By Michael Dorausch, DC

Photos provided by chiropractor Liam Schubel of the first graduating class of chiropractors in Argentina, South America.

More than 100 chiropractors met during an inspiring weekend of December 12 through December 15, 2008.

A group of 21 chiropractors who for two years had studied rigorous principled courses received diplomas on December 13, 2008.

Presenters during the weekend event included doctors Liam Schubel, Brian Kelly, Myron Brown, and AQA treasurer Maria Ramonda. For more information on chiropractic in Argentina contact the AQA at www.quiropraxia.org.ar.

The goal of the AQA, which was founded in 1988, is to develop the Chiropractic profession in Argentina. Argentina has a population of 40 million people with just over 100 estimated chiropractors currently in practice.

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By Michael Dorausch, DC

More photos from around 1998. I suspect these were probably made in the 1970s or 1980s and I don’t remember how I ended up getting copies of them. Both show Woody woodpecker checking the spine of Andy Panda while he’s lying face down on a chiropractic adjusting bench. One image is of far better quality. I may have the original copies of the drawing somewhere in my stacks of chiropractic media. Do kids today know who Woody woodpecker is?

Andy Panda lies facedown on a chiropractic adjusting bench (kind of looks like my Galaxy adjusting table) while Woody Woodpecker checks his vertebral column. The second photo shows different background, including a clipboard and a chiropractic diploma on the wall. Wouldn’t be surprised to find out there were other images similar to these made for a series of marketing materials. Would make nice postcards.

If anybody has more information regarding these two photographs, feel free to leave a comment.

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By Michael Dorausch, DC

Earlier this year I began the search for an upholstery service that could do custom work on the chiropractic tables in my office. I knew that companies existed doing work for chiropractors, but I was having a difficult time finding anybody serving the Los Angeles area. Proof that postcard marketing still works, I received this upholstery postcard from Roy’s Upholstery in North Hollywood California. I called him for an estimate.

Since it was the year-end I wanted to get all the tables in the office redone. We were fortunate that a lot of people were adjusted in the office during 2008 a new table upholstery was overdue.

Roy showed up at our office I believe on a Wednesday or Thursday. He had brought along hundreds of different color swatches and materials for covering tables. All the tables in the office were currently shades of navy blue but I was thinking of going silver and black for chiropractic 2009.

One of the adjusting tables was a Galaxy model adjusting bench that didn’t have any moving parts or raisable head piece. I wanted the foam customized so that there was more room for breathing when patients were lying face down. Nothing sucks like being uncomfortable when preparing for a chiropractic adjustment.

Roy’s custom upholstery was able to modify the head piece so there was more room for patients faces. So far we’ve had really good reports on using this table, and everyone’s commented on how good they look in black.

We also had a Lloyd Thompson drop table that had about seven different pieces that used foam and were covered with vinyl. When this table came back it looked brand new and I was real pleased with it. We also had a Hill adjusting table that was fully reupholstered as well. That one turned out to be quite a project since it has numerous parts and computerized components built in.

The work on all three tables was done over the weekend with some final finishing being done in the office on a Sunday evening. That worked out perfect for us since we see patients on Monday morning.

One of the first people getting adjusted that day was a local chiropractor who asked about the new tables. I gave him Roy’s information (818-272-9676 for those of you in the Los Angeles area) and I heard he later had all of his chiropractic tables reupholstered as well.

Talking to Roy, he told me he pretty much works locally in the Los Angeles County area. He does custom commercial and residential upholstery including antique and modern furniture, restaurant upholstery, orthopedic and physical therapy clinics, custom gym equipment, hair salon furniture, and miscellaneous items such as barbershop chairs. I was really happy with his prices and work ethic and would be happy to recommend him to anyone seeking custom upholstery work in the LA area.

Chiropractic Upholstery Near You - Well that is great for those of us in the Los Angeles area, but what if you’re needing custom upholstery services in other parts of the US? I did quite a bit of searching for companies and individuals that did custom upholstery work for chiropractic offices, and I didn’t find any organized list. If you have somebody to recommend in your local area, go ahead and post their information in the comments, and I’ll add them to a list of upholstery services for chiropractors.

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By Michael Dorausch, DC

There must be dozens of different ways to contact me. I’m sure the experience is similar for you. Most of us have that primary e-mail address, then there’s the e-mail address used when we want to mark things sent as spam, and e-mail addresses used when not communicating with friends and family. I estimate I have about a dozen different e-mail addresses that get used regularly, I just don’t get a chance to check them on a daily basis.

