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Interviews
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Interviews
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Written by TAC Staff
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Monday, 24 December 2012 02:21 |
H oward F. Loomis, Jr., DC has been the leader in the clinical application of plant enzymes and is the person responsible for bringing food enzyme nutrition to the forefront of the health care field. After graduating from Logan Chiropractic College in 1967, he entered practice in Missouri and practiced there for 26 years.
 In 1980, he was introduced to the work of Dr. Edward Howell, M.D. and his Food Enzyme Concept in his books, Enzymes for Health and Longevity and Enzyme Nutrition. It changed the entire focus of Dr. Loomis’ practice.
In 1985, after years of work on the clinical application of plant enzymes, Dr. Loomis founded 21st Century Nutrition (now known as the Loomis Institute™ of Enzyme Nutrition) for the sole purpose of educating other health professionals on the use of plant enzymes.
He has lectured extensively at various chiropractic colleges as well as chiropractic state associations. He currently writes columns in several recognized chiropractic journals and other publications.
Dr. Loomis practiced continuously until the end of 1993, when he sold his practice, retired, and moved to Madison, Wisconsin to develop his own enzyme supplement company, Enzyme Formulations, Inc.
In 2002, the Loomis Institute™ was approved by the State of Wisconsin as an educational institution, a relationship that continues today.
In 2007 he joined with his alma mater to create the 72-hour Internal Health Specialist Certification Program for the Logan College Postgraduate Department. This program is open to chiropractors as well as chiropractic students who have reached their 7th trimester. Thousands of health care practitioners around the world rely on the education and products developed by Dr. Loomis for their clinical success and fulfillment.
TAC: What kind of products and services do you offer chiropractors?
Dr. Loomis: The Loomis Institute teaches chiropractors an objective and scientifically valid system of physical examination for determining nutritional need, as well as the best information available about food enzymes and how to use them in practice.
Enzyme Formulations, Inc. offers food enzyme and herbal supplements based on specific individual patient need, not on a one-size-fits-all concept.
TAC: Tell us more in depth about the services and products you offer chiropractors and how or why you offer them.
Dr. Loomis: Because of the success we enjoy as a company, we are able to provide unprecedented clinical support to the practitioners who attend our seminars, free of charge. This has always been something I would have found helpful when I was in practice, and I am happy to be able to offer it now. For example, if a chiropractor has a question about how to use a product or what to recommend with a specific set of clinical results (24-hour urinalysis, case history, and/or physical exam findings), they have access to an experienced chiropractor on staff who will guide them through the process of recommending a specific plan for that individual patient.
TAC: Are chiropractors the only professionals that use your methods for their patients?
Dr. Loomis: No. While the Logan Internal Health Specialist Certification Program is offered specifically for chiropractors to utilize their unique education, the Loomis Institute seminars train many different modalities of health professionals in the use of food enzymes.
TAC: How many practitioners have learned the Loomis System?
Dr. Loomis: Over 1000 health care professionals have learned the Loomis System and are successfully incorporating it into their practices.
TAC: How did you get interested in enzyme therapy and the effect enzymes have on the body?
Dr. Loomis:My interest was in understanding why, when there is no history of injury, some people develop back problems and others do not. Was there a nutritional component? I could never find the clinical parameters that would allow me to say “this person needs calcium, this one needs magnesium, that one needs calcium AND magnesium, or that one needs better protein digestion.” At the time, I was convinced there was no objective means of using nutritional supplements. It seemed would be a nutritional component because the body’s ability to digest and assimilate protein (and consequently improve its ability to carry calcium and other nutrients to the tissues) is very important. It has been my experience that most people who have symptoms of musculoskeletal dysfunction, such as osteoporosis, herniated discs, bursitis, leg cramps, and many more problems, do not readily digest protein. However, by 1979 I had given up trying to apply the objective measurements of physical examination, blood and urine testing to the practice of nutritional supplements, having failed to find consistent results.
 In 1980, I was fortunate to be introduced to the work of Edward Howell, M.D. and his “Food Enzyme Concept.” After reading his two books, Enzymes for Health and Longevity and Enzyme Nutrition, I was convinced that he had found the missing link for providing consistent results in clinical nutrition.
Dr. Howell had graduated from the University of Illinois medical school in 1919, the year before the first vitamin was discovered. After graduation he practiced at the Lindlahr Institute in Chicago, which was the Mayo Clinic of his day. They specialized in the treatment of chronic degenerative disease using a system of fasting and raw food diets. This was in a time period prior to the discovery of insulin, and diabetes was the major degenerative disease. Cancer was not as readily diagnosed as it is today, and diabetes was the number one killer.
Dr. Howell was impressed with the results obtained with raw foods and fasting and he struggled to find an explanation. He became convinced that there had to be something else in food besides protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals. This led to his eventual fascination with the enzymes found normally in food and the role they played in pre-digestion before stomach acid can be produced.
In the early 1980s I made trips to Ft. Myers, Florida and spent time with Dr. Howell in his home. He allowed me access to his accumulated notes, including his extensive bibliography for Enzymes for Health and Longevity. He was very gracious in sharing his time and information with me and he completely changed my attitude about nutrition and the importance of enzymes. Gaining permission to copy many of his accumulated notes and bibliography was incredibly valuable since they were destroyed when he died in the late 1980s.
TAC: What type(s) of diagnostic testing procedures do you use and why?
