Aligning for Heroes A Chiropractic Approach to Veteran Care

Discover the unique world of chiropractic care with the Parsons brothers, Jerry and Dr. James, as they unveil their journey from athletes to community healers in Texas. With their shared passion for enhancing the well-being of their patients, this episode promises an intimate look into the workings of a successful chiropractic practice, the power of natural healing, and the dedicated support they offer to our veterans.

This episode is a treasure trove of insights and heartfelt narratives, capturing the essence of chiropractic therapy and its role in maintaining joint mobility and neurological health. The Parsons brothers tackle the complexities of the human body, emphasizing the need for early chiropractic intervention and how they navigate the confines of the VA system to offer the best care possible. They also discuss modern challenges like "tech neck," showcasing the adaptability of chiropractic methods to contemporary lifestyle habits.

Pearland Podcast Studio
Veteran Owned & Operated

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

This is Charlie Mike the podcast Veterans helping veterans. Talking about things happening in the veteran community, Things we've experienced and overcome, such as addictions, PTSD, depression, legal trouble, and we also promote veteran-owned businesses. If you're talking about it, we're talking about it. This is Charlie Mike the podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:30

Yo, what's going on everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Charlie Mike the podcast. As always, I'm your host, Raul, today. We got two special guests in the building today and I'm going to allow them the opportunity to introduce themselves. Who wants to go first?

Speaker 3: 0:48

After you.

Speaker 4: 0:49

My name is Jerry Parsons. I work out at Premier Chiropractic. I've been there now for 12 years and love helping out the community, love helping give people their life back.

Speaker 2: 1:01

So it's been great. That's awesome. Where are you from originally?

Speaker 4: 1:04

Originally from.

Speaker 2: 1:04

Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi, so you're Texas born and through All the way through. Yeah, what about yourself?

Speaker 3: 1:12

So my name is Dr James Parsons, been practicing chiropractor here now in Pearland for 30 years. I have two locations and just really enjoyed the Pearland community Friendswood area. Surrounding communities have been really nice.

Speaker 2: 1:29

So let's start Tell me a little bit about y'all's past, your upbringing. You know who you are, how you got into chiropractic? Chiropractic, yeah, chiropractic, I don't know Chiropractic, yeah, there you go.

Speaker 3: 1:42

Chiropractic. So you know I was an athlete. We're up, both of us. We're brothers, obviously. What, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're brothers. You know we grew up down in Corpus Christi and you know I went to college thinking that I was going to play baseball the rest of my life, ended up taking pre-med while I was there. Good thing I had a backup plan and I always said if that didn't work out, I was going to be a teacher. So it's kind of come full circle where I'm teaching now more than practicing or playing baseball. So I came to Houston, pasadena, with the TCC Graduated in 94. Houston, Pasadena, with the TCC Graduated in 94. And my wife and I at the time we started working and bought a practice here in Pearland it's called Back Pain Chiropractic.

Speaker 2: 2:33

Back Pain.

Speaker 3: 2:34

Yeah, back Pain Chiropractic we started there. She started there first in 94. And then in June of 97, we bought it from the guy out of Baton Louisiana. Yeah, wow, we've been here ever since and I've been going solo for a while there in 2002. And we opened up, I guess about 11 years ago, the second location down at 288, as Pearland just kept growing and growing. And now Jerry's you know me about what? 12 years ago, yep, 12 years ago. And he's been a godsend, that's for sure. He's brought in the pieces of the business side that were missing from me in training and he's good with spreadsheets too.

Speaker 2: 3:22

Yeah, if you can't trust your brother, who can you trust, right? Oh yeah, that's true. I know business is a hard thing and it's hard to find people you know.

Speaker 3: 3:31

You can trust Exactly.

Speaker 2: 3:32

Especially when it comes to cash and things of that nature. I know it's difficult, but that's amazing. So you've been in Pearland since 94? Yeah, yeah, what you've seen the growth.

Speaker 3: 3:47

Oh yeah, pearland has changed so much. You know, I think it used to take us what like five minutes to get from one end to the other. Now it's faster to take the Beltway around to get to the other end. Oh goodness. With all the traffic lights.

Speaker 2: 4:01

It's crazy isn't it?

Speaker 3: 4:02

Yeah, pearland's just blown up traffic lights. But it's crazy, isn't it? Yeah, apparently just blown up, and you know, I the uh, you know where the original practice is. You know, used to be fields out there, I used to be the outskirts, apparently, and I just swallowed up yeah, where exactly? The it's at 20180. Broadway street was where we originally started and, uh, yeah, there was a driving range out on the corner of Dixie there. Now it's a Walmart parking lot and Home.

Speaker 2: 4:28

Depot. Yeah, yeah, wow. So you definitely seen the growth. Do you reside here in?

Speaker 3: 4:34

Pearland? No, I live in Friendswood.

Speaker 2: 4:36

In Friendswood.

Speaker 3: 4:37

Okay, yeah, I used to live in Pearland until I had uh. I guess uh change uh in my marital status.

Speaker 2: 4:45

Oh, yeah, yeah, Okay, yeah, I won't talk too much about that, but yeah, I understand, I understand you have kids.

Speaker 3: 4:52

I do, I do.

Speaker 2: 4:53

I have two adopted kids, oh nice, nice the older.

Speaker 3: 4:57

Trevor he's 31, and Gracie is 23.

Speaker 2: 5:03

Oh.

Speaker 3: 5:03

I was going to say you don't got, don't got babies, no, no, they're, they're, they're off married, but are they are?

Speaker 2: 5:07

they ever not gonna be your babies, though you know what I mean.

Speaker 3: 5:09

No, she always will, yeah, definitely definitely.

Speaker 2: 5:12

I got, uh, two girls and they are pains in the asses. I just told y'all about the netflix story. She just called me at four o'clock in the morning and was like hey dad, what's? What's the Netflix password?

Speaker 3: 5:25

Yeah, that's never a good call, never a good call Never, never what you got, Jerry.

Speaker 4: 5:32

So I was, you know, born and raised in Corpus Christi, Kind of had a direction of being an electrical engineer and kind of had also thought of going into the military. So you know, my dad was in the Navy and I thought, you know what, I think I want to go to the Navy. A couple of my cousins were joining the Navy at the time and so I thought, you know what, that's what I want to do. And so I kind of stopped doing all that and headed towards the Navy.