Earlier this year I had a new business card created that didn’t have any information from my chiropractic office on it. Since we’ve handed out thousands upon thousands of cards from my office, people have often called me for Internet questions, marketing information, or other stuff I wouldn’t consider related to my chiropractic business. So for 2008 I had the new card created.

I used one of those online business card making sites (cards arrived in about a week) to put together this simple card with several ways to contact me. It’s interesting that since I had the cards made I’ve discovered messaging me via twitter is probably one of the best ways to get in touch. You can also send me e-mail but I sometimes don’t check it for several days at a time, especially when traveling. You can call me on my cell phone but I almost never answer it during chiropractic office hours (Monday through Friday). Sending me a message on Twitter however, will typically get noticed (my apologies if for some reason I have not replied to you yet).

Sending information via snail mail is actually still very effective, especially when it’s handwritten. I think that the majority of chiropractors that took the time to personally mail me stuff in 2008, got mentions in the news, posts on this blog, and other types of thank you replies.

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By Michael Dorausch, DC

Going through Picasa photo archives for 2008 and figured I’d post some of the images from the past year to this blog.

In January 2008 I upgraded the monitors at my home office with 3 24 inch Dell LCD screens and I’ve been using that set up all year. Looking back from now, I’ve gotten pretty spoiled as a result, and have managed to fill all three desktops with applications and browser tabs I use frequently. My goal for 2008 is to modify the desk for even better ergonomics.

In February I was at a chiropractic conference in Tempe Arizona. Went to Hooters for some chicken wings and beer. Took this photo of a kid celebrating his birthday party by standing on a chair and dancing like a chicken

while surrounded by Hooters girls. When I was that age you got visited by Bozo the clown.

Later in the month of February I was in San Jose, California for search conference that turned out to be a really fun event. I like hanging out with other chiropractors, but my search engine and social media friends are a lot of fun to party with as well.

March 2008 was Barcamp 5 Los Angeles which took place at the AOL building in Beverly Hills California. The event was sponsored in part by Planet Chiropractic and the attendance was incredible. We had two days of geeky tech stuff, cupcakes, pizza, beer, Wii bowling, and other activities that take place when you put large groups of geeks together in one place. I got to meet the defunct pets.com sock puppet while at Barcamp, he was very popular.

An April chiropractic event in Las Vegas somehow turned into a blur after going out with friends to the Playboy club at the Palms casino. Turns out I went to college with the floor manager and drinks were on the House. This photo of Candace Michelle and friend beats any photos taken of me that evening.

There were more search conferences and chiropractic seminars to attend in late April and in May and it’s funny that while going through photos I noticed lots of pictures of food we were served when going to restaurants. Here’s a photo of a plate of ribs with onion rings and french fries. It wasn’t taken while at a seminar, but rather just down the street from me at the Cheesecake Factory in Marina del Rey.

Also taking place in May was San Diego 3 Barcamp which was a lot of fun to attend. Making the trip down from Los Angeles to La Jolla for the geek filled weekend was well worth it. We spent two days in the Microsoft building. I missed the San Diego Barcamp in November since I was in Las Vegas for 2008 Pubcon. On the list of weekend things to do in 2009.

I made a couple of trips to Seattle in May and one of my favorite times while there was visiting the library. I think this photo of upcoming article headlines comes from a 1965 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. I’m not certain since it took so many different photographs and didn’t organize them to the covers. Notice the “Drink and Be Healthy Cocktails” article headline in the middle. It reads a whole repertoire of famous drinks for people who want to shore up a little nourishment and health while they’re nipping. Who knew drinking could be so good for you?

While at a chiropractor conference in May or early June I took this photograph of a before and after chiropractic adjustment T-shirt. I had seen the design on chiropractic business cards in the past, but this was the first time I saw the squiggly spine and the straight spine on someone’s shirt. Very simple to re-create.

In June I was also in Yosemite National Park and took numerous photos during my stay there. The weather was incredible and the hiking was phenomenal. The pictures do not do the place justice. Everybody should have the opportunity to visit Yosemite and enjoy its beauty.

