Dr. Cindy M. Howard is a Board Certified Chiropractic Internist and Nutritionist in private practice and the owner of Innovative Health & Wellness Center in Orland Park, Illinois and also holds a license in the state of Florida. She owns DC consulting; assisting private practices improve their communication skills and improving patient adherence while building a better functional medicine and nutritional practice.

For the last 12 years she has served as the Illinois delegate for the American Chiropractic Association and as the alternate for 6 years prior to that. She was the ACA recipient of the Flynn/Lynch award in 2015 for outstanding service.

She is a past president of the ACA Council on Diagnosis and Internal Disorders and currently serves as the Vice President of the College of Pharmacology and Toxicology. She also serves on the medical advisory board for Fullscript, the Functional Medicine University, and is the chief medical officer for Inguardia Health. Dr. Howard is an associate editor of The Original Internist and a regular contributor for the Illinois Chiropractic Society online newsletter.

She speaks nationally, presenting on topics including Pre and Post Concussion Nutrition, Headaches, Sexual Health, Male and Female Pelvic Disorders, GI Disorders, Nutritional Blood Analysis Interpretation and Genetics.

Her first book, Positively Altered, is due out in September of 2023.

In 2020 Dr. Cindy Howard was awarded the Chiropractor of the Year from the Illinois Chiropractic Society.

TRANSCRIPT

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  You made the Chiro Hustle. Sit back and learn from the greatest influencers in the profession on the world's Number One Chiropractic Podcast. Before we dive into this powerful episode, please remember to subscribe to our channels and to give us a 5-star rating on iTunes to continue hustling. This episode is sponsored by Imaging Services, Chiro Health USA, Chiro Moguls, Pure Chiro Notes, Titronics, Sherman College of Chiropractic, New Patients in a Box, The Influencer Authority Podcast Training, Mango Voice, Life Chiropractic College West, and M-Sculpt.

LUKE MILLETT (PRODUCER):  Let's Hustle! Hey guys, welcome to Episode 500, the Chiro Hustle Podcast. I'm your producer, Luke Millett, and here's your host, James Chester.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  So today we have the opportunity of interviewing Dr. Cindy Howard. And if you want to hear a story of giving people the power back with chiropractic, stay tuned.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Welcome back. This is another episode of the Chiro Hustle Podcast. It's a long time coming. Oh, I've been waiting for this one, Episode 500. Milestone episode, Cindy Howard here coming in from the Windy City, Chicago. Really excited to have her on today. And as you all know, that listen, that our loyal fans that pay attention to all things chiropractic, you know our big why, but I'll go ahead and restate it for you. Freedom of Speech, First Amendment, so important. And we definitely stand on the shoulders of giants with freedom of speech, and I think that that's something important for us. Family health freedom, need I say more, medical freedom. Those things are important to us. And I know that chiropractic has been on the forefront of that for 127 years. And next is BJ Palmer Sacred Trust. We do protect the sacred trust. If you don't know what that means, pause this episode right now and go to your favorite search engine and find out what BJ Palmer's last words were. You'll know a whole lot more about chiropractic and why we do what we do over here at Chiro Hustle. And then we also believe in Subluxation-based chiropractic. We know that that's an important part of the history of chiropractic and the future of chiropractic. And lastly, but not least, we do believe in subluxation that is innate intelligence and that when somebody gets adjusted, it connects man or woman to physical, to man or woman to spiritual. And I think that those are things that we have to discuss within a physics philosophical realm of the profession. And then we can talk a lot more about what you're into, which I believe helps people too. And I tell people all the time, Cindy, Dr. Cindy, that chiropractic is the original biohack. Like when people think about like where we are today, 2023, we talk about like, what are you doing to like do this or do that? Well, chiropractic has been the one thing that's stood alone for the longest time. So with that being said, Dr. Cindy Howard, welcome to the show.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Oh, it's so great to be here. Yeah. This is fantastic. I love it. I love it's number 500, right? So congratulations on that. It's a huge, huge accomplishment and I'm really proud to be part of it.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Well, thank you so much. You know, it's been a long time coming, like I said, and every step of the way, I've gotten a chance to, I mean, your background functional medicine, you know the word titration. So for me, every episode that I've done has been like a little bit of an element that I've dropped into like the ecosystem of the world. And eventually we're going to get the big idea out there. If we just drop enough episodes into the element of life, there's going to be enough expression of chiropractic out there. So I feel like we're just constantly adding a little bit more to like the chemistry of life with these episodes. So yeah, episode 500 is something I've really been looking forward to. And I was just talking to somebody, I'm like, do I stop at like a thousand? Like why? Exactly. I'm like, there's 60,000 chiropractors out there. Why don't I don't ever have to stop this stuff.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  You know, and then we get to come back a second and third time. Well, I love that too.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  And we have had guys like Eric Plasker on like, I think he's been on like six times. As a? Oh, Eric's right. But his message is so powerful that he's always welcome back on. And you know, there's guys like Pete Goldman that have been on here like, I don't know, five times. But it's people out there that are doing the right things that they're attracted to getting their message out to more people. And I think that's really what we do. We're a catalyst for chiropractic and natural health media. I focus on my guests, brands, strategies, and their systems. And what makes them awesome. So without any further, let's just talk about your story. You said, ah, it's not that awesome of a story. But I think that there's probably something in there that somebody's going to have a takeaway of and be like, I'm just like that. So how did you get into chiropractic?

