Chiropractic Tips, Tools, Products, and Resources

We all feel sorry for ourselves from time to time.  We all have situations and events that hold us back. Or more appropriately put, we all have situations we LET hold us back. It happens to the best of us. That doesn’t have to lead to failure, but it often does.  The difference between success and failure is often as simple as making a conscious decision NOT to to fail.

Every once in awhile I come across a story that simply blows my mind, smacks me upside the head and makes me realize we can rise to levels of greatness and achieve things so much greater than we ever imagine, if we just put our minds to it. Today that mind blowing story comes in the form of 29-year-old Matt Stutzsman, a young man born without both arms who does his own automobile repairs with his feet!  I’m not talking he turns a wrench every now and then while a friend does the rest..I’m talking he drives his car over to his friend’s garage, jacks the car up, puts sockets on impact wrenches and does it all. I’ve posted one of Matt’s YouTube videos below and it’s truly amazing:

To think I whine about being able to reach the spark plugs on my car or spilling a little 5W-30 on the garage floor when I change my oil!

I came across Matt’s story here via AOL.com’s homepage and it really got me thinking. His inspirational and motivational videos make me realize how those of us fortunate enough to have full use of all four limbs can manage to whine about little things holding us back. Most obstacles only hold us back because we let them.

Seeing a motivated person like Mr. Stutzsman makes you realize we can overcome much more than we may give ourselves credit for.  What’s holding you back from achieving Chiropractic success? Ask yourself what roadblocks are present on the path to Chiropractic success. I’d like you to make a list of the top 5 or 10 obstacles that are keeping you from achieving that next level of Chiropractic and personal greatness. I don’t care what your definition of success is. Is is more wealth? More new patients? Greater patient retention? More time with family? Whatever your goals and desires are, let’s list what’s keeping you from getting there.

After you make that list go through and honestly ask yourself which obstacles are REAL and which are excuses.  Maybe slow business and the economy are  holding you back.  Are finances and the economy really that bad, or are you letting them be your crutch?  You see where I’m going with this.

Take a good hard look at that list and decide which roadblocks you are going to bust through. Which ones are you simply allowing to be a setback?  Which ones could you overcome if you REALLY wanted to? There may be a few items on your list you simply can’t do anything about, but I’m willing to bet most of the items we list are little more than inconvienences that we allow to become barriers to our Chiropractic success. Chiropractic success can be as simple as deciding we aren’t going to allow something to hold us back any more. The word “can’t” is a powerful poison and we shouldn’t think it or use it in daily conversation. Our friend Matt certainly doesn’t the meaning of the word!

As Chiropractors and human beings we should all take note of truly inspirational stories like that of Matt Stutzsman. Personal and professional success is something that we must strive for and work at. We certainly can’t let obstacles stand in our way. When approached with challenges life throws our way we have only two options: fight back and overcome or let those challenges defeat us and settle for less than what we desire. You CAN achieve whatever goals you set for yourself, you just have to figure out how!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving.

We are so busy filling orders for our holiday rush over at ChiropracticArt.com and keeping up with the demands of our Chiropractic internet marketing clients that we just haven’t had much time to focus on our own blog! I promise we’ve got some pretty cool review posts and some great Chiropractic posts coming soon.

I also wanted to give you the inside scoop that word is we may be running a little Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday type sale over at ChiropracticArt.com. It’s hard to believe we can offer better deals than we already do, but keep an eye out over the weekend for some potential great deals!

Enjoy your holiday weekend if you are lucky enough to get that much time off and be sure to pause and give thanks for all of the things we have to be truly grateful for!

Sincerely,
-Dr. James

Wow..it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted here on the ChiropracticPR.com blog. I’ve had many people email or call asking if everything is alright and where the new blog posts have been.

I apologize for the absence but we’ve just been slammed with work. Honestly the last couple of months has seen a huge influx of work that we’ve been struggling to stay on top of! We also had some issues with our hosting provider and our server lately and it took us a few days to iron all of that out.

