December 19, 2023 • 24 mins
Discover how chiropractic care transcends mere pain relief with Dr. Brittney Hughes, whose patient-first approach might just redefine your expectations of health and wellness. Prepare to be captivated by her insights into the nervous system and its profound impact on our overall well-being, as she shares astonishing stories like that of a toddler's night terrors vanishing post-adjustment. We'll challenge the status quo of healthcare, advocating for a system that prioritizes proactive health over sickness management, and you'll see why Dr. Hughes is passionate about addressing the root causes of discomfort and disease.
Movement is life, and in this chat with Dr. Hughes, we unravel the myths tying pain to aging, advocating instead for the life-changing power of staying active. Discover the 'good sore' and embrace the nuances behind the notorious pop of chiropractic adjustments, as we dissect the three-step process to recovery that prioritizes your long-term mobility and health. If you've ever felt stuck in a cycle of temporary fixes, this conversation will guide you towards sustainable strategies to keep you moving and thriving at any age.
Join us as Dr. Hughes illuminates the collaborative dance of healthcare professionals, emphasizing the significance of a goal-oriented patient approach and the art of simplifying complex medical jargon. Witness the growth of Riverside Chiropractic, a testament to the trust and success of her methods, and learn how you can easily get in touch to start your own journey with Dr. Hughes.
Check Out Dr Brittney Hughes, DC at Riverside Chiropractic in Vero Beach
Instagram: @dr.brittney_hughes
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (00:00):
So, welcome to Hercules Performance
Physical Therapy podcast.
We have Dr Brittany Hughes here.
She's a chiropractor.
I'm going to let her just tellus a little bit about you, what
I do.
Go for it.
Dr Hughes, DC (00:12):
Yeah, so basically, like you said, I'm a
chiropractor.
I focus a lot on not onlygetting patients out of pain,
but making sure that they knowthat pain isn't what I'm chasing
.
So just because you come inwith a pain signal does not mean
that that's exactly what I'mgoing to treat.
I want you to be functioningoverall at the highest amount,
and I also want you to focus onhaving health, and health is
(00:32):
very important.
Just because you don't havepain doesn't mean that you're
healthy.
So we want to really focus onjust getting you better not only
feeling better, but functioningbetter.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (00:40):
by functioning better.
Dr Hughes, DC (00:41):
So where you don't have any appearances in
the nervous system, where you'renot having like GERD after you
eat, where you're not havingissues go into sleep, where
you're not having all thesedifferent kinds of things that
can happen when you have thoseinterferences in the nervous
system.
So when we do the adjustmentsand we clear them, that's when
you're functioning at thehighest amount that you can be
and that's whenever you'refunctioning at the optimal
(01:04):
support.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (01:05):
Have you found patients say to you that
they actually are sleeping alittle better after some of
these adjustments andmanipulations ?
Dr Hughes, DC (01:17):
I'm not going to use names, but I had this two
year old adjustments come inand the mother was at her wits
in.
She had been to thepediatrician a million times.
He's having extreme nightterrors, like to the point to
where he's waking up six toseven times a night, screaming
bloody murder and crying, and sothe parents aren't sleeping.
His sister that's a baby,newborn isn't sleeping.
(01:38):
He's not sleeping.
The whole family's a mess.
This has been going on formonths and every single night he
has night terrors.
So she, finally thepediatrician was like I don't
know what else to do, bring themto a chiropractor.
So what I did is I did a fullassessment on them.
I made sure everything was good.
I went all the way back to hisbirth, like I was asking the
mother all these questions didyou use four steps?
Did you have a vaginal birth?
(01:59):
Did you have a C section?
You know, really going in depth.
Well, once we were done with thehistory, basically the little
boy was terrified of doctorsbecause he's been in and out of
doctors since he was bornbecause of the night terrors you
know the past six months.
So I set him down on my table,I grabbed a pad, kind of like
this, right here, and I gave hima pen.
I said draw me something fun.
So he's sitting on the table.
(02:20):
I said mommy, come sit in frontof him.
So she sits in front of him andthey're drawing.
And I get behind him and I grabmy little activator, which is a
tool that I used to adjustbabies for the most part, and I
show it to him like look, yousee this tool, isn't it cool?
And then I was like mom, let mesee your hand.
So I grabbed mom's hand and Ijust did the hand and then I
grabbed his hand.
I did the same thing.
So he was fine with it.
Then we go and I start feelingthe spine.
(02:40):
He's sitting in front of me,I'm feeling, I'm feeling and his
C one, which is the firstvertebrae in the spine, was
severely rotated.
So all I did was I grabbedright there.
He grabbed my hand because itwas painful, because it's so
badly rotated, and I was likeit's okay, it's okay.
So I grabbed it, put my handthere, adjusted it, and he
turned around and looked at me.
And he turned around and gaveme a hug.
This little baby that isterrified of doctors, like
(03:04):
absolutely was screaming bloodymurder in my waiting room, gave
me a hug and then I went all theway down the spine, adjusted
what needed to be adjusted andthen I told him you know, come
back in at the end of the week.
I want to see how he responded.
I know he's going to respondwell, but I just want to hear it
from you to make sure she comesback in.
Three days later she gave me ahug.
He hasn't had a night caresince.
(03:24):
He slept throughout the nightand it was something that simple
.
You know, just a rotation ofthe Atlas and Getting that fixed
makes a huge difference.
So that it happens in babies,it happens in adults.
So it's the same thing.
We have the same amount ofbirth rate whether we're a
newborn, whether we're 82 yearsold.
So bone is there exactly.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (03:41):
Yeah, we don't grow bone as we age, I
think that's a testament tolooking outside what the
traditional idea of medicine.
Okay, I have night terrors.
Right, I need to go see a doc.
I need to go see all this andthose are definitely part of the
plan of care, right, but usingthese other sources that are
researched
Dr Hughes, DC (04:17):
My biggest thing is the way I look at health care
nowadays, which I learned thiswhen I went to a seminar up in
Colorado Not long ago we nolonger have a health care system
.
We have a sick care system,absolutely.
So you go to the hospital forsomething small like, let's say,
high blood pressure.
Guess what they put you on highblood pressure meds.
Why do you have high bloodpressure?
They don't know.
I'm just gonna put you on meds.
Mm-hmm then, guess what?
(04:37):
There's a side effect to thatmed.
So now you're on another one,then you're on another one, then
you're on another one and it'sjust a downhaul.
You know, fall, yeah, and so weno longer have a health care
system.
Our health care system is ouralternative medicine physical
therapy, chiropractic massagetherapy, acupuncture that's your
health care.
What do we do?
We look at the root cause ofwhat's going on.
Why do you have high bloodpressure?
(04:57):
Oh, the segment thatIntervation to your heart is out
.
Let me adjust that.
Guess what.
Your blood pressure goes down.
It's, it's simple.
I mean, it's science, it'sthere, is evidence-based.