Dr. Loomis: We utilize a Case History and review of systems physical examination with chiropractic postural and spinal evaluations, coupled with range of motion tests. When needed, we order blood tests and 24-hour urinalysis testing. We place emphasis on determining the causes of a patient’s symptoms and the stress responsible for them. Using this procedure is time-honored in the healing arts and stands up to legal as well as scientific scrutiny. It also makes it possible to develop a specific, science-based plan for each patient.
TAC: How has the evolving understanding of stress points affected current approaches to teaching this type of therapy?
Dr. Loomis: In our seminars, we ask the class, “Who in this class considers themselves to be average?” Of course we never get a positive response. My point is this: nutrition is often practiced as is pharmacology, using a bell curve to determine what and how much of a particular supplement the average person needs instead of treating each body individually. The Loomis System uses palpation of muscle contraction (stress points) to determine when visceral dysfunction is responsible for a patient’s symptoms and is causing and perpetuating structural misalignments and subluxations. In other words, once the cause is known, the treatment becomes obvious.
The beauty of the stress points is that they are objective. They are either positive or not. Paired with the 24-hour urinalysis and our case history form, a very clear, individualized plan of treatment is evident. Chiropractors do not need to guess anymore when it comes to nutrition.
TAC: What types of conditions/patients respond best to this approach to care?
Dr. Loomis: Those who respond best are those whom I call the “walking wounded.” People who have not been diagnosed with a disease, but still suffer with unresolved symptoms. These people are desperate for help, and they are so grateful when someone finds the cause of their symptoms. Their quality of life improves dramatically.
TAC: It's been said by some experts that one can get all the nutritional products they need from eating a balanced diet. What do you say when someone tells you this?
Dr. Loomis: That is true only if you can digest that well-balanced diet. And who decides what the best diet for your specific needs is? Does one size truly fit all? I have noticed that no one in the healing arts specializes in restoring normal digestive function and, if it fails, what compensates for inadequate digestion? Only the immune system. That is why this work fits so perfectly within the chiropractic paradigm for health restoration and maintenance!
The reality is that naturally occurring food enzymes are removed from much of our food supply, and taking digestive enzymes replaces the enzymes that belong in the food to begin with. I do not advocate taking multiple supplements. In fact, in our seminars we focus on improving the diet first, then making sure that diet is properly digested. If these two factors are working well, then multiple supplements are not necessary.
 TAC: What type of chiropractor/chiropractic practice fits best with this paradigm?Dr. Loomis: Because of their educational perspective and unique training in palpation and adjusting, all chiropractors are well-prepared for this type of analytical approach. We do not offer a specific chiropractic technique. This nutritional system is a perfect adjunct to any type of chiropractic office.
TAC: How do you see nutritional supplementation changing in the future?
Dr. Loomis: The answer to that question lies with the pharmaceutical industry. They and the Food and Drug Administration will determine that. However, I have always believed that eventually food enzymes and improved digestion will surface as the key nutritional component.
One thing is certain, food enzymes will not go away and they cannot be patented. That is why I have endeavored to bring this work into the mainstream chiropractic education and place our profession at the forefront of health maintenance.
TAC: Where do you see the future of chiropractic headed?
Dr. Loomis: Hopefully the profession will find its way and fulfill its promise as it was envisioned by D. D. Palmer.
TAC: Any final words for our readers?
Dr. Loomis: Illegitimatis Non Carborundum.
You may contact Dr. Loomis at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 1-800-662-2630.
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Interviews
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Written by TAC Staff
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Sunday, 25 November 2012 20:13 |
D r. Peter Heffernan has been in practice 37 years in the same location in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He built a 100-patient-per-day practice within one year of graduating from Logan College of Chiropractic in September of 1975. By the end of his second year in practice, he had built a 500-patient-per-week practice. “We did a 90-minute pre-care class educating patients and families as to what chiropractic was. It was very successful. We started with 100 new patients a month with no outside advertising,” Dr. Heffernan explained. “I hired many associates over the years, and I was fortunate to have a partner for over two decades. We sustained a practice that saw between 20,000 and 30,000 patient visits a year,” he concluded.
 As a chiropractic educator, Dr. Heffernan taught the 90-minute chart presentation for Renaissance International from 1978 through 1980. He has a Fellowship in Applied Spinal Biomechanical Engineering (ASBE) and served as its executive director from 1985 to 1992. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Chiropractic Association for six years. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Life University.
“I’m 60 years old this year, and I'm still very excited about being in practice. For me, it's always been about long-term involvement, planning a career that will last well over 50 years. I've enjoyed refreshing myself when I'm not in the office. You have to take time off and enjoy things.”
To that end, Dr. Heffernan was a competitive windsurfer and still windsurfs recreationally. He began windsurfing in 1985 and has won several trophies. When he sailed long boards, some races were 14 to 15 miles long. He also surfed with short boards, which are high speed and have a smaller sail and board for faster winds.
“One of my favorite spots is Padre Island near Corpus Christi, Texas, where we sail in Laguna Madre, a beautiful 80-mile-long body of water about two-and-a-half miles wide. Padre Island lies off the coast of Texas, and if you sail the water between Padre Island and the mainland, it's only about four-and-a-half to five-and-a-half feet deep. So, if you fall off your board, you can touch bottom. You're getting more chop than you are getting big swells, so it's a great place to learn how to become a better windsurfer.”
