What's The Difference Between Upper Cervical Care and General Chiropractic?

Main Differences between Upper Cervical Care and Full-Spine (General) Chiropractic

A lot of people I meet and talk to are curious to know the differences between full-spine chiropractic and what I do as an Upper Cervical practitioner.  Although there are numerous differences, I highlighted below my version of the greatest differences between the two.

1)  Upper Cervical Care uses objective science in order to make clinical decisions. Upper Cervical doctors don’t rely on our subjective reasoning such as “what we feel,” or “how we think your nervous system is working,” as the majority of full-spine chiropractors do.  Upper Cervical Care uses objective instrumentation to determine if there is interference to your nervous system, which takes the human error out of the equation.  Also, x-rays are absolutely vital for a patient to qualify for Upper Cervical Care. Without the x-rays, we won’t be able to pinpoint to the exact millimeters and degrees of your individual misalignment, and therefore will not be able to help you.  With that said, Upper Cervical Care is specific or its nothing.

2) NO TWISTING, CRACKING, CRUNCHING, OR POPPING.  Why does it make sense to push a joint to tension, and then past the physiological barrier of the ligament’s laxity to move a bone?  That’s the definition of manipulation, when we have to put abrupt forces into the spine to get something to “move.”  It’s simply unnecessary.  Upper Cervical Care takes a CONTROLLED, SPECIFIC, and GENTLE approach to moving the bone without compromising the cartilage and ligament laxity/strength.  There is no need for any of the cracking or awkwardly twisting of the patient’s neck.  With Upper Cervical Care, the patient is in a very relaxed state and barely feels the correction take place.

3) An additional difference between UC Care and Full-spine chiropractic is how we define the word healing.  Upper Cervical Care defines healing when you are HOLDING your correction, and thus the brainstem has no interference relaying the messages and signals from the brain to the rest of the body.  

In full-spine chiropractic, more emphasis is placed on the adjustment itself as to how the body heals (the instant removal of the bone off of the impinged nerve).  However, that bone will continue to get pushed, pulled, and cracked on for the next several weeks, to months, to years with no objective science telling us whether the bone needs to be moved that day or not.  In Upper Cervical Care, if you are holding your corrections, we have scientific and objective evidence (via infrared thermography) that proves that your body is or isn’t healing.

4) How often does my spine need to be adjusted?  With Upper Cervical Care, you WILL NOT get adjusted every single visit.  If we make an intervention to your spine EVERY visit, two things are happening:

a.      You aren’t healing because you are in constant need of an adjustment due to brainstem interference, and/or

b.      The doctor isn’t doing his/her job correctly.

The goal of Upper Cervical Care is NOT to adjust you every time.  It’s to make sure you are holding your corrections, which means your body is working optimally.  Are our spines really so weak that the same bones misalign out of place on a monthly, weekly, or even a daily basis?  Wouldn’t it make sense that your body will eventually get strong enough and learn how to HOLD the correction?

Your body learning to hold the correction is similar to going to the gym for the first time.  If you’ve never worked out before, and you go to the gym thinking you’re going to curl 30 lb. dumbbells and be fine the next day, you’re terribly mistaken.  That would be a complete and total shock to your body’s muscles and nervous system.  You will be very sore for days if not more than a week!  However, I can guarantee if you continue to do that same workout on a weekly basis, eventually your body is going to adapt and get used to it.  Not only will you not be sore from the 30 lb. workout, but your muscles may find it too easy and be ready to move up to 35’s!  The body is very smart.  If you tell it what to do, as long as there is no brainstem interference or immune compromise, it’s more than likely going to do it, and do it well.

Same thing goes with Upper Cervical Care.  Once we teach your body how to heal, it should do better and better with each subsequent correction.  As the healing process takes place, your body won’t need constant corrections and interventions to your spine.  If anything, interventions to the spine when unnecessary can actually do more harm than good!  Without scientific instrumentation to tell Upper Cervical doctors when and when not to make correction, it becomes a guessing game with your health, and that’s never a good idea.

If you have any questions regarding the difference between Upper Cervical Care and Full-Spine Chiropractic, please email us at ucwilmington@gmail.com or give us a call at (910) 769-2293.  We would love to hear from you.  If you are interested in scheduling a complimentary consultation for you, your family, or loved ones, give us a call and mention this blog post!

Until next time, hoping for a healthier North Carolina,

Dr. Josh

910-769-2293

Check us out on the web for more information on Upper Cervical Care!

Why I Became an Upper Cervical Doctor

Why I Became an Upper Cervical Doctor

      Hello everyone. In the past few years, many people have asked me why I chose to become an Upper Cervical Doctor. Depending on the day or the particular situation; I give people 30 to 60 second explanations on why I do what I do. At times, that short encounter gets the point across, but in reality it barely scratches the surface of what burns inside me.