Not to mention it’s the Holiday shopping season…and the orders are coming in fast and furious over at ChiropracticArt.com. For those of you who may not be aware, I also run ChiropracticArt.com and I do nearly all of our hand painted Chiropractic paintings. Needless to say our cool Chiropractic art and affordable prices make for a high volume of orders at peak shopping times.

That’s right! The Holiday shopping season is upon us. Wow did the summer ever fly by this year. With the holiday shopping season in mind I decided to start a new blog series: Chiropractic Gift Recommendations. Many of you have purchased nearly our full catalog of Chiropractic art and often ask for other Chiropractic gift ideas. I decided to try a new type of blog post where I recommend some great ideas for that special Chiropractor in your life. Whether you are shopping for yourself, a colleague, or someone else we have some great ideas in the works.

Many of these will be great Chiropractic specific gifts, and some will not. I don’t want this to be limited to Chiropractic practice tools or products ONLY so I’ll do my best to balance things out. Basically if it is a great gift idea and would be useful or interesting to the average Chiropractor then I’ll write up a blog post about it. It should even be useful for all of us Chiropractors because it will give us some gift ideas for online shopping. After all we simply don’t have a ton of time to get out and shop!

Hopefully this will be beneficial to all and can be an ongoing project to look forward to each year.

I’ll be putting up the very first post in this series shortly so stay tuned. Along the way if you have some great Chiropractic gift ideas or products or websites you’d like to see us blog about in the series contact me and let me know!

-Dr. James

About a month ago I requested and received a free sample of Chiro-Squad(R) Superheroes trading cards. Being a single dad of a third-grader I know first hand the challenges of communicating the Chiropractic message to children. That’s why when I saw mention of the trading cards on facebook, along with an invitation to receive a free sample pack, I decided to see what the cards were all about.

I was pretty amazed at how fast my free sample pack actually arrived. I expected to wait a week or two but actually received the free sample within 2 or 3 days!   When I opened the package my pleasant surprise continued.

I have to admit I wasn’t expecting much in the way of quality.  I anticipated some light weight stock or cheap paper used for the trading cards. I was shocked to see they are printed on an extremely high quality glossy and heavy weight card stock.  The cards are glossy on the front and back.  The bottom line is these are not the paper thin cards I was expecting. They are definitely designed to withstand daily practice life and the rigors of being collected and traded by children. You can clearly see the gloss and high quality of these cards in the digital photos I snapped of them:

Although I was very satisfied with the cards I decided to move on to the real test, my eight year old son.  As I am reminded on a daily basis. . . there are few things as critical and brutally honest in this world as my eight year old boy.  (I can only imagine what the teen years will be like.)  With that in mind I was prepared for the worst.

I announced that I had ordered him a sample of Chiropractic Superhero trading cards. I expected some eye rolling and groaning but as he flipped through them he instead uttered the single word phrase, “cool!”  That may not sound like much, but if you have ever interacted with a grade school aged male, you’ll recognize it for the glowing positive testimonial that it really is.

He further confirmed his love for the cards later that evening when we had to run some errands.  My son had to take his Chiro-Squad trading cards with him in the car. Another very good sign!  The ultimate compliment for the Chiro-Squad trading cards came a few minutes later when he was describing details he was READING on the back of the cards. Yes you heard me correctly:  An eight year old was voluntarily reading!

He proudly informed me Cervico is his favorite character “because he is from Davenport”.  (My son fondly remembers our days at the Palmer College of Chiropractic campus in Davenport, IA and often requests to move back there someday). He went on to describe some of the body parts supplied by the third cervical spinal nerve.

Although he occasionally needed help with reading some of the words on the back of the cards, he was genuinely excited about learning the information. The few times he had difficulty with reading or pronouncing a word provided a great opportunity to educate him. What a wonderful way to assist him with understanding Chiropractic philosophy and human anatomy!

