structuralmanagement.com Blog

Someone Must Ask “Why?”

I just examined and reported to a family about the findings of their 18 year old daughter who is a pretty good runner.  She’s not run for 2 months, has been in back pain for over a year, and has visited several docs and orthopedists.  An MRI revealed 2 bulging discs in her low back with degeneration in the facets (back of each vertebrae).  All at 18 years old.

Her treatment is ibuprofen, an over the counter anti-inflammatory.  The ortho who recommended it said he now knew the problem (MRI showed bulging discs) and that in most cases, her discs will heal and she only needs the ibuprofen to help reduce inflammation along the way.

The flaw in this story is that no one, at any point, asked “Why does an 18 year old girl have 2 bulging discs in her low back?”.  If this question were asked, then the biomechanics of the athlete would have to be considered, as the cause of the disc injuries is a biomechanical cause.  Unfortunately, most docs out there are totally unfamiliar with biomechanics (norms and abnormals) and therefore, would only show their ignorance if they ever asked the question.  Also, in our “I haven’t got time for the pain” society we live in, ibuprofen and “it will heal on it’s own” is the solution we’d all want to hear.

What disturbs me is, this girl doesn’t understand how long life is, and that at her present state, this is the best she’ll ever be unless she’s willing to begin the process of “fixing” this condition.  Which takes work.  It takes time.  There are ups and downs, but great improvement lies ahead for those willing to fix their problems rather than mask them.

It always goes back to the same thing; our healthcare crisis in this country will never be fixed as long as our healthcare providers stay nearsighted.  We need to stop making healthcare a profit industry for many, and make it a guide book to a longer and better life for the individual who wants to participate and be proactive. 

When that day arrives, this girl will have a chance at a better and more active future, and the crisis we now know will begin it’s long journey back to “healthy”.

My Thoughts…..

Modern sportsmedicine ignores the mechanical information that is readily available on all athletes, and prefers to “react” in the treatment of injuries that are largely the result of these mechanical abnormalities.

Unfortunately, this approach is short sighted, as the causes of these injuries are rarely addressed, making a recurrence highly probable. 

Fixing the Healthcare System

All of us watched as McCain and Obama discussed fixing our healthcare system.  Last year, Americans spent more than $2.3 trillion dollars on healthcare.  That’s more than $7,600. per person.

There recently was a report on the internet that listed 11 ways to slash your healthcare expenses.  With great interest, I printed the report out to learn what pearls of wisdom would be listed.

I’ve wondered if our government can ever spearhead a movement that will actually “fix” the broken healthcare system, as those who are consulting and recommending are actually a big part of the problem.  We don’t have a broken healthcare system, we have a healthcare system set up for profit, not health. 

The laws for health have never changed.  Sleep well, eat well, exercise, help others, have good energy and good spirit.  Somewhere along the way, pharmaceuticals and crisis care took the steering wheel, and here we are, $2.3 trillion a year.

In order to “fix” the problem, we must rid the roundtable of consultants who are looking for profit rather than solutions.  We must promote the “alternatives”, such as massage, nutrition, accupuncture, chiropractic, etc.  Or any other “effort” that makes sense.

Taking drugs as a primary treatment never makes sense.  Drugs should be a last resort.  But, the consultants to the “system” write prescriptions.  They don’t know what the alternatives can do.  We need the alternative people to be the consultants.  We need the public to get more active and to begin pro-actively getting involved in their health. 

The 11 steps to slashing healthcare costs never mentioned anything to do with getting healthier.  They all had to do with money and health insurance issues.  The answer cannot get away from people getting healthier.  We’re a country of lazy, comfortable people who don’t know the laws of health.

This blog could go on forever.  So, I’ll stop here, and continue sometime in the near future.  Thanks for stopping, and please kick into helping out to change the way business is being done.

The Journey Continues

Yesterday was the second of our 6 race 5k series with the Capital District YMCA.  It was a gorgeous Saturday morning in sleepy Scotia, N.Y., tucked in between the banks of the Mohawk River and the green and chirping of beautiful Collins Park. 

We exceeded 100 runners, and for a first time race, and one taking place the day before the famed Boilermaker, this was a great success.

The goal for the YMCA–to get more people active, family oriented and enjoying the beauties around us.  The goal for Structural Management–to raise the awareness of sports biomechanics, and to let everyone know that their life will be influenced by the biomechanical work they do, or don’t do.  Not only the injuries they will deal with today, but the speed of the degeneration in their bodies in years to come.

I then went to the Induction ceremonies yesterday afternoon of 3 new inductees into the Road Racing Hall of Fame.  As an introduction, Larry Rausen called up on stage Nina Kuscik and Katherine Switzer.  These 2 women, through persistence and passion, were instrumental in forcing the IOC to ultimately include women’s racing into the Olympics, starting with the 1984 women’s marathon.

