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I welcome Sri Lankan refugees!
Yesterday, here in B.C., a ship of Tamils from Sri Lanka landed seeking refugee status. I certainly hope that if they have a legitimate claim as refugees that we accept them with open arms. Having said that, if they are shown to be other than legitimate refugees I want them shipped out ASAP. We Canadians are fantastic people at helping out those in need - no matter skin colour, religious belief, or pretty much any other differentiation.
Where I draw the line is when we accept people who bring a lot of old baggage - and continue using it here. If you want to come to this country, the best country in the world, then be thankful and start a new life. Enjoy your customs but understand that you are no longer in your home country and that you have been given a chance to live a new life in a safe, organized, predictable country which is chock full of fabulous people. Don't bring war, pre ;http://www.injuryresources.com/jscripts/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js" type="text/javascript"> judice, hatred, entitlement, or frankly bad driving habits!! We will look after you with love, acceptance, health, education, stable politics, a safe place to live and mostly a chance to wipe the slate clear and start again.
By the way, with the exception of the indigenous peoples of North America, we are all from somewhere else. My family came to North America in 1637. That's 17 years following the Mayflower, so I have some bragging rights as a member of one of North America's oldest European based families. My branch of the family moved up into Canada during the American revolutionary war and settled in Ontario where there is a small town called Mallorytown. We have blended into the North American milieu over the centuries and I have to say as a family spokesman that we all still feel a great deal of thankfulness that we live here and a great deal of pride in being Canadian.
Another "by the way" is cogent here, I know a bit about Sri Lanka and its people and it's troubles. I studied acupuncture in Sri Lanka. (In my chiropractic practice in the core of downtown Vancouver, I don't use acupuncture. Well, I do use some laser acupuncture occasionally, but for needle acupuncture we have a couple of great acupuncturists that we refer to.) Sri Lanka was an eye opening experience. The poverty was very hard to take. Whole families were living on the street with a just piece of cardboard as the only sense of "this is our space". Imagine kids being brought up like that. I saw beggars with leprosy, elephantitis, terrible disfigurements, and all the othe maladies of poverty.
When I was there I was able to get a hotel on the beach with one meal a day for $8 a day. In North American terms, as a student, I was flat broke. In Sri Lankan terms, I was a rich guy from overseas. People there spend a whole generation or two at a stratification of life and work like dogs to move one rung up the ladder. Life is tough. If all Canadians went to Sri Lanka they would all appreciate the life these refugees are trying to get away from. If you have not seen it - believe me - you have no idea. And, I hope you believe me.
At the time I went, the war had been going for a few years. We saw almost nothing of it. A burned out bus and a building that had been bombed were the only 2 things I saw that reminded us a war was on. We hardly even saw any military. The Sri Lankans were beautiful, happy, welcoming people. I hope that the tsunami and the war have not dampened their spirits. I have very fond memories of my time there.
I'm sure that the people accepted into Canada from this boat full of refugees will become good Canadians. In a couple of generations their kids and grandchildren will have assimilated the way my family did. I hope that if there are criminals in their midst that they are weeded out and sent away, but I welcome the rest with open arms.
Let my country help you and the generations to come. Please don't forget to thank us for our generosity. Thank us verbally - it goes a long way. Thank us with becoming one of us. Show love, acceptance, caring, industriousness, humour, culture, sport, get educated, buy a house, grow things, raise great kids. You are coming to the greatest country in the world. Canada is what every country wants to be.
This comes from the descendent of a refugee. When my family moved here we were also refugees.
We fit in.
Post by: Dr. Mallory on 2010-08-14 10:19:16
Watching people walk and becoming a chiropractor!
Deb and I were walking down the street this weekend and as she was doing her usual thing (checking stores for deals) I was doing my usual thing (watching people walk). If you get nervous having people watch you walk please don't walk anywhere near me!
I got into the habit of watching people walk back when I was a chiropractic patient, long before I became a chiropractic student. Let's see....that would be about 30 years ago. I had a head injury from diving into a river which resulted in giving me constant horrible headaches. I saw the medical doctors to see if they could help and other than some pretty strong drugs which really zonked my brain, I got no relief from the headaches. Of course the drugs would not help because the problem was from a mechanical cause. At the time, I was a manager with Eaton's department stores and my staff kept telling me to go see a chiropractor.