Speaker 2: 5:59

So it took me off. No other branch was even a thought, not even a thought there you go.

Speaker 4: 6:05

I knew it was Navy if I was going in. Yeah, and maybe a little bit of Coast Guard was in the background Because of your dad. Yeah, it was more dad, and what he did. I mean he was in some diving out there, so he was a rescue diver for a while in the Navy. My cousin had gone into the Navy SEALs and I was just like, okay, oh, wow yeah.

Speaker 4: 6:26

But unfortunately when the recruiter signed me up he didn't let me know that what he was signing me up for. I could not try out for the Navy SEALs back then, so a little bit stayed in the military, got a medical discharge out of there. Really was planning on staying for a career out of it, but unfortunately God had something else for me.

Speaker 4: 6:46

So, got out, worked in California because I was stationed out there, had two small children and worked in the electronic field out there for a while. And then my brother came out one summer and we talked about it and I knew what I was doing. It wasn't making a difference in lives, you know, it was just. It was just the work. You know, it was just running companies and being going different places to fix issues and I just felt like there was something more for me out there. There's something that I wanted to do to give back. You know, and you know I feel like I wasn't a doctor, I wasn't able to do that, but to come help doctors and us, to provide for more people out there, that was a calling. That was something that I really saw myself doing.

Speaker 4: 7:29

So I made the transaction with the family. I had two children that were seniors. They didn't like the move. I had a child that was in junior high and I had a young one that was in second grade. So you know the whole family helped and we decided to move and you know it was a little rough in the beginning but wouldn't change that for anything because seeing patients get better, seeing patients get their lives back, getting back to doing the things they love to do, and without surgery and without drugs. I mean, it was just something that was like. It was an awesome feeling to know that the little bit that I'm doing is also helping towards that.

Speaker 2: 8:08

Did you always have that heart of giving back, or is it something that like cause? I know a lot of veterans that that turns out to be. Their mission is how can I help? What can I do next? How can I help the next person? Is that something you saw in yourself?

Speaker 4: 8:15

It actually is. You know, it's funny cause, even though we're brothers and you know, I always, I always saw myself as possibly being a teacher one day. I like to teach, I like to help. I've always had that mentality and you know, just something that I think our dad put in us, you know, is how can we help others? You know, what can we do to give? And I don't know if it was the military, I don't know what really set it home. It was just I knew I was doing something out there and just making money, paying bills and raising family wasn't enough. It was how can I give?

Speaker 2: 8:44

Right, right, right. You know it's crazy. You both said teachers. What was the subject?

Speaker 3: 8:56

Was there a particular subject that you wanted to teach in? Would you think in a certain grade, or just no?

Speaker 3: 9:05

I think, as far as when I say teaching is being able to, just you know, educate people and give back and I think you know serving is probably one of the best callings you can have you know, uh, while we're here on earth, is is to serve in some capacity, right, you know, I every I think every member of my family um cousins and everybody else I knew were in the military and I just, you know, um, the baseball thing took me to health care and serving there and it's been a reward, you know, a reward when I was treating and helping patients here and then teaching young doctors how to serve and how to take care of patients and how to communicate and how to get people to understand what you know, what we can and cannot do. I think it's just serving is maybe ties to that teaching.

Speaker 4: 9:52

to answer your question, Okay, what about yourself, jerry? Mine was always I loved math, and so I always saw myself teaching math, because even going through high school, I would always find myself. You know the teachers would be looking at me and you know I wasn't. I wasn't given answers, but I was helping people understand even back then, and so I always had that calling of you know I could see myself doing math but just didn't work out that way.

Speaker 4: 10:15

I went in a different direction. I think that's why you know I chose military too is how can I you?

Speaker 2: 10:20

know how can.

Speaker 4: 10:21

I serve, serve. How can I do something bigger and better so?

Speaker 2: 10:23

you know I was. I've been a fan of math, but once they started throwing letters in there, yeah, I was like I heard about. Yeah, you know, that's too much for me. You know, I even tell my daughter too. My daughter's like why do I got to learn this? I was like baby, do you plan on being a scientist? She's like no, I said you don't know that.

Speaker 4: 10:43

You know. It's funny you say that, but the uh the. The problem came up the other day is I. We just bought a new place. Um, after my daughter graduated high school, we moved out to santa fe and there's a flagpole in on the property, but the rope going up to it looks like it's kind of frail and if I put a flag on there.

Speaker 4: 11:01

I'm afraid it's gonna break, and then I don't know how I'm gonna get up there right so actually there's a trick to find out how tall the flagpole is by mathematics Just using your arm, putting it out and putting a stick up and counting your distance from one way and make sure it's the right angle, and then you know your distance on the other side. It's out there. Math can help.

Speaker 2: 11:21

I'm with you. You would have seen me out there with a tape measure trying to get to the top. You know like what is?

Speaker 4: 11:27

this crazy guy doing. That's what I would have been doing. That's way too tall. I still would have tried.

Speaker 2: 11:34

I was like well, that's about halfway, so double that, yeah, exactly eyeball it.

Speaker 3: 11:38

Yeah, that's too funny, eyeball man yeah, golly so.

Speaker 2: 11:43

Um, you know, I love, I love what y'all keep saying about wanting to help and helping, not wanting to help. You are helping and you know right now especially, you know as a veteran, that the military, they throw drugs at you left and right. You know, a lot of times of course the intention is well but it's just not always the right thing, and I see that. So you know, a lot of us come out with back issues, neck issues, things like that. And I'm sure you all see a lot of that.

Speaker 4: 12:16

Absolutely. I mean, it took me a while to figure out what the VA could do for me and couldn't do for me, because when I got the medical discharge I just thought that was it, I was done, you know, and you know, years went by, years went by and then finally somebody ran into me and said hey, you know that you could get more help through the VA than what you're doing. I go, like what? And it took somebody showing me and you know, here it was.

Speaker 4: 12:38

You know, probably a couple of years ago we started getting veterans coming to us because we learned how to get into the network with the va, you know, as providers and be able to give that away. There was a time that we just put on our, we took in once a month. We would just treat a veteran, just just because it was just one once a month we take it. If a veteran came in, we would just take care of them, you know, and give back to them, um, hardly, because that's what we do. We we want to help out, but also knowing their struggles and what sometimes the VA can't help them with, and so that was one thing. But once we got into being able to get referrals from the VA and actually people actually getting them off their medications because when you talk to them they don't want to be on the medications.

