Empowering Patients: Ask the Chiropractor

In this episode of 'Ask the Chiropractor,' we discuss the importance of seeking a second opinion and how chiropractic care can benefit individuals with various health conditions. With over 75 years of experience in the Rockford area, our clinic has a rich history of helping patients through chiropractic adjustments. We explore the concept of vertebral subluxations, their impact on the body, and why chiropractic care can be a vital addition to your healthcare routine. As a team of Palmer College of Chiropractic alumni with extensive experience in sports teams and a variety of medical collaborations, we emphasize the importance of asking a chiropractor for their expert opinion. Tune in to learn more about how chiropractic care could potentially improve your health and well-being.

www.rockforddc.com

Transcript

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Hello, Dr. Brant Hulsebus here and welcome to another edition of Ask the Chiropractor. Ask The Chiropractor is my little podcast that I do when someone has a question about chiropractic or chiropractic care, I try to answer. I'm a chiropractor here in Rockford, Illinois. I'm a proud graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic, and I'm happy to be the team chiropractor of the Rockford IceHogs. Let's dive into it. welcome to another episode of Ask the Chiropractor, and that's today's topic. Ask the chiropractor. This month we kinda have a theme about getting a second opinion. If you've gone to a doctor, and doctor tells you you have a condition, a health issue situation, to ask the chiropractor if you might be able to benefit from chiropractic care. I want to tell you a little bit about why this is a passion of mine. It's a passion of mine because I've been practicing since 2002. Before that, my father practiced with me and he started practicing in 1975, and before that, my grandfather practiced with my father and my grandfather started practice in 1949. We've been in the Rockford area for over 75 years of taking care of patients. We've accumulated a vast library of stories of different patients. Different people have come to see us for different health conditions and have benefited greatly under chiropractic care. That's something that makes us a little unique is the fact that we've been here for over 75 years of stories, 75 years worth of different patients, 75 years of different trends in healthcare, 75 years in different. Products, designs, gimmicks and everything else. And for the most part, our chiropractic clinic has just stayed the same. Now we have better x-ray machines today. We have better technology today. We have better communication today than we did previously with other healthcare providers. We have better relationships with healthcare providers than we previously had, but the adjustment that we deliver. And the intent of our adjustments and the goal of our chiropractic adjustment has stayed the same. You see, when you have a vertebral subluxation, that's when, where two of your bones are misaligned. And when they're misaligned, there's pressure on that nerve or stress on that nerve, and wherever that nerve goes, that stress goes with it and it tells that body part and you're under stress. And this is where medicine and US have always agreed. That nerve can go down. Let's say it's one of your C five, C six in your neck, that's where the misalignment is, the subluxation. That nerve comes out of there and makes what they call the brachial plexus part of the brachial plexus. And the brachial plexus is a vast system of nerves that go down your arms all the way down to your fingertips and medicine and us agree that if you have a subluxation there, there's a chance that you've lost some of your strength in your arm or your hand medicine and us agree that you probably lost a little bit of your range of motion in your neck. Medicine doesn't agree that the sensory part of that nerve might be affected, like where you feel sharp or soft in that area of skin. Innovated by that particular nerve medicine is and us agree that there might be pain or zapping or numbness going down your arm or burning down your arm. We agree on all that. Where medicine hasn't caught up with us yet is the fact that nerve also goes to an organ or a body part, and it can affect that as well. Now why they draw the line right there? I don't know. But typically, that's where the line is drawn. They don't believe me. They could go to the glands in your throat or maybe to your thyroid or maybe to other areas inside your throat. Now we've got decades and decades and decades of research and knowledge and firsthand clinical experience that people come in with that subluxation in their neck and they have arm and hand problems. But after we take care of 'em, their throat feels better too. Maybe their thyroid levels change too. Now, that's not the end all be all for everything. There's other reasons why those conditions could be happening, but sometimes it's simply because that misalignment's there. And so if you were to go to your medical doctor and say, Hey, should I try chiropractic for a thyroid issue, they're gonna tell you that's crazy. A chiropractic doesn't treat thyroid conditions. Just if you have a problem with subluxation in your lower back, let's say it's your L one, L two aventure hip flexor. So that hip flexor has been rotated. It's under stress. You are gonna have pain in your groin, especially when you go to lift your leg, and that muscle's gonna get so tight, it's gonna twist your pelvis. And when your pelvis gets twisted, you're gonna have a spot underneath your glutes that feels really tight, and that's a pure forus muscle. And the sciatic nerve goes above or below that pure forus muscle. And when that pure forus muscle stretched and tight and irritated, inflamed, it gets sticky and the sciatic nerve hits that goes down your leg and causes a sciatica. And medicine does agree in all that, but those same nerves that come out of that L one, L two that had your hip flexor attached to it, all of a sudden ate your small intestines. And so sometimes people tell me, is it possible I'm having bowel issues? Could it be related to this? And I say, absolutely. It could be. Now, could you have gone out and eat a whole bunch of junk food the day before and had bowel issues also? Absolutely. And that's got nothing to do with the subway station. Those bowel issues are ones you've earned. I always tease, but if you're eating healthy and you're having bowel issues, there's gotta be something going on. And a lot of times it's that subluxation going down. So if you went to a primary healthcare provider and you said, Hey, I'm having bowel issues. Should I go see a chiropractor? They're gonna look at you and say, probably not. I