The word chiropractor seemed like a heavy, scary word and even though I walked past a chiropractic office every day on my way to work I never took the risk of going into that office to see what they do. My mom had been a nurse and told me not to go to a chiropractor. She was sure that they were bad. My mom was really bright and very conservative and if she said it was bad to go to a chiropractor - she must have known a thing or two.
The headaches persisted continuously for over 3 years. One day my cousin Robin Mallory was visiting from Ottawa. He was a world traveller who was in his last year of chiropractic college. Of course that made him a bit suspect but I asked him one day if chiropractors help migraine. He had me lie down on the dining room floor and checked my neck. Even though he was just a student, when he felt my neck he was shocked! He told me i had to go see a friend of his, Dr. Bill Russell. Bill was a chiropractor in his first year of practice.
Bill checked me out and started treatment. I was pretty skeptical especially when he gave my neck a twist. But WOW! WHAT A RESULT! I walked out of his office feeling like I was floating about 3 feet off the ground. I kept on schedule and within a couple of months was so much better that I though I was fixed, and quit going. A couple of weeks later I had a wicked migraine and somehow drove myself to Bill's office and begged them to treat me. I sat in the waiting room for about an hour until he could squeeze me in. I walked out of his office so much better and it was that day that I realized I was going to be a lifetime chiropractic patient.
Bill was great! He bent over backward to help me and in doing so became my friend. He inspired me to look into the profession and without Dr. Bill Russell and Dr. Robin Mallory guiding me I would not be sitting here today adding to this blog! I've had a number of health challenges over the years but only one migraine since 1986!
I've been kind of lucky getting all the classic sort of aches and pains - plantar fascitis, knee pains, hip pain, low back pain, upper back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, tennis elbow, golfers elbow, carpal tunnel, and many different types of headache. I've also been given the gift of a subtle case of multiple sclerosis (of the four different types I got the good one!). The reason I think I'm lucky to have had these conditions is that they have given me a chance to experience what patients are going through. Because I've worked through these, I've found some great ways to treat those conditions. I love helping people get better and I hope I can help for many years.
Back when I was a patient and just starting to look at movement disorders I would watch people walk and when I saw them walking asymmetrically I would go up to them and give them one of Bill's cards. Some of them followed through and some of them thought I was completely nuts!! I just wanted to help them.
I'm still obsessed with watching people walk. Most have no idea that they are unbalanced. They have no idea that one side of their pelvis is not moving. They don't know that their posture is terrible. They have absolutely no clue that their feet are turned in or out when they walk. They don't have pain so in their mind they don't have a problem. I hope it does not take a hit to the head to get them to look after their health!
I have to go, Deb wants to go for a walk before breakfast.
I hope there are some people walking out there......
Post by: Dr. Mallory on 2010-08-08 09:12:27
Calcium is Bad?! What's next?
OK - I am shocked! Officially!!
In Friday's news was an article that was published in the British Medical Journal about the health risks of calcium.
The researchers looked at a number of studies and saw that by taking calcium supplements there was a 30 percent greater risk of cardiovascular disease. What a head shaker that is!
Calcium is taken by MILLIONS of people because we have been told that it's good for all sorts of processes in the body, the most currently important one is to mitigate the effects of osteoporosis. I did not read why it causes cardiovascular disease yet, but I'm sure that will come out in the weeks to follow.
Of course this will provoke very spirited debates and there will be a lot of turf protection going on. It will be fun to watch!
For me, it's just another reminder of how little we know of how the body works. It used to be that everything was so dogmatic - this part of the brain does only this thing, that fat deposit was inert, calcium is good for you....etc. We really can't say much about how we work can we? Every time a dogmatic statement is made, it just takes a few years and we are proven wrong. I have to tell you, it makes it tough to counsel patients!
I will dogmatically say this though, I think it makes sense to be as naturally healthy as possible. There is a place for fresh food and water, exercise, stretch, massage, and of course chiropractic. These are simple, easy ways to naturally help your body do it's job.
