Video Transcription
Stephen Franson: Hey, Remarkables. It’s Dr. Stephen Franson coming to you from Australia. I’m sitting here with the world famous Martin Harvey, Dr. Martin Harvey.
So doctor, every opportunity I get, I sit with the thought leaders, the movers and shakers, the guys who make it happen. And it’s no secret that you run Australia. So-
Martin Harvey: With a team.
Stephen Franson: Yeah. With a team. They make you look good. So, the coffee breaks are all about just sitting down and giving my people just exposure to some of the people that can enrich their lives and in their practices. And I think the world of you, man, and I just appreciate all that you’re doing in the research space. Why don’t you tell our people a little bit about what you’ve got going on. I’d like to talk a little bit about the research base. I’d like to talk specifically about certainty, because in The Remarkable Practice we teach that your attraction is a reflection of your certainty, and that your conversion is a reflection of your conviction, and that your retention is a reflection of your clarity.
So I know that when I’m talking to my clients about building their certainty, there are different ways to build certainty, right? There’s the experience that you’ll get over time, but that requires time. There’s the people you surround yourself with and observation. And then there is the academic pursuit. And you play a big role in that, buddy, and I really appreciate that. And I’m not sure if you think of it that way, but that’s how I think of you, is that you’re helping all of us do better work and create more certainty, and be more effective as chiropractors, because you’re helping us have something to study. So I thank you for that.
Martin Harvey: That’s our pleasure. And I guess to give you a bit more information about that, I’m the president of the Australian Spinal Research Foundation and we’re a foundation that’s been around since the mid-seventies and we’ve been able to fund more than $2 million worth of research into chiropractic. But the thing that’s, I guess, really unique about us in terms of research is that we’re a research foundation that we will only support research within the chiropractic paradigm.
And by that I mean there are two types of research that we’re interested in. There’s research into better understanding how the adjustment works, what’s the physiological impacts? What’s the health impacts of a chiropractic adjustment? And then we’re interested in research that looks at the quality of life or global well-being impacts of chiropractic care. So it’s not that we’re saying that there shouldn’t be more research done on the impact of chiropractic care on back pain, neck pain, or headaches. But we’re just saying that the thing that chiropractic holds out as unique is that there’s something else to this, to the impact of the adjustment. And that’s really what we’re passionate about, creating research to support a chiropractor’s certainty, but also a chiropractor’s ability to create positive public relations, to be able to work out better ways of providing care so the patients benefit more.
So that’s really what we’re about. And if some of your docs want to find out more about that, we’ve got a fabulous website, spinalresearch.com.au, and there’s a lot of free stuff there- [crosstalk]
Stephen Franson: Let me say that again. So it’s spinalresearch.com dot.au.
Martin Harvey: Yes.
Stephen Franson: And that’s a good, critical thing to get the “au”- [crosstalk]
Martin Harvey: Yeah, you need that “au” there, yes.
Stephen Franson: Okay, good. And what are they going to find there?
Martin Harvey: There’s a lot of free stuff. If you go to the research tab, there’ll be a whole lot of stuff where you’ll be able to get a greater understanding of some of the research that’s already been published that can support what we know happens from our clinical experience. But we’re really moving into an era where the currency of influence is research validation in every arena. Whether it’s talking to patients within your practice, going out into your community or on those high levels when we’re trying to influence government, we’re trying to influence other stakeholders. Basically in the world now, research is the currency of influence and we’re really passionate about making … supporting the people in the political space and the people in the practice to have the research that they need to get chiropractic to more people, basically.
Stephen Franson: Well, I know how much I appreciate that, personally. Because for me, I’m an academic. I like to read things, and I gain strength from that. And I know that my people do as well. And I mean, if we were all to hunker down and you’d get 500 chiropractors sitting here listening to you right now saying, “All right, so what are you guys finding out? What is the research telling us and what can we plant our feet on for Certain?” What would your message be to this community now? The more research we are doing, what are we finding out? Is this a great time to be a chiropractor? [crosstalk] Should we feel really good about what we’re doing? [crosstalk]
Martin Harvey: Absolutely. I think that-
Stephen Franson: Speak to that chiropractor and tell him, “This is what we’re finding out now. This is”-
Martin Harvey: This is an awesome time to be a chiropractor. And while there’s more research that needs to be done, the research that’s coming out is supporting the concepts that we’ve known for years and years and years. And getting back to what you were talking about in terms of certainty, if we look at the dynamic of where chiropractors tend to lose certainty in practice, it’s where they … most chiropractors buy into those big philosophical ideas that the body is self-healing and it’s self-regulating, self developing; that the nervous system is the central control mechanism and that interfering with that would be bad.
So if you ask chiropractors that, they have 100% certainty with that. But where they lose certainty is that … whether they’ve got their next layers aligned with that, whether they’ve got their paradigm .. the least abstract way that that’s applied to their practice, whether they’re super clear around that. And one of the things that I think the research is really important in is to map out, well what is that paradigm at a scientific level? And that’s really what we’re about is. And so a lot of the research that we’ve funded is looking at mechanisms in terms of what happens when there’s an adjustment? What happens in the brain when you apply an adjustment? What happens in terms of some of the stuff that we’ve done looking at elbow joint position sets? Which speaks to that idea of there being better quality communication between the brain and the body, and the body and the brain.
Stephen Franson: Right, right. Fantastic. That’s great stuff.
Martin Harvey: So that’s a very long way of saying: never been a better time to be a chiropractor, and it’s only going to get better.
Stephen Franson: Thank you, man. All right, so one more time with the website and the resources that are available there.
Martin Harvey: spinalresearch.com.au
Go to the research tab. You’ll be able to find out about a whole lot of studies that you’ll find incredibly interesting as far as the potential to build your certainty and, really critically, their importance in terms of us being able to do a better job in taking care of the millions of people who really need chiropractic care.
Stephen Franson: Right on. All right. Dr Martin Harvey. You heard it from the man right here. If you’re ever in Australia, this is the guy you want to go either geek out with or just go for a good surf. [crosstalk] my friend. This is Dr. Stephen Franson signing off from The Remarkable Practice. Go be remarkable.