Speaker 4: 13:18

Because the medications just are putting them in a different mindset in the first place, and the pain's still there when they come out.

Speaker 4: 13:25

So we've had a lot of people you know come to us and thank us for being able to treat them and get them back to a natural way of looking at it so you know, that's one of the reasons why, you know, I want to kind of get the message out there that you know there's other veterans here in Pearland that I know we can help and they don't have to rely just on the medication, they don't have to rely on a possible surgery that goes wrong, and so there are, and sometimes they may be on us, but at least give us.

Speaker 4: 13:52

you know our doctors are really good. You know Dr Parsons put a great program together there to evaluate, to make sure that you know we are treating the ones that we can versus the ones we can't.

Speaker 2: 14:07

I know going under the knife is a big deal, especially back, because that's that. You know, that's a big, that's a big part of your body.

Speaker 3: 14:11

Yeah, it's kind of like a permanent thing, right, you know, and to add to you know from from a health care standpoint, of what you asked, and said because patients, a lot of patients through the years have asked me well, why does you know? Why does my medical doctor you?

Speaker 3: 14:28

know, put me on this medication or why did he order this or do this? He wants to help you and that's the tools in his tool belt. And so if you come to me and you're in pain, and if I'm going to use all my tools I have, and if that's the tool that I use, then that's what happens, because they're there to serve and help you as much as possible. Though you know, and a lot of times you know, given a steroid or anti-inflammatory, it isn't really it's to help with the pain and the inflammation, but it's there's no, there's no conclusion, it's no looking. Why am I having this pain? Why am? Why am I having this pain? Why am? Why am I having this inflammation? You know, can we do something about it before it becomes surgical?

Speaker 3: 15:10

And a lot of people don't understand that that if I just take a medication, well, that medication goes throughout the whole body. So that's why there's side effects. It doesn't just go to that pain in my back, you know, it goes everywhere. And if your body has to break that down, but, more importantly, if you don't look as to why I have that pain or why I have that back pain, and you start working on that, then you're gonna end up with some surgery. You're headed down that path.

Speaker 3: 15:38

It's no different with knees. You know, if I give a steroid uh shot, and maybe it works for two weeks, maybe it works for, you know, three months, sometimes it works for a year, you know. But it is going to cause damage to that joint as a side effect. And you know, especially with knees, patients would ask us well, why are they giving me the steroid? Because it's their tool in their tool belt and you're in pain and it's good for pain relief and it's good for inflammation, but and it's good for inflammation, but it does, as a side effect, destroy the cartilage. In the long run you're going to end up, if you don't do something else, end up with knee replacement.

Speaker 2: 16:13

What's a common injury? You all see a lot.

Speaker 3: 16:18

We see a lot of car wrecks, whiplash injuries.

Speaker 2: 16:20

Oh, okay.

Speaker 3: 16:21

As far as lifting, you know lifting, so our core holds our back. Core is the most important thing we have to always teach patients to work on is your core. Your core gets weak, you know your hamstrings get short because we stopped stretching and so when those things your hamstrings get short, it's going to put your lower back in a bad position. Your core is not strong and you go to lift things up and you do that repetitively, doing it wrong. Then the next thing you know you're bending over, picking up your underwear because your wife's yelling at you. Pick up your stuff off the floor and, bam, the back goes out.

Speaker 3: 16:56

It's just the repetition of too many things. Our body can only handle so much before it's going to break down. And it depends on what the extent of the breakdown is, or whether chiropractic can help and serve at that point, or if it's too late and surgery is a patch. But then understand that surgery is a patch. But then what are you going to do? Still build up that core or to lengthen those muscles? So you've got to lengthen and strengthen muscles in order to support your joints.

Speaker 2: 17:28

So is y'all's dad. Is he retired Navy? What brought y'all to Corpus? Or is that just where y'all were born?

Speaker 3: 17:33

No, that's where the military took him, and then he became a police officer. He finished up his college there. I think at the time it was A&M College Texas.

Speaker 4: 17:43

Texas A&I or Texas A&M it wasn't A&M yet.

Speaker 3: 17:47

Oh, okay, that's right. Corpus Christi, I think, just yeah, I don't remember what it was, but he finished there and then he became a police officer, served there.

Speaker 4: 17:59

Yeah, it's now Corpus Christi A&M, so A&M bought it out, but before that it was just a four-year school there, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 18:07

So serving you just got a family of servants. That's amazing. Yeah, you know, with COVID, you know, I know that had to have a big impact on y'all's business because y'all are touch business more face-to-face. What were some of the struggles with that?

Speaker 3: 18:27

We had a lot there at first. They first considered us as essential, and so we were still able to serve certain clientele patients but most people were just fearful and scared of going anywhere in the beginning, as you probably remember right so, you know, it really affected the business and what we were able to do, and then we just found different ways that we could try and help um, and then we just created some protocols to protect them, protect us, you know, um as far as you know, we business was affected.

Speaker 3: 19:01

obviously it took us a good while to kind of get through all of the aftermath of COVID.

Speaker 2: 19:07

Yeah, I could imagine. I'm glad I didn't open this business before COVID. I would have been in some trouble, you know, because there ain't much you can do.

Speaker 3: 19:16

Yeah, the West End Clinic down at 288,. We were actually in the middle of moving locations when COVID hit and, oh my gosh, that was a nightmare. I could imagine Jesus.

Speaker 2: 19:29

You know when people think of chiropractic. I couldn't even say excuse me, what are some of the myths that people think when it comes to that? Do you all have any? That people think when it comes to that Do you all have any?

Speaker 3: 19:40

Yeah, you know some people, you know they've come to me through the years and you know from well, hey, I don't want my neck to get broke. Or you know what's that cracking? You're cracking bones. No, no, what's actually we're doing is just putting normal motion into a joint. I always explain.

Speaker 3: 19:59

I used to have to explain it to attorneys the most because they didn't quite understand. But I said imagine your elbow joint. That joint is supposed to have full range of motion. But what happens if you injure that area? Our body wants to protect, so it closes down, locks down. So muscles are going to spaz out, they're going to get tight, the joint's not going to move.

