Best Way To Market An Upper Cervical Practice | Internal Marketing & Patient Referrals
February 11, 2010 by drhambrick
Filed under Upper Cervical Forest
WOW, what a weekend for UC seminars. Dr. Dave Topping, assisted by Dr. Jim Fiore, gave a great Blair Intermediate in LA last weekend and apparently the docs were so fast that the side posture tables are still smoking!!!
Meanwhile in Davenport, Drs. Todd Hubbard, Rob Ohlsen, and I gave the Blair Advanced seminar this weekend and examined 24 students for proficiency (allows them to use the technique in clinic) Regardless of your UC technique, you’d be proud of the accuracy and dedication of these young students. They are sharp!!!
If the next time you see me I am wearing a tweed jacket with arm patches and have a ‘professorial’ (nose in the air) aura as I strut around, it is because I am ‘published’! What am I rambling on about? The Journal of Chiropractic Medicine has informed us that they are publishing our Inter and Intra examiner reliability study on Blair Protracto views. We took one hundred atlas-condyle views and had 26 students and doctors view the films…twice. The amount of agreement regarding the misalignments was impressive. Nice to know we are all seeing the same subluxation we are trying to correct. Although Drs. Hubbard and Brett Vowles (with an assist from Dr. Susan Hooper, DC, Ph.D.) did most of the work, I did get credit…so as my high school football coach told me, the last guy on the pile gets his name announced as the tackler!!!
Speaking of being published, Dr. Mike Burcon has done it again! He just had a Trigeminal Neuralgia case study printed. Rhonda Tomasi forwarded me this: Dr. Burcon also published a paper on Meinere’s case study of 157 patients. He is offering a seminar in June for young UC DC’s and patients. Contact him in Grand Rapids (drburcon@sbcglobal.net) for a pdf information brochure. Check out the attached paper from JVSR and I think you may be impressed with the conclusion:Conclusion: This case study demonstrates the effectiveness of cervical specific care as an alternative to medication or surgery for the control of pain associated with TN.
At lunch on Saturday, we brought in pizza and showed The Power of Upper Cervical (there must be some reversed Dorian Gray thing going on as I look older each time I watch it!) Anyway, the students loved the video and I wrapped it up talking about some amazing pediatric recoveries seen in Dr. Dan Kuhn’s office and then encapsulated the What Time Tuesday? story of James Tomasi. Rhonda Tomasi wrote me this: Check James’ calendar at www.whattimetuesday.com if they are interested in asking him to speak at a Patient Appreciation Dinner? He is in CA, TX and MI in the next few months. Check out the attachment regarding James speaking at the ‘Open House’ at the new UCHC clinic in Rome this upcoming weekend. Does he ever stay home???
Need some UC equipment? Dr. Eric Russell, instructor at Parker College, has a nice collection for sale. Check out the details: http://s858.photobucket.com/
One of the best ways to promote your practice is ‘in house’. A referral practice in which patient already know you fees; that you don’t adjust on each visit (HOLDING IS HEALING); that you will not be manipulating the lower back; that have a support group of like-minded friends already under UC care;…takes the worry out of a practice. With ‘in house’ education, posters are imperative and the UC poster guru is Dr. Daniel Clark. Check out the attachment of his latest. I hung one upside down just to see if the patients are paying attention!!!
After all that feelgood stuff regarding the growth and acceptance of Upper Cervical, now I have to deal with the latest Atlasprofilax (or whatever their name is this week, as they leave town the moment an adverse reaction is seen!) Anyway, they are starting to advertise that they are “better” than Upper Cervical!
Here is the latest:
Here is the latest:
My opinion as expert of the first 2 cervical vertebrae:
The method of Upper Cervical is based on a wrong principle – therefore the gotten results are limited – without counting the fact, that the treatment must continually repeated with considerable costs.
The cervical zone of the atlas is a so important and central point, that alone a slight movement of the zone give benefits. Different techniques have been developed – almost all of these techniques have in common that they have to be continuously repeated to maintain some benefit. The method of Upper Cervical doesn’t make an exception.
The problem is:
The ligaments and the articular capsule that hold together the atlantooccipitale (occipitocervical) are very tight, the ligaments almost doesn’t have at all elastic structures – together with the strong and short musculature this zone become a special character respecting the impulses given to this zone (as in the case of the solenoid of the Upper Cervical) – the given impulses are pulled back as with a spring. As soon as the treatment is finished everything which was moved returns as before – exactly as before. However, some benefits remains because there are many receptors which are stimulated and as I pointed out already alone a slight movement of the zone give benefits. Unfortunately this benefits don’t remain for long time.
To move really the first cervical vertebra and to achieve permanent results one requires other methods:
Not an impulse – but a strength also of a certain entity that extends the vertebra in the course of time to the correct points. Of course, previously (before the treatment) the relevant musculature must be loosened carefully.