     When I was 21 years old, I thought I was as healthy as I could be. My diet was the best had ever been, I was running sprints, lifting weights, and getting plenty of sleep every day. My body was like a machine. I was unquestionably in the best shape of my life. So I thought. Little did I know, I was as sick as I’d ever been; I just didn’t ‘feel’ sick.

     So, before we dive into my story, allow me to go over a very elementary anatomy and physiology lesson with you. Our body is made up of trillions of cells. Everyone knows that. Those cells work together in different structures and networks and are collectively called tissues. Some of those tissues form muscles, some of them glands, and some of them our vital organs. So, you can make the very clear assumption that the cells in our body make up every part of our body. Have you ever wondered what keeps all of this running? What keeps our cells alive? What keeps our heart beating? What keeps our lungs inhaling and exhaling without even thinking about it? The answer is our NERVOUS SYSTEM. We go to the eye doctor to get our eyes checked and to meet our vision needs. We go to the dentist to make sure our teeth and gums are healthy. When was the last time, or have you ever had, your nervous system checked? If the nervous system is what controls our eyes, our teeth, and every other part of our body…. Doesn’t it make sense we should be concerned on how that’s functioning?

     Back to my story, that’s the sad realization that hit me in a not so kind way. In the general doctor’s eyes, I was as strong as can be. My resting HR, blood pressure, body weight, body fat%, everything was in tip-top shape. However, my nervous system, which controls every function in the body, was not working. Not only was it not working, it was breaking down on me.

My Upper Cervical Story

During the early summer of 2010, I was working at a car manufacturing plant for some summer cash. I was lifting heavy tarps that easily weighed over 60-70 pounds constantly from 7:00 am - 3:00 pm. I was pretty good at it due to the fact I was the only one in the plant doing it. Therefore, I had nobody to talk to or no distractions. So, I would sing my favorite songs out loud and just worked all the day long. It was peaceful, it was fun, and I got paid to move around and lift stuff. Every kid’s dream job! After work, I would go lift weights or run with my younger brother, and also played in a men’s league softball team. Due to a complication with my nervous system called a brainstem subluxation (more on that in a bit), all of this just severely wore down my body in a matter of two-three short weeks. I developed a severely painful and debilitating case of sciatica down my right hip and leg. Sciatica is very common and varies in severity with every patient. My discomfort can be described as sharp, electric-like stabbings all throughout my low back and leg all the way down to my ankle. It was incredibly painful to sit, twist my torso, bend down, or roll over in bed. Every day continually got worse. My relationships with my family and loved ones changed that summer. I was in so much pain and discomfort, my behavior, attitude, and outlook on life changed. I became bitter, and wanted people to be sympathetic with my problem. The problem was nobody knew what was causing it or how to fix it. I was going to a full-spine chiropractor EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK, getting STEM therapy, massage therapy, and adjustments five times per week. However, after every adjustment, it only got worse and the sciatica was even more debilitating. Within a matter of weeks, I couldn’t even get out of bed without tearing up from the pain. I also was driving over two hours to see a Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor once-twice per week to receive acupuncture, massage, and homeopathic herbal treatments for my pain. Needless to say, I had to quit my job before I really even got going. I spent a few good hours looking for the best surgeons from all over the country who could fix this for me. I narrowed it down to a Neurosurgery clinic in Texas, and the Cleveland Clinic for Neurosurgery. I was in so much pain I wasn’t even going to bother with doctors near my hometown. I wanted this pain gone, and gone forever.

What happened to my body? I mentioned earlier, I was in my early 20’s, best shape of my life, ate extremely healthy, as strong as can be. Why am I going backwards and why so quickly?

 By the grace of God and only the grace of God, I had heard about Upper Cervical Care before in the past from a co-worker. I kind of put that in the back of my memory and never thought anything of it. However, in such a desperate situation and in so much severe pain; I decided to try Upper Cervical Care before going under the knife. I drove 2 hours to get examined by Dr. Chad McIntyre of theTriad Upper Cervical Clinic in Kernersville, NC. Now to preface this doctor visit, I have been to MULTIPLE doctors looking to fix my problem. Everybody always looked at my low back and leg because that’s where the pain was. As I hobbled into Dr. Chad’s office in so much pain, he took me in the back to examine me. He didn’t look anywhere near my low back or leg. He asked me about it, but knew that wasn’t my problem. He took a few x-rays, and did some specific, Upper Cervical examinations, and explained to me that my nervous system was malfunctioning. He explained to me that the hub, or main control center of our nervous system, is our brainstem. The brainstem is what connects the brain to the rest of the body and is responsible for routing all of the messages from the brain to the body and vice versa, therefore being responsible for every function, and I mean EVERY function in our body.