Speaker 3: 20:18

So now maybe I've only got half the range of motion that I've got or need, and so the muscles shorten up and then the joint starts deteriorating, breaking down because it needs motion. I always used to tell patients hey, motion, motion. You know, if that joint doesn't have motion then it's going to deteriorate faster. And so, explaining that to them, we're just putting full normal range of motion back in that joint. And by stressing that joint, naturally we can also work on strengthening the smaller muscles that support that joint to take pressure off the disc so the disc doesn't blow um, and then you know we've had the old thing. Well, um, you know you get, just so you can cause a stroke or what have you.

Speaker 3: 20:58

but I mean there's been so much research and the likelihood of that is. I don't remember what the statistics are, but it's one in a million or something like that.

Speaker 3: 21:07

But typically what we see and what the research shows is typically people are already going through, because when you start to have a stroke type stroke, it's usually the symptoms are going to be neck pain, and so that's why it's really important the headaches, neck pain especially women, they're very prone for those type of symptoms and they'll come in and for stroke, and so it's. The chiropractors have to make sure they're doing a proper neurological to make sure that it is safe or they don't have a patient in their office right now that's already pre-stroke, and get them referred out. So it's important to make sure that the doctors are doing the right treatment evaluation protocols before they lay hands on the patient.

Speaker 2: 21:48

So how has your experience been working with the VA? I know you get a lot of veterans in there. I know it's got to feel some type of way to make that person who sacrificed so much to be able to live a normal life again without medication. How has all that been for you guys? It's got to be a wonderful feeling.

Speaker 4: 22:08

It is actually a wonderful feeling because you see them come in and they're hurting and they just don't know what to do and after being with them and helping them along the way, you can start to see them get better. I guess my frustration with it is that the VA limits also puts limits on how much we can do, and everybody's different, but they put the same parameters around everybody. So you know, you know you're a little bit younger than some of the ones we get in there, but you know you probably didn't have as much wear and tear on your back as some of the ones that have gone. They've had the same damage. They've done the same thing with you in the military, probably had the same type of injuries as you, but then those injuries were never taken care of, so they've spent longer on those injuries, so it's gotten a lot worse. But to say that they get so many visits and you get the same amount, that doesn't make no sense. And so that's the frustrating part about it, because we could do so much more if we weren't limited on getting some of these people back to having their whole life, but the ones that get to us sooner and that's why part of being on here is I want people to know that they have this option and then they go to the VA.

Speaker 4: 23:12

It is a process to go to the VA, as we all know. You first have to get in to see somebody look at your back and do all that at the VA. Once they do that and they evaluate you and let you know that, hey, you can do physical therapy, you can do chiropractic those are some of the options I was given for my back when I went back in there or acupuncture, those are the three things. And so once they do that, then they can choose chiropractic, choose whichever one they want. Well then they'll va, will you know? We'll try to get you scheduled in the va. So if you live that 30 miles away, you know, or you live that, um, or they can't get you in within a month. Now that sets you up to go, you know, into the private sector. So, um, and then that's kind of what happens is they, they, they can't get a man. Because even when they told me they were going to get me in, it was almost like eight months later before I was going to see anybody. I said no, go to the sector. I was able to see another doctor sooner. I thought this is the same process that people are coming to us for.

Speaker 4: 24:12

Let them know it is a process, but once they get that, just tell them they want community care. They go on there. They'll set them up with a local doctor that's in the area. Both of our offices in Pearland are set up to receive them, and so you have to. We've already done everything to be in network, so they'll get that offer. Then they just come in. We do a full evaluation. Like Dr Parsons was saying. We want to make sure that the patient's safe and that this is something that we believe we can do as well. So he set up a great process to evaluate them, to put a good plan of care together and get them to their goals and what they want to do in life. It's not just about getting rid of the pain. For us it's getting them back to that life. You lose your life.

Speaker 4: 24:53

We've had so many people tell us.

Speaker 4: 24:54

They say well it took so much to get you there and they're all like, yeah, but I was laying around on a couch, I was doing nothing, my life was going away and now I can get up and do the things I want to do. So it's a process, you know, but once you get it through there and you get them, the little bit of treatment we do get, we can make some progress with that. You know I want to work with the VA and try to open that up and allow more visits, more things. So I've been working on the back end with the VA trying to do that myself. How can we let you know that some of these would get better progress, some of these would get better function if we're able to open it up, because they're not all the same.

Speaker 4: 25:33

Right, but you know, it's a process for all that.

Speaker 2: 25:35

It definitely is, and you know there's so many veterans. All that way, it definitely is, and and you know there's so many veterans, you know um it's I.

Speaker 4: 25:46

You know, I don't I, I better not but you know I'm right there.

Speaker 2: 25:50

So when, when it came to to being doc, when it came to to getting your degree and doing things of that, what did you pick? Why? Why were you led to chiropractic?

Speaker 3: 26:00

That's a really good question. Being an athlete and I was always interested in how the body worked, the biomechanics of it, and so it just was. And then, plus, I had a Dr Pat Thomas from Corpus Christi. You know he was leading me that way. You know he took care of me. I had really bad scoliosis when I was young and he helped keep me playing sports through high school and college until I tore my shoulder up and then I went on to chiropractic school because of his mentoring to me and it just seemed to fit with.

Speaker 3: 26:36

I really wanted to work with the body naturally, just seemed to fit with. I really wanted to work with the body, naturally. Um, and you know, our, our dad and our parents, you know, brought us up to try and take the natural approach as much as humanly possible. And you know that wasn't very uh uh or that especially uh, through the, through the years and the decades of change, and you know that's evolved where people are looking for more natural solutions versus, you know, just patching it with medication or ending up, you know, on the surgical table. But, um, you know. So I really want to work with the body, I want to find out what's the natural approach. I was intrigued with how the body worked and, uh, you, know uh that was awakening, though, my first cadaver class.

Speaker 3: 27:18

Uh, yeah, I think I had double gloves on that day and I I went home and I remember that first day taking a bite of my sandwich after a long day and I could still smell the formaldehyde and I vomited. But second try, I was in there, I could eat it, didn't bother me at all.