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Yeah, I was kind of an accident, which is really funny. You know, I don't, I don't have a father or mother that practiced or grandparents. And actually raised was raised in a very Elipothic family, actually, you know, antibiotics for everything, right? You know, that was the go to with the pediatrician. And, you know, at a very young age, I was very into a lot of sport and physical activity. And in college, majored in exercise physiology. And when I had graduated from college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I had already done some personal training and I was dancing and I was powerlifting and, you know, just fun stuff in that field and had no job and nowhere to go with nothing to do. So I applied to physical therapy school and I didn't get in. You know, and, you know, the big joke is, is if you saw my grades, you probably wouldn't knock on my door and make an appointment. But, you know, sometimes we're better physicians than we are students, right? And so I thought long and hard about, you know, this whole physical therapy realm and was really depressed. And I don't even remember the person I spoke to, but they said, you know, why would you want to go to physical therapy school when you go to chiropractic school and tell the physical therapist what to do? And I love to tell people what to do. So, you know, especially at a young immature 25, I was like, oh, I can just tell people, you know, go here, do this, do that. And I got all excited. And, you know, it was just kind of one of those light bulb moments where I thought, you know what, I'm going to go do it. And I applied and I got in and next thing I know, I'm in chiropractic school and now I got the letters and the business and the patients. And, you know, that's how I happened in the chiropractic. So it was sort of an accident without a whole lot of education or knowledge. Just took this leap of faith and made the right decision.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  So I'm curious, how did you pick what school you went to?

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Yeah, so you're going to love this one as well. So Chicago girls, you mentioned, right? And I didn't want to move and there was only one school in Illinois. So not even understanding the differences between the colleges. Applied got in and went and, you know, not even sure if I would have gone the same route, you know, had you done some of the education, but again, just leap of faith and applied to national and that's where I graduated from.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  So reverse back time, go back to yourself at 23. If you could go back and talk to your 23, your old self and you know what you know now, what decision do you think you would have gone with?