     It extends from the brain down through an opening in the base of your skull. The inferior portion of this vital tissue is protected by the top two bones in our neck, or our upper cervical spine. Working much like a telephone cable, the brainstem has millions of individual wires, or nerve fibers, which send signals back and forth between the brain and every system, organ, muscle, and cell within the body.  We must have 100% brain-to-body communication in order to function properly and remain healthy.

     The top two bones in the neck are the only two in the entire spine that are held in place by muscle and ligaments. They are designed to move in six directions and are considered freely movable. Every other bone in the spine, not only have a disc in between adjacent bones, but also have multiple inter-locking joints that only allow the bones to move in 2 directions.  As a result, the top two freely movable bones are much more susceptible to injury misalignment. 

     If one of the upper two bones becomes misaligned, two things happen.  First and foremost, it irritates or interferes with the brainstem and negatively affects the messages from the brain to the body. Wherever those messages were intended to go, whether it’s your digestive system, pancreas, heart, immune system, or eyes; it is going to malfunction, become sick and possibly shut down. In my case, I blew out two discs in my lower back, and my body couldn’t heal it; due to the messages not being able to get through. My brainstem was having the life choked out of it, it was a miracle that I only suffered from my severe low back and leg pain, and nothing else.  Secondly, let’s view the upper cervical spine as a kinetic chain, connecting from head to toe. If either of the top two bones becomes misaligned, the rest of the body must compensate or adapt, resulting in total “body imbalance.”  In the end, your health and physical body will be compromised.  This condition is called a brainstem subluxation. In my case, my top bone in my upper cervical spine was misaligned, to the point where my neck, shoulders, spine, hips, and even down to my feet had to shift in order to compensate for this malfunction. This shifting caused my spine to curve and become weak to the point where I had my low back give out at such a young age.

     Dr. Chad explained that we needed to gently move the top bone into the correct place in order to give my body a chance to heal. If I didn’t have it fixed, I would just continue to spiral down and have even more severe problems down the road. Immediately after my first correction, my entire body started pulsating. My face felt like it was about to explode. I knew we were on to something with this so-called Upper Cervical Care. Dr. Chad was very understanding and had a very personable way of educating me about how the Brainstem Subluxation affects our bodies. He made it very easy to understand that although ALL the pain was in my low back and leg, that wasn’t the problem. He showed me how the brainstem is what controls every function of our body and how all of the brain’s healing messages go down through the brainstem in order to get to the rest of the body. Acting like a switchboard operator, if there is a glitch, kink, or complication at the level of the brainstem, the body is simply going to functionally and structurally break down. Within two days, I was bending down with ease and going up and down the stairs without hesitation for the first time in what seemed like forever. After receiving my second correction a week later, I was back to full strength. I went from not being able to tie my shoes or roll out of bed, and days away from wanting to schedule surgery, to playing softball and running sprints within seven days from receiving my first Upper Cervical correction. It truly was a miracle. I was forever thankful and fully convinced that this is what I need to do with the rest of my life. If I can make a specific correction to help alleviate pain and suffering for ONE PERSON, it can positively impact their life for the greater good. If I can do that for a few hundred people, we can affect the well-being of a neighborhood. If I can help restore health and wellness to thousands of people by helping their nervous system work more optimally, we change the mentality and health of an entire city. If we had Upper Cervical doctors in every town of every state and nation, we can change the health of the world. I think you get the point. It would be amazing to help this world become healthier and less sick, in a natural, non-invasive manner. There wouldn’t be a need for antibiotics, vaccines, or steroids to help with different conditions and illnesses. If our nervous systems were working at 100%, our immune system will therefore be working better, our organs will therefore work better, and our entire body will work more optimally. My Upper Cervical story was severe low back pain and sciatica. What’s yours? Do you have neck or low back pain? Headaches? Fibromyalgia? Multiple Sclerosis? Arthritis? Neuralgia? Or, do you understand the simple concept that your nervous system is what controls everything, and although you don’t suffer from anything to your knowledge, you want to make sure you, your spouse, and your kids are correctly routing the very important messages from the brain to every part of your body. Just because you don’t feel “sick,” that doesn’t mean that your body is working at optimal levels. Other than direct trauma, all disease processes and conditions take time to develop. In my case, I was sick, but “felt fine” for a long time before the weak link in my body, my low back, finally just quit on me.

