Chiropractic San Diego

by Daria Belov

It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Superstar singer Beyonce took a fall down a flight of stairs yesterday at a concert in Orlando, Florida. Videos have been appearing all over the Web from concert attendees that captured the fall on their handheld recording devices. According to a least one report, Beyonce asked fans not to post videos of the fall to YouTube, Google’s popular video web site (many have since been removed).

Seems like some people just have too much time on their hands. I noticed the first story on a newswire early yesterday morning and didn’t think much of it, other than hoping she was okay. Throughout the day news of the fall grew as if it was a major event (more important than news about oscar the cat). Finally today, I watched one of the videos which showed Beyonce falling face first down a flight of stairs, and it didn’t look like fun. From what I saw it appeared like she continued to go on with the performance.

People are falling down all the time. There is probably not a chiropractor in America that doesn’t have somebody coming to their office, on at least a weekly basis, that has not recently had a fall. Hopefully it’s not the same person continuously falling over and over again.

Falling is more common than people may think. There’s kids falling off of chairs and bicycles, people falling while roller blading and landing on their coccyx bone (butt), and senior citizens falling on fusilli Jerry (one and a million chance of that happening). The point is people do fall and most of the time they get up without too great an injury.

It’s what happens after those falls that we should be paying closer attention to. You may have seen your chiropractor as a result of a fall you had recently. (No news yet who the chiropractor was in Orlando that saw Beyonce.) Visiting a chiropractor so soon after a fall like that is typically going to be a symptom baseed visit (but not always). In the typical visit the person taking the spill may have landed on their buttocks and now wants to get their pelvis, hips and maybe low back checked out by their chiropractor.

A good chiropractor will also check that person for spinal nerve stress, especially in the upper cervical spine, which is more commonly known as the top of the neck area, just under your skull. Why check the vertebral column for spinal stress? Ask anyone that has had a significant fall who did not receive a thorough spinal checkup and you’ll likely hear stories of a range of symptoms that developed months to years after the fall took place.

It’s been said that it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt, and then it’s hysterical. There’s nothing funny about having symptoms and conditions that could have possibly been avoided with a thorough chiropractic checkup and a follow-up with the appropriate chiropractic care.

If you plan on doing your own stunts make sure your chiropractor has got your back. Get checked for subluxation and spinal nerve stress. Planet Chiropractic has other topics to cover than to be writing articles about you and the funny falls you take.

Can we get a chiropractor for Beyonce please?

Chiropractors Minnesota

Select but incomplete list of Chiropractors practicing in Minnesota…

Mobile Chiropractic Service
Dr. Patrick V. Suglia
P.O. Box 390685
Minneapolis, MN 55439
612-702-5339

Families’ 1st Choice Chiropractic
Dr. Kori Mortenson
500 Marschall Rd. S #310
Shakopee, MN 55279
952-445-9313

Parker Chiropractic, P.A.
Dr. Bill Parker
1320 S. Frontage Rd., Ste. 102
Hastings, MN 55033
651-480-2200

Abeler Chiropractic Clinic
Stephen Abeler, D.C.
600 East Main Street
Anoka, MN 55303
763 421-3722

Conners Chiropractic Clinic
Dr. Kevin Conners
305 S. Greeley St., Suite 208
Stillwater, MN 55082
651 439-2712

Powell Chiropractic
Dr. Melissa A. Powell
16151 State Hwy. 29, Suite 100
Glenwood, MN 56334
320 762-0683

Vitality Chiropractic
Rob Lindsey, D.C.
220 Elm Street
Chaska, MN 55318
952 361-3222

Wiggins Family Chiropractic
Dr. Daniel J Wiggins
135 East Central Entrance
Duluth MN 55811
218-740-3700

Kevin Nelson, D.C.
123 W. 2nd St.
Thief River Falls MN, 56701
218-681-1565

1st Choice Chiropractic
Dr. Kori Mortenson
1275 Ramsey St., Suite 700
Shakopee, MN 55379
952-445-9313

