Chiropractic Graduates

Congratulations on graduating as a chiropractor and joining the largest drug-free health profession. During your student years you may have had an image in mind of how your clinic might look, the techniques you might use and the philosophy on which your practice would be based.

Interestingly, many chiropractic graduates wander a little aimlessly for a while, unsure of their choice of technique, a little rusty in their clinical exam procedures, seeking some guidance and unsure who to seek for mentorship.

I am offering you some insight into what I have shared with hundreds of other chiropractors, particularly at the beginning of your career, when I think it might make more of a difference. If I can have some positive impact on your learning, it would be my privilege.

10 Chiropractic Graduate Nuggets is entirely free. Simply click here to enter your details.

Kiro Kids Clinical Educational Products

Kiro Kids has now developed, with the help of a number of pediatric and other medical specialists, affordable multimedia educational products which are second to none in the chiropractic world.

This stunning range of learning materials enhances the clinical learning experience by using the programmed-learning approach of question and answer method whereby the questions on a Powerpoint file are immediately followed the answer. After a while, you know the answers before they are revealed due to repetition. Combined with rich graphics and information, this is the quickest way to revise and learn essential clinical material.

Many of the CDs use audio and video files for optimal learning. Kiro Kids students have attested to faster learning using these materials. In combination with the Kiro Kids DVDs of live seminars with Dr Neil Davies, a package of Kiro Kids multimedia learning products represents excellent value in the chiropractic educational market place.

It is our experience that, even with the wealth of knowledge available today online and in new texts, an interactive colourful method of learning is often more interesting than a textbook. As an end of year special, we have dramatically reduced our package price. I highly recommend it.

Kiro Kids Seminars

We are proud to announce our list of international teaching seminars for 2008. We will be visiting Sth. Africa, Europe and Nth. America as well as our home turf in Australia. The popular Adjusting the Child and NeuroImpulse Protocol (Basic & Advanced) will be taught in the 2-3 day programmes that many chiropractors have acclaimed.

If you wish to further your understanding of the finding the subluxation and correcting it, you must find out more about our evidence-based technique systems. We provide comprehensive colour manuals and DVDs of all our seminars are available to purchase before the event.

It is our experience that exposure by DVD over some months prior to attendance can make the seminar experience that much more fruitful. See the NIP site for more information.

Chiropractic, Coughs & Colds

As seasons change some children appear to have an endless number of coughs, colds and runny noses. These are often explained as a normal part of growing up. But are these constant infections "normal"?

To understand why young children get recurrent colds (upper respiratory tract infection or URTI ), it is important to understand how we come in contact with the organisms that cause infection and how our bodies protect us.

What Causes a Cold?
The organisms that cause coughs, colds and runny noses are found in the air (they are airborne). These organisms enter our bodies through our noses and mouths. This is why it is important to teach children to cover their face and mouth when they cough or sneeze.

When a child who is infected coughs or sneezes millions of tiny organisms are propelled into the air. If breathed in by other people they also may become infected, and so it spreads. How many times have you had a cold and said "Oh the kids brought it home from kindergarten or school"?

So do we "catch a cold" or is the truth really something different? If we simply "catch a cold" from being around others who have one, why do some children have more colds than others?
Everyday we are all exposed to organisms in the air that can make us sick. Our body is designed in a way that may protect us from many potential illnesses, if it is functioning properly.

Body's Protection System
Our first line of protection against organisms that cause infections is in our nose and mouth. The nose has lots of very fine hair which "filters" the air we breathe and offers us protection against air borne organisms. In the mouth, we have tonsils which help filter air before it reaches our lungs.

Once an organism enters our body the immune system produces 'good' organism to fight off the infection. The immune system is where the problem may lie. If our immune system is not functioning at full capacity, our body cannot fight off the organisms and an infection has the opportunity to 'set in'.

Chiropractic Care for Immunity
Chiropractic care is directed at ensuring the nervous system is balanced and operating effectively, which in turn may have a significant effect on how well our immune system is working. If a child's immune system is fully functioning they have a better chance of fighting off colds and infections.

If your child suffers from constant coughs, colds and sore throats see your chiropractor. It may reduce the number of colds your child has. With less days off school and reduced costs in medication it may be well worth it.

Practical advice
If your child develops a cold, and they are not at high risk of complications, then do the following to help clear it up quickly.

• Get plenty of rest
• Drink lots of liquids
• Never give aspirin to children or teenagers who have cold symptoms
• Stay home and avoid contact with other people to protect them from catching the illness.

