I would like to thank all my patients for allowing me to be part of their quest for better health.  I've learned so much from all of you about life and love and friendship.  I'm humbled that you have allowed me into your lives - Thanks!

I would like to thank the professionals who got me here - Dr. Rob Mallory, Dr. Bill Russell, Dr. Richard Hunter, Dr. Gordon Potter, Dr. Jeff Stein, and Dr. Mitch Mendelson have all had pivotal roles in my development.  Thanks guys!

I would like to thank Dr. Sayani for helping me look forward and putting her trust in me to show her a path.

I would like to thank Lorraine, Verna, Sherry, Leanne and Yvette for doing such superb jobs on the front desk.

I really want to thank Deb for support, love encouragement, friendship, some well timed butt kicking as she has gone through this journey with me.

I look back on the past 25 years with gratitude and forward to helping lots more people in the years to come.  I hope I can stay in active practice for many more years.  I want to get rid of lots more headaches and low back pains and everything in between!

Thanks everyone!

Spinal care, exercise and injury prevention are very important for our health. Sitting at a desk, driving, lifting heavy objects and working on a computer all have tremendous impact on our bodies and we would love to help you get rid of your aches and pains as well as improve your spinal health.

We will work with you to determine the cause of your pain and the best way to get you out of pain and prevent future occurrences. Come into our downtown vancouver chiropractic office by May 7th to take advantage of spinal health week!

There was an article published in the journal "Spine" which is the best journal in the world for the type of care we provide.  It is a multidisciplinary journal which means MD's, chiropractors, physiotherapists etc. can publish in it if their research is of high enough quality.  It is the absolute best journal and it only takes the best research. 

The article was written by a couple of MD's who looked at whether spinal manipulation has benefits if patients keep it up on a maintenance basis over time.  They did a randomized trial which is the gold standard in research.  It's the best type of research you can do.

Please remember this - when I graduated 25 years ago, chiropractors were the pariahs of health care.  More than once, years ago, I was hung up on by medical offices when they found out that I was a chiropractor.  It was a very antagonistic time.  I honestly thought that chiropractors and medical doctors would never be able to communicate in the patient's best interest.  I've been lucky through the years to develop excellent rapport with fantastic medical doctors like Dr. Jeff Stein and his fellow MD's at the Stein Clinic in downtown Vancouver.  Over the years there has been more of an integration of chiropractic into the milieu of health care and really Dr. Stein has led the way as far as I'm concerned. 

OK, back to the article - guess what the results were?  The authors concluded that periodic patient visits permit proper evaluation, detection, and early treatment of any emerging problem, thus preventing future episodes of low back pain.

Remember these are MD's in the most prestigious journal, reporting on the best type of research.

I'm going outside now to see if there are purple flying pigs in the sky!  I never thought I'd see that as well!!

STOP WEARING HIGH HEELS!!!!!

I was a manager for Eaton's a million years ago and I had the shoe departments as part of my responsibility.  As well, when I was a student in chiropractic college I worked in the ladies shoe departments of both the downtown Toronto Bay and Eaton's stores.  I have seen a lot of women's feet.  Lots.  And I can remember many of them because they were so bad.

Horrible.  Disgusting.  Gnarly.  Painful.  Misshapen. Giant bunions.  Hammer toes.  Thick fungal infested nails.  Gross.

The reason?  Shoes that you gals wear are not healthy.  High heels are messing you up and yet they continue to be promoted and purchased ad nauseum.  Believe me, and please heed this advice, get out of high heels.

High heels were designed for men.  The story I heard was that one of the French kings, Louis the somethingth, was looking for a way to be a bit taller.  In those days the guys wore breeches and knee stockings as well.  He had his shoemaker pop out a design that could lift him up a bit and also puff out his calve.  Everyone in the court caught on to this fashion and they started to wear the high heels as well.  That meant old Louis lost his height advantage.  Not only that, the guys all figured out pretty quickly that these shoes were killing their feet, and giving them knee and back pain.  So they ditched them.

The gals in the court had a different idea.  You see, back then the breasts were not the prime sexual secret spots like they are today, it was the ankle.  Seeing an ankle drove men crazy.  The female courtiers all had on those monster hooped skirts, and so they started to wear the high heels under them and it added a whole new level of sexual allure for the guys.  Plus, it pumped out those calves and made them look pretty good.

Guess what?  You are still wearing them for that reason!  It all has to do with sex appeal.  I hear all day "But flat shoes aren't sexy!"

Bunions are?

Here is what happens in high heels - you shift all your weight to the forefoot.  Try it - stand on the ground and raise your heels.  See?  All the weight goes to the forefoot.  This places an extreme amount of load on the joints in the foot.  It flattens your arches and takes away the spring that was built into the foot.  Over time the big toe will migrate outward causing a bunion.  Now to be fair, women are more predisposed to load on that toe anyway due to the angle that the leg comes out of the hip socket in women versus men.  But high heels really increase that load.

