Good fences make good neighbours.

Dear Friends

The Chiropractic profession is currently mounting a strong defence against an accreditation body - CCE. They are wanting to direct Chiropractic away from the founding principles of Chiropractic. The following is the letter I have sent to the regulatory body that over sees the process of issuing this accreditation agency with its licence.

9^th September 2011

To whom it may concern: 

I am a practicing Chiropractor in Australia who graduated from Life University, writing to file a complaint against the Council of Chiropractic Education (CCE).

The CCE has control over the direction chiropractic schools are forced to educate their students. Chiropractors spend four years as students, accumulating near $200,000 in debt. After those four years, over half (53.8%) will default on their student loans and no longer be associated with this profession.

Good fences make good neighbours. Chiropractors are not medical doctors, nor are we physical therapist. Yet the CCE's curriculum is focused in that direction. We offer One distinct service that no other profession on the planet can offer; the analysis, detection, and correction of Vertebral Subluxations. Yet the CCE is attempting to remove the word subluxation from being taught on anything but an "obsolete" historical observation.

You will find our office follows the tenets of Chiropractic as they were taught to us, in everything we do. It’s on our website; it’s on our new patient forms, it’s how we educate our patients. We are Chiropractors! We practice Chiropractic!

There are several courses that need to be cut from the chiropractic curriculum (i.e. Obstetrics and Gynaecology - in which we are required to spend six hours a week in lecture and three hours a week practicing skills that no chiropractor in the world will ever use) and several requirements that need to be added (only 250 adjustments are required to graduate) to properly prepare the future generation of chiropractors for life after graduation. 

I would hope that you organize and maintain an accrediting agency that focuses the curriculum of Chiropractic schools on a Subluxation based education.

Thank you for your time,

Dr Lucia R. Wilkinson

Chiropractor

If you want to see Chiropractors practice CHIROPRACTIC for years to come and not be reduced to a jack of all trades, master of none, please contact me.

I'm left handed now!

It only took 40 years but I've gone left handed.

Using a mouse that is, for all else I still use my right hand predominately.The change was amazing and by balancing the body in this one area, it had a ripple effect every where else. My neck and shoulder stress has diminished, the subluxations in this area were significantly less. My overall posture at the computer ( where I've been spending more and more time) has improved and relaxed.

Let me take you back over 18 months now. My desk has always been ergonomically sound, we took great care when setting up the office to look at such issues. A few years ago we had chairs specifically built for us. I can tell if someone has changed chairs with mine and if they have changed the settings :) But longer hours spend typing away, like I am now meant that on top of my daily adjusting patients, my wrists were causing me great concern.

Looking after my patients is my joy, so my only thought was to look outside of the box to a solution. My right hand and my work were one and the same. Then the thought came to me that my left hand was capable, just untrained and it could be put to good use, after all plenty of people had probably made the same changes after injury and illness.

The first month was all about giving my left hand an experience of using the mouse. Yes it felt strange at first. I played solitaire on the computer to help with general mouse movement, while it went a long way to help my control it did little for my scores. Then I progressed to reading my emails and generally using it to surf, with each of these activities I worked mainly in the less busy times of the day. Interval training helped me to lighten the load away from my right hand and not over burden the left at the same time.

Slowly but surely I picked up speed in the second months and by months end I knew I had reached a milestone when I went to use another computer in the office and searched for the mouse with my left hand. Strength and speed have increased with time and I still focus on my posture. My next venture is getting used to my saddle seat at home. But that's another story for another time. For now I balance my load of work with both hands and exercise my wrists and hands along with regular adjustments.

Please note these exercise may not be for everyone, please check with your Chiropractor if they would recommend them specifically you. Remember to take care not to force your hands or wrists and please take your time.

Stretch Out.- We are constantly gripping things with our hands. The pen we write with, the door handle we open the door with, even using the keyboard to strike the keys with is a partial gripping action. While a stress ball feels great at times, again its a gripping action at work. Balancing what the hands do, will mean we should stretch out the whole hand.

• Step 1, place your hands palm side down on a flat surface and relax your wrists. 
• Step 2, gently spread your fingers apart and hold them for a count of 5.
• Step 3. repeat for 3 to 5 times.

Stretch back - Now that your fingers are gently warmed up, try the next stretch to get that extra flexibility going.

• Step 1. from the relaxed position in Stretch out, lift just your fingers off the flat surface. Try to keep the palm of your hand on the flat surface and still. Hold this for a count of 5 or less if this it too much for the first time. Slowly build up to it, there is no use over doing it at the beginning.

• Step 2, repeat for 3 to 5 times.

Make a Fist - After you have exercised in one direction its now time to do the other direction.

• Step 1, from the relaxed position in Stretch out, make a gentle fist with your hands. Again hold for a count of 5 or what ever you are first capable of.

• Step 2, repeat for 3 to 5 times.

Wrist moves - Moving up from the hands, its now time to move those wrists. Gentle! Please be aware that forcing any of these moves is NOT what these exercises are about, you are just after a gentle stretch pressure. If any of these hurts please stop and discuss your difficulties with your Chiropractor.

• Step 1, from the relaxed position, bend one or both your wrists at the same time UP and hold for a count of 5 or as what ever you are capable of. Then rest your whole hand flat.

• Step 2, lift your whole lower arm off the flat surface, keeping as horizontal as possible and bend down at the wrist. Hold for a count of 5. Rest once you have done that.

• Step 3, repeat for 3 to 5 times in both directions. Alternately you can do this exercise with both hands together for light or greater resistance.

Blessings come in all shapes and sizes.