Overall these cards were a hit with me, and most importantly, with their target audience.  My son has already requested (ok. . . DEMANDED) that I purchase the remaining two packs so he can complete the entire 30 card set.

I currently don’t see a ton of pediatric patients in my Chiropractic practice but I’m hoping these Chiro-Squad trading cards will help change that.  I think they are a great way to reach out to children of existing patients and their families.  I plan on ordering more of the trading cards and the Chiro-Squad practice marketing kit which consists of stickers, tattoos, office posters, and even Chiro-Squad Kids’ Club membership cards.

I think the trading cards are a fantastic idea and a great way to communicate the Chiropractic wellness model to entire families. I want to thank Dr. Vic Naumov, D.C. for creating such a great product at a great price. I’ll wrap up my review with our “what’s hot” and “what’s not” breakdown.  After that I’ll conclude with some more information about the trading cards and where to buy them online.

What’s Hot:

• Very high quality glossy stock
• Durable
• Very affordable
• Colorful and attractive designs
• Variety of purchase options: Buy individual packs or buy in bulk
• Internal marketing kits to support the trading cards
• Positive and Principled Chiropractic and wellness messages
• Both Male and Female Superheroes avoid alienating either gender
• Extremely easy to introduce and implement in the busiest of practices

What’s Not:

There really isn’t much to NOT Like about the Chiro-Squad cards but here are the few negatives we could come up with:

• Not for all ages. (Probably most effective for the 5-12 year age range)
• Although both male and female characters exist, the cards still will generally probably appeal more to boys than girls.
• Due to the nature of the topics addressed, some of the words can be a little challenging for early readers, but that’s where the Doctor and parents come in!
• And the final potential negative “What’s Not” comes from my son:

“No fully poseable Chiro-Squad action figures!”

The Chiro-Squad(R) Superheroes

“Connecting Kids & Chiropractic Across the Globe!”

Let’s look at the Chiro-Squad Superhero trading cards in a little more detail.

The Chiro-Squad was created by New Jersey Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Vic Naumov.  The squad consists of a team of 5 Chiropractic superhero characters:

• Cervico
• Lumbardo
• Thoracico
• Thoracica
• Sacra

The Chiro-Squad Chiropractic superhero trading card set consists of 30 total cards available in 3 separate packs of ten cards each.  There are 24 cards representing each of the spinal levels and six bonus cards. Each of the 24 individual spinal segment cards features a Chiro-Squad character on the front and valuable chiropractic patient education on the reverse. The back of the card features a description of background information on the Chiro-Squad character, a spinal nerve chart, a description of the body areas supplied by the spinal nerve in question, and possible health conditions associated with the spinal nerve highlighted.

Each individual card also discusses a Chiropractic Principle and features a notable Chiropractic related quote from Dr. Vic Naumov.  The bonus cards feature additional bonus information. For example, the back of the “United” card in our sample describes the origin of the Chiro-Squad.

For more information, or to order your Chiro-Squad trading cards, visit the official website at:

http://www.chirosquad.com

You can also use the contact information below:

It’s review time again!  For those of you who haven’t been following along, we often come across a Chiropractic related website, product, or service we want to rant or rave about.  It’s a great way to break the monotony around here while spreading the word about things that may (or may not) be of benefit to your Chiropractic practice. Today we’ll be looking at VistaPrint.com

My first experience with Vistaprint.com was while attending Palmer College of Chiropractic.  When we finally entered student clinic nearly everyone, including myself, got free business cards from Vistaprint to help us network and get patients.  Having a real business card as a student extern was one of the first times you begin to feel like an actual Chiropractor.

At the time of this writing you can still get 250 free business cards. You only pay for shipping and processing and for any upgrades you choose.  Although free business card customers are limited to choosing from about 42 free designs, there is surely something to fit your needs.  The cards are great quality and the only real downside is they feature the phrase “Free business cards at VistaPrint.com” or a similar phrase in small print on the back of the cards. These business cards are ideal for a Chiropractic practice starting out on a budget or even for use as appointment reminder cards.