Speaker 3: 27:34

So, you got used to it. But yeah, to take the whole human body apart and truly understand every piece and how it comes together makes it really simple. For when a patient walks in and they're saying, hey, I've got pain here, you're going through your mind. You're able to unfold everything that's there. You know nerves, vascular system, muscles, tendons, ligaments, everything. So it makes you capable of serving and being able to help those joint and muscular issues.

Speaker 2: 28:03

That's awesome, man. I'm glad you know I'm definitely going to make an appointment to come out and see you guys. Actually, I'm going to get on it tomorrow and see when I can get in there. What's you know? It's different. I see a lot of chiropractic work on social media now. You see everybody's doing the crack videos and things like that. Y'all doing any of that?

Speaker 3: 28:30

I'm personally not a fan of the crack videos because I'm not after a crack, because that's just gas being released from the joint, or a crack right what I'm after, because that's just gas being released from the joint. I can create stimulation, nerve stimulation or create normal motion without the crack. I mean that scares a lot of people. So we actually provide several different techniques, because if somebody is a history of stroke or cardiovascular issues, then we don't want to use certain techniques with those type of patients and yet we can still get them better without the crack if you will.

Speaker 3: 29:05

But I'm not a fan of the crack videos. It is a new world out there. When I started, you know we were hustling, I had my spine and I was out doing health talks and teaching and screening and it's definitely changed the environment.

Speaker 2: 29:19

Especially this day in earth, I mean this day in you know. Today you have to have a social media presence and how are? How are y'all fulfilling that?

Speaker 3: 29:28

yeah, our doctors, um do actually we do a video content at least once a week and putting it on our social media channels. So we, we kind of picked that back up and got on it and I used to do a ton of videos, youtube videos but I had black hair back then so those are kind of uh, that's long and gone. So teaching the younger, uh docs, and you know they're more, they're more preppy of handling social media stuff than we are, jerry and I have had to learn it.

Speaker 3: 29:58

Jerry tries to stay away from it, but as much as possible, but I still like doing the videos and helping um in any way. And then I do a lot of articles and stuff for our website as far as content on different things, to kind of help guide people that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 30:14

I didn't. I've know y'all, y'all probably received a lot of uh community support. I'm paralleling. It's just an amazing city. I talk nothing but amazing things besides traffic. I talk nothing but amazing things about this place yeah, well, a lot of times I tell people they're like well, how, what do you feel about this side of town? I'll be like I'll be honest with you. There's a certain road that I don't go past because that traffic is is insane over there yeah, you know, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 30:37

I stay over here in old Pearland it's just, it's different, but you know that's amazing man. What are some of the? Give me some of the give me a best experience that you've seen, maybe with the patient outcome. There you go, best outcome you've seen or something that strikes that you remember.

Speaker 4: 31:02

This one. You know, and I don't know if Dr Parsons remembers this one, but when I first came there, it was almost. I think I got there in August of 2011, and I believe this was right before Christmas. Going into that little part, when I realized I was in the right place was there was a car that drove up.

Speaker 4: 31:19

We actually walked out to the car. This patient could not get out of his car. Three of us picked him up, brought him into the clinic and Dr Parsons at the time was in there and the associate doctor and they treated him. They literally did everything they could that day examined him, found out what was wrong with him, did some treatment on him and to watch him after they treated him, find out what was wrong with him, did some treatment on him and to watch him, after they treated him, walk out on his own after that. I mean it just goes to show, you know the Karen and everything else, and at that point I knew where I was at, I knew that this was the right approach for me. I knew this was but I mean just little things like that. Or, or, you know, helping the kids. I mean, um, you know, people don't realize the first traumatic injury that you have is birth and people wonder why kids, you know, babies, certain babies, you know, have colic or certain day

Speaker 4: 32:11

it. I mean when you have a nerve and you have pressure on a nerve that's not functioning properly causes problems, so they have subluxations right, release the subluxations and the nerves can start to function better. It's just amazing the stuff that I've learned over the last 12 years being there just from the doctors. It's just amazing that they happen and in my only experience was it. You know, I was lucky. Like he said, our father brought us up that way but a chiropractor, dr thomas, got my dad to be able to continue to be a police officer after one of his wrecks and that's what really brought it home to us.

Speaker 4: 32:42

And you know, one time I remember the time I was five years old and I hurt my neck just by bending over in the bathtub and they called it a crick in the neck at the time. It's the only thing I remember and I hurt so bad. But you know, for him to call up his doctor, dr Thomas, it was late and he goes meet me at the office, went in there and you know I was scared because he's grabbing my neck, not sure what to do, but all of a sudden he did what he did and I was like that's it and he goes, yep, and I got up and the pain was gone. Everything was great because I was in his office three days a week during football to keep me up on the football field and keep me playing baseball and kept me. You know the things going. So you know it was a difference of life and for me to be able to get back now and see different things like that, it's an amazing experience. You know, to see it from other avenues, that's amazing.

Speaker 3: 33:42

You know, doc, you said something and it keeps playing in my head. Are you talking to me or Jerry? Cause, jerry sounds like a doc too. Yeah, I think I've rubbed off on him. No, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 33:48

Hey, that is, that's it. But something you said kind of keeps popping in my head. It's just it's not about the crack, it's not about the pop, no, so so in, I guess we don't like me as an outsider, don't know anything about chiropractic work, and and we assume that that's what it is yeah, I know, I know it's, it's um, it's a fallacy of understanding.

Speaker 3: 34:13

And again, it's just like anything and when, you know, is communication and understanding what it is that we're trying to accomplish, and I think a lot of doctors do a really poor job of explaining what you're getting and what you're not getting, and that was something I always tried to make sure that the patients understood. Are you looking for symptom relief or are you looking to try and find out what the underlying cause is and see what we can do about that? Because that's a different amount of time, that's a different commitment, that's different financial situation. You know so. You know our motto now.

Speaker 3: 34:46

You know, um, that that jerry and I have for the clinics is you know, we want to get you back to your life as soon as possible. We want what you want. So if it's taking you out of playing with your grandkids or taking you out of doing gardening or riding your bike or whatever, it is okay. We want to resolve that problem, get you back as quickly as possible, whatever that is. But we want to also try and teach you to understand how your body works. But a lot of times when people come in in the beginning, a lot of chiropractors will over-inundate the education and when people are in pain they don't hear anything.

