Activate Your Practice Podcast
The Activate Your Practice Podcast is hosted by the Chairman & Founder of Activator Methods, Dr. Arlan Fuhr. This podcast will cover a variety of subjects. Dr. Fuhr will interview guests from different backgrounds and professions, as well as talk about his 50+ years in chiropractic care.
Activate Your Practice Podcast
Dr. Petrocco-Napuli Interviews Dr. Fuhr (Part 1)
Most people who avoid chiropractic share one fear: neck cracking. We dive into a precision-first alternative—instrument-assisted adjusting—showing how it’s reshaping patient trust, clinical outcomes, and the day-to-day life of busy practices. With Dr. Arlan Fuhr and new president Dr. Kristina Petrocco-Napuli, we unpack the past year’s biggest moves and what’s coming next.
We trace the rise of virtual training that actually sticks, covering decision-making at the table—where to adjust, when to adjust, and when to stop—so new graduates and veterans alike avoid over-treatment. Then we open the CE toolkit: risk management and women’s health that can reduce NCMIC malpractice premiums for three years, plus documentation strategies that protect practices and speed reimbursements. It’s practical, measurable, and designed for the whole team.
Safety sits at the center. You’ll hear how a pediatric tip calibrated to about 20 newtons keeps infant care gentle and consistent, grounded in biomechanics research. On the other end of the spectrum, we walk through geriatric, post-surgical scenarios—pelvic changes after knee and hip replacements, IT band trigger points, and how targeted adjustments restore balance and reduce pain. We also explore core strength and balance improvements tied to precise care and how simple, weekly isometrics can reboot mobility.
The data now match the momentum: according to NBCE practice analysis, roughly 93% of chiropractors have an instrument in the office. That shift fuels referrals from primary care and surgical teams who want conservative, precise options for spine and extremity care. We wrap with the energy of a sold-out university seminar, plans for the next campus stop, and a forward-looking roadmap that keeps training, tools, and research aligned.
If precision, safety, and real-world results matter to you, follow the show, share this episode with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help more practitioners find it.
Softtech manufactures specialized treatment tables designed to help chiropractors who utilize the activator method, maximize their time and the success of their procedures. Upgrade to the only adjusting tables endorsed by Activator Methods at SofTechTables.com.
SPEAKER_02:Today's podcast is brought to you by SoftTech Chiropractic Tables. We finally found a table that is maintenance free, as maintenance free as you can get, and that will withstand the hard use of chiropractic gear. You can find more information on this table at softechtables.com. Okay, now let's get into the podcast. Hi, I'm Dr. Arlen Floor, the chairman and founder of Activator Methods International. Want to welcome you to our podcast, Activate Your Practice. And today I'm being interviewed. And today I'm welcoming our new president of Activator Methods International, Dr. Christina Petraco Napoli. Uh Dr. Chris, we're glad to have you here.
SPEAKER_03:Well, thanks, Doc. I'm really happy to be with you today. We're going to have a great day today talking about what happened in Activator Methods in 2025 and where we're headed in 2026.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I can't wait because you know we had a lot of exciting things happen this year. And uh I know you're gonna go into it, so I'll just wait.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, that sounds wonderful. So let's start off talking really quickly about virtual training. I know that's been a passion of yours and training chiropractic practitioners for many, many years. You've seen it all, Doc. So talk a little bit about virtual training and what has gone on over the past year and and what it means to you.
SPEAKER_02:Well, first let me start by telling you how it got started. Um my wife looked at me one day and said, You're getting old. And I said, Excuse me. And she said, No, what I'm saying is you have a lot of experience. And she said, you need to not, you know, keep this to yourself, you need to pass this on to young practitioners because it took you 58 years to get this experience and you can give that to them in 12 hours. So it was during COVID or right before COVID, and so when COVID hit, we were ready, and we found out that the doctors love to go to virtual training because they don't have to go anyplace. They don't have to, you know, spend a lot of money on hotel rooms and things like that. They can take it in their office. And so that's how it all got started.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, it's really interesting because when you do watch the virtual training and you see all of the different protocols and the different clinical pearls that you add in there, it becomes incredibly helpful.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you know, many times uh I have spoken at colleges and the students come up to me afterwards and say, this is the best lecture I've ever had. And the reason for that is because I'm telling them what they need to know when they're in practice. And you know, I have a saying that I've had for years is you need to know where to adjust, when to adjust, and then when to quit. And that's a hard thing for young students because they always want to do so much for the patient, and sometimes they undo what has already been done. So that's kind of where I go. I like to give you things that I've experienced over the years.
