Ep 14: The Oxygen Tent

What does chiropractic really treat?

In this episode of Before the Scalpel, the doctors discuss the connection between spinal alignment, nerve interference, and overall body function. Through personal stories and decades of clinical experience, they explain why chiropractic care is about more than just back pain.

You’ll also hear:
• The story behind “The Oxygen Tent”
• How chiropractic influenced their careers
• Why pediatric chiropractic care matters
• The philosophy of “structure affects function”
• How modern technology is improving precision and outcomes

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome back to Before the Scalpel. Uh, this episode is uh called the Oxygen Tent. Um when I was a baby, as you heard uh in the first episode, my mom and dad told me this story is that there weren't baby monitors back when I was a baby. So they would wake up in the middle of the night, go into my room, I'd be blue, they'd pick me up, run me across the street, a couple blocks down was the hospital in Chicago, uh, and one of those episodes, one of those attacks, the ER doc said to my parents, we almost lost them. And that was that moment that dad was like, This could very well be the end of my son's life. So then uh the the director of the chiropractic services at National Chiropractic College says, Bring that baby to me. That's faith, confidence, and belief in your product services and ideas. I can't imagine how much faith he had to be able to say that to a newborn patient, newborn baby patient, and a student at the school that he's the director of.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Because if that went wrong, I'm not alone, I'm not around anymore. He's in big trouble. So so today I think that the college professors would be very hesitant to say something like that. Oh, absolutely. Litigation and all that crazy stuff, but that's not how it was in '67.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Well, and I can't imagine as a new parent, and as Dr. Powell mentioned in the previous episode, you know, he wasn't even in clinic yet. Right. He had begun to get his chiropractic education, and of course, his FCB was established with his mom and the changes that he saw, and now this is his own child. And I couldn't imagine the fear. Uh, but like you say, you take that chance because you think, well, are we going to continue to do this? Right. You know, how many nights do we have to get up, run to the emergency room, and do this all over again? And then once the adjustment happened to see the changes, I mean, God's favor was there.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

So why don't you tell us a little bit about your personal experience getting faith cop faith, confidence, and belief in your product services ideas personally.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

Absolutely. So, um, as some of you may know or not know, um, Jim's younger sister is now my wife. So when we were dating at Ohio State, uh, we were playing in a basketball game and I had strained my back, and I had had some troubles in high school, and I, you know, was m talking to her about it, and she said, Well, you should see my dad. When we go back home, um, we should have him take a look at you. And I said, Okay, she's like, My dad's a chiropractor. So I said, Well, what's a chiropractor?

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Right.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

So that was my first uh education with what chiropractic could actually do. So coming home, Dr. Powell, of course, took a look at me, did an exam. He actually took an x-ray of me, showed me the problem, gave me an adjustment, and of course, it was very successful. And uh, I mean, the pain went away, and I thought, wow, this is a great thing.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

And I'm like, you know, this is one of the best kept secrets. Why didn't anybody ever tell me about this before? So I grew up in a medical family, and when we were playing basketball at Salem, we had athletic trainers and physical therapists, so you know, chiropractic wasn't something they talked about.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Right.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

And so, you know, I had those kind of things, but of course that made the big difference. So that was my first experience, and then um with Dr. Jim here, when we had our first child, okay, another another nerve-wracking experience for me. Now, when you get treated yourself, not a big deal. But when it's your young baby, and I remember Julia, my daughter, my oldest, having uh um constipation.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Oh, yeah, it was big time.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Okay. So we're talking about the baby can't go. What's chiropractic gonna do for that? And so we were at Dr. Powell's house, and so Dr. Jim has said, let me take a look at the baby, and I'm thinking, okay, what are you gonna do with the baby? So, you know, it's like a the asthma incident, right? So um started to work her spine and then did a little bit of soft tissue massage on her belly. Well, the muscles in her intestine were, of course, uh tight in a spasm, almost colicky. That's what we call a colic, of course, and the crying was nonstop. And so when the baby cries all the time and you're not getting sleep, you know, not only are you nervous, but you're tired and so you're irritable. And so, of course, the adjustment happened. Well, that night she ended up going to the bathroom. Actually, it was within minutes after you'd worked on her. Yeah, and uh we got our first night's sleep in in months. So that was further FCB now, knowing well, it fixed me, now this worked for my child. So seeing that I was like, you know, I think I could do this. Yeah, I would love to be able to take care of my my own children, but that was so inspirational for me. That's what started my trip, and then two weeks later I was enrolled in chiropractic.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

So going back to your choice, yeah. So we're in an Indians game. Yes, um, correct me if I have these details wrong. Uh the place that you were working, you were a salesman for paper products and a multitude of different supplies.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