Relating windsurfing tech to chiropractic tech, Dr. Heffernan says, “Windsurfing is all about physics: how you stand, where your weight is, your foot positioning. If you're biomechanical oriented, if you're into sheer force, velocity and gravity—all the basic principles of physics—it's really, really fun.”
The American Chiropractor (TAC): You are a proponent of Applied Spinal Biomechanical Engineering (ASBE). What should readers know about this adjusting technique?
Heffernan: The fundamental is that kinesiopathology, which is the motion component of the subluxation complex, is also the most objectively assessed component of the subluxation complex. When we adjust vertebrae, we want to know which vertebrae are hyper-mobile, which ones are hypo-mobile and what direction the vertebra has failed. ASBE quantifies the motion component of the subluxation and also the direction of failure.
We use the XYZ three-dimensional coordinate system that was originally developed by White and Panjabi in their book Clinical Biomechanics of the Spine back in 1978. And Harrison's work in biophysics also incorporates the three-dimensional coordinate system. Specific segmental adjusting is done along the architecture of the facet-joint plane.
The work was originally developed by Dr. Ronald Aragona from Manchester, New Hampshire. There are over 5,000 isometric, isotonic and isokinetic-coupled maneuvers. It's a very specific, easy system to use and practice.
TAC: What are the primary principles of ASBE?
Heffernan: One of the primary principles of ASBE is that you're trying to restore the spine to bilateral symmetry of function. If the spine is more efficient or stronger on one side than the other, the patient does bilateral exercise like walking or riding a bicycle or anything that is repetitive and bilateral.
When a person who has an asymmetry in their spine (where one set of muscles is tighter and thicker or one set of muscles is more efficient than the other) does bilateral exercise, the efficient side becomes rapidly more efficient than the inefficient side, and the gain or the net result of bilateral exercise is more imbalance. So we assign exercises where a patient would do much higher repetitions of exercises on the inefficient side, and over time this would result in an improvement in bilateral symmetry.
The adjustment itself will help, but the patient has to be involved in the rehabilitative process in order to get the spectacular gains. Otherwise, you are often just managing instead of correcting. And these days you must also be mindful of the key factors of nutrition.
TAC: That is an interesting comment given that you have considerable chiropractic tech. Why do you feel it is important to add a nutritional component?
Heffernan: “I was actually resistant to the whole area of nutrition for years because I just wanted to stay a biomechanically based, subluxation-correcting chiropractor. But I think it's obvious to anyone who's observing the world that we live in that the country is morbidly obese; people are highly inflamed.
 It's just been well documented over and over that when you're dealing with nutrition, there is a condition that has been termed “post-prandial dysmetabolic syndrome,” which is eating hollow calories and the body treating it as a poison. When we're consuming non-nutritive, hollow calories, the body interprets it as a poison, and it creates an inflammatory response.
All the chronic diseases that our country is suffering with—arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune illnesses, Alzheimer's —all the diseases that we see that are so prevalent in our society are all different forms of chronic inflammation.
Chiropractic is based on the principle of addressing stress, toxins and traumas as the cause of subluxation, and so it should become absolutely obvious to any chiropractor who’s serious about helping patients get better that patients are just not holding their adjustments. It's becoming difficult to even give them an adjustment. You have to use a lot more effort. It's just a lot more difficult to give a spinal adjustment to a highly inflamed, morbidly obese patient. So you have to address nutrition in order to get subluxations correctable, or in order for people to hold their adjustments.
TAC: How did you begin?
Heffernan: It became clear that I had to address nutrition. I started to talk to patients about hollow calories and how they need to eat more nutritive foods, and I started to think in terms of providing fish oil as an antioxidant, as an anti-inflammatory, and also Vitamin D3, which was the “sunshine vitamin,” and general multiple vitamins.
We started to do some nutrition, but we didn't know how to do it. The time component with a patient is critical, so how do you engage them on nutrition in a few minutes and still give them an adjustment and still make a living?
TAC: So how did you overcome that dilemma?
Heffernan: I was fortunate to discover Dr. Freddie Ulan’s Nutrition Response Testing to use as a nutrition system in the office.
This came about because my youngest daughter became very ill. She had been receiving chiropractic care her whole life. She was born at home without drugs and vaccinations. As she got older, she had to have an emergency appendectomy when she was in graduate school. After that she started to get sick; her digestive system started to fail her. It got worse and worse, and over a five-year period it threatened her job, and she's the primary breadwinner in her family.
We had already sent her to other chiropractors, acupuncturists and gastroenterologists to try and help her, and she just got progressively worse. But when she was tested with Nutrition Response Testing and given a program of nutrition, within a few weeks she was feeling amazingly better, and over a period of months she totally regained her health.
I started to send some of my tough patients with autoimmune illnesses and other problems for Nutrition Response Testing, and they, too, were getting excellent results. That certainly got my attention, and my daughter, Amy, and I (she is a chiropractor and my partner in my practice) decided to pursue training in Nutrition Response Testing.
We were initially exposed to Applied Kinesiology and the use of whole food nutrition (Standard Process), and we started to incorporate this in our practice. It was exactly what we were looking for. Ulan Nutritional Systems also has a practice and patient management component to its training that is easy to implement and highly effective.
So with Nutrition Response Testing, rehab and specific chiropractic, we regained our ability to really help people in this modern world where people are so sick.
TAC: Tell me about whole food nutrition. Why Standard Process?