The muscles in the foot and leg contract (remember - puff up the calve?  That occurs with contraction of the calve muscles!) and this is someting I've seen in my 25 years as a chiropractor which has really messed some women up.  I had one patient who had to walk on tip toe only because she was so contracted.  She even had high heel slippers!

The knee starts to be overloaded and knee problems start.  The glut muscles contract and the hip rotates outward.  Walk behind someone in high heels and watch how their feet are rotated outward - kind of like a duck walk.  Yuck!

When you lift up your heels you would fall forward and land on your face unless you contracted your large back muscles to counterbalance you.  What do you think that does to your back?  I'll tell you - it radically increases the load on your vertebrae and their joints and discs. That can speed up degeneration couldn't it?

Most (but not all) high heels are closed toe.  When you are in a closed toe shoe it's a perfect breeding ground for fungus.  The dark, moist warm conditions create an environment for toenail fungus and things like athlete's foot.  Get an open toe shoe.

As the feet get irritated they also get thicker.  This makes it increasingly difficult to find a comfortable shoe.  I've had women buy a shoe and have it stretched like crazy so they can fit a bunion in it.  I've seen shoes that had been cut out to accomodate hammer toes and bunions.  I remember a really nice lady from Buffalo who was in Toronto looking for something that she could wear - she couldn't find anything anywhere and it's all because of high heels.  I had an old Potruguese woman who broke down in tears at the frustration of trying to find something to wear because of the cumulative damage inflicted on her feet.  They both admitted to me that it was from years of high heel wear.  Do you want that in your future?

As far as I'm concerned, the best footwear is flat, open toe with proper support.  Deb rarely wears high heels - only really when we are all dressed up (and she is so gorgeous she does not need any help with her calves!).  The rest of the time she is in flats and she finds lots of cool shoes.  Deb has real princess feet.  They look like a 20 year old's foot.  She never has pain.  Dr. Sayani also wears flats and I'm so proud of her.  She will not be hurting herself for the future.

Do yourself a favour - get out of the high heels.  Give yourself permission to not wear them too much.  OK once in a while is fine but please, please, please limit your usage.

If you have any questions on this please come to our chiropractic practice in downtown Vancouver and we would love to help you understand more.  Just remember this - high heels were designed by guys for guys and let's face it - what do guys know?!!!  Besides, they don't check out your ankles any more!

Our new logo was inspired by the plum tree painting in the front office. The plum blossom represents a new beginning, renewal and fresh start. This is a great description of how we want our practice to be for our patients!

We added Dr. Sayani's name to the front door as well. Drop by and let us know what you think of our new look!

It's a crazy time in Palm Springs at that time of year.  The weather can be anywhere from freezing to boiling hot!  Thank goodness I have a patient in my chiropractic practice in downtown Vancouver with a website ( www.customtravelchecklist.com ) which I use to make sure I bring all the right clothing etc for the event.   I have made a custom list for myself and it sure make packing easier.

Deb and I were probably the most comfortable and prepared people at the tournament!  A little advance planning sure works.

If we could just have everyone do their own health checklist wouldn't it be great?!  Imagine going through your checklist.....Chiropractic - check, exercise - check, posture - check, diet - check, smile - check.......etc.

Start your checklist today - and then follow through - you'll be more comfortable and prepared for the future.

When: April 3rd & April 4th from 10:30am-12pm

Where: Fortis Building gym (back hallway of the main floor)

Why: Whether you have injured yourself, are in chronic pain or want to increase your spinal health and core stability, Dr. Sayani would love to help you!

ART® works well with chiropractic adjusting to eliminate pain and dysfunction in damaged tissue. This damage is caused by scar tissue which glues muscle fibers and connective tissue together. If this scar tissue is not eliminated, it results in chronic pain and potentially joint degeneration.

ART® can help with many conditions including:

• neck and back pain

• headaches

• shoulder impingement

• plantar fascitis

• tennis/golfers elbow

• carpal tunnel syndrome

• sciatica

Please call Georgia & Thurlow Chiropractic in downtown Vancouver if you are interested in ART® treatment.

I started to get vicious headaches after a diving injury where I dove into a river and hit my head on a rock.  I never had a migraine until then but that day changed my life.  I started to get lots of really bad headaches and was sore every day for years until I got into a chiropractic office.  My chiropractor at the time was Dr. Bill Russell, a wonderful man who helped me feel more human while teaching me about chiropractic care.   The results were so remarkable that I went back to university and eventually got into chiropractic college.

I still had headaches for years after, and occasionally still get a headache but I've only had one migraine since 1987!  There are lots of reasons headaches occur, but I think that with appropriate care the frequency and intensity of the headaches can be greatly reduced.  I've had great success in my chiropractic practice in downtown Vancouver with hundreds of patients in reducing and/or eliminating their headaches. 