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Actually, I would have done the same thing.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Okay.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  I really believe that, you know, looking back, sometimes those unknown jumps are some of the best decisions I've ever made, you know, where you don't know what's in things and you just you're pointed in the right direction for a certain reason. And sometimes you don't know what it is until it's over. So I honestly don't think I would have changed a thing and not because there aren't aspects that might have helped me in different ways, but because I really love where I wound up.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Yeah, I mean, after doing so many interviews over the past five and a half years, I love it when people find out what their major purpose is and becoming a doctor seemed like it was something really important to you. And now you're out. I know that a big part of your wheelhouse is functional medicine. Talk about that a little bit. Let me know how you transition from the chiropractic, you know, philosophy and science and art and to say, hey, there's something bigger out there for me.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Yeah. So that was kind of an accident as well, which is fun. You know, I'm enrolled in school and I wanted to become a sports chiropractor, like probably 80 percent of my class. That really jazzed me. I love athletes. I love that whole sort of, you know, realm of things. And I was sitting in obstetrics and gynecology, which I didn't even know played a role in, you know, chiropractic medicine at all. And my instructor, I was in his very first class, his name was Frank Strel. And while he's talking about, you know, diagnosis in the gynecology world, I'm thinking, I don't understand what this has to do with sports chiropractic at all. And, you know, a couple of weeks in, a couple of months in got really jazzed and learned that, you know, there's this whole primary care aspect within our scope of practice that we can focus on that really again, just, I don't know, there was this path, right, that I just geared toward, based on this one doctor that got me really excited. And I really changed courses. And by the time I graduated, he had introduced me to the Council on Diagnosis and Internal Disorders, which I became a part of. And I started to take all the diplomate courses and got my diplomate in both internal medicine and then years later, sat for the board nutrition and earned that as well. And what was amazing about it is I now have been afforded the opportunity to get back into the sports world with a different path, right? So I work with a lot of other chyros in that field that handle a lot of the musculoskeletal issues, why handle the chemical, the metabolic issues, you know, GI, hormones, nutrition, etc. In order to really support what they're currently doing with their patients, with the mindset that, you know, we're all within the same profession. So the goal is the same. The mindset is the same. And we don't have to worry about, you know, the words that are spewed that may not be favorable for what we do with our patients.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Yeah, I honestly think as I've been around for 15 years almost, that chiropractors are all more like than they are different. And the more that they support the initiatives of other chiropractors, then we're actually moving the profession forward rather than slowing it down. And I think that as long as chiropractic retains its philosophy and it's, you know, really deep-rooted lexicon, like its words, like in its schooling, I think then we're going to have a prosperous future within, you know, chiropractic. But if every chiropractor starts to like look at each other and, you know, second guess what that person's doing, their integrity and things like that, then I really think that we're going to have a harder transition moving forward in the profession. So I always recommend every chiropractor out there that talks to me any day and say, hey, go find your docs in your area and take them out to lunch. Build your community stronger. Build a network to maybe you can get adjusted, you know, like, you know, find somebody to network within your local area. That's another chiropractor because I do think, you know, Dr. Cindy, I've talked to a lot of chiropractors and then they want everybody to get adjusted, but maybe they're not taking car themselves, right? So I always urge whether it's a new student or somebody practicing 20 years, go out there and take a new chiropractor in your city out to lunch, like every month. And you're going to find that you're going to build that local community where, like you said, now you can manage a certain aspect of the patient's care. And now they can take care of them from a sports related, you know, adjustment style practice. And then they can say, hey, if you want better performance, let's see what's going on with your with your blood work. Let's do some panels. Let's see what's going on inside of you to where we can find out how to best better your performance on the outside.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Yeah, we're, I think, you know, at least in my little circle, we're great at that. You know, we all have these unique gifts within the profession that we recognize and we, you know, build on each other's strengths and support each other and also understand our weaknesses to fill those, right? And I think that's key in our profession is knowing that no matter how great I can be at something, I can't be great at everything, right? And I need those other people to help support the patient in a way when, you know, I am not successful, right? And recognizing that. And I think that's where ego gets in the way a little bit, right? In our world. And we need to let that go to elevate.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Yeah, one of the guys that like taught a lot of chiropractors on day one, day two, his name is Barry Anderson. He's passed away now. He is actually a Chicago guy. He would always, you know, drive home to me when I was just watching his videos before I was like anybody, but he would always, you know, tell chiropractors if we don't tell you the truth about chiropractic and someone else will close you for drugs or surgery. And I think that, you know, as we talked about Plasker earlier, Eric Plask would say, chiropractic first, second, third, fourth, fifth, chiropractic and XYZ, six, chiropractic and whatever intervention, seventh chiropractic and whatever's going on. But even if somebody is down the path that they are going in for surgery or, you know, something like that, still get adjusted. Like that's the part that a lot of people like throw the baby out the bathwater. Like, oh, we're all tore up. Now we got to go get like the surgery thing, but they don't stay under care. And I think that that's a huge miss on the chiropractors' communication with people is like, hey, you're going to heal faster. Your body's going to respond quicker. If you're recovering from something, like I also think that chiropractic is not only like the best biohack in the world, but I also think that chiropractic is the one thing that can boost people's immunity and keep them healthy, whatever they're going through. Right. Like when I worked at the office, sorry, I'm just on this like little thing. When I worked at the office, people would call and say, hey, we're not coming in today because we're not feeling well. And we were trained to say, it's okay. Dr. Mike's immune system is really strong. We would rather you come in when you're not feeling well so we can boost your immunity and get you adjusted and send you home so where you can heal better.

