Looking at the three significant neural tests of sEMG, thermal scanning and HRV and developing  a care plan can be a recipe for confusion and even disaster if careful communication and thoughtfulness is not properly conveyed.  As in any physiological testing the win is to see changeability and even change towards a more normal and powerful state.  This is the win that the doctors are all over.  What the patient, inherently sees and resonates with is , “color is bad, make it go away”.  Deep neural stains must release and then reorganize and all that takes time and patience. The answer to inspiring in the short term lies in relating results that are bound to change more rapidly.  Lets face it, you wouldn’t expect a tilted and degenerative xray to show resolution withing 12  or even 20 sessions.  Better but not thoroughly healed.  The same goes with HRV, thermal and sEMG.  However, global ROM and regional inflammatory reactions as measured through algometry can and will change rapidly.  Remember the older dialogue I taught you about the three layers?  Well these two tests are really indicative of a release occuring in Layers 1 and 2.  Clinically we expect a shift here. Lo and behold, what we expect , indeed comes true.  Even the most tonally based techniques and approaches, identify a slackening of neural-dural and muscular tone combined with an easing of reactionary inflammation.

Let’s set ourselves up to win with each and every patient.  Chiropractic always works…when it addresses subluxations.  Use the scans to alert the patient as to their progress and their use the proper scans to help set goals.  Of course a bigger goal is to watch the NSFi increase but in the shorter term, where the patient is evaluating their decision and your skills, set yourself up to win so that they may win.  I guess this is indeed a win-win situation.

The NSFi has given the practitioner the tools in a highly useable and visual manner to “connect the hip bone to the Universe”. The great interface between health, social and mental well being and that damn back pain is, of course, the spinal neurology.  Bones and joints and muscles form the active and passive   components of the spinal core while the neural tone affords the controlling mechanisms. Understanding the structural tone by using the algometer and the inclinometer are necessary and vital components in any care model.  However the brilliance of the entire suite of neural scanning is that we can now observe neural efficiency through the other three components of the NSFi. The inclusion of the non- spinal test, HRV, opens up a completely new opportunity to distance the outcome of chiropractic care from back pain relief.

In other blogs I have dissected the principles of scanning and the integration of the scans into a wellness office.  Today’s blog is about telling the big story by the numbers.  When we acquire an NSFi it is calculated using a weighted methodology.  Ultimately it includes all 5(or 4) tests and is designed to provide a reference for both the patient and the doctor.  For new patients it is a starting point to listen through fresh ears to their body and to contemplate what wellness could look like on a reference scale.  To the older, more initiated patients it can be a revelation that highlights their journey or it can be a confirmation that more attention needs to be paid to the wellness model.  Regardless, the NSFi is a tool that inspires and accentuates the chiropractic message of hope and healing.

Reducing the initial explanation of chiropractic care to one number has its value. However this has to be framed in an equally simplified concept. It may sound something like this.  “My work as a chiropractor is to release tension from the spinal nerves.  You will live a longer, healthier and happier life without increased nerve tension.” This can then be followed by, “Our office uses the latest available technology to pinpoint where damaging nerve tension is developing and more importantly, how deeply it is affecting your health.”  These are statements that can be initiated by the doctor or can be introduced by staff members.   When the actual NSFi score is to be reported the patient is drawn back to the original concept of spinal nerve tension. “Day to day stresses along with old habits or injuries have stored unhealthy tension within the spinal nerves.  The greater the tension, the lower your score on this scale (NSFi). You scored XXX and this places you in the XXX zone. In this zone, your body struggles to keep up with the daily demands and eventually symptoms, like XXXX develop.  Our goal will be to use a specially designed chiropractic care plan to release this unhealthy tension and begin a rebuilding process that can raise your score and get you on your path to wellness.

These dialogues are powerful as they reduce the confusion and keep the patient focused on the chiropractic outcome of resetting the tone off the nervous system so that Innate can express itself more freely.  You will notice that they do not include the word,” spine”.  This is deliberate as the push towards wellness is through the nervous system. During  the report and after the NSFi number has been introduced, individual scans or xrays can be reported on  This is helpful to a point but the final comment should be about releasing the unhealthy nerve tension that has ultimately damaged the body’s ability to repair, restore and revitalize itself spontaneously.

When we meet new patients or are dedicated to transforming our current crop of initiates ask yourself how you can “connect the hip bone to the Universe”.  The answer will most easily be found in the use of a number known as the NSFi.

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Remember, it takes a plan to Be Great!

I am constructing this blog from the business lounge in Seoul, Korea as I wind my way home from the family adventure we embarked upon, loosely known as “why are you going to Vietnam?” Naming the lounge has its point in this discussion. The sterile oasis that I am working in is in stark contrast to the buzz, hum and squawk of the back alleys of Hanoi that we just left behind.  There are so many stories that are allegorical for me to reflect upon that over the next few blogs I will reference the crucible of humanity that pulses and seethes in Southeast Asia to the work we do as chiropractors and how important we all are in the mosaic of life.  