One of the things that I still find amazing is that there are people out there who have never had a headache.  It seems impossible that this is true.  Of course, Murphy's Law says that these folks are going to live with someone who gets headaches, and this creates a real problem.  It's as impossible for someone who rarely gets a headache to empathize with a frequent headache sufferer as it is for a man to experience what it's like to be pregnant!  For those of you who don't get headaches, here is what it's like:

- tightness in the base of the skull that just won't go away

- pain every time you blink your eye

- light and sound sensitivity

- nausea and indigestion

- the constant ache will make the suffering person have a very short fuse - so beware!

- often there is a pounding, throbbing pain that gets worse with any motion

- stiffness in the neck and upper back between the shoulders

- perspiration - and I mean serious perspiration

- inability to concentrate (if you have a workmate who has a headache, please cut them some slack)

- the feeling that your head  is in a slowly closing vice

- jaw and facial pain

- the frustration that this is happening again and why me?

- the fear of what the drugs will do to you over time - liver and kidney problems? 

- the very real thought of suicide (I've had many patients say this to me, they can't imagine living like this forever)

Believe me, it is a very uncomfortable thing to have constant headaches.  They intrude into your life and slowly rot out your happiness.

I think I'm well qualified to explain this due to my trials and tribulations with headache.  It's something I think about every single day.  My chiropractic career is dedicated to those of you who have the pains I've had, I want to help you if I can.

In future blog postings Dr. Sayani and I will explain some of the things you can do to help yourself.

In our downtown Vancouver chiropractic office we see many patients with great extended health benefit plans.

Many extended health plans reimburse 80% to 100% of chiropractic services. To put this into perspective, a regular monthly treatment with 80% reimbursement would cost a patient $10/visit and a new patient visit would only cost $16!! This is a small price to pay for our health if we think about all the disposable daily expenses that we do not get reimbursed for such as:

• going to a movie $15,

• a sushi lunch $15,

• coffee and a snack $10,

• a tank of gas $60,

• a tube of lipstick $15,

• and even a day of parking in downtown Vancouver: $20!

We encourage you to take advantage of your extended health benefits and make this small investment into your health and future.

We have just approved a new logo for our downtown Vancouver chiropractic office!

Now that Dr. Sayani has joined us, we decided to make some changes which are long overdue.  The old logo we had was a bit tired.  It reflected where we were when we had the practice in the Royal Centre as Royal Centre Chiropractic but really does not make sense in this office.  We moved to the Fortis building 11 years ago and kept the logo as a way for patients to identify us as the chiropractic office that used to be in the Royal Centre.

The logo we have chosen for Georgia and Thurlow Chiropractic is a simple asian design which reflects a unique concept.  In our front office we have an original Chinese painting of a plum tree in full blossom.  The plum blossom is representative of Spring, a new beginning, renewal, a fresh start.  That's what we think of what we do.  We believe that we can give patients a fresh start with their health.  We can help them renew themselves.  The plum blossom is a great representation of our vision!

We hope to have our new logo up and fully integrated by the end of March.  Let us know what you think!

Today is the day we welcome Dr. Farah Sayani to Georgia Thurlow Chiropractic!

Deb and I are so excited to have Dr. Sayani working alongside us!  She is a great addition to the office and many people will be helped to live happier healthier lives because of her good care.

Dr. Farah Sayani graduated from Collingwood high school in 2004 and went on to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of British Columbia.  Her passion for health care coupled with personal experiences with chiropractic lead her to pursue a career as a chiropractor.  Dr. Sayani attended the University of Western States in Portland, Oregon and graduated as a doctor of chiropractic with magna cum laude in December 2011.

Dr. Sayani is a certified Active Release Technique provider and has treated athletes at the Oregon Hood to Coast run as well as the Oregon Junior Olympics.  She has experience treating various musculoskeletal conditions such as low back pain, neck pain, TMD, headaches, sprains and strains among many others.

Dr. Sayani is interested in helping you achieve optimal wellness over your lifetime as well as increasing your core stability to prevent future injuries.  If you have family, friends, or co-workers who need some help please give Dr. Sayani a call and she will work hard to fix them up.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Sayani at the start of her downtown Vancouver chiropractic practice.  30 years from now you can say you saw her start!

We have a new era about to start and it will be the beginning of many new and exciting avenues to travel down over the next few years.

Dr. Farah Sayani is about to join us!  She graduated from Western States Chiropractic College last fall with honours and we feel so blessed to have her coming in to the office!  Dr. Sayani will be building her practice here and will be providing chiropractic services to downtown Vancouver for many more years.  She is certified in some different techniques than me and we are sure that this will round out our service level.  My next blog posting will be a full introduction to Dr. Sayani and that will be posted when she is actually in the office working. 

