Weekend Update

I had a great trip to Dallas. In spite of the sub-freezing temperatures, I still managed 1 quick run. Dan & Mollie took me to some fantastic restaurants that were rated as top choices in the Dallas Observer: Thai Chili features incredibly complex flavors in a chicken coconut soup that meld for a wonderful palate pleaser; Cafe Istanbul serves mediterranean style lamb sensationally; and Jinbeh's teriyaki, hand-rolled sushi, and green-tea ice cream are so scrumptious!

I also attended CLEAR Institute's annual board meeting, and somehow got swept up into being the official note-taker for the session. I also presented to the board about the Scoliosis Mentorship Program so that we could get their full support and backing behind our student-driven community service organization. The Saturday Scoliosis Workshop was fantastic! I was able to visit with several docs that I've met on previous occasions, and I met several others who have been doing scoliosis work for some time. I learned some really cool things I can add to my chiropractic tool-bag when working with patients.

The students from Parker CC who attended the seminar told me the ins and outs of their chiro school experiences. It seems like there is no perfect chiropractic school. They all have their own hoops for students to jump through, ridiculous red tape, and frustrations. But, after meeting students from schools all over the country, I think Palmer Florida is definitely the best one around at the moment. We get a solid education in academics, and we have a very positive clinic experience as far as the freedom to utilize a number of elective techniques in which we've been trained. I wouldn't go anywhere else if I had to do it over again.

I brought my camera for the weekend trip, but I didn't feel very shutterbug savvy. So, I watched & learned at the workshop, took lots of notes, and sacrificed more sleep than I prefer. It was nice to get back to sunny Florida and Steve Sunday afternoon. Our friend Jason. . . who used to live down the road from us, was in town for a conference (he now lives in Colorado). He ended up driving next to us as Steve was taking me home from the airport. We were shouting a conversation between cars on the road at 45 mph. Later that afternoon, Jason stopped by to visit and catch up with us. He'll meet his new baby girl sometime in early January!!

Scoliosis Workshop and Weekend Fun

What a great weekend! And, I'm looking forward to the short, but jam-packed week. Since the clinic closes early on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday, I have to cram all my patient visits in M-W.

Before viewing Casino Royale on Friday, Katie & I gave our friend Ryan a tour of the Palmer Florida campus and clinic. Ryan was in town for the scoliosis seminar, and he attends chiropractic college at our other campus in Davenport, Iowa. The 4 of us went to dinner at Maria Bonita's which has the fastest service, and the best homemade chips & salsa. I ordered my favorite: carne asada (skirt steak with a lime-cilantro marinade).

We got home late from the movie, and I had to wake up before dawn to load up the car with equipment for the scoliosis workshop. We drove over an hour to arrive at the Disney World Hilton by 0715 to set-up. It was, by far, the best technique seminar workshop that I've ever attended. Several doctors & student interns brought in their scoliosis patients to work them up and to understand how to continue with their care. I was fairly busy working different stations or reviewing powerpoints with Dr. Clayton, so I didn't get to sit down an enjoy the lecture and do a whole lot of hands on practice. But no matter, I attend the same workshop in Dallas in 2 weeks. So, I'll get to relax and learn and practice adjustment set-ups on December 2nd. I hope to post pictures of this weekend, soon. I took several on Karson's camera since mine is a piece of junk.

Scoliosis Seminar Weekend 2

We had another fun, busy, draining, and incredibly brain-filling scoliosis seminar this past weekend. There was more hands-on than in previous seminars which kept doctors and students much more intrigued. I always learn something new at these seminars, no matter how many times I've heard the material. And, I realize how much info I've forgotten since the previous seminar. It makes so much more sense to be able to apply the info real-time now that I can use it on patients.

The workshop is Saturday, November 18th. It'll be a summary of all the great info we've learned thus far, and tons of hands-on with adjusting, case study application, and rehab. Learning at the seminars is great fun, coordinating equipment and other seminar stuff is a lot of work, and I think Kristin & I are pretty much ready for a break from that job. It's been a great learning experience: coordinating an international seminar, but we're ready to relax and just attend seminars from here on out!