This episode is sponsored by Imaging Services, Chiro Health USA, Chiro Moguls, Pure Chiro Notes, Titronics, Sherman College of Chiropractic, New Patients in a Box, The Influencer Authority Podcast Training, Mango Voice, Life Chiropractic College West, and M-Sculpt.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  We changed the reason they're coming in. Right. That's all. Yeah. Yeah. We do that all the time, you know, you know, unless you literally cannot leave the house for, you know, some obvious reasons, right? And then we just get you in later in the day or the next day. We just again, change the reason for the visit and ultimately it is the same reason. It's just, you know, that understanding of the patient as to why they're walking through the door might sound different, but you're absolutely correct.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Chiropractic just gets better people better faster. It's like my mantra for the profession. Okay. It gets people better faster. And I think that if that was like a national campaign for chiropractic, everybody would want some chiropractic. Right.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Yeah. I probably throw in safer and more creatively and with a lot more fun too. You know, we can add a couple in there, but.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the other part is, I told you how many screenings I did. I've scheduled in over 7,000 people in the past, like, I don't know how many years, seven years, a thousand a year. And when I go out there in a cell, I tell people they're get time with the doc. They'll do a full exam. They'll do like, like check you out from, from head to toe, find out what's going on. They'll give you like the real deal, like report. They'll tell you what's going on, how much concern there is and how they can help you. And I'd say it's called the relationship builder. If you guys come in for these first two visits, you realize it's not the right place for you. There's no strings attached for further care, but I guarantee you one thing. I always tell them this, you're going to like us. Because I know that the doc is actually trying to help them with their mind, body spirit, trying to actually assess what's going on and save them from other type of interventions. So yeah, I mean, everybody should be practicing the chiropractic lifestyle.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Yeah. It's really, you know, we're, we're a very generous profession, right? We're generous with our time. We're generous with our knowledge. Amen. That's a gift, right? That generosity and the transparency that we bring to a visit with a patient speaks volumes, right? And again, the outcome is important, but it's not the primary thing when you walk through the door, right? It's that relationship that we build.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  I mean, taking the words right out of my mouth. So let's talk practice growth. Okay. I actually don't jump into this topic too much because I'm so excited about what you're doing to stay healthy and where the profession's going and all these things, but marketing, um, practice growth. What are some, I guess, two to three things that you would recommend to somebody that's not doing their greatest or they're fresh out of school, what are, what's some advice, some sage wisdom you'd give them for how to grow practice and to get people to stay, pay and refer?

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Well, you know what, I think it comes back to kind of a repeat of what I just said. It's, it's transparency and it's education, right? And it's, it's, it's, there's, there's, I'm going to use a really scary word for most doctors, right? And it's sales. It's, it's about uncovering the patient's needs and wants. It's about overcoming their objections. It's about asking for the commitment. It's about taking the time. It's about providing, you know, your truth to them to meet their truth and really establishing that relationship because when there's trust in the patient knows that you can provide what they want and need, right? In a loving kind, safe way. They're a patient for life and then it's easy. They refer, you know, you don't have to take out a coupon in a book and you know, you don't need the big, I mean, and you can do it, right? I'm not knocking it, but you don't need the big article in the newspaper. You know, I've been basically running a referral, I've been in practice almost 25 years, I would say the last probably 21 are referral based only. And it's because of that honesty, transparency and care. Yeah.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  I think that that's a big takeaway for people when they're watching our show, because they're always looking for like that one, like piece of advice or that one golden nugget during like, you know, the podcast. So I do think that if you do show up and you are generous and you do want to get people better, it's going to be the, it's the law of attraction. And people are going to tell their friends, they're going to tell everybody how they started to improve with their quality of life. Because everybody sees somebody, like they can tell if somebody's metabolically like dysfunctional, they can tell if somebody's limping around, they can tell if somebody's having a challenging pregnancy, like you just see it in somebody. So, you know, when somebody sees somebody that suffers from headaches, go back to like, being a normal functional person, people are curious.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Right. So the first patient is hard. You got to get the first one in the door, right? So maybe you stand on the corner in the clown suit. I don't know, you know, I don't have the magic, the magic answer for that one always. But again, I do think it comes on the relationship. So, you know, you're at meetings, you're at parties, you talk, you educate, it's not showy, it's not ego. It's just education, right? And you're sharing with somebody. And when they figure out that you have what they need or they want, then it's easy, you know, and the referrals, they really do. I mean, it sounds a little cliche, but they do just come rolling in when you're genuine. Because the numbers follow, the money follows, all of that follows when you do good work.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  So let me ask you, considering like business network, international chamber of commerce, things like that, do you think that chiropractors should be joining them?

