on your shoulders.

Habit #8 --Teach your child how important they are to you.

One of the best habits you can develop in your child is to teach them that they matter. That what they say matters, what they do matters, and that they matter very much to you. You may think, “Of course they know they matter. I’m their parent, I do everything for them. The deal is, they don’t see that. They have no concept of what life was like before they came along, so they don’t know how they have impacted your life. Consequently, we may act under the assumption that they realize that we spend all our time and money on them, rather than on us. Focus on taking the time to listen especially. When you take the time to listen to your child, instead of brushing her off, you are building connections. When you respond in a manner that validates her feelings instead of invalidating them, you are teaching her to be caring. When you help her to choose appropriate actions, you are helping her to be more competent. Trust me, they hear you. From their point of view, it can be difficult to think about themselves as having power, or worth. That is something we as parents, are uniquely situated to present. Don’t waste the opportunity to make someone’s day or lifetime.

Study after study demonstrates the importance of social interaction in determining a child's future. Geniuses who are socially inept will rarely do more in life or go farther than someone who gets along with people. Those "people skills" come from a childhood of interactions that have empowered the child. Nature vs. nurture is moot and passe. You play the biggest role in determining your child's success in life.

No pressure.

ouch.

Tired of talking. Enjoy pics of our Athletic Extravaganza.

Invitation

belted.

More healthy habits from a presentation I wrote.

Habit # 7 -- Teach your kids to wear safety belts.

Child safety seats and belts are referred to as the "wonder drugs" when it comes to saving the lives of children. "If seat belts were medicine, they'd be wonder drugs," says Chuck Hurley, spokesperson for the National Safety Council. "Instead they're like aspirin--so common that people forget how beneficial they are in preventing death and serious injuries."
Nevertheless, too many parents give in to the complaining and resistance from their children and drive without having them buckled into their seats. Six out of every 10 children killed in crashes are unrestrained by either seat belts or child safety seats. In 1997 an 1,244 of the 2,087 children under age 16 killed in crashes were completely unrestrained. In this day and age, there are still parents out there who neglect to put their kids in safety belts. I cannot fathom why anyone driving a car would do this. Additionally, developing the habit of safety will run as a theme in everything you do together. When safety is a habit, that’s a good thing.

There should be some wildly disproportionate penalty for parents who don't seat belt their kids. Public shaming, hot-foot, something. It's just unreal that some parents don't do this.

solo tip

I just realized I'm on no one's team. I complain about the cult that is modern medicine and it's mockery of real science. At the same time I admonish (excessively, perhaps) other chiropractors when they break down and call me for advice. For some time now I have felt like there isn't anyone else doing what we do so well at the office.

I mean, I have always known that there isn't any other office actually working to give great health care as passionately as we are, an office where getting patients healthy is just the start of what we want to accomplish. Lately though, I have felt like anywhere I go, or speak at, or consult at, that I am the singular one of my species as a physician. It's not just that I feel like no one else is as driven (crazy), I feel like no one else is even trying, like I'm the only one who is even attempting to deliver heath care in our model. That means one of two things doesn't it?

1) The current healthcare model for my part of the world is wrong or;
2) I'm wrong

Well that's sobering.

everywhere signs.

I saw this sign at the dermatologist's office. Wow.

I realize that with insurance reimbursements dropping that doctors need to see more people in order to make the same amount of money (they do anyway, we are still seeing only the people we want to see), but this is grade-A malpractice. How the hell do you (the patient) know what is important or not important each time you go to the doctor? Is that a mole or a carcinoma? Is Timmy's cough nothing to worry about or TB? Are you putting on a couple pounds or is that a giant sebaceous cyst about to burst on your dinner guests? You don't know! You aren't the doctor so why in the hell shouldn't you be asking these questions.

But the doctor doesn't have time to answer all my questions!

Then find one who does! Jeez, get some respect for yourself and your health. Find one who hasn't built his practice around a failed paradigm and can make time to speak with you rather than treat you like you are a waste of time.

But you see people quickly, how is this any different?

Not quickly, we see people the quickest. Chiropractic lends itself to consistent, rapid visits. This lets us stay up to date with your health concerns. How? Because we see you more often you don't have to ask us a bunch of questions, we answer them as we go. If something more important pops up, then we do our job as doctors, find the answer then follow-up with you at a scheduled time. It's a beautiful thing.