Speaker 3: 35:22

They don't even remember. Even if they're not in that severe pain, they're not going to remember half the things you told them. So the best thing to do is to understand what's wrong and determine whether you can help them or not, and understand what their immediate results or goals are, so that you can make sure you can meet those expectations and make sure that you're the right fit or that it's. It's it is a chiropractic issue, you know um. So to understand what we're doing, along with understanding how the body works, it's stimulating, like we use also what's called an arthro stem and we can just stimulate, and it's actual vibration of stimulating those facet joints.

Speaker 3: 36:01

And it's stimulating the mechanoreceptors, which are little. I don't want to get too technical here, but you know mechanoreceptors is how I know where my hand is or finger is pointing, without seeing it. So those are communicating back and forth to our brain, all our nervous system. If you took everything away and you looked at, you would see a perfect image of a body if just the nerves were there. That's, how many nerves are there? I mean, try and poke yourself with a knife and see if you can't feel it.

Speaker 2: 36:25

Right. Unless you got nerve damage Right.

Speaker 3: 36:29

But understanding that and everything in life is energy, vibration and frequency. So if we understand that and we treat the body and work because we use the vibration plates in our clinic as well to help stimulate, you know a lot of good things in the body from growth fractures and decreased stress. You know cortisol, stuff like that. But to understand what the adjustments are, sometimes some patients want to know it and some patients don't want to understand it. Did I answer your question?

Speaker 2: 37:00

Yes, Okay, yes. So I have a question. So I know you'll probably get a lot of veterans that have neck issues due to wearing Kevlar, the Kevlar helmet all the time, pressing against the I don't know how the body works, but I'm assuming pressing the spine. You know what is something along those lines that y'all do to relieve that kind of pain?

Speaker 3: 37:22

So are we dealing with, you know, a long-term effect to where it's actually affecting the disc, or is it just affecting? You know the muscles aren't supporting the neck anymore and so we need to put them through some therapy. But we actually use a form of decompression as well. So we use that a lot of times with our disc patients, like if they got the sciatica or radicular pain down their leg. So we're dealing usually with a disc problem in the lower back and so we'll use that decompression. And what decompression does? It kind of creates a vacuum effect.

Speaker 3: 37:54

So we're actually going to just slowly decompress that disc and what that does is it allows to suck that fluid back into the center, because the disc is like little tires, little rubber tires, layers of them, and those treads can get loose and torn from all the compression where the muscles aren't supporting properly. So if we're talking about your neck, the disc fibers will tear and that fluid will seep out to the weak point. The weak point is usually right where the nerve comes out. It's straight back and to the side, and that's where those nerves come out on both sides. Or it can actually go central and it can get the spinal cord affecting both sides as well.

Speaker 3: 38:36

So it just really depends where that disc is actually bulged out. And so if we do that decompression, we'll unload that disc. It irritates those outer fibers. To help the body heal, and then we try and work on strengthening the muscles and working on their posture with their neck to put the head in a better position, because you think about, average head weighs 10 pounds and we're holding this 10 pound melon up there all day. And then you you know military football players, helmets and things like that impacts, falls, bumps, bruises.

Speaker 2: 39:07

You know it's, it's going to break down a little bit sooner than than uh, than it's supposed to last do y'all see a lot of uh, I know, with this generation now in days it's a lot of looking down. You know, look down, look down cell phones, things, laptops all that.

Speaker 4: 39:23

Is that what it's called? They have an actual name now for it, for what? The kids today with tech neck because they're all on their phones, they're doing all that they're going to have so many more problems because they don't, they don't ever get to develop the curve in their neck, which is the curve is important so that the nerves can function. And you know, again, learning all this but that's what we have to know in this industry is that the kids today, just by doing that, you know, we used to, our parents used to get talked about because they put us in front of the TV, because the TV, when we were young, was a new invention. Right, the remote was me going up there for my dad right.

Speaker 4: 40:00

But we would sit down and look up at our our tv to watch it. But nowadays, you know that's helping. Now everybody looks down, they're on a lap, they're on an ipad, they're on their laptop.

Speaker 4: 40:10

So you know, I even see my grandchildren do that today you know I was like I had to tell my daughter you know that's not good for their neck, but you know it's just seeing. That is different. But I wanted to go. Dr partner was you know your questioner? I wanted to. I had a thought on that. Was that, um, about the military?

Speaker 4: 40:27

And the next something like that, something that was really just amazing to me to understand, was we have some big guys come in that have worked out. They're muscular, you can see how big their muscles. They probably lift a lot of weight. But my dog was doing this exam. Have worked out, they're muscular, you can see how big their muscles are. They can probably lift a lot of weight. But my dog was doing this exam on him and what they're looking at is can the muscles actually respond the same on both sides?

Speaker 4: 40:50

So part of their exam is to check the muscles to see if the nerves function properly and to see this big old broiler guy that can't lock out the doctor that's just pushing down his arm because the nerve is being impinged and even though he can lift all the weights up but from one hand he can lock him out and hold him up but the other one just falls away, that's the nerve being impeded from that helmet or whatever the traumatic injury is and it's just putting pressure on that nerve so to relieve that, all of a sudden you're going to be able to use that muscle again. You're not doing that and I like to look at it as seeing x-rays in the office. It was just astonishing when I started working there, but it's like looking at people's teeth and seeing the decay in your teeth you'd go do something about it.

Speaker 4: 41:26

Most people don't look at their spine, see the decay happening because they're not taking care of it and so just to go in and and we tell people you're when's the last time you went and had your nervous system checked?

Speaker 2: 41:38

I don't think nobody checks it. Nobody checks it no matter where, right.

Speaker 4: 41:44

But that's why you I mean you get your teeth checked twice a year, but yet when's the last time you had your nervous system checked? That's something we're doing is checking to see how function it is. Rather, somebody decides they want to do something. At least they know what's going on and they know where they're headed, you know, and it's decay, basically of the spine, and this is why you look around. We see more and more hospitals being out there, but really the homes that have to take care of people are growing and growing because we didn't do the things we should have done when we were younger and take care of our health. I'll steal this from Dr Parsons because it really resonated with me a long time ago. You get a health fund when you're born and it's full, just like your bank account, and everything we do in life takes away from the health fund. So what are you doing to put back in that health fund so that when you're ready to retire, you're ready to do the things you love to do, you have your health?