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  I did it all. I mean, you know, I hung the shingle, right? Like, I literally graduated from school, took out a student loan, or not a student, you know, a business loan and hung the shingle, rented the space and hung the shingle. And then, you know, you go, what now? So yes, I joined all of those things and I went to those events. I tried everything. I mean, right? And that's not okay, that's a lie. You can't try everything, but you know the routine, right? You know, the standard things. And I did do the Q-Pump books and the newspaper articles and the shows and, you know, they're running around town. And, you know, I think that's just it, the first patient and I'll never forget my first patient, you know, when she came in and she was actually a low back, that was the complaint, it was low back, radiculopathy down the leg and I converted her metabolically, we were doing blood work within the second, third visit, because that was my, my MO, right, with, with helping take care of patients. And then, you know what, she started to refer because she got really good, unique care that she didn't get from anybody else in the area. And it was slow, you know, there's no doubt, but that's what built it. So I did all that stuff, of course. I mean, you can't sit in the building and hope they come, right? They just don't do it that way.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  So fast forward, okay, first patient, 25 years. Do you see that more practitioners are going towards a functional medicine style analysis? Because I know that the past couple of years have been extremely challenging on the culture, our culture has been challenged physically with health. And I don't know, have you seen a trend where more people are coming into the functional medicine arena? Because I'll just tell you straight off, me being a podcaster three years ago, everybody wanted a piece of my space. Everybody thought they were going to be the next great podcaster. So I mean, I'm not saying that people shouldn't join in and do the right things best for them. But have you noticed functional medicine growing? Yeah, so it's really interesting. I

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  actually don't even like that term. You know, when I first started practicing, you know, and if you ask me, I'm a chiropractic internist chiropractic nutritionist, right? I'm not a functional medicine doctor. Now, I'll say I am just because lay people, they know that term, right? But when you think about that, there's actually no degree in functional medicine. I'm not a doctor of functional medicine, right? I'm a doctor of chiropractic. So it's very fascinating. And yes, I do think a lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon, not only in our profession, but you know, in a lot of professions, right? There's quick hour courses you can take and there's weekend warrior courses. You know, and not that there's anything wrong with some of those, I do think that they provide some level of education. But I do think there's so many different degrees of our, I'll use the word education again, but our abilities out there in this space that, you know, just typical of chiropractic, you have some people that dabble and do a mediocre job. And then you have others that really have spent their years, you know, years dedicated to really understanding metabolically how the body works to be more than just like you got a symptom, take a supplement, because really, the supplement might be a little bit safer than the prescription drug, but the mantra then is the same. You've got a symptom, you know, I pull something off the shelf pill potion lotion. Absolutely. You know, in my space, it's understanding what went wrong, why went wrong, how we get to those triggers. What do we do to change those triggers? So we alter the pathway to really create health versus here's a pill for that. So it's a very interesting space. But yes, people are definitely moving in that direction and jumping on the bandwagon.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Yeah, and you know, I don't think it's it's for the worst, but I'll tell people this too. Like, I'm a professional marketer. Like, if you want like a real deal person to like do like work for your office, I would go with a guy that's been at the helm for over a decade, then the person that just did a weekend course with some internet, you know, ad guru that says, Hey, I wanna run the first three like months for you at no charge and use your money to build my business through. Like, there's a difference. And I think that that space has got really busy and crowded too with people coming in trying to get after the chiropractic market and do marketing for them and ads for them. And the next thing you know, we have another chiropractor out of business because they trusted the wrong company to do the marketing for them. And it was expensive and it didn't produce. And now they're better. And they have some somebody that didn't have the right skills, you know, doing work for a beautiful profession that doesn't even know the definition of subluxation.