Although the free business card end of VistaPrint.com hasn’t changed much, I am amazed to see how the site has expanded in the last 5 or 6 years. They now offer a huge range of products and services.

In addition to business cards the site offers anything you could imagine or desire in the world of office related stationary. You can design custom Chiropractic envelopes, labels, folders, brochures, pamphlets,  postcards, mailing labels, rubber stamps and much more.  Need custom business checks? They do that! Want to design a Visa credit card with your own design? You can do that too.

Vistaprint also offers professional signage solutions. From banners to magnetic car signs and window decals, they are a complete signage provider. You are sure to find something to fit your Chiropractic signage needs.  If one of their pre-made Chiropractic sign designs doesn’t suit your tastes then simply design and upload your own. This site puts you in control of designs with their very easy to use design interface.

The site also offers solutions for all of your Chiropractic practice promotional items.  Check out their coffee mugs, T-shirts, pens, keychains, luggage tags, mousepads, magnets, and much more.

That’s not all! VistaPrint.com also offers business marketing services such as email marketing, postcard and other direct marketing services, websites, online search profiles, and much more.  They are a one stop shop for your Chiropractic print and practice promotion needs.

I was surprised to see you can even purchase a toll free 800 telephone number through their site. You can sign up for a free 30 day trial and after that the base plan is only $9.99 a month with an annual commitment (or $14.99 if you choose to be billed monthly).  I know what you are thinking, but there are no setup fees either! I never realized obtaining a toll free 1-800 telephone number for a Chiropractic practice could be so easy and affordable.

I have been a VistaPrint.com customer for years and I still see something new on their site every time I visit to place an order. They offer quick turnaround, great prices, and high quality on their print pieces. As you can tell I dig VistaPrint. Afterall, any company that saved me money during Chiropractic college and still saves me money in practice holds a very special spot in my heart.

Here’s a lot of what I like, and the little I don’t:

What’s Hot

• Tons of Free Products: You can sample the quality of many products and try many services absolutely free for 30 days. I highly recommend you stop by and check out their free pens, free business cards, free website, free logo design service, and much more.

• Great Prices: The site offers pretty amazing prices and great promotions to save you even more of your hard earned cash. In fact they even offer a low price guarantee on their Postcards, Business Cards, Brochures, and Folders.

• Package Deals: Save even more by taking advantage of package deals on matching sets of business cards and related stationary. For instance you can save 50% with the mid level “Standard – Business Package Deal”.  This one is my favorite and truly an amazing deal if you ask me. For just $49.99 you get:

• Easy to Use Design Interface: Customizing one of the existing designs or making your own from scratch is easy, quick, and painless.  You can design your own Chiropractic logo, business cards, and matching stationary in minutes.

• Environmentally Friendly Company with Green Choices: Choose recycled materials for your print products and help protect our environment.

What’s Not

• Too Few Chiropractic Specific Designs: The ready to go Chiropractic designs on the site are a little bland and Chiropractors could really use more choices.  Since you can make changes or upload your own designs this is really only a minor issue.

• Pricey Upgrades: Glossy business card stock, premium 100-lb matte  paper, foil accents, or other upgrades can end up costing you a decent chunk of change, but this is true at any business card or print site.

• Distracting Lineup of Interesting Products: Once you start poking around the site you tend to get sidetracked and start browsing through cool products you never intended to buy!

As you can tell, there isn’t a lot to complain about with this site. I frequently recommend it to Chiropractic clients, friends, and colleagues. Don’t take my word for it. Head on over to their site and check out some of their free products. Through our affiliation with VistaPrint we can even hook you up with a discount on any paid order.  Simply click the link below to save big on your purchase!

As we’ve already discussed you need proper procedures and protocols in place to effectively obtain and use Chiropractic video patient testimonials.

One important type of form is a consent and release form. This is the form where patients give you permission, in writing, to use their testimonial in your Chiropractic practice marketing efforts. Taking two minutes to have your patients read and sign this form can save you all kinds of headaches later on.