Heffernan: Well, that's something I didn't understand until I started to study it. The body has electromagnetic fields. You have the nervous system that carries electrical energy, multiple redundant energy fields that carry information and energy throughout the body. Even on the surface of the skin, you have electromagnetic energy. And people have a field of energy around their body. So the body is exquisitely intelligent in its ability to interpret the environment, and it can tell the difference between a synthetic vitamin and an organic nutrient.
When you make synthetic vitamins from coal tar, even when you have the amino acid sequence in the vitamin correct, the body still knows it's coal tar.
When you make synthetic vitamins from coal tar, even when you have the amino acid sequence in the vitamin correct, the body still knows it's coal tar. It knows the electromagnetic signature of things that are toxic, and this is why, as an example, synthetically made ascorbic acid doesn't work as well as vitamin C with all of its bioflavonoids and its cofactors.
If you have nutrients that are put together in whole food supplements, it's actually food, concentrated food. It has the electromagnetic signature of natural plants, and the body recognizes that on an electromagnetic level.
TAC: Can you coordinate for our readers the nutrition viewpoint with the fundamental philosophy of chiropractic?
Heffernan: Yes, certainly. Being 60 years old, I lived through a long period where science kept gaining more and more dominance, and we almost turned science into a dogma or a religion.
We went through a long period of mechanistic reductionism and materialism—not giving any credence to energy. But we're living in a quantum world. We understand now that all matter is collapsed energy, so chiropractic aligns itself with that idea that there's a life energy, a life force. And Nutrition Response Testing is highly congruent with basic chiropractic philosophy, utilizing the same intelligence and working with it—whether it's with a chiropractic adjustment to remove interference from the nervous system, or if you're supporting the nutrition that the body needs to rebuild itself and to maintain health.
TAC: I know you have varied interests and hobbies besides windsurfing. What are they?
Heffernan: In the late 70s, I had a patient of mine who was a machinist, and he could do virtually anything. He had an engine machining shop, and he'd rebuild cars. I always had a fascination with trying to understand how an automobile motor or engine worked, how the spark plugs create an explosion, push the pistons down, moving in a sequence, turning the crankshaft.
I bought a 1965 convertible Corvette, a red one with black interior. It was already missing the original motor. I took that car completely apart, re-machined it and welded the frame. I actually took the frame out and had it acid-dipped, took all the bad metal out of it, wire-welded in all new metal, rebuilt the internal and external gusset plates and put the frame back exactly the way it was.
 I learned how to paint, and we did zinc-chromate priming and Imron painting so it will last forever. I put in stainless steel brake lines, stainless steel gas lines, stainless steel exhaust, stainless steel sleeves in the exhaust ports—everything to last for a long, long time. I put a blueprinted 350-horse power motor in the car, all re-machined, with a Mallory ignition system, poly carburetors, dual-plated Edelbrock manifold, and Hurst four-speed shifter. The car would go 140 mph. It was a phenomenal experience.
I've applied that same attitude and philosophy with almost everything I've done in life: Determine an area that you're incompetent in, then work your way into competency, and then unconscious competency. And then just keep doing that over and over and over with many different things in one's life.
Accordingly, what is so remarkable about the Advanced Clinical Training with Ulan Nutritional Systems is that it's the only fully integrated, methodical teaching system of theory and practical work I've ever been exposed to in chiropractic. It eliminates all the confusions. There's a lot of drilling, there's a lot of partnering and learning the fundamentals such as how to rule out “blocking” and “switching,” where the autonomic nervous system is not in a position to be tested.
Dr. Ulan’s system makes applied kinesiology very duplicatable and very predictable in its outcome. It's exciting to see one practitioner after another get the same results and the same findings, and my patients get the ultimate benefit.
Peter Heffernan, DC, is currently enrolled in the Advanced Clinical Training program at Ulan Nutritional Systems, Inc. He practices in Wisconsin and can be reached at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or his office at (262) 549-4555.
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Interviews
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Written by TAC Staff
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Thursday, 30 August 2012 02:12 |
G raduated in 1977 from Haifa-University Technion Medical School, Israel. Dr. Grober assumed Post-Graduate studies at Tel-Aviv University and worked for many years as an Orthopedic Surgeon in the Beilinson Campus, Rabin Medical-Center where he specialized in Orthopedic Surgery. In 1999, he invented and registered the patent on Cervico 2000 – a cervical traction unit.
 He became the owner and manager of two orthopedic clinics in Israel specializing in Spine Disorders and Lower Back Pain. Professional memberships include: A member and active participant in the American Back Society, a member of the World Chiropractic Federation and a member of the Israeli Orthopedic Association.
TAC: Tell us more in depth about the services and products you offer chiropractors and how or why you offer them.
AG: Meditrac's unique proprietary treatment concept - "Traction on the Move" was developed by a team of orthopedic surgeons. In effect it transforms conservative traction methods, promoting rapid healing and rehabilitation. It combines the benefits of traction therapy for the cervical or lumbar spine with an innovative physical therapy program during treatment. As a result the patients improve their blood circulation, regain flexibility and experience an improvement in their psychological well-being.
Meditrac's products are used to treat a wide range of spinal disorders including; sciatica, herniated disc, whiplash injury, degenerative changes and spinal stenosis caused by disc herniation.
Meditrac products include the Vertetrac – a lumber ambulatory traction system, Cervico 2000 - an ambulatory traction device for the treatment of acute and chronic neck pain and the Dynamic Brace System (DBS) - a patented system for treating idiopathic juvenile, adolescent and adult scoliosis.