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  Right. Right. In our world, you know, in this nutrition, internal medicine space is no different, right? And that's, you know, we get a handful of people well because we know a little bit. And we see a really great price tag because we can charge people a lot of money, you know, for some of these things. And at the end of the day, we're really not doing a great service. We're just not. And that's, I would love, I would love to have, you know, a thousand more chiropractic positions doing what I do as long as they take the time to really learn to do what I do. Right. Because I don't have the time or the space to take care of everybody across the country. Right. I mean, there's one of me. There's millions of people. I need a whole group to refer across the country so that when somebody calls and says, Hey, you know, my sister's in Denver. Do you have a doc that is you? Nobody's me. But you know, a doc that does what you do as well as you do it in Denver. And it makes me sad when I say, No, I really don't. Right. And and if somebody that loves this profession, I want to refer people to everybody all over the country. I don't want them for myself. I want the person who lives right in Denver to have access to a really great local doc. So, you know, I would challenge, you know, people who are listening, you know, if you're in this space, keep working, right, keep learning, keep digging in to get better at this because we need you.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Amen. So let's go lightning round. We have we have a little bit of time left for our show. But I want to ask you a couple questions that are based on the end of our interview here. And let's future pace this profession. Yeah, let's just talk five years. Where's the profession

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  going in the next five years? Oh boy, I think part of I'm going to divide that. I think it's a great question. I think some of us are going to say exactly the same. I think it's going to go nowhere fast, right? Because we don't think in a progressive manner to elevate the profession. And I think there's a huge group of us that understand that that relationship where we can all work together, right to elevate. So I almost see some stagnation. And at the same time, some of us moving away from that stagnation. I think there's a little bit of a split 20 years out, where are we going better? I think some of us stuck are going to catch on, right? Because we're going to get left behind if we don't do that. And I do think because the population is they're asking for this, right? They're asking for wellness. They're asking for health. A lot of people are kind of tired of the quick fix that honestly isn't a quick fix that doesn't help. I do. I think our project is going to elevate and start to become, you know, the first stop instead of the second, third, 10th stop. And then Eric's point, it's going to be first, second, third, last, 10th, walk forward forward, you know, we're going to get there. We're going to keep pushing to get there.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  So this isn't a scripted thing. But do you think that the agenda over the past three years really disrupted the medical world and is going to lessen the trust of people, the consumer, within that, that the old model? I do. I do. You know, things shut down. People died, right?

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  People couldn't get access to the care that they expected. And a lot of us stayed open, right? And did no harm and continued the work that we do because we understood the benefit of staying open to provide through a crisis. So no, I do. I think it's actually been great for our profession in a sort of a sad way, right? Great for us. But sad that it had to come to that because again, I do think there's a time and a place for other models, right? I do. But we're going to elevate

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  as a result of that. Well, there's either sick care or there's health care. And I think that if we want to chase symptoms, we can do that all day. And there's plenty of people out there doing that triage care. But if you want to stay healthy long term, you got to get your spine checked. You have to know what's going on inside your body. You got to get checked for vertebral subluxation. I mean, when we when we think about like the future of this profession, we have to raise up people that can adjust to. And we need chiropractors that can deliver the goods. And we need people to be able to know that that's the thing that sets chiropractic apart from every other profession out there. And the chiropractor is the adjuster. It's the first book ever written by the grandad of chiropractic. And we have to continue to educate people so that they learn that

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  and then don't forget that, right? Because if we if we assume that people understand that when they walk into our office, the reality is, is they may have never heard it before, they may have forgotten it, and they just don't know. So we have to continue to keep teaching in in the office to our current