One of the old maxims in chiropractic is that the power that made your body will heal your body. Most of the time in my practice in downtown Vancouver I see that is true. I also see abuse of bodies, overweight, dehydrated, smokers, sedentary, stress. These all contribute to damage within and then the tendency is to look for a solution from outside the body.
How about this ....why don't we realize that we are responsible for ourselves and take the necessary steps to try and stay as healthy as we can naturally? If we do everything right, then if the universe throws a disorder at you, well, at least you tried!
I don't think I'll ever see an article that says natural health care is detrimental to your health! If I do, I'll scratch the other side of my head!!
Post by: Dr. Mallory on 2010-08-01 21:13:40
Back on track!
It's been a while since I added a blog entry - but for good reason. I was being tested for a condition that could have pulled me from practice. Fortunately I passed all the tests and don't have to worry anymore but it was a really valuable lesson. I'm back on track!
Good health is something we humans tend to take for granted. Who thinks about their health when they feel great all the time? Sometimes it takes a slap in the face to pay attention to the most basic things. I try to get my patients in my practice here in downtown Vancouver to take responsibility for their overall good health. Sometimes though, things happen which are out of our control. What I just learned - again - is that it's how you deal with the curveballs that life throws at you which makes all the difference in life. You always have to push ahead and try to make yourself as healthy as possible. It may not mean that you are perfect at the end of the day but you can certainly try to optimize your situation
I see patients who just give up with health. They stop trying to optimize how their bodies work, how they think and how they subsequently live. They abdicate responsibility for their health. They come up with excuses. They quit.
You can't quit!
Take responsibility for your health. Do what is right to stay healthy. It's really all the stuff your Mom taught you! You know - sit up straight, drink lots of water, don't eat junk food, go outside to play, play well with others.........
Take it from me (and I've had more than one crisis in my life) that your health is the most important thing you own.
Protect it!
Post by: Dr. Mallory on 2010-07-27 10:00:51
Changes in the brain when you've had chronic pain.
Imagine going to a high end clothing store and purchasing a piece of clothing. Good service, nice surroundings and an overall exceptional experience. Now imagine buying at a warehouse club store. Tables of sometimes folded garments, jumbled together, no changeroom and certainly no staff in sight. Same garment - different experience!
That's a really good analogy for when you experience trauma to the tissues of your spine. A change occurs in your brain's processing of the painful stimulus and it alters the overall experience over time.
There are nerves in the muscles, tendons and joints that tell your brain what's going on at that particular joint. They convey information about where you are in space, how much tension is on the joint, and things like if you are moving or still. When these nerves get damaged or irritated they inflame. Imagine hitting your thumb with a hammer - it will swell up like crazy. The same sort of thing happens to a joint ligament when it has been damaged. When it swells up the aggravated nerves then start the journey to the brain. They go into the spinal cord and make some reconnections with nerves that whisk the information that something is wrong up to your brain.
Usually the information is decoded in a part of your brain we call the pre motor cortex. Don't worry about the technical name right now. Basically it's where the brain processes the information that something is wrong with the body area. This is a good system and works well for a while. Once the problem has persisted for a while an interesting thing happens - the area of processing is shifted to a more forward area of the brain.
Once this happens it becomes increasingly difficult to get back to normal. The body still gets messages that something is wrong but it's being decoded and acted upon in a totally different way than it should be. This can perpetuate the chronicity of the pain.
For now just think this: your brain needs the right information in the right spot so it can make the right decisions about how to deal with the problem. Once pain has been present for a while a shift occurs to process the information in a different part of the brain and you therefore get a different response. Same information - different experience - just like our clothing analogy!
In the next few postings I'll try to simplify the pathways - it means learning a bit about the nerves that tell us what is going on at the joint. Once we have that down we will look at the ways you can try to normalize the processing in the brain and make the tissue healthy again.
One of the coolest things you can do is get a chiropractic adjustment!! An adjustment, alone, can make changes....but wait! There's more!! But that's next time....
Post by: Dr. Mallory on 2010-06-02 16:59:24
Pain Changes You
I was down in the States recently at Dr. Malik Slosberg's seminar. He presented a collection of over 350 fantastic research articles dealing with all sorts of aspects of chiropractic.