This is the problem with the wait-until-it breaks-then-try-to-fix-it or if-I'm-not-in-pain-then-I'm-healthy paradigms. Most of them cannot/do not operate at anything resembling efficiency, but in this economic environment they are being forced to. How do they feel about it? How is it affecting the business of health care? Who knows, they aren't the one paying the price (pun intended).

You are.

anonymous

We had a young guy in the office with eczema today. I get a lot of questions about how/what we do to fix it, and why it works. I can certainly understand how people new to chiropractic or who harbor some antiquated ideas (backcrackers) about what we do having some confusion. I probably don't help the situation either. If I'm in public with a mixed group of people (chiropractically mixed, I mean) and someone asks about eczema, asthma, or some other malady that is really not associated with chiropractic I will typically respond with:

"Yeah, we punch 'em in the neck, then they get better" or "I throw them down the stairs, then bill you for it."

Why do I do this?

I have no idea. I guess I just have a chip on my shoulder because not everyone recognizes how good we are at keeping people healthy. The bottom line is that I know we should be the first stop for keeping kids healthy in all of St. Charles and we aren't yet. That irks me. The fact that people don't know about us irks me. People don't send me cars, cards, baseball tickets, or get my name tatoo'd on thier arms, I guess that irks me too.

There is nothing worse than being fantastic and no one knowing it.

braggadocio

You get healthier when you come to Fink Chiropractic Centers.

Whether you like it or not, whether you care or not, you get healthier. You don't have a choice. Why? Because your state of health is the product of your knowledge of health. Think of it this way, if you really understood what was in soda I guarantee you wouldn't drink it or give it to your kids, even to shut them up. If you knew how that sugary b.s. was pounding your pancreas, depressing your immune system, and throwing rocks through your windows you wouldn't even think about eating it, no matter how good it tastes. The problem is that so many people make so much money off you being fat, sick, depressed, and addicted that they can fund ads for hours and hours. These ads mislead, misquote, and confuse you as to what is healthy and what is not. Better yet, they make their product seem "not that bad". Meanwhile your gut and spine are rotting while you cover up the symptom of back pain with pain killers.

Not here though, nope.

In our office, you get an education, and an adjustment. Nothing formal, no classroom style stuff, but every single time we see you we explain a different facet of human health. Because we usually will see you more often than medical check-ups we can build on your education. Naturally, you begin to make healthier decisions.

Because, if you don't, I ask you why.

If your medical doctor gives you recommendations and you don't do them, what happens? Doesn't much matter does it? You won't be seeing him again for months. You are much more likely to follow my recommendations because I'll be seeing you again on a shorter time table. This creates accountability, which I know is the second biggest problem with the current medical paradigm. No one takes any accountability for your health, and no one holds your ass accountable for your decisions.

No one, that is, except us.

You cannot argue with our methods or our results. 1000 spines a month, 6 years and I can count on one hand the number of people we couldn't "fix".

Bragging? Hell yes I am.

I'll show you cheap

I love all the attention that is being paid to how much we, as Americans, are spending on healthcare. Finally, the wasteful and unproven b.s.-ery that occcupies "healthcare" will be examined.

Why am I so happy about it?

Because chiropractic kicks ass, thats why. Even the most flat-earth, pill-popping, pin-headed, technophilic people out there must bow to our numbers.

What numbers?

I'm glad you asked.

An insurance company looked at people over age 75 and compared people who get adjusted with those who do not. The result? People getting adjusted reported less time in hospitals (21%) used fewer drugs, better overall health, and were more active than those who did not.

Another company surveyed people who had been using chiropractic care for more than 5 years. It turns out they spent 31% less than the national average for health services. That is a very big, very significant number.

In a study of more tan 2818 respondents a strong connection was found between those persons getting adjusted and a higher quality-of-life. So much so that 99% of the persons surveyed wanted to continue care.

Going to the doctor for costly, unproven, dangerous emergency care is a fools game, and always has been. It is time for the medical model of better living through better chemistry as the mainstream method of choice to be put where it belongs.