don't think chiropractor can do that. And see it's, in my opinion, it's unethical for them to tell you that. It's unethical for me to tell you that you don't need shoulder surgery. But I'm not a shoulder surgeon. It's not ethical for me to tell you that you don't need to get your cavity filled 'cause I'm not a dentist. But when some reason in our profession, it's always okay for them to tell you, you don't need to go to a chiropractor. Chiropractor can't do that. They've got zero education and zero knowledge on what we do, but yet they're an authority figure of whether or not you should seek US care. So that's why I started this podcast because I felt like we have information that we can help people with, and all too often people are told not to come see us, and we could have been helping 'em for a long time. As a chiropractor, it really irks me when I find out that somebody was gonna come to us a long time ago and never came because they were told a chiropractor can't help you. So when someone comes in and they say, I, I was told many years ago that I couldn't come here and see you. You guys wouldn't be able to help me. We give them care and they start getting better. And I thought to myself, oh my goodness, this person's been suffering this long the whole time. And we could've helped 'em from the start. And I just really it upsets us as chiropractors. So if you have been asking yourself whether or not you should go see a chiropractor, go see a chiropractor, go ask them. Okay. And now why would you come? If you're in my area, why would you ask us?, What is it about us that makes us unique? Well, I already covered our history. 75 years. All three of our doctors at this office are also graduates of Palmer College of Chiropractic. So my opinion, that's where chiropractic started. In my opinion, it's one of the best schools in chiropractic. That's, that's my opinion now. I'll go on record saying that, but'cause I'm an alumni from there. But yeah, we all went to the Palmer College of Chiropractic. We're also been the team chiropractors for the Rockford Ice HOKs, that local hockey team here, the a HL. Where we've worked with them, we've worked with basketball teams, we've worked with soccer teams, we've worked with baseball teams. We've worked with MMA fighters, we worked with the Rock Valley College Athletic Department, so we've seen lots of different athletes, but we also have certification and adjusting pregnant women. I've taken classes on taking care of newborn babies and pregnancy all throughout the whole pregnancy. I've also completed courses on concussion care. I've completed courses on. Wellness on Certified wellness we really value our continuing education in this office. To give you an example, every three years we're required to have 60 classroom hours since I've graduated, so every three years, basically 20 hours a year. The lowest amount of hours I've ever received is 280 of the 60 that are required. So I've always gone above and beyond on my classroom hours. Not only that, but we tried to maintain the family as leaders in the profession. Myself, I'm the state president of the Illinois Prairie State Chiropractic Association. I've been the rep of the national, our National Association for the State of Illinois. Now, for many years I've been at various committees when it comes to legislation both state and federal. I also have been able to work with the Pro Hockey Chiropractic Society, which Dr. Hayes is on the board directors of getting good access to great chiropractors. Hopefully someone says that about us too. But we go back to college all the time. We go back, we have students that come in here, Dr. Hayes, myself. Dr. Sam, we work with Palmer students all the time. We work with local area college students all the time teaching chiropractic.'cause if you're teaching chiropractic, then you gotta constantly keep getting better at it in order to teach it. If you had a question about American history, you'd probably ask American History teacher because they teach it so much, they know it so well. So that's why we always are trying to teach it. We're part of the High School Academy program here in Rockford, teaching the next generation students. So we're well studied, we're well rehearsed. We have tons of history. We're plugged into the chiropractic world. We have the sports teams, we have the colleges, we have Palmer College connections. We're there all the time. Myself, I'm a fellow of the college. That's the highest honor they give their alumni 'cause I go there and work with 'em all the time. We have state of the art, digital x-rays and all that fun stuff. And the other thing about being the team chiropractors for so many teams is we have direct connections with some of the best medical doctors in Rockford. So when you ask to ask the chiropractor, if you have a condition that's not chiropractic or you're beyond chiropractic care, we have the ability to refer you out. We have that because of the connections we've made to sports teams. Most of the best doctors in Rockford, I have their cell phone numbers. I know 'em by first name 'cause we sit together and we work together and we respect each other. So if you've been struggled with a healthcare problem, I'd highly, highly recommend you seek out a chiropractor and ask a chiropractor for their opinion. Now, going to a chiropractor, again, their opinion, does that mean you have to cancel whatever thing you're gonna have done? No. A lot of times you can come in and give us a try. You know, a good chiropractor should be able to look at your x-rays, your MRI findings, maybe do a little exam on you and give you a game plan and say, Hey, listen, come on in here. I'm gonna see you for X number of times. We're gonna do this and this and this, and by this date you should be experiencing this and this. And that's how we know we're on the right path. If you came to see me for a condition, let's say you came in and told me you're having heart issues and every nerve that goes to your heart is lined up perfect on your x-ray. I'd probably tell you to stick with the cardiologist, but if you came in and saw me and you told me you were having heart issues and your C one and your T one and T two have major problems, I would tell you let's correct those subluxations and see if your body can take care of itself afterwards. We don't treat heart conditions, we treat subluxations, but by clearing out subluxations, people can heal. So there you have it. So please, please, please, if you have a question about chiropractic or chiropractic care, please ask a chiropractor. Go and leave a comment below wherever you are watching this or listen to this or seeing this, and maybe next time you'll be the question of the week. Thanks for listening, and again, please shoot me your questions.