After returning home from a chiropractic relicensing seminar at my alma mater I took this photograph of one of my sleeping Labradors wearing a Cleveland Chiropractic College baseball cap. Unlike my other lab, this one will pretty much let you put caps and sunglasses on her, without making too much of a fuss.

In September of 2008 I had some Ron Paul revolution soda while at an Internet conference in Las Vegas. There were differently branded sodas for the various presidential candidates, and someone is probably put together a nice collection of all of the soda photos somewhere.

While attending another conference in Las Vegas (I think that was the most popular place for conferences in 2008) I got to stand inside a machine filled with money. It was like a big vacuum cleaner turned on in reverse, with cash laying all over the floor. You would stand inside the phone booth shaped unit and when the air turned on the cash went flying. Lots of fun and a great tool for marketing at conferences.

I’m hoping 2009 is a prosperous, abundant and healthy year for you. Thanks for checking out my photographs from 2008.

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By Michael Dorausch, DC

December 21, 2008 marks the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. It is a time when the Sun’s position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance from the position of the observer, meaning in the northern hemisphere it is the shortest day of the year.

The winter solstice marks the reversal in gradually shortening days and the event is celebrated in many cultures as a time of renewing or rebirth. Here is a collection of photographs taken in different locations throughout the Northern Hemisphere during the day of winter solstice.

The first rays of the solstice dawn light up the ancient megaliths of Stonehenge. Man has stood here and watched this annual spectacle for more than five millenia.

This picture was taken on the winter solstice of 2000. It was taken from Schoodic, using Acadia National Park as a backdrop to measure the sun's seasonal movements across the sky.

Winter Solstice Coos Bay, Oregon Coast, December 21, 2007

The setting sun on December 21, 2006

A little gulf of mexico sunshine for anybody who may be lacking on the shortest day of the year.

Scripps Pier in San Diego - December 21, 2005 Winter Solstice

At the setting of the sun on the winter solstice, 2007.

The Illinois Bayou flows into the Arkansas River at Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas. This image was captured at the end of the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere).

The sunset of the shortest day of the year... location in the northern hemisphere unknown

Photographer: I wanted to catch the sun as it set for the winter solstice but was late getting to my spot, and even so there was fog/clouds out at sea on the horizon.

Location unknown in northern hemisphere. Winter Solstice 2005 from someone's front door.

Ten minutes before the sun disappeared behind the horizon. - Winter solstice 2006

Today the winds died and after two days of Kona (southern winds) wind, the VOG (volcanic haze from the Big Island volcanos) totally obsured the Koolau Mountains and most of the Bay. The sunset tonight was a little different than normal. - December 21, 2005

About twenty minutes before sundown the sun appeared from behind a layer of clouds.

Sunset at Stonehenge at the Winter Solstice. - December 2004

In the northern hemisphere, 2008 Winter solstice takes place at 12:04 on December 21. It marks the beginning of lengthening days and it’s a great time to reflect on the past six months, and celebrate the birth of the days ahead.

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By Michael Dorausch, DC

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of postcards and postcard marketing for not only chiropractic businesses, but for other small businesses as well. Sending postcards was on my list of 23 surefire small-business marketing techniques for 2008, and I’ll be recommending postcards for 2009 as well.

I received two postcards yesterday from two different California chiropractors and I wanted to share them both here. The first one comes from Capitol Chiropractic in Sacramento, and it features seasons greetings from 3 wonderful ladies (I’ve never actually met Angela Basset but I’m a pushover for big floppy kissable ears).

First off, I greatly appreciate the postcard I received from Beth, Jeri, and Angela. captive for some reason you stumbled across this post and you’re looking for a chiropractor in the Sacramento area, their office comes highly recommended.

It takes work to put together a postcard like this (but it’s worth it). First, you can’t deny the energy that comes from genuinely sending a card like this to all the people you love, there’s no way to break that law of positive attraction. They took the time to come up with a creative photo, selected a postcard design, went through the printing process, hand labeled countless envelopes, invested in postage and mailed all the cards out (while still staying focused on serving the people in their chiropractic practice). With that level of attention to detail, how do you think they would take care of you and your family if you were a patient there?

Kevin Joe from Southern California

The next card came from chiropractor Kevin Joe from Southern California. On the back of the card Kevin was thanking me for helping to promote CCA events in Southern California (like this one coming up in San Diego) and I thought it was pretty cool that he thought about us during the holiday season.