Turning Leaf Chiropractic
Dr. Jill Rebekah Hammes
10450 185th Street West
Lakeville MN 55044
952-898-0525

Millner Family Chiropractic
Melissa J Millner, D.C.
215 Ramsey St.
Hastings MN 55033
651-437-1876

Crosby Chiropractic
424 Oak St.
Crosby, MN 56441
218 546-7030

Lifestyle Chiropractic
905 Jefferson Ave., Suite 203
St. Paul, MN 55102
651 222-5757

Holtz Family Chiropractic
Dr. Brent Holtz
1275 Ramsey St., Suite 700
Shakopee, MN 55379
952 448-9382

Jeffrey Danielson, D.C.
1949 West Burnsville Parkway
Burnsville, MN 55337

Minnesota Chiropractic Association
12445 River Ridge Blvd., Ste. 100
Burnsville, MN 55337
952-882-9411

Northwestern College of Chiropractic is located in the state of Minnesota.
The school was founded in 1941 and currently offers both a doctor of chiropractic degree as well as a bachelor’s of science degree.

Plans on building a single point location for chiropractors in the United States to have a presence online are moving forward.

We’ve been investigating a few alternatively based directory options and one is to build auto generating (or user generating) subdirectory domains that chiropractors can build and maintain on their own. Another is an index of sorts for existing domains but this model does not support the student or individual that does not currently have a website.

Standards for information such as schooling, states licensed in, years in practice, contact information, practice location, and other related info is being incorporated into template design.

Work is under way to simplify the process so that it is as easy as possible to create and maintain for end users (chiropractors).

Updated news on the development of such directory model will be posted to this blog.

by Daria Belov

It’s been a hot summer for chiropractic related searches on the Internet. The month of July is nearly over, but the expected drop in website traffic as a result of increased summer activities, has not yet occurred. There’s no telling what will happen in August 2007.

For the month of July 2007, Planet Chiropractic was anticipating a downturn in website traffic since summer is a time many chiropractors throughout the world are on vacation, and they would be less likely to spend much time online. But from the visitor statistics and numbers we’ve seen for the month of July, that just hasn’t been the case. Chiropractors do tend to take more vacations during the summer, so who’s been on the web site and what are they searching for? Let’s take a look.

Number one of the list has been searches for WWE wrestling diva Candace Michelle and her chiropractor husband, Dr. Ken Gee Ehrlich. The couple recently opened a second chiropractic office (located in Hollywood, California) and the word has already gone out about their “only in Los Angeles” chiropractic office grand opening.

Ehrlich and Michael Dorausch (founder of Planet Chiropractic) have been competing in a friendly California Chiropractic Smackdown as both chiropractors have been increasingly appearing on the sets of some of the areas hottest television shows, many of which started filming their new seasons these past two weeks.

(That’s Dorausch, Canadian Chiropractor Rick Rosenberg, and Ehrlich in the photo)

Checking the topic lists I noticed that traffic on the web site for chiropractic jobs and information on chiropractic salaries is red-hot. The full integration of RSS feeds into the classified ads that are posted on the website has resulted in more than 2000 users per day browsing information on Associates and Practices For Sale. We knew adding RSS feeds to the classifieds would be hot, but we did not expect such a sharp increase in traffic in such a short period of time. Thanks to all of you that have subscribed to the free service.

There’s been a significant increase in searches for 2007 summer tour news of Van Halen and Diamond David Lee Roth. While the summer event was postponed it appears now (based on outside news reports) that a Van Halen tour may actually happen this fall. Chiropractors that signed on to be available at tour locations stay tuned, we’ve still got your info.

The other hot topic on the website this month is searches for chiropractic seminars. While everyone else is out there looking for a theater near them, chiropractors are seeking out some continuing education and maybe some summer getaways that they can bring the family to.

No doubt the hottest chiropractic event this summer is going to be at the Biltmore Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona on August 4th and 5th, 2007. First of all it should be about 110° in the Phoenix area, and secondly there will be about 300 chiropractors and office staff gathering from across the United States and Canada for the annual summer fun party, hosted by Arizona chiropractor Dr. Fred Schofield and his wife Susan.

