One of the ways that we’ve become more efficient is by taking steps to become more mobile.

Cue the Ipad

This one piece of equipment has allowed me to do things inside and outside of my clinic that I never thought possible. The other night I had a patient call me while I was laying in bed and she wanted me to look at some xrays she had just taken (they used a digital system that we are hooked into at our office). I was able to pull out my Ipad, connect to my office, and look at those films in high resolution and render a “spot read” for her. That was pretty powerful as she was worried about the films and what they might show.

Check out the video below for a quick walkthrough that shows how easy it is to use the Ipad in a Clinic setting with your existing EMR software.

What You Need:

1) Apple iPad

2) LogMeIn Ignition App for the Ipad

3) LogMeIn Software on Your Office PC

4) EMR Software of Your Choice (I use Future Health Software in my clinic).

Patient Notes on an Ipad is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker

Its not to say that I haven’t had a good one…its just that every now and then God throws one of those “gut-check moments” at you and you have to take a long look at who you are and what life is all about.

I’m sitting here alone (because I’m the last one awake) at my wife’s parent’s house in Little Rock Arkansas and I stumbled onto a picture of a Tiger Woods ad that is running at the LaGuardia Airport.

It’s Christmas 2009 and I have a tear in my eye because of a Tiger Woods Ad… (crazy I know)

So why in the world would something so silly hit me like this?

Flashback to Early Morning December 23rd….

I was at work and I happened to look down at my facebook status and saw that one of my highschool classmate’s husband had been in an accident at work. I later found out that he had passed away. In the blink of an eye, my old friend’s life would officially never be the same.

I have spent the past three days working with a group of amazing friends on a project to raise money to help our friend who lost her husband. We have raised a good amount of money but no matter how much we raise I just don’t feel like we’re doing enough. I keep coming back to the fact that nothing is going to bring our friend’s husband back.

Every little bit of joy today has been strange…because I know that somewhere my friend is sitting with her 2 year old…and life has officially stopped….. and she’s looking around and realizing that the rest of the world hasn’t…. and she’s starting to realize that this whole thing is real. It just kills me…

So here I am….. sitting at a computer in Little Rock AR….staring at a picture of Tiger Woods….. I should think this picture a bit ironic…. but all I can think about is how true this piece of marketing is……

Because life really isn’t about how bad or good things are right now….

Life is about What you do next…….

Because it really is What you do Next that Counts….

If you’d like to donate to our cause, you can donate by clicking here. All funds will be put toward funeral cost in the short-term and toward a college tuition fund in the long-term. (http://drbenadkins.com/mattwalls)

I am praying that my friend can find peace tonight…and that she’ll be able to figure out “what to do next” in the days ahead.

Its What You Do Next That Counts… is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker

Disclaimer: Deeply Personal “Dr. Ben” Post. You’ve Been Warned.

4 Months…..

4 months is the difference between “who I was” and “who I am” today. Keep in mind that 26 years played a big part in the last 4 months….but there is no doubt that  something special is going on in my life that I have no ability to explain and it all started 4 months ago. I’m not writing to brag (I hope this doesn’t come off this way…because its the exact opposite), I’m writing to try to make sense of all of this.

I look around at the amazing thing that’s going on around me….. and I want you to know how it started…

It came from a really dark place.  6 months ago I was extremely unhappy. I was the same person that I am today, but I let someone in my life make me call into question what I was capable of.  I allowed someone to insert doubt into my life. There was that….and there was the baby. My wife and I had been trying to get pregnant for the past year and all of a sudden it happened. But then, something went horribly wrong. One night my wife said that she didn’t feel right and a “hospital trip” later, we found out that we had lost the baby.

After recovering from all of that….something just exploded inside me…

After that….nothing seemed insurmountable….and that brings me to the topic of this whole post.

