My work is not just about “what I do.” It is more about “how I care.”
How I care for people.
Early on in chiropractic school I had an insight I couldn’t shake. I was learning invaluable information about the human body and how it works. But what about the person living inside the body? What about that unique, beautifully complicated human being who would be seeking relief and care? Certainly who we are and what we’ve been through plays a part in all our healing journeys. And, our body is not the only dimension worthy of attention. Our minds and emotions also play a huge role when it comes to working with pain. There was no mention of these topics in my academic training, and yet they seemed to be such an integral part of care, to me.
So I took matters into my own hands and became a voracious learner. Studying things like psychology, neuroscience, the role of emotions and more. To me these aspects of a human being are intrinsically connected. So I studied all these aspects we share, as human beings, so that I could care for you and care about you to the very best of my ability.
I care deeply that you feel better, and, I care deeply about you as a person. Your life and your history are really important! Your life and history have shaped you into the person you are today. And if you’re in pain, there is no doubt that some of that life history is playing a part in your ongoing pain. So I take time to listen, to get to know you. I hope that you feel comfortable in my office; I do my best to hold a warm and welcoming presence. I want you to know that I believe you can get better. Emily Disckenson’s quote “I dwell in possibility” has always resonated with me. I am a fundamentally positive, upbeat and optimistic person. While much of healthcare focuses on “what’s wrong with you,” I prefer to start with “what’s right with you” and build on that.
I also care that you feel empowered during this process and beyond, and I invite people to take a significant role in their own healing journey. When our work is done, I want you to leave my office not only feeling better, physically, mentally and emotionally, but also confident that you know what to do to catalyze your ongoing progress - because of what you’ve learned about yourself, and because you’ve been infused with knowledge and practices that will help you to continue our work. I titled my book Your Pain is a Superpower, Learn to Use it Wisely because I truly believe people can use their pain as an opportunity for rich learning and growth, but they don’t know how.
In the book, and in my office, I aim to teach you how to do this in a variety of ways:
Through our co-explorations of your uniqueness - who you are and how this may be contributing to your pain, even on a subconscious level.
By teaching you any number of techniques I’ve developed to help you access and shift the mind-body-emotion connection that is intrinsic to your pain, such Biopsychology, Body Insight Technique, Feelset vs. Mindset, and more.
By empowering you with any knowledge or philosophies - from anatomy to psychology to neuroscience - that might support you mentally, physically, and/or emotionally.
By helping you find ways to advocate for yourself should you need to interface with other healthcare providers conditioned to apply a more “cookie cutter,” mechanistic approach.
As is appropriate, I also will try to make you laugh. Even though I wear a rather boring white shirt everyday, I do have a silly side. Check out photos from my book launch for proof of this!
Treating athletes – both professional and recreational – is also a core specialty of mine by virtue of my sports medicine degrees, living in Boulder, and spending 11 years working as a team doctor for a professional cycling team, primarily in Europe.
Lastly, on the technical side, aside from using the various Biopsychology techniques I’ve been developing for over 40 years, I will care for you with one of my favorite tools - a “Cold” Laser - often referred to by many of my patients as “Magic” due to it’s amazing results that are seen immediately in the first office visit. Lasers are a very effective way to heal tissue and revitalize and reprogram neural pathways that are no longer firing correctly.
At the end of the day, my goal is to help you connect to and own your healing superpowers! If I can answer any questions about how I do this, please contact me at yourpainisasuperpower@gmail.com.
Yours in health!