What an interesting mix. Looking across the groups of search terms we have professional wrestlers, rock stars, Playboy cover girls, celebrities, and chiropractors. One may get the idea that chiropractors are prone to having fun. Enjoy your summer and thanks for continuing to check us out!

by Michael Dorausch, DC

Some of the worlds most popular websites were affected today by a power outage in San Francisco. While many of those sites have come back online the event will likely be remembered as something like… Web 2.0 Blackout San Francisco July 2007.

Planet Chiropractic first became aware of the outage when RSS feeds stopped updating on a number of websites we follow for news reporting information.

While checking our servers for feed errors we noticed an increasing number of search queries for services that were affected. That lead us online to seek some trend information and we noticed some major websites had gone down.

Among the list of sites not accessible were the very popular Technorati, Craigslist, LiveJournal, Typepad, Yelp, AdBrite, and Netflix.

Power was restored to the affected area but some websites appear to have taken longer than others to get back online.

We’ll have an update on our RSS feeds for all content services we syndicate and will post more information if anything appears to be out of order.

Heres to turning on the power!

by Daria Belov

There are mixed reviews in today’s news regarding yesterday’s CNN/YouTube Democratic presidential debates. Some have touted the events as groundbreaking and historic and others have called them more evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. The event was a mixing of old media (television) and new media (internet) in a format that had not been done previously in the area of presidential debates.

Some 3000 people created videos and submitted them to the video web site for inclusion in the debate. Most of the reports suggested that this resulted in more authentic questions being asked of Democratic presidential candidates. Some suggested that there was a lack in two-way discussion between those asking questions and the candidates in the debate. Out of the near 3000 videos submitted, a few more than 35 appeared in the broadcast.

YouTube is owned by Google and it is currently one of the most popular destinations on the Internet. While videos like “Chronics of Narnia” (a Saturday Night Live spoof that was pulled from the popular video web site) helped drive the viral popularity of the web site, we’ll undoubtedly see an increasing number of 2008 election centered video content appearing on sites like YouTube and others, as the election grows near.

It will be interesting to see how the chiropractic profession votes in 2008, not only in the presidential election, but in local and regional elections as well. The larger chiropractic organizations will likely endorse a presidential candidate and we can expect to see news of that nature appearing in chiropractic newsletters and e-mail groups around August of 2008. If I recall correctly, chiropractic organizations representing member chiropractors in the United States have traditionally endorsed Republican candidates. Will that be different in 2008?

The Planet Chiropractic website intends to cover a number of topics of interest to the chiropractic profession in regards to the 2008 presidential election. Contact us if you have suggestions or related topics you’d like to see appearing on the web site.

Many chiropractors in the US are beginning to become aware of the many different cities, towns, zip codes, and other identifiers being used to target their business locations online.

The question arises whether it’s better to focus on the Metro name in an area or the city name (if different) that the practice is located in. Someone in the Vegas are would likely list themselves as a Las Vegas Chiropractor since that is the name of the metro area. Vegas is a big area and people may search using variations such as zip codes, terms like “North Vegas” or even landmark businesses in local communities.

Some areas have both the county and the city in their name. Chiropractor San Diego could be for an office in the county, in the city proper (metro), or for a neighboring city such as Encinitas, Carlsbad, or El Cajon.

Some large metros (like New York) have hundreds of smaller townships, cities, towns, and burroughs encompassed into the major metro region. Similar to New York would be locations like Seattle, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

When adding your information to directories it’s best to use the city you are listing in rather than the county or metro area. For example, an office located in Burbank would list that city rather than Los Angeles.

Most important of all is that you get listed and your phone number is displayed properly, that’s a topic for another day.

Just a few years ago there were a number of web places chiropractors (and other businesses) could list their contact information to. Those days are ending.

Appears that most major business directory websites have closed the gates on free listings as they move more aggressively to a pay-to-play model. The emerging model seems like a natural shift from death in the yellow page industry but there is an important group being left out… the new business.