The uh established um sales percentage uh was altered during one of your most productive sales quarters that you ever had the whole time you were working for uh the whatever company it was. Yes. And we were at the game, and you were very disappointed of how you were supposed to get a sizable commission check and that that was not gonna happen, and the the owner of the company took the money, basically stole from it.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

And so that negative event was and I said, Chip, you ought to just go back to school and become a chiropractor.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

So tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

So yeah, that was um that was a very, I don't know what the word is to use, but it was inspirational. Inspirational, changing moment. So, yeah, once you said that to me, at first I thought, there's no way I could do that. I'm not gonna go back to school, you know, after only being out of school a couple years, just getting started in my marriage, and I thought, there's no way I can I can do that.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

And a new baby.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

Yeah, and a new baby. And I thought, I'm not smart enough to do that. I was barely smart enough to get through Ohio State. So, um, but all joking aside, yeah, I became convicted and and made the made the move. So um the best thing I ever did. So here we are.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Yeah. And that was well, that was 1995. So, you know, you go to chiropractic college for three years, my first year in practice was 2000, so here I am uh 26 years later.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Amazing.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

And and couldn't be prouder. And so thank you. Oh for your inspiration and your you know, your confidence in me, by the way. So appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Easily uh achieved because the the way that you operate in everything and how you take care of my sister and how you take care of the people around you, was evidence that you were the right guy for the job. And there's no question, I'm so thankful that you chose to become a chiropractor, and so are all the patients that you've had the the opportunity to treat. Um one of the things that we see, and we've talked about a little bit, is the patterns. So if we said, okay, what what's the single unified thread or what's the pattern of all of this? So if the spine's out of alignment, you locate the area of misalignment. We call that a subluxation.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

You adjust the subluxation, changing that rotated bone position, wherever the nerve coming out of that section, wherever it goes to, could be the single greatest cause of that person's condition. So Grandma Powell, polio, me, asthma. The bricklayer didn't get adjustments, but because of chiropractic, his life was saved.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

That's right. Julia, and then if you go 27 years of practice, and all of the patients that you've seen, you're not treating conditions. You don't say, I treat polio, I treat heart disease, I treat uh gastrointestinal distress. Yeah, I treat the spine.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

That's right. That's a very important distinction. We don't treat conditions, we treat the spine. So and that goes back to the concept that Dr. Powell was, and you've stated many times that the body heals itself, right? So we say uh structure affects function. That's right. So when you talk about a bone out of place hitting a nerve, and wherever that nerve goes to has been negatively affected, you remove that interference, and then the body functions the way it should. Um we start there. Right. Okay, and it's simple. And if it doesn't work, which 98% of the time it's going to, yeah, then you try it. Then you know, okay, maybe we need to go into more invasive medical procedures or other examinations. So I think it's a good place to start.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Start with the simple.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah. So I say to patients, and I I grab a hold of the door, and I say, well, that the door frame is the structure, the function is the door open and close.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

If you alter the structure, you alter the function.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Yeah, naturally.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

That applies to the neck, mid back, low back. The neck's out of place, the nerves. Basically, if you looked at the body, wherever the nerves come out of is usually the area of concern. So if someone has thyroid issues or swallowing or sinus or headaches, it's typically going to be in the neck region. Uh, lung, heart, digestion can all be in this midsection.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Uh, lower back, legs, bowel, reproduction, all of that's the lower spine. So their symptoms they come in with basically tell us where to really look at the spine for the alignment.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Well, and to go back to what happened with Harvey Lillard with his loss of hearing, the C1 and C2 vertebra not only control the ears, but it's the ears, the eyes, the nose, the throat.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

So headaches, yeah. C1, C2, same spot that a potential hearing loss could be.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

Vision. So that you know just elaborates on your point. Some conditions, you know, may or may not be connected, but others definitely are, and they get better.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

So it's always worth trying.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

So that pattern, if we said, all right, there are diseases and there's dysfunction. And in my thinking, dysfunction happens first. So if that spine goes out of place and irritates the nerve that goes to the thyroid and it's never corrected, in time, that dysfunctional thyroid over a period of time becomes a diseased thyroid. And sometimes it gets so far down the line that even if we remove that nerve interference, you may not get complete restoration, but you might get an increase in function. So sometimes we'll have a patient seeking medical care and chiropractic care combined.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

That's right. Well, and think about how valuable it is to get treated young then.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:23

Okay, because especially with kids, why would you treat a child? Well, they fall, you know, they're very, what do you call them, plastic pliable. Oh man. You know, and so they may not necessarily get hurt because they're still very new.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

But the problem that could be created when they're young may very well cause issues down the road, like you're you're talking about. So the dysfunction could become a disease simply because of that.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

So that's why we it's important to get people checked as soon as possible. Because you you you adjust a patient, that simple fix of a of a subluxation, corrected, right, could you know be an immediate fix for the problem that could be very something very chronic down the road.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

And it's so unique is as soon as a mom or a dad gets chiropractic care, they say, Well, I came in with back pain, and you treated my back pain, it feels better. Why would I bring my kid in with asthma, or why would I bring my wife in with female problems?