His seminar started with an article he wrote (Slosberg M, DC, MS. Essentials of Dynamic Stability training and Chiropractic Care. Dynamic Chiropractic 2009: 27(2)) In it he describes how pain is only one exerience that occurs when there has been a problem in your spine. He says that when we experience pain we make all sorts of changes in the way our nerves rebalance our bodies. The brain starts to use different muscles in abnormal pattern and this causes reduced stability of a joint, decreased strength, decreased endurance, changes in the range of motion of a joint and can actually be related to recurrance of the original problem.
In researching the current guidelines on how to treat these problems, he found some suggestions that have a lot more to do with how the body and brain work together than just how to get rid of pain. The major goals of these treatments is to restore stability and nerve control at all segments of the spine in order to get back to the way we are supposed to be working. One of the ways this can be done is through targeted exercise which builds strength, endurance and range of motion. We always try to get patients to participate in this essential function of healing!
The other way to help is with Chiropractic adjustments. SURPRISE!! When we adjust your spine we stimulate the nervous system by affecting nerve receptors in the ligaments, muscles and tendons. The thrust that chiropractors utilize when we adjust performs the following:
- restores range of motion
- opens up and gaps restricted joints
- breaks apart the microscopic fibers that scar the joint
- stimulates nerve fiber to make changes in the way your brain sees the joint
- decreases risk of reinjury
So even though your brain changes the way your body responds to pain, there are ways to try to get you back to normal. I'll be writing about these brain changes in the next blog. As it turns out pain is percieved in different areas of the brain than normal when it's been around for a while.
Cool eh?
Post by: Dr. Mallory on 2010-05-31 12:39:11
The Library of Experience
Keeping up with the evolution of knowledge is a daunting task when you run a clinical practice. There are a lot of researchers in the world, doing a lot of research! In the old days we would stay up on changes by subscribing to a couple of journals which usually pertained to our individual areas of practice. As well, mandatory post graduate hours meant that attending seminars was pretty important. We all had a pretty good library of books from which to draw our knowledge. Then of course there was the library of experience which was really valuable!
This difficulty in keeping clinical knowledge up to date had another ramification - patients had no idea about their conditions because the knowledge was just too hard to come by.
I was lucky to start my practice in 1987. Even though that seems like modern times to people over 45, it was the end of the dark ages of knowledge. I've seen a massive shift in accessibility of knowledge. I hardly ever go to my library now - other than the library of experience of course.
The internet has changed everything in an incredible way. Not only do I have better access to vast amounts of knowledge, but so do my patients. Where we were the gatekeepers of information, now everyone has been invited to the party. I like it! I like the fact that my patients can research out a topic about their health that is important to them. It keeps me on my toes!
How do I go about getting knowledge now? I read every day from a variety of websites to stay up on what is happening in health care research. When I have a difficult case that does not seem to make sense I can dig around and see if there is a pearl of wisdom out there to help the patient. I still take mandated courses, but I can find more courses through the internet than I could before when I would wait for the mail to bring a seminar notice. For example, I am off to Los Angeles next week for my favorite seminar. Dr. Malik Slosberg is presenting his seminar down there and I've been going to his class for years.
Dr. Slosberg is a research hound. He compiles all the current research as it pertains to chiropractic and then presents it as an update type of seminar. He is a brilliant presenter and because he's been doing this a long time he can show a timeline of thought as to how research or researchers have evolved. We will go through about 600 - 800 research abstracts next weekend. It really pumps up my brain! I love knowing the real reasons chiropractic works so well, what researchers have found about conditions, and where the edge of the envelope of knowledge is. He will show us current thought on all sorts of topics like neck pain, back pain, sciatica, whiplash, arthritis, neurological pathways, testing protocols, treatment paradigms, complication of aging, etc. I can hardly wait!!
Of course there is also the library of experience. As of this weekend I have been in practice for 23 years and about to start my 24th. I've seen a lot of conditions. I've had the benefit of seeing how conditions respond to all sorts of interventions. I have done a lot of reading over the years and I think I've earned my stars. Because of all the help others have given me through books, seminars and the internet, I believe I have become a better practitioner - so thanks everyone for helping me help others!
I hope to continue to learn and help patients in my downtown Vancouver chiropractic clinic for a long time.
Post by: Dr. Mallory on 2010-05-07 06:59:05
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