If you are new in business and don’t have your professional information included in major information providing databases (businesses that supply data to big website directories like Yahoo! Local, CitySearch, MSN, etc.) you may end up in a difficult position. How will these new businesses have their information found online?

Some of the big directory companies have been aggresivley marketing their paid services to chiropractic offices and every other service business that would have in the past used yellow pages type marketing methods. The result is going to be a tighter more difficult space for new businesses to enter.

Something we are hoping to accomplish here with the Chiropractor Directory is an Open Source supported FREE directory that will be accessible to all practitioners of chiropractic (at least in the United States). At this time the website here is powered by WordPress which was not initially built as a directory type platform. WP has been growing and there are some features that may fit in well with a directory project here. What may occur is a MU (multiUser) install which would allow us to host business information for every chiropractor on the planet.

We’re visiting the idea and will post more information as it comes available. For now, those seeking chiropractors in the USA can check out the Planet Chiropractic State Directory.

I’m in San Francisco attending WordCamp and I’ve been speaking with some theme developers about creating website designs for chiropractors.

At this time I am not aware of anything that exists that is built for chiropractic and is FREE. Doing some work on behalf of Planet Chiropractic to get at least one high quality theme designed that could be used for chiropractors wanting to build blogs and websites on the open source WordPress software platform.

In case you are wondering, that is the engine behind this website.

by Michael Dorausch, DC

About 400 people will be gathering at the Swedish-American Hall on Market Street in San Francisco on Saturday, July 21 and Sunday, July 22 to reinforce community involvement around one of the world’s fastest growing open-source software platforms, known as WordPress. The meeting is known as WordCamp, and it’s the second annual event of its kind. The foundation behind WordPress is not a big corporate behemoth holding a conference in a swanky hotel for selected press and Internet celebrities. It’s more of a community event, with coffee, sandwiches, a barbecue, and a bunch of bloggers, gathered together to discuss something they are all passionate about.

WordPress, the popular blogging platform, now in over four years of development and use, is increasingly becoming the standard in what some in the mainstream media may call Web 2.0 blog engines.

This is not a story of cookie-cutter software used to make web sites. It’s a story of people from all over the world supporting something they benefit from using everyday. There’s no single company that wins as a result of the event. Rather, companies, groups, organizations, and individuals are independently adopting and backing this open-source platform for no other reason than its easy to use, features lickity split installs (typically under five minutes, especially on Linux), is easy to maintain, and is loaded with options (meaning you can do all all kinds of things with it you couldn’t do with an ordinary website).

The founders describe WordPress as a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. It’s everything that they say it is and more. I am representing Planet Chiropractic at the event as WordPress is the engine that powers the blog section of our site (known as Chiropractic Blogs). I’ve done hundreds of installs of WordPress software and I’ve been championing it amongst small and medium business circles as a way to build a more efficient and effective web presence.

Rather than be cheeky and call it a Web 2.0 platform lets say it’s a more efficient way to do things when it comes to getting your message out. Isn’t that what we are looking for in our eco-friendly drive to do more and waste less? People are increasingly becoming more concerned about carbon footprints and how they can be more energy-efficient. WordPress is a way to be more efficient in building Web platforms and saving one of our most valuable resources, time.

Many people don’t know it yet and many more don’t want to admit it, the old way of doing business on the Web is dead (or at least dying). While the initial popularity of WordPress use was from the blog community, individuals who had something to say, the numbers of small-business owners, medium size business owners, and corporate entities, are increasingly seeking involvement, and the platform is evolving as a result.

Service industries are loaded with companies that have created website templates focusing on any number of niche markets (such as attorney websites, chiropractic, medicine, acupuncture, and dentistry), and selling those templates as packages typically through trade journals and at business conferences.

While some of these companies claim they are creating unique websites with hundreds of pages of content, what they are in reality creating are hundreds of pages of search engine content penalties (such as duplicate content and interlinking schemes) that often result in only a mere handful of pages that include unique data. Business consumers are paying anywhere from $49 a month to $179 a month for these types of services and the great majority are scratching their heads wondering why their web sites don’t appear in search engines. I know this because I receive e-mails everyday from business owners seeking to improve the performance of their websites and these types of sites are the typical culprits.