It's just a matter of gettingthat knowledge out there, to
where people know that there'san alternative to medicine and
the alternative is Health care,not sick care.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (05:16):
I mean, just when you even look at what
some of the gyms are doing thesedays and like advocating for,
this stuff exists.
All all this exercise, thatkind of stuff, the alternative
medicine, like that is how wewill Correct and create a health
care system as you say rightinstead of a sick care, and
there's a lot of dominoes needto fall first, but it's starting
(05:38):
right.
You can even notice in a smallarea like Vero Beach here that
may be a little bit moretraditional and what not.
There are plenty of alternativeproviders that are adding some
really cool stuff to the area.
Yeah.
Dr Hughes, DC (05:51):
I mean, my favorite is the fact that when
people come in and they're likeI've tried everything and I'm
like, good, I'm glad you, yeah,I'm glad you did, because now,
guess what, I'm your last hopeand I'm gonna get you better,
and then you're gonna regrettrying everything else, like
that's just the main thing.
And diet diet is huge, as youknow.
Like 90% of weight loss is diet.
So people are eating like crapand they get high cholesterol
(06:14):
and you're like they go take amedicine for it and I'm like
that is defeating the wholepurpose of this.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (06:20):
Not fixing the root cause at all.
Exactly the root cause is whatyou really need to focus on,
sure and often times, in a lotof cases, it takes longer than
people want, right.
But there are ways like whatyou do, some of the stuff that I
do, where you can kind of breakthe cycle a little quicker and
then that will allow you to dothe big things you need like
getting your nutrition right?
Getting your sleeping right?
Dr Hughes, DC (06:46):
Yeah, it's a huge difference, and I mean
something that small can make ahuge change in your life,
absolutely so I mean you we'renot always chasing pain.
It can be something that's notpain related.
It can be, you know, like Isaid, neuropathy issues.
It can be cholesterol, highblood pressure.
That's not necessarily painful,sure.
Does it make you an unhealthyperson?
Correct?
Yeah, so we want you tofunction correctly, we want you
(07:07):
to be an optimal health, and sojust just because you're not in
pain, does it mean you don'tneed to see a chiropractor?
Like I have patients all thetime.
When they come in, I'm like howare you feeling?
They're like, oh well, Iwouldn't be here if I was doing
better.
And I'm like, well, no, that'snot the case.
Like chiropractic wasoriginally made to be a Like
alternative.
It's supposed to bePreventative help.
(07:28):
Yeah so we're supposed toprevent you from getting sick,
prevent you from having theseissues?
Now it's kind of changed tobeing pain source.
So you have pain, you go to achiropractor.
No, that shouldn't be that.
It's like when you drive yourcar, right, so you get a brand
new car, you drive it 6,000miles, mm-hmm.
You don't just keep driving ituntil it breaks and then take it
to the mechanic.
(07:48):
You go get an oil change andget your tires rotated.
You do maintenance on your carto keep it from breaking.
Why do we treat our car so wellby our body, so bad, so we don't
do these maintenance, thesecheckups on our body, when this
is the only one you have?
You can crash your car and goget another one.
This is all that you have.
You're gone, you're gone, andso why don't we do maintenance
(08:10):
on our bodies?
Instead, we do maintenance onour vehicles.
We treasure those so much andthen we only check on us
whenever we're in pain, whichpain is very subjective,
obviously, and it's also verystrange in the sense that it's
the last thing that comes withan injury and the first thing
that leaves.
So, with that being said, arepetitive trauma, injury.
(08:30):
So say, you work at a desk allday and you're constantly
hunched over and you're usingyour mouse way out here and then
you end up with shoulder painand neck pain and back pain.
That didn't come the first dayyou started your job.
That came six years after,absolutely.
So it's the last thing thatcomes with an injury, but it's
also the first thing that leaves.
So just because you're not inpain doesn't mean that you're
better.
You're still unstable becausethey you have pain.
(08:51):
That's the first sign ofinstability.
So, with that being said, justbecause the pain is gone doesn't
mean you're stabilized.
So once the pain is gone, youmove on to the next step, which
is stabilization, which is wherephysical therapy comes into
play, where we work on yourbiomechanics.
So, instead of sitting likethis and working like this,
you're sitting like this andworking with your your wrist
cocked up.
So that makes a huge difference.
So biomechanics, physicaltherapy, massage, acupuncture,
(09:13):
chiropractic it's allhand-in-hand.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, D (09:15):
Absolutely , and it's a synergistic thing,
right.
There's certain things that youguys do.
Right that you look at it froma slightly different angle, but
I believe the way to really movethe health care system forward
is right.
You need all these differentangles that create this like big
pie right and that creates thewhole health care model in a
sense?
Dr Hughes, DC (09:32):
Yeah, it sure does.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (09:33):
I wanted to kind of pick on where you
use the phrase often laggingindicator for pain where it
really is.
It's like the check engine latebut your oil light is already
down or what not.
You've already been driving50,000 miles.
You get people like I hadsomeone the other day who walked
in and like, oh, I changed myroutine or life up about a year
ago but now I'm having pain.
Like that's not super un common, like it's hard to put two and
(09:55):
two together.
Yep, but big changes sometimesthey take a while to basically
happen into pain.
Right, and however thatmovement dysfunction, the stuff
that you were doing that mayhave caused it.
It's been a long time ago,exactly, part of your daily,
exactly right.
Dr Hughes, DC (10:10):
The biggest thing is I not only ask what were you
doing when the injury started,it's what'd you do for the last
10 years?
Absolutely and I mean movementis so important.
You know from what you do everysingle day.
So when I see an ex-athletecome into my office and they
trained, you know they traintheir body to be able to play,
let's just say, soccer.
For 18, 19 years of their life.
(10:31):
They go off to college and theyhave a sedentary lifestyle
because they're not playing incollege anymore.
Then they come to me andthey're like why am I in pain
now that I'm not playing anymorebecause you're not moving?
Yeah, like you're sitting at adesk all day studying, you're
laying in a little bitty cot inyour dorm like everything adds
up.
And when you train your body tohave that Elasticity to play
(10:52):
soccer your knees, your, yourhips, everything and you stop,
you're going to go backwards,absolutely.
So you've got to keep moving.
Movement is so important.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (11:02):
Isn't it funny that you see these
injuries and they startoccurring at a higher frequency.
You, you think like 35 to 40,you start seeing people, yeah,
things are breaking down, butwhen you look at it, they are
way less active, you're notreally doing that much other
than maybe sitting in badpositions or whatever.
So why is it that at 25, whenyou're running around slamming
(11:25):
yourself in to stuff, right,you're fine, but later, yeah,
there's an age thing, but couldjust be that you stop moving,
right?
Stop doing what your body wasmeant to do, it's huge.
Dr Hughes, DC (11:33):
I mean my first thing when I have like a 75 year
old come into my office, he'slike I can't play golf anymore.
And I'm like, well, I'm gonnaget you back to playing golf.
Sure it's, I'm not that person.
