September ‘23 Newsletter
A Letter from Dr. Phillips
On a Sunday morning in July I got up early and drove to Venice, not for a beach day, but a day of continuing education: 12 hours straight on a folding chair in a chiropractor’s office staring at a projector. The instructor, a local chiropractor who ignored the seminar company’s posted topic outline, announced instead that he would be presenting his own material. Material that included demonstrating his mastery of jujitsu by adjusting someone using his FEET.
With the patient lying face down on the table and a walker placed at the head of the table, the doc held on to the walker with his hands and walked up the patient’s back and pushed his bare feet in until he heard a nice pop.
I was horrified, not just by this barbarian of a colleague, but by those around me who marveled at the demonstration rather than recoil, as I had done. I thought, What on earth?! How can you tell what vertebra you’re adjusting? How do you know the line of drive? And I don’t care what kind of jujitsu powers you have, adjusting someone with your feet is gross.
As a point of contrast, the instructor also showed a video of himself being adjusted by a chiropractor trained the way I was: using a device called a nervoscope to detect which segments required attention, motioning the vertebra around the x, y, and z axes to determine the listing, setting up the adjustment with his HANDS (I can’t believe I have to say that) and finishing with a quick clean thrust to restore function to the joint. It was a small piece of sanity to observe chiropractic at its finest amidst a day of instruction that left me feeling disheartened.
While the day of instruction was a wash, I did draw some cool bookmarks with the pens I brought.
In college when I first began considering chiropractic for my career, I conversed with my own chiropractor, Dr. Sly, who told me there are a million ways of being a chiropractor. He told me, you can see two patients a day or 200. You can use any of a hundred different techniques. You can incorporate mainstream physical therapy principles, emphasize functional medicine and nutrition, or you can take a turn toward energy medicine, all of which range from evidence-based to totally woo-woo.
I thought I understood what Dr. Sly was talking about when I arrived at chiropractic college, where I was immersed in the alternative paradigms of health, but not without controversy. I had classmates who staunchly opposed vaccine mandates and those who vehemently supported them; classmates who embraced the historical term subluxation (the chiropractic name for the state of a vertebra in need of an adjustment) and those who rejected it; classmates who needed a scientific explanation for everything and those who argued that it’s impossible to study chiropractic using the scientific method. It seemed everyone had their own opinion about what chiropractic is and what it does and how it should be done.
I understood what Dr. Sly was talking about in an entirely new way once I moved to the west coast. While working at a busy practice in Glendale, I discovered a batch of crystals placed under the chiropractic table. As a chiropractic patient, I’ve been prescribed herbs and Chinese medicine (to my benefit, I must say). I recently observed a chiropractor who sings throughout the adjustment because she claims it helps with the flow of energy. And let me say it just one more time: a chiropractor adjusted his patient’s spine with his feet.
On that Sunday in July what further astounded me when watching the foot-to-spine demonstration was that the patient seemed to love it! She laughed, she said it felt amazing, she emitted pure elation. Using my own (slightly more orthodox) approach, plenty of my patients have responded with similar delight.
Chiropractic is diverse. There’s both variety in the style of practice and in the quality of the work. Beyond a foundational level of competence, what matters most is the fit between patient and chiropractor. If you have had previous experiences with chiropractic that were less than ideal, you might find better success with a different chiropractor’s approach.
I would love to be your chiropractor if you want me for your chiropractor; I’m also happy to help you find someone who is a good fit for you. All I want is for you to benefit from chiropractic when you need chiropractic. Don’t let any single practitioner keep you from all the health you might otherwise achieve.
Yours in health,
Announcements
Sequoia Chiropractic will be closed 9/4/23 for Labor Day. Sequoia Chiropractic will also be closed the last week of September (9/25 - 9/29).
With the school year in full swing, Sequoia Chiropractic’s home visit hours are reverting back to MTWF 9am-2pm. If you have a new injury that needs urgent care outside of these hours, call or text 626-346-0977.
Sequoia Chiropractic now has a Youtube channel! Check out Office Break and Desk Detox [LINK], two minutes each of seated stretches you can do anytime, anywhere.
Did you know Sequoia Chiropractic has Facebook and Instagram? Follow one (or both) to stay up to date.
Need a health and wellness speaker for your local event? How about a guest article or blog post? You can email me at drphillips@sequoiachiro.com.
Book Recommendations
The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness
Meghan O’Rourke
When I first picked this up, I thought I was in for a dreary read, but this was much more engaging than I expected. Part memoir, part journalism, O’Rourke relays the ups and downs of coming to terms with chronic illness and the murky path toward diagnosis and treatment. Rather than dial down into herself ad nauseam, O’Rourke zooms out to synthesize her individual experience with the larger patterns of chronic illness in society. Two chapters especially spoke to me: “Autoimmunity as metaphor” and “The Wisdom Narrative.” O’Rourke has a knack for analysis, and her original thinking is what made this such a fascinating book.
Health Affirmation
thelatestkate.art
The illustration above comes from Kate Allan, known online as The Latest Kate. Most of us have a love-hate relationship with our bodies (at least I tend to), and in reality there’s more emphasis on the hate part of that relationship. But health has no room for hate! Who takes care of things they hate? On the other hand, when your body frustrates you or saddens you, it can feel unnatural to love it. So here’s a third option: respect.
What does it mean to respect your body? Acknowledge its abilities and its limits. Give it what it needs: nutrients, fuel, sleep, movement. Address problems when they arise. Accept its shape and size. When loving your body feels out reach, you can start with a little respect.
Nutrition Spotlight
Are you a vegetarian? If so, you might be in need of nutrients that you aren’t getting from the food you eat. Vegetarians and vegans commonly are deficient in B vitamins (especially B12), iron, and omega-3 fatty acids. These essentials can be sourced from plant-based foods if you know where to look.
Tofu is often fortified with B vitamins, as are cereals and breads.
Legumes (lentils, beans, peas) provide iron, as do cruciferous vegetables such as brussels sprouts and kale
Walnuts and various seeds (chia, flax, pumpkin) provide omega-3 fatty acids.
Even with these food sources, in certain instances it can be useful to take supplements. In particular, vegetarians who menstruate need to keep up their iron levels, for which I recommend Megafood Blood Builder. What I like about this supplement is:
It provides iron from plant-based sources, keeping in line with the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle
It provides iron in a food state, which enhances its absorption
It includes vitamin C, which also enhances iron absorption
It’s quite accessible–I’ve seen it at Target, and you can find it on Amazon
If you are interested in exploring Megafood Blood Builder and other supplements I recommend, you can check them out at Sequoia Chiropractic’s Fullscript storefront. All orders through my storefront automatically receive a 10% discount and ship directly to you. You can make a patient account with no obligation to make a purchase, and you’ll have access to all my favorite supplements in the Fullscript catalog.
As always, if you have any questions about supplements I recommend or about nutrition in general, email me at drphillips@sequoiachiro.com.
One More Thing
This morning I discovered a ten-minute stretch routine that serves as a great warm up for any workout. Or, use it as a pick-me-up when you get up in the morning. Accompanied by gentle music and straightforward directions, the moves don’t even require you to change into workout clothes; in jeans it might be tough, but pajamas will be a-okay!
See you next month!
Thank you for reading the newsletter! If you have a friend who would enjoy it, please share it with them. I’ll see you in October for the next issue, when we’ll all be like
