The Chiropractic Ensign

Change

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:37:48 +0000

I've made a huge decision.

Only a few know about it so far, but it won't be long now before I broadcast my intentions out to the world.

Life-changing choice. A new path.

A new opportunity to serve.

I will keep you posted.

The Jingle

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:38:08 +0000

A few months before I implemented the Honor Box, I had a patient come in desperately wanting chiropractic care. When I explained my fees to her and her husband, I was made a counter offer.

"Money is a little tight right now for us," the husband explained. "Can we make a trade instead? I'll compose and create a jingle package in exchange for you helping my wife with chiropractic."

A jingle? What the heck would I do with a jingle? Is this guy for real?

I was, at the time, not spending a dime on advertising. No radio. No TV ads. No wait, I think perhaps I was running a small ad in The PennySaver. But that was it.

A jingle? What the heck would I do with a jingle?

But I agreed to the deal. I honestly thought it was pretty much like I was adjusting her for free-- that I was receiving the short end of the stick with this trade, getting just a useless, amateur product in exchange for my professional chiropractic services.

Wrong!

Photo by Creative Minds 808First, this musician took the time to sit down and work with me in discovering the feel, the vibe, and the message of the jingle. We came up with the hook, "Who's got your back?" and set it to a Jawaiian groove. This guy recorded the jingle in a professional studio playing all the instruments and doing the vocals himself.

Then about two weeks after we agreed to the deal, he presented me with my jingle package: an audio CD with 8 tracks, some with intros, outros, and a few "doughnuts" (tracks with an intro and an outro). The jingle package was ready for radio and TV spots.

Of course, I still had no intention at the time to run any commercials. How could I afford that?

But man oh man! Did I have a cool jingle!

If you haven't heard it yet, click here to go to my website home page. It will play automatically in about seven seconds.

So the barter went down like this: I gave $1000.00 worth of chiropractic care to his wife and I got a jingle package in trade.

Now more than eight years later, I can honestly say that I got the better deal.

At first I thought I was getting something of little worth, what I ended up with instead has been a blessing and a resource beyond measure.

Having such a cool jingle did motivate me to find advertising opportunities to show it off
The jingle anchored many radio spots on stations like 92.3 KSSK, Island Rhythm 98.5 and ESPN1420
The following year, I was able to network with an account manager at KHON2 who was able to get me on TV at very affordable rates. The jingle has played on every spot.
A few years back, Ernie Cruz, Jr. graciously agreed to star in a new commercial for me and even wanted to compose his own version of the jingle.
Since 2001, this jingle has helped me effectively brand my practice and the Honor Box throughout the islands

But most importantly, I learned a great life lesson:

You never know what hidden value something or someone may have. What may at first appear to be of little worth, may in fact hold a tremendous life-changing benefit within only to be manifested months or years down the road. We must be careful before dismissing and disregarding something that only seems worthless. It might actually be of great worth, beyond our wildest dreams.

An adjustment.

A stranger.

A jingle!

Localization and Prevention

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:54:50 +0000

“Localization: the determination of the points at which functions or pathological conditions originate.” (pg. 207)

--Lippincott’s New Medical Dictionary

When a patient receives a migraine medication, like RELPAX or Imitrex, has the problem truly been localized? Nope. The drug is prescribed to cover up the pain, not to eliminate the cause of the headache. In fact, in most cases, the exact cause of the migraine is never discovered.

The obvious problem with focusing only on alleviating the symptom instead of going after the cause is that the source of the problem remains ignored. So why do most patients accept the omission of localization from their doctors? Simply because the drugs make it feel like things are getting better. The pain is relieved and without the pain indicator, many are fooled into thinking the source of the symptom has been taken care of... but in reality, the cause of the pathological condition persists. And often times worsens day by day.

If the migraine is caused by a subluxated atlas, correct that subluxation!

You can take all the prescription medications you want, but no matter how many pills you pop, the drugs will never ever move that misaligned vertebra back into place.

It is interesting that this principle of localization applies to most of the problems we encounter in life-- whether these problems be physical, financial, or even spiritual. We need to be aware of the root cause of whatever crisis we are in and work to correct that root cause instead of desperately searching for quick fixes to eliminate the pain.

The higher principle of localization is, of course, prevention. Successful prevention of a painful crisis occurs when we determine a pathological condition way before that problem elicits any suffering. This is the wisdom behind wellness, wealth and inner peace.

"There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve."

--Mike Leavitt

The Art of Dealing Drugs

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:41:09 +0000

Last year, pharmaceutical companies in the United States made $291 BILLION dollars.

There are approximately 307,500,000 people in the United States-- which breaks down to $946.35 spent by every man, woman and child last year on prescription drugs.