It's gonna say don't play golfanymore.
I'm gonna say, take a step backfor two weeks, let's get you
better, and then let's ease backinto it, because movement is
important Absolutely.
There's a reason why you knowthese athletes.
They're able to keep doing whatthey're doing because they're
(11:55):
moving.
Yeah, like it's it, you gobackwards when you stop.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (11:58):
So and that brings up a really good
point in the sense of even if wehave to remove ourselves from
the sport for a little while,that does not mean hey, we're
not doing anything right.
And it could also be a maybewe're not using the driver right
, something with a long axis,basically a lot of torque on the
back.
Maybe, hey, we're just puttingfor the next few weeks, but
(12:18):
that's actually, you're outthere moving.
There's a pain relief effectjust to exercise that like high
you get in the middle of aworkout.
Dr Hughes, DC (12:25):
That's your body's way of being pumping,
that's your body's way of sayingwe like this keep doing Right.
Yep, I mean, there's such thingas a good sore.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (12:33):
Yes, I mean after a good workout.
Dr Hughes, DC (12:35):
You want to be sore, mm-hmm, and that's a good
sort.
You feel great when you're.
I mean it sucks going upstairs,but it's a great sore.
You know what I mean.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (12:43):
I thought I was the only weirdo
that like the soreness, thatlike little bit of quad soreness
after a word.
There's definitely the kindwhere you're like I can't stand
up too much, but it's rare.
Yeah, that good sore that'swhat you want.
Dr Hughes, DC (12:56):
Yes, absolutely I got them in the calves right
now for the dubs exactly.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (13:01):
Brittany , give me a couple just like fun
little tidbits.
I'm gonna ask you some funlittle tidbits about
chiropractic.
So one I often get is whathappens with a pop or no crack
that you may get yeah, so thatpopping, cracking sound.
Dr Hughes, DC (13:14):
You know I can take all these scientific words
and put it into it, but I'm justgonna be simple.
It's a gas release, okay, soHear that?
Yep, that's a release of gas.
So what the adjustment does isit kind of opens up the synovial
fluid and when it does that, ifthere's any gas in there, it
releases.
So a lot of times if you get anadjustment and you don't hear a
pop doesn't mean it didn't move.
(13:34):
It just means that you didn'thave any gas filter.
So the gas builds up.
Whenever you have two segmentsthat are kind of like this Okay,
when one turns and it's stuck,gas forms in the synovial fluid.
So when we adjust it back, thatgas releases and it makes that
pop, I mean, yeah, don't get mewrong, I love the sound of that.
Like I may Definitely crack atit, but when it comes to making
(13:56):
the sound versus getting thething to move, I focus more on
getting movement, mm-hmm, but Ido love the sound.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (14:01):
Yeah, the sound is good, Like it just
gives you that a little bit offeedback.
Dr Hughes, DC (14:05):
Oh, I got it.
Yes, exactly, even though weknow that's not necessarily
what's going on.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (14:09):
It's just a good correlate.
Dr Hughes, DC (14:10):
I like it.
It's one of those things, youknow, you just get some thrill
out of it yeah because thepatients hear it, they feel
better.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (14:16):
Yeah great audible response there's a
phrase of my family always saidgrowing up when we were playing
sports look good, play good.
Dr Hughes, DC (14:23):
It's kind of sound good, play good, whatever
it is like that.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (14:26):
So let's say you get that pop.
You don't get the pop, you getjust manipulated.
What is kind of course foraction after that?
What would you say are bestpractices?
Dr Hughes, DC (14:34):
So I have three steps to recovery.
First step is get you out ofpain.
So I don't chase pain, but ifyou're in pain I'm gonna try to
decrease, sure.
So let's get you out of pain.
Second space is let's stabilizethat instability that you got
going on.
The fact that there's painthere Means that you're unstable
.
You wouldn't have pain if youwere completely stabilized.
So the fact that you have painmeans you're unstable.
So second step is stabilize.
(14:55):
Stabilize is where you comeinto play.
That's where you do functionalStrengthening, that's where you
do biomechanic training.
We give you small exercises todo at home.
You know all these littlethings.
And after stabilization ispretty much maintenance.
You know, every once in a whileget your car oil change,
basically.
And so that's kind of the threesteps that I try to go through.
(15:16):
My goal isn't to see patientsevery day for the rest of their
life.
Sure, there's somechiropractors that you walk into
their office.
The first thing they say is oh,you have pain.
Yeah, that's gonna take meabout three times a week for
four weeks, seven times or twotimes a week for seven weeks and
buck.
And next thing, you know you'reon a six month plan.
Sure, if it takes you sixmonths to get out of playing
pain, get out of that officebecause you're not in the right
(15:36):
one.
Yeah, so Basically you justneed to focus on those three
steps and every patient'sdifferent Somebody that's active
, like you.
If you were in pain, it mighttake you two adjustments and
you're better like you're out ofpain, then we work on
stabilizing you.
But if it's somebody that is,you know, 75, they've reached
all options they can.
They're on pain medicine everysingle day.
(15:58):
They come into my office.
It's going to take them acouple of weeks, so you have to
structure the three-phase planto each patient so when every
patient comes into your officethey get the same plan.
That's terrible chiropracticcare, if you ask me, and all
that is is money.
All they're wanting is moneyout of your pocket.
But my thing is is, if youfocus on getting the patient
(16:18):
better, getting them out of pain, stabilizing them, putting them
on maintenance to come in everyonce in a while, they're going
to tell other patients oh,absolutely.
Your office is going to bebooming and you're not going to
be worried about.
You know, do I have to pay therent?
Do I have to do this?
You're going to be more focusedon patients and when you start
focusing on patients, you see ahuge change in your office.
(16:38):
Whenever you're giving outthose stupid care plans that are
six months long for everysingle patient, with the exact
same weeks like spread outfrequency, that's the wrong way
to do it.
I've seen many chiropractors dothat and it just makes me want
to shake my head very hard.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (16:55):
You know , I think the model has kind of
changed over the years.
Right, and there's more likehey, like you make someone feel
better, you make them better,you make them move better, fix
their problem.
Dr Hughes, DC (17:04):
They're going to come back to you later.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (17:06):
Exactly Because people are going to
throw stuff out right Like it'spart of life and if you do a
good job and you can get themout and out of that pain quickly
, like that's only a moretestament to how good you are
right, exactly.
They'll come back.
They want to work with you,that's my thing.
Dr Hughes, DC (17:21):
It's like I always tell patients when they
first come in I'm like I'm notthat chiropractor that wants to
see you every day for the restof your life.
You may be fun, you may be cool, you may make me laugh, we may
have a great time in my office,but I want to get you better.
Sure, like that's the wholereason why you came to me.
So why do I want to see youthat many times when I know you
don't need it?
So that's my biggest thing.
I even have friends that I havedown in West Palm and anytime
(17:43):
they hurt themselves they textme and I'm like, okay, let me
look it up.