     If you really want to be healthier, give Upper Cervical Care a try. If you need help finding an Upper Cervical doctor in your area, please contact me and I will do my best to direct you to the closest, most qualified Upper Cervical doc. Don’t be like me. Don’t wait until your body is shutting down, and you have symptoms, to pursue health. Be proactive; take that step! Live well! That’s my Upper Cervical story. My mission is to glorify and serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by bringing specific, Upper Cervical Care to anybody and everybody who wants to be healthier. Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made, take care of them. You only get one!

Until next time.

God Bless,

               Dr. Josh

ucwilmington.com

"You never know how far reaching something you think, say or do today, will affect the lives of millions tomorrow."     - Dr. BJ Palmer

Final Journal Entry

     The past three months I have had the privilege to leave school early and participate in an externship program instead of staying in Spartanburg for my final quarter. The externship program is an opportunity where students who finish their clinic requirements early can go out into the field and shadow an existing doctor of their choice for the remaining time of their school career. Without question, I chose to learn as much as I can from Dr. Chad McIntyre of the Triad Upper Cervical Clinic in Kernersville, NC . He changed my life and I am forever grateful for him and passion to bring healing to the world. The last requirement for graduation is to write a reflection essay to a prompt regarding my experience during the externship. So, this is what I turned in for my final paper, my final assignment, and my final departure from school on my way to becoming an Upper Cervical doctor.

Create an essay of reflection considering the totality of your observation experience and how it will inform your own decisions as you begin practice. Use specific incidents reflecting practices that you may consider positive or negative and comment on what you will take away from the situations

     I am very grateful that I got the opportunity to participate in the externship program this past quarter. I found it very beneficial for me to be getting constant advice and experience on a weekly basis. Dr. Chad developed a goals list for me during the first week regarding all of the objectives we wanted to get accomplished during this 10 week period. It seemed like every day there was one or two highlights that I picked up on that were very valuable for me in all of my decision making processes. Only because I have to mention negatives in the essay, (there really are none); the only negative that I can say about the externship experience is the travel distance from my place of residence to the office. There are simply not enough Upper Cervical doctors in North Carolina, or in world for that matter. If we had more doctors, we can help so many more people in areas that are underserved. People have no clue what we do as Upper Cervical doctors. There is an extreme need for more of us.

     

     However, I experienced a vast amount of positives during my externship experience that really gave me a lot of momentum in the future months as I begin practice. For one, I efficiently learned an organized system regarding processes for new patients. From first day case histories, explanation of policies and protocols, to the x-rays were so much more simplified and easier than what we did at the Sherman clinic. Our interns back at school take way too long to get a patient processed and under care under the current health center policies. Regarding day two, I learned easy systems on how to relay information to the patient regarding report of findings and the care plans. One of the most important things I learned during this externship was how to DISCUSS financials with patients. The Sherman health center handles all of that for us so we get absolutely no practice with it. In addition, the health center system does not operate in a way that is conducive with upper cervical care regarding when and when not to adjust patients. At Dr. Chad’s office, I learned how to discuss how the goal is not to make a correction every time and how the investment into their health is worth not being adjusted all the time. If there is too much adjusting going on, we might be doing more harm than good. If you truly educate people on your goals and objectives AND WHAT HEALTH IS, they understand and are on board with what you are trying to accomplish. I also learned how to effectively educate patients at the end of care plans and transition patients into wellness/maintenance.

     I also learned the ins and outs of running the front desk and the managerial tasks needed to operate the office. What Mollie and Sarah (office managers) do at the front desk is nothing short of amazing. They keep the practice running smoothly and without chaos. It was always good to walk through the front door and see their smile and know that they are truly happy to see you on that day. They make the patients feel welcomed and comfortable during their time at the office on an everyday occasion. Mollie was awesome during my time at Triad Upper Cervical Clinic. She gave me several resources, contacts, and advice throughout the entire process. She taught me so many things that cannot be taught in a classroom or through a textbook, but only in real life situations. Mollie also taught me how to run the software program in order to efficiently keep the front desk organized. She has been a great mentor and resource. I honestly expected I would be spending 100% of my time with Dr. Chad learning how a practice is operated going into the externship. However, Mollie was so receptive and willing to teach me all of what she knows; it has been a great blessing sitting at the front desk with her.

     In addition, I experienced huge leaps and gains regarding patient education. Not too many people know what we do as Upper Cervical doctors. So, educating the community is extremely important. Dr. Chad taught me how to perform health talks for new patient orientation classes, and how to run other education oriented events such as movie nights and screenings. Dr. Chad and Mollie even took an hour out of their late Tuesday night well AFTER the office had been closed and listened to me give a health talk to just the two of them. They were extremely encouraging and helpful providing excellent feedback and positive criticism. This along with other aspects of practice such as scanning and adjusting protocols created the greatest gift Dr. Chad and Mollie gave me during these three months, which was… confidence. They gave me the confidence to do this on my own in front of my community. Encouragement goes a long way no matter what the context or subject, in every aspect of life. 

