing I do want to talk about uh is pediatrics, is children. Yeah. Um, so when my daughter was born, I adjusted her as she was handed to me, um, which was pretty neat. Uh a little baby came into the world, lights are bright, she can't really focus, and I'm like turning her head, seeing how her range of motion is, and I notice that she can't go left more than right. And I take my little pinky and I sustain contact over her atlas and I hold it and I move her neck around just very lightly, and it starts to creep in that hey, this is uncomfortable, this is compressed, so she starts to squirm a little, and in that moment, I'm like, I I don't want to cause any discomfort to my child, but I'm like, I also know like this is needed, so I I just kind of hold it, and then all of a sudden, just like a tone changes, just a relaxation comes over her, and I shit you not. She she looked me dead in the eyes after that. Yeah. Um yeah, that's cool. I got goosebumps again. That was that was a great moment. And then my son, he came out and I'm feeling him, and I was like, ah, no, he's good. You know, like you didn't need one right then.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh well, I mean it's and it's wild, like you think about that, like they're they're you know, in the in the in the womb for nine months, like it makes sense that they're there you know, there might be some adjustments needed, some things that are kind of and going through the birth canal, that's a little traumatic, you know? Yeah, right. It's a big experience like coming out into the world.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, uh, so that kind of gets to where I want to go with this, is that there's things called primitive reflexes, right? Uh things that are innately in us to respond so we survive, you know, put your hands down if you're gonna fall, um, things like that, right your head. And these primitive reflexes develop into postural reflexes, right? Posture, we could have a whole topic on that. That's uh yeah. So it's just innate ways that our brain develops to keep us going, you know, running the background machines. And if they aren't kind of integrated is a good word, they don't cross over. Uh so you kind of get stuck in certain modes. Little things like tiptoe walking, um you know, unable to cross the midline, lack of fine motor movements all can be a result of kind of retained primitive reflexes. So it could be trauma of the the birth, not being able to move while you're ingestation, all these little things can add stress or trauma that now manifest as uh the body is unable to adapt. So yeah, kids getting adjusted is super important to make sure they're developing even like uh ailments, colic, uh constipation, not sleeping, all things can affect it through the nervous system, just a healthy, functioning, regulated nervous system. Yeah. And it it's not like I'm you know adjusting a 300-pound man the same way as a little three-pound baby. Yeah. Yeah. Well, if they're premature, of course. Yeah. Uh but yeah, um, we have little tools, uh, force is mass times acceleration. So if I have a lot of acceleration and no mass behind it or very little, I can still generate a big force, but it doesn't feel super pressurized. But yeah, uh just kind of light, more adjustments, uh, and back to mom. Well, they're still inside. If we can get the hips to align, hips are connected to the uterus through suspensory ligament called the round ligament. So if there's distortion there, baby might not be able to flip over, uh, you know, get ready, breach, all this, very traumatic. So uh chiropractic helps with the the functioning of the mom and baby mom connection and communication kind of gives the signal hey, it's time, it's ready. Create the room, create the shape, you know, form follows function.

SPEAKER_01:

It's like chiropractic care, I feel like is is important. Yeah, you know, and it's uh it's good that it's it's becoming understood. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh the the research in the field, the the acceptance, the understanding outside the field.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that newer too? Like the the understanding of like how much chiropractic care can can change your health and and your body? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um a great researcher, Heidi Havoc, she is a chiropractic researcher and tests all the hypothesis and puts science to what we've known. You know, we we notice this is affecting your nervous system. Now we understand how. Okay. So connecting the dots, you know, um people believe they've I've seen great things, crazy things happen from allowing the nervous system to regulate itself and get back to equilibrium. So just understanding how that actually happens is pretty fascinating.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So we we've kind of known that that it does certain things, but now we're like having a better understanding of like exactly how exactly is that working. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And the the pediatric stuff is is great. I know my daughter's been adjusted uh our oldest a a couple of times. Um so it's it's valuable.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Um, so my specialty was more of like uh restoring function, um more sports and injury related, whereas my fiance was more of uh the pediatrics, the moms. Uh so we have it all at our office. There's a little bit of everything that we know. So we're pretty diverse in our our studies, and I'm never gonna stop. Yeah, I'm always gonna keep learning. Yeah, I love it, man. Yeah, I don't want to lose my passion. Uh there's a lot of chiropractors out there who have, and they're like, you'll get there, you'll get there. And I'm like, no. No, thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think that's a that's a it's just a mindset, right? Like of of continuing to to you know educate yourself and and learn about your profession or marketing business, like whatever it is, you know, to rise to the challenge, yeah. Stay sharp and and and keep growing. So cool. Thanks for being here. Oh, I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Yeah. Uh I checked out your podcast and I was like, wow, this guy's got a uh happening voice in this this community. Like uh it's an honor to be here. Cool. Thank you for that. Yeah, yeah, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Palm Harbor Local. We are incredibly grateful for our sponsors who make this show possible. So let's be sure to keep supporting these local businesses. Until next time, stay connected, stay involved, and keep making Palm Harbor an amazing place to call home.

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Donnie Hathaway

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