DR. CHRIS CORMIER (BRINK)

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Transcription:On The Brink | Dr. Chris Cormier | Episode #296

Disclaimer: The below is an auto-generated transcription from today’s podcast.  Typos and grammatical errors are possible.

Announcer  0:00  

Welcome to the Health Unlimited Podcast, the only podcast that unlocks your unlimited health potential. Here’s your host, Dominic Sembello.

Charlie McDermott  0:13  

Well, welcome everyone, Charlie McDermott, producer of the show co hosts, at least as long as Dominic allows me to do this, Dominic, how you doing?

Dominic Sembello  0:21  

Hey, Charlie, you still got another job lined up? You’re good. Good to see it.

Charlie McDermott  0:27  

Great to see you. Congratulations again, episode number two here. And we covered some great ground last episode for your listeners. If you didn’t catch episode number one. Make sure you listen to that after this one. I think today is kind of a groundbreaking episode as well, because we’re going to cover some of those questions that you get asked all the time, I’m sure. But the sad part is many people never ask you, because, one, they don’t know what they don’t know. Or they assume that what you do is the same as everyone else. So let me start with that. Big, big question. Can acupuncture help me?

Dominic Sembello  1:11  

That should be the number one question that everyone asks. So when we’re talking a little bit before, there’s “frequently asked questions”, and there’s what “should ask” questions. Those people are asking questions that are more frequently asked, right? Does my insurance cover this?  Do you know how many treatments do I need? But they’re asking the front desk, right or receptionists and they’re great, but they’re not going to know that. So what you alluded to there was can you help me? That should be the number one question asked, Can you help me?

Charlie McDermott  1:48  

Bottom line? Yeah, can you get me out of pain? Can you give me my life back in many cases which you’re a master at doing with all the folks that I know, we’re going to get one in future episodes. So go ahead, you know, so can acupuncture help me?

Dominic Sembello  2:04  

Right? And the answer is most of the time, yes, with a few caveats. For one, you still need to be evaluated. Everyone presents a little differently, right? Five people could come in for back pain, for example, but their back pains are all different. Different causes, perhaps, you know, someone could have surgery, someone could have fusions, someone maybe tried injection, someone has a bulging disc, someone has three herniated discs, so just the symptom of back pain alone is not going to be enough to determine if we can help them. That’s where the evaluation comes in first and foremost, because in order to really answer that question, you need to be evaluated first.

Charlie McDermott  2:47  

So what’s that evaluation? Yeah. How’s that? What’s it look like? How’s it feel? Fill us in there?

Dominic Sembello  2:53  

Yeah. So many times, because we’re often unfortunately, and I just had a new patient, literally, yes, last night. That said, You’re my last hope. I have been everywhere else. And again, this is a common theme that I hear. But most times because we see people, unfortunately, after they’ve had a chronic problem, we review their X rays or MRIs if they have them available, if it’s for their condition, or possibly review their blood work. But really, more importantly, it’s really about the person, right? You are not a diagnosis, you are a human being. And that is our sole focus in our office. Because how you present, that’s what we need to deal with, whether it’s from a bulging disc or muscle spasm, that will determine maybe your frequency of care needed, or maybe the length of time that I expect before progress could be seen. But the evaluation is really about you. It’s solely focused on you, how you present, how your life’s affected how your symptoms show up for you. And that’s where the evaluation starts. And ultimately, is the main important piece. You’re the main piece, right? You’re the person.

Charlie McDermott  4:08  

So are you able to then, you know, kind of diagnose in that initial evaluation.

Dominic Sembello  4:16  

Typically, typically, people already know what they’re diagnosed with when they come in. I have. So again, the new patient last night came in, she literally just had surgery, she now has a rod in her low back in her lumbar spine. So we kind of know what was already going on in her particular case, but most people know or they have a diagnosis or a name. It’s very, very unlikely that most people come in these days without knowing what they have. But remember, you’re a person, not a diagnosis. So to me, you’re not, you know, you’re Charlie Charlie coming in with back pain and this is how Charlie’s back pain looks. And this is his history. And this is his presentation and these are the treatments he’s already tried, right versus someone else like the woman last night. She has multiple screws in her back and hip. Right. And that’s been going on for this long. And now she literally can’t sit more than 15 minutes without pain. We had to do the exam, in fact, standing up because she can’t sit down.

Charlie McDermott  5:18  

Wow. Yeah. amazing Wow. So we have listeners who, you know, one could definitely use your help. But there are a lot of choices out there. And you mentioned the woman who came in recently who said, You’re my last hope I know, that’s something you hear on a regular basis, unfortunately be. And a big part of that is, you know, they’re there air quotes conventional ways. And then there’s your system. And I don’t know if that’s the right word for it. But I know, you go way beyond, you know, from your kid, I’ve labeled standard acupuncture. You know, you’re, Go ahead.

Dominic Sembello  6:00  

Yeah. Well, I mean, in my particular training, yes, I am standard trained in traditional, you know, acupuncture systems. However, my background specifically is my undergraduate degree was in sports medicine. So I’ve combined the ancient wisdom that’s been around for 1000s of years, that works and continues to work with more cutting edge technologies and scientific devices that we use in conjunction with the acupuncture for more of an integrative approach. Because when we combine these two, the results are, are far superior that we get.

Charlie McDermott  6:42  

So, integrative medicine, you know, pulling in your knowledge, your experience, and it really, at the end of the day, creates a completely different practice. Which leads me to that next question, which is, yeah, I’ve done acupuncture before, but it didn’t work, have you? You know, for whatever reason, it just didn’t work for me, have you heard that,

Dominic Sembello  7:05  

You’re gonna think this is probably funny. I’m gonna say a good I don’t know the exact number, but I’m gonna say good 25 to 30% of people that I see, have tried acupuncture before. And interestingly enough, some of them have gone to local providers and or they’ve had it in other areas. So they’ve tried it, but no two people are not the same. Right, their training is different, maybe their interest is different. For me, again, with my background, I have a very medical and scientific background. And I just happen to believe that holistic medicine, and your body is able to help itself. So I, you know, I geared more toward acupuncture for my medical training, after college. However, the integrative approaches, again, are more modern solutions. But then I created exclusive protocols in my practice that I’ve been using for years that combine both of them in specific ways and specific timeframes. So almost like phases of care. And by doing that, we’ve done both. We do acupuncture, and the integrative aspects. Going back to your question, though, in regards to the acupuncture, a lot of people have tried acupuncture. And even like when I travel, sometimes if someone asked me, What did you do, and I say, Oh, I just use acupuncture. Because if I’d say, integrative medicine, a lot of times they don’t know what that means. And they’re like, Oh, I tried it once. And I’m like, Oh, well, what do you mean once? And they say, I didn’t really notice much. And I said, Well, why did you only go one time, you’re gonna need to go more than one time. And they didn’t. And they weren’t told to they many times it comes down to for one education. Does the practitioner actually explain to you from the very beginning what your process and systems going to look like? One visit is not going to do it? Again, you’re you’re from the health background health. The fitness, you know, world, it’s the same thing as exercising, right? Are you going to work out one time and magically look like Arnold Schwarzenegger? It’d be nice. I mean, I would love that. But that’s just not how your body works.

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