We also recommend testimonial forms that you can hand to those patients who may be camera shy, too busy, or otherwise unable to appear on a video testimonial. Having an easy to complete form will allow these patients to provide their valued feedback on your Chiropractic practice.

As promised, I’d like to provide links to our free patient testimonial release/consent form templates. Feel free to download and share these free Chiropractic patient testimonial tips and patient testimonial form templates.

We’ve provided the forms in both pdf and editable Microsoft Word doc format. Don’t worry, there’s no email sign up, no catch. Just grab the free forms and go! You’ll need adobe’s free reader program or equivalent to access and view the pdf documents. You can download Adobe’s free Adobe Reader program here: http://get.adobe.com/reader/.

DOWNLOADS:

• You can download the free Chiropractic patient testimonial tips e-book here.

• To download the editable chiropractic patient testimonial release forms in Microsoft Word format Click Here.

• To get the patient testimonial forms in pdf format: Click Here

You can either click to open the documents or right click and select “Save as” to save the documents to your computer or other location.

So now that we’ve covered the advantages and disadvantages of the Chiropractic video patient testimonial, let’s look at how you can get started.

What  exactly do you need to get started?

1. A Digital Camcorder or Mini-Cam. You may have an older tape style camcorder that you can hook up to a computer, but it will not work as well. It will require more steps to convert the video, and the video quality will be pretty terrible compared to modern digital and HD quality.

Digital is definitely the way to go here. I highly recommend a HD (high definition) camcorder. If you can’t, or won’t, afford a full blown camcorder you can purchase one of the smaller mini or pocket camcorders which are now available in HD. I’d recommend at least 720p HD quality but 1080p is better yet. You can find one of these smaller mini camcorders at your local superstore, office store, electronics store, and dozens of sites all over the internet. You can easily find one in the $100-$150 range.

One great place to start your digital HD camcorder shopping is at Amazon.com. They are probably the most trusted online store and a great source for some good deals on a huge variety of products. Use the search box below to search for digital camcorders or anything else you’re interested in. Chances are they have it!

2.  A Computer: You’re going to need to own, or at least have regular access to, a computer or laptop capable of handling some basic video editing tasks. You need the computer to access, edit, and upload the video files.  Processing, transcoding, and working with video files can be a pretty resource hogging task, so I recommend a newer computer and not the 9 year old dust box in the basement!

Minimum computer requirements will vary greatly depending on just how crazy you want to be with your video editing.   Newer Intel dual core processors, at least 160-250 GB of hard drive storage space, and 2.0 GB of memory are a decent starting point capable of handling the medium to basic video editing needs of the typical Chiropractor.

This is just  my personal opinion, but I highly recommend HP brand computers. Every HP I’ve owned has been extremely reliable. I still have one that has seen heavy daily use for 8 years!

If you are looking to purchase a laptop for your video editing, I’d highly recommend Toshiba laptops.  I’ve never owned anything else and have never had any issues. Check out some of their great deals currently available at the link below:

3. Video Editing Software: Some sort of video editing software is recommend but not absolutely required. Many of the digital camcorders come with some sort of very basic software to allow you to clip or crop out portions of your clips and combine different clips.   Many new computers also include free basic video editing software which may be enough for your needs.  These  may be all you need to get started if you don’t have the need or desire to make many custom edits to your videos.

Some of the more high quality third party video editing programs will allow you to add post production polishing touches like adding text over your video, adding background music and overlaying logos and other special effects.

4. A Clean, Attractive, and Well Lit Area for Filming. Many Chiropractors elect to dedicate a small room, or corner of a room, solely for the purposes of shooting patient testimonials. A sort of “mini studio” if you will. I think it is a great idea. Having your chiropractic video patient testimonials all shot in the same attractive area gives a sense of unity to your testimonials and looks very professional.