This gives me hope that the mission of Structural Management, as slow as it seems to be moving at times, will one day make sports biomechanics as readily available as pharmaceuticals and surgeries are. 

We carry on.

Biomechanical X-Ray Saga Continues

Just as I’m informed by a local insurance company that I should dramatically reduce the frequency of x-rays that we take on patients, I come across 2 magazine articles suggesting just the opposite.  Of course, I have such strong feelings on this issue that I don’t need the support of these articles, but to hear others endorse my position merely keeps the naysayers off balance.

My position; the industry wants me, and all others, to follow the guidelines of The American Academy of Radiology, which governs what and when to x-ray.  The major flaw in this situation is that we, all Drs., are only supposed to take x-rays when we suspect disease.  As in pathology.  As in bone tumors. 

This narrowed vision eliminates all possibilities for x-raying and understanding biomechanical issues.  Now, for those who haven’t read my work or listened to my message, I’m once again loudly saying, each and every human being has a unique set of biomechanics, and the standing x-ray is the number one tool to determine what those findings are.  These findings will allow the trained eye to develop a corrective program, which will then reduce the likelihood of injuries and defer, to some degree, the onset of osteoarthritis.

This would save society billions of dollars.  Every year.  Not to mention the quality of life.  So, you may ask, why isn’t it being done?  We live with a medical model health care industry, which waits for you to break, only treats the site of injury, and only sets as it’s goal the elimination of symptoms.  This is like sweeping the dirt under the carpet.  Eventually, the floor underneath rots out, and the future is defined.

So, these two other articles talk about why chiropractors are preferred when examinations are done for low back pain, as we look for all kinds of things, and the only way we can look for these all kinds of things is with x-rays.  On every patient.  The next article writes about a chiropractor who was negligent in the care of a young man, as he never took the necessary x-rays to determine the details of his injury.  The case settled for $125,000. prior to the trial.

And these are the two latest endorsements for my proclamation; everyone would do well to be fully examined, including at least 4 standing biomechanical x-rays, at some point in their lifetime.  Especially if they want a clearer understanding of what to do to preserve their structure over the course of their future.

That usually includes just about everyone.  Thanks.

The YMCA 2008 Race Series

Today, Bill Rodgers and I traveled to 5 YMCA’s in Upstate New York to sign autographs (Bill signed) and promote the 5k race series that is coming up.  It was great.  People loved seeing him, he was as gracious as ever, and everyone had fun.  This 5k race series will be a huge success, no doubt.

While Bill was here, visiting from Boston, I’d hoped he could meet my dad, Will Maggs, who continues to work full time at the age of 84.  Yes, Bill Rodgers is a legend in this country and has won Boston 4 times and New York 4 times, but I wanted Bill to meet my father more than I wanted my father to meet Bill.

Values, respect, discipline, caring.  This is what my father has taught me.  Bill, although successful by everyone’s standards, has not yet reached the success level of my father.  So, it didn’t happen this time, but hopefully will happen next time.  Bill will be a better person if he gets to know my dad.

And, I’m blessed to call Will my dad.  May I do half as much good in my life as he has in his.  But, Bill, thanks so much for coming.  In time, you, too, will be the best.  But, it’s because of your love for your daughters in addition to your running.  Once they reach a certain age, they, too, will realize what a great dad you’ve been. 

And, once you turn 84, you’ll have the priviledge of being the best dad in the world.  I’m sure your daughters will agree.

Live Intenet Radio

Well, week # 1 is in the bank.  This show was used more as a test than anything else.  We let very few people know we were doing it, just so we could make sure the technical side of it was all working.  And, the good news is, it worked.

So, now our goal is to notify as many people as possible about this show, as Structural Management should also be known as “the solution”.  There is a total void out there in the sportsmedicine world with regard to good answers for athlete’s problems, and we offer much better solutions.

Join in on the show, via e mail or (soon to have) telephone call-in- capability to discuss, question, challenge or whatever moves you.  But, regardless of what moves you, join us on Thursdays from 3-4 pm EST, and join in on the movement that is going to transform sportsmedicine world into a new way of doing business.

Stay on the roads, stay in the gyms, stay active, and life will be good.  The key is, stay uninjured.  With that being said, we know how difficult this can be with our current system. 

And, that’s why Structural Management is the solution for the future.

Good Job Carl

We have a newspaper columnist in our city who sheriff’s everything.  As a community member, I know I don’t have to worry about a thing, as Carl will keep an eye on teachers, Drs., police, politicians and anyone else who dares to stray from “legitimate”.  He just seems to catch everyone.

