ince the founding of our nation a little over 200 years ago, the average life span of Americans has nearly tripled, increasing from a mere 26 years to nearly 76 today. People are living longer now than ever before, and this trend is expected to continue. It has been predicted that actuarial tables in the not-too-distant future will list the average life span at 110! Although people of every age are interested in extending their life spans, the baby boomers are the group propelling anti-aging medicine into the. spotlight. Baby boomers are clamoring to find ways to look young and stay healthy and vigorous as they age. Phillip T. Santiago, B.C., a member of the United States Olympic Sports Medicine Team in the XXV Olympiad in Barcelona, is a New Jersey chiropractor, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). In an interview with The American Chiropractor (TAC) magazine. Dr. Santiago discusses the impact the "baby boomer" phenomenon is having on current and future healthcare developments, and the expanded role chiropractic can play in the "ultimate wellness program" referred to as Anti-Aging Medicine. . TAC: Who is Dr. Santiago? Give us some background about yourself. DS: I come from a family of chiropractors. My father, mother, sister and brother are all chiropractors, and all are Diplomates of the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians. TAC: How did you originally decide to become a chiropractor, Dr. Santiago? DS: Well, more than fifty years ago, my parents realized that a blended system of health care was the healthiest approach. If my siblings or I were getting sick, my parents would give us adjustments, see to it that we got more sleep, alter our diets, and increase certain vitamins or other nu- trients. That was it. And, I thought all kids were raised like that. As I got older, however, I realized that that was not the case, and that, although I was extremely healthy and had the best attendance in school, my family was considered by some people to be foolish in believing that medication should only be used if the body could not heal itself. And, many people didn't recognize my parents as being "real doctors". Still, there were many in the community who sought my parents' help, and showed me how valuable their services were. So, when it was time for me to decide on a career, I chose chiropractic. TAC: Tell us about the anti-aging movement, and how you became involved in it. DS: My involvement with that came through my relationship with physicians that I worked with who are involved in Sports Medicine and the Olym- pic movement. As a member of the US Olympic Sports Medicine Team, I had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the greatest doctors in the world. What we realized was that Anti-Aging Medicine is very much related to both chiropractic and sports medicine. I've been treating athletes for many years and, as they get older, they are not experiencing the same types of injuries as they were when they were, say, 20 years of age. Because of numerous factors, including hormonal, chemical, physical, and mechanical changes, if I want to achieve the desired results with them, as I did when they were younger. I had better change what I'm doing to adapt to how their bodies have changed in order for them to keep their bodies younger and healthier. I also realized that, with the influence of the "baby boomer" generation, this large segment of our population would drive this sub-specialty. TAC: Where does chiropractic fit into this movement? DS: Dr. Bob Goldman, Chairman of the Board of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), is also an associate professor at the New York Chiropractic College teaching Sports Medicine. He invited me to a Las Vegas Science Symposium of the A4M, and he kept saying, "This is perfect for chiropractors. This is where health care and medicine will be in the next ten years." Sitting through all of the lectures, hearing the talks on biochemistry and drugs and hormones, I became interested in where a chiropractor could fit in. Then, suddenly, it just hit me. What's the first sign of getting old-besides looking in the mirror? Your joints get stiff; you get up and you're sore; things hurt and the body's aching. What do chiropractors fix? We fix joints! That's the first sign people recognize as telling them that the body is changing a bit. . TAC: What kind of changes would a chiropractor need to make to become involved in including anti-aging services or techniques in his clinic? DS: It's a combination of understanding and measuring what are called biomark-ers. We're measuring things that are called biomarkers of aging. These are individual functionalities of the body that change with age. As we age, many of the body functions change. These can include short-term memory, cognitive, motor, and sensory skills. There are changes in body fat percentages, blood pressure, cholesterol, and reaction times. A total of over 30 physical, chemical, mental and biomechanical factors are considered. Upon completion of the testing, an algorithm has been defined that is used to calculate the actual physiological age of an individual. This is indicative of how old your body has become as compared to how old you are chronologically. You may be 45 years old, but is your body 45? Maybe it is 55; maybe it is 35. Look back at those people you went to high school with. Have they all aged the same? While there is a genetic tendency, aging is primarily due to lifestyle. Lifestyle includes nutrition, exercise, stress management, all things that chiropractors have dealt with forever, and it is all natural health. Today it is very hip, when talking