If you think using the word supplementation in the same sentence as subluxation is evil or contrary to what B.J. or Clarence might have taught, then you really need this article.
Whether you focus on relieving nerve pressure and nerve interference, practice nutrition counseling, muscle testing or even integrative medicine, I have experienced all of these and realize the fact that the face of chiropractic is changing. Are you going to get left behind, or rise to greatness. There will always be nerve pressure, there will always be subluxations, and there will always be people that need our help; but there is uncertainty in our field of business. I realize that the economy is unpredictable and I focus on those things that I have control over and most particularly: How well I am distinguishing myself from every other practice out there?
Do you believe you are at the top in your community? Do you still think that because you don't have an MD behind your name, you are less of a practitioner? People are no longer looking for a title. They want a leader who will give them answers and results.
Supplementation vs. Drugs
The insurance industry and pharmaceutical companies have tried to monopolize healthcare with their puppet pill pushers, but have you seen what is happening? For the first time in my lifetime, many people are no longer trying drugs first. We have arrived at the great day when people are no longer looking to drugs as the answer.
And the pharmaceutical industry and drug lords cannot control the supplementation space because it is already way too big. They cannot put a patent on nutrition and the established nutritional companies have not sold out to them yet.
Have you noticed the number of supplement and whole food stores popping up around you? It is plain that thre is a massive wave of wealth moving toward supplements.
The Stars Are Aligning
Supplements are going to be a multi-trillion dollar global industry and you are perfectly positioned for this wave of wealth. But you have a choice to make: you will either ride the wave, watch it from the shore, or get wiped out.
Do you remember the phrase, "do no harm." Have you ever heard of anyone dying from supplements. No, you haven't. You don't and won't hear of anybody dying from supplements. You are a doctor. When people think of sickness, their thoughts have changed. The shift in thinking is this, maybe there is an herb, vitamin or supplement that I could take before taking a drug. Deep down inside we all know that drugs kill. People don't really want to take drugs, they just want results. Drugs are the pill that kill, not supplements. Your patients are becoming more educated and they are going to get the supplements that will help them.
Either they will get them from you or they will continue to get them from that new vitamin store in your community. And you know the advice they are getting from the vitamin store is less than credible. It will usually be from a high school kid who gets paid minimum wage and just sells some vitamins because that is his job.
One Way To Start
So, where do you start? You start with what you know. You do know that inflammation can cause or keep misalignment from going away. In order to speed up the healing process, you must decrease inflammation but allow for an increase in circulation. What better way to do this dramatically than starting with one supplement compound that will do just that. The one supplement I want to talk about is l-arginine.
[pb]L-Arginine
<Ignarro won his Nobel Prize for his studies of Nitric Oxide...What I need you to do here is explain the relationship between L-Arginine and the production of Nitric Oxide. You do explain what it does, but if you're going to bring Ignarro into this story, you really need to create a foundation: What is the connection between Nitric Oxide and L-arginine, and what is actually causing the benefits for the circulatory system...is it the release of the Nitric Oxide, or what?>
Also, I've seen some information that L-arginine in supplementation form can actually be hurtful for certain kinds of heart patients...true? If so, that needs mentioning and cautions.
L-Arginine is considered to be a miracle molecule. In fact the research and scientific studies by Louis Ignarro of l-argnine are so complete that a Nobel Prize was awarded to him. He and his team of researchers also found that the half life of l-arginine is so short, you must also have l-citrulline present for the ability to extend the life of l-arginine in the body. They also found that you need to have at least 4-6 grams of l-arginine to even make a difference in circulation. By adding other minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, you create a synergistic supplement that really changes your patients lives.
L-Argnine allows the endothelial lining of your arteries to relax, therefore decreasing vaso- and myospasms. By increasing circulation, you increase oxygenation. L-Argnine changes your arteries from being sticky like velcro to being slippery like teflon. I have been using l-arginine in my clinic and not only has it increased healing time in my patients, it has given me an added source of income that I wasn't taking advantage of. It reminds me of my patient who continued having extreme muscle pains and aches in his legs even after innate was flowing. He had already been to the medical doctor and that didn't help. Although I was adjusting him, the innate was not flowing as fast as he wanted. I thought about l-arginine and circulation. I knew I couldn't hurt him, so I put him on it. I am very pleased to say that not only did his muscle aches and pains decrease, but he came back to my office just to get more l-arginine.
I love the other patient who came back to me telling me all the drugs she was taking. Her forward head posture kept going more and more forward. I felt like I couldn't stop it. I knew she had a lot of inflammation and figured an increase of circulation would definitely help her. I let go of my ego and simply put her on l-arginine. She decided to stay on it and has been on it since. I still remember the day when she came back into my office for an adjustment and she said, "Dr. Nielsen, I went into my cardiologist for a check up. The EKG tech told me that my heart was healing. He wasn't able to find the problems that were there previously!" She was so excited! Not only were her muscle aches decreased dramatically but the 50% arterial blockage was now healing.
How about the patient who was on his deathbed, his lungs were filling with fluid, his legs had pitting edema and his heart and kidneys were starting to shut down. He desperately came to me looking for answers. He really felt like his days here on earth were getting few. You would obviously recognize that this guy needed better circulation. What increases circulation? Chiropractic adjustments combined with l-arginine increase circulation. His turn around has been dramatic!
You all know the feeling the day after working out - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. I personally like to do interval training, and just this year, I finally achieved my fitness goals and optimal weight by using the combination of l-arginine and l-citrulline. If you are working out, there is nothing better than increasing circulation and oxygenation to both body and brain. That is exactly what l-arginine will do for you and your patients.
The paradigm has shifted and people want natural results. They look up to you as the expert. Remember, they can get nutrition from you or they will get it from somebody else. What makes me really excited is people are no longer just coming into my clinic for subluxation but they are now asking me for supplementation.
When I graduated from chiropractic college in 1981 and started practice, I heard it all, and very little was positive. “You are a quack; you do not know what a subluxation is; you couldn’t get into a real health care program, so you chose the one that is slightly above a mail-order degree; you have no proof that chiropractic works; Are you really licensed?”, and so much more.
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A central challenge in creating our identity is that chiropractic is a method of care, not a technique or procedure. This is an important concept for us to promote. Our patients are treated with lifestyle modification, exercise, nutritional supplements, diet and a whole-body approach to accelerate the natural healing process. We are not simply CMT providers.
The results of a global survey released late last year (2023) unveiled some startling findings among medical and nursing students. The “Clinician of the Future: 2023 Education Edition” surveyed 2,212 students, of which 446 were in the United States, from 91 countries.