This is done with the atlantotec method and the obtainable results are of a completely different significance. The correction is made in the most greater parts of the cases in only one time and a definitive disappearance of the symptoms often was noticed.
Another defect of the Upper Cervical is, that it is only tried to correct the lateral misalignment, while the greater part of the people also have a rotation of the atlas up to 8 degrees. This is not corrigible with giving an lateral impulse (correction) as it is done with Upper Cervical.
The Atlas has a three-dimensional move on more aces – therefore with a treatment “a blow and ready” much cannot be reached. The AtlanticTec treatments lasts well 80 minutes in those are done different things and not only some “milliseconds”.
The things I affirm, I can show with spiral CT and I am very open for the one who wanted to show me the opposite. Through a direct comparison one always can learn something.
With this writing I don’t denigrate the method Upper Cervical – since UC is the opinion, to do something is better as nothing at all – since it is not dangerously and in the worst case happens. The normal chiropractors do many more damages trying to manipulate the upper cervical zone
Alfredo Lerro is from Atlantotec (swiss) – www.atlantotec.com
That’s OK, I’m changing professions next week as I just finished my weekend brain surgery course!!!
This wonderful profession, discovered by D.D. Palmer, developed by B.J. Palmer, and advanced by many luminaries who have gone before us sacrificing substantial time from their families refining chiropractic and even being jailed for their convictions, obviously has enemies…from both within and without! The above ‘Profilax’ is an obvious example of an external enemy (along with MD’s, DO’s, P.T’s, Orthopedists, Physiatrists, massage therapists, Homeopathic Physicians, pain management clinics,…and everyone else touting ‘manipulation’) But another enemy is within! Read Dr. Christopher Kent’s article in the February 12th Dynamic Chiropractic titled Drugs, Chiropractic, and Boiled Frogs and you will find how extensive a small part of our profession is pushing (literally) drug inclusion (Oklahoma and New Mexico especially). Imagine the tarnished image of our profession as iatrogenic drug illnesses, needle infections, unnecessary deaths,… develop because a small % of our profession doesn’t get THE BIG IDEA. Imagine our malpractice rates!!!
Back to UC. Here is a case of Dr. Stan Pfeifroth we could all learn a lesson from regarding referring: Had an interesting case, a 14 year old boy, had been under my care before for low back pain, presented with posterior headache (base of the skull) of about 3 weeks, the last 7 days or so it was worse with swallowing, had been to an internal medicine doctor and an EENT doctor, who could find nothing, meningitis was ruled out, had a slight low grade fever off and on, an elevated c reactive protein blood test, the headache was relieved with meds but came back quickly, we did cervical x rays, and had obvious atlas axis misalignments, had 1.5 inch short leg with positive cervical syndrome, adjusted him C1 ASR and C2 ALS and tapped his coccyx, after I adjusted him he reported immediate relief from headache and the swallowing did not exacerbate headache as it did before, but during the evening after the adjustment he felt extremely bad, worse than before, checked him the next morning, legs balanced no cervical syndrome but still feeling terrible, I never had seen a case of swallowing causing headache, so I sent him immediately that morning for MRI. He had a huge retropharyngeal abscess, with some fluid from base of skull down the neck, was operated immediately to drain cyst and treat the infection. The doctors told me it was a life threatening situation and is very hard medically to treat since the infection was in the deep fascia, do not know if Innate could have handled it on its own but his parents were grateful that we found the source of his problem and I was glad to clear out the upper cervicals to help his recovery. It was not a chiropractic triumph but I was glad not to be one of the doctors that missed the diagnosis and glad that I did not perform a classic cervical rotary adjustment as that could have possibly ruptured the abscess. So far he is doing fine
I know, this e-mail is as long as your tax form! So I will have to wait until next week to tell about the amazing RETRACING experience of one of Dr. Rob Ohlsen’s patients…how’s that for a cliffhanger???
In case you wondered what our fearless leader, Blair Society prez Dr. Drew Hall, has been up to, I’ve attached a summary of his ardous week of fly fishing in Argentina! His “Day in the Life” will be printed in the next Palmer Beacon and here is a snipped of what has happened since he returned to the office: My first day back was met with five new patients. One family brought their five year old in with autism, and after hearing the introduction to Upper Cervical, her four year old daughter who had been battling a four week long sinus infection also started. Both were corrected and scheduled two days later for their follow appointment. The mom was shocked that her daughter, who had had green boogers for four weeks, mysteriously woke the next morning with clear nasal drainage. And the following morning had no drainage whatsoever! Isn’t Innate great? I’m going to suggest Drew write this up as a case study but would suggest he change the “green nasal discharge” terminology!!!
Take care-
Tom
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