In the trash.

vehemence

Have you ever looked at the "comment" section on places like the USA today or AOL story pages. What a bunch of jackasses. Where are all these Internet tough guys coming from? I cannot believe some of the reasoning behind most of the comments that are made. It looks like this:

Comment 1 : Random comment loosely based on story, suspicious statistics
Comment 2: Sharp attack on comment 1's logic, assertion of superior logic with equally flawed statistics
Comment 3: Weak attempt to poke fun at comment one and two
Comment 4: Vicious rant with clear relationship issues and/or poor typing indicative of inebriation or "angry-type"
Comment 5: Pacifistic comment completely unrelated and generalized to the point of blandness
Comment 6: Personal attack on the mothers of commenters 1 and 2

Viva la interwebz!

told you so.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090119/MOMS/90119016


Not a bad article, except for the zany parts where they ask medical doctors what they think about chiropractic care. In all the medical doctors I have spoken with (that is, the ones who actually return my calls when I try to discuss patient care with them) I have encountered 3 that actually have a grasp on chiropractic care. Normally, I wouldn't care, but isn't it their job to know the best possible treatments for their patients?

If I thought a patient needed surgery, I would recommend it at the drop of a hat. In fact, it is one of the first promises I make to my patients when I meet them. Our allopathic colleagues have the same responsibility. Period.

Ranting aside, we have been seeing 20-30 kids a month for several years now, getting them healthy and keeping them healthy. We do this through hours of education and research on how best to keep these tiny titans bulletproof. It is our greatest responsibility.

Also, their expression is fun to watch when I tell them I am going to sell their spleens.

snow day

Early 2009 Rumination.

1. How in the world do they do the dancing animations for the Backyardigans? I would love to see an episode where they break-dance fight.

2. Will I ever speak with a medical doctor who has any clue what it is I do?

3. You cannot exercise and stretch your way out of significant subluxation. Period.

4. Sometimes you have to shove health down people's throats.

5. 2 year molars, we hates them.

6. I miss my barbecue pit.

7. Health is not the absence of symptoms, corollary to that; pain is not due to an absence of drugs or an excess of organs.

8. I drink too much coffee.

bring me your huddled masses

New dads, I have heard your pleas. I know the depths of your pain and am here to offer you the way out.

These are the things you need to do when you want to get your newborn or toddler to sleep through the night (or just go to bed).

1) Make a routine and stick with it no matter what. This is the hardest, but the most important. Little brains are busy shaving off white matter and gray matter and organizing new connections, its an awesome sequence of enzymes and catalysts. What does this have to do with you? You can develop a habit or pattern in those young minds by using the same environmental cues at the same time each day. Give the baby a bath, turn the lights down, read to him or her (no t.v.) in the baby's room. As much as you can, recreate the same scene every night. This is difficult for new parents who may still be used to the 'stay up till whenever thing'. Those days are gone. You traded them in for your bundle of joy.

2) Put the thermostat down and slowly back away. Most of the parents I speak with about this react like I just deleted their TiVo. I completely understand the desire to make sure the child is comfortable, especially when you won't be in the room. Understand that most humans will sleep better in a colder environment. It induces the sleep reflex. If your child is flush while sleeping, you may have too much heat for their sleep to be relaxed and uninterrupted. In general, if you have the room temperature below 70 degrees (F) you are in the ballpark.

3) See you in hell! Placing a sleeping baby in a cold bed will not work well for you. Especially when you think you've almost got the baby down. Using a warm towel or flannel sheets to warm that bed up or keep it warm will work wonders for you.

4) Just 10 minutes more, please. Drapes, shutters, black paint, anything but those airline eye patches to keep the room dark. This will buy you time enough time in the morning to get to the coffee pot, thereby saving everyone a rocky start.

4) Fight on! At first, the new routine will be annoying for both of you. Stick with it, over time the pattern will take effect, you will notice your baby getting sleepy as soon as you begin the routine.

5) Act cool. Any mom will have this information because they have already researched it 1000 times. What scores you monster points is then you know this information. Don't tell her I told you, act like you knew it on your own. She will be reassured that she selected you as a mate.

Let me know how it goes, and good luck out there!

assignment of blame.

"Dr. Fink, my doctor said I have pre-hypertension, he said I will need to start taking drugs."