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

And so when I hear that, I go, Oh, I did a bad job on education because he's focused on back pain because that's his biggest symptom. Yes. But I didn't give him uh or he didn't hear one of the two the explanation of how the whole spine can affect any condition.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

And then just like we've said in many different episodes, if you have a medical condition that we document this is a disease process, it may be outside of our influence and they might need medicine to get healthy, but that still doesn't mean that their spine couldn't uh benefit from a care plan or an adjustment.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

Absolutely. And I always bring up the analogy that you know, why do you go to the dentist?

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

Okay, so you you can go to the dentist because your tooth hurts, but many people go to the dentist without problems, they go to just to get their teeth cleaned because they know it's preventative, so it doesn't cause problems down the road. Right. I mean chiropractic care is that's the same exact thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 13:24

And so um, I don't think it's necessarily see, I fall into the same thing. You you know, you have moms and dads that you treat and they have children that they don't bring in, and it's like I say to them, you know, well, if chiropractic care is good enough for you, certainly isn't it good enough for your children?

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

You know, they don't not that they have injuries or or I'm sorry, symptoms, but they fall down all the time, so you should get them checked.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Well, they don't think about it.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

They don't think about it.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Like I wrote I grew up in a chiropractic family, so it was natural for me to make sure that my kids and uh soon to be, hopefully, uh my kids' kids would all be checked at birth because I saw the differences not only in my own experience, but all these years of of the patients that I've seen.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Well, and I was educated myself when I got fixed when your dad treated my bag. Right. And then when Julia, my daughter, had the problem and you said, Hey, let me check her, that thought never entered my mind. Why would you check a baby? Well, same difference.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

Just a different symptom coming from the same area. Right. Lower lumbar. So it's exciting stuff.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

So uh can you go on uh give us a little understanding on unpacking what a modern chiropractic clinic is like and maybe some of the precision uh things that we have, which will lead us in perhaps to our next episode.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

Sure. I think with our clinic, as we you know, we we are um a little more advanced and and we have many different uh treatment methods other than just adjusting the spine. We look into uh treating disc conditions, as we mentioned, with our disc recovery program and our spinal decompression.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

We have our advanced uh rehabilitation equipment with the medics equipment to strengthen weak spines.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

So if you have a damaged disc, you're gonna have to strengthen the area around it in order to support what we do with the disc. And then we have nutritional consultations and diet. And then also we have precision uh adjusting equipment.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:19

So when we talk about m adjusting the spine, we use our hands in many cases, but there's so many other ways to do it. And many people are fearful of chiropractors because of you know, some of these uh stigmas of the hands-on can be aggressive or you know, uh fearful. So we have precision uh instrumentation that we use now that makes us, I think, a little bit more state-of-the-art. And it's it's much, I don't want to say safer, but I think it's more tolerable for those that are fearful of traditional chiropractic. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

And the uniqueness is because dad um obviously was very successful in his career.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

And the success that he got not only with patients, but also um able to provide at a greater level, researched and discovered all of these uh technologies.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

And not all chiropractors have the ability to purchase expensive medical equipment or expensive precision instruments, um, and we're blessed that we we can. Yeah, and that's what makes us a little different. Not that uh anyone's better or worse, it's just we're a little bit different. We have more uh tools in our tool bag, like I had said earlier.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Well, and I think we can go back to the fact that where a lot of these uh these uh modern technology or modern um treatment methods came from was from Dr. Powell's own suffering.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

Conditions that he experienced that he tried with traditional methods that he had developed or that other chiropractors offered that didn't work, so he sought out other methods, and that's how we got all these things to come into our clinic. So it was to help himself so that we could help others.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

Yeah, very blessed.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Very blessed.

SPEAKER_03 16:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

So one of the things that we're gonna lead into in our next episode is precision changes outcomes. And we're thank you for uh watching episode two.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Powell chiropractic clinic introduces discovery. The alternative to back surgery. The advanced discovery protocols created in 2006 by the doctors at Powell Chiropractic Clinic are healthy and effective ways to avoid surgery and relief. Innovators of chiropractic care. Dr. Jim Powell and Dr. Walter Knoll invite you to live feel-free, drug-free. Call today for a free no cost consultation and preliminary examination. Powell Chiropractic Clinic, located on Munson Street Northwest in Belgium Village and at Powellchiropractic.com.