Speaker 2: 42:34

We don't Dang. That makes sense. Yeah, you dumbed it down for me right there.

Speaker 3: 42:41

It's kind of funny, you know Jerry talks about it. You know it's nice sitting back here going.

Speaker 3: 42:45

Man, I actually I did. I guess I did a pretty good job teaching I'm a good teacher after all but you know it was. I saw a video the other day and talking about this, but Jerry brought up the health account. It was, uh, I think it was a video with uh, katherine, katherine hegel and the actress, 27 dresses and and things and she said her purpose was about dogs and taking care of dogs. And she was.

Speaker 3: 43:11

I was listening to this she's talking about it's the food that we feed our dogs, why they have joint problems, hair problems, scalp problems and all these they're. They're aging before their their time and they're not as active. And you start giving them good, healthy food, they start being active and having health and I'm like this is what we're teaching. We should be teaching the public. It's the foods that we're eating has so much processed stuff in it and chemicals. That's building up and detoxifying our body. This is why we have the joint problem.

Speaker 3: 43:45

Man, we do this clear and repair on our patients. It's a six-week thing and, man, they can't believe how well they feel. It's like you have all these toxins that you've done for 50 years, 40 years, 30 years, even that build up and it doesn't allow your body to process. We get people to clean up their diet. Along with what we do. We teach them our three main things is lengthen and strengthen muscles, get good, normal joint motion in the joint, make sure the joint stays healthy, make sure the nerves are feeding your body correctly and then teach them about how they can change their lifestyle, their diet and put good things in. I mean, you think about it the best vitamin D to help hair and nails and your immune system is from the sun. So if we can put good, healthy things in the body, we're going to get good healthy things back out of it.

Speaker 2: 44:39

Yeah, you know I'm guilty of it. We are the fast way. I'm tired. I got home I'm just gonna throw something in the microwave or stop at the local fast food you know, it's just, it's a lot easier yeah, I know it is.

Speaker 3: 44:53

Hey, you know health is not easy, you're right. You know it's like everybody asks how do you keep you know, exercising, going to the gym? I'm like, well, I don't like it or love it, but I know what the consequences are. If I don't, I'm not going to get to. I don't want to end up in a chair, I don't want to end up somebody taking care of me, I don't want my wife to have to push me around in a wheelchair. And so, if I can lead by example because I always remember people saying, you know, I went to my doctor and he told me I need to quit smoking and I smell smoke on his hands I didn't want to be that guy, I wanted to lead by example. And so you know, I don't make it all the time. I love Mexican food, I love flour tortillas and throwing some cheese on there and some butter and everything else, but you know, again, it's moderation.

Speaker 3: 45:44

And so, like some patients say look okay, if you eat fast food seven days a week, let's try six, let's try five.

Speaker 2: 45:51

Yeah, you know, that makes sense, man, I see that.

Speaker 3: 45:54

Let's win, let's just have a win man.

Speaker 2: 45:57

That's what's up. I like that. I like that. I like that. What are, um man? So y'all are? Y'all have two locations here in Paralympic. Yes, sir, and what are ways that people can find you if they wanted to reach out to you?

Speaker 3: 46:11

So we actually have one website for both locations. It's called premierchirotxcom is the website, and then we have two different, different phone numbers. 281-485-2955 is is uh, the 2018 east down by the original gringos and dixie and then jerry, what's the? Do you got that?

Speaker 4: 46:32

11 to uh, the other um address is 11470 um and that's Broadway Street, suite 110. Suite 110. It's actually the easy way I always like to tell people. It's down there by. We're in between one bad restaurant, one good, healthy restaurant. We're right in the middle of both of them, but we're in the town center.

Speaker 2: 46:55

Okay, okay.

Speaker 3: 46:55

Right on the corner there, right on the corner right there, he's talking about Cava and donut place.

Speaker 2: 47:01

Oh yeah, crispy cream yeah, I'm a, I'm a. I'm a shipley's man myself, but I know it's, I know it's me. Yeah, so um a piece of advice you would offer the listener, you both don't my.

Speaker 3: 47:20

My best advice I tell people is is understand what the difference is between an injury and overworked um, that's probably the best piece of advice.

Speaker 3: 47:30

So a lot of people don't understand. So if, if I overdo something, like a weekend warrior or something like that, or yard work, that is usually going to clear up in a couple days, days, right, that's going to be soreness and stuff, but if it's sticking with you a week, two weeks, you got an injury. Get to somebody that can help you. And chiropractic, that's our specialty. You know musculoskeletal, neurological conditions. You know when dealing with the spine or the joints, don't wait, because it just your body's going to adapt to that and it's going to do different things.

Speaker 3: 48:01

Like, we work with a lot of shoulders and knees and it's usually fixing the biomechanics of the joint so that the brain is communicating to the muscles, because you've got muscles on one side of the joint and muscles on the other side and they've got to work together. One's got to relax and one's got to contract, right. But when they're not working right, you no longer have a sliding door for that knee, right, but when they're not working right, you no longer have a sliding door for that knee. You actually got a sliding door out of the track and that knee is going to wear out faster. So that's why we tell people when you injure something, let's get that joint fixed correctly, the biomechanics and that joint will last longer. It's when they come to us or they wait too long and we tell them you know, unfortunately you're going to need back surgery. It's too gone.

Speaker 2: 48:41

Yeah, jerry, what you got.

Speaker 4: 48:44

My easiest one is that people always think problems will go away. Have you ever known a problem to go away? No, problems do not. So when, like he says, when you first get that if you wait long enough the pain will go away, it doesn't mean the problem's gone, it's just your body has adapted to it and has dealt with it. And then, when the problem gets a little bit worse, you'll feel it again because a different nerve sensation has picked up. Now it's a worse of a problem. So people think that they bent over and picked up a pen. No, you gotta go all the way back 10 years ago when you're in that accident, and you ignored it right, okay that's why you're invested, so don't ignore things.

Speaker 4: 49:21

Here's the thing if your engine light in your car went off and you weren't sure why, you'd go get it checked out, right yeah, or would you?

Speaker 3: 49:29

oh yeah, I don't know, you use the duct tape.

Speaker 2: 49:34

I put a picture over the light.