SPEAKER_03:You know, that saying within itself is incredibly important. I think regardless of however many years you've been in practice, whether you're a new grad, you're mid-career, or you're ending your career.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you know, if you think about it a minute, um you can take all the different uh courses on pediatrics, geriatrics, uh, you know, sports injuries and all these kind of things. But one day that door will close behind you and that patient in that room, then you need to know where to adjust him, her. Then you need to know, you know, how and where and then when to quit. And these are just the basic things that you're gonna face every day.
SPEAKER_03:You know, something happened in 2025 that's unique to Activator, in addition to having, you know, the basic scan protocol and advanced protocol, you added in some new additional courses. Tell us a little bit about why and what was exciting about that in 2025.
SPEAKER_02:Aaron Powell Well, I've always been looking to how can I serve our proficiency-rated doctors? Because, you know, last month we sent 17,000 patients, that's 17,000 in one month to our proficiency-rated doctors. And now when somebody is good with activator, they like activator, so the first thing they do is they go to doc.activator.com. That's where you find the proficiency-rated doctors. And we've got kids coming out of school, by the way, that are proficiency-rated, and they maintain that because they want to have a flow of new patients coming in. So that's a very important thing. And so this is one of the things that we keep telling our people. And so then we said, how can we train our doctors and do an even better job so we start looking for things? Well, thanks to you, and uh I'm gonna you know toot your horn here because you are a certified instructor for an NCMIC, which is National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company. And you have taught you know, women's health for them, and you've taught risk management. This is one of the new courses. And if you haven't uh taken this course, you want to try it for sure. Because here's the good thing. Let me tell you, this is a no-brainer. Uh you get 5% off your malpractice insurance premium that year. You get 5% off the cost for three years in a row if you complete eight hours of women's health or in the this case of risk management. So actually, I have to give you the credit for uh for finding something new that was really good.
SPEAKER_03:Well, thank you, Doc. You know, it's interesting because as practitioners, you know, we don't always think about how can we advance ourselves, right? We sometimes forget it's important as practitioners to take time for education courses, to take time to look for things that help our patients, but also to take time to educate our staff. And a lot of times when practitioners go through continuing education courses, they forget how important their staff is. And so not only with risk management that we are offering this term or this season of continuing education credits, but we also had documentation uh with Kathy Wiedner. And that's another one, you know, between risk management and and documentation, there's some really good pearls in there for not only the practitioner, but for also their staff.
SPEAKER_02:Well, Kathy Mills Chang and I go back a long way. It's now Kathy Wiedner. But uh I remember when she was a CA for a very good friend of mine here uh in uh Phoenix, and uh I met her and she was so impressive in her knowledge of how to run an office that uh I told Ed if I were in practice I'd hire her away from you, and he just laughed. But Kathy had a lot of potential, and she did the first seminar she ever did for Activator. And uh so that's how Kathy got started. Then she was so busy I couldn't get her the first round, and uh some of you may know that Greg Friedman passed away, and so we wanted to fill that slot, and so I went to Kathy again and said, You gotta be nice to me, because I was nice to you once in your life. And so she acquiesced and she said, you know, I'll do it. And she's really busy. So we've got it together now and we're we've got it up there. And again, there's something that will count for your NCMIC, that 5% per year off your premium. And uh that's another I mean, these are no-brainers. You know, if you can go get your CE for nothing, well, what better deal can you get than that?
SPEAKER_03:Aaron Powell That's right. So let's talk a little bit about pediatrics. You know, that's something that as practitioners, you know, we see a wide variety of patients in our clinical setting. So would you share with us a little bit about some of the exciting things that have gone on around pediatric care relative to activator methods?