     Dr. Chad was also an integral part in me getting my business set up. He helped with a countless number of tasks that I still to this day take for granted. He helped me with my location selection, my business startup documents, my equipment, my software programs, even to the type of furniture I use. Anytime I asked him, he had an immediate answer and I just can’t express with words on a paper how helpful he has been throughout this entire process. Not just during the externship these past couple months, but since Day 1 of starting school, he has been there for me without hesitation.

     Most importantly, this entire experience refocused me on why I’m doing this. I sometimes find myself concerned regarding paying back the hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loans. Dr. Chad’s meekness and true passion for simply HELPING people is both electric and contagious. I am truly grateful for everything he has taught me and will continue to teach me on my journey of seeking to do exactly what he does… which is care for others. Every person that I help in my practice can thank Dr. Chad for getting me to where I am. Without him, who knows what I would be doing… seriously, I have no idea where my path would have led if God didn’t choose to put Dr. Chad in my life at the EXACT time that He did, when I needed him most, when I was at my lowest of lows and the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced. He forever changed my life, and through God’s grace, and Dr. Chad’s passion for teaching and helping, I hope to do the very same in Wilmington.

     Finally, thank you to all the patients who let me sit in on your visits while working at Dr. Chad’s office. I appreciate your kindness and willingness to help me learn and absorb as much I could during your time at the office. The lessons learned were invaluable.

Merry Christmas and God Bless,

Josh

ucwilmington.com

Student's Journey of Becoming an Upper Cervical Doctor (13th Quarter)

Hey folks! The year is just flying by. My classmates and I are officially done with 12 quarters (3 years) of Chiropractic College, and are graduating in less than 5 months!! This has been such a wild experience. It is very fun to go back and read the past blogs I have written from close to three years ago and just see the growth, the maturity, and the change in focus and perspective from each year. Allow me to catch you up on the past several months.

        As previously mentioned, my classmates and me sat for the National Chiropractic Board Exams (Part 2 and 3) in March. We got the results a while back, and similar to Part 1 results, my entire class had a 100% pass rate! It was a very exciting time and we are still joyful simply due to the fact we never have to take those exams again. Every week that goes by at school, I have peers from lower quarters ask me about my experience and for all the advice I can give. I gladly give them as much guidance and help as I can, and at the same time thank God that I only had to do that once. It’s a stressful, expensive, and time-consuming phase of your career/life.  It takes a toll on your loved ones and your patience. Once again, I am very thankful to be done and be one step closer to becoming an Upper Cervical Practitioner! With three board exams down, I only have two remaining. I will be taking the Physiotherapy exam in September and Part IV board in November. Those are the final two steps that stand between me and that diploma that seemed so far away for so many days, but is now becoming a reality faster than I can actually grasp.

        If you read my blogs or ask anyone in Chiropractic College, their focus for the first two years of school is straight book work. You take 8-9 classes Monday-Thursday and sometimes Fridays, and study the majority of the weekends. Your focus isn’t on patients (although it should be), or setting up your practice (although it should be), or any business practices at all. You are just trying to get through the constant multiple choice and short answer tests that are written and underlined in red ink on your calendar. Once you get past that part, it is sort of a mini-graduation in the fact that the class load reduces drastically. However, now your main focus is on fulfilling all of the clinic requirements you have to do within the next 1.5 years and seeing your patients. So, for the next 6-9 months, you get bogged down with all of the paperwork, procedures, and protocols in order to take care of your patients in the most efficient way. After this past quarter, I feel like am now in a make believe 3^rd stage of my academic career at Chiropractic College. I’ve done the class work; I’ve done what I needed to do in order to be successful in clinic, and now come the logistics of becoming a doctor/business entrepreneur. Yes, I still have two classes this quarter, and yes I am still doing work in the clinic, but I feel like “I have been there, done that.” I feel that I need to be focusing on other stuff like opening up my business so I can help a community that doesn’t have Upper Cervical Care within 100+ miles in any direction. Therefore, in my free time, instead of studying or doing paperwork, I am learning about running a business. I am learning about commercial real estate, taxes, accountants, marketing, and budgeting. The thing is I don’t enjoy any of this. All I want to do is put a sign on the door that says OPEN and check as many people as my body will allow me to. Plain and simple, that’s not the case. I find myself up at night several times thinking about ways I should do this or that when I should be sleeping or doing something fun and enjoyable. So, to bring it all around, it just floors me how even 3-6 months ago, I wasn’t even thinking about ANY of this stuff, just class and clinic work. Now, every time I step in the doors of Sherman College, my mindset is completely different and set more towards what is to come instead of the present. Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing, I don’t know. I just wanted to express how it’s amazing in a few weeks, your entire mentality changes with this program. And trust me; I’m not the only one. My classmates are going through the same cycles/thinking processes and are making their preparations as well. I guess its all part of the journey that we call Chiropractic school. This world is sick. This world is hurting, and the sad thing is, people don’t know how to get better. They take a drug, a new medication, or just learn to suffer with it. They don’t know about Upper Cervical Care. It’s a tragedy. That’s OUR job. Not just for Upper Cervical doctors, but for YOU patients as well. Tell people the story. Tell them how the human body is absolutely amazing. If it is free of brainstem interference, it can heal, grow, strengthen, and prevent itself from breaking down and BE HEALTHY and BE WELL.