When you decide that nothing can stop you…..then there is only one thing out there that can stop you……..and that’s yourself…

But you see…..there is a trouble with limitless possibilities….. and that trouble is that every now and then, you’re going to overstep a line or two (because who the hell is going to stop someone who doesn’t believe they can be held back)… So what do you do when you do that?

I think that you take a step back and take a look in the mirror… and ask yourself…. “is this going to be what defines me, or is this just a wrong turn that I took?”.

The point of this is: Failure is an event, Not a Person……Realize that and even when you fall down, you realize that no one event can really destroy who you really are, no one event can shake your core, as long as you learn something from that failure.

Life is a collection of moments….all we can do is  our best to collect more wins than losses.

The Trouble with Limitless Possibilities is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker

1. Buy yourself a few extra pillows and prop yourself up in bed, rather than lying flat on your back. You’ll prevent the tissues in your throat from falling into your air passages.
2. Raise the head of your bed. An easy way to do it is to place several flat boards under the legs at the top end of the bed. A couple of old phone books under each leg should also raise the bed enough to do the trick.
3. Sleep on your side. Of course, there’s no guarantee you’ll stay in that position, but at least start on your side with your arms wrapped around a pillow. There’s a good reason you don’t want to sleep on your back: in that position, your tongue and soft palate rest against the back of your throat, blocking the airway.
4. Try taking a decongestant or antihistamine if nasal congestion is causing your snoring. Use these only as a temporary measure if you suspect that a cold or allergy is to blame. Prolonged use of either can be harmful.
5. Tape your nose open with nasal strips, available at most pharmacies . They may look odd, but who’s looking? Following the directions on the package, tape one of the strips to the outside of your nose before you fall asleep. They work by lifting and opening your nostrils to increase airflow.
6. Gargle with a peppermint mouthwash to shrink the lining of your nose and throat. This is especially effective if your snoring is a temporary condition caused by a head cold or an allergy. To mix up the herbal gargle…
   • Add 1 drop of peppermint oil to a glass of cold water. (Only gargle – do not swallow).
7. Change your sheets and pillowcases often to relieve nasal stuffiness, alleviate bedroom allergens. Try to vacuum your floors and curtains often too.
8. Try drinking nettle tea. Herbalists recommend it for soothing the inflammation caused by pollen allergies. To make the tea:
   • Pour a cup of boiling water over 1 tablespoon of dried leaf.
   • Cover the tea and let it steep for 5 minutes.
   • Strain and drink.
   • Drink up to 3 cups a day, 1 cup just before your bedtime.
9. Learn more about exercises that can help you stop snoring.

More Stop Snoring Tips

• Learn and research for those things that work best for others. It is very important to learn from others in order not to repeat their huge mistakes. The best way would be through discussions, forum, rating programs, health communities (such as health.communispot.com), etc.
• Work your throat muscles – There are few exercises for the throat muscle that help leaving airways open. It can save you from having a painful surgery.
• If hugging a pillow doesn’t help, you can tackle the problem with using a tennis ball. Sew a little pouch on the back of a top and tuck a tennis ball inside. At night, if you start to roll onto your back while you’re asleep, you’ll get a nudge from the ball, prompting you to get back on your side.
• Weight loss can reduce your snoring by easing any constriction of the upper airway.
• Do mouthpieces work? A recent study in Switzerland found oral appliances effective in treating sleep apnea. Side effects were only “mildly disturbing”: mucosal dryness (86% of patients), tooth discomfort (59%), and excessive salivation (55%). Long-term use may cause dental misalignments requiring corrective orthodontia work.
• Consider the underlying cause. Discuss with your physician the possibility of a sleep disorder which may be more serious than just the snoring. The current gold standard for obstructive sleep apnea treatment is a CPAP device which opens the airway with pressurized air delivered through a mask or a nose-mounted appliance.
• Quit Smoking. Tobacco smoke irritates mucous membranes, so your throat swells, narrowing the airway. Smokers also have more problems with nasal congestion.
• If you regularly take any kind of medication, talk to your doctor about alternatives. Some drugs can make snoring worse, including sleeping pills and sedatives.
• There is surgery available now if your snoring problem is a function of sleep apnea.
• Some people sleep with tennis ball on their back underneath the shirt in which they are sleeping so they don’t roll on back because that position would be too uncomfortable.