If you have a busy practice I highly recommend filming your video patient testimonials away from the action. Although you may be tempted to want to show how great your practice is, all of the foot traffic and patients performing active rehab exercises in the background is distracting. I’ve seen many great chiropractic video patient testimonials ruined by staff repeatedly walking in and out of frame, patients checking in and out, and other distractions.

It’s all a distracting mess that takes away from the happy patient telling the public about their success with your practice. Don’t let the procedures of your practice take away from the patient’s message. Besides, you can always shoot another video  dedicated to showing all of your practice action in detail!

5. A Website:
Although a website isn’t an absolute necessity it gives a great place to post your videos, and more importantly, more information about you and your practice.

6. A Free YouTube Account: Hosting video on YouTube is free and a MUST. It’s simply the most popular video site and allows you to create your own channel to host your videos. It’s a site with millions of members and you need to be using it to promote your videos and your practice.

7. Other Free Social Media Accounts. Once videos are posted on YouTube and/or your website or blog you need to promote them. You can link to and spread the word about your videos on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and more. Many of these sites also allow you to post your videos there as well.

8. Procedures. Like any other part of your practice you need to come up with a general game plan for your Chiropractic video patient testimonials.  Having a game plan for patient testimonials will make for higher quality and more efficient procedures.

9. Patient Permission. Many Doctors of Chiropractic overlook this. The fact is you should be getting written permission and a release form from patients. You need to be specifically getting permission to use their testimonials in your marketing. Asking them verbally isn’t enough. Some doctors choose to simply ask and get the release verbally on video at the beginning of the testimonial. While this is certainly better than not documenting the fact that you asked, I still recommend some sort of patient release form.  We’ll be posting a free sample form template soon!

10. Time and Creativity. Like anything else worthwhile; filming, editing, uploading, and promoting Chiropractic patient testimonials takes time.  You need to be willing to devote the time and effort to make your efforts successful.

11. A Written Alternative. While many of your patients are outgoing media hounds willing to jump at the chance of being on camera and potentially on TV or the internet, some are not. For a multitude of reasons many patients are camera shy and prefer to not give a video testimonial. Offer these patients a form to provide a written testimonial. A glowing written testimonial is better than none at all!

Once again (thanks to  the internet and our ever growing network of friends, clients, and colleagues) I was introduced to another back pain related site I never knew existed.  An associate recommended I check out Relaxtheback.com.

Let me clarify a few things.  Although new to me, Relax the Back is nothing new.  Since I am in the Midwest I’d actually never heard of them, but they’ve been around since 1984 and have over 100 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Unfortunately the closest store is about 70 miles north of my home in a town I’ve only been to twice. Just thought I’d point out I haven’t been living under a rock. . . well ok maybe a small one.

Relax the Back is dedicated to helping their customers treat and prevent back and neck pain. They provide a wide variety of products, posture supports, and self care solutions to help them achieve this goal.

Their website offers 7 main categories. These categories are an interesting blend of products such as ergonomic workplace seating and accessories, recliners, mattresses and pillows, massagers, zero gravity recliners, self help books, Dvds, inversion tables and more.  According to their website their physical store sales associates go through rigorous training in areas such as posture and ergonomics in order to gain the knowledge needed to  best serve their customers.

According to their website Relax the Back has experience working in harmony with many Medical and Health Care practitioners.  Overall I like their co-care approach and patient self-help philosophy. Rather than advocating their clients use their products as an alternative to professional healthcare they advocate a symbiotic relationship.  They also do a great job of advocating the fact that there is more to your healthcare than the treatment you receive in a Chiropractor’s or other provider’s office. Patients need to realize they can take a proactive approach and protect their spines while they are at rest and this site does a wonderful job of driving this point home.

Since I’ve never set foot in a Relax the Back store I’m planning on taking a short road trip up north this weekend with my son to check out their nearest location.  I’ll try and post an update when I do.

