Dr. Adam Tanase is an Upper Cervical Chiropractor that practices up in St. Louis, MO. He maintains his own blog, which he has titled Dr. Tanase’s Blog.
I’ve had the chance to speak with him over the internet through Twitter and email. He has been very helpful to me in various instances and I appreciate the tips and information he has shared with me.
Dr. Tanase has been kind enough to spend some time with us on The Atlas of Life.
Brandon: Why did you decide to become a chiropractor?
Dr. Tanase: “The expression, “Shoot first; ask questions later,” accurately describes my decision.
I first knew that I would become a chiropractor when I was 8-years-old. I was sitting in the backseat of my parent’s car. We were driving home from church when they began discussing various careers with me and my brother. They mentioned the obvious… doctor, lawyer, etc, and then chiropractic came up. I remember thinking, “That sounds good to me.”
Most kids (and even some adults!) change their minds about that stuff all the time, but I never wavered. I told all my teachers what I was going to be a chiropractor when I grew up, and they usually gave me the weirdest reactions – but I never let it deter me. I know it seems totally cliche, but I believe that chiropractic chose me, and simply waited until the time was right to explain why.”
Brandon: How did you get into Upper Cervical Chiropractic?
Dr. Tanase: “When I started at Logan, we had to pick our roommates from a “share list” of incoming students. Out of the 50-60 names on the list, I picked the one whose dad was a chiropractor. His parents flew in from Denver to visit for the weekend, and I remember sitting down to chat with them for “a few minutes” before they left for dinner. That conversation lasted for hours!
His father talked about chiropractic, and how an Upper Cervical doctor from New Zealand (Dr. Milton Miller) changed his life. He spoke of restored vision and hearing, the reversal of paralysis, and even cancer patients going into remission.
He compared the various chiropractic techniques to a baseball game. Most will achieve base hits, doubles and triples. Every so often, you’ll hit a home run. But with Upper Cervical, it’s one grand slam after the next.
Later that same evening, I read a quote from Dr. BJ Palmer… “Some day — it might be RIGHT NOW, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week … this Chiropractic movement will hit YOU… When it does, YOU will find YOURself. Then YOU will rant and rave and wonder why everybody doesn’t see what YOU see, understand what YOU understand. You will demand that all go farther and faster than the slow education of the masses makes possible. YOU will become as nutty as the rest of us…”
My eyes welled up as I read it. It was as if Dr. Palmer was speaking directly to me. It helped me realize WHY I was in chiropractic school.
I decided that even though I was at a philosophically-oppressive school, I would do whatever it took to become an Upper Cervical doctor. It was such a defining moment for me that I get choked up every time I tell that story.
I immersed myself in the Green Books, reading as much as I could… and boy did I become nutty. I called, emailed, and visited every Upper Cervical doctor I could find… which wasn’t easy, because UpCspine.com didn’t exist yet! Fast-forward, and here we are today. I am eternally grateful to Dr. Milton Miller and the Warhurst family for helping shape my future.”
Brandon: You had the chance to work and learn under the tutelage of Dr. Mary Ann Pruitt. Can you tell us a little bit about that experience and what she was like?
Dr. Tanase: “Dr. Pruitt had a commanding presence… and I don’t say that about many people. When she spoke, people listened. She demanded excellence in every sense of the word. All facets of the clinic had a stepwise process or procedure, even down to how the cleaning lady was instructed to fold the toilet paper.
Saying this sounds super cheesy, but her teaching style was kind of like Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid movie. He made Daniel do all sorts of seemingly insignificant tasks. Sweeping the floor, waxing the car, etc. It pissed Daniel off, but he eventually realized Mr. Miyagi was preparing him for something much more important.
Dr. Pruitt’s training process occurred in a similar fashion. I was honored for the opportunity to learn from her at the time, but I appreciate the process much more now. Even today, I have “aha” moments where an experience I had then suddenly makes perfect sense to me.
She used what I would consider “tough love” with her patients. Communication was direct, with no idle chatter. Everyone knew the importance of their graph, and people would literally apologize to her when they needed an adjustment. I remember the stern look she’d give them if they were in pattern. In a very disapproving tone, she’d ask them, “What did you do!?” I always loved that… it taught patients that health is their responsibility… I can’t begin to put a price on a lesson that valuable.
Fortunately and unfortunately, I had the privilege of being adjusted by Dr. Pruitt. I say that because once you experience such a masterful adjustment, it sets the bar so high that all else pails in comparison. The last adjustment I received from her held for almost an entire year! It showed me what a “good adjustment” should be…”
Brandon: What technique(s) do you utilize in your practice and why?
Dr. Tanase: “In the recipe for a perfect chiropractic adjustment, there are two key ingredients – the right time, and the right place. To determine when and when not to adjust, I use the Tytron C-5000 for pattern analysis.