Because of this major addition to the office we thought it was time to get rid of our 20 year old logo.  When I opened in Royal Center in 1991, my logo was a crown which was a good fit for the location.  We had it designed by a local graphic designer and he did a great job in branding us.  We moved a block over in 2001 but retained the logo so that we would have a sense of continuity. Over the years I wanted to change it, and finally that day is upon us.  Dr. Sayani and I are in the final stages of approving a new logo and we hope to have it up by the end of February.

Stay tuned - we'll let you know everything that is going on as we make some wonderful additions to the practice.  We've been serving patients for over 20 years downtown and we hope to keep that going for many more years!

We started in Amsterdam which is a crazy place, and then flew down to Arusha in Tanzania.  Our first stop was at a muddy market where we purchased items for an orphanage that we visited.  The Cradle of Love orphanage looks after babies up to the age of about 4 whose moms have died or whom cannot be looked after by their families.  They do incredible work!

We drove through the town of Arusha (1.5 million people, 2 stop lights!) and witnessed the desperate lives that people live there.  The average income is about $1 per day.  These folks eke out a living and work so hard to be able to survive.  We then went to the NgornoNgorno Crater to view animals.  While there we visited a Maasai village where people live in groups or 4 or 5 per mud hut, smaller than half the size of one of my treatment rooms in my downtown Vancouver chiropractic practice.  They walk up to 50 km to get water.  In the resorts, the staff lines up to carry your bag because with the $1 tip per bag, they make a day's wage per bag.

We ate great food and slept in great rooms and totally were shielded from the basic food and accommodation the staff had.

Our guides were all highly educated and very intelligent guys who had at least 2 years of wildlife college and they could speak elegantly about the animal's life cycles.  They deserve a lot of credit for their knowledge.   They have great jobs in Tanzania because in a week of guiding they can make a years worth of wages.  They work long tough days and putting up with us was no easy task.

On our way home we stopped in Paris where we did a Segway tour of the city at night.  The gal who runs the business is an American and she was explaining the high cost of living there.  One of her friends just bought a nondescript studiio apartment for 3 million euros!  Paris is a fabulous city but very busy and chaotic.

OK - so here it is - boy are we lucky to live in Vancouver!  We have everything that the rest of the world wants.  We have fresh air, good wages, a high standard of living, great healthcare, stable government, things work the way you want them to, we have superb social services, and overall a pretty cushy easy life compared to so many other places in the world. 

 Let's never take it for granted.

In other words motion inhibits pain. 

The reverse is true as well.  NOT moving does not fire the inhibitory interneuron and this allows the pain nerves to transmit to the brain.

MOTION IS LOTION!  Keep your body moving.  Stretch, cycle, tennis, golf, yoga etc cause the diminishment of pain fiber firing.

Why do old people like rocking chairs? They are firing lots of inhibitory fibers to diminish the sensation of pain from their achy joints.

Neurology is very cool!  We all need to know this type of research to be healthier.  Get out there, get active and feel better!

Thanks to Giant Bicycle and Andrew Armour for helping me by allowing me some extra power and making sure my Giant Twist Hybrid was road worthy.   Thanks for the wonderful technology that helps people like me to do an event like riding 120 km from Vancouver to Whistler!

Thanks To Dr. Jeff Stein and my brother Bruce for riding shotgun on me and making the day so much fun!

Thanks to my training partners, Alan and Andrew!

Thanks to Amanda Brittain for helping me get my story out! 

Thanks to Megan Stewart for doing an article for the Courier newspaper!

Thanks to Alison Leibel at Royal Bank for allowing my bike in the ride!

Thanks to the organizers and volunteers for putting on such a great event!

Thanks To Dr. Devonshire for her help - what a wonderful neurologist!

Thanks to all my patients in my downtown Vancouver chiropractic office for their encouragement!

A special thanks to Deb for getting up and out at 5:30 AM so we could get a ride back home - you are a unique, amazing, and wonderful girl!

I did it!  I completed a lifelong dream - thanks everyone!

By the way, thanks to the 75 year old grandmothers, the guys in the wheelchairs with hand cranks, the guy with one leg, and the guy on the unicycle for kicking my butt and "beating" me to Whistler.  Like I've said, I was completing, not competing!  Good work all of you!

They say two heads are better than one and so it is my great pleasure to introduce you to Miss Farah Sayani – now known as Intern Farah Sayani and in January we expect her to be known as Dr. Farah Sayani!

 Farah is going to be working out of our office and plans on making this her permanent base. She is currently in her last month of Chiropractic College in Portland Oregon and will graduate by Christmas. Once she passes her final exams and goes through the B.C. Chiropractic licensing process she will be a Doctor of Chiropractic treating patients full time in this office.

 Farah has a keen interest in helping patients regain their health and is looking forward to working with you to learn about how you can best stay healthy over a lifetime. In the New Year she will be doing a variety of treatments that we have not offered prior. Farah will see WCB cases, children, motor vehicle accident cases and will be doing Active Release Techniques as well as regular chiropractic spinal adjusting. If you, your family, or your friends are in need of Chiropractic care, Intern Sayani will be available to help.