        In addition to this past quarter, I have taken two part-time jobs on top of going to school. I’m working as a community assistant for my apartment complex doing external marketing and maintenance work 3 days out of the week and some weekends, and umpiring little league baseball/softball on other weekends. I took these two jobs to stay busy as school is beginning to wind down, to get some more money due to the fact there is no guarantee I will be able to get any secured loans for my practice in a few months, and help pay for my upcoming wedding and honeymoon. I have enjoyed the two jobs thus far, but please don’t make any mistake; I am more than ready to solely be an Upper Cervical doctor. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get where you’re going. It’s all part of the journey, right?

I forgot to mention the classes we took this past quarter. Here is a list of the three classes:

Clinical Case Management IV

Diagnosis Review II

Communications: This 48-hour lecture/participation explores effective means of communication to develop the skills needed to communicate chiropractic principles effectively and accurately, utilizing all forms of media, including newspaper, radio, television and Internet.

That’s it! Two more classes and I will be done! I will be taking a Research class and the Exit Exam class. The exit exam consists of 9 different tests to show competency of the intern in several areas of study and is the last barrier between student and graduate. I am excited for all that my classmates and I have accomplished these past 36 months together. We took a multiple choice exam in one of our classes the other day, and I just stopped in the middle of it and chuckled to myself thinking, “How many times have I sat down and taken a multiple choice scantron in complete silence with these same 7 other people?” We have done it hundreds and hundreds of times together. I don’t want to say I am going to miss it by any means, but we have done it so many times that it’s surreal that it’s almost over. I’m excited of all that we have gotten through. I’m excited of what we are doing, and very excited for what the future holds! The countdown is on! Ready or not world, here we come. And ready or not Wilmington, NC, here I come!

Until Next time,

God Bless,

Josh

ucwilmington.com

 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”            Romans 8:28  (ESV)

Student's Journey of Becoming an Upper Cervical Doctor (12th Quarter)

With dramatized TV shows all over the place now, we have a pretty good idea of what a Medical School student goes through during their schooling and residencies. We hear about the different ups and downs of law students constantly reading tons of books and preparing for their Bar exams. However, does anybody really know what a student goes through to become an Upper Cervical Chiropractor? This was a question that was thought up by my mentor and really good friend Dr. Chad McIntyre of Triad Upper Cervical Clinic in Kernersville, NC. He wanted me to document my experiences as a student going through the 3.5 years of post-graduate work in order to become an Upper Cervical doctor. The program consists of 14 quarters (instead of 7 semesters), so I wrote a blog or diary entry before the start of every quarter reflecting on the past, present, and future. Looking back now, it cracks me up regarding what I decided to write about back then, but that’s where my mind and heart was at the time during the journey. The program consisted of many ups and downs, mountains and valleys, and a lot of sacrifice and time away from my loved ones. But, it was all worth it because now I have the blessing of bringing the power of Upper Cervical Care to anyone wanting to take control of their health in a natural, safe, and scientifically proven way of doing so. 

It’s good to be writing again. This means my classmates and I have concluded another hard-working quarter at Sherman College. We are officially done with 11 quarters, and are less than nine months away from graduation! It’s all very exciting. I had a great start to the year and once again enjoyed my clinic experience. We only had 4 classes this quarter, so let me give you a quick rundown of what we went through in the classroom for the past 3 months:

1)      Clinical Case Management 3

2)      Passive Rehabilitation – This is an introductory lecture/lab course in physiotherapy covering theories, principles, and the use of standard physiotherapy equipment used in treatment protocols and care plans. NOTE: this is a REQUIRED class for North Carolina. This is NOT chiropractic. We just have to learn this stuff to get licensed. It’s basically a rip-off of Physical Therapy, and it treats the symptoms, not the PROBLEM!