"Tell him you are pre-death as well, ask him if you should be taking drugs for that. Also mention that you are pre-prostate enlargement, see if he will give you an exam. Ask him if he has any drugs for pre-high cholesterol so that you can eat whatever you want completely free of any physical responsibility. See if he has drugs that will let you spend whatever amount of money you want whenever you want and never have to pay it back. Tell him you are glad he doesn't take on the responsibility to educate you on the 7 ways that are more effective at reducing 'pre-hypertension' than just shotgunning drugs into patients. Ask him if he wants me to call him and give him a brief overview of human nutrition. Ask him if he thinks people get sick because they have a shortage of drugs in their system."

"Dr. Fink, you scare me."

"Yeah, I know. Doctor who cares right? That must be terrifying."

you stop it.

When you are driving down the road and the little red "check engine" light comes on, what do you do? Do you put tape over the light so you don't have to look at it?

If you don't talk to your wife for 1 month how is your relationship going to be?

Going to the gym once per month? How are those abs gonna look?

Walking once per lunar cycle? How is that going to impact your heart health?

When I in school I had a friend who could cram for tests like no other, the guy would eat books whole, then puke 'em out during test time. His grades were pretty good too and this was biochemistry we are talking about. It was impressive. My father in law has a large farm, on one part of it we have corn and winter wheat. How well do you think that wheat would grow if we just ran out there the night before we wanted to harvest and planted and watered the crop. Would it grow overnight? Is it possible to cram growth and development? Do you you think your health is closer to a cramming for test situation or a growing crop situation?

Stop with the b.s. about your health. You know it and I know it isn't going to work any other way that for you to eat right, sleep right, and get some damn exercise. Diets do not work, they never have, they never will. I don't care about the 3 or 4 people they plaster all over the magazine covers who used some miraculous diet.

Your body works on a universal set of principles similar to the principles that make corn grow. It can't be rushed or tricked. That is the truth, and you know it.

Is it inconvenient? Hell yes. Is it worth it? Ask someone who isn't healthy what they would give to be in your shoes.

skill sets

Lately we have been seeing a lot of new dads in the office. It's gotten to the point where I know the wife/girlfriend/co-conspirator is pregnant solely by looking at the man's face. I gotta tell 'ya, it's pretty brutal to look at sometimes. I have made it a point to pull them aside (the man) and issue several edicts that, if they follow, will make their (the man) transition into fatherhood that much easier.

1) Learn to get dressed in the dark.

If you wake the baby or the sleeping mother you fail and will be disparaged like the other scrub fathers when the moms get together. Your goal is to be the shining dad at these contests. Being able to get up, get your stuff, and get out without waking anyone up is a trick you should have mastered in college. If you did not, take the time before your baby is born to perfect it.

2) Hold the baby every chance you get.

One of the biggest fears that new moms have has nothing to do with junior. She is terrified of you. After many conversations with new moms I can safely tell you that she has nightmares that you will run away, cheat, become disinterested, or fake your own death. Holding the baby will reassure her that you aren't going anywhere (if you are going somewhere you really should have thought this through better) which will ease her anxiety. Believe me, you want her anxiety eased, it makes life better for everyone.

3) Get your kitchen organized and make room for the bottles or formula on a low shelf near the 'fridge.

Since babies only want food/drink once you are asleep this will prevent you from going insane and/or injuring yourself when trying to make a midnight bottle. That way, when you wake up and hear the call of the hungry child (piercing wail) all you have to do is go to the one place you were probably going to go anyway. Make sure this shelf with the baby paraphernalia stays neat and tidy. It will save your life. For God's sake, don't be a scrub and make her get the milk/formula. She is most likely breast feeding every 3 hours for the first couple of weeks if not months, when its time to bottle up, grow up and be the errand boy.

4) Arthas can wait.

When you have your first baby, you will not believe how much time you wasted screwing around everyday (when you have your second, you will not believe how you found time to conceive). You must be able to focus and schedule effectively despite the lack of sleep. If you try to fit in all the things you used to do (WoW, Halo, Parcheesi) and raise a baby you will destroy yourself. Do yourself (and her) a big, big favor and pick the thing you do to relax the most and focus on that. Besides, your progeny is way more interesting, I promise.