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  patients. Tell the story, tell the story, tell the story. So as we transition to the end of this, I want to know who are some of your heroes who are some of the people that inspired you to become

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  the practitioner you are today. Wow. Yeah, you know, it's a great question. And I know you kind of fed me that one ahead of time, right? So I was thinking about how I wanted to answer that. And I think, you know, professionally, I'm going to give it back to Dr. Frank Strel, who's no longer with us because he taught that OBGYN, which, right, it just turned me. And that's why I'm sitting here talking about some of the things I'm doing today. But I'm going to tell you, like real life heroes, and this may sound a little cliche right now currently for me to forward my practice. It's actually my three kids. I've got a daughter who inspires me every day through ambition. She flies airplanes. My oldest son teaches me how to be kind and humble with the way he behaves. And my youngest one challenges me to have patients with those things that challenge me and frustrate me. So there is truly not another doctor on this planet that can provide that level of awe, if you will, that I actually get from those three kids every single day that push me to be bigger, better, stronger, and just, you know, do what I keep doing and help more people.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  You know, a lot of times when I do an opener, I say, okay, Dr. Cindy, you know, who's going to listen to this? Your friends, your family, your colleagues, your patients. So let's reintroduce yourself to our audience today. But I think you've done a great job of doing all that today, during our time. I do like to close out with a miracle story, 25 years in practice. Tell us

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  something to inspire listeners. Yeah, I think, you know, use that's really important. And that is to understand that the answer is never, we can't help you and there's nothing wrong with you. Right. I think that's a very, very dangerous place to walk when you don't feel good and you're not well. And just real quick, I had, you know, one of my favorite stories from my own personal practice was a woman who had pretty severe autoimmune disease. She had dermatomyoticitis and she had no quality of life, no function. And the doctor's basically said, you're just never going to get well. You know, you're going to live on medications for the rest of your life. You know, long story short, she became a chiropractic patient, right? And not only in the functional medicine, nutrition, internal medicine space, and we did a lot of work that way. Also, on the typical chiropractic space, right, she gets adjusted. And you know, today there is absolutely no traceable sign of the disease. She is 100% pharmaceutical free. She's got quality of life. She exercises. And even better, she continues to come in for care. So she's a lifelong patient. And you know, it's one of many. And at the end of the day, when somebody says there is nothing wrong with you, that's just not right. There's always something that can be done to get us better health.

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  Yeah, I think to complete that, that thought process is people just don't know where to go or who to trust. And a lot of times they go to the wrong place first. And they just didn't know that the chiropractic profession was the answer for them. And I always tell people, you know, this is old school, but it's not a pill, potion or a lotion that's going to get you better. It's the correction of the spine, which has a direct linkage to the nervous system, which has a direct linkage to the glandular system, the organs, the cells. And when that's corrected, it takes pressure off that nerve, giving power back to a person's body. And I tell people all the time, like, I don't live in your body. So I don't know how you feel. But I know if you got that thing adjusted, you'd probably be feeling a whole lot better. So why don't we try

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  that first? Isn't it great to give them a power back? And that's really what we do, right? We give

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  them their power back. Wow. Yeah. And I think that's that's the opener for our show. When when I record this, I'm going to say chiropractic, given people's power back. And I just love this episode. I appreciate you being on for episode 500. Is there anything I didn't ask you that you would like to share with our audience today before we close out? Oh, let's leave it so you

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  invite me back. How's that? Because if I give you everything, there's no reason for the second

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  invitation. Well, if it must have been a good experience for you to want to come back for a second episode. So I appreciate the opportunity to have you on. It was great. And again,

CINDY HOWARD, DC (GUEST):  congratulations. It's awesome what you're doing. Keep doing it. Yeah, we have to share the big

JAMES CHESTER (HOST):  idea. And then as they say, all those follows. So I just want to thank everybody for being with us today. Thank you for supporting Chiro Hustle. And I'll close up by telling everyone you're just one story away. Keep hustling. I'll see you guys on the next episode. Bye, Dr. Cindy. Bye.

Thanks for listening to Chiro Hustle. Don't forget to subscribe and check back next week to continue hustling.

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