And I'll look up chiropractorsin the area and I'm like, okay,
this one, no, this one, no, thisone, no, this one maybe.
And then I'll send them there.
They go, they come back to meand they're like, okay, they
want me to do this.
And I'm like, no, that's notgood, go to somebody else.
Like it's just so hard to find agood chiropractor that wants to
get you better and doesn't wantto just drain your profits and
(18:05):
that's where I structure myentire business model around is
that I want to get you better.
I don't look at the money sideof anything like at all.
Even at the beginning ofpracticing I tried to take
myself out of it and just say,look, I don't even care how much
it takes, I'm going to get youbetter.
And you know, at the beginningyeah, it kind of sucked because
I was really slow, but I gotpatients better.
(18:27):
And then now it's picking up.
Because why?
Because I'm getting them better.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (18:33):
That's what people want.
Dr Hughes, DC (18:34):
That's why they're there exactly.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DP (18:36):
Sometimes you lose sight of that.
I think you're told to go tothe doctor, go do these things,
and you have to versus.
Like, when you go to buysomething right, you buy the TV
because you want to sit aroundand watch the game, right, when
you go to these places becauseyou want to get better and be
able to play with the grandkidsand go golf and all that kind of
stuff.
Dr Hughes, DC (18:51):
So you got to keep that goal in mind in the
day.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (18:54):
The goal is not to become a professional
.
Go to these offices right,exactly.
Figure out what we need to takecare of our body long term.
Exactly, no, 100%.
You have any other fun tidbitsfor us Brittney?
Dr Hughes, DC (19:05):
I mean, just stay active.
You know how important that is,absolutely, and we work hand in
hand with what we do.
I mean there's many of thingsthat I can't do inside my office
that I have to send to you for,because that's what your
specialty is and that's thething is.
Like you need to know yourscope of practice.
I know what I can and cannot do.
Once I get somebody thatstabilization process, I can
(19:27):
give them a little bit here andthere, but if they need more,
they need to go get somethingfrom someone else.
Like that's the thing is knowyour scope of practice.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (19:34):
And we work really well together right,
yeah.
Because there are people whoreally do.
They need what you do and it'sa great way to like hey, like
she knows what she's doing,First of all, it's fine, there's
a whole lot of stuff that runthrough there.
And a lot of times you getadjusted and manipulated right.
You feel better in general tonervous system reset, and more
so than like a replaced, like aputting stuff back in place.
(19:56):
Maybe do the simplest way andtell people that is an awesome
time to now go.
Hey, this thing was hurting forso long.
Let's break that cycle.
Dr Hughes, DC (20:03):
And then go load it, because you're gonna feel a
lot better and better.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:06):
Yet you're gonna move better, right
?
Dr Hughes, DC (20:08):
Now we can load in good positions.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:09):
Yeah, and we just we need that help to
get there right, so that'swhere you come into play.
Dr Hughes, DC (20:14):
Like a little jump start to get you back up
where you need to be.
Yes, jump start.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:17):
I love that.
Yeah, it all goes, it all playstogether, Everything goes back
to a car.
Dr Hughes, DC (20:21):
You know what I mean.
You gotta jump start your carsometimes if that's your body
needs it to.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:25):
I love that analogy.
It's easy to comprehend.
Dr Hughes, DC (20:27):
It is, and that's the thing.
You gotta be able to break itdown to where other people can
understand it, because I couldcome in here and talk all
scientifically to you all daylong and you would get it, but
all these people watching you'regonna have a million comments
like never allow her back again.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:40):
I think you even see that trend with
chiropractic and physicaltherapy, where we have this
really cool thing where we canoperate just on the outskirts of
like traditional medicine andwe can focus on like, hey, we're
gonna tell you what's going on.
It doesn't have to becomplicated, it really doesn't.
Exactly, you just know when thecomplicated stuff sometimes
just makes it a little harder.
(21:00):
Yeah, no, it definitely does.
Dr Hughes, DC (21:01):
The more the patient understands about what's
going on with their body, themore likely they are to feel
better and stick to the plan,buy in Yep exactly so like, if
you can break it down like Ihave a little model of a disc
herniation.
It's a perfect like twovertebrae's and a little sponge
in between right, and I use thatmodel so many times I'm pretty
sure I gotta buy like six more.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (21:21):
Yep.
Dr Hughes, DC (21:22):
Because I'm running around to each room
trying to find it whenever Ihave a patient come in that has
a disc injury, because I wantthem to see what's going on.
Like, if they know what's goingon, they're more likely to get
better Absolutely.
And so there's been many atimes, like I always use the
analogy of I explain what I'mdoing and why I'm doing it when
I'm adjusting, because I hategoing into a doctor's office and
not knowing what they're doingand why they're doing it.
(21:43):
Like, how many times have yougone to the doctor's office and
they just start drawing blood?
Why are you drawing blood?
What are you looking for?
Don't you need a reason to dowhat you're doing?
Oh, it's just, we do it onevery patient.
Why?
But what are you looking for?
Sure, and the same thing is whenyou take your dog to the vet.
You go in there and you'll walkout with a $700 bill and don't
even know what happened.
(22:03):
They gave your dog a treat.
Next thing you know you'repaying 800 bucks, like it's
insane.
So tell me what you're doing.
Sure, tell me why you're doingit and tell me what you're
looking for.
So that's exactly what I dowhen a patient comes into my
office.
I walk them through the entireadjustment.
I don't care if they've been tochiropractors every single day
since they were born.
I want you to know what I'mdoing and why.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, D (22:22):
Absolutely .
Dr Hughes, DC (22:22):
So I walk them through it and then after that
I'm like okay, you should feelbetter, and if you don't, let's
bring you back in, let's getthis assessed, let's figure out
what's worked best for your body, because every spine is
different.
So the way you respond isn'thow I respond, isn't how Joe
down the street responds.
So figure out how you respondand treat that way.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (22:41):
You got it.
You got to see what's in frontof you Exactly.
Dr Hughes, DC (22:43):
Make it as simple as possible and go for it, yeah
.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (22:46):
Brittney .
How can we find you when you at?
Dr Hughes, DC (22:49):
So I am at Riverside Chiropractic.
It's located here in Vero Beach.
We are right down the road fromyou now.
We used to be next door.
We just moved to a biggerlocation because we're growing
so exponentially.
That's awesome.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:00):
Yes.
Dr Hughes, DC (23:02):
Which I can't wait for you to come see it.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:03):
Yes, I'll be over there, hopefully in
the next couple of days.
Dr Hughes, DC (23:05):
Yeah, we actually just moved yesterday so we're
still trying to work out.
The kinks ran into a little row, bumps here and there, but
we're getting there.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:11):
You guys are seeing patients there
correct?
Dr Hughes, DC (23:13):
Yes, yes, started yesterday, which was rough, but
we did it.
We made it through.
I also learned that there's along way around and then a short
way, and I always ended uptaking the long way.
