I first met Arnold or Arnie as he was called back in 1979 during my internship at a Satellite Clinic at Parliament and Gerrard.  He had been in practice for 9 years and came to share with the senior interns what is was like in the trenches so to speak.

After that meeting we met on numerous occasions at Parker Chiropractic Research Foundation based in Dallas Texas. I first met Wendy on one of these occasions. Arnold was a mover and a shaker in our profession and always had time to mentor young chiropractors as he demonstrated over the years.

In 1997 we partnered here in Oakville and went on to build Alliance Healthcare Professionals in 1999.

Over the years Doc was very involved in the Vintage Car Racing and he had an entire family of friends in that sport. He was a fierce competitor and was always a force to be reckoned with on the track.

Another marvelous accomplishment was his Bridge. He became a Master, the top honour in the game of bridge. I do not profess to know anything about the game but those who I ever discussed the fact that he was in that category were always in awe as it apparently is a difficult achievement to reach.

There are thousands of patients that lead better lives today because of the work by Dr Roper. He will be truly missed.

Happy Trails my friend…. Until we meet again.  BDH

Alliance Healthcare Professionals

When I attend conferences and seminars I am often asked what Alliance Healthcare Professionals is all about. Over the years the answer has become quite simple and concise. Alliance Healthcare is about a value added healthcare experience that stems from the knowledge base and expertise of committed healthcare providers.

Throughout our tenure at Alliance we have strived to provide patients with timely and educated information which empowers them to make proper choices for themselves and their familes.

In the midst of the holiday season we would love to share that knowledge with you and your family. So if you live in the GTA what are you waiting for. Get into Alliance today and enjoy the experience of our professionals who offer state of the art services from Naturopathy, Chiropody, Physical Therapy, Chiropractic and much more.

If you would like to learn more about our team please don’t hesitate to give us a ring at 905.845.2291 or follow us to our website at www.alliancehealthcare.ca

Thank you and enjoy the holidays,

Doc

Well it’s the first Friday of the Holiday Season and I figure that was grounds enough to have some fun!

As many of you know I have quite a love affair with famous quotes, word origins and quirky everyday expressions. It all started with my father, who use to iterate phrases and proverbs that would not only make you learn and laugh, but also with some would make you contemplate what was even being relayed.

With it being Friday and all I thought I would share with you some of my favourite health quotes (from quotegarden.com) from famous to everyday folks who had something to interesting to say about health and wellness through the ages.

So here they are:
I hope you enjoy… Have a great weekend

“There’s lots of people in this world who spend so much time watching their health that they haven’t the time to enjoy it.”   ~Josh Billings

“The greatest wealth is health.”  ~Virgil

“Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.”  ~Mark Twain

“Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body.”  ~Cicero

“A healthy body is the guest-chamber of the soul; a sick, its prison.”  ~Francis Bacon

“If by gaining knowledge we destroy our health, we labour for a thing that will be useless in our hands. ” ~John Locke

“He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.”  ~Arabic Proverb

….. For any information about Alliance Healthcare please visit out website……

…. www.alliancehealthcare.ca ….
….or email info@alliancehealthcare.ca …..

Here it is the final step of my preliminary guide to health for the boomer generations. Remember to send any questions to our email at info@alliancehealthcare.ca or visit our webpage

www.alliancehealthcare.ca

thanks in advance….

The time comes in every person’s life when inner reflection and self assessment can lead to some less than flattering conclusions.
As a doctor and health practitioner I know the tenants and principles of health and wellness. I know what needs to be done to maintain ones health and wellness. The trap comes in execution.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Gone to health in a hand basket so to speak.

The week following the May long weekend I looked at myself in the mirror and I realized I was not following what I have devoted my life and career to. I had a gut, a belly, a spare tire, I was beached, instead of the six pack it was more like 24…. You know the various metaphors and descriptions.

I realized that for the first time in my life I was overweight and I didn’t like what I saw. My entire life I have not had to watch my diet as I was more of a beanpole than leaning to the other side of the spectrum.

