Dr. Jason Slagel

Almost all things work best when they are done in a particular order. When you go out of that order with most things, then they either don’t work as well, or it don’t work at all. Some easy quick examples: you poop and then you wipe. If you go in the opposite order, you are in trouble. A less gross example is if you shower and then you dry you are good to go. But if you dry off and then you shower it just doesn’t work well. A final example is tying your shoes. If you type your laces in a particular way, and a particular order, then your shoes stay tied and you don’t get knots in them.

There are three main aspects of physical health. We have biomechanical, functional, and structural. Biomechanical is things like nutrition, smoking, hydration, basically anything to do with body chemicals. Functional health has to do with weightlifting, stretching, running; things that have to do with body motion. Structural health is where your legs are even, your hips are centered and level, your center of gravity is balanced, your head and neck are straight; it has to do with body stability. In my office I fix structural issues, but today we will be discussing a common misunderstanding that many of my patients have expressed regarding the biochemical aspect of physical health.

Many people are unaware that there are different types of chiropractors. It’s funny because when people say “Oh, I have been to a chiropractor before.” and I ask, “Oh, what kind of chiropractor?” a lot of the times I get a blank stare. Because of this, let me just delineate the two different types of chiropractors. The first type most people are familiar with, and the other type, that I do, most people are not familiar with.

Today we are exploring the concept of calorie counting. This is a very common practice with people trying to lose weight. However, as a weight loss strategy it’s just not a good approach physiologically. I’m going to explain this concept here today. Really quick, if you want to know a little bit more about metabolism in general, check out the blog post: High Metabolism is Bad.

Today we are talking about scoliosis. Scoliosis is a weird one because I have a lot of people come into my office that say that they have been told they have scoliosis…and don’t. They have a slight curve in their spine. You must have over 15 degrees of curve in your spine for it to be called scoliosis. It’s kind of like body temperature. Body temp should be 98.6 but if you have a body temp of 98.7 you don’t say you have a fever. Even though it’s technically above normal, you don’t count it as a fever until it gets a little higher. So, with scoliosis it must be over 15 degrees of curve in the spine.

Today we will be talking about the dichotomy of people wanting one thing or the other. The two choices I most commonly see in my office are people who want to be pain free versus people that are seeking healing. Now, this is actually a very important distinction to make because our goals are going to dictate our actions and behaviors. If a person’s goal is to be pain free, they will be doing different things than if their goal is to seek healing.

There is a misconception out there that certain conditions like migraines and back pain are passed down in a family. Some things I’ve heard people say are, “Everybody in my family has a bad back!” or “Migraines just run in my family.” Well, I am here to tell you that migraines and back pain are not passed down, they are not hereditary, and they are not in any genes. I am going to explain to you where they come from.