Jeff, Katie, Dr Tim, Jason, Michelle, & Karson at Karson's favorite eatery: Buffalo Wild Wings

Dr Dennis, Clayton, & Kristin rounding out the table at Wild Wings

Karson got picked-on by Dr Dennis the entire weekend. It was great! Here, Karson was asked to represent an exercise ball for a lumbo-dorsal exercise. Dr. Dennis demonstrates the exercise for the seminar participants.

Geometry teachers have got to be jealous at the incredibly cool and larger than life protractor we now have to use for x-ray line analysis on the projector screen. Michelle props it up for a human-protractor size ratio comparison.

Karson demonstrates the posterior L5 exercise while Dr Dennis accentuates his cervical lordosis. He quipped that Karson looked like a "Best in Show Dog". Poor Karson!! Glad there's another Asian who now gets picked on instead of me!

This doctor experiences the effects of the Vibe Traction (4.5 MHz) on her rib hump while she's weighted down with 5 lbs. anteriorly on her ribs.

Willie does proprioceptive neuromuscular re-education on the Vibe and still manages to smile for the camera.

We laid down tightrope faster than you could blink. We had 2 lines of tightrope for participants to try with eyes open, eyes closed, head & hip weighting, and special eyeglasses.

Katie shows off headweights and the supercool eyeglasses. Eat your heart out Josh!!

Pontoon Ride

heading out to the pontoon

Kristin, Jeff, Katie, & Josh in the pontoon docked behind Dr. Dennis' backyardAutumn on the Mississippi

Dr. Dennis, Jeff, & me on the pontoon

Dr. Dennis - pontoon boat captainKarson on the pontoonDr. Dennis opens a beer with pliersKatie & Josh demonstrate the "Miller test" with organic beers

Palmer Florida Students Visit CLEAR Institute During Fall Break 2006

Six students from Palmer Florida spent a week at CLEAR Institute in St Cloud MN training with Dr. Dennis Woggon. His wife spent several weeks preparing the apartment in the basement, so we wouldn't have to stay in a hotel. The apartment was lush with a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, enough mattresses to sleep 6, 2 t.v.'s, and lots of character. We had full reign of the 9000 square foot clinic in the evenings when we'd hang out in the classroom doing line analysis on radiographs, or we'd go upstairs to rehab in the clinic. 2 students were diagnosed with scoliosis during the first day's clinical exam. Too bad that wasn't caught earlier, considering their both 3rd year students in chiropractic college. Not to worry, because by the end of the week, both of them had their Cobb angles reduced to less than 10^, so technically, they no longer have scoliosis. How about that?!

Dr. Dennis actually shifted his patient schedule around so that we were basically the only ones he saw on Tuesday & Thursday. He presented several incredible and informative lectures on scoliosis screening, alar ligament damage, radiographing the spine, and x-ray line analysis. He also gave us a lot of one-on-one training with adjustment set-ups. We also got chiropractic care from the masterful Dr. D. Just wait until I post the before and after posture and radiograph photos of our team. . . amazing!

Even though we were assigned homework almost every evening on top of our isometric exercises and rehab, we also had a few hours of down time. I already mentioned that I ran with the gals on a trail along the Mississippi River. Dr. Dennis also treated the group to a ride on the Mississippi on his pontoon, followed by a delicious meal prepared by his lovely wife Brenda. We had fun cooking together in the apartment, and we made a necessary stop to Buffalo Wild Wings per Karson's persistent requests.

Below is a smattering of a few of my favorite photos from our trip. I'll post pictures from the pontoon ride in the near future. Enjoy!!

Walking the tightrope with headweights and/or glasses

Kristin strengthens the medial aspect of her knees by squeezing an exercise ball while lying on a vibrating table

Karson demonstrates the sacrum strap while he stands on the Vibe

Lectures in the CLEAR Institute classroom

Katie & her squished cheeks in the scoliosis traction chair. I love this photo!