Even though there isn’t a physical store within about 60 miles of my Chiropractic practice I plan on picking up and/or ordering some copies of their print catalog to keep around the office. I’m sure many of my patients would like the idea of ordering some of their unique products online. I like to provide my patients with alternatives to the products I carry in my practice as well as a way to easily shop for large products I can’t stock.   Relaxtheback.com is a perfect fit for those purposes.

All in all I really like their site.  Check out my quick summary of my likes and dislikes below.  As I’ve done before I wanted to point out some interesting products I found in my visit to their site.

What’s Hot:

• Physical store locations with trained employees
• Print catalog
• Unique product offerings
• Ergonomic work stations and office chairs
• Zero gravity recliners
• Live chat available online
• A very non-cluttered and easy to use site. All products are grouped into 7 manageable categories.
• Gift cards available
• A price match guarantee policy
• Back and Neck Health information provided by SpineUniverse.com

What’s Not:

• No stores close enough to my Chiropractic practice!
• Free Shipping provided on orders over $300. (I’d like to see free shipping offered at a slightly lower purchase price).

As promised here are just a few of many products from their site that I was drooling over:

• iJoy Board (SKU# MAIH161): This thing is pretty awesome and I may just end up picking one up for my home and office.  This motorized board helps build core strength, coordination, and stability. Simply grab the infrared remote and hop on the board. Try to maintain your balance while it simulates the motions of surfboards, skateboards, or snowboards in action.  The iJoy features variable speeds and difficulty and pre-programmed 15 minute run times. What a fun alternative to your Chiropractic practice’s wobble board!
• Inversion Tables: They currently offer three inversion tables and I can’t pick just one!
• Zero Gravity Recliners: They have tons of these recliners and I’m having a tough time picking just one!
• Outdoor Zero Gravity Recliners: Relax in comfort outdoors!
• Lumbar Extender Plus (SKU# SMCI002): A nifty new revision of the standard lumbar extender featuring a “trigger point massage top”. An affordable way to restore and maintain lumbar curve and prevent low back pain.

Hi everyone! I recently came across a site that I wanted to share with all of you.  ShopAnatomical.com is an awesome site that offers some very cool and very affordable anatomical models, wall charts, gifts, and many other items you’ll want in your Chiropractic practices.

As the name suggests, they offer many high quality and affordable anatomical models. I was actually pretty blown away with the products offered. This isn’t your standard anatomical model site that offers 2 overpriced spine models and a few chiropractic relevant wall charts.  This site has nearly anything you can think of with countless variations of spine and vertebrae models.

Want a small and affordable desk-sized spine model? They have it.  Want a deluxe muscled spine model? They have those too. How about a color coded and muscled spine model with disorders?  You betcha! Want a spine with a rib cage? How about a complete skeletal torso? You get the idea. This place has it all.

Have something a little more specialized in mind? They have some awesome cervical spine models, including life size and oversize atlas/axis models perfect for upper cervical doctors.   You can also find spinal degeneration models and models explaining osteoporosis and disc herniation.  I also noticed some very interesting, and large, spinal cord models.

In the market for some anatomical wall charts for your Chiropractic practice? They have loads of those too.  You simply can’t beat their amazing prices. At the time I wrote this article they boast several Chiropractic relevant wall charts for only $7.95!

If you can’t tell, I am pretty impressed with this site. It is much better than some of the anatomical model and chart companies I have dealt with in the past.  I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.  I’ll wrap things up by providing my handy breakdown and summary.

What’s Hot:

• Tons of products
• Amazingly low prices on many items. Many choices under 50 bucks.
• Free or affordable shipping options
• Ties, T-shirts, Keychains and other great gifts.
• Many of their products are Made in the USA
• Shopping by price, category, and profession
• 128-bit secure server for safe ordering
• Order by faxing purchase order
• Gift cards
• Powerful store search function
• Discounts on large orders
• Clear and easy site design that’s easy to navigate and use

What’s Not:

• Tons of choices (I want 2/3 of their inventory!!!)
• No print catalog (but if it helps keep overhead and prices low, who cares?)
• I could get myself into trouble by ordering too many things!
• I wish I would have known about this site when I was a Chiropractic student or BEFORE I purchased spine models for my Chiropractic practice!