Back when I was an Associate Chiropractor I had the chance to see as a patient a retired service man. He presented to our office wanting care but unable to pay. I was asked if I was willing to take him on as a patient under these circumstances. I can say after all these years while I wasn’t rewarded financially I was more than adequately remunerated.

Never was visit to the office passed without him bringing a kind word, a small bunch of flowers, strawberries when in season or a fantastic joke. When he missed a visit due to various reasons he would always send a letter in to explain his absence. What a difference manners make.

But it was to be his death that he bestowed his greatest blessing for me. Never one very comfortable with death and dying, I went to many funerals were I just hid amongst the crowd. Well that was not to be at this funeral. His family invited me as was his request to attend the service. His wife had notified me of his passing and she conveyed her warmest thanks for all my help. Of which I thought was nothing really, I love what I do and it was the least I could do for someone who had defended his country with his life.

As I walked into the funeral parlour I was struck with the awkward sense that I was in the wrong place. There didn’t seem to be anyone here. I first thought I was too early. I went out and checked the notices, no I was on time. Then a young man, who could only have been his son, the resemblance was striking came and walked me back in.

That day I attended the funeral of a wonderful soul, as one of four people to bear witness to his life. I can only say the solace that he brought me was one of the greatest gifts I am yet to receive. And as I wipe the tear off my face while writing this, I know that blessings come in all shapes and sizes.

We remind you how to fish, not fish for you.

Chiropractic is like the old saying,

“Give someone a fish and they eat for a day.
Teach someone to fish and they eat for a lifetime.”
- Chinese Proverb


With regular Chiropractic care, we remind the body to work as it should, free of subluxations to reach its potential. Enabling  it to respond to its environment and care for its self. If we do it for you and your body, that's a very short term measure of help. Better we teach you the how and you enjoy a healthy and vibrant life.

Help me with my Homework Mum

I sat down last night to help my youngest with her homework.

“Well Mum I have 3 assignments there is SOOOOOO much to do and I don’t know what my teacher wants “she cried. Ok, I’m an ex Teacher I can do that….

“What are the assignments and what do you have a problem with” I asked her. She went on for 10 minutes spinning her wheels on everything from she didn’t have the enough information on her first projects, didn’t have the right paper for her poster and she just didn’t know what she had to do with the last project “AT ALL”. She was confused, I get that, a lot of children can get that way when confronted with the mounting list of homework. But I’m an ex Teacher I can handle that….

“Tell me what the most important assignment is”. I thought this was the best place to start. Well that confused her even more. “Important how?” She just looked at me with that blank stare and if I didn’t move and think fast I was going to have her pack it all in and just leave in a huff. “Do you know how to find out if something is important” I was being brave at this point. “NO” was the only response I got and it was loud and clear. Right, I’m an ex Teacher I can remember this issue…

She had this list of things that needed to be done, couldn’t see the forest for the trees and Goldie Locks was NOT going into that forest at all. “You were a teacher right Mum, can’t YOU just help me with it?” She really wanted me to do it for her. Aha! Now I get it. I’m the ex Teacher, she knows it and she wants ME to do the homework for her. I bet even if I wasn’t the ex Teacher she would still want me to do it for her. Goldie locks was in for a tough lesson tonight.

Back to the question “Do you know how to find out if something is important?” Now to ask some more questions even before we even got down to any of the homework. She was rolling her eyes at this point.

Is it important because it is due first?
Is the work time sensitive?Or is it important because there is a lot to do in this project?

So we sorted by due date. Then looked at things that needed to be done at a certain time .One of the projects needed data to be collected every day. And then for some more questions. Oh she was really over this at this point, the eyes were rolling, and the look on her face was priceless!

“What does each assignment ask of you? Are there questions you need to answer? What form does it need to be in?”

I had opened the can of worms now.

“Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers” Anthony Robbins

P.A.I.N

Have you ever wondered what PAIN really is? One definition cites pain as "a feeling of physical suffering caused by injury or illness" another is "An unpleasant sensation occurring in varying degrees of severity as a consequence of injury, disease, or emotional disorder"


I don't know where I heard this one, but it resonates with me.

P- pay

A - attention

I - inside

N - now!

Pain is that feeling that communicates between that which is your intellect and that innate part of yourself. It is the red flag that tells you - HEY listen up. Its the blinking light on your dashboard. By paying attention to the signals of your body you can manage and respond immediately. And having done so, you are able to circumvent the issue of allowing dys-function and dis-ease to occur in the body.


Pain is more than just cause and effect: it is affected by everything else that is going on in the nervous system. Your mood, your past experiences and your expectations can all change the way pain is interpreted at any given time. How is that for confusing?

Chiropractic care through pregnancy

Chiropractic care through pregnancy is not only safe, it is essential. 




We can look at the implications of subluxation from a bio mechanical, hormonal and neurological standpoint. It is easy for all of us to see postural changes through pregnancy-the centre of gravity changes, the weight of the baby places increased pressure on the spine and pelvis, and towards the end of the pregnancy, changes are seen in gait pattern-the "waddle." What we can't see, are the millions of different hormonal changes and chemical reactions occurring both in the mother and the developing baby--all of which are controlled and coordinated through the nervous system.


Adjustments result in easier pregnancy, significantly decreased mean labor time, and assists new mothers back to prepartum health.


Adjustments to newborns contain only ounces of force. But that force is directed into the spine to facilitate health and remove subluxations. We adjust babies as soon after birth as possible, to alleviate subluxations caused by in-utero constraint and the journey down through the birth canal. Even relatively easy deliveries can result in subluxations. That's why every child should be checked, before problems with their health even develop. That's preventive care in the truest sense-preventing subluxations in mothers to prevent subluxations in their babies during childbirth.