3)      Practice Management- This lecture/discussion course is designed to prepare the student for the realities of opening and maintaining a successful practice. Sound business principles are stressed, with emphasis on building and maintaining a referral practice. Goal setting, planning, obtaining financing, patient management, taxes, insurance, and principles of investment are covered. Students develop purpose statements and goals for their practices, build an organization structure to meet their purposes.

4)      Automated Office Procedures

As mentioned in the previous blog, my classmates and I took Part 2 and 3 of the National Boards just the other weekend for our licensure. It was a quite the weekend. We started on Friday at 7:45 AM, and finished our last test around 4:00 PM. Saturday and Sunday were from 8:00 AM to noon. A total of 16 hours of testing with breaks in between of course. It was an interesting experience. It was definitely a mind game. You have to have patience and take mini-breaks throughout the test to keep your sanity. However, I believe it was a big success for my classmates and I. Part 2 was actually easier than Part 1. Part 3, on the other hand, was extremely challenging and intimidating. We will get the results back at the end of April. If we pass these two exams, we will just have two more (September and November) board exams to go until being completely done!

        So, I have two cool patient stories this quarter. Well, all my patients are cool, but two in particular stand out to me as I stepped back and took time to reflect on the past three months. One patient came in to the health center and “just gets it.” The patient’s only complaint is that he gets bilateral sciatica running down both legs. He knew that Upper Cervical Care is not a guaranteed cure, but he just wanted to have his nervous system checked and make sure it is working the best it possibly can. FYI, those are the best patients. I told him why I do what I do as an Upper Cervical Practitioner and he was on board from day one. This particular patient taught me WHY ITS SO IMPORTANT we set up most care plans the way we do. When you first start under Upper Cervical Care, most patients will come into the office twice per week or even THREE times per week for the first month to two months. This patient had a very distinct and obvious pattern. There was never any question when he needed to be adjusted. For the first FOUR weeks, we had to adjust him EVERY time he came in. We would adjust, rest him for about 20-30 minutes, and then post-check him. The post-scan was straight as an arrow, nearly EVERY time. However, he would come in the next visit and be in textbook pattern. This process repeated itself every visit for the first month. I was starting to question my correction on why we were clearing the scan, but not getting it to hold. When we continued with the plan, he started holding! I haven’t made a correction in over 5 weeks. So, in summary, it’s very important to keep your scheduled plan of care accordingly. Upper cervical docs don’t just randomly think every patient should come in __ amount of times per week for the rest of their lives. It’s a PROCESS. Healing takes time. Some people walk into the clinic and have been walking around with their head on crooked and brainstem compromised for 30,40, or even 50+ years. It’s not always going to be a quick fix. There are some miracle cases, but if you let your body break down and deteriorate for decades, it will take some time to reverse all of the damage accumulated. But, if you stick with it, the body is soooo intelligent, and your body can be heading towards health and wellness the way it’s supposed to.

        My next patient was one of those one adjustment miracles. She has made some great progression. She went through quite the experience. Last fall, she was in a lawnmower accident where she drove off a 6 foot retaining wall head first, and then had the lawnmower fall on top of her. She was knocked unconscious for 24-48 hours and suffered a fractured right maxilla (cheek bone) that’s still inoperable to this day. Since the accident, she has also been suffering from chronic neck pain, extreme right shoulder pain, loss of SHORT-term memory, and the feeling of constantly being cold. Even on warm days, the patient wore gloves and wool socks every where she went because she constantly felt cold. Regarding the short-term memory, she said the most significant thing she noticed was she couldn’t go to grocery stores without a list. Before, she never needed a list to remember dozens of items she needed. After the accident, she would just walk around the aisles and have no clue what she was doing or trying to get. We took her x-rays, got her specific listing to the exact degree, and gave her one correction. Nothing happened. She said she just felt tired and wanted to go home, as she was expecting the pain to go away instantly. I called her the following night to see how she was doing, she said she hasn’t stopped drinking water since she left the clinic and both of her calves cramped up all night, and then was fine the next day. Weeks later, still clear of any brainstem interference according to the scan; her neck, shoulder, and even facial pain has reduced significantly, her short-term memory is back to what she said it was like before, and she hasn’t worn gloves since that day. Pretty amazing, huh? Did I do that? Of course not. All I did was move the bone in the right direction. God did the rest. God enabled her body to go through the drastic changes needed to help her regain her health. I didn’t do squat. The body is absolutely incredible

Get your brainstem checked! It controls every function of your body; why not make sure it’s working properly? Most importantly, get your kids checked. Kids not only respond better to this specific work, but they hold their corrections longer because their bodies haven’t gone through as many wear and tear incidents as we have. Until next time, have a great Spring!

