I’ve had the opportunity to meet and talk with Dr. Tom Forest at the Blair Conference this past September, and then again a few weeks ago at the UCHC Marketing seminar. What stands out about Dr. Forest is his unconditional willingness to help out everyone. He comes across as a born teacher, and what better subject to teach about than Upper Cervical Chiropractic?
Every week, he sends out an email newsletter to somewhere between 300-350 doctors and students. His newsletter covers anything from Upper Cervical Chiropractic news, to announcements on behalf of other doctors and students, and, of course, his trademark self-deprecating humor. I, for one, look forward to his newsletters quite a bit.
He also teaches Blair across the country. He teaches numerous times during the year at Palmer, and now he teaches the Blair elective at Life West. His knowledge of Blair is amazing and his willingness to share that knowledge so often is a great service to the profession.
I don’t know where he finds the time to do everything that he does, but I am extremely grateful for the time he took to answer questions for The Atlas of Life.
Brandon: How did you decide to become a chiropractor?
Dr. Forest: “My father contracted malaria while in India in WWII. The residual “malarial headaches” (which are migraine or cluster in intensity) would not resolve afterwards. He sought out care from Dr. McAndrews in Fulton, Ill. (Dr. Mc Andrew had one son, Jerry, who became president of Palmer and another, George, who was the lead attorney who won the suit that our profession had against the AMA for restraint of trade). My dad’s headache syndrome resolved via neck adjustments, he opened a practice across the river from Fulton in Clinton, Iowa, and we were raised in a natural environment… vitamins, natural foods, and upper cervical care. I chose at a very young age to follow his path, as did two of my brothers who are also Upper Cervical.”
Brandon: What led you to Upper Cervical Chiropractic, and more specifically, the Blair technique?
Dr. Forest: “My uncle practiced and taught Gonstead, which was very popular at Palmer in the early 1970′s and assumed that is how I would practice. My older brother Gary drove down to DE in Atlanta with Guy “Easy” Riekeman and they both got really enthused about Upper Cervical. My brother graduated as I was starting Palmer and he had me buy up all the BJ green books and pamphlets (many sold for 50 cents to 5 dollars). UC wasn’t very popular then. I started getting enthused about Upper Cervical. I really didn’t set any Palmer clinic records as I barely finished my minimum requirements of adjustments on the very last day!
I set up in practice three days a week with my brother in San Leandro, CA (next to Oakland) and three days in SF with an old time HIO doc. I started practice in Pleasanton, CA in 1975 using classic HIO but was having many sleepless nights with the patients who were NOT responding. I really believed in the philosophy but wasn’t seeing the results the philosophy promised.
While on the board of ICAC (ICA of California) I was introduced to to Upper Cervical giants Drs. Stephen Duff, Sr., Dan Kuhn, Clarence Jensen, and Weldon Muncy (all Palmer grads who wanted BJ’s vision perpetuated) Dr. Muncy discussed the Blair technique with me. I’d had a brief two day intro to the method while at Palmer. I flew to LA and took a 5 day program with Dr. Blair. The whole concept that the right half and the left half of the vertebrae never match (take a look at BJ’s osteological collection) made sense. The upper half and lower half of the articulations do match (like halves of a peanut shell). Thus Dr. Blair stated, “If misalignments take place at the articulations, why not x-ray the articulations?” Thus I started the journey of 3-D and C-0-1 protractoview x-rays and the unique torque correction to reposition the atlas.”
Brandon: What kind of miracles have you witnessed, first hand, that resulted from a specific atlas adjustment?
Dr. Forest: “This may sound lame, but after a while you just get used to dramatic recoveries… wondering why everyone doesn’t practice upper cervical.
A case that comes to mind is a 70 y/o man who came into my office on a Friday while I was back at Palmer teaching a Blair class. My associate, Dr. Allan “Tiger” Cox did the consult, exam, and x-rays while the patient and his wife detailed his dilemma.