Incredible feat. Especially when you take into account that these products cannot be purchased freely by the average consumer. Each sale requires pre-approval by a licensed medical professional.

Drug companies depend on doctors to dispense their medications. Without the M.D. "middle man", sales would come to a screeching halt.

And these doctors don't make a single dime in commissions on the sales they broker, right? They're working for free on behalf of these pharmaceutical companies, right?

So how do they do it? How, despite the economic crisis we are in, did the drug companies actually make huge profits last year?

It's an art.

To sell their drugs, pharmaceutical companies hire former cheerleaders and ex-models to wine and dine doctors, exaggerate the drug's benefits and underplay their side-effects, a former sales rep told a Congressional committee this morning.

Shahram Ahari, who spent two years selling Prozac and Zypraxa for Eli Lily, told a Senate Aging Committee chaired by Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., that his job involved "rewarding physicians with gifts and attention for their allegiance to your product and company despite what may be ethically appropriate."

Ahari claims that drug companies like hiring former cheerleaders and ex-models, as well as former athletes and members of the military, many of whom have no background in science.

"On my first day of sales class, among 21 trainees and two instructors, I was the only one with any level of college-level science education," Ahari told ABCNews.com on Tuesday.

During their five-week training class, Ahari claims that instructors teach sales tactics, including how to exceed spending limits for important clients, being generous with free samples to leverage sales, using friendships and personal gifts to foster a "quid pro quo" relationship, and how to exploit sexual tension.

Complete report: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4438095&page=1

Read an older blog post for a first-hand observation of this process: http://drshiraki.squarespace.com/the-chiropractic-ensign/2009/5/20/the-lunchtime-drug-deal.html

The Honor Box and the Health Care Crisis

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:25:40 +0000

A few days ago, I asked myself this question:

How in the world am I still in business?

Locally, we've seen Aloha Airlines say "aloha" forever. On the national scene, well-established financial institutions and automobile corporations received choke bailout money from the federal government just to survive-- General Motors still declared bankruptcy. Unemployment is up. Families are tightening their belts, spending less and less, and both big businesses and small businesses everywhere are closing their doors for good. Calling it quits...

But somehow, my practice survives. Somehow, the Honor Box allows me to keep my practice alive and provide for my family.

It doesn't make sense. Does it? Honor Box Chiropractic, a system that allows each and every patient the option to pay whatever it is they want, can't possibly work in today's economic climate. Right?

I could adjust 100 spines a day, but if the owners of these spines decided to toss in unfair, dishonest, payments into the box (which they very well could), I wouldn't last a month. I wouldn't last a week.

But day after day I open that box after my last adjustment and find enough.

What if all doctors and patients could trust each other the way I trust my patients and my patients trust me? What if the Honor Box became a standard in all health care practices?

Would we be in a heath care crisis then?

Honor Box Health Care? LOL! Crazy! Ridiculous! It would never work!

Except, it does.

Here in Kalihi, 1633 Kahai Street. Working, folks. The Honor Box stay working, folks.

I have a small favor to ask. Please share this blog post with the doctors you know.

Ask them what they think. Some may smirk. Some may dismiss. Some may make excuses.

But perhaps, some may consider.

If You Knew That You Would Die Today...

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:45:44 +0000

Tracy Chapman singing Change on the Tonight Show:

The lyrics:

If you knew that you would die today,
Saw the face of God and love,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that love can break your heart
When you're down so low you cannot fall
Would you change?
Would you change?

How bad, how good does it need to get?
How many losses? How much regret?
What chain reaction would cause an effect?
Makes you turn around,
Makes you try to explain,
Makes you forgive and forget,
Makes you change?
Makes you change?

If you knew that you would be alone,
Knowing right, being wrong,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would find a truth
That brings up pain that can't be soothed
Would you change?
Would you change?

How bad, how good does it need to get?
How many losses? How much regret?
What chain reaction would cause an effect?
Makes you turn around,
Makes you try to explain,
Makes you forgive and forget,
Makes you change?
Makes you change?

Are you so upright you can't be bent?
If it comes to blows are you so sure you won't be crawling?
If not for the good, why risk falling?
Why risk falling?

If everything you think you know,
Makes your life unbearable,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you'd broken every rule and vow,
And hard times come to bring you down,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would die today,
If you saw the face of God and love,
Would you change?
Would you change?
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you saw the face of God and love
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

Recommendations

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:19:25 +0000

I make my recommendations and my patients decide to either:

A) Follow my recommendations exactly

B) Ignore my recommendations completely

C) Modify my recommendations into something that "works" for them

I have found that many choose to do "C".

And I am fine with this.

For example, I may tell my patient that they should start their chiropractic care with three adjustments a week. However, a patient may decide that they want to get adjusted only once a week instead. And then two months later, because the pain is still there, they begin to doubt that chiropractic really works.