So I hit all my steps by then,which was good.
But what the heck?
But yeah, so I'm at RiversideChiropractic.
It's down the road, it's.
You can reach out to me onFacebook, on Instagram, anything
(23:39):
like that.
Look up the office, call theoffice line.
I'll be glad to talk to you.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:43):
I'll throw all your info in the show
notes.
needs.
You will find it and just clickthat link in the bottom.
Dr Hughes, DC (23:48):
See, he knows all the stuff.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:50):
We know what's easier is just click that
link.
Thank that for you, yes.
Dr Hughes, DC (23:53):
It's not clickable, it's worthless.
Exactly.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:56):
Brittany was awesome talking to you and
go see her! Yeah, thank you.
So, welcome to Hercules Performance
Physical Therapy podcast.
We have Dr Brittany Hughes here.
She's a chiropractor.
I'm going to let her just tellus a little bit about you, what
I do.
Go for it.
Dr Hughes, DC (00:12):
Yeah, so basically, like you said, I'm a
chiropractor.
I focus a lot on not onlygetting patients out of pain,
but making sure that they knowthat pain isn't what I'm chasing
.
So just because you come inwith a pain signal does not mean
that that's exactly what I'mgoing to treat.
I want you to be functioningoverall at the highest amount,
and I also want you to focus onhaving health, and health is
(00:32):
very important.
Just because you don't havepain doesn't mean that you're
healthy.
So we want to really focus onjust getting you better not only
feeling better, but functioningbetter.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (00:40):
by functioning better.
Dr Hughes, DC (00:41):
So where you don't have any appearances in
the nervous system, where you'renot having like GERD after you
eat, where you're not havingissues go into sleep, where
you're not having all thesedifferent kinds of things that
can happen when you have thoseinterferences in the nervous
system.
So when we do the adjustmentsand we clear them, that's when
you're functioning at thehighest amount that you can be
and that's whenever you'refunctioning at the optimal
(01:04):
support.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (01:05):
Have you found patients say to you that
they actually are sleeping alittle better after some of
these adjustments andmanipulations ?
Dr Hughes, DC (01:17):
I'm not going to use names, but I had this two
year old adjustments come inand the mother was at her wits
in.
She had been to thepediatrician a million times.
He's having extreme nightterrors, like to the point to
where he's waking up six toseven times a night, screaming
bloody murder and crying, and sothe parents aren't sleeping.
His sister that's a baby,newborn isn't sleeping.
(01:38):
He's not sleeping.
The whole family's a mess.
This has been going on formonths and every single night he
has night terrors.
So she, finally thepediatrician was like I don't
know what else to do, bring themto a chiropractor.
So what I did is I did a fullassessment on them.
I made sure everything was good.
I went all the way back to hisbirth, like I was asking the
mother all these questions didyou use four steps?
Did you have a vaginal birth?
(01:59):
Did you have a C section?
You know, really going in depth.
Well, once we were done with thehistory, basically the little
boy was terrified of doctorsbecause he's been in and out of
doctors since he was bornbecause of the night terrors you
know the past six months.
So I set him down on my table,I grabbed a pad, kind of like
this, right here, and I gave hima pen.
I said draw me something fun.
So he's sitting on the table.
(02:20):
I said mommy, come sit in frontof him.
So she sits in front of him andthey're drawing.
And I get behind him and I grabmy little activator, which is a
tool that I used to adjustbabies for the most part, and I
show it to him like look, yousee this tool, isn't it cool?
And then I was like mom, let mesee your hand.
So I grabbed mom's hand and Ijust did the hand and then I
grabbed his hand.
I did the same thing.
So he was fine with it.
Then we go and I start feelingthe spine.
(02:40):
He's sitting in front of me,I'm feeling, I'm feeling and his
C one, which is the firstvertebrae in the spine, was
severely rotated.
So all I did was I grabbedright there.
He grabbed my hand because itwas painful, because it's so
badly rotated, and I was likeit's okay, it's okay.
So I grabbed it, put my handthere, adjusted it, and he
turned around and looked at me.
And he turned around and gaveme a hug.
This little baby that isterrified of doctors, like
(03:04):
absolutely was screaming bloodymurder in my waiting room, gave
me a hug and then I went all theway down the spine, adjusted
what needed to be adjusted andthen I told him you know, come
back in at the end of the week.
I want to see how he responded.
I know he's going to respondwell, but I just want to hear it
from you to make sure she comesback in.
Three days later she gave me ahug.
He hasn't had a night caresince.
(03:24):
He slept throughout the nightand it was something that simple
.
You know, just a rotation ofthe Atlas and Getting that fixed
makes a huge difference.
So that it happens in babies,it happens in adults.
So it's the same thing.
We have the same amount ofbirth rate whether we're a
newborn, whether we're 82 yearsold.
So bone is there exactly.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (03:41):
Yeah, we don't grow bone as we age, I
think that's a testament tolooking outside what the
traditional idea of medicine.
Okay, I have night terrors.
Right, I need to go see a doc.
I need to go see all this andthose are definitely part of the
plan of care, right, but usingthese other sources that are
researched
Dr Hughes, DC (04:17):
My biggest thing is the way I look at health care
nowadays, which I learned thiswhen I went to a seminar up in
Colorado Not long ago we nolonger have a health care system
.
We have a sick care system,absolutely.
So you go to the hospital forsomething small like, let's say,
high blood pressure.
Guess what they put you on highblood pressure meds.
Why do you have high bloodpressure?
They don't know.
I'm just gonna put you on meds.
Mm-hmm then, guess what?
(04:37):
There's a side effect to thatmed.
So now you're on another one,then you're on another one, then
you're on another one and it'sjust a downhaul.
You know, fall, yeah, and so weno longer have a health care
system.
Our health care system is ouralternative medicine physical
therapy, chiropractic massagetherapy, acupuncture that's your
health care.
What do we do?
We look at the root cause ofwhat's going on.
Why do you have high bloodpressure?
(04:57):
Oh, the segment thatIntervation to your heart is out
.
Let me adjust that.
Guess what.
Your blood pressure goes down.
It's, it's simple.
I mean, it's science, it'sthere, is evidence-based.
It's just a matter of gettingthat knowledge out there, to
where people know that there'san alternative to medicine and
the alternative is Health care,not sick care.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (05:16):
I mean, just when you even look at what
some of the gyms are doing thesedays and like advocating for,
this stuff exists.
All all this exercise, thatkind of stuff, the alternative
medicine, like that is how wewill Correct and create a health
care system as you say rightinstead of a sick care, and
there's a lot of dominoes needto fall first, but it's starting
(05:38):
right.
You can even notice in a smallarea like Vero Beach here that
may be a little bit moretraditional and what not.
There are plenty of alternativeproviders that are adding some
really cool stuff to the area.
Yeah.