SPEAKER_02:Aaron Powell Well, you you know, I gotta go back again because I practiced in a small town in rural Minnesota, and October was colic month, and we'd still don't know why. But every kid in the whole area was had colic, and we found out that the even the little babies would respond terrifically to activator, and we would adjust their atlas. We'd find out their pelvic deficiency and adjust their atlas, and we'd put them on a table three across the table, and we'd put the ones that had been there a time or two because they'd sell the other ones that were just coming in saying it's fabulous. And so I've always been interested in pediatrics just from that experience and practice. But you know, I started looking at the literature, and there was a young doctor from Italy that wrote a paper on safety. But then I said, after I read her paper, she said that from zero to 90 days on a baby, you should not put more than 20 newtons of force into the atlas. So what we did is we we have a 3D printer here in the office, and and we made a server a pediatric tip that goes on the activator 5. And you set it on setting one, and it won't give more than 20 newtons of force. Now, that's the safety ramifications for a child, zero to ninety days. And so uh 20 bucks, you know, we spent a lot of money getting it right. And so, but we got it so you can just snap it on the tip of your activator and you have a pediatric activator. And then somebody said, Well, if you got it for pediatrics, what about geriatrics? Oh, we changed the color, but we went to a geriatrics, but we used it for another thing. And uh next year, I know we're gonna talk about this later, but we have a uh a new thing coming up called post-surgical care of geriatrics. And I personally went through this because my wife had a knee replaced, then a hip replaced, then a tendon reattached to the trochanter. So I'm making notes as I go along. And I became friends with the orthopedic surgeon. And he said, I'm afraid to send people to some of these PTs because they almost undo what I do. And I said, I can tell you why, because when you have a knee replacement, it changes your pelvic deficiency and it changes the torque of the pelvis. And I found out what I could do to take the pain out of a knee by adjusting the pelvis. And so this next year we're gonna we're gonna put that out. And so this was some of the of the things that started the geriatric tip, but we also found out that when you do a knee replacement, you have you have a different thing called trigger point therapy, and this worked perfectly for trigger trigger point therapy in the ileotibial band. So stay tuned because you're gonna get the whole complete uh treatment. Plus, an interview that I did on a podcast with Dr. Jimmy Chow, who became a friend of mine, and uh he's opening a new uh rehab center in his orthopedic center, which is a huge operation. And he said, Arlen, how would you like to be the uh head of the orthopedic uh re rehab center? I said, no, but I said I will train somebody, you know, I'll get an activator proficiency rated doctor that's looking for a great opportunity, and put them in there because he said, you know more about rehabbing hips and knees and that than the other people do. So I want to have the best in my operation.
SPEAKER_03:So, doc, you know, we just had this conversation about pediatric care and the importance of safety. And, you know, that is a very important topic within our profession, is not just safety of care for pediatrics, safety of care for any of the patient population in which we treat. And, you know, you talk about the pediatric tip that we have here. And um, you know, one of the things that becomes really important is some of the research that's behind that. And so, you know, you created the pediatric tip, you looked at the amount of force that was involved. Tell us a little bit about that process because I believe you worked with a professor from Baylor University, if I'm not mistaken.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, and we have for years. Uh, Dr. Michael Liebschner is a PhD, he's a graduate of the University of Vermont. And I got to know him when he became a biomechanist at Baylor Medical School. Actually, I knew him at the University of Vermont with another doctor that we were, you know, having things to do with during that time. And Dr. Liepschner, you know, he's a good German, so Leepschner and Fuhr got together and had a couple beers and you know, we became friends. And he just not only is he a book smart guy, but he's also a hands-on type. And so when I need a new product developed, you know, I go to him and he starts to lay out the parameters of what do we need to look at a tip like this or a geriatric tip. And so he laid out the parameters because he did all of the testing, and by the way, has a nice paper you can look on our website and the Journal of Biomechanics. He wrote that and published that here, you know, when we were doing all the research on the five. So you might just take a look at that because he and he has been in court cases with us and he's been, you know, different different types of things. Helped us with, you know, many he's an electronic engineer also. And so just a valuable member of our team.
