I get spinal joints moving again, I dont treat conditions, I do cross my fingers

t is not getting them to understand chiropractic that is the problem, its getting them to comply with your advice. Everyone knows exercise is good for them but they are not committed and do not keep it up for whatever reason.Chiropractic has the same problem. it is not difficult convincing someone that spinal joints need to move and subluxations will effect optimal function. However like with the exercise when there is no obvious reason for going, people priorities change.
Then you have the problem where there are chiropractors who use fear to get compliance to the wellness model, or use it to get a lot of money out of people. Which makes those of us who put a lot of effort into it easy targets. I am far from what is called a high volume practice, yet many put me into that catagory because they dont know what they are talking about.
Of course my ego loves to have someone crawl to the office in agony, do a lumbar roll and they run out. You also can get instances where people see chiropractic as part as their wellness plan and they get acute event of symptoms and get dramatic results.
I would present as an example my own three children who recently had whooping cough including our 4 week infant. The Doctors said little the journals stated theat there was a high probability that Eloise could die as a result. There was nothing the doctors could do to help. With the two older ones there was a number of things we could try with chiropractic but with Eloise who was being exclusively breast fed there was only chiropractic. Four weeks later the worst has passed and if we had not had the diagnosis I would have thought it was a slight cold she had had. Wellness care did not prevent the whooping cough. The question is did chiropractic care help them deal with it better, I have no doubt it did and I would advise any child with respiratory problems to try chiropractic.
One particular acute case with a child sticks in my head it happened about six years ago. I had been providing care to this premi baby for his first six months. The mother had not taken him in for a few months. We get a call, the mother was in the GPs the baby had had a bad asthma attack and the doctor wanted her to take the boy to A&E. The mother wants me to have look at him, because I had helped him so much before. I did not want to interfere, but as she would pass my practice on the way to the hospital, I said she could come in. I was in with another patient when she arrived the baby was crying and gasping for breath. I left the patient I was with and went out to the reception.
Now I was trying to be helpful and did not want to cause unnecessary delay to their journey to the hospital. The baby would not let me check him. I looked at my notes and saw the side I had adjusted on the previous visit. I remember thinking would’nt it be great if I had the type of response you hear many of these evangelical chiropractors talking about. I was not expecting much, and wanted them on their way.
I adjusted the boy, almost immediately he stopped crying and appeared to be still. I sxxt myself. The mother goes its a miracle I am trying to stay calm like I know what is going on. The mother goes look he is sleeping, I put my hand on his chest and feel the movement, relieved, I do the Fonze "HEY" as if it happened all the time.
She goes to the hospital lets the boy sleep in the car for three hours he wakes fine and they take him home. I get flowers the next day. Some would say I took advantage of a desperate mother, in fact I never charged her. My partner is always going on at me to check the girls spines because she knows chiropractic works. Helping a child is the best feeling I know. I would say to any mother with a child, have you been to a chiropractor?

Richard Lanigan
Richard Lanigan

Richard Lanigan DC.BSc (Chiro) MSc( Health Promotion) was born in North London 1957 of Irish Parents and was educated in Ireland. Originally trained as a PE teacher, he moved to Denmark 1979, where a serious knee injury got him interested in rehabilitation and training methods. Richard founded Denmarks premier fitness centre "Sweat Shop" in 1982 and travelled all over the world to find how best to prepare athletes for competition. In 1984 he became fitness and rehab consultant to the Danish national badminton teams, handball teams and many football club sides. This approach to optimal performance is normal in 2010, however back in the early 80s it was very revolutionary, when stretching was limited to putting on your socks and knee injuries were immobilised for months in plaster.
Richard developed rehabilitation and fitness programmes for many of Denmark’s top athletes including Kirsten Larsten and Ib Frederickson, all England singles badminton champions in late 80s. "Team Denmark" hired him and his facilities to help prepare many of Denmarks athletes for the LA and Seoul Olympics. In 1990 he worked with Anya Anderson, Olympic gold medallist and voted worlds best female handball player at the Atlanta Olympics.
Richard advised Copenhagen’s main teaching (Rigs) Hospital on starting their rehab facility in 1984. In the same year he started working with Denmarks leading chiropractor; Ole Wessung DC, who demonstrated the effectiveness of Chiropractic in improving athletic performance, so impressed was Richard that in 1990 he moved back to England to study chiropractic at Anglo European College of Chiropractic and was student president for two years between 1993-1995.

Richard was awarded a fellowship by the College of Chiropractors in 2008, however in January 2009 Richard chose to stop using the title chiropractor in the UK because the British regulatory body for chiropractic (The GCC) had not maintained international standards of chiropractic education in the UK and including prescribing medicines in the chiropractic scope of practice, a fig leaf for incompetent UK chiropractors to hide behind. Richard has another clinic in Dublin and is a member of the Chiropractic Association of Ireland and the European Chiropractic Union.
Richard has four children Eloise aged 3, Molly and Isabelle aged five and the eldest Frederik aged twenty one is pursuing a career as a professional tennis player and has represented Norway in the Davis Cup in 2006 & 2007. None of Richards children have ever taken any medicine, www.vaccination.co.uk they eat healthy food, take lots of exercise and have their spines checked every month, www.familychiropractic.co.uk
Richard has had much experience working in the Cuban health service where Doctors are keen to incorporate drug free interventions (acupuncture and chiropractic) and prevention in their health care programmes www.henryreevebrigade.org

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