As staying in the forefront of therapy innovation is one of my goals, my medical staff and I are continuously conducting research, to further improve our proprietary traction devices. Currently, we are conducting research on the effectiveness of traction on muscle tension together with Prof. Staderini from the Western Switzerland University of Applied Sciences.
TAC: How do Chiropractic and Orthopedic treatments differ when treating spinal disorders?
AG: Most Orthopedic surgeons are not aware or even ignore the preventive care aspect and are usually very eager and willing to perform an invasive procedure. In most cases they do not adequately clarify the possible outcomes of such a procedure, nor the possible complications. As opposed to Chiropractors, they are less open to alternative methods and less willing to use non-invasive treatment such as traction, manipulation, ice etc.
Personally, a very poor outcome from spinal surgery led me to the conclusion that surgery should always be the last resort for spine problems and should be performed only after other conservative treatments failed.
TAC: Compare between invasive and non-invasive treatments.
AG: I would love to answer the question with the following table:
 TAC: Can you think of one change that a chiropractor can do to significantly impact his/her practice’s growth immediately?
AG: One change for example, is treating more patients without adding extra human resources. This can be done when treating several patients simultaneously with compact and portable traction devices, as opposed to a one-by-one method. Another way to increase their income can be achieved by renting out or selling devices to chronic patients for home use.
TAC: Any final words for our readers?
AG: Make all the efforts you can to put your patients 'back on the track' as quickly as possible without any invasive procedure. Happy patients like to regain their sense of control. Allowing them the freedom of movement even during treatment is key to assuring their satisfaction and happiness.
You can contact Dr. Grober at:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, Meditrac Ltd. 1-866-732-0170, +972-3-5467828. http://meditrac.co.il
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Interviews
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Written by TAC Staff
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Thursday, 30 August 2012 00:10 |
D r. Patrick Gentempo is the CEO of Action Potential Holdings, Inc. and is arguably one of the best-known figures in the chiropractic profession today. He has acted as cofounder and chief executive of well-known entities within the profession. These include the Chiropractic Leadership Alliance (CLA), Creating Wellness Alliance (CWA), and Chiro Finishing School. CLA has brought critical technology to the profession, namely the Insight Subluxation Station which boasts over 9000 DCs who have bought the product on six continents. In addition, through CLA Dr. Gentempo (with Dr. Christopher Kent) designed the highly lauded boot camp training program, Total Solution. Nearly 7000 chiropractors have participated in the Total Solution program. Another very popular product that Dr. Gentempo co-developed with Dr. Kent is the On Purpose audio subscription service for the chiropractic profession. On Purpose has been producing monthly audio content for chiropractors since 1994 and has thousands of subscribers worldwide.
 Last year in a surprise move, Dr. Gentempo sold all of his interest in CLA and a controlling interest in CWA. When asked why he did this his response was, “I had a growing sense, based on certain trends, that action is needed in a new way on a larger scale. Chiropractic and health care in general are changing rapidly leaving us with both challenges and opportunities that I feel compelled to address. Act 1 in my career was practice, which I loved and I succeeded at that. Act 2 in my career was CLA and its derivative initiatives and the impact of that has been fulfilling and significant. After some soul-searching, I decided it was time for Act 3 and in Act 3 I'm going to deliberately address some important issues in chiropractic and healthcare, not the least of which is chiropractic insurance dependency in the United States.” In an interview with The American Chiropractor Magazine (TAC), Dr. Patrick Gentempo (PG) shares what life will be like after CLA (Chiropractic Leadership Alliance).
TAC: Can you tell our readers about how you view the current political landscape of the profession?
PG: I have significant concerns about the political landscape of our profession. I know this sounds trite, sort of like when someone starts a sentence saying, “in times like these". There are always some sort of challenges, aren't there? However, the challenges we face today are to a large degree qualitatively different than the challenges of the past. An example of this is the prescription drug issue in chiropractic. This is a deeply polarizing issue that addresses the very soul of the profession. I have yet to hear anyone make a moral argument for drugs in chiropractic, i.e. “there are not enough points of distribution for pharmaceuticals in the United States. People need expanded access to drugs and the chiropractic profession needs to fill that void.” I have been deep into this debate and there is no sound moral premise that justifies drugs being incorporated into chiropractic practice. So from there the debate moves toward practical issues. Somehow people think that if chiropractors were to obtain pharmaceutical rights, it would translate into them getting more patients and increasing market share. The fact is it would have the exact opposite effect. Any business expert will tell you that you don't increase market share by professing your sameness. You increase the success of your business by differentiating yourself in the marketplace. The problem here is lack of clarity of purpose, no sense of identity, and the corollary to these: scarcity mentality. I am 100% certain that if chiropractors start prescribing medications the result will be a tragic demise of the profession. Ironically, I am observing that what many of the big, million dollar plus practices have in common are niche natural or ‘drugless’ solutions to particular challenges that chiropractic can measurably support. For example, I cofounded S.H.I.N.E., Special Help Integrating Neurological Experience, with famed psychiatrist and former Harvard Medical School faculty member, Dr. Ned Hallowell. Many consider Dr. Hallowell the number one expert in the world on ADHD. Many of his core premises are shared by traditional chiropractic principles and he knows first-hand that millions of people are seeking a non-drug approach to addressing ADHD. Strategically, this places the chiropractor in a position to provide a very needed in-demand service to people who don’t expect their insurance to pay for it. The profession needs to start ‘getting this’ and understand that being drugless is massive leverage in the marketplace, not a handicap.
