Paul Polak's Blog

Random pop interview #3

Q:  "What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "chiropractic"?

A:  "Your back"


Q: "What's something good you've heard about chiropractic?"

A:  "The story about the guy who couldn't see very well then got adjusted and then got his vision back, also that it helps the body heal, and is good for children by helping them to not be colic-y and have less ear infections"

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Q: "What's something bad you've heard about chiropractic?"

A: "Having strokes, when having the neck adjusted"

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Q: "In your opinion, what can chiropractic do to improve the profession?  just in general, as in the reader's digest version..."

A:  "Promote itself outside of the profession, like in basic magazines and advertise more.  And try to prove its effectiveness more to heath insurances"

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Q: "In your opinion, who is the greatest hockey player in history?"

A:  "Wayne Gretzky... only because Mario was injured so much"

Q:  "If they were going to make a movie about my life, what actor would play me?"

A:  "It would have to be someone who was a character actor..... hmmm... how about the guy from 300?  the guy who was in that movie with Kathern Heigl... yeah, Gerard Butler.  (editor's note:  I totally agree with the 300 thing cause we both have the same physique!)

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Q: "True or false? the Pittsburgh Steelers have more Super Bowl trophies than any other team in history?"

A:  "That's True."

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Q:  "What famous person in history would make a great Chiropractor? and why?

A:  "That totally would be Jim Carey, when he adjusted you it would be crazy... or the guy who did all the voice effects in the Police Academy movies, because he could add some awesome sound effects when he adjusted you."

WOOOOOO Hockey again!!!!

Well, it's not the playoffs yet.... but it may be time to start writing about hockey again!  Especially since Crosby had a 5 point night that included a hat trick on hat night. Sid leaped up the points list and its never out of the question for him to have another huge point game.  With all the injured players starting to trickle back into the line up..... we're back baby.    WOOOOOOOO

Thanksgiving.....

For the third year in a row, I didn't spend Thanksgiving at home with family and friends.  I spent it at school with friends.  I didn't cook a "Thanksgiving dinner" but I did cook all of the regulars over our break.  Turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie... and I did add a few of my own additions in, like my turkey/stuffing/cranberry casserole and the famous Delsandro family porkette.  The porkette is an adventure on its own, cooking for 6-8 hours with a requirement to baste ever 20 min.  It did make the entire house smell amazing.  I took some of that stuff over to Teresa and Gene's to have dinner with them.  Dinner was awesome and now I have to work on all these leftovers.  I think I'm about half way through them ;-).

So we can give thanks for many things on Thanksgiving, but lets not try to take all those things for granted the rest of the year.

... but let's talk about swine flu

American Cancer Society in 2003 stated the following: Each year, a staggering 440,000 people die in the US from tobacco use. Nearly 1 of every 5 deaths is related to smoking. Cigarettes kill more Americans than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined.

So why have we heard so much hype about the swine flu being so dangerous?

simple answer: money.

Scare people about the swine flu and people will run out to get vaccines and medications (including antibiotics which may i remind you do NOTHING for a virus-born illness; antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses)

but that's small bananas compared to the other side of the money trail... I'm talking about the MILLIONS of dollars big tobacco uses to lobby.

 " The tobacco industry has been increasing its lobbying expenditures since 2006, going from $19.7 million that year to $28.4 million in 2008"

"Big Tobacco will also be a little smaller than it has in years past--the biggest manufacturer, Philip Morris, supports the bill as long as the FDA is prohibited from completely banning tobacco products or ordering the removal of nicotine from them. Philip Morris's parent company, Altria Group, spent $13.8 million lobbying in 2008, which is four times more than the second-largest spender, Lorillard Tobacco spent. Lorillard is a subsidiary of Loews Corp.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/03/tobacco-lobby-lights-up-debate.html

Moral of the story:  It's okay to kill people as long as you have enough money to throw around.

So far as an XRI...