SPEAKER_03:Aaron Powell So, Doc, let's talk a little bit about geriatric care. You know, we spent a few minutes of time talking about pediatrics, and I know you have this outstanding uh educational program that's going to be coming out in the new year. So let's talk a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you know, people are ignoring geriatrics, and somebody said, Why are you so interested in geriatrics? I said, Because I am one. No, the reason I did is because I saw what it is like to lose your mobility when my wife had surgery. She was on a walker for 10 months. Now you put a type A woman on a walker for 10 months, and you better get out of the way because they still move quickly. But what I learned was that the country, I started looking at the statistics and we started doing a little research back into the statistics and found out it's almost 20% of the population now is over the age of 65. And what are we going to do with everybody? You know, everybody said, well, you can go into an assisted living. There's only so many assisted living. So you can see now that people are being taken care of in their own homes. But the reason that they have to have assistance is because they lose mobility. So I started digging into this and finding out more about this, you know, disability and mobility and all these kind of things. And we've got some really exciting things coming up the line because I was talking about this once and I got a text from a friend of mine in Portugal, and he said, uh, we have a new piece of equipment, Arlen. And he said, You might be interested in it. And he said, uh, you know, he said it takes five minutes a week to rehab a geriatric using isometric exercise. And I said, Well, I suppose I have to import it from Portugal. And he said, No, he said it's made in Florida. And so I called them in Florida and they said, our showrooms in Atlanta. And I said, Is there anybody in Arizona that's got one? And he said, There is a man in Sun City. I think I could get you in to see him. He made a phone call and the guy was said absolutely. And so we went to his house. I took my daughter because she's an exercise physiologist, and she wasn't sold on this. We got over there. Here was a guy, 75 years old, fit, trim, flat bellied, he just looked fabulous. And I said, How'd you get into this? He says, Well, my wife is is really crippled up, and so I have to stay good. So I use everything I can to keep mobile. And he gave us a little demo, and it wasn't the equipment, it was the software on it. And we'll be showing you all this kind of stuff coming up. And with the population coming like it is, it's a weight of, you know, I would put one of these in my practice tomorrow morning because I would then have every geriatric in the country coming in to get rehab because you they lose their core strength. So we're gonna talk about core strength, and we're gonna talk about how does Activator work for core strength? Yeah, does it change the core strength? And the answer is yes. And so that'll be coming up in 26. We're gonna stop the podcast briefly just to remind you that this podcast is brought to you by SoftTech, the table company and chiropractic that we use. You can find more information on this table at softtechtables.com.
SPEAKER_03:So, core strength, balance is another big issue. And you and I have had lots of conversations about balance and the importance of balance and how actually getting adjusted. And we know that looking at, you know, using activator methods and using spinal manipulative therapy can actually have impact on patients when it comes to maintaining their balance and coordination.
SPEAKER_02:There's quite a bit of evidence on balance and keeping your balance by getting adjusted. That's that's something that's been coming for a long, long time. But you know that still 96% of people do not go to a chiropractor because of one thing. They don't want their neck cracked. That's the reason that keeps them out.
SPEAKER_03:So, Doc, one of the highlights from this past year was the NBCE 2025 practice analysis. There was some great information in there about instrument-assisted adjusting. So tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_02:Well, when I first started here 58 years ago, uh, you know, it was like maybe 30% of people would use an instrument because they were upper cervical or something like that. And then it went up to about 60%. We thought, gee, we're really, you know, tipping this wedge over. And uh then it went up to about 70%. Now last year, as you said, NBCE came in with their new numbers, and now it's 93% of chiropractors have an instrument in their office. So uh we have changed the way people think about chiropractic. And you know, that's why the multidisciplinary practices have been so successful, because they come in to see a PA. You know, that's just like their general practitioner today. And then when they have low back pain or neck pain or whatever, the PA says, well, maybe you should see our chiropractor because we don't want you to go to surgery. And the patient says, Well, I don't want my neck cracked, and they say, Well, they don't do that. You know, we have new ways of doing that. And then they send people because they know that they are not getting their neck cracked.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and you know, the the thing that I think is incredibly important, and I and I think that's a highlight of this year. I think the NBCE gave a really wonderful highlight when they looked at the types of of manipulation that chiropractors are doing in practice. But the piece that I think is very fascinating out of all of this is not only are chiropractors using an instrument, but doc, it's become contemporary practice. And so when you first started Activator many years ago and you had instrument assisted, and you just went over the stats with us of how it's grown and how it's changed, you've really made a dent on how practitioners work and and move through their day.