about health, to be talking about how young you are, rather than how healthy you are. We're using that as a different paradigm, and quoting it on a different scale. The paradigm of disease, as practiced around the world, is to wait for you to get sick and then measure how sick you are. We never measure how healthy you are. It doesn't make sense! All of these baby boomers spend considerable time and effort investing in pension plans, retirement funds, IRA's, etc. What are they saving for? They have no idea how long they are going to live, so they truly don't know how much money they need to save. If we can measure the rate of degeneration of their bodies and get a handle on their Biological Ages, then we can get a better picture of their longevity and the quality of those added years. TAC: So you're saying, people don't care so much about their health; but they are so vain, that if they look younger and they feel better, then that is the selling point? DS: For years, I have been asking people, "Do you want to be healthy and fit?" And, I get, "Yeah, yeah...." They want it, but are not motivated to do it, except by fear. However, when I ask them, "Do you want to look younger? Do you want to feel younger?" They immediately respond, "Hey, Doc, sign me up. I'll be your guinea pig. I'll be your first patient when you get certified in Anti-Aging Medicine." That's what I'm hearing. Look at the beauty and cosmetic industry: It's not aimed at looking good so much as it is at looking younger. Beauty may be a consideration; but, it's the youth aspect that society wants. Face it, we are a youth conscious society. There are 74 million baby-boomers out there and, in the next couple of years, they all will all have turned 50. They were so influential that in the 50's and 60's, they started Rock n' Roll, the anti-establishment movement, and the rebellious gen- eration-which is where they are posed today, rebelling against this healthcare situation. In the 70's they started the fitness craze. Everybody was working out. Instead of being spectators, we became participants. By the 80's, it was the greed is good era. Accumulation of wealth was the goal. Then, in the 90's, they started hitting the big 4-0 or 5-0, and they were saying, "Gee, I sacrificed my health to make all this money. Now I'm going to spend all of my money to get my health back. I want to live, as scientists tell us. to 100 years or 110; and I want to be as functional as I was when I was 40 or 35." And they are looking at it in that vein. Unfortunately, if you look at all the new drugs that are being promoted, they are all lifestyle drugs, treating such things as sexual dysfunction, baldness, shyness, etc. They are all lifestyle drugs. So, where is society going? What do people want? They are going to want to go to a doctor who understands, not the sick paradigm, but the well paradigm. If your cholesterol is 300, is that going to bother you? Yeah. Is it really going to bother you, though? But, if I told you that you were ten years older than what your real age is...then, that's going to bother you. I get patient compliance by hitting upon their vanity, sure. But, it's just a different approach to achieve the same thing. It's healthcare. I am getting the results we both want. What we are doing is looking at and measuring health the same way you measure your financial portfolio. We know that we are living longer: but, are we living healthier? If we make the anti-aging changes to your body for functionality, you will live longer and healthier and be more functional all of your life. That's the whole anti-aging concept... That is also the philosophy behind chiropractic. We just change the name from chiropractic to natural health, to well-ness, to anti-aging, to longevity.... It doesn't make any difference what you call it, but it's hot right now; and, if that's what works, then chiropractors should position themselves within that paradigm of healthcare and that niche right now, because no one is more qualified to do so. TAC: In your practice do you market or focus on anti-aging? DS: My practice has evolved from the Sports model, in that everyone is an ath-lete of sorts. I push patients to exercise, keep fit, eat right and get adjustments. Then, when I began to talk of Anti-Aging as part of their healthcare regime, the practice exploded. I approached them with the concept that we have to look at your aging process-and that I can meas-urure your aging process. That is your health-and part of that has to include exercise, and diet, chiropractic and lifestyle changes. Recently, I have been working on a project that is called Biomark, which is a machine that is totally all-inclusive, and that measures all Biomarkers-including blood, urine, saliva, free radicals, oxidation levels. We can actually measure the degeneration of your body. If I can take that, and test my patients every six months, I can, then, plot their biological vs. their chronological scale; and, if I take a slope of that graph, I get an index or number, which is their degeneration number, actually the rate of change of disease or the rate of death. (We don't want to say it that way to the patient, but, it's the rate at which they are degenerating and the rate at which they are aging.) If I can change that number, they are not aging as quickly. The data collected by all of the offices gets downloaded to a data repository in which outcomes and statistics are measured and compared with the general population. This will be to Anti-Aging what the Framingham study is to heart disease. TAC: So, how much does this cost? DS: The office set-up and the diagnostic testing equipment would be in the range