Four years ago I broke my left ankle in what is referred to as a tri-maleolar fracture. It caused me to be in a wheel chair for two months before I could begin with the walking cast. Up to that point I played hockey a couple of times a week, grudgingly jogged, played tennis with my wife, rode a bike, walked my golf games etc. In other words I was active enough to maintain a level of health and wellness without consciously following a regimen. At 6’3” I hovered around 200 lbs. and I guess I could of lost 10 lbs or so but I felt good, had lots of energy and could cash the cheques that physical demands required.

Since the break my physical activity other than day to day routines virtually ceased. I had residual pain in my ankle whenever I attempted activity so I postponed my activity in the short term. Well the short term ended up four years later and as I witnessed the whale looking back at me in the mirror I realized that I now weighed 226lbs. Ouch!

I further realized that my energy was waning and sense of well being was not as it should be. I refuse to accept that my activity and energy and well being had anything to do with the fact that like all boomers I am aging.

As our family and their boyfriends, girlfriends sat around the table sharing food and swapping stories I had a realization. I knew that this was potentially the core, the parents of the next generation and if I wanted not only see grandchildren but to be able to interact with them I had better take some action steps.

This can turn our essentially only two ways. I could follow the steps that I have talked about for almost thirty years specifically paying attention to nutrition, exercise, rest, attitude and a properly functioning nervous system or carry on status quo. Well the graveyard is full of people that were too busy to take time and work on their lives.

I need to be using the sixties vernacular “get my shit together”.

Can you relate? Is your health what it should be? Are you struggling with a weight issue? Do you want to make changes but just don’t’ have the energy or the drive?

Well maybe we can do it together. Now I don’t want you to equate me to some health guru you see on TV ripped and preaching. It always amused me that when an ad came on for bow flex or some other fitness equipment the former Mr. America or Queen Fitness would be demonstrating it. Hell if we looked like them why would we need the equipment because they obviously have the drive to pursue these things at the gym or whatever.

If you are the average boomer that needs a little push or support to come out of a few years of tailspin then hang in. If you currently run 5k day work out at the gym 4 times per week then keep it up. It sounds like you do not need the push to health.

So if we are going to work on our health together we need to do a little mirror gazing and find our starting point. We are all different and health is a journey not the destination!

Part 2…….

Hope you all had a great weekend as we continue our “boomer” directory. For today I am happy to bring you part 2 and don’t forget to check back on Wed. for part 3.

I would love to hear back from everyone to get their insight on these topics so please don’t hesitate. Email us at info@alliancehealthcare.ca or visit our home page www.alliancehealthcare.ca for more information. Without further adieu….

The Boomers Directory to Health and Wellness/The Guide to Incredible Health and Wellness…. Dr Brian D Huggins Part 2

The magic potion and lotions have not stopped through the years. They only change as they are usually revealed to be not a truth and more so a detractor of health and wellness.

When the most of us went to school there was no such thing as ADD or ADHD. In the past twenty years the syndrome has been classified as a disease and it requires drugs. Usually children are given a class II narcotic known as Ritalin. It is widely traded in the streets. When you review many of the shootings like Columbine you find out these children are on psychotropic drugs. The popular acne medication increases risk of suicide. There is a cost to trying to manipulate health through the use of pharmaceuticals.

As a boomer and one who has seen thousands of cases in practice I have come to a number of conclusions. Conclusions about health and wellness and I believe a critical position for your health is to adopt what I have called the Parthenon of Health and Wellness.

You see a Parthenon is composed of many pillars that collectively support the structure. In health you need several strategies to collectively support your structure…your life….you.

It has five essential components and if you address each one and embrace it you have beaten many of the odds that are faced against you. The goal is to minimize all those degenerative diseases and conditions.

The tactics that you need to include are

1. Proper Nutrition- the fuel that runs your body

2. Adequate Exercise and movement

3. Proper Rest and rehabilitative time for your body

4. A Positive Mental Outlook on Life

5. A Properly Functioning Nervous System

I will discuss these components at another time and talk about what are the basics for keeping your engine tuned and firing on all cylinders.

Check back for Part 3 on Wednesday…..

Part 1…….

Over the next week or so I wanted to lay out with you excerpts of a guide to health and wellness for those, who like myself are part of the “boomer” generations.

I have broken this quick little guide into 3 pieces so check back over the next week for new entries.