Dr Hughes, DC (05:51):
I mean, my favorite is the fact that when
people come in and they're likeI've tried everything and I'm
like, good, I'm glad you, yeah,I'm glad you did, because now,
guess what, I'm your last hopeand I'm gonna get you better,
and then you're gonna regrettrying everything else, like
that's just the main thing.
And diet diet is huge, as youknow.
Like 90% of weight loss is diet.
So people are eating like crapand they get high cholesterol
(06:14):
and you're like they go take amedicine for it and I'm like
that is defeating the wholepurpose of this.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (06:20):
Not fixing the root cause at all.
Exactly the root cause is whatyou really need to focus on,
sure and often times, in a lotof cases, it takes longer than
people want, right.
But there are ways like whatyou do, some of the stuff that I
do, where you can kind of breakthe cycle a little quicker and
then that will allow you to dothe big things you need like
getting your nutrition right?
Getting your sleeping right?
Dr Hughes, DC (06:46):
Yeah, it's a huge difference, and I mean
something that small can make ahuge change in your life,
absolutely so I mean you we'renot always chasing pain.
It can be something that's notpain related.
It can be, you know, like Isaid, neuropathy issues.
It can be cholesterol, highblood pressure.
That's not necessarily painful,sure.
Does it make you an unhealthyperson?
Correct?
Yeah, so we want you tofunction correctly, we want you
(07:07):
to be an optimal health, and sojust just because you're not in
pain, does it mean you don'tneed to see a chiropractor?
Like I have patients all thetime.
When they come in, I'm like howare you feeling?
They're like, oh well, Iwouldn't be here if I was doing
better.
And I'm like, well, no, that'snot the case.
Like chiropractic wasoriginally made to be a Like
alternative.
It's supposed to bePreventative help.
(07:28):
Yeah so we're supposed toprevent you from getting sick,
prevent you from having theseissues?
Now it's kind of changed tobeing pain source.
So you have pain, you go to achiropractor.
No, that shouldn't be that.
It's like when you drive yourcar, right, so you get a brand
new car, you drive it 6,000miles, mm-hmm.
You don't just keep driving ituntil it breaks and then take it
to the mechanic.
(07:48):
You go get an oil change andget your tires rotated.
You do maintenance on your carto keep it from breaking.
Why do we treat our car so wellby our body, so bad, so we don't
do these maintenance, thesecheckups on our body, when this
is the only one you have?
You can crash your car and goget another one.
This is all that you have.
You're gone, you're gone, andso why don't we do maintenance
(08:10):
on our bodies?
Instead, we do maintenance onour vehicles.
We treasure those so much andthen we only check on us
whenever we're in pain, whichpain is very subjective,
obviously, and it's also verystrange in the sense that it's
the last thing that comes withan injury and the first thing
that leaves.
So, with that being said, arepetitive trauma, injury.
(08:30):
So say, you work at a desk allday and you're constantly
hunched over and you're usingyour mouse way out here and then
you end up with shoulder painand neck pain and back pain.
That didn't come the first dayyou started your job.
That came six years after,absolutely.
So it's the last thing thatcomes with an injury, but it's
also the first thing that leaves.
So just because you're not inpain doesn't mean that you're
better.
You're still unstable becausethey you have pain.
(08:51):
That's the first sign ofinstability.
So, with that being said, justbecause the pain is gone doesn't
mean you're stabilized.
So once the pain is gone, youmove on to the next step, which
is stabilization, which is wherephysical therapy comes into
play, where we work on yourbiomechanics.
So, instead of sitting likethis and working like this,
you're sitting like this andworking with your your wrist
cocked up.
So that makes a huge difference.
So biomechanics, physicaltherapy, massage, acupuncture,
(09:13):
chiropractic it's allhand-in-hand.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, D (09:15):
Absolutely , and it's a synergistic thing,
right.
There's certain things that youguys do.
Right that you look at it froma slightly different angle, but
I believe the way to really movethe health care system forward
is right.
You need all these differentangles that create this like big
pie right and that creates thewhole health care model in a
sense?
Dr Hughes, DC (09:32):
Yeah, it sure does.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (09:33):
I wanted to kind of pick on where you
use the phrase often laggingindicator for pain where it
really is.
It's like the check engine latebut your oil light is already
down or what not.
You've already been driving50,000 miles.
You get people like I hadsomeone the other day who walked
in and like, oh, I changed myroutine or life up about a year
ago but now I'm having pain.
Like that's not super un common, like it's hard to put two and
(09:55):
two together.
Yep, but big changes sometimesthey take a while to basically
happen into pain.
Right, and however thatmovement dysfunction, the stuff
that you were doing that mayhave caused it.
It's been a long time ago,exactly, part of your daily,
exactly right.
Dr Hughes, DC (10:10):
The biggest thing is I not only ask what were you
doing when the injury started,it's what'd you do for the last
10 years?
Absolutely and I mean movementis so important.
You know from what you do everysingle day.
So when I see an ex-athletecome into my office and they
trained, you know they traintheir body to be able to play,
let's just say, soccer.
For 18, 19 years of their life.
(10:31):
They go off to college and theyhave a sedentary lifestyle
because they're not playing incollege anymore.
Then they come to me andthey're like why am I in pain
now that I'm not playing anymorebecause you're not moving?
Yeah, like you're sitting at adesk all day studying, you're
laying in a little bitty cot inyour dorm like everything adds
up.
And when you train your body tohave that Elasticity to play
(10:52):
soccer your knees, your, yourhips, everything and you stop,
you're going to go backwards,absolutely.
So you've got to keep moving.
Movement is so important.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (11:02):
Isn't it funny that you see these
injuries and they startoccurring at a higher frequency.
You, you think like 35 to 40,you start seeing people, yeah,
things are breaking down, butwhen you look at it, they are
way less active, you're notreally doing that much other
than maybe sitting in badpositions or whatever.
So why is it that at 25, whenyou're running around slamming
(11:25):
yourself in to stuff, right,you're fine, but later, yeah,
there's an age thing, but couldjust be that you stop moving,
right?
Stop doing what your body wasmeant to do, it's huge.
Dr Hughes, DC (11:33):
I mean my first thing when I have like a 75 year
old come into my office, he'slike I can't play golf anymore.
And I'm like, well, I'm gonnaget you back to playing golf.
Sure it's, I'm not that person.
It's gonna say don't play golfanymore.
I'm gonna say, take a step backfor two weeks, let's get you
better, and then let's ease backinto it, because movement is
important Absolutely.
There's a reason why you knowthese athletes.
They're able to keep doing whatthey're doing because they're
(11:55):
moving.
Yeah, like it's it, you gobackwards when you stop.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (11:58):
So and that brings up a really good
point in the sense of even if wehave to remove ourselves from
the sport for a little while,that does not mean hey, we're
not doing anything right.
And it could also be a maybewe're not using the driver right
, something with a long axis,basically a lot of torque on the
back.
Maybe, hey, we're just puttingfor the next few weeks, but
(12:18):
that's actually, you're outthere moving.
