Homestretch!

In my last three hours of hanging out with my mentor and the chiropractic family, it didn't necessarily end with a bang as I thought it would have. I was stressing a lot about school and my own personal life that I wasn't necessarily into it today. I really felt that tese people really grew on me and they helped me realize who I am as a person and they all gave me a bunch of advice, whether it be a physical adjustment or a life lesson. I oberved a lot of patients today but the most interesting one was a fourteen year old girl. She seemed extremely mature for her age. She was very proper and exact in everything she would do. For example, when she would put her gown on, she would neatly fold all of her clothes and would talk very exact and never stutter. Anyways, She had been getting foot problems because she has been working out and jogging every day through her neighborhood. She also has been getting hand problems from all the cramps that she would get from too much extra credit assignments. She was very energetic and was happy to be there to grt adjusted  She was only fourteen years old. It was amazing.

He's A Magician

Today wasn't really one of my days at all. I was only able to see one patient an hour which kind of irritated me because the commute to the office is about an hour so I expected a little bit more. However, I do understand that these patients may have insecurities anout their bodies or would just rather have their alone time with Dr. Ross. 

Although I only got to see one patients for the first a second hour they were both quite interesting. Both of these men were middle-aged and they both had no problem showing skin een though it was a little wierd. They were both single fathers and it was pretty entertaining to see them socializing with Dr. Ross. They both seemed to have blamed their back problems on their kids. They seemed to know exactly what to say before Dr. Ross would say anything. Then I come to find out that they have both been seeing Dr. Ross since the late 70's/ early 80's. They said that every time he works wonders.

The third patient was pretty exciting as well. She had teo kids and moved them both here so that they could get their education and live a better life than she did. She was so kind but out of all the patients, she seemed to be the least tough when it comes to gettig adjusted. Every time there a simple adjustment, she would yell or begin to cuss in Soanish. She was truly a character. She too, has been seeing Dr. Ross for a long time as well. 

The fourth latient of the day literally took up the whole hour; and Dr. Ross wasn't complaining at all because his lunch break was after and he'd rather talk to a patient than sit around and eat for an hour. This man was about 6 foot 2 or 3 and was a competative byciclist. For the half hour ofthis appointment, all they both talked about was eatingright and healthy supplements. Dr. Ross reads about this stuff jist so he could help this particular man. The man starts to wrte notes quoting everything from Dr. Ross. He helped his patients all he can and tries to cotribute to every part of their lives. I was kind of beginning to wonder why he didn't just become a regular doctor. 

A newborn baby

Although I could not observe, Dr. Ross told me everything about the next patient that came. It was a baby that was about 6-8 months old. I thought that it was very strange and pretty scary that Dr. Ross had needed to adjust this baby. Actually, I didn't even think it was possible. But he told me that babies need to be adjusted so that when they grow up, their spine and body alignment are both in good shape during the growing process. I just couldnt believe it. Since this was a baby, Dr. Ross asked for more time. He said that he could hear tiny cracks and that they were very satisfying cracks. He said that patients come in all ages. He wasn't kidding.

Another day in the office

This experience is starting to feel more like a job. I'm starting to get used to what I'm supposed to be doing and my mentor has even let me write down the notes that he has with each of his patients. For example, he makes me write down which part of the spine and which vertebrae is bothering the patient or is causing a problem to the patient and lets me write down all complaint that the patient has. The first two hours of that day sucked because I observed patients and got almost all of their notes wrong. Dr. Ross talks so fast it begins to get hard to keep up with.

The next two hours I was fortunate enough to stay after a couple of adjustments and watch Danielle do massage therapy on the patients. She was very articulate and hard but also had that soft touch that all patients expect from massage therapists. Although she had a soft touch, she was also one of the tougher massage therapists who enjoys sticking her elbow into a patients shoulder blade. She's strict on ends results and truly wants you to feel better in the end - but definitely not during.

4 hours of Hell.

So when I walked in to spend another day at the office, Dr. Ross told me that I might not be able to observe anyone for a while. So he asked me about my paper and told me to just write. As I wrote I was beginning to get very frustrated. I was beginning to doubt myself as far as wanting to purise this as my career. I though that as an athlete, I was barely able to take care of my own injuries; so how can I help others with theirs?  But, then I thought that Chiropractoc work was something very selfless within itself. My mentor walked out of the patients room and for his lunch break he helped me out the whole time taling about athletetic assoociations and how the wear and tear of a sport truly affects their lifespan. He was an overall knowledgeable man and he helped me so much with my paper. He later had another patient and attended that while I continued my paper; although I didn't do it alone. The massage therapist/Dr. Ross' assistant  Danielle helped me figure out more about the life of Chiropracting and massage terapy as well. I ghen was able to knock out the outline and main points of my paper then ad there.

The social aspect of a visit

This next patient was my age. He was very shy at first but he quickly opened up. He was a 5"11 3/4' sophomore and he played lacrosse. He looked very fit and you could tell that he oftenly stayed active. He was very softspoken and it was clear that he had an issue. He quickly complained about his back and neck. Dr Ross said thatthe reason why is because he's been growing fast and his back hasnt been aligned properly throughout his growth spurt. Dr. Ross then looked at me and said that it was something that I had too. And he then started to complain how us kids could have grown up with better posture if we had went to see him more often. But to be honest, I'm still scared to get adjusted by him sometimes because while it may feel good, it always makes me cringe at first. This kid was an overall great kid and Dr. Ross soon easily fixed his alignment. He felt perfect after.