Apparently he had left arm numbness, the GP sent him to a neurosurgeon and the surgeon proceeded to perform bilateral laminectomies from the posterior C-3-7. He had a stroke during surgery and awoke with facial numbness, drooling, etc… and no change in the arm pain. Also he awoke with crushing pain in the occiput that was there 24/7 and made sleep or any pressure on the back of the head impossible.
He came in by himself the Monday I returned and I viewed the x-rays which showed two steel rods up the back of the neck with screws bored into the vertebral bodies. Needless to say, his rotation was all of 5 degrees! No dramatic recovery, just gradual steady progress as he was checked twice a week for 4 weeks and then reduced to once a week for 4 more weeks. The head pressure cleared in about 4 weeks, arm numbess cleared in 6 weeks (did he really need that surgery?) and he was re-examined at the end of 8 weeks. His wife came in for the exam, first time I had met her. Upon reviewing the objective and subjective improvement, I stated to her, “You must be pleased with your husband’s progress.” She looked at me in a strange way as if I had insulted her and said, “Pleased is not a strong enough word! You do know he tried to commit suicide two days before we started with you?”
I had not known about the attempted suicide but realize that pain will drive a sane person to do insane things. It is up to us to relieve that suffering and let people live the life for which they were destined!”
Brandon: You are regarded as the lead instructor for the Blair technique. Can you tell us how that came about?
Dr. Forest: “Dr. Muncy was Dr. Blair’s right hand man, attending all of his seminars and conversing nightly for hours at a time discussing ways of improving and adapting the adjusting methods.
Dr. Muncy took over the teaching after Dr. Blair died in 1985 and choses myself and Dr. David Topping of Yorba Linda, CA to be his assistants. Eventually the travel became too exhausting for Dr. Muncy, so Dr. Topping and I started teaching seminars, sometimes together and sometimes separate.
I was asked by Dr. Guy Riekeman, then president of the three Palmer Colleges, in 1999 to come back to Davenport and start teaching the Blair technique. I was lucky in the beginning to have Dr. John Strazewski, who is now the head of Palmer’s technique department, assist. His audio-visual skills very early on assisted in power point and video presentations that made the material much less dry and much more presentable.
Then Dr. Todd Hubbard joined us and eventually became a faculty member. He joined the research department, completely re-wrote the Blair notes, and we have been a tag team teaching the Blair method on campus with three selective courses, three seminars per selective each year. Most recently I started teaching the Blair technique at Life West College with Dr. Darren White performing the introduction and philosophy portion and I teach the practical portion (e.g. x-ray marking, atlas motion, scanning. leg check, 3-D x-rays,…).
So to answer your questions, I guess I was just lucky!”
Brandon: You recently became a part of Upper Cervical Health Centers. What was it about UCHC that made you decide to be a part of it?
Dr. Forest: “I feel ALL chiropractors, and especially ALL Upper Cervical chiropractors, MUST have a coach to lead them to their goals.
It is too easy in any economy to fail, but especially now. I think our ego gets in our way usually. We think, “I’m smart, I have a few college degrees, I can figure this thing out”, and you usually fall flat on your face. I don’t care if you have triple PhD’s… it has nothing to do with being a successful UC doctor. Flying by the seat of the pants only works for a while and then you find your patient dropout rate is really high because you are inconsistent in you pratice methods.
We have used a management service since the very beginning but had to adapt all the full spine stuff and eliminate all the PT stuff. It worked, but was a bit like fitting a square peg in a round hole. UCHC is all Upper Cervical, so everything from literature, x-raying all patients, patient educations, office procedures, adjusting ONLY when needed (When in doubt, don’t!).
My two associates now have a protocol to follow so my practice isn’t personality based (they just want to see me and if I’m on vacation won’t come in for care!) but is practice based (meaning they can take over for me when I’m unavailable and the patients will get identical care.)
The big picture is that Forest Chiropractic Office means nothing to someone passing through town or searching for Upper Cervical care over the internet. BUT UCHC clinics nationwide are a brand product (similar to Best Buy… you know what you will get when you go to that store based on… company logo, predictable products, professional advertising, etc…) Thus, I joined really for three reasons: (1) Their practice management component, (2) The brand product of Upper Cervical (3) I feel there is a strong UC movement right now and want to support that movement. If we have 100 offices and then 500 offices nationwide, we will put Upper Cervical on the map.
