Pittsburgh Seminar Wrap Up

The seminar this weekend, from my perspective seemed like a success.  It was a good opportunity for me to finally meet the people whose faces I was familiar with from the pictures in our marketing materials and whose voices I was familiar with from so many phone calls. 

Christian started the conference with the announcement of our new generation of PulStars, the PulStar G3!  This new system is smaller and more portable than previous versions and consequently more affordable.  This new system is $1,000 less than the previous generation and will be equipped with a new impulse head that offers more of a "pistol grip" handle.  Along with being more balanced and lining up more properly with the forearm of the user, the new impulse head will have additional buttons that will allow a doctor to control all the functions of the PulStar so she never has to leave the patient.  

Speaking of the previous models, Christian also announced that we have an inventory of the G2 models which will be sold at a steep discount to make room for the new generation.  A couple of the doctors in attendance expressed interest in these systems so I imagine they will go quickly.  If your doctor has considered a PulStar (even if he hasn't), make sure he knows not to miss this opportunity.

Dr. Evans then took some time to outline the evolution of the PulStar from inception to the G3.  It is stunning how much has changed and improved since Dr. Evans decided to try and add technology to the field of chiropractic.  Dr. Jennifer Westcott, one of our trainers and contributors to PulStar's ongoing development, went through basic protocols.  She made it clear to everyone that these basic protocols are effective in relieving most issues patients have.  Finally, Dr. Dan Collins, our lead trainer and researcher, went through advanced protocols and adjusted everyone in the room.  Even veteran PulStar users learned something new from Dr. Collins' presentation.  Saturday was a long day and we covered a lot of information, don't let these 6 sentences fool you.

Sunday was a shorter day which started with Dr. Collins' lecture on extremities.  Dr. Stephen Savoie, our documentation and compliance expert, talked about the soft tissue work he does and some new attachments he is learning to use for this purpose.  The balance of the day was spent on advanced protocols and some hands on training of the attendees.

Judging by the involvement of and interaction among the attendees, I think they all enjoyed the seminar as well.  Hopefully I will be in touch with those that attendee and I'll get to hear first hand how much their patients benefitted from the lessons learned at the seminar.  Rest assured that I'll be sharing that info when I get it.

Interesting Diet Information

I try to follow the "Well" blog on the New York Times website which generally covers many interesting topics dealing with health and well being.  The author, Tara Parker-Pope, doesn't focus solely on food or exercise but rather every aspect of a person's life that might cause them not to be "well".  My opinion is that you'll find something there that will help or benefit you.

I wrote about about my experiences with diet and weight loss at the beginning of the year (hard to believe it is March already) and over the last week, Ms. Parker-Pope has written two interesting posts that I think are worth mentioning.

The first interesting post was the release of The New England Journal of Medicine's findings that it doesn't matter what type of diet you subscribe to, so long as you subscribe to something.  Apparently they took a group of people and assigned them one of four diet plans that had some similarities to popular plans out there like The Atkins Diet et al.  All of the groups lost similar amounts of weight and gained similar amounts of weight back during the two year study.  This means that no one diet plan is better than another.  As long as you watch what you eat in some manner, you can lose weight successfully.  The key to not gaining it back is to maintain that vigilance and not slip back into old habits (I learned that the hard way).

The second interesting post was about a colleague of hers that writes a food column at The Times.  His doctor suggested that he switch to a vegan diet to help with his health problems but given his profession and his enjoyment of food, he didn't feel like that was an option.  He decided to compromise and came up with the idea that he would be "vegan till 6".  His plans was to eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes all day and then have whatever he wants for his dinner.  He says he had dramatic results from this compromise and sticks with this plan today.

The point is that there is no magic pill, silver bullet or fad diet that will get you the results of simply choosing to eat healthier foods and fewer calories more often than eating bad food and lots of calories.  Simply looking at the amount of calories you take in can help.  Many people don't realize that a bag of chips, a bottle of soda or a packet of cookies is more than one serving but often times the label only tells you the calories in one serving.  You maybe consuming 2, 3 or 4 servings every time.  Many people probably don't realize that one fast food meal may contain 50-75% of their recommended calorie intake for an entire day!  Between burgers, fries, sodas, snacks and dessert, I was consuming 2 or 3 days worth of calories in just three meals and a snack without realizing it.

Changing your diet doesn't have to be as painful as we all make it out to be.  Change is always uncomfortable and you need to change your diet in order to lose weight but it doesn't need to be demoralizing.  The post about "vegan till 6" is a great example.  He made the sacrifice of eating differently during the day but maintains the comfort and familiarity of eating what he wants at night.  Change something and stick with it and you will get results, the first post showed that.  Getting the results will help you stick with the plan you choose, the second post showed that.

Go pick a plan and get those results!

Detroit Wrap-Up

By all accounts, the Dertoit Seminar was a success!

After introductions and announcements by Christian and Dr. Evans, the show was turned over to Dr. Dan Collins our head trainer a man who has been instrumental in developing and refining the PulStar.

Dr. Collins lectured on basic protocols, using the standing positional unit and advanced protocols with small group practicums after each session.

Feedback from attendees was positive with the only exception being the weather.  If I could have done something about the 20 degree weather and snow, I'd be making a lot more money.  

Looks like it'll be in the high 30's - low 40's for our Pittsburgh Seminar so leave the ear muffs at home!  There's still room available if you want to catch great information about the PulStar, some exciting announcements and some pre-Spring Pittsburgh weather!

Yoga

At the beginning of the year I mentioned that we would talk about more wellness related topics this year.  Yoga offers many benefits to those that practice it.

As stated in this article from the Mayo Clinic, "the ultimate goal of yoga is to reach complete peacefulness of body and mind, helping you relax and manage stress and anxiety".  Who couldn't benefit from a little more peacefulness of body and mind.

Not only does yoga offer the mental benefit of managing stress and anxiety, it also offers the physical benefit of improving strength, flexibility and balance.  Many professional athletes use yoga to help them maintain their high level of performance.

A good place to start looking for your yoga needs is the Gaiam website where you will find props like mats and other equipment you might need as well as videos and information about their instructors.

Yoga can be a huge benefit to achieving those New Year's resolutions you made that might be drifting off your radar right about now.

Pittsburgh Seminar

Our biggest seminar of the year is coming up March 7th and 8th!

We will be hosting a 2 day conference at the Doubletree Hotel in Pittsburgh where attendees will receive in depth training with the PulStar Multiple Impulse Therapy.  Our national trainers will be there to teach basic and advanced protocols.  Attendees can also become certified at this seminar.  

If you can't make the Detroit seminar in February, this one is only a couple of hours away.   

To register call 800-628-9416.