SPEAKER_02:And and you know, it's not so unusual. Look at medicine. I mean, uh I confess to you, I had a medial knee replacement here a year ago, and they did robotic knee replacement. I was back on my feet, you know, the same day, and uh I didn't even have to go to rehab because it was so successful. But they used robots so they didn't cut any tissue that wasn't necessary to replace, and I have had no symptoms, nothing. Interesting though, my pelvic deficiency has always been right when I had that knee done, it changed to left for four months. Oh and then it came back to right once I settled down. But I would have If somebody checked me and I was a left for about four months. So just these this is going to be part of the program that we're going to get into next in 2026.
SPEAKER_03:Aaron Powell Yeah. Well that's that's great. And you know, you have to think about the evolution of devices, just in general medical devices, right? And how times have changed for all types of practitioners, including chiropractors.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I think it's changed from uh electronic notes and electronic uh you know recording for your all your office procedures and things like that. Uh when we moved our corporate headquarters here about six, seven years ago, we got rid of 40 file cases because it's all online and it's all on the on the cloud. And so if you keep up to date, you well, you're gonna see AI, you know, it's coming out with many different things, so we'll see what the future brings.
SPEAKER_03:Aaron Powell Correct. Yeah. Everything is moving in a very high-face, high-paced fashion with technology. So so so that was, I think, a highlight for us. What do you think?
SPEAKER_02:Aaron Powell Yes. And uh I I just think that uh people have seen the results. And uh I know some people. I would go to a seminar and I'd be standing at the end of a table, and there'd always be some well-dressed doctor that was standing there watching, not doing too much of anything. And so I'd look at him and say, Have you been in practice 20 years? And he goes, How do you know? And I said, Because you're hurting. And he said, How did you know that? And I said, Because after 20 years it gets hard on your body. Yeah. And they'd say yes, and I said, That's why you're here. You don't have trouble building a practice. He said, No, I got a big practice. But I want to how I want to know how to do it without killing myself. I have a friend, Jack Donovan, Dr. Jack Donovan, he's 96, and uh he goes to the office three days a week yet for an hour and a half to teach the young kids how to adjust real problem cases. But my point is he's 96 and he's still using Activator on patients. He loves it so much he wants to go down for an hour a day just to keep active.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's wonderful. It's wonderful to hear those stories, right? And patient care too. Patients respond very, very well to treatment from Activator. And we don't often talk about some of the really exciting cases that happen, but but we hear it all the time from practitioners on good patient outcomes and how well patients are responding to the care that they receive.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I have one thing to tell you here. Um I don't have a practice because I'm gone a lot and I found out that I had to be there. And so Randy Widmeyer took that practice because he worked for me for five years. And he's got a huge practice. But the other day, my neighbor in my neighborhood where I live, he's 90, and he uh has a walker, and he put the walker to a different setting and he threw his neck out. So he said, I know you're not practicing Aron, but he said, I know you will take care of me. And I said, Sure, come to the office. So I he came down to the corporate headquarters yesterday and we put him on a high low table because he couldn't get on and off a table. He had one thing out. He had a fifth cervical, and that was it. Now, if you would have gone in and started doing things to him at ninety years old, who knows what would have happened. He got off the table and he said, Well, now that feels better, let's readjust that walker. And so it's knowing where, when, and when not to. And that's still the key that I keep preaching.
SPEAKER_03:That's the golden rule. Yes. Yeah. And I think it's important to remember that when you walk into practice every single day and you see your patients.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you see, doctors and patients equate good care by how much you do to them. Right. And uh oh, I have another patient. Uh she's an OBGYN surgeon. Comes to my house because I happen to have a friend who's a pediatric, he's a cardiovascular surgeon. And she had a shoulder so bad she couldn't hardly do robotic surgery anymore. And uh she came in and we we finally found out what was causing it. And you you'll fall over. That's the other thing. You've got to ask them questions. What's what's causing you to do this? They built a brand new clinic, and my wife is happens to be on the board of the hospital, and in it they put doors on it or sliding doors that are so heavy that it threw her arm out to move the door. And so my wife always gives money to that hospital at the end of the year, so she's going to the hospital now saying, let's put two different doors in so we don't kill our surgeons. But I mean, just a simple thing like a door that was so heavy, it was throwing her shoulder out. Right. And and her front rib cage was out. So now she's had three or four adjustments and she's, you know, feeling better.