Another major political issue is chiropractic education and the CCE. To address this in a meaningful way would require a comprehensive multipart article. But to summarize, the CCE's behaviors and actions, in my opinion, are misguided and destructive to our profession. CCE enjoys a monopolistic stranglehold on chiropractic education which I believe a growing coalition in the field is finding to be intolerable. Anti-CCE sentiment is on the rise and its resultant polarity is palpable. The politics relative to this are pretty complicated and one has to dedicate a significant amount of time to understand the full nature of the CCE issue. I remain hopeful that the field will force positive change in this realm.
On the positive side of things I am observing some growing trends politically and publicly that make me very optimistic. I have been invited to speak to state associations around the US that have unified. Yes, unification is a trend on the state level! The atmosphere has been live and let live. I am in New Jersey and we had 6 different state associations consolidate into one. Michigan, Virginia and other states are also doing this and the results have been very positive. Chiropractors are politically being tolerant of diverse practice orientations, from lifetime wellness care to limited low back pain services. On the public arena, we have seen Dr. Mancini of Parker University on the Dr. Phil Show and The Doctors. Audiences of millions watching one of our best representatives tell them about chiropractic. As well, the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress has been getting us great exposure and celebrity endorsement. I am especially excited about the documentary Medical, Inc. I was interviewed extensively for it as well as many others and there is a real shot that this becomes a film that will be seen by the masses. In summary, as it always is in life and history, we have many challenges and many opportunities. I am a firm believer that we as a profession are poised for some major breakthroughs.
TAC: You mentioned in an October, 2006 interview with The American Chiropractor that your goal for the chiropractic profession is "World Domination of Healthcare in a Chiropractic Model"...is that still your goal?
PG: Ahhh yes. I remember that interview. And yes, this is still my goal. I should probably clarify my terms. When I say “healthcare”, what I mean is “well-care”. I am not talking about chiropractic dominating disease treatment and emergency care. The world is seriously recognizing that medicine is really emergency treatment and disease care. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. It is a very necessary service to our culture. But it is not healthcare. Hence, leadership in true lifestyle healthcare must emerge and chiropractic should rightly dominate the market space.
TAC: So, you will be continuing on with On Purpose, can you tell our readers in what way you will be growing in that direction?
PG: On Purpose is owned and operated by Dr. Christopher Kent. I do still appear on the program every month and I love it! I have to say that On Purpose is one of the best bargains in the whole profession. For $50 a month, a chiropractor gets a comprehensive review of the new and emerging scientific literature that supports chiropractic. A review of what's going on politically within the profession. Also an interview with a chiropractic thought leader that can’t help but develop and grow your practice. Without exaggerating I would say it would take the average chiropractor at least 100 to 150 hours per month to try to process all this information and boil it down to what's important. With On Purpose, for less than the cost of a single adjustment they get three hours of programming that is very entertaining and brings them all this information. Let me state that I have no financial interest in On Purpose. I'm simply sharing a best practice with my colleagues that would help them.
TAC: Any other new ventures you've been working on?
PG: After I sold CLA I formed a holding company called Action Potential Holdings, Inc. (APH). The purpose of this holding company was to help manage and develop the existing business interests I held when I formed it, incubate and deploy new product and service initiatives into the profession, and invest in ventures that are aligned with our core values. APH has a very ambitious agenda. One of the new businesses we have been working very hard on and are launching this fall is called Free Form ( www.FreeFormchiro.com). The catalyzing statement for Free Form is: End insurance dependency in chiropractic. Period. We are very serious about this. Our guiding premise is that there is no future for chiropractic or individual chiropractors in insurance dependency. I am not saying that chiropractors will take zero insurance. What I am saying is that as a business strategy they need to be what we refer to as non-insurance dependent. We have identified a seven-step process to create non-insurance dependency. My partner in this venture is Dr. Troy Dukowitz and both of us have a lot of experience helping chiropractors transition from insurance dependency to non-insurance dependency. This is a big one. It will change the destiny of this profession. Needless to say, it is a very ambitious project but I have no doubt that we will succeed because the process works. There are other projects that I am working on but I am not ready to talk about them at this point.
TAC: How has Rick Sapio's influence impacted some of the chiropractors you've worked with?
PG: Rick Sapio has been a godsend to this profession. He and I have been meeting in a weekly accountability group for over three years now. He has become an important business mentor to me. As fate would have it, he introduced me to game-changing business principles and I introduced him to chiropractic and health principles. Rick is an extremely successful businessperson. Because chiropractic had such a significant impact on his health and the health of his family, I was able to convince him to partner with me and come into this profession and teach chiropractors the foundational principles of business. One of the greatest weaknesses in this profession is lack of business skills and training. When I say business principles, I am not talking about practice procedures. Your practice procedures, i.e. consultation, report of findings, patient education, are all things that sit on top of the foundation which are your business principles. Rick and I cofounded and launched Chiro Finishing School a little over a year ago and we have already had several hundred chiropractors through the program and the results have way outpaced our expectations. Because the training is online, we were able to offer it to chiropractors throughout the world and I believe at this point we have chiropractors on four continents who are training in the program.