Different aspects of a visit (The visit itself)

So as I began to observe more and more patients I began to look at the individual aspects of the visit. For the next hour, I observed the problems that the patients were having and only their problems. One of the patients I observed was another middle-aged woman. At first I didn't want to see this one because I had seen a couple middle-aged woman before her already so I figured that I wouldn't be impressed. However, from just feeling her in the back, Dr. Ross determined that she had arthritis in her vertebrae and it was because of her lack of posture growing up. She also has scholiosis so Dr. Ross ordered his assistant Danielle to use ultrasound in the spine to help with the aches in her back.

Breaking It Down

So for my sixth hour, it was Dr. Ross' lunch break and he walked me to his private office and sat me down. He asked me if I had any questions about the experience that I was having so far and he would be more than happy to answer any questions that I had. So I first asked about the worst patient that he's ever had. He told me that he honestly has a lot of "mental" patients. He explained that he gets tons of patients who just go to him because they are mentally broken and think that physical tunings to the body can heal their pains physically and mentally. He also told me about this one lady who used to write down a list of every single task that she did and how it affected her body - even though her physique was 100% fine. It made me feel nervous about wanting to pursue this as my career because I didn't feel like I would be able to support these patients regardless of what type of adjustments they were looking for in their lives.

Break Time

So after this patient, I was starting to settle in. At first I was super shy but now I feel like everyone is beginning to become closer to me. This made me also think that I would love to become a Chiropractor because it seems like everyone in here is super nice. While I waited outside for the next patient, I was excited and ready to evaluate the next appointment. And then Dr. Ross opened the door, but only stuck his head outside of the door. He told me that the lady in the room didn't want to be observed and gave me an 'It's not even worth it' kind of look. I felt a little rejected and I said okay and began to walk back to the front desk. It was bittersweer because when the lady came out, she looked extremely stuck up.

Patient #3 Con't

This patient, although very old, knew how to talk. He would talk about his family and talk about the old days back when World War 2 was going on and life before electronics. He also talked about his personal problems, as if he were seeking advice. He asked something about meeting new people (which in my opinion he should have known more about that than the both of us) and was waiting on a reply from Dr. Ross. Dr. Ross then told him to flip over onto his back and started to give the advice. When the most important part of his advice came, he crossed the patients arms and pressed down when he least expected it. The sound sounded so alarming but captivating to me at the same time. Every time I heard a crack, I knew that this was something I wanted to do.

Patient #3

So as I sat through the last three patients and realized that when he adjusts his patients, he seemed to do the same thing everytime. No matter what the complaint was, he told his patients to lie down on their back and immediately checked the alighnment of their spine.  This third patient was a male this time.  He was a very old male and to be honest, I was surprised that he was even "crackable". No offense to him of course but before he layed down on his back, it must have taken a good five minutes for him to at least take his shirt off.  Maybe he was taking his time, but it worried me a little bit because I didn't know what else he could do for him.  But anyways, he asked this man to get into a comfortable position. Dr. Ross looked at his back then looked at me and told me to come look at his back.  Although this man was in a comfortable position, his spine seemed to veer to the left.  Dr. Ross told me that in order to fix everything else, the spine has to be straightened out first.  It amazed me how the body works.

Patient #2

So before I observe a patient, Dr. Ross always has to ask them for permission before I walk in.  As I wait outside, I laugh because he knocks twice and swings the door open just so he could make his presence known. Then, he says hello to the patient and slams the door behind him as if he were never going to open that door ever again.  Of course, he opened the door a couple minutes later and let me in. I introduced myself to her and sat down.  She was a middle-aged (maybe 48 years old) caucasion women who was pretty tall.  She was super nice.  From listening to their conversation, she had two sons out of college and she had a planned workout every week - which is probably why she was complaining about her back so much.

Hour 2

I never realized how repetative you could be when going through each and every patient.  Dr. Ross always used the same story with all of his patients for the whole day - the only difference being that he would fit it into their lives to make it seem personal.  The main thing that a chiropractor wants from his patients is to be calm and comfortable.  Without a comfortable patient, Dr. Ross said that it would be almost impossible to make a proper adjustment, and that is why he tries to make them feel comfortable with the stories that they tell.  For example, every hour he only takes three patients.  For all three patients, he talked about the Giants world series and if it would ever happen again.  All aspects of the World Series seemed to somehow fit into all of these peoples' lives. It was pretty funny actually.

Hour 1 01/21/13

To start off my hour, I arrived at the Golden Gate Chiropractic Center at 10 AM Monday morning.  All I had with me was a pen, paper and a bottle of water just in case my thirst overpowered my ability to think.  I was surprisingly nervous even though I'm there once every couple months for my own personal checkup.  Being in the presence of a "miracle worker" seemed to make me a little tense.  I walked in and first said hello to the receptionist.  She happily greeted me and told me that he was already in the midst of working with one of his patients. Now, since they run on a tight schedule, fitting only three patients per hour, Dr. Christopher Ross quickly said hello and we entered the next patients room together.  The first patient I observed was a 53 year old mother of two.  She couldn't wait to get fixed up and she seemed excited that I was there to witness the "magic".  "He truly is a miracle worker, Malia," she says.