OK, that is one awesome looking photo, don’t you think? I thought the whole card looks great, the lighted palm trees, handwritten message, and everyone’s names included on the card. Hey hey, looks like Uncle Joe is making his nieces and nephews famous on some guys chiropractic blog.

I have the same thing to say about Dr. Kevin as I do about Dr. Jeri and Beth, he’s a spectacular individual, that’s incredibly humble, and is extremely passionate about what he does. How many of you took the time to gather up members of your family and take a photograph for the holidays? Sadly, I haven’t done so yet this year. What we have been doing in my office though, is taking pictures in front of the Christmas tree of everyone that wants one. That’s been a big hit and we’re going to have lots of photographs as a result.

Dr. Kevin Joe runs Joe Family Chiropractic in Fullerton, California. The office address is 1370 Brea Blvd., Suite 120 - Fullerton, CA 92835 For those seeking a family chiropractor in that area, call 714-447-3361.

Thank you Dr. Kevin, thank you Beth and Dr. Jeri, and thanks to everyone that takes the time to read through my often ramblings of chiropractic mishmash. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Festivas for the rest of us, and good tidings to all!

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By Michael Dorausch, DC

In my recent posts about x-ray seminars and Karl Parker seminars I mentioned not yet having information for CCA California Chiropractic Association seminars taking place in 2009. Last year the CCA held affordable relicensing seminars throughout the state of California, and I was trusting they would continue with a similar format for 2009.

Less than an hour from me completing the post regarding the x-ray seminars, I had a fax received at my office from the CCA regarding an upcoming chiropractic seminar taking place in San Diego.

I ran the fax through my Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 (every chiropractor should have one of these in their office) and saved it as a PDF file. One of the girls in the office than converted the seminar fax to a text format, so we could post it here, giving the CCA some extra exposure for their January license renewal program.

The event takes place in San Diego at the Hilton San Diego Resort and Spa, which is on East Mission Bay Drive. There is contact information at the end of this post. I’d recommend calling the CCA for seminar costs, since there was a number of different prices listed, depending on whether doctors of chiropractic were members of the CCA or not.

The CCA has secured special room rates at the hotel and I’d recommend calling them to get information about discount rates when registering for the event. Here is the information from the fax…

California Chiropractic Association
San Diego • January 24-25, 2009

12-Hour Licensing Renewal Seminar
Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa, San Diego

Saturday - January 24, 2009
QME Re-certification 7:00am - 1:00pm
Wayne Whalen, DC, DACAN & Michael Blott, DC
Doctors Wayne Whalen and Michael Blott present the rules governing treatment of Injured workers including proper documentation of care to comply with legal requirements, how to use functional outcome scales for proper authorization of care and an update on the current nationally recognized guidelines for chiropractic care. Medical reporting as evidence will also be reviewed.

Radiology 2:00pm-7:00pm
Cliff Tao, DC, DACBR
Obtain one-half the biannual 10-hour x-ray CE requirement at the five-hour program taught by Dr. Cliff Tao which examines lumbar and cervical spinal trauma, darkroom procedures and radiographic technique.

Anti-Aging, Prevention through Chiropractic Care 10:00am-1:00pm
Michelle Binkowski, DC • Sponsored by Foot Levelers, Inc.
Join Dr. Michelle Binkowski for an enlightening lecture on the prevention of antiaging through the use of chiropractic care and nutrition. Discussion will include biomechanical and biochemical factors of the aging process, psychoimmunology, toxins and environmental factors.

January 25, 2009
Adjustive Technique 8:00am -12:00pm
David Benevento, DC
Join Dr. David Benevento, CCA president, for a dynamic and interactive presentation on Integrating functional evaluation testing with diversified adjustlve technique. Lower and upper back and lower and upper extremities will be reviewed.

Register for all 15 hours or Just Radiology or Just QME or Just Adjustlve Technique - whatever you need, we have!

4 Easy Ways to Register
1. FAX: 916 648-2738
2. CALL 916 648-2727, ext. 141 or ext. 120
3. WEB: www.calchiro.org (Events & CE page)
4. MAIL: California Chiropractic Association - 1451 River Park Drive, Suite 230 - Sacramento, CA 95815-4521

Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa
1775 East Mission Bay Drive., San Diego, CA 92109
Phone: 619.2764010
Fax: 619.275.8932

More >> Chiropractic Continuing Education

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By Michael Dorausch, DC

It’s hard to believe that these photographs are older than the planetchiropractic.com web site. They were taken in May of 1998 and the site did not launch until December of the same year. There has been audio and video online from the 1990s Panamá mission’s since a short time after the chiropractic website was launched, there have also been dozens of Panamá related news articles. I mentioned cleaning the office and finding photographs stored on hard drives and I’ll be posting some of them here for historic purposes.