of$35,000. TAC: And, what will the cost be to the patient? DS: It will cost about $600 to test the patient. TAC: Will that be an out-of-pocket expense for the patient? Or will it by covered by his or her insurance? DS: Insurance will cover part of it be-' cause, on the chiropractic side, we're' measuring range of motion and joint movement. The market, in the beginning, will focus on that portion of the popula- tion that is more affluent. As it develops and becomes more popular, it will become the standard for the general population. I have been in contact with the Life Insurance Industry, and their support for this concept is so great that it is their intention to mandate that every applicant for a policy get Anti-Age tested. Chiropractors could lead this effort, as it is a wide-open arena. It is very, very exciting! Actually, we, as chiropractors, have a better chance of succeeding in this area, because we understand this philosophy better than the MD's do. It is part of our lifestyle; and it's easier for us to adapt our patients to it, because our patients don't come to us for drugs or medications. They are coming to us for natural health. TAC: In an Anti-Aging practice, are you prescribing or testing for vitamins and encouraging your patients to take vitamins? DS: First, we are looking for deficiencies, then giving the necessary recommendations. You want to encourage patients to eat as much natural food as possible, suggesting recipes and dietary changes. You do want to get as much natural as you can; but, then, of course, you have to add supplementation to that. And, you need to measure such things as oxidation levels, and look at free radical damage. What I particularly like about this is that, because we can collect enough data, we can prove chiropractic actually works on a longevity scale. I've never been immunized, or vaccinated, and I've never taken a drug in my life, because of chiropractic and because of my parents. I would love-because there are a lot of us around with a chiropractic family-I would like to do the data, as time goes on, so that we can measure and find out the history of the systems who have been brought up under chiropractic care-because you can't measure their health status; but you can give the definition of longevity on them. And that is a direct reflection of health. TAC: Tell us about the anti-aging seminars? DS: Certification is offered through the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and the American Board of Chiro- practic Anti-Aging and Longevity. Presently, it is only a two-weekend program. The brevity is due to the fact that chiropractors already have most of the material. Most of them do not want to sit in a classroom for too many weekends. The material can be taken home and read. This year we have two programs that will begin in April. The first week is the 8th of April in Chicago. It's two weekends, one in April and one in May. Then, in Chicago this June, upon completion, the doctors can sit for their National Board examinations and get certified as anti-aging specialists. That exam is given through the A4M, The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. The Chiropractic Certification is offered through the New York Chiropractic College. Successful completion offers certification from BOTH Boards. TAC: Is this being applied in the colleges; are they teaching about anti-aging? DS: Yes, in the post-graduate divisions of New York Chiropractic College and, more recently, Logan Chiropractic College. We are breaking new ground and making some extraordinary changes out there. With the entire world changing its attitude on health, there is a growing movement towards anti-drug and pro natural health care. Timing is perfect. TAC: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers? DS: Only, that we, as chiropractors, can't be looking at the influence of managed care to dictate our practices. We have to start looking to the future-to where people are going and what their needs are. We have to fill that void and satisfy those needs. TAC: A chiropractor that wants to take advantage of this, what would be the first step he or she should take? DS: Get certified; get the knowledge and understanding of what is going on in the anti-aging movement. The A4M has acquired 8,000 member doctors in only 6 years of existence. MD's have begun opening clinics everywhere, and are looking to make them all multidisciplina- ry- If you look at technology today, you Continued on page 45... INTERVIEW ...from page 25 will see a greater change than ever before experienced in science. Computer technology doubles every 18 months. As a result, biomedical technology doubles every 3.5 years. What we know today, we will know twice as much about three-and-a-half years from now. Scientists are saying that, if our patients stay healthy for the next ten years, they can almost be guaranteed of breaking 100 and being healthy and functional. TAC: What advice do you have for a practicing chiropractor today? DS: Education. The most important thing is to stay educated. With the biomedical technology and science changing so quickly, we have to keep up with the times. We can't go with the old philosophies and old thoughts that we've had in the past. Our concept concerning philosophy is good, but we have to look at the trends and stay current. For more information on Anti-Aging Your Practice, von may contact Dr. Phillip T. Santiago att 75 North Beverwyck RcL, Lake Hiawatha, NJ 07034-2601. Phone: (973) 335-6187; Fax: (973) 335-6187; e-mail: [email protected]. Editor's Note: Be sure to fill out the Reader Fax Sw\>ey on Page 9 to let TAC know your thoughts Jfr Dr. Phillip Santiago