God Bless,

Josh

Student's Journey of Becoming an Upper Cervical Doctor (11th Quarter)

Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed a fun and safe Holidays with their families and loved ones. Another quarter down at Sherman College. When talking with some of the younger quarter students at school, it amazes me how I felt like I was in there shoes like it was yesterday. Starting school, I would look up to and have so much respect and admiration for all of the students in clinic and would always ask questions. Now, the roles have reversed and it just amazes me how fast this entire process has gone. I will be done with school in less than one year. I told myself walking out of my last final in December, “This will be the last time I will have to take a test this time of the year.” Around December of next year, I will be concluding my externship and getting my new office up and ready. Afterwards, we will be changing the lives of patients in my community of Wilmington, NC.

        It’s funny, I was looking back at the previous blogs I have written on the past few quarters and it’s amazing how perspectives change. About a year ago, even six months ago, I was so burnt out. I was so tired of studying, couldn’t focus, losing respect for my professors, and just needed to get away. I talked about vacations, spending time with family, and when all that fun was over, I came back to school still burnt out and miserable some days being there. The grind finally took its toll and I was just ready for something new. After a nice Christmas Break, and only having 4 classes this quarter compared to the average 8 or 9, I am beginning to spend more hours in the clinic and am now enjoying my experience a lot more. I have built great relationships with my patients and am learning new things every day. I actually enjoy waking up in the morning and going to school to see and take care of my patients. Six months ago, I dreaded setting an alarm and had a difficult time pulling myself out of bed because I knew I had a 6-8 hour day in the classroom and then seeing patients was the last thing I wanted to do. Those 11 hour days (8:00 am – 7:00 pm) are no more! Moving on with life, the batteries are refreshed; and the days are going by very quickly now. Sooner than I know it, I will be getting married to the love of my life, taking my final board exams, graduating, and starting practice!!

        So, allow me to show you the six classes my colleagues and I completed this past quarter and then we will move on.

1)      Pediatrics/Geriatrics

2)      Public Health and Wellness

3)      Clinical Case Management II

4)      Active Rehab (Physiotherapy)

5)      X-ray Review

6)      X-ray Positioning III

Last March, my classmates and I completed Part 1 of the National Board Exams for licensing. This upcoming March, we will take Parts 2 and 3 on the same weekend. Believe it or not, I already started studying for it. Material covered on the test goes all the way back to 3^rd quarter up to what we just learned this past quarter. Needless to say, it’s a lot of information and the review packets somehow cram two years of graduate school material into 50 pages of notes. A lot of memorization and clinical recognition is needed to pass these boards. As of right now, my classmates and I have a 100% pass rate on the National Boards, hopefully, we can all keep that trend going. Part 2 consists of 660 multiple choice questions and Part 3 consists of 140 questions, for a total of 800. Good thing is a much needed Spring Break is the following week. 

So to some extent, this is what I will be doing the next 12 weeks.

In addition, with graduation less than a year away, it’s very important to start narrowing down where we are going to be. When discussing these matters with my classmates, it’s amazing the places that are going to be forever changed when these future chiropractors start knocking down barriers and changing how their communities will view health. The following locations have been discussed for my seven other classmates: Michigan, Ohio, Germany, Florida, Norway, another Michigan, and South Carolina. My fiancé and I have decided to go back to the town we fell in love with during our undergrad years, Wilmington, NC. This city has held a very special place in both of our hearts for the past few years and we always long to visit and relive all those memories. We both love it so much that we decided that’s where we want to start our lives together. Barring any amazing job offer or financial struggle between now and next year, you will be able to find me on the beautiful coast of North Carolina, God willing of course.

So, that’s it. The clinic has been an amazing experience thus far. I get better every day. I still don’t get the 100% results that I demand of myself every day, but who knows, I may never get there. But the journey is so worth it. Seeing those changed patterns, and sometimes even those straight lines are GIGANTIC blessings to me on a daily basis. I just wish every person in the world knew about this form of healthcare and dove in. But, I guess that’s our job right? No, not as doctors and future doctors, but patients as well. If your life has been changed by Upper Cervical Care, tell a friend, or two, or three, or nineteen. Every specific correction can only improve their qualities of life, what is there to lose? I hope everyone has a blessed year and that we all live our lives a little better and with a stronger purpose each and every day. Because every day that we wake up is a gift, we’re here for a reason; otherwise, we wouldn’t have breath in our lungs.

Until next quarter, I’ve really enjoyed sharing my experiences with you all.

Josh

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’”

Lamentations 3:22-24 (ESV)