10 Products you Can’t Miss

Although you definitely need to spend an hour or so browsing this site, I wanted to share 1o of my favorite products.

1. Vertebral Simulator: Lumbar Disc Herniation Model – This nifty little model demonstrates the process of disc herniation in one of the best ways I’ve seen yet.  A shopanatomical.com exclusive.
2. Understanding Low Back Pain Chart: An attractive and extremely affordable chart explaining many concepts and topics about low back pain.  A ton of information on an attractive chart wall chart.
3. Lifesize Atlas/Axis model: A handy model for any doctor and under $20 at the time of this writing!
4. Oversize Atlas/Axis/Occiput model: A larger than life version perfect for an upper cervical practice!
5. Exploring the Spine 3D Anatomy CD-Rom: A great way for the modern Chiropractor to educate patients. This computer CD-Rom is also priced below the retail price of most other sources.
6. Spine X-Ray Tie: A very cool neck tie featuring an image of a full spine a-p x-ray. 100% silk and an Awesome Chiropractic gift!
7. Spine Anatomical T-Shirt: Spine anatomical chart T-shirt that would make a great affordable Chiropractic gift.
8. Muscled Cervical Spine Model: A beautiful muscled cervical spine model on a walnut base.
9. Osteoporosis of the Spine Model: A spine section mounted on a base showing details of osteoporosis.
10. Spinal Nerve Function Chart: A more colorful and modern version of the meric type chart listing spinal nerves and related organs and potential dysfunction.

While looking for new computer chairs for at home and the offices, I recently came across a site called Sitbetter.com.  It’s a very cool site with an expanding catalog of over a thousand products to meet nearly any seating budget. They offer a ton of cool ergonomic seating and some ergonmic workstation accessories I never even knew existed!

They have a huge variety of chairs to pick from including affordable basic task chairs, ergonomic chairs, to top of the line executive style office chairs. Chairs aren’t the only thing the site specializes in. Check out the awesome “Ergonomics accessories” section for dynamic foot rests, workstations, and much more! They even have a special section devoted to lumbar supports and chairs for back pain.

This isn’t your average office chair retailer. The site also provides expert ergonomic advice and recommendations for seating and client workspace. It’s no wonder they have so many high profile clients. According to the site they serve clients such as: Digg.com, The F.B.I., AT&T, Proctor & Gamble, Walmart Vision Center, Macy’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and many more!

The sad reality is we spend more time sitting than we ever have. We need to make sure we are sitting with proper posture and ergonomics in mind. Sitbetter.com has a huge variety of products to help us accomplish this.  I thought I’d pass this information along since it can benefit both your practice and your patients. If you have a patient who needs a new computer or task chair this may be a good place for them to start their search.

Here’s something else to ponder.  What kind of chair is your Chiropractic office staff sitting on? Are you leading by example and providing top of the line ergonomic seating or are they stuck with that $19.99 value special?   Maybe it’s time you update to some more ergonomic seating and workstation accessories for your valuable Chiropractic practice staff members. This site is the perfect place to start your ergonomic seating and workstation shopping!

We know you’re strapped for time, so here are just a few products we recommend you check out:

• FM500 Humanscale – Rocking Foot Machine
• The Original Evolution Exercise Ball Chair
  STO-Ball-Chair
• Allseating TheraPod Therapist – High Back Ergonomic Office Chair: ALL-501
• Allseating Chiroform™ Ultra 24:7 – High Back Task Chair: ALL-97111-T2
• 571 Allseating CPOD™ – Mesh Back Ergonomic Office Chair
• WallTrax1 Anatome – Wall Trax Computer Mounting System
• 345 Kore Stool – Ergonomic Rocking Stool
• SMUSB Humanscale – Switch Mouse SMUSB Ergonomic Mouse

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