Jeff in the Scoliosis Traction Chair

Katie toughing out 100 reps of cervical traction to imbibe the disc, restore cervical lordosis, and warm up her spine prior to getting adjusted

Katie enjoys flexion-distraction on the Eckard table
Josh sets up anterior dorsal adjusting on Jeff while Dr. Dennis instructs
Karson on the Vibe Drop Traction: he went from an "S" curved neck with severe forward head posture to achieving a lordosis (curve) in his neck in only 3 days!
Jeff tractioned through the Pneumex, marching on the step machine while wearing glasses
Lunch at the Renaissance CafeHolding 1 month old baby James who's already a Texas Longhorn
Karson at Legoland at the Park in the Mall of America

Why I Don't [usually] Drink Coffee

It's almost 5 am, and I haven't slept at ALL tonight. I thought it was because I was as frigid as an ice cube when I went to bed at midnight. 2 hours later after I'd put on my socks and wrapped a bathtowel around me, I thought it was that I was extra sensitive to my roommate blowing her nose every hour. Now that it's 5am and I can tell that even she with the runny/stuffy nose has had intermittent bouts of zzzzz's, I realize I have had absolutely none. I attribute it to the fact that I went on a warm beverage run to B&N with the gals after 6:30pm on Wed evening.

We'd been freezing all day in the clinic, and especially when we were pelted with sleet or icy rain on our walk home from lunch. Minnesota in fall feels like a Florida winter--and none of us brought warm enough clothes for the week. Anyway, back home, I drink decaf green tea in the mornings. But, I typically avoid it after 4pm. Yet, I gulped down a grande pumpkin-flavored frappucino (I'd forgotten that frappucino was mixed with ICE) when I learned it had less caffeine than the latte. It doesn't matter to my body which is not used to coffee caffeine, and I'm especially sensitive to it. I have no idea how other people can guzzle down mountain dew or a quart of coffee in the morning. I think I'd be so frazzled I'd be like a walking spazz all day. I decided to blog because I can't sleep--why not write? I have a feeling that mid-day on Thursday I'll want to crash out in an incredible nap. But, we push it to the max until 5pm, so not much hope there unless I can snag a nap during our very brief lunch break.

Tuesday was a beautiful day. Dr. Woggon took us out on a pontoon ride on the Mississippi which just happens to flow behind his house. The leaves are turning up here and the grass is still golf-course green. The weather was chilly, but tolerable. His wife prepared a beautiful and delicious meal for us after the boat ride. It was then we learned how mischevious and how much of a prankster Dr. Dennis was to his patients and to his wife: goldfish in the clinic water cooler, a skeleton sitting on the toilet, etc. Now, that takes some elaborate planning.

Fall Break at LAST!

This is the first day of my fall break. Yesterday, I took my last final exam . . . EVER! I'm so glad to be done. Yesterday, I watched to movies on DVD, and I enjoyed a trip to Barnes & Noble with my favorite person. I had to bribe him to come with me by offering to buy him cheesecake. Whatever works, I suppose. Then, we ran last night. Steve didn't get any studying done once he came home from school . . . he spent the entire evening with me. It was awesome. But, I won't be around to distract him next week, since I'll be spending it in St Cloud, MN training at CLEAR Institute with 5 other students from Palmer FL. We're looking forward to learnings lots and having fun on our downtime: running, rock wall, Mall of America. All of that, plus I'll get to see my friends Jimmy & Sharise and their newborn James. Can't wait!

Today, I slept in late and enjoyed it. Now, I'm spending the afternoon baking a couple of apple pies for Steve to enjoy while I'm out of town. It's a late anniversary present, but it's just in time. The flour threw me into a sneezing fit. So, Steve helped out with the dough just a little.