In just one month as an X-ray intern (XRI), I've learned a lot so far.  The experience in taking x-rays has really helped.  I've already learned some great tips for making x-rays better, especially on tricky views like an A-P open mouth and A-P lumbo-pelvic.  I still have a long ways to go, but I feel I am much more comfortable compared to where I would be had I not became an XRI.  Plus, the information should be very valuable when it comes to upcoming boards as well.  Also, I got to see some situations that tend to be challenging that you may not see since 15 sets (the amount required to complete clinic) isn't really a lot.  For example, really large patients or people with TMJ problems that can't open their mouth (which is kind of important in an A-P OPEN MOUTH)  But all in all, I'm really glad to be doing the XRI program.

The technique question....

Its hard trying to figure out what technique is going to resonate with you... but the thing that makes it even more difficult is how most of the techniques don't agree with each other anyway.  I'm trying to learn as much as I can about as many of them as I can, biomechanically, neurologically, research, etc.  Then after getting to Sherman and being here for a few years, I still don't know which techniques are really effective and which are B.S.  Plus, many of the techniques are quick to point out why other techniques don't work, but they don't focus nearly as much on why their technique DOES work.  And honestly, at times it made me question the validity of chiropractic as a whole.  All these technique "camps" are bashing each other, but how many of them are putting out legit research to prove to all the people they say "don't get it" (medical doctors, researches, the general public).  How about we get off our high horse and realize that people aren't going to buy into what we say just because we can show them how a model spine moves to slightly close an opening.  If we don't have legit research.... and yes, that means doing double-blind extensive studies and all that jazz... we are never going to gain ground in the "widespread credibility" camp.  Bank it.

wow, its been busy....

wow, this first quarter in outpatient clinic has been busy so far.  any brand new outpatients have to go through the start-up procedure (case history, spinal exam, phys exam, x-rays if needed, etc) before we can adjust them.  But doing that on all of your patients is really really time consuming.  Once I get through this wave of start ups.. I'm sure it will be much more streamlined.  And I haven't even mentioned the multitude of paperwork outside of those procedures lol.  Heath maintenance and promotion form, problem list, etc etc etc etc.....

But still, I'm really excited to finally be in outpatient clinic... its time to finally get this big ball of wax rolling...

PS.  GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

My 30th Birthday!

wow, I just went up a digit.  Sure doesn't seem like it.  I still feel 20..... ish lol.  But anyway, thanks to everyone who came out Thursday for habachi and sushi!  I had a great time, and Saturday eveyone is invited to come to Greenville and help me celebrate bringing in a new decade! 

Random Pop Interview #2

Same rules as before....

Q:  "What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "chiropractic"?

A:  "Spine"


Q: "What's something good you've heard about chiropractic?"

A:  "Makes ya feel good."

Q: "What's something bad you've heard about chiropractic?"

A: "It can hurt."

Q: "In your opinion, what can chiropractic do to improve the profession?  just in general, as in the reader's digest version..."

A:  "Explain it better to patients and educate them more.  And be truthful, I've seen too many chiropractors try to Bull s#$% patients."


Q: "In your opinion, who is the greatest hockey player in history?"

A:  "Mario"


Q: "True or false? the Pittsburgh Steelers have more Super Bowl trophies than any other team in history?"

A:  "True."

Q:  "If they were going to make a movie about my life, what actor would play me?"

A:  "Bradley Cooper, I can see him playing you pretty well, he does crazy pretty well haha"

Q:  "What famous person in history would make a great Chiropractor? and why?

A:  "Mean Joe Greene... big, big hands."

PT boards

We just took PT boards on Friday.  I guess it was pretty much what I expected.  The review that was given by our teachers was great and helped a lot.  Even though much of what was on the boards isn't what I plan to use as a Chiropractor, its good knowledge to have.  The one thing I didn't like about the whole PT thing was that during the class a guest instructor or two used "and you can charge for it" as one of the main reasons for doing many of the modalities.  That's fine, and everyone wants to make money, but how it can help our patients seemed to be pushed to the back most of the time.  But anyway, the PT boards were "eh" and I'm glad they're over.  Now, hopefully, I'll have more time to try and learn more about the 8 million different techniques there are in Chiropractic.

ps.  Go Pens!!!! Go Steelers!!!!