In my opinion, WordPress is changing the entire landscape and there will be a major shakeup of the old model in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the old model, WordPress invites community, it gets people engaged in the conversation, it’s non-static, it’s invigorating, and it’s one of the most exciting things out there.

Platforms like WordPress solve one of the dilemmas of new businesses by lowering the bar considerably in building a successful business presence online. The world wants to see your business, they want to engage in conversation with you and your employees, they’re interested in what your thoughts are as they research doing business with you. Providing that information in a lively interactive format offers them better opportunities to choose your business when the opportunity arises.

If you’re using WordPress to drive your website or blog, send me an e-mail so I can check it out.

by Daria Belov

Monday night was chiropractic night on major television networks in the United States. The evening started out at 8 p.m. prime time on the CW Network (KTLA in Los Angeles) with Everybody Hates Chris and a repeat episode titled: Everybody Hates Thanksgiving (originally aired on November 20, 2006). The episode features Wayne Brady in his role as Uncle Louis, the chiropractor. Everyone is happy to see Uncle Louis and the entire family gets adjusted before having Thanksgiving dinner. 8:30 p.m. we change stations to CBS (channel 2 in Los Angeles) for a repeat episode of the New Adventures of Old Christine.

The New Adventures of Old Christine features Emmy Award winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld), in a comedy about a single mom who is an owner of a 30 minute workout gym. Julia’s character on the show is Christine Campbell, a Mar Vista resident having a new adventure every day.

The episode is known as Sleepless in Mar Vista, and it was episode 15 of season 2. The episode originally aired on March 12, 2007. In the episode some funny jokes are made about sleeping pills, as Christine makes a number of embarrassing phone calls she doesn’t remember making after taking prescription sleep medication.

Early in the show Christine pays a visit to her chiropractor, Dr. Mike, after not being able to get a good night sleep. He adjusts her neck while she is lying face up, and then he has her lay on her stomach and adjusts her midback and lower back. During the adjustments she utters some strong words of gratitude that are fitting for her character. The role of Dr. Mike was played by Tim Bagley. Tim was a regular on the popular CBS TV show The King of Queens, which ended this year after nine successful seasons.

In what must be a total coincidence, doing a Google search for “Dr. Mike Mar Vista” brings up the chiropractic website of Michael Dorausch (founder / creator of Planet Chiropractic). In an even greater coincidence, Dr. Mike’s Mar Vista chiropractic office is located next door to a 30 minute woman’s workout gym (Curves) which is owned by a single mom.

The New Adventures of Old Christine is directed by Andy Ackerman and writers include Danielle Evenson and Allan Rice. The show is absolutely fantastic. The writers provide great material and the cast is delightfully funny and entertaining.

This wouldn’t be the first time Julia Louis-Dreyfus has been seen on television receiving chiropractic care. Chiropractic has been featured several times on the hit series Seinfeld. There have been episodes when Julia (playing the role of Elaine Benes) received house calls from a chiropractor after sleeping on a bad bed. While it’s nice that an image was made that chiropractors still make house calls, the reality is that it’s much easier than bringing the entire cast and local 44 onto a location shoot.

At 9 p.m. CBS broadcast 2 1/2 men, a show featuring Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer. On the show Jon plays the role of Alan Harper, chiropractor. During the commercial breaks CBS aired previews for the summer film titled Chuck & Larry, featuring Adam Sandler and Kevin James (from the King of Queens). What involvement do they have with chiropractic? You may have to check back soon to find out.

Just another night of chiropractic featured on network television. We’ll be back with more news on The New Adventures of Old Christine, Everybody Hates Chris, Seinfeld, the King of Queens, and other shows featuring funny scenarios including chiropractic. Like your chiropractic adjustment… to be continued.

