Planet Chiropractic

Miscellaneous shouts and chiropractic mentions from the week past, May 2008.

Pieces of art featuring images of human bones along with wings and obscure dates are not something you typically find in someone’s home or art gallery. The artwork I’m talking about is of a chiropractic nature, and there was lots of it featured throughout the halls of a recent chiropractic conference held in Orange County, California.

Nearly everybody has a website, but what does one do to get people to come visit their website and share that site with others? That was a question I was asked this past Saturday while speaking at a tech gathering in La Jolla California. I don’t have all the answers, but after 10 years of managing a popular chiropractic website, and hosting web sites for hundreds of others, I’ve picked up few bits of useful information. If you’re asking yourself “what would a chiropractor know about getting traffic to one’s website?” you’ll be missing out on what I’m trying to get across. This isn’t about chiropractic, it’s about the Internet, and some of the things nearly all web sites have in common.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) 5-time UFC Champion Randy Couture is hosting a Charity 5K walk/run to benefit the Xtreme Couture G.I. Foundation. The event will be held at the Centennial Hills YMCA in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, May 17, 2008. Funds raised from the event, titled Operation Freedom Run, will go towards a foundation formed to raise money and awareness for US troops who have been wounded fighting the war on terrorism.

There are lots of ways that chiropractors collect payments from those receiving chiropractic care. Many chiropractor offices except credit cards, checks, and cash. Payment can come from insurance companies, attorneys offices, health-care savings accounts, and many other sources. I know chiropractors that even offer programs such as care-credit which allows consumers to finance amounts such as $4000 towards packages of chiropractic care. With all the methods of payments being accepted, I hadn’t heard nor seen any chiropractors using online payment processing services to pay for chiropractic adjustments, until now.

The Dead Chiropractic Society California Jam continues to be burned into the memories of those in attendance. It’s been 10 days since the mega chiropractic event and e-mails continue to arrive with testimonials from chiropractors excited to share their thoughts. California Jam 2009 won’t be taking place until March of that year, but you can expect a number of philosophical local chiropractic events taking place in the Southern California DCS clubhouse until the Jam dates come.

Dozens of chiropractors woke up Monday morning, the fifth of May, 2008 (Cinco de Mayo) to the discovery that a new opportunity existed to tell the world about their chiropractic practice. Within hours, word was spreading via RSS feeds and forwarded e-mails that a popular chiropractic website was going to begin writing featured articles about chiropractors and the towns they practice in. The activity wouldn’t even make a tiny blip in the world of traditional social media, but inside a niche group like the chiropractic profession, a simple post made to a chiropractic blog can move among inside circles rapidly, especially when users are engaged in contributing and spreading information.

While image search is not as popular as traditional search based queries, a look at a websites log files will typically show inbound traffic as a result of people seeking images related to a particular topic. With the focus of content on this site being chiropractic, it’s not surprising that inbound users would be arriving at the website based on searches related to chiropractic images. I visited archived logs for the month of April 2008 and compiled a list of posts and articles that showed inbound traffic based on the images appearing in those posts.

This is round 2 of testimonials e-mailed to the DCS team regarding last weekend’s DCS California Jam. The first batch of testimonials was posted on April 30, 2008.

The National Coalition for the Advancement of Drug- Free Athletics, Inc. (NCADFA) is proud to announce that Jean Laguerre, Master Trainer & 2x Mr. Natural U.S.A. has joined our team as a National Spokesperson for our 2008 “Choose NOT to Use(R) Performance Enhancing Drugs Campaign.”

The Planet Chiropractic e-mail inbox continues to fill up with messages of gratitude, thank you’s, testimonials, and words of excitement, from chiropractors, staff, spouses, and others that attended the 2008 DCS California Chiropractic Jam, this past weekend in Orange County, California. Instead of one news summary of the ginormous chiropractic event, we will be sharing a number of e-mails sent by chiropractors, that attended the Friday and Saturday event.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 3 out of 4 new moms in US now breast-feed their infants. That’s the highest rate in the U.S. since the 1980’s, according to a CDC/National Center for Health Statistics report released Wednesday.

A vaccine manufacturer, operating a plant in the state of Pennsylvania, received a regulatory warning from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) involving multiple quality-control observations made after review of the manufacturing plant, at the company’s West Point facility.

There is little that motivates me more than witnessing chiropractic students working a room at a chiropractic conference or seminar. This past Saturday while attending DCS California Jam I was approached a number of times by chiropractic students from Life West College of Chiropractic with information about an event coming up in May. Told them I’d see what I could do about spreading the word.

Chiropractors packed the house at the Performing Arts Center in Orange County, all day Saturday, April 26, 2008. Planet Chiropractic was there to capture photos of the event and conduct interviews with dozens of chiropractors (mostly from the state of California) that were in attendance. There will be multiple articles on the news pages and blog pages throughout this week, related to the DCS CalJam and other upcoming events. What a great time to be a chiropractor.

Everyone seems to be picking on the poor Food and Drug Administration (FDA) these days, but for vastly different reasons. To the hundreds of thousands of victims (including dead ones) of adverse prescription drug reactions each year, and their families, the FDA is failing to protect the public. These people believe the agency should spend more time and effort making sure drugs are safe and effective before approval. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical companies feel the FDA is a nuisance, way too fussy about drug safety details and terribly slow with approval.

The Dead Chiropractic Society California Jam kicks off in Costa Mesa, this Saturday, April 26, 2008. A look at the play list of music and videos gives a hint that this is like no other chiropractic event on earth. Where can you go to a professional continuing education seminar and listen to Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Lenny Kravitz, and more? At DCS, the music is part of the message.