The only DOWNSIDE right now in the Upper Cervical movement is with the current excellent publicity UC is getting (e.g. Montel William’s improvement with MS due to UC care, his UC doc on The Doctors show, Dr. Dickholtz and his UC lowers blood pressure study, man in Dubuque, IA gets vision back in eye following atlas correction, etc…) many chiropractors are claiming to be upper cervical, giving rotary breaks, and telling the patients that “this UC adjustment will lower their blood pressure based on the latest research!” Rotary breaks are not upper cervical. BJ set up an exacting protocol and it is an insult to Drs. Grostic, Gregory, Sweat, Blair, Duff, Kale,… to mix and match a dozen manipulative procedures and call it Upper Cervical. I really believe in “truth in advertising” and so does UCHC.”
Brandon: You send out a weekly newsletter email to over 300 doctors and students. How did that start?
Dr. Forest: “I hate to talk on the phone. About three people have my cell phone number. I only recently gave it to my mother! I find it so much easier to communicate via e-mail. No phone tag. I started writing to a dozen fellow Blair docs just to stay connected (UC docs tend to get too isolated because there aren’t very many of us) then would toss in some research I’d read, then expanded to other UC docs I knew. Eventually I added students I’d taught, and it snowballed.
After the first Upper Cervical Evolution seminar (which focused on bringing us UC docs of varying techniques together and concentrated on the hundreds of things we all have in common versus the half dozen things that separate us) I changed it the title of the e-mail from Blair stuff to Upper Cervical stuff as I wanted all UC docs and students involved. It has helped with cohesiveness and helped a little to break down our little barriers. Upper Cervical Evolution has really been 100 times more effective at that task. I only wish more docs using other UC technique would become more involved and let me write about what they are accomplishing.
A little too much Blair in the e-mails, but that will change. One positive thing I think the weekly e-mails have done is assist in getting docs involved in Dr. Kirk Eriksen’s “Upper Cervical Safely and Efficacy” study. Kirk needed 1,000 participants and many of us championed his cause and the latest word out is that the total tally of patients involved is close to 1,100. This should be a wonderful study showing how safe “properly applied” Upper Cervical care happens to be and possibly combat the “evil forces” who are trying to tie neck correction and strokes together.”
Brandon: You were featured in the video “The Power of Upper Cervical.” Can you tell us what that experience was like?
Dr. Forest: “First of all, the make up artist grumbled, “Well, this is Mission Impossible!”
It was a wonderful experience. So many times I’ve wanted to tell the whole UC story but there has never been a format. Here they brought together UC docs of many different techniques and got to produce a video that is emotional, factually accurate, and names the product without criticizing other methods or professions. It just emphasised what UC is. I hope soon our profession “matures” to the point that we can celebrate the victories seen by methods that are different than what we utilize without becoming jealous or outwardly critical!”
Brandon: What is your vision for the future of Upper Cervical Chiropractic?
Dr. Forest: “I think the future for UC is fantastic.
I see big issues. (1) It seems that the more generations removed we are from the developer of our UC technique, the more it can be watered down and the sloppier we can become. Thus, we must really sharpen our adjusting, scanning, leg check, x-ray, and patient protocols. (BJ called it slipping and checking) (2) Can you imagine a local hospital that wants to change its image to a wellness center? They’d have to incorporate UC into their programs.
What I’m saying is the popularity will go though the roof and yet only 5% of our profession is trained and practicing UC. There will be a big shortage coming up very soon.
Just like Detroit having to retool to produce a product the consumer desires, much of our profession may have to rethink the practice of chiropractic… returning to what BJ told us 50 years ago.
At least that’s my input on things!”
Once again, many thanks to Dr. Forest for his time. Also, many thanks to his family for supporting such a busy man with all the good that he does for Upper Cervical Chiropractic.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Thanks for the interview. I really enjoyed it.