Most healthy people recover from a cold without complications. (Source: Dept of Health and Human Services, CDC www.cdc.gov/fl u/protect/sick.htm). In my house it seems like a continuous struggle to get my children to remember to cover their mouths when they cough and wash their hands regularly. To my 3 year old, who looks at his hands and doesn't see any dirt, its a logical question to ask why he should wash them? (Explaining facts about getting sick doesn't seem to influence him either).

One of the best ways I've found to get little children interested in washing their hands is to make it fun. Try adding some bubbles and all of a sudden my 3 year old can't wait to get to the sink. Bright coloured hand towels with 'kid' designs also seem to help with the drying part.

The best method of all is to set a good example. Letting your children see you wash your hands with soap and dry them regularly helps reinforce the habit. Often it's the little habits, like hand washing, that make all the difference in protecting children from getting ill. Fact: Did you know a sneeze can send water droplets 1.8 meters through the air at speeds up to 160 kilometers per hour?

Chiropractic Cardiovascular & Respiratory Exam
The above article is great to include in your own practice newsletter and is aimed at the patient, not you the chiropractor who well understands the benefit of a balanced neural system. Each doctor must take stock of his own clinical skills and ensure he is not out of his depth in caring for kids with URTI. The harsh reality is that sniffly noses and mildly blocked airways can also herald significant pathology and a child's health can decline rapidly in the following hours.

Let's try a little 10 point quiz here and self-evaluation of your regional chest exam skills.

1. Do you take any vital signs for a child with an URTI ?
2. Do you examine a child's chest if they have an URTI or just proceed with adjustment?
3. For an URTI, which of 4 procedures would you use: observation, palpation, percussion or auscultation?
4. Can you recognise the salient signs of bronchitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonia
5. Do you recognise what is meant by tracheal and lobar airway sounds?
6. What is the purpose of measuring chest circumference and how is it utilised?
7. What do resonant and dull percussion sounds signify in the chest?
8. What is meant by diaphragmatic, chest and paradoxical breathing?
9. What is the significance of not hearing lung sounds in a lobe?
10. What is meant by tactile fremitus and how is it used?

Would you like to check the answers and see how well you fared? Click here and then simply insert your name and email into the form where indicated and you will receive our concise answer list and show you how you can bring your chest exam skills up to speed.

Kiro Kids has been at the forefront of developing long distance education and multimedia tools for chiropractors. Our interactive CD presentation, Cardiovascular and Respiratory Examination, covers the ground presented in the Master of Science program developed by Kiro Kids using interactive teaching technology which includes audio files of all the normal and common pathological sounds generated in the pediatric chest.

The 103 slide CD follows a logical format of history, observation, palpation, percussion and auscultation. A must have for chiropractors regularly seeing children in clinical practice!

I fervently believe in educating patients to see their chiropractic for wellness checks and in times of illness. I also believe every chiropractor has a duty of care to ensure clinical skills are up to the task.

Intelligent, Neurological Chiropractic

The NIP technique is used exclusively throughout the Kiro Kids Family Chiropractic Clinics in Victoria, Australia by all the chiropractors and the result has been nothing short of astonishing in terms of new patient numbers. Patients drive long distances to receive NIP technique because the results they are getting are quick and sustainable and they don’t get hurt by hard manipulative style techniques. NIP is cutting edge neurological chiropractic that offers a level of precision and accuracy previously unknown in chiropractic.

Ultimate precision in Subluxation Detection

Along with its gentleness (you can tolerate the thrust on your eyeball!) the uniqueness of the NIP system lies in its ability to direct the chiropractor to exactly the right location to adjust. It does this by its highly sophisticated integration of very precise chiropractic assessment techniques and detailed neurological examination. The technique is so precise, the typical NIP practitioner needs only adjust one location per visit to achieve maximum, sustainable clinical outcomes.

Neuro Impulse Protocol

The NIP technique came about during the 1990’s. It is the brainchild of Dr Neil J Davies D.C, the author of the popular text “Chiropractic Pediatrics A Clinical Handbook” published by Churchill Livingstone. During this time Dr Davies was striving to evolve a technique approach to be used with babies that was absolutely precise neurologically, but extremely gentle in its application.

Using the foundational principles of the Gonstead system of subluxation analysis combined with orthodox techniques of neurological assessment together with the toggle recoil and Logan Basic systems of adjusting, NIP was born.

Predictable, reproducible clinical results
The technique was originally designed for use with babies and for a number of years was confined to use in that age group. As development progressed it soon became evident that the technique was just as applicable to the adult population and in fact was far superior in the clinical results it produced than the systems being used by Dr Davies at the time.

Some 8 years of clinical research in the patient setting has led to the consolidation of an amazingly accurate, reproducible system of subluxation assessment that affords the chiropractor an opportunity to impact even the most difficult of cases.