TAC: Is this method of business management something that chiropractors can grasp easily?
PG: For sure. Just like there are foundational principles of health, there are foundational principles of business. Chiropractors already know how to think in a principle-based manner. They just need to be taught these business principles and at that point it's just add water. I have built a couple of multi-million dollar businesses from the ground up and operated them for many years. I felt I had a pretty good grasp on business and understood it. After meeting Rick Sapio, I recognized that I had a lot of blind spots. Nobody ever taught me these types of principles before. It is the opposite of complicated. As a matter fact three of the cardinal values of Chiro Finishing School are: simplicity, probability, and leverage.
TAC: Do you ever see yourself having a leadership role in CLA again?
PG: I still enthusiastically act in the capacity of a consultant for CLA. CLA's new chairman, Dr. David Fletcher, is a very capable man with a solid vision. So I don't see myself having a leadership role in CLA, but I always will love and support it.
TAC: Where will readers be able to catch up with you for the remainder of 2012, and 2013?
PG: I am still traveling the world and presenting on a pretty regular basis. This year I will be at several major venues in the United States and Canada. As well I will be speaking in Europe and Asia. I am doing a series of high impact programs with Dr. Brad Glowaki and you will see me on the main stage at Parker Seminars. I passionately invite your readers to join my mailing list by going to www.ActionPotentialHoldings.com. As well they can ‘like’ my Facebook fan page which is, ‘Align with Dr. Gentempo’. And of course there's always Twitter. I routinely post things and write about topics that I find to be of significance for chiropractors. You won't find me posting about going to the store or Starbucks or something like that. But when there is something important for chiropractors to know, whether it be a new practice strategy that is working or an inspirational quote, you can be sure that I will be sharing it with my audience.
TAC: Any final words for our readers?
PG: Yes. I have done a lot of reflecting about what it takes to create success in chiropractic. One conclusion I have drawn is that chiropractors underestimate what is possible for their practice and their community. The consequence of this is that many chiropractors are underperforming. In the quest to understand the meaning of life as a chiropractor, we must come to face some fundamental facts. These include that a living body is self-healing and self-regulating, that the nervous system is the master system and controller of that body, and that lifestyle stress disturbs the function of the nervous system and the ability for the body to regulate properly. Morally, the proper action available to the chiropractor is to take these facts and, through what could be considered heroic action, bring them to life in a robust way in an effort to heal and lead their community. There is no doubt that the chiropractor holds the ability to change the course of people's lives for the better and in some cases even save people's lives. When one is cognizant of such facts, underperformance is not an option. I hope your readers will reflect upon these thoughts and succeed on the highest possible levels in their practices. Chiropractic is the greatest profession in the world and we should never lose sight of that. Be sure to contact Dr. Patrick Gentempo at Action Potential Holdings, Inc., by e-mail through his Executive Assistant, Lisa Marie Vasquez,
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, 201-345-3370. www.ActionPotentialHoldings.comAlso for more information about the products and services that Dr. Gentempo describes see below a list of companies and contact information for your easy reference. Action Potential Holdings 201-345-3370, email:
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, www.ActionPotentialHoldings.com
Free Form at: www.freeformchiro.com
Chiro Business Finishing School: www.ChiroBusinessFinishingSchool.com, 214-954-0302;
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Chiropractic Leadership Alliance (CLA):
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& Creating Wellness Alliance (CWA):
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, 800-285-2001SHINE for Doctors: www.shinefordoctors.com; Email to:
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800-285-2001, ext. 118 or 973-998-8670, ext. 118 On Purpose Monthly Audio News Program: http://chiroonpurpose.com 800-892-6463, ext. 211,
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Interviews
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Written by Terry Schroeder, D.C.
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Sunday, 22 July 2012 23:32 |
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I n 1900, men's water polo became the first team sport introduced at the modern Olympic Games. The rules of the game were different in Europe, so in the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis the Europeans refused to participate. As a result, the USA won the gold, silver and the bronze. Ironically, this is the only gold medal that the US has won in Olympic water polo competition. Historically, the sport has been dominated by the Europeans. Hungary leads all nations with nine Olympic gold medals.
 The USA won bronze medals in the Olympic Games in 1924, 1932 and 1972. The US team was one of the best in the world in the 80s. With Terry Schroeder as the team captain, the USA won silver medals in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. In 1991, Schroeder led Team USA to the World Cup title in Barcelona, Spain.
After the 1988 Olympic Games, Team USA spent the next 20 years struggling to get back to the medal podium. In June of 2007, with the team ranked 9th in the world, USA water polo hired Dr. Terry Schroeder to be the head coach.
Schroeder led the Men’s National Team through a resurgence in 2008, garnering silver medals at the FINA World League Super Final and Beijing Olympic Games. The team’s success in Beijing was one of the great stories of the 2008 games.
Dr. Schroeder is considered one of water polo’s all-time standout players. He captained the National Team from 1983-1992 and coached Pepperdine University’s men’s team for 20 years. Under Dr. Schroeder’s leadership, the Pepperdine Waves had a record of 307-195 (.612), attended the NCAA Championships eight times, and claimed the NCAA championship in 1997. Schroeder was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1998 and was recently inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
A graduate of San Marcos High in Santa Barbara, CA, Schroeder earned All-American honors at Pepperdine in 1977, 1978 and 1980. He graduated with honors in 1981 and then completed his doctorate studies at Palmer-West Chiropractic School. Schroeder and his wife Lori (who celebrate 25 years of marriage in 2012) reside in Westlake Village, CA, with their daughters, Leanna and Sheridan.
