Review: The ultimate spinal decompression book

‘The godfather of spinal decompression’

AWARD-WINNING No. 1 BEST-SELLING AUTHORS Eric Kaplan, DC, and Perry Bard, DC, have compiled “The Ultimate Spinal Decompression Book,” featuring interviews and protocols with Norman Shealy, MD, PhD, and other writers, gathering some of the top research and an inside look into spinal decompression success.

The 800+ page tome, released late in 2022, is “a compilation of the many works of those healers who work tirelessly to make spinal decompression the safest and most innovative spinal surgery option on the market today for patients.” The 20 chapters include topics such as serving patients better, vertebral pain syndrome, idiopathic peripheral neuropathy and chiropractic, spinal surgery options, billing and coding for spinal decompression, inversion therapy, a compendium of research and studies of back pain management, and more.

“Getting to know and work with Dr. Norman Shealy has been life changing,” writes Eric Kaplan, DC, FIAMA. “He told Dr. Bard and I that after performing his first back surgery, he knew back surgery was not the answer … Today, both medical doctors and chiropractors are looking for measures and mechanisms to avoid surgery and addicting narcotics. There is now an alternative to back surgery. As ‘Failed Back Surgery Syndrome’ is reaching epidemic proportions, men like Dr. Norman Shealy are still working with our profession to evolve a drug-free solution and eliminate unnecessary back surgeries … This book discussed initial disc pathology, kinesiopathology, and how he works on the sacrum with many of his patients. With six decades of achievements, Dr. Norman Shealy is respectfully known by his peers as a pioneer of holistic pain management … In ‘The Ultimate Spinal Decompression Book,’ Dr. Bard and I share so many of Dr. Shealy’s thoughts and wisdom in the field of non-surgical spinal decompression. Our conversations were so exciting that Dr. Bard felt we had to put it down in writing and turn it into a book.”

Ethically serving patients better

The two also discuss serving patients better through spinal decompression and ethical practice management, and the opportunity for doctors of chiropractic to run prosperous practices.

“In analyzing your behavior in your practice, think back on how you conduct yourself,” they write. “Think about your peers and the people that are in your life. Are a majority of those people ethical? Only you know what the answer is, but there is a definite deterioration in ethical behavior in our society.”

The pair share guidelines for doctors to act on their own good intentions, sharing the “5 Ps of Ethical Power”:

Purpose – You must have a purpose in your life. A purpose is not a goal — a purpose is the road you are traveling in your life, and a goal is one of the stops along the way. A purpose is ongoing and gives definition to your life.

Pride – Having a sense of satisfaction with the accomplishments of self, family, loved ones and staff. People with pride have the power to act ethically. Beware of a negative pride that occurs when a person has a distorted image of their own importance. Act with humility. People with humility don’t think of themselves; they just think less about themselves. People with excess self-pride are acting from feelings of low self-esteem. Pride and self-esteem can be controlled because it is nothing more than your attitude, and attitudes are habits of thought.

Patience – Patience is related to faith. When you lack faith, you become impatient. There are two types of faith: spiritual faith and positive-thinking faith. Spiritual faith comes from God and positive-thinking faith is the energized belief that things will work out no matter what happens because when you act and think positively, you can handle anything.

Persistence – Persistence in life is characterized by your ethical substance. When you are ethically committed to something, you will be persistent. There is a tremendous difference between an interest and a commitment. When you are interested in something, it is only done at your convenience. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses.

Perspective – Perspective is the ability to see what is really important in any given situation. Perspective is the most important quality of all because it controls purpose, pride, patience and persistence. Perspective comes from within. It comes from your subconscious self. Very few people listen to their subconscious selves. We must have the perspective to manage our activities that take up our time. There are 31,536,000 seconds in a year. What we do with that time is a matter of perspective. Every problem can be solved if you take some quiet time to reflect, seek guidance and put things in perspective.

“The Ultimate Spinal Decompression Book” is an intriguing compilation of spinal decompression research, personal and practice advice, degenerative disc protocols, case reports, and interviews with chiropractic and decompression experts, all coming together for the ultimate source for information on nonsurgical spinal decompression.

“The fact is, back surgery is expensive and has had some disappointing result

s, and it also carries lots of patient risk,” they write. “There are side-effects associated with any su

rgery. I always have told my patients, ‘The difference between major surgery and minor surgery is minor surgery happens to someone else.’ So doctors, now is the time to study the research and to be the best doctor you can be.”

Review by Chiropractic Economics staff. For more information on the book, go to DiscCentersofAmerica.com.