For years now, Carl has focused on the psychotherapy business.  He’s convinced that new psychological disorders are named for the sole purpose of creating some new (magical) medication to enhance bottom line profits.  I’m not a psychotherapist, nor am I familiar with these medications, but I do believe patients are medicated first and talked to only as a last resort.  This poor guy gets all kinds of letters blasting him, with justifications being thrown all over the place by those who are in on the take.  There are days I really feel for the guy.

So, yesterday, he writes this new article on psychotherapy, a subject he hasn’t touched in months with all the police and politician material that’s always in abundance.  He interviews this woman psychotherapist who opposes the standard protocols of medicating first.  She believes in talking to patients.  But, the interesting thing is, she describes the current, accepted, traditional system as being “medical model”.  Yes, this is the standard of care in the medical industry today.

So, I put somewhere on my “to do” list, call Carl.  Tell him the psychotherapy industry is not the only profit oriented, ignorant department in medicine.  Musculo-skeletal may even be worse.  The so-called experts, the medics, and more specifically, the orthopedists, don’t really know a whole lot about musculo-skeletal (from a biomechanically diagnostic and rehabilitative perspective).  They are great surgeons (most of them), and they sure know how to inject cortisone, but beyond that, they’re not much help.  Yet, the public believes they are the wise men at the top of the mount.

Next, we have our primaries, who know next to nothing about musculo-skeletal.  It’s sometimes embarassing when a patient comes in and tells me they went to their primary, and the tests that were(n’t) done and the treatment that was recommended.  Pills for pain and “stop doing what you’re doing” is all too common.  Our final players in the game are physical therapists and chiropractors.  For the most part, they do very few tests and use the elimination of symptoms as their goal, attempting to get the person feeling better asap…..”Quit whining and get back to work”.

No one FIXES the person.  In psychotherapy or the musculo-skeletal world.  I move “Call Carl” higher on my list.  Tell him.  Let him know our industry is also a profit center (at the expense of humanity) for the pharmaceutical and surgical companies. 

As Dr. Bob Arnott says in his book, Wear and Tear, “Our medical profession would have nothing to offer for my sore hip until I needed a hip replacement”.  And, as the deceased Dr. George Sheehan, famous cardiologist in the running world said, “If you’re injured, you’d be better off in the hands of a mechanic than a medical Dr.  At least your problem would not be complicated by drugs, that in the end will do no good.”

Yes, the medical model probably exists in other departments of medicine.  But, being a reader of Carl Strock’s column, and living in the biomechanics world, I know there are at least 2 departments in health care that need to burn the current rule book.  We need to put the health of the patient back as our number one goal, not the health of some bottom line at the expense of the patient. 

Life’s Lessons

Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the artificial heart, has been removed as pitchman for Lipitor, the best selling medication on the market.  According to the report, Pfizer, the manufacturer of Lipitor, felt pressured to make this move as Dr. Jarvik’s credentials have recently come under fire.

House Democrats said the ads could be misleading to consumers because Jarvik appeared to be giving medical advice, even though he is not licensed to practice medicine. While Jarvik holds a medical degree, he did not complete the certification requirements to practice medicine.
Democratic Reps. John Dingell and Bart Stupak said Monday the company made the right decision. “When consumers see and hear a doctor endorsing a medication, they expect the doctor is a credible individual with requisite knowledge of the drug,” Stupak said.

Too frequently I read articles and get word back from patients how their therapist or health care provider warned them against some of the pro-active efforts we endorse, like flexible custom orthotics, proteolytic enzymes, chiropractic adjustments, cold laser therapy, etc. 

I would like to ask Bart Stupak to tell the public that when a Dr., or any other healthcare authority voices an opinion on a possible course of action a patient is going to take, keep in mind this Dr. may not be intimately knowledgable about what they are saying.  In fact, more often than not, they have little to no first hand experience regarding what they are saying. 

And, as Norman Cousins said in his book, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, “Be careful who you let make a proclamation of doom on you, as that may be the beginning of the end.”

May all experts remain experts only in what they are experts at.

Shortcomings of Traditional Sportsmedicine

There are 4 basic flaws with today’s sportsmedicine industry.

1) We wait until an athlete is injured before we do anything.

2) We only look at the site of injury.

3) Our treatment goals are “to eliminate symptoms”.

4) We allow insurance guidelines to dictate what care is provided.

As athletes, we have much greater, more demanding and continual needs that should never be based only on symptoms nor governed by the insurance industry.  Structural Management guidelines are much more suited to the needs of athletes;

1) Examine biomechanics prior to season and make corrective recommendations.

2) Begin taking corrective measures immediately.

3) Never let symptoms be the call to action.  The ultimate goal is maximum biomechanical improvements, and once that has been achieved, structural management and maintenance becomes a lifetime mission.

Today’s message.  Sleep well.