(photo by Alan Light)

by Michael Dorausch, DC

The first chiropractic adjustment was made in Davenport Iowa, by a man named DD Palmer, way back in 1895. It was the adjustment heard around the world, as the spinal mobilization performed by Palmer, resulted in a deaf janitor by the name of Harvey Lillard, being able to regain his hearing.

A profession was born soon after that day and it was not long before Palmer traveled to the state of California to spread the word of his magnificent hands-on technique, known as Chiropractic. While chiropractic is practiced throughout different parts of the globe, and continuing to expand, the state of California is home to more licensed practitioners than any other state in the nation. There are more chiropractic schools in the state of California as well, with two schools located in Northern California, and two in Southern California.

While Iowa is the birthplace of chiropractic, California is no doubt a chiropractic state. The image of healthy soccer moms feeding their kids organically produced goods, practicing mind-body relaxation techniques, being proactive in regards to protecting the environment, and taking a philosophical stand when drug companies and payrolled politicians force untested vaccines on their children, would not be complete without their regular visits to the chiropractor.

Chiropractors and the states organizations know what the rest of the world doesn’t, they’ve got California’s back. For those in the world that watch television and movies, chances are slim to none that a chiropractor wasn’t helping someone on that television or movie set be a healthier and more productive individual. From major motion pictures filmed in giant warehouses, to daily sitcoms and talk shows filmed on studio back lots, the art of the chiropractic adjustment is in high demand, and chiropractors in the state are frequently working behind the scenes to make sure the show goes on.

The motion picture and film industry is not alone. Schoolteachers throughout the state make their way to chiropractic offices regularly, with an increase in visits when semesters are ending and it’s time to clean classrooms. You can add California’s police force and firefighters to that list as well. While their jobs are to protect and serve, the chiropractors is to adjust and serve, keeping the states police and firefighters healthy, and getting them back to work quickly when injuries occur.

Lets not forget about the millions of commuters in the state getting well with chiropractic care after being involved in auto accidents. While chiropractic itself is not a treatment for any particular disease, in all cases chiropractors work to get people well, and keep people well, without the use of dangerous drugs and risk laden surgeries.

Which chiropractor is right for me? There is something to be said about professionals that support their state organizations as these are usually the people that go the extra mile in volunteering to help others, whether it be patients, chiropractic students, or even other doctors in the same community.

California is home to the largest chiropractic state organization, the California Chiropractic Association, and the active members are the kinds of people you’d want to send your friends and family to. Chiropractors like Dennis Buckley in Pasadena, who not only serves the organization, but serves his community as well. Chiropractors like Maia James in San Francisco, who want the very best for their patients, and their colleagues. Chiropractors like Moses Jacob, who work to continue to provide updated research on the practice of chiropractic and how to better help the state’s residents. Chiropractors like Christ Chipain who strives to keep those in the state’s capital subluxation free, so they can do the work they were elected to do, with a clear spine and a clear conscience.

If you are living in California and don’t already have a chiropractor you can call your own, let’s get you some resources so you can do some research and locate someone who is right for you and your family. To seek chiropractors that are members of the California Chiropractic Association, you can simply enter your ZIP code and locate someone nearby. Here is your first resource. You can also view more pages on this web site featuring information for California Chiropractors.

Find and call someone today, your spine will thank you!

This comes from a student about to enter chiropractic college... I am currently enrolled in a chiropractic program at the University of Bridgeport, which I will be starting in August. Now as that day is approaching, I am becoming more and more nervous and am hoping that I am making the ...

Here’s a list of some of the videos that are appearing on Google video. They feature chiropractic adjustments, scenes from chiropractic offices, a few different styles of techniques, postural assessments, leg checks, some education about spinal vertebrae and disks, and information about degeneration and herniation.

There’s even a video on cervical x-ray taking techniques.

Chiropractor Takes Cervical X-Rays — The video is about four minutes long and it features a chiropractor showing some basic methods for taking cervical spine x-rays in a chiropractic office. He’s using a 10 x 12 x-ray cassette in he talks about the Buck, lead shielding, 40 inch distance for taking x-rays of AP open mouth cervical x-rays, and a few other things.