TAC: How do you see the U.S. Water Polo Team developing this year?
Dr. Schroeder: Since January 2012, we have been training full-time. All the players agreed to stay at home this year and give up their opportunity to play professionally overseas. Each and every player realized the potential benefit of training together full-time for 7 months (January – July). We began the year with a trip to Australia for training and to compete in the Pan Pacific tournament. The training went well and we ended up beating Australia in the finals to win the gold at the tournament. After returning home, we have been training nine times per week.
 We train Monday through Saturday. A typical week looks like this: Monday - 8 am – 9:45 weights/cardio in the gym, 10 – 12 noon swim/legs conditioning in the pool at CLU, 7 – 9:30 pm tactics in the pool at Oaks. Tuesday - 8:30 am to 11:45 am in the pool at CLU for swim/legs/tactics. Wednesday - 8 am - 9:45 weights/cardio in the gym, 10 – 12 noon swim/legs conditioning in the pool at CLU, 7 – 9:30 pm tactics in the pool at Oaks. Thursday - 8:30 am to 11:45 am in the pool at CLU for swim/legs/tactics. Friday - 8 am - 9:45 weights/cardio in the gym, 10 – 12 noon swim/legs conditioning in the pool at CLU, 7 – 9:30 pm tactics in the pool at Oaks. Saturday 9 am - 11:30 am in the pool at Oaks/CLU or Pepperdine. Obviously, this is all the players do right now. They are not working and they are sacrificing a great deal of time with their families to make this dream a reality. Some are living with “host families” in the Conejo Valley and others have rented apartments. We have six married players and three of those have kids. Our team is really a large family. Mixed in with the training has been common training with other teams. We hosted Germany, Italy and Montenegro in March and then recently went to Serbia and Italy for training. Later this month we will host the World League Prelims with Canada and Brazil and then in late May Croatia and Hungary are here for a series of games and training. In June, we will travel to Kazakhstan for the World League Super Finals before we return home for our final preparations. The Olympic Games opening ceremonies is July 27, 2012. The training has been going very well and we are improving every day and becoming a better team.
TAC: Has there been an increase in the use of chiropractors at the Olympic level that you've noticed as a result of some of your past successes?
Dr. Schroeder: I do believe that chiropractors have continued to become more and more popular with Olympic athletes and teams. I would like to say that I had some small part of that increase; however, it is chiropractic itself that deserves all the credit. Athletes are looking for anything to give them an edge and more and more they are realizing that when your body is finely tuned and aligned you have the best chance to perform at your best. Only chiropractic offers the athletes a “hands on” natural approach to maximizing their potential. This is, after all, what the Olympic Games are all about – reaching your human potential, and what better way to do that than with chiropractic!
TAC: Is this specifically only within the U.S. or more with international teams and competitors as well?
Dr. Schroeder: The popularity of chiropractic has grown throughout the world. Through my travels at various international competitions (Pan American Games, World Championships, etc.), I have met chiropractors who are working with many different countries and most all sports. It has been a joy to see this profession receive the attention and credit it deserves.
TAC: Do you feel like a chiropractor without advanced preparation specific to the sports world is at a disadvantage, or not equipped to treat Olympic athletes?
Dr. Schroeder: While it is true that many Olympic athletes are looking for a chiropractor that does some soft tissue work (ART, Graston, etc.) the adjustment is still our most powerful tool. I would certainly recommend to any chiropractor who desires to treat Olympic athletes to develop as many adjunct skills/tools as you can to help your athletes; however, first and foremost become the best adjuster you can be.
TAC: Are there certain training programs that you'd recommend chiropractors pursue to become equipped to treat athletes at this level?
Dr. Schroeder: To become an official chiropractor for the USA Olympic Team one must follow the criteria that is outlined by the USOC medical staff. You must be in practice for at least 5 years, must have experience working with a national team and must go through a two-week program at the Olympic training center. As I said, if your desire is to work with Olympic athletes, I would recommend learning some soft tissue techniques to add to your skills.
Currently, we have a new chiropractic graduate working with our team who came from an athletic training background. Her name is Karen Bloch and she is doing a wonderful job with our team. If you are just going to be working with a specific team then it would also be a good idea to learn as much as you can about that specific sport. You must know how the body is stressed and the potential injuries to look for in each different sport.
TAC: Have you treated any of the athletes that you are currently coaching? Explain please.
Dr. Schroeder: When I started coaching this team in 2007, there were two or three guys that were familiar with and utilized chiropractic care. At this time, I have treated each one of our athletes. Every member of our Olympic water polo team is a regular chiropractic patient. They know the benefits and I am convinced that it is a part of our success. I have also been asked on numerous occasions to treat an athlete from one of the teams that we have been competing against. On our most recent trip to Italy, we were training against a club team called Pro Recco. This team is like a world all-star team.
They have players from Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Italy, Hungary and Spain. Two of the very best players in the world, Andrija Prlainovic from Serbia and Thomas Kasas from Hungary, asked me to adjust them. Of course, I did and they too were introduced to the benefits of chiropractic care. One of our players, Merrill Moses, who is considered by many the best goalie in the world, is planning on going to chiropractic school and becoming a chiropractor when he is done playing.
TAC: Thank you and good luck Dr. Schroeder.
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