 For existing patients Farah will be doing no charge re-exams until Christmas. It's a great way to have a reassessment done of your spinal health, your muscular balance, and also a wonderful way to re-evaluate if what you have been doing for your body is working for you.

 Deb and I are very excited to have Farah come join us. We know she will be a superb Chiropractor!  Farah will be in this location for her career so if you are looking in the New Year for a caring, intelligent, committed, happy Chiropractor, look no further. Please contact Deb at 604-688-0077 and she can let you know when Farah will be available to see you. 

 Keep an eye on our signs in the lobby to see her name appear and a rebranding of the practice.  Dr. Mallory will be staying in this downtown Vancouver chiropractic  practice for many more years, and, with Intern Farah Sayani, looks forward to offering more services to the downtown office community in the years to come. 

This past weekend my brother Bruce and I took our Dad fishing in Port Renfrew for his 85th birthday present.  We stayed at a superb lodge called Trailhead Resort and hired a wonderful guide - Mike.  He took us 20 miles offshore and we spent 2 wonderful days fishing.  We limited out both days with a boat full of chinooks, coho, halibut and a few pinks thrown in to round out the catch!

The seas had enough roll and cross chop to make standing a chore - if you are not stable.  My Dad has never been fit and really has minimal core stability.  He fell at one point and bonked his head - fortunately it was his head and not something important!!  Sorry Dad - couldn't resist that!

Bruce, the guide and I are in better shape and we were able to be on our feet and moving around the whole time.  I was aware of the effort that the nervous system has to make to keep us balanced and upright.  In heaving seas you had better be core stable or you are going to be falling overboard quite quickly.  With Dad, we had him fight his fish from a seated position or from bracing himself against a wall of the boat.

On the ride out and back in I stood watching the swells and had a lot of fun anticipating the impacts we were taking as we plowed through the waves.  It was fun to use my core to support and brace myself.  I'm glad I work at keeping my core strong.  One of the secrets in core stabilization is to use a gym ball or a wobble board to be unstable and train the nervous system to utilize the proper muscles to maintain balance.  Being in rough seas mirrors that.

The next time my patients from my chiropractic practice in downtown Vancouver go fishing I'm going to ask them to be aware of their core muscles and report back to me how stable they were or were not.  We do see a fair number of guys who have spent some days on the water who get back pain from not recruiting the core muscles properly.  I think they could diminish this if they were to do some more exercise targeting the proper nerve/muscle programming.

I got authorization the other day from the organizers of the Gran Fondo ride to Whistler that I can ride it.  The issue was that due to the leg weakness I have from multiple sclerosis (MS) I use a battery powered bicycle.  Last year I bought a Giant Twist cycle - it's a hybrid electric bike.  It has a motor that acts like another set of gears to help me not get so fatigued.  I still have to turn the pedal once to turn the wheel once - unlike some bikes - Deb are you there?!  It's an exceptional machine and I want to thank Giant for making it!

I'm in training!  I'll be riding with my brother Bruce and my friend and MD Dr. Jeff Stein.  We are going to have a lot of fun.  We are under no illusions as to time - we'll be happy just to finish before nightfall.  I hope to show that those of us with some problems can rise to the occasion and do the stuff that able bodied people do.

Tonight - up Cypress!

I treat a man who is just about 81 who is so fit you teach an anatomy class with his body.  He has been a sportsman his whole life, playing predominantly tennis and when I started treating him he was 57 years old and as stiff as a two by four!  I got him stretching daily, working out with light weights every second day and continuing to play his racquet sports.  Today he is still super active, his spine adjusts well in his low back, mid back and neck and he is younger than a lot of 45 year olds I treat!  He is a real inspiration!

I also treat a woman in her mid sixties who hikes, snowshoes and rides a bike.  She is slim, super fit and you could teach an anatomy class with her body as well.  She has a fitness level that a lot of 28 year olds would love to have.  It's nothing for her to go on an 18 km hike - in the winter!  Wow - what an inspiration!

Over my lifetime I hope to be like these two.  Deb and I stay fit and we are active but what I've learned from these two patients is that you can have fun, stay fit and get a whole lot more out of life than the "normal" person with just a bit of effort!

I'm impressed!

The plywood covering the windows of this store has been covered in graffiti by the true Vancouverites and they have a message - it's a message of love.  The outpouring of love for our beautiful, safe city is almost overwhelming!  It's very emotional to see the messages that have been placed on the boards.  People here have drawn a line and we have basically said - never again!  We will not tolerate the abuse of our city by a bunch of no-minds.  They have no place in our world.  Our world is one of peace and love and appreciation for our city.