Los Angeles Chiropractic Adjustment — This video features someone getting chiropractic adjustments on a Lloyd drop table. The chiropractor first checks posture while the patient is laying face down, or prone, assesses various spinal areas, then checks the neck or cervical spine while the individual is lying on her back. He makes several adjustments, addressing areas in the neck, in the thoracic spine or mid back, in the lumbar spine or low back, and in the sacral region, often referred to in the general population as the tailbone.

Toggle Recoil Chiropractic — A chiropractor demonstrating the toggle recoil lateral atlas correction on a left upper cervical misaligned spinal vertebrae. The chiropractor uses a drop head piece and rests the individuals head comfortably on the spring-loaded head piece. After palpation of the spinal vertebrae the chiropractor sets up on the uppermost part of the neck, just below the mastoid process, and delivers a quick toggle thrust that creates just enough force to adjust the position of the vertebrae and set the table’s head piece into motion.

Chiropractic Mission — The description says it all… Chiropractors serving Gods People. This video is seven minutes long and it includes numerous clips from the world-famous 1998 chiropractic mission to Panamá. Hundreds of thousands of people received chiropractic care for free thanks to the incredible work of dedicated people that included chiropractors, their office assistants, Panamanian health-care workers, government officials, airlines personnel, local Panamanian police and military employees. The events were so successful that they sparked debate in the United States with people questioning whether the events actually took place. There was so much disbelief that a small group could organize such a massive effort that some actually took the position that it couldn’t have happened, even though the events were caught on film with segments appearing across Central America on CNN broadcasts.

by Michael Dorausch, DC

Santa Monica, California: A number of my techie friends here on the Westside Los Angeles area have been e-mailing me from E3 since last night regarding Nintendo’s introduction of a new Wii product they will be introducing to the market. Some already feel the product will revolutionize the home fitness industry.

The Wii Fit was introduced yesterday (July 11) to an invitation only crowd attending the E3 Media & Business Summit. Someone sent me a video, and to say that I was impressed from what I saw, would be an understatement.

The product, formerly code-named Wii Health Pack, is a two-part package. One part is a console exclusive peripheral device designed to appear just like a balance board. The model I saw in the video was a slim, whitish board that apparently has built in gyroscopic technology which allows the unit to very accurately measure weight and posture. Think SAM spinal units and duel scale systems. Combine it all into one device that outputs its readings digitally onto a screen size of your choice.

It gets better. The other part of this technology is the software that makes use of the balance board device. Nintendo has already developed a number of game like activities that will challenge a user to perform different exercises such as yoga, push-ups, and dance. Chiropractors reading this will no doubt recognize the potential for neurological training, digitized postural assessment, strengthening and balancing of nervous system pathways, and increased joint motion.

Wii Fit is unlike any other gaming device we’ve seen in the past. There’s a purpose to the activities being performed. You’re not shooting up people, or trying to kill mutant monsters with your laser weapons. Purposeful movement that is fun and healthy, what a concept.

I have a strong feeling that this is only the beginning. We will soon see an entire genre of video games moving into the home health-care market. Doesn’t be getting outdoors for natural exercise, but the possibility for measuring of results has me very optimistic about this products use in health care.

Nearly every professional athlete has trained with balance boards or similar devices. Not all chiropractors would use something like this in their office but imagine the possibilities of being able to guide the people in the community you care for towards proper exercise, postural improvement techniques, and better balance. They can do all of this in their living room or in your facility. No doubt some will integrate these into their offices.

At this time I don’t have a video link for you but we’ll get one embedded here as soon as one comes available. I’m waiting on an e-mail from someone in marketing at Nintendo so we should have a number of images and other information for you soon. If we’re fortunate enough, I will have a unit here at planet chiropractic to be able to demonstrate for the chiropractic profession.

About E3.: The event is the E3 Media & Business Summit, an exclusive, invitation-only, three-day (July 11-13) event which offers the opportunity for both ESA members and non-members to stage major press events, and have personal meetings in hotel suites and meeting rooms with media, retailers, developer partners, and other key industry contacts.