Speaker 4: 49:37

So that's exactly what people do to their body. But you know what, ron, it's okay for your car, why? Because if you look out here, you can always go get another one. Right, right, right. When are you going to?

Speaker 2: 49:45

get another. You, oh yeah, I mean not, I guess that makes sense 100%. Yeah, wow, you know, and there's a you know, so I still keep going back. So there's a big difference between y'all have in and outs chiropractic and then an actual chiropractic facility. There's a big difference between those, huh.

Speaker 3: 50:10

There is, and that's where it's important for the patients to know what they're really looking for, because sometimes they don't understand that. So a lot of times when I have family or friends that are out of state and they'll call me and ask me hey, I'm having so-and-so. Okay, so you know this is what you need to look for, because there is a difference and a lot of people don't understand that. You know there's chiropractic out there to where they won't do, you know, an examination, or they won't do x-rays and they're only evaluating from, you know, maybe an overuse type of injury or just trying to maintain, you know, joint motion, and so there's some chiropractics that I kind of think of them like, kind of like a massage envy. You know they're just day-to-day things, but when it's an actual bad injury they usually usually those type of chiropractic offices refer out to other offices, you know. So there there is a difference and a lot of chiropractors practice all difference, because you got some chiropractors just do nutrition. They're just that's what they want to tackle.

Speaker 3: 51:13

and then you got some that do nutrition and some that just do straight chiropractic. Just adjust no x-rays, no therapy, no, nothing. They're just going to adjust. You know what you're getting, know what you're not getting. I just never like to guess. That was kind of our motto. Um, we test, we don't guess that's a good one.

Speaker 3: 51:32

Uh, you know, that's definitely something when it comes down to functional medicine and evaluating somebody from a blood and nutritional level, uh, of what's really going on under the hood. It's opening the hood up and looking at what's really going on.

Speaker 2: 51:49

You know, something you said today is going to stick with me. It's not about the pop, and a lot of times that's what us normal people that aren know familiar with chiropractic go for and like to hear and think that that okay, that made me feel better. Or, you know, I heard the pop, so it's a good thing, but uh, god that that it makes me think different now.

Speaker 3: 52:14

So yeah, that got there. That's actually a gas and and I had to, as I learned it from just practicing through the years when I would have patients. I mean it's crazy how long I've been around, but I remember treating mom and pregnant with a baby and then I actually married him off a couple years ago. That's how long I've been around, so being able to see people and as their spines aged with me and you would see the spines as they age, they don't build up.

Speaker 3: 52:46

You don't get a lot of that gas that builds up in that joint and you don't get that pop. So we're not after that pop, definitely, and you're no different than a lot of other patients out there and they feel like they're getting cheated. Or I didn't get a good treatment because there wasn't a pop. But again, the key is that the provider that's treating you makes sure that the joint has normal motion, because we can give a bad adjustment where, hey, you just didn't move, there's muscles too spasmodic, too tight, hey, we'll do some stretching, let's get you back and I'll see you again. We'll get a better treatment on it.

Speaker 4: 53:19

Sometimes that takes that too wow or I think the way to look at it is if you take your knuckle and you pull your joint right there at your knuckle, you'll see that it moves right, right. Sometimes you'll hear that pop, okay, but it doesn't. But sometimes I can still move that joint and there's no air coming out there, no pop. So it's still moving right right and so we want to get normal function movement back into the joint. So that's kind of the simple term of why you don't get the pump.

Speaker 2: 53:46

See I like that man, you guys you really like. You're awesome, jerry y'all sound like y'all love what y'all do absolutely.

Speaker 4: 53:53

I just want people to be well educated on what? Because I wasn't, you know, even though I went to. You know I loved my chiropractor as going through high school and kids, but I didn't learn what I've learned since being here and understand it so myself after leaving high school. Do you think I saw a chiropractor when I was in the military or after the military?

Speaker 3: 54:12

No.

Speaker 4: 54:13

I just went. I heard I wanted to go see one because I know they could do it.

Speaker 2: 54:16

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 54:16

But I really never got educated on why I should have been seeing one more on a regular basis to stay better healthy until I came here and started working with my brother and learned all kinds of things.

Speaker 2: 54:27

That's amazing. Well, y'all definitely kicked me in the butt. I'm definitely going to be visiting you guys really soon and you know we wanted to share information and I honestly think that that's what was done today during this time, and I want to tell you both thank you for your service, honestly, thank you for what you do and thank you for helping our brothers and sisters get back right. And you know that's something I said that and I got chills because that's how sincere I am with it. You know, getting them off the medication is an amazing thing in itself and I say that as a recovering addict that it is something that needs to be done. You know, because we are fed medications and you know we think it's the fix, but a lot of times you know it's not and it's just doing more damage. Think it's the fix, but a lot of times you know it's not and it's just doing more damage and you get to a point where you feel like you can't live without it and you find it elsewhere. You know it gets bad.

Speaker 3: 55:28

Yeah, it snowballs.

Speaker 2: 55:30

Right, it definitely does. So I want to thank you guys for being here and for sharing this information. I appreciate it and um, would you guys have any last comments you'd like to say?

Speaker 3: 55:40

No, I just appreciate you having us on and you know my purpose at this point in my life is just to serve and add value where I can to people's lives. Yes, sir.

Speaker 4: 55:53

Raul, I just want to thank you for giving us this opportunity to share with you. But, you know, learning a little bit about you and what you do in the community is awesome the fact that you know a lot of what you're doing is to help the military and help the veterans that they don't know, and that takes a lot.

Speaker 4: 56:08

I mean you finding that out and doing that, you're helping out veterans out there too, and I just appreciate that there's somebody out there doing that, because it does mean a lot, I appreciate it, brother, thank you, thank you and you guys always.

Speaker 3: 56:27

Thank you for tuning in. Be sure to check out. Check out Premier Chiropractic on what?

Speaker 2: 56:29

was the website PremierChiroTXcom. There you go and, as always, be sure to check on your friends and family. If you're in a crisis, be sure to call 988 or you could even text 988. If you're a military veteran, press 1. As always, you guys. Thank you and Charlie Mike, Yo yo yo. What's going on? Everybody, it is me, Soulja Hardwell, Redcon1 Music Group and thank you for listening to Charlie Mike, the podcast, Yay.