In a world where everything is increasingly transient, this plywood wall is a tangible reminder that the majority have a deep attachment for our society and our city.  I hope the wall is displayed prominently for years to come to ensure we keep in our minds what revulsion we have for those who want to destroy our happiness to suit their own ends.  Also it will serve as a starting point for those who wonder if Vancouver residents take pride in their city.

The wall is a quiet riot - but very powerful.  Go see it.

The Canucks are in it to win it - well, except for last night, but I think that's a strategy to rest their guys in the penalty box and give them fresher legs so they can hoist the cup on Friday night in Vancouver in front of a hometown crowd.

Most of my chiropractic patients know that I'm a jinx to the Canucks so I've been doing my part and NOT WATCHING!  Seems like every time I turn on the TV, the other team scores.  Deb and I are playing Scrabble instead!

Having my practice in downtown Vancouver is pretty exciting when something like this event is on.  All the Canucks shirts, the flags, the high fives on the street, and just the general buzz is exhilarating!  I am impressed by the fans who have climbed out of the woodwork to support the city's team.  I unfortunately grew up as a kid in Toronto with the Leafs as my heroes and when Vancouver came into the league, I just couldn't be a fan.  Over the years I've paid more attention but we've had some pretty disappointing moments and teams.  This team is great though!

My brother John runs a really cool company called "3D Custom Foam" and they have made a gigantic replica of the Stanley Cup which they will have on Granville Street for Wednesday's game.  Get your picture taken beside it!  It looks fantastic!

Meanwhile, I hope the Canucks win the cup, and honestly, I don't care about the players, I want them to win it for all the fans in Vancouver who put their heart and soul into supporting a team.  They buy the jersey's and T-shirts, they fly the flags from their homes and cars, they devour the coverage in print and on the TV, and they pay to sit in the seats at the games.  They all deserve to see their team win and win convincingly.

Go Canucks Go!

I started as a chiropractor in the city core in 1991.  (Previously I was in Oakridge.)  It has been a wonderful place to practice.  Back then there were very few chiropractors in the core and I took a big risk opening up in one of the downtown malls.  With Deb and Lorraine helping, we built up a great patient base and today have one of those practices that is full of long term patients and friends.

Things have changed a lot since then in health care - we work very well with all the health professions now but that was not always the case.  Chiropractic acceptance has grown so much over the years.  We have a superb team of practitioners to refer to - medical doctors, physiotherapists, registered massage therapists, psychologists, acupuncturists, exercise trainers etc.

Deb and I are really excited to know that we will be here for years to come helping the people in downtown Vancouver, and really from all over the Lower Mainland, to achieve better levels of health! 

Thanks so much for giving us the opportunity to help you, your families, and your friends!

It really has been a true honour treating all these wonderful people.  They have enriched my life so much and I can only hope that the chiropractic care I give them has helped them equally!
 

After the big snowfalls of 2008 I purchased a couple of snow removal devices - an electric snowblower, and a weird looking thing called a Snow Wovel.   I finally got to try my snowblower, which was about time because the warranty ran out last summer and it had never been turned on!  It worked well, but it's noisy, something my neighbours won't appreciate at 6AM on the days I have to clear my 60 foot driveway before I make my way to work.  Glad to have it though - maybe Deb can use it!

The fun thing is the Snow Wovel.  It looks like a giant wagon wheel with a central axis and a teeter-totter type structure resting on the axle.  There is a big pan on one end and a handle on the other.  The wheel lets me roll into a pile of snow, then I lift it by pushing down on the handle, then I roll forward and with another quick push down on the handle I can toss the sow off to the side.  Go look at it on the web.

I cleaned my 57 foot frontage and that of 3 other neighbours, a 60 foot driveway, and even the lane behind my house in about 25 minutes.  The things I like about the Wovel is that it is silent, (first time I used it I did so at 5:30 AM so if it did not work my neighbours would not make fun of me for years to come!), fast, inexpensive, and because you do not bend over and use your back to lift any snow, it's perfect for protecting the low back.

As a chiropractor I highly recommend it!  I may have to bring it to my chiropractic office in downtown Vancouver some snowy day and show the landlord how it can save the backs of the guys who normally have to shovel.

 No, I'm not thinking about gardening today - I'm thinking about gardening season and all the aches and pains it will bring to my chiropractic office in downtown Vancouver.  The season is rapidly approaching.  Within a month we will have lots of patients cleaning up their gardens from winter, and getting the soil ready for planting.  This means lots of bending, lifting, digging, crouching, raking, carrying etc.  After a winter of inactivity, it also means that many of the gardeners will be doing all these activities cold turkey!

 Because of this we get to see a huge variety of complaints like, sore low backs, sore shoulders, bad knees, tight muscles, headaches and the one thing I hate to see - disc bulges.

 Do yourself a favour - follow a few simple rules:

 1) Start doing some stretching and light exercise NOW so you are in decent shape prior to the season.