SPEAKER_03:Dr. Ford, so another highlight from this past year is we had this outstanding seminar that was face-to-face at your alma mater and my alma mater, Logan University. So talk a little bit about what happened that weekend and how wonderful it was.
SPEAKER_02:Well, everybody's been wanting, you know, in-person seminars. And so we thought, well, let's just do it, but let's do it differently. Let's do it at a college. So we did it at Logan. We had a sellout. We had to stop registration because we got to 100 and couldn't handle anymore. And it was all advanced people that hadn't been in a seminar for a couple of years or maybe five, and they were thrilled to see what was new and see how we were going to teach it and what happened in it. And the format was interesting too, because I taught that post-surgical care. That was a nice session for the people that are, you know, taking care of geriatrics. Then Dr. Petraco taught a thing on women's health and risk management. And then we had Jamal Davida taught a basic class. So if somebody was brand new and they wanted to come in and take the class, he was there to do that. And then we had uh Zayngaard, he taught the in shoulders upper extremity. So it covered kind of all the bases. And I think the other thing that was very successful was Saturday night because we had an open bar. And I think people just wanted to have fellowship and with people that they could talk to and people that agreed with them on things. And so I heard uh comment after comment, and I got letter after letter, we got to do this again. So we talked to Dr. Bushway at uh Northwestern, and um she's a friend, and she has been very successful. Northwestern had its biggest enrollment this year under her leadership, and then also uh they have the highest grade rating of students to get past their boards is at Northwestern. So they've got a couple of really good things going on at Northwestern. So we talked to Dr. Bush when we're in the process of negotiating that right now. It'll probably be in April or May. That's kind of where we're looking now. We don't want to go in snow time in February. We'll go later. But we will go do it at the college. So if you're a Northwestern graduate and you're alumni, you may want to come in uh April or May to the Activator Seminar. I think you'll have a really good time.
SPEAKER_03:And you know, it's it's exciting when we get to go to college campuses because many of many practitioners haven't been to different campuses, they haven't seen it. And to get to see the innovative technologies of how students are being trained nowadays and entering into practice, it it's really exciting to see. And um, you know, I think it's gonna be a wonderful time at Northwestern. And I think they're gonna be wonderful hosts for us to be there and to be collaborative with them. And I look forward to it. Now, there's something else very exciting that's going to happen during that time. And and a lot of times I think individuals forget that that Activator was actually innovated and born and birthed in Minnesota. So tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it was Redwood Falls, Minnesota, home of the Inventors Congress. Now, isn't that crazy? And by the way, the Inventors Congress was gone by the time we were inventing things. But I thought that was interesting that it was the home of the Inventors Congress. And I don't know if you know this, but um the orthopedic surgeon that I had on my podcast said, I have six uh patents. And uh he said, I, you know, and different type of hips that I've done. He said, Do you have any do you have a patent? And I said, last count was 17. And he said, Oh my God, I didn't realize that. And I said, Well, I've been at it a long time. And we have like a hundred copyrights and things like that. So we protect Activator, and that's why Dr. Petraco is coming in to take over Activator, because we want to have a smooth transition and we want to have the things that are dear to the Activator people keep going in the future when I'm not here, and that's something that has never been done, Gonsted Thompson. All of those folks, when they passed away, so did the technique, and it was brought by some people, but it never had a corporate entity. Thanks for listening to Activate Your Practice Podcast. Remember, this is brought to you by Soft Tech Table Company. You can find more information on this table at softtechtables.com.
SPEAKER_01:Softtech manufactures specialized treatment tables designed to help chiropractors who utilize the activator method maximize their time and the success of their procedures. Upgrade to the only adjusting tables endorsed by Activator Methods at SoftechTables.com.