Borrowed from wikihow.net

How to Stop Snoring is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker

You can check out our Poplar Bluff MO office at http://www.poplarbluffchiropractic.com or call us at 785-BACK (2225).

You can also stop by Monday through Friday anytime from 8am-6PM and 10AM-Noon on Saturdays.

Our Office is located at 805 W. Pine Blvd in Poplar Bluff MO.

I hope to meet all of you in person very soon. Feel free to call anytime if you have any Health Questions.

Poplar Bluff Chiropractor – Dr. Ben Adkins is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker

The past month has been a little bit of a rollercoaster as far as life events go. If this is the way you find out and you wish that I had called you….I apologize… This is just one of those things that is easier for me to write than say “out loud”.

With that being said, I had a very happy bit of new that turned into some very unhappy news. We found out a few weeks ago that we were going to have a baby. Armed with that piece of information I made the decision that it was time to move on from my current job. I have been working at an office run by another Chiropractor for the past year and its become apparent that I don’t need to put my fate (as well as my family’s fate) in the hands of another individual. I won’t say that the “baby news” was the only reason for my decision to leave…but it really made the decision much easier.

We started looking for possible locations, filling out the necessary paperwork, and getting all of the needed equipment for the new office.

Everything has been falling into place alot better than I expected until we got some terrible news. About a week back we found out that we were going to lose the baby. Everything stopped as we tried frantically to figure out what was wrong as well as make sure that we were taking care of my wife. Considering that we’ve been trying to have a child for around a year now, we were very upset. Right now we’re just trying to figure things out.

Even though things haven’t worked out like we’d hoped, we’re moving forward with opening the new office. I will be putting in my last days at Create Wellness in Poplar Bluff this week and we will be opening Adkins Chiropractic within the next few weeks. Its a scary thing, but I believe that its the right time.

As far as the “baby” goes… I don’t know…. I’m just trying to figure things out. I’m not one to sit around a wallow though. We’re going to continue to move forward and try to follow God’s plan.

Right now I believe that God’s plan is to get the office open so we can help more people get well.

Thanks for reading and please keep Kelli and I in your prayers.

Dr. Ben Adkins

Laugh So You Don't Cry is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker

A few months back I started talking about a project that I (with a few associates) was working on to help some fellow Chiropractors out with their marketing efforts. Our goal from the beginning is to help potential patients find AMAZING Chiropractors.

We decided that we were going to open up our new service to a few doctors in the St. Louis area. We started advertising our service (rather ambiguously…we didn’t tell them what we were going to do to help them) on facebook and twitter and the response was pretty amazing. Within a few days we had a mailbox full of messages from St. Louis based Doctors that wanted to learn more about what we were doing.

We sent out information packets to all our potential clients and waited for them to come back in. We had a pretty nice pile of applications to go through. We decided to settle on rolling out the project in phases. We picked our top candidates (Doctors who we know that are really good at what they do) and then picked the doctor who we would begin our service for the soonest.

On a side not: This is What my New Company Does.

We Use the power of the Internet to get the word out about amazing doctors. We do marketing on Google, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, Myspace, and a few other places to accomplish one goal. “We get people who need Chiropractic care to Great Chiropractors”. We call our company ChiroLeverage and you can learn more about it at the following link (Learn More about our unique brand of Chiropractic Marketing)

You can learn more about our first Doctor and his practice at the following link (Learn More about one of our favorite St. Louis Chiropractors).

Dr. Ryan beat out a tough list of great Doctors to become our first client and we can’t wait to help him grow his practice. (Because that means that patients are being put in great hands).