Or I may recommend that my patient continues regular chiropractic adjustments even after the pain is eliminated, in order to continue with spinal correction and healing and maintenance. But often times, after attaining relief, the patient disappears... only to give me a call some time later down the road to schedule a quick-fix now that the pain has come back (often coming back with a vengeance).

If I know that the patient knows, I do my very best and try not to say, "I told you so. You should have listened to me." Sometimes, I may need to explain again the reasons behind my recommendations. In as nice a way, as respectful a way, as I can.

It does get frustrating at times. But I am fine with it, because:

A) I recognize and respect the free agency within us all to choose what we feel is best for our own health

B) I rather adjust a person once than never

C) For myself, I detest it when someone tries to manipulate me with guilt, money and fear to do what they might think is best for me. So why would I do this to another?

I know of some very well-respected chiropractors who will absolutely refuse to accept a patient who does not follow their recommendations with exactness. They will turn him away and shut the door.

I have been taught by the "experts" about the need for a doctor to "draw a line in the sand" and refuse to offer care to anyone who dares to step over the line in disobedience. If we hold people to a higher standard, they argue, it can only elevate our patients to a place of more excellent health and integrity.

On the other hand, "tough love" arguments aside, individuals are unique. Circumstances vary. What works here and now may not apply there and later. Our recommendation are not laws set in stone, commandments from on high. They are instead, simply the suggestions of one with a specialized education and applicable experience.

Who am I to resent a person, deny a person, who is not in alignment with the way I see things?

Where is the mercy, understanding, and compassion in denying another because he or she doesn't want to play by my rules?

Rather than kicking people out, my responsibility is to accept where the patient is at and respect their decisions even when they conflict with my recommendations. Then, I must educate. Enlighten a person with tact and gentleness to see the worth and benefits in doing things "my way." Use acceptance and love, and there is a chance they may come around.

Expel that person from the practice, and there is no chance whatsoever!

It's Been That Long?

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:56:37 +0000

It is not uncommon for a patient to wait a long, long time between adjustments. Once in a while, when a patient comes back after a lengthy hiatus, I may check the date of their last visit and let them know.

"It's great to see you," I say. "The last time you were here for an adjustment was seven months ago."

Surprised, they exclaim, "Seven months! It's been that long? I thought it was like two!"

Time flies. Life moves fast. A patient skips an adjustment and tells him or herself they'll get to it next week. But that week passes and another then another. Weeks turn to months...

When we find out how much we've procrastinated, how long we have neglected that which we know we should've done, usually we are SHOCKED.

Time flies. Life moves fast.

We skip adjustments, workouts, going Church, organizing that closet, etc.-- not because we can't find the time, but simply because we fail to make the time.

I know. And I know the remedy: having the discipline to schedule the important things into our lives and the discipline to abide by that schedule.

I know! Because when was the last time I posted on this blog? July 9?!?

It's been that long? Snap.

This blog is important to me and my chiropractic mission. I will do better.

What's important to you and your life's mission? Can you do better?

The Emotional Pain and Physical Pain Link

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:44:46 +0000

A few months ago, I wrote a post about a widow who did not respond well to my chiropractic adjustments, but instead, had a tremendous recovery after falling in love again.

Click here to read that post.

This premise of love conquering not only a broken heart but a subluxated spine may seem far-fetched and hokey to most. Skeptics may say that her pain might have been psychosomatic in the first place and strong emotions only distracted her from the chronic discomfort.

But there might be more to it than just that.

Pain travels along two pathways from a source, such as an injury, back to your brain. One is the sensory pathway, which transmits the physical sensation. The other is the emotional pathway, which goes from the injury to the amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex—areas of the brain that process emotion.

"You may not be aware of it, but you're having a negative emotional reaction to chronic pain as well as a physical reaction," says Natalia Morone, MD, assistant professor of general internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Mind-body treatments that involve meditation and relaxation probably affect these emotional pathways. However, Dr. Morone admits that many doctors don't put much stock in this theory. "Anything to do with mind-body medicine around pain is going to be controversial. This is all very new."

(From an article posted on Health.com)

I do not think it crazy to extrapolate that if there is an emotional pain pathway that travels back and forth between the brain and an injured part of the body, resolution of one traumatized pathway may also direct the other pathway towards healing and relief.

It's all connected. And we are all connected.

Talking with Jai About Chiropractic

Reed S. Shiraki, D.C. — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:26:10 +0000

This is what I wrote about being on TV last night on Facebook:

"Doing a LIVE interview on TV is third on my list of the most frightening moments of my life. Second place was knocking on my first door as a missionary in Japan. Number one was asking Nomura-san (after meeting him less than a day before) if I could marry his daughter. HEY! ALL THREE CAME OUT ALL RIGHT!"