This privileged perch in Seoul causes me to reflect on two concepts that I will reference as small and slow.  The portions that we are served in both drinks and meals are deliciously to the point.  When you look around in Hanoi or elsewhere in Vietnam, there is NO obesity. We land in Seoul and there it is again…the protuberant abdomen and the puffy, bloated Western traveler.  Small and efficient works.  The portions reflect the quest for value and excellence.  Intensity, rather than excess, is honored.  I also noted the incredibly efficient use of space.  Oh, how we could learn to maximize our offices to be powerful, efficient and glamorous all in one.  Small is powerful and it reminds me to comment on the power of the chosen word rather than the need to tell the whole story  of chiropractic and scan reporting in one endless run-on sentence. 

Being in a country where communication with the population all but ceases reminds me of what it must be like for a patient hearing about subluxation for the first time. There are lots of nods and smiles but the outcome is limited to a haphazardly constructed point of view based on the occasional familiar word. Imagine what you would say to someone who speaks a different language and then imagine how succinct and powerful your reports would be. What key words would you use to get your point across? How would you contain your frustration when the message gets lost in translation?  What visual props help to bridge the language barriers? This is where the brilliance of the NSFi numbering system or the use of specific scan reporting makes all the difference. I suggest that you remember to step back and think slow and small in your reporting.  “It’s unhealthy to have a low number and to have many regions of color on your scans.  Our care plans focus on raising this number which means that the spine and the nervous system are healing.”  Period.

Before I leave you from Seoul, I want to share a story about the value of slow. One morning I was in central Vietnam in a city named Hoi An.  I rented a bike just after dawn and took off to explore the surroundings before the family got going.  About 4 km away from the hotel, the chain popped off the bike and there I was stranded on the side of the road.  No big deal to fix the situation except that the chain was so stretched that it kept coming off as I pedaled.  The adventure took on many faces over the ensuing 4 km. I stopped and had tea with a motorcycle repairman who “fixed” the problem. As I resumed my usual fast and aggressive pedaling the chain stretched and popped off again. I tried as I might to fix the problem but conventional strategies failed. I was doomed to walk the bike home.  I flagged down a passing motorcyclist who had me sit behind him and drag the bike until we almost both died.  Finally, an ancient woman on a bicycle, toothless and picking up empty cans along the road, waved to me and had me come over to her.  With deft fingers she massaged the chain back onto the sprockets and then imparted the greatest wisdom…go slow to get home.  Rather than pushing the limits and failing each time, I followed her wise advice and felt each link of the chain engage.  I stifled the tendency to go for it as I knew the system would fail.  Gradually I got a feel for the pace and voila, the hotel appeared.  I think back on this lesson and realize how often I have tried to go for it with inferior systems in place.  The only lesson that I kept learning was how to fail and get frustrated with what was in place. My advice for practice is to go slow and get a feel for the systems you have.  Realize their limits but also realize that the fundamentals have to be in place before a successful launch.  Do your homework before your hit the road. Find out where the systems will fail and go slow with the intention to succeed and meet very wise people along the way.

I happened to be one of the one billion people of the planet that was caught up in watching the memorial tribute to Michael Jackson today. As a product of the 80’s social scene, I couldn’t help reminisce about my favorite tunes. In some ways, these are timeless treasures and that segues into my posting nicely. The man was a genius who captured the world’s attention. Gifted , without a doubt but also committed to excellence. Willing to explore and shatter conventional strategies and social norms. So let me ask you this…what “moonwalk” have you dreamed up lately? In the tribute, Magic Johnson spoke of his friendship and stated that Michael made him a better point guard. Who would ever have thought of that connection.

Being exposed to greatness and talent rubs off. Hanging out with creative visionaries rubs off. It’s not hero worship that draws the intelligent toward the exceptional. It’s an attraction to greatness. They don’t just raise the bar, as Berry Gordy said, they shatter it.
It’s unrealistic that we strive to be in the company of the social and entertainment elite. In fact I find that slightly repulsive as a goal. However, a wise man once directed me to read autobiographies of exceptional humans. There is genius in their stories and you never know what nuggets can pop out and change your life’s direction. I made a decision, years ago, after listening to that wise man, to align myself with my purpose and accept that the “job” of chiropractic was an expression of that purpose the same way that my wife and children were. Each friendship that I allowed to flourish was purposeful. Each adjustment given was “in line with the divine”. In fact, as Buckminster Fuller stated, we are never off purpose. In the same way that a bumblebee takes a convoluted and erratic route through life, we are always attached to our purpose, striving to bring clarity and simplicity to it. How fast we come to this agreement with ourselves and how committed we are to filtering out distractions allow us time to nurture this jewel called purpose. Somehow, we have to look at the limited time we are allotted and choose to be present. I assume that Michael Jackson figured this out as early as age 10 and let his genius flow through his actions along his path of life.
I get to chat and coach with hundreds of different docs and without a doubt they are the most caring and committed group of heroes that I could ever spend time with…BUT, as a rule, they stifle their genius by trying to be something they are not. Chiropractors forget that they are chiropractors. They try and act out physician and therapist personas in their practice instead of letting the chiropractic message…the genius and simplicity of chiropractic… flow from their communication and their actions. Chiropractic offers hope where others see rehab. Chiropractic works by releasing the destructive habits that emotional and physical distress have caused by sludging- up the central neural processor. If we really care for our people we can spend time coaching new and more fulfilling life strategies to help redirect their energies. Perhaps we can save a few “starfish” along the way. All of this takes time and a commitment to be exceptional. Michael figured this out on a grand scale. Can you?