There's a pain relief effectjust to exercise that like high
you get in the middle of aworkout.
Dr Hughes, DC (12:25):
That's your body's way of being pumping,
that's your body's way of sayingwe like this keep doing Right.
Yep, I mean, there's such thingas a good sore.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (12:33):
Yes, I mean after a good workout.
Dr Hughes, DC (12:35):
You want to be sore, mm-hmm, and that's a good
sort.
You feel great when you're.
I mean it sucks going upstairs,but it's a great sore.
You know what I mean.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (12:43):
I thought I was the only weirdo
that like the soreness, thatlike little bit of quad soreness
after a word.
There's definitely the kindwhere you're like I can't stand
up too much, but it's rare.
Yeah, that good sore that'swhat you want.
Dr Hughes, DC (12:56):
Yes, absolutely I got them in the calves right
now for the dubs exactly.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (13:01):
Brittany , give me a couple just like fun
little tidbits.
I'm gonna ask you some funlittle tidbits about
chiropractic.
So one I often get is whathappens with a pop or no crack
that you may get yeah, so thatpopping, cracking sound.
Dr Hughes, DC (13:14):
You know I can take all these scientific words
and put it into it, but I'm justgonna be simple.
It's a gas release, okay, soHear that?
Yep, that's a release of gas.
So what the adjustment does isit kind of opens up the synovial
fluid and when it does that, ifthere's any gas in there, it
releases.
So a lot of times if you get anadjustment and you don't hear a
pop doesn't mean it didn't move.
(13:34):
It just means that you didn'thave any gas filter.
So the gas builds up.
Whenever you have two segmentsthat are kind of like this Okay,
when one turns and it's stuck,gas forms in the synovial fluid.
So when we adjust it back, thatgas releases and it makes that
pop, I mean, yeah, don't get mewrong, I love the sound of that.
Like I may Definitely crack atit, but when it comes to making
(13:56):
the sound versus getting thething to move, I focus more on
getting movement, mm-hmm, but Ido love the sound.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (14:01):
Yeah, the sound is good, Like it just
gives you that a little bit offeedback.
Dr Hughes, DC (14:05):
Oh, I got it.
Yes, exactly, even though weknow that's not necessarily
what's going on.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (14:09):
It's just a good correlate.
Dr Hughes, DC (14:10):
I like it.
It's one of those things, youknow, you just get some thrill
out of it yeah because thepatients hear it, they feel
better.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (14:16):
Yeah great audible response there's a
phrase of my family always saidgrowing up when we were playing
sports look good, play good.
Dr Hughes, DC (14:23):
It's kind of sound good, play good, whatever
it is like that.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (14:26):
So let's say you get that pop.
You don't get the pop, you getjust manipulated.
What is kind of course foraction after that?
What would you say are bestpractices?
Dr Hughes, DC (14:34):
So I have three steps to recovery.
First step is get you out ofpain.
So I don't chase pain, but ifyou're in pain I'm gonna try to
decrease, sure.
So let's get you out of pain.
Second space is let's stabilizethat instability that you got
going on.
The fact that there's painthere Means that you're unstable
.
You wouldn't have pain if youwere completely stabilized.
So the fact that you have painmeans you're unstable.
So second step is stabilize.
(14:55):
Stabilize is where you comeinto play.
That's where you do functionalStrengthening, that's where you
do biomechanic training.
We give you small exercises todo at home.
You know all these littlethings.
And after stabilization ispretty much maintenance.
You know, every once in a whileget your car oil change,
basically.
And so that's kind of the threesteps that I try to go through.
(15:16):
My goal isn't to see patientsevery day for the rest of their
life.
Sure, there's somechiropractors that you walk into
their office.
The first thing they say is oh,you have pain.
Yeah, that's gonna take meabout three times a week for
four weeks, seven times or twotimes a week for seven weeks and
buck.
And next thing, you know you'reon a six month plan.
Sure, if it takes you sixmonths to get out of playing
pain, get out of that officebecause you're not in the right
(15:36):
one.
Yeah, so Basically you justneed to focus on those three
steps and every patient'sdifferent Somebody that's active
, like you.
If you were in pain, it mighttake you two adjustments and
you're better like you're out ofpain, then we work on
stabilizing you.
But if it's somebody that is,you know, 75, they've reached
all options they can.
They're on pain medicine everysingle day.
(15:58):
They come into my office.
It's going to take them acouple of weeks, so you have to
structure the three-phase planto each patient so when every
patient comes into your officethey get the same plan.
That's terrible chiropracticcare, if you ask me, and all
that is is money.
All they're wanting is moneyout of your pocket.
But my thing is is, if youfocus on getting the patient
(16:18):
better, getting them out of pain, stabilizing them, putting them
on maintenance to come in everyonce in a while, they're going
to tell other patients oh,absolutely.
Your office is going to bebooming and you're not going to
be worried about.
You know, do I have to pay therent?
Do I have to do this?
You're going to be more focusedon patients and when you start
focusing on patients, you see ahuge change in your office.
(16:38):
Whenever you're giving outthose stupid care plans that are
six months long for everysingle patient, with the exact
same weeks like spread outfrequency, that's the wrong way
to do it.
I've seen many chiropractors dothat and it just makes me want
to shake my head very hard.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (16:55):
You know , I think the model has kind of
changed over the years.
Right, and there's more likehey, like you make someone feel
better, you make them better,you make them move better, fix
their problem.
Dr Hughes, DC (17:04):
They're going to come back to you later.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (17:06):
Exactly Because people are going to
throw stuff out right Like it'spart of life and if you do a
good job and you can get themout and out of that pain quickly
, like that's only a moretestament to how good you are
right, exactly.
They'll come back.
They want to work with you,that's my thing.
Dr Hughes, DC (17:21):
It's like I always tell patients when they
first come in I'm like I'm notthat chiropractor that wants to
see you every day for the restof your life.
You may be fun, you may be cool, you may make me laugh, we may
have a great time in my office,but I want to get you better.
Sure, like that's the wholereason why you came to me.
So why do I want to see youthat many times when I know you
don't need it?
So that's my biggest thing.
I even have friends that I havedown in West Palm and anytime
(17:43):
they hurt themselves they textme and I'm like, okay, let me
look it up.
And I'll look up chiropractorsin the area and I'm like, okay,
this one, no, this one, no, thisone, no, this one maybe.
And then I'll send them there.
They go, they come back to meand they're like, okay, they
want me to do this.
And I'm like, no, that's notgood, go to somebody else.
Like it's just so hard to find agood chiropractor that wants to
get you better and doesn't wantto just drain your profits and
(18:05):
that's where I structure myentire business model around is
that I want to get you better.
I don't look at the money sideof anything like at all.
Even at the beginning ofpracticing I tried to take
myself out of it and just say,look, I don't even care how much
it takes, I'm going to get youbetter.
And you know, at the beginningyeah, it kind of sucked because
I was really slow, but I gotpatients better.
(18:27):
And then now it's picking up.