 2) Don't go crazy and think you have to do everything in one weekend!  Typically we see this pattern - "Saturday felt so good, I was a bit tight but thought I could get the rest done on Sunday - why do I have pain running down the back of my leg?"

 3) Get the right tools - get a kneeling pad or a stool, get a decent wheelbarrow, get the right ergonomic shovel and rake etc.

 4) Don't bend over so much - kneel down - big deal if your pants get dirty, that's why you have gardening pants.

 5) Don't carry 500 lbs of soil or rocks or a Douglas Fir tree.  Break the loads up into manageable chunks.

 6) From a personal experience note - don't plant more than 2 zucchini plants!!  You can feed the mulitudes with one!!

 I hope we see you during gardening season because you are maintaining a good spine - not because you are dying from pain! 

GREAT RESULTS!!

I had minimal pain throughout the weeks (full disclosure - I kept the wrist taped at work) .  I removed the tape as soon as the day was done and I got stronger every day.  The bruising only lasted 3 days and as far as pain goes it was 95% gone in 2 weeks.  Today is one month since I got hurt.

I thought that it was going to be around a lot longer than it was.  I've had lots of injuries and I know how long it takes me to heal (way longer in your 50's than in your 20's!!)  There is no doubt in my mind that I'm a few weeks ahead of where I should probably be!

As well, I've been using these new factors on my chiropractic patients here in downtown Vancouver with superb results! 

Thanks THOR!  It's nice to have an adjunctive therapy that is safe and effective to add to my chiropractic practice!

Honestly, I had never had great success with laser.  I used it in the past on lots of conditions with disappointing results and had more or less given up on it.  The factors I had used in the past were derived from seminars I had been to (different manufacturers) and books and papers I had read.  At the THOR seminar we were given the parameters that have had success in randomized controlled trials.   These trials told us how and when to use laser and how and when to use LED.

It was very fortunate that I went to this seminar because I really hurt my wrist the next day!  I was going for an overhead shot in tennis, got my center of gravity behind my feet and over I went landing on my right wrist.  It was super sore that day and way worse the next.  I got a bruise in my palm and was unable to bend the wrist without exceptional pain.  Obviously something tore in the carpal tunnel area.

What luck!  It was wonderful timing to see if the laser would be able to heal me.  I started that night and I've been using the THOR on my wrist about 4 times a day for the past week.  I had to tape up my wrist to be able to work, but outside of the 2 days following the injury I've had minimal pain and inflammation.  The treatment protocol I used was as an anti-inflammatory treatment.  The bruise was gone by Sunday.  I expect the healing of the tissue to last 6 weeks (read my article on how we heal) but I sure feel more comfortable.

I'm still taping the wrist but I have to say this - "Thanks James!"  I'm way ahead of where I thought I'd be in the healing department.  I will update later with more thoughts on this topic.  I plan on trying it on a number of patients in my chiropractic practice in downtown Vancouver to assess the results. 

Right now it looks favorable!!  I hope this treatment gives me something to help patients with!!

As many of you know, I was diagnosed a couple of years ago with multiple sclerosis (MS) which was quite unsettling.  As 2010 progressed I thought that I may have to leave my practice as I was experiencing increased symptoms.  My neurologist, Dr. Virginia Devonshire, and my medical doctor, Dr. Jeff Stein, were instrumental in making sure that I had testing and the proper treatment to keep me in practice.  I'm happy to report that due to their good care, I have greatly diminished symptoms - to the point that I forget most of the time that I even have symptoms.  Thanks to them!

We hope that you have a safe, healthy and happy Christmas season.  We also hope that in 2011 you achieve your health goals, have lots of fun and that life works out for you the way you want it to.  I hope you all get to experience the beauty of the world, the richness of your senses and the peace of unconditional love. 

Deb and I look forward to helping you for many more years in our little chiropractic practice deep in the heart of downtown Vancouver!

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......

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!!

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!

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....

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?

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.

It's pretty rare in my experience (over 20 years) for someone to be walking down the street and see my sign and think like this - "Gee, a chiropractor.  Cool!  I've never had a spinal exam but I should go in and let Dr. Mallory see how great I am!"  I'd say it happens about as frequent as someone saying "Boy my hamstrings are too loose!" or "Gosh my stomach muscles are super strong!"

New patients usually come to us because of back pain, neck pain, sciatica, whiplash, headaches, and a whole host of other disorders.  Patients just want to feel better.  We really try our best to help them and we are pretty successful from what I see.

One of the things I do with a new patient is book a time to explain a model of healing.  It explains in simple terms how damage occurs in the body, how your body deals with that damage and most importantly what kind of residuals are left when the healing is finished.  On this website there is a discussion of this in the ARTICLES section of the home page.  Go there and pull up the article HOW THE BODY HEALS.  This is important info to understand.

If you understand what I know, you will look differently at your body.  You will try to optimize it's capacity by getting maintainance care, stretching, strengthening, diet etc.  That's what is known as health!!