As far as a half-marathon training plan. I'm considering 4 of them, and I'll use what I like from each of them to create my own: Hal Higdon's intermediate plan, Jeff Galloway's plan, Cool Running's Beginner program, and the Runner's World personalized Smart Coach plan based on my most recent 5k race time. I'll modify my training pace as I race in a 5k or 10k and a 20k throughout the fall. Ideally, I want to do my long runs on Saturdays, and I want to do plenty of cross-training in the pool for all-around fitness and strength. But, I still plan to do 2-a-days twice a week for 3 weeks, and I'll see where I'm at with endurance and speed at that point. I also want a plan where I run the complete race distance BEFORE I taper. I don't want to max out on 13.1 on race day, when I have never run that distance cumulatively. If any of you half-marathon veterans can lend some training or plan advice to a first-timer at that distance, I'd really appreciate the feedback!

Type A Runner Teaches Scoliosis 101

Last week was NOT fun. But, I'm over it. How many things can go wrong in a few days? More than I ever though possible. And, how quickly can God resolve the chaos and make everything work out perfectly? Pretty much instantaneously.

Main thing people kept telling me last week was that I'm impatient and I have to work on my patience. Yeah, tell me about it. Struggle of my lifetime since I'm a "get-stuff-done-yesterday" type of person. Unfortunately, I'm super Type A and not so much Type B...thanks to my wiring and Air Force brainwashing. It's gonna take me awhile to reprogram, and I need some grace from God.

Dr. Dennis Woggon did a fantastic job speaking at the Orlando TTWAC seminar this weekend. It helped me to hear him do an overview on scoliosis since Kristin & I are teaching 1st Quarter's embryology / anatomy class on Scoliosis 101 this Wednesday! I'm looking forward to the Scoliosis Seminar Series in Orlando this fall. The more I hear and learn, the more I absorb and figure out what to do. I'm currently working with 3 scoliosis patients. Everyday, I pray that I'm doing the protocol correctly and that I don't do anything to make them worse, but that I help them to get better. It's not all me, a huge component is on them to do their home rehabilitation exercises. And, the biggest component is, of course, God, prayer, and positive thoughts. So, I'm anticipating post-care radiograph films on a couple of the patients in a few months, to see how much they improve.

The coolest thing that happened to me this weekend is that I got a lot of glorious and much needed sleep. I don't function very well when I get less than 6 hours. For those of you who subscribe to Runner's World magazine, check out my Letter to the Editor in the September 2006 issue. It was truncated a LOT by the editor such that they lost the point of the letter, but hey, got it published and a free t-shirt to boot!

SMP Officers

Dr. Dennis Woggon, me, Karson Mui, Kristin Schafer, Michelle Kerr, Josh Woggon, (not pictured DeJeanne Denet)

Scoliosis Correction Seminar Workshop

Applying muscle stim to Katie's tight piriformis muscle. Jason's pointing to the exact spot that I need to unleash max power. For a slide show of workshop photo highlights, click here.

I am officially done with seminars for the quarter. Although I still have 2 weekends left of Sacro-Occipital Technique (SOT) elective. This weekend's workshop was fabulous. We were able to apply the knowledge that Dr. Woggon firehosed over us 2 weeks ago. Dr. Stitzel is a great instructor, and he relates well to students.

Scoliosis Correction Seminar

We had an incredible seminar. My head is still reeling from all the info. I hope I can remember it, process it, and apply it effectively!

Dr. Woggon guest lectures to Palmer students on Friday morning to present an overview of scoliosis and structural biomechanics.

Dr. Woggon checks out Amanda's core muscles for imbalance.

Seminar participants.

Josh Woggon measures cervical extension range of motion on Amanda using Myo-Logic technology.

Dr. Dennis adjusts my 1st rib on a drop piece.

Josh applies muscle stim to Brian's paraspinal muscles.

Dr. Dennis demonstrates the FAST effects of vibration on flexiblity on Dr. He

Dr. J sports the 1/2 eyeglass shields which help correct forward head posture.

Damaris wears the wrist-trac, 1/2 covered glasses, and head weights while standing on top of the Vibe.

DeJeanne demos her new lumbo-pelvic core muscle exercise on the ball.

Amanda tries out the Vibration Traction which helps restore cervical lordosis.