This may be the last chiropractic classified advertising round up for the month of April. Normally we have these posts on Sundays and Wednesdays, but you may not notice classified advertising posts in the news again until May 4, 2008. Whether you are seeking Chiropractic Products and Equipment for Sale (like a Lloyd Portable Adjusting Table) or Practices for Sale and Job Opportunities (like an associate position in Michigan), this post is a compilation of the most recent advertisements placed in the Classifieds section on Planet Chiropractic. Featured are selected ads that were placed before Sunday, April 20, 2008.

It’s often been said that there are as many different chiropractic techniques in the world as there are chiropractors. While some will claim to adhere to specific adjusting styles and protocols, the great majority of practicing DC’s adapt and modify various approaches towards optimizing one’s health, resulting in a uniqueness that sets every chiropractor apart from one another.

ChiroMission Foundation chiropractors adjust 25,000 people in 4 days. Book of world records document the new world record event as PBS videos.

The Student Loan Corp (STU) and Sallie Mae Corp (SLM) have both been in the news these past few days with announcements related to lending and money losses on federally guaranteed student loans. Student loan Corp on Wednesday announced that it will be suspending lending at certain schools and will withdraw from the Federal Consolidation Loan market due to market turmoil and federal legislation. Sallie Mae’s top executives are reportedly engaged in daily discussions as to how long the company can continue losing money on federally guaranteed student loans.

News stories regarding Merck, the makers of Vioxx, began circulating midday April 15, with reports of manipulation of data and accusations of scientific fraud. By this morning, the inbox on my LG Voyager displaying several text messages from chiropractors throughout the United States (mostly east coast) sharing links to multiple websites and publications covering this topic.

With so many changes in the airline industry, you better make sure your flights are booked and you’re ready to rock ‘n roll in the months of April and May, since some of the hottest chiropractic seminars, conferences, events, and meet ups taking place throughout the United States (and in other parts of the world) are upon us. In previous news, I had organized a list of April seminars and events, but it’s come to my attention that I missed a few. Check the links for more details on any of those you’re planning to attend.

There’s more to spam than that which you typically receive in your e-mail inbox. Nearly anyone hosting a blog has experienced both machine automated and manually entered spam appearing in their blog comments. This type of spam often results in numerous unnecessary hours wasted filtering out spam comments from legitimate ones.

Across the United States, chiropractors receive mentions in local newspapers and publications on topics ranging from new office openings to winning softball games. Today’s post highlights a handful of news articles appearing on various web sites, that touch upon briefly, the topic of chiropractic or a chiropractor practicing locally.

There is a powerful shift happening in the consciousness for well-being. As health-care providers we owe it to the families we care for to stay connected with the leading edge in science that supports the unique role chiropractic care plays in vitalism.

Time to make sure your airline flights are booked, hotel blocks are confirmed, and you’ve got your bags packed, because there is a slew of chiropractic seminars, conferences, events, and meet ups taking place throughout the United States (and in other parts of the world). December is about the only time of year that chiropractic conferences go quiet, but we are a long way from the winter holidays. For the month of April, I have organized a list of event related blog posts, seminars that are scheduled, and on-topic news articles. Check the links for more details on any of those you’re planning to attend.

Enough with the fooling around already, the money has been claimed and I’m not going to Mars anytime soon. While April 1 was for fools and foolin, April 3 has been declared “Good People Day” (GPD08). Who says? Gary Vaynerchuk does.

It’s an April Wednesday and there’s been a boat load of advertising appearing during the past week. Whether you are seeking Chiropractic Products and Equipment for Sale (like an X-Ray Filter System) or Practices for Sale and Job Opportunities (like a Colorado Building and Practice For Sale), this post is a compilation of the most recent advertisements placed in the Classifieds section on Planet Chiropractic. Featured are selected ads that were placed before midweek of April 02, 2008.

Carl S. Cleveland, III, DC, FICA, nationally known chiropractic educator and President of the Cleveland Chiropractic Colleges, has agreed to serve as Chair of the chiropractic profession’s first national conference focusing on the future of chiropractic in the federal Medicare program. This historic event will be hosted by the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) in Washington, DC on Thursday, April 24, 2008.

The Palmer Center for Business Development opened this spring on Palmer College of Chiropractic’s campus in Davenport, Iowa. The Center is designed to provide current students and new graduates with best practices in how to successfully run a business. The curriculum is free of charge to students and alumni, and offers them a supplement to what they learn in the classroom as part of the Doctor of Chiropractic curriculum. “The Center’s educational focus is on realistic, universally accepted business practices that can be easily adopted into a chiropractic practice,” said Vice Chancellor for Student Success Kevin Cunningham, D.C.

The Founder of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson (one of my heros) and Google have announced Project Virgle, for the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars.

A chiropractors assistant has reportedly discovered a large sum of money that was stuffed into a paper bag and placed inside a trash can located just inside the office’s front door. The El Salvadorian born chiropractic assistant was giddy with excitement when I spoke to her over the phone Monday, about the Sunday evening discovery.

April Fools’ Day is one day away, and you can expect April Fools’ Day pranks, practical jokes, and other shenanigans coming from a wide variety of sources. There’s the traditional sources for April Fools’ Day gags, such as friends and coworkers, but with the growth of the Internet, and the opportunity for web traffic, don’t be surprised if some big media outlets try playing you for a fool on April 1, 2008.

The war in Iraq, the nation’s economy, and health care, are reportedly the top three concerns for most Americans planning to vote in this years presidential election. The three front running candidates, Hillary Rodham Clinton (D), Barack Obama (D), and John McCain (R), along with their parties, have significantly different philosophies about how to grapple with the issue of health care in the United States. In continuing with our coverage of money in politics and presidential candidates, we take a look today at the top 10 health professionals organizations that are contributing funds to federal candidates and parties for the 2008 election cycle. The list of which organizations are giving (and who’s not giving) may come as a surprise to some.