So - pain relief or health?  Either way I'm here to help!

p.s. I consider a perfect practice to be one where I  only treat healthy patients who are motivated to be under active care.  Don't know what active care is?  See my earlier blog!

p.p.s. If you know someone who you would like to be healthier refer them to my site or even better to the office.  Here is a novel approach - have them come in before they need to!!

Who is responsible for your health - me or you?  What is responsible for you -  a drug or a vitamin or a steak or a magnet or a bottle of scotch or your neighbour's kids?  Guess what?  You know the answer.

The first thing you have to do to be healthy is accept the responsibility for your own health.  No one else really cares about you - they have their own worries.  Only you care about you.  Only you digest your meals.  Only you feel imbalance in your body.  Only you breath air into your lungs.  As Richard Simmons once said "Only you hold the fork!"  No one else can do this stuff for you so they don't really care.  They may have good intentions but health comes from inside not outside.

This brings up the difference between passive care and active care.

Passive care is all about stuff that is done to you.  Things like massage, physiotherapy modalities, heat, cold, adjustments, mobilizations, medication, surgery, etc.  These are things that can be done to you while you sit (as my dear old Mom used to say) "like a bump on a log".  Passive care can create:

1) patient dependency on the passive care (you have to keep going on diets because you have not truly decided to get real and shed the weight forever)

2) a situation where the patient copes with the problem (your plantar fascitis will always hurt and you guess you can live with it not being perfect - limping is OK and it's easier than exercise, besides, you did 2 stretches last March and they didn't fix you)

3) can create overutilization of health care resources (too many people working on you too much and costing you too much)

4) can foster chronicity (you don't really get better better, you just feel temporarily better maybe)

Active care on the other hand is stuff that you actively participate in.  Things like stretching, strengthening, posture, muscle strengthening, cardiovascular fitness, stress reduction, weight loss, etc.  You have to help do this stuff to yourself.  You are part of the solution.

Active care is really important and you must embrace it.  Active care helps to reduce the complications of prolonged passive care:

1) you actively learn about topics like weight loss and commit to lifelong change and guess what - it works!

2) you make the decision that you will always try to get your body to express itself at an optimal level.  You are worth it!  

3) you see health care practitioners for maintaining a healthy body not fixing a beaten up one.  Hey - you do it for your car don't you?  Aren't you more valuable than a car?  

4) you get better better and live life to the fullest.

As a chiropractor in downtown Vancouver I see a wide spectrum of patients.  I'm there to help people become actively involved in their health.  Some don't do such a great job of being active but my mission is to help them develop the responsibility for their own health.  I love to give them solutions, exercises, stretches, books, education.  I believe that the more water you lead a horse to, the more likely they will take a drink.

I love supporting those patients who are truly in active mode.  It fulfills my desire to spend my life helping people get and stay healthy.  They are doing lots of fun things that I get to enjoy hearing about.  It makes every day in practice a heck of a lot of fun.  I've had fun now for 23 years!  My patients constantly amaze me!  I guess to me it is all about me - I feel better when you feel better.  Selfish huh?  

But in reality - IT"S ALL ABOUT YOU!!

Congratulations for BEING ACTIVE!!

It seems that when the overall caloric intake is reduced in humans by about 30% of normal, and that the calories are from good sources, there is a corresponding decrease in the conditions associated with aging such as cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, diabetes etc.  This has been known for some time in animal studies where the caloric restriction mirrors the benefit to the animal.  Scientific American actually wrote about this a couple of years ago in an issue called "The Science of Staying Young".  They included pictures of mice who had had a calorie restricted diet versus those who had not.  As they aged, the mice were visibly younger with a reduced calorie diet.  The researcher on CBC also said that with a moderate restriction and exercise there is also benefit.

To my patients who sit all day in thier offices in downtown Vancouver, this is very important.  Many office workers are sedentary, snack on poor foods, do not exercise enough and consequently take in more calories than they expend.  If I can help them to become aware of the benefits of calorie reduction on their long term health then I will truly be doing them a great service!

I treat conditions like headaches, low back pain, joint stiffness, athletic injuries, motor vehicle accident injury, shoulder pain, leg and foot problems, pelvic unleveling and a host of other disorders.

As one of the first offices to open in the core of downtown Vancouver, I have seen a wonderful increase in the percentage of patients seeking chiropractic care.  This is due the fact that many, many patients have been helped with my chiropractic care, and to patients becoming better educated about what I do.  Patients find out about me primarily through their friends and family but this has been augmented by the ease of searching for information on the internet.  As more patients get treated by me and realize the benefits of care, they refer friends, family and co-workers.  

I really appreciate this referral base as it helps to spread the word of what I can do to not only try to help you with your immediate problem, but to help teach you how to look after yourself better over a lifetime.

Come see me and see what I can do for you!