This episode of The Healing Law Podcast features Dr. Daniel Goodman, a private chiropractic practitioner and owner of Flow State Chiropractic in New York & Get Real Chiropractic in New Orleans.
Dr. Goodman explains the role of the vitalistic chiropractor in fortifying health by removing interference in the body and expands on the body’s remarkable ability to heal itself; he also gives inspiration to those trying to find their own healing.
TLDR: A No Bones About It, Succinct Summary
Dr. Goodman eloquently discusses the philosophy of the origin of chiropractic care, and the one he personally ascribes to. He also talks about the differences between vitalistic & mechanistic chiropractic and dips into the differences in perspectives that chiropractic practitioners have versus western healthcare providers.
With a brief aside in somatic healing & the marks that traumatic events can leave on the nervous system, Dr. Goodman leaves the audience with a closing message meant to inspire and encourage those experiencing symptoms & maladies.
The Doctor’s In: A Good Man’s History
Dr. Goodman has had experience with private-practice ownership since 2017, but has been surrounded by the practice of chiropractic care his whole life being as many of his family members are chiropractors.
The philosophy of chiropractic practice is also something Daniel was immersed in growing up. This philosophy is aligned with the idea that the body heals itself, and that chiropractors are there to help remove the interference keeping healing from happening.
Supplementing A System: The Chiropractic Method
Branching off from the discussion on care-philosophy, Dr. Goodman expands more on the means a chiropractor uses to help bolster healing.
According to Daniel, chiropractors specialize in handling interference that appears in the central nervous system, which runs through the spinal cord of the body. They look for any areas in need of maintenance within that system and work to help restore them so that the body can concisely communicate with itself once again.
This means viewing their practice dynamically & exercising their “power” as practitioners with humility. For example, multiple people may come in with the same condition, but all have different areas of interference in their body. Therefore, a chiropractor must assess each as an individual being to catalogue their diverse interferences & understand that, to an extent, they’re powerless compared to the healing systems the body naturally has in place.
A Somatic Connection: Trauma Carving Its Mark
Douglas & Daniel have a brief aside on the topic of somatic healing & trauma-storage in the body, which leads Dr. Goodman to share how, in chiropractic work, they talk about the science, philosophy, & art of chiropractic. To break it down, the philosophy is the approach to how the body works & its built-in healing mechanisms, the art is the physical practice of working with a body to meet the goal of healing, and the science of it is the anatomy & physiology of it all.
In reference to the storage of trauma after an experience, Dr. Goodman explains that, since synapses & nerve stimulations don’t just fire at, or travel to, random places in the body, but follow existing pathways, big experiences can leave their marks on nervous system pathways by creating certain patterns of expression that are followed by future nervous system reactions.
Vitalistic Or Mechanistic: The Body As A Healer & The Body As A Machine
Dr. Goodman explains that the principles that chiropractic were founded off of were vitalistic principles. These being in-line with the philosophy he mentioned earlier. However, there is another popular branch of chiropractic medicine that is more mechanistic, or one that views the body more systematically and relies less on the idea that the body heals itself.
The mechanistic view tends to lend a little bit more importance to the role of the chiropractor in the care of the patient in terms of being more anatomy-based and less about taking other life factors into account. Neither school of thought is “wrong”, though. Dr. Goodman even pointed out that they parallel each other quite successfully.
Tuning In: The Origin Of Chiropractic & Its Capabilities
When delving into the most interesting cases he’s heard of, Daniel refers back all the way to the first recorded chiropractic adjustment which sparked it all. It was a case in which an adjustment restored a man’s hearing.
Diving back into a journey through time, Dr. Goodman also mentions that in the early days of chiropractic care- think: early 1900s- chiropractors only treated the most ill individuals. Their practice wasn’t centered in back pain at all. It’s only been a more recent school of thought that has made chiropractic more mechanistic.
Coming back to the present, Dr. Goodman himself has even had three patients who have had restored hearing from having significant hearing issues, and he describes more miracles he’s personally seen throughout his work.
Western Medicine Versus Chiropractic: Considering Need & Perspective
Douglas & Daniel take some time to discuss the western medical system and the differences that it has with chiropractic care. Dr. Goodman explains how he’s seen amazing things come out of crisis-situations from the existence of western medicine; for example: organ transplants, sewing femoral arteries, etc.
However, he states that the study of medicine tends to be more focused on the ways that humans die, versus improving how they live. Therefore, where chiropractors must focus on the dynamics of each individual human to help their bodies begin healing, western doctors are focused on prescription pain management & calculating the correct prescriptions to treat any symptoms that arise in someone.
A Denouement: Divulging On The Secret To Healing
As the last hurrah for Dr. Goodman’s episode, he leaves The Healing Law Podcast with something to ponder over. Everyday, people are exposed to those who promote their very own “secret to healing”. Sometimes offering magical cures or miracle workers to the general public. However, he encourages everyone to understand that- though one person may find outstanding health through acupuncture, another through western medicine, and another through chiropractic care- healing comes from within & the symptoms we experience don’t immediately define us as “ill” or “failing”, these are simply pieces of information offered as clues by our bodies to help us find equilibrium once more. Healthcare is an individual experience and it’s important to take that into account when finding someone to help.
For more on Dr. Goodman, or to reach out to him for questions, his website & contact info can be found at: flowstatenyc.com
He is also searchable on Instagram at Flow State Chiropractic as well.
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