If you live in the St. Louis area, be sure to check out Dr. Ryan’s new site at www.stlchiro.com and make sure to take advantage of our coupon code, which will get you a free tour of his office and consultation ($300 value) (Click Here for the Coupon).

For more information on ChiroLeverage visit us at http://www.chiroleverage.com.

-Dr. Ben

St. Louis Chiropractors is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker

The FDA has sent a warning to General Mills about the wording on the box and Cheerios has said that it is in talks to remedy the situation.

You can Read the Full Article Here in the Baltimore Sun.

I just have one question… Doesn’t the FDA have more important things on it’s plate besides attacking Cheerios?

What do you think?

Cheerios Gets an FDA Slap is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker

My office in Poplar Bluff Missouri continues to get a little busier everyday and it makes me think that we must be doing something right. When you open your own clinic, you are completely without a “machine” that generate patients, and at times it can be a little intimidating. Building an office from the ground up is no easy task.

As I look back over the past few months, I’m reminded that no matter how frustrating some cases/situations can be, we’re doing things the right way. We don’t compromise the quality of our patient’s care because of any outside pressure and we don’t ever have to apologize because we didn’t tell the patient “what we really thought, when we thought it” (because we’re always honest with our patients…whether they are ready to hear it or not…I think that’s what we all want from our Doctors)

I have been reading a book by the famous Zig Ziggler, and there are two lines that have really stuck with me (so far…I’m only a few Chapters in).

The first line goes something like this:

You can be as successful as you want in life as long as you figure out how to make other people successful.

If that isn’t true in healthcare… I don’t know what is. Our job, as Doctors (I don’t care what kind of doctor you are) is essentially to show people how to lead healthy lives and then help them fix any mistakes/accidents that occur along the way. (and then to show them how to avoid that mistake…or mistakes that result from that first one….in the future). Most successful doctors that I know…are successful because they do a good job of helping their patients be successful.

The Second Line:

We decided that we would rather explain cost one time than have to apologize for poor quality for years to come.

I love this because it sums up WHY doctors of any kind can never compromise the care they give because of FEAR. To all the new doctors out there that read the blog… Don’t ever let outside pressure dictate the way you treat. Your education makes you solid in the “knowing” part. A patient, boss, or other doctor can’t outflank you on this one.

As long as your honest and have the patient’s best interest in mind….you need to stick to your guns.

Your patients will get well because you gave them good treatment and recommendations…and the ones that ignored your recommendation will either get well (but much slower) or fail. You need to accept that you did your best because you gave them advice that was much more important than any “price”. You gave them recommendations based on what it would take to give them the best quality care.

Love your patients and realize that they come to you for your expertise (at least 98% do).

An interesting week…..but an amazing one. I never stop learning.

-Dr. Ben Adkins (Poplar Bluff MO Chiropractor)

Learning Everyday is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker

#1 The Wellness Program

The Wellness Program has been a smashing success. I am currently 20 lbs down and I continue to lose. I have more energy than I’ve had in years and I can see the results starting to rub off on other people (if that doesn’t make any sense…then you haven’t hung out with me in the last 3 months).

#2 The New Company

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you may have heard me hinting about this one. I don’t want to give much away yet, but I’ve been working on this with a few people for the last 6 months or so. In the next 3 months or so I will be announcing things. We begin our Big Market Testing soon and I’m excited to see how it compares to what we’ve done locally. I’ll Keep you posted (a company website will probably go live in the next few months).

#3 The Summer Show Plan

My TV and Video Game habit have pretty much become things of the past, which has freed me up to do alot of other things. I plan on squeezing in a few music shows this summer in the SEMO and NEAR areas. No locked dates by any means…but it’s looking good.

#4 Memphis in May

For everyone who has asked…Kelli (The Wife) and I will be attending. We can’t wait to see familiar faces!

That’s all for now…

Don’t forget to follow me on twitter at twitter.com/benadkins and add me as a friend on facebook.

Detox Just To Retox is a post from: DrBenAdkins.com - Serial Progress Seeker