Because why?
Because I'm getting them better.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (18:33):
That's what people want.
Dr Hughes, DC (18:34):
That's why they're there exactly.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DP (18:36):
Sometimes you lose sight of that.
I think you're told to go tothe doctor, go do these things,
and you have to versus.
Like, when you go to buysomething right, you buy the TV
because you want to sit aroundand watch the game, right, when
you go to these places becauseyou want to get better and be
able to play with the grandkidsand go golf and all that kind of
stuff.
Dr Hughes, DC (18:51):
So you got to keep that goal in mind in the
day.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (18:54):
The goal is not to become a professional
.
Go to these offices right,exactly.
Figure out what we need to takecare of our body long term.
Exactly, no, 100%.
You have any other fun tidbitsfor us Brittney?
Dr Hughes, DC (19:05):
I mean, just stay active.
You know how important that is,absolutely, and we work hand in
hand with what we do.
I mean there's many of thingsthat I can't do inside my office
that I have to send to you for,because that's what your
specialty is and that's thething is.
Like you need to know yourscope of practice.
I know what I can and cannot do.
Once I get somebody thatstabilization process, I can
(19:27):
give them a little bit here andthere, but if they need more,
they need to go get somethingfrom someone else.
Like that's the thing is knowyour scope of practice.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (19:34):
And we work really well together right,
yeah.
Because there are people whoreally do.
They need what you do and it'sa great way to like hey, like
she knows what she's doing,First of all, it's fine, there's
a whole lot of stuff that runthrough there.
And a lot of times you getadjusted and manipulated right.
You feel better in general tonervous system reset, and more
so than like a replaced, like aputting stuff back in place.
(19:56):
Maybe do the simplest way andtell people that is an awesome
time to now go.
Hey, this thing was hurting forso long.
Let's break that cycle.
Dr Hughes, DC (20:03):
And then go load it, because you're gonna feel a
lot better and better.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:06):
Yet you're gonna move better, right
?
Dr Hughes, DC (20:08):
Now we can load in good positions.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:09):
Yeah, and we just we need that help to
get there right, so that'swhere you come into play.
Dr Hughes, DC (20:14):
Like a little jump start to get you back up
where you need to be.
Yes, jump start.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:17):
I love that.
Yeah, it all goes, it all playstogether, Everything goes back
to a car.
Dr Hughes, DC (20:21):
You know what I mean.
You gotta jump start your carsometimes if that's your body
needs it to.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:25):
I love that analogy.
It's easy to comprehend.
Dr Hughes, DC (20:27):
It is, and that's the thing.
You gotta be able to break itdown to where other people can
understand it, because I couldcome in here and talk all
scientifically to you all daylong and you would get it, but
all these people watching you'regonna have a million comments
like never allow her back again.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (20:40):
I think you even see that trend with
chiropractic and physicaltherapy, where we have this
really cool thing where we canoperate just on the outskirts of
like traditional medicine andwe can focus on like, hey, we're
gonna tell you what's going on.
It doesn't have to becomplicated, it really doesn't.
Exactly, you just know when thecomplicated stuff sometimes
just makes it a little harder.
(21:00):
Yeah, no, it definitely does.
Dr Hughes, DC (21:01):
The more the patient understands about what's
going on with their body, themore likely they are to feel
better and stick to the plan,buy in Yep exactly so like, if
you can break it down like Ihave a little model of a disc
herniation.
It's a perfect like twovertebrae's and a little sponge
in between right, and I use thatmodel so many times I'm pretty
sure I gotta buy like six more.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (21:21):
Yep.
Dr Hughes, DC (21:22):
Because I'm running around to each room
trying to find it whenever Ihave a patient come in that has
a disc injury, because I wantthem to see what's going on.
Like, if they know what's goingon, they're more likely to get
better Absolutely.
And so there's been many atimes, like I always use the
analogy of I explain what I'mdoing and why I'm doing it when
I'm adjusting, because I hategoing into a doctor's office and
not knowing what they're doingand why they're doing it.
(21:43):
Like, how many times have yougone to the doctor's office and
they just start drawing blood?
Why are you drawing blood?
What are you looking for?
Don't you need a reason to dowhat you're doing?
Oh, it's just, we do it onevery patient.
Why?
But what are you looking for?
Sure, and the same thing is whenyou take your dog to the vet.
You go in there and you'll walkout with a $700 bill and don't
even know what happened.
(22:03):
They gave your dog a treat.
Next thing you know you'repaying 800 bucks, like it's
insane.
So tell me what you're doing.
Sure, tell me why you're doingit and tell me what you're
looking for.
So that's exactly what I dowhen a patient comes into my
office.
I walk them through the entireadjustment.
I don't care if they've been tochiropractors every single day
since they were born.
I want you to know what I'mdoing and why.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, D (22:22):
Absolutely .
Dr Hughes, DC (22:22):
So I walk them through it and then after that
I'm like okay, you should feelbetter, and if you don't, let's
bring you back in, let's getthis assessed, let's figure out
what's worked best for your body, because every spine is
different.
So the way you respond isn'thow I respond, isn't how Joe
down the street responds.
So figure out how you respondand treat that way.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (22:41):
You got it.
You got to see what's in frontof you Exactly.
Dr Hughes, DC (22:43):
Make it as simple as possible and go for it, yeah
.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (22:46):
Brittney .
How can we find you when you at?
Dr Hughes, DC (22:49):
So I am at Riverside Chiropractic.
It's located here in Vero Beach.
We are right down the road fromyou now.
We used to be next door.
We just moved to a biggerlocation because we're growing
so exponentially.
That's awesome.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:00):
Yes.
Dr Hughes, DC (23:02):
Which I can't wait for you to come see it.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:03):
Yes, I'll be over there, hopefully in
the next couple of days.
Dr Hughes, DC (23:05):
Yeah, we actually just moved yesterday so we're
still trying to work out.
The kinks ran into a little row, bumps here and there, but
we're getting there.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:11):
You guys are seeing patients there
correct?
Dr Hughes, DC (23:13):
Yes, yes, started yesterday, which was rough, but
we did it.
We made it through.
I also learned that there's along way around and then a short
way, and I always ended uptaking the long way.
So I hit all my steps by then,which was good.
But what the heck?
But yeah, so I'm at RiversideChiropractic.
It's down the road, it's.
You can reach out to me onFacebook, on Instagram, anything
(23:39):
like that.
Look up the office, call theoffice line.
I'll be glad to talk to you.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:43):
I'll throw all your info in the show
notes.
needs.
You will find it and just clickthat link in the bottom.
Dr Hughes, DC (23:48):
See, he knows all the stuff.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:50):
We know what's easier is just click that
link.
Thank that for you, yes.
Dr Hughes, DC (23:53):
It's not clickable, it's worthless.
Exactly.
Dr Alec Spano, PT, DPT (23:56):
Brittany was awesome talking to you and
go see her! Yeah, thank you.
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