Below are five different photographs from the 1998 CREW chiropractic mission to Panamá.

Dora Boyd de Perez Balladares Y La Asociacion de Quiropracticos Atienden a la Poblacion Panamena Del 25 Al 30 De Mayo De 1998 - Signs and banners like this one appeared throughout the country of Panamá during the month of May 1998. This one was posted outside a civic gymnasium in the area of Penonomé. Dora Boyd de Perez Balladares was the president’s wife (First Lady of Panamá)  when we were there for that trip. The mission was cosponsored by the government of Panamá which offered free chiropractic care to the entire country’s population.

The above photo was taken inside the same gymnasium (we provided adjustments there for five days that week). The chiropractor to the left is Dr. Paul from Canada and that’s me on the right (I have not had a goatee in many years). You may notice our skin appears a bit shiny, that’s because it was about 110° inside the gymnasium, and it was raining everyday.

Dr. Noel from Ohio sets up for a seated cervical chiropractic adjustment inside the gymnasium. In the background you can see the gymnasium grandstands. There were times that these were full, six or more chiropractors providing adjustments from nine o’clock in the morning until about two o’clock in the afternoon (the peak of heat and just before the rain came down). The top of the photo shows the tin roofs that were common in the city gymnasiums. As hot as things got in the gymnasium for us, I can still remember many people sitting down for an adjustment, and their skin felt like they had just walked out of walk-in refrigerator. They were calm and cool as anything and we were drinking mass fluids just to stay hydrated.

Kids going crazy in a Panamá school yard. Looks like some of these kids are testing their gang signs. Remember this was 1998 and I don’t think a lot of these kids had been in front of a video camera before. When we were not in the gymnasiums, we broke off into groups and provided adjustments to kids at the local schools. You can see me in the far background wearing a red shirt (all the kids are in white so I’m not hard to spot). This photo was taken during afternoon recess and the kids were going crazy in the schools center playground. We went classroom to classroom giving chiropractic adjustments to all students and teachers, a few days that week.

This last photo was taken inside the classroom at a private school. I don’t remember what grade this was (I think it was first grade) but we had an incredible experience there. When we arrived the kids were having English class so the teacher decided to have them sing a few songs for us. They did the chiropractic favorite classic… Head Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Awesome times in Panamá!

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By Michael Dorausch, DC

There’s some cleaning up going on at the planetchiropractic world headquarters in Los Angeles, and I’m being thankful while going through files and documents from the years passed. There are lots of chiropractors to thank, but I like to do some shout outs on names and addresses from time to time. Your continued use of the site and your support is greatly appreciated, many thanks.

The little guy in the image above (n8) used to appear on the homepage of the planetc1site around January 2000. It’s one of thousands of images sitting on local hard drives. We actually took steps recently the move this and other content online, perhaps on the chiropractic media domain.

Saying thank you from planetchiropractic…

Dr. Robert Berry - Annabel Chiropractic Center - 316 East Main Street, Montour Falls, NY 14865 (607) 535-7080

Dr. David Phipps - Phipps Chiropractic Clinic - 100 North Cottonwood, #104 Richardson, TX 75080 (214) 437-5800

Dr. Steven Silk - Wiarton Family Chiropractic Centre - 417 Brown St., Wiarton, Ontario - Canada (519) 534-1330

Dr. Jamie Settimi - Settimi Chiropractic Center - 17800 West Bluemound Road - Brookfield, WI - (262) 789-0576

Dr. Walter Sanchez - 3826 W. 16th Ave., Hialeah, FL 33012 (305) 821-1800

Thanks also to all of the chiropractors who participated in the Cinco de Mayo May 5th chiropractors post earlier this year. The “meet a chiropractor” series came out of that post, and we still have chiropractic interviews to add to the news, thanks to all of the chiropractors that provided feedback.

Some of the chiropractors since the May 5 post were Danella Whittaker, Nick Baker, Scott Swanson of San Francisco, Nicholas Campos, Tim Swift, and others.

Thanks again everybody!

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