For spinographs, I’m viciously particular about the exactitude of my measurements, so I’ve become a bit of an X-ray nazi. I don’t think any one X-ray marking method is supreme, so I use two. I utilize Blair protracto views and Grostic nasium analysis to confirm these listings. My personal adjusting preference is the Palmer toggle recoil.”
Brandon: What is most amazing miracle you have witnessed since being in practice?
Dr. Tanase: “If we define a miracle as a highly improbable or extraordinary event that brings very welcomed consequences, I have to say that Upper Cervical Care has taught me to view the improbable as probable.
An 87-year-old man came to see me after receiving chemotherapy and radiation from bladder cancer decades prior. The effects of the radiation were so damaging that it destroyed a significant amount of muscle tissue. He had little to no paraspinal lumbar musculature. When he lifted up his shirt, his lumbar spine looked like a skeletal model.
Try and visualize that for a moment… I could actually palpate every posterior aspect of his lumbars as if it were covered by nothing more than a bed sheet. He was physically unable to stand straight up without the assistance of a cane to stabilize him.
He told me that before he died, he’d like to be able to meet his friends for their weekly breakfast ritual at McDonald’s without everyone looking at him funny when he walked in. He wanted to order his food at the counter standing straight up, without leaning on his cane.
The evening after his first adjustment, he slept for eight hours. Prior to this, he was only able to sleep in 45-minute intervals because he’d have to wake up and use the bathroom that often.
About nine months went by when he came in one day for a checkup. He sat down in the scanning chair improperly so I tapped his low back with the palm of my hand telling him to scoot forward a little.
When I did that, I felt something very different than the bony, emaciated skeleton that had been there before. I was in such disbelief that I asked him to reach back and feel the area as well. With red, watery eyes he whispered, “Is that… muscle?” Without using his cane, the man stood straight up, walked a few steps forward, and even leaned back a little – a motion he could never do before.
The following day he called to tell me that he left his cane in the truck that morning, and didn’t park in the handicapped spot outside McDonald’s. To most people, that would be a mundane thing. To him, it was the world.
Another patient was a WWII veteran who first came in simply because his wife could no longer drive.
After a few weeks of quietly watching, he asked if there was anything I could do for his leg. He went on to explain that shrapnel from a hand grenade damaged his thigh and ever since, he couldn’t feel any sensation in the area. He showed me how badly scarred it was, and pointed to several old cigarette burns. He mentioned that after the accident, he liked showing off in front of his buddies by burning cigarette butts into his thigh. After seeing his wife’s improvements, he began to wonder if it was possible to regain any of the lost sensation.
I told him that matter has limitations, and that if nerves were severed as a result of the blast that it was unlikely he would notice improvements in the thigh. He understood, and pursued care anyway because he also had chronic lower neck pain.
He hurried in one day, sat down in MY office chair and said, “Doctor, I have a bone to pick with you.” He proceeded to tell me that his scarred thigh was aching the night before… but in the morning, he woke up feeling his wife’s hand on the injurred thigh… a sensation that he’d not felt in over 50 years!
Small things to most people… big things to these men.”
Brandon: You regularly maintain your own blog. Has that been a useful tool in educating your patients?
Dr. Tanase: “The vision I have for my blog is more global, so it’s designed to serve people worldwide. I’ve had a record number of visitors each month for 2009, which is very exciting.
I’m getting emails from people all over the world asking me about chiropractic and to make referrals for them. It’s a pleasure to be able to serve them from afar.”
Brandon: What is your vision for the future of Upper Cervical Chiropractic?
Dr. Tanase: “Tell someone you’ve never been to the dentist and watch the expression they give you. That’s what I want for our profession…
I want the reach of Upper Cervical to be so vast that getting checked for subluxation is just as common as getting checked for cavities. I want it to permeate society so deeply that when a teenager tells his friends, “I’ve never been to a chiropractor,” they just point at him and laugh!
I want a television show specifically about Chiropractic, as popular as ER, House, and Grey’s Anatomy.
I want to buy a movie ticket for a film about the life of BJ Palmer, and I want to see all the stores sold out of the DVD at Christmas time. I want an Upper Cervical Chiropractor on staff at the White House… That’s my vision. “
Thanks again to Dr. Adam Tanase for his time.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Very cool interview. I love reading how someone has come to where they are. Dr. Pruitt sounded like an amazingly interesting woman! AND, I think more ‘miracle’ stories like these need to be shared more often!
Hey Brandon!
I just randomly came across Dr. Tanase’s blog this evening and loved it! I was thinking I need to tell Brandon about this guy. So here I am getting onto your blog and what do I see – An Interview with Dr.Tanase!
Great Job Brandon!
Thanks Toby! Glad to see you’re reading my blog. Awesome!