I would love to hear back from everyone to get their insight on these topics so please don’t hesitate. Email us at info@alliancehealthcare.ca or visit our home page www.alliancehealthcare.ca for more information. Without further adieu….

The Boomers Directory to Health and Wellness/The Guide to Incredible Health and Wellness…. Dr Brian D Huggins

“There is an infinite wisdom of the universe and we either
accept it and live within its confines or ignore and ultimately pay the consequence of our ignorance. “Dr Brian D Huggins

I guess that being a boomer myself qualifies me in a certain aspect of being an expert for our demographic. Before we get into the details of health and wellness I want to take a little time and reflect on the boomers’ collective past.

Well I guess for reasons of my particular family I have changed the boomer demographic slightly. Although the actual years of birth are 1946-1964 I think you almost have to include a couple of years on either end as they have gone through the same experiences that we have.

For me I am a ‘52 model and garnered a lot of experiences as I was the youngest of six. I am sure that we have all had some common thread boomer history.

Through the late fifties I recall the power of Elvis along with Little Richard and Jerry Lee even though they are kind of the prior generation they still influenced the music. I would venture that many of the earlier boomers will recall the arrival of the TV and the later group witnessed the growth of the programmes thru the sixties. Do you know what I am saying Will Robinson?

I believe our demographic has witnessed perhaps the most radical changes in mankind since the end of WWII. The technology alone is moving so quickly most of are already lost.

Over the years we have all witnessed various trends in health. I think that we must come to the conclusion that truths in health do not change. When we are faced with the drug of the month or surgery de jour the outcome of health and wellness is often compromised.

For example when I attended grade school at least a couple of times a year the mobile x-ray truck showed up at the school and chest films were done on every child. If that was truly necessary for health and wellness ask yourself why that wouldn’t be done today. In shoe stores you could try on a shoe and stick your foot in a machine that would show you your foot bones with fluoroscopy. Naturally they finally figured out that if this was kept up parts would start falling off with excess radiation.

If you are old enough you will remember Thalidomide. This drug was prescribed to pregnant women between 1957 and 1961 for morning sickness and sleep aid. At the time it was one of the medical miracles or a supposed truth in health. The problem with this medication is that it caused severe deformities in the children being born. Many of the children were born with flippers rather than hands. To this day there are Thalidomide Victims Associations across the continent.

What about DES? Women were prescribed it up until 1975 to combat miscarriage and morning sickness. The problem arose when they discovered that the women who had taken it had a high risk in breast cancer. More recently it has been revealed that daughters of women who took DES have a 40% increased risk with breast cancer.

In the fifties and sixties most children had their tonsils removed as it was the surgery de jour. Why? Often it was for convenience… a prophylactic against tonsillitis. Usually, it was due to the fact that the tonsils would become enlarged and swollen. They were removed because parents were told that we didn’t really need them. News flash…the palatine tonsil is part of the immune system and helps protect against infection. The lymph system acts as a filter. Does it make sense that when they are swollen they are doing their job?

In the seventies and eighties if anyone had course to be involved in an abdominal surgery they automatically removed your appendix. Again this was thought to have no apparent use however it has been since revealed that the appendix provides the body with a natural laxative.

Check back for Part 2 on Monday…..

First off I would like to wish our cousins to the south the very best of Thanksgiving’s. As we all know tomorrow is Turkey Day across the United States which marks the unofficial kick off to the Holiday Season here in North America.

Before we know it the craziness will be in full swing as malls turn into war-zones, spending reaches ridiculous altitudes and family and friends gather to spread joy and elation.

When the pandemonium hits my patients have a tendency to get away from their regimented health and wellness programs. It’s understandable so much to do, places and parties to be at, unfortunately we see it year after year. This is the time in which many suffer ailments more then usual.

With the added panic of the holidays bring the body tends to wear down easily as lack of sleep, plus physical and mental stress wreek havoc on the immune system.

I know it sounds repetitive and I tell this to my patients in their best interest, make sure you get in a couple of times over the holidays so we can keep your body in peak condition and functioning for the holidays.

What better message to spread than the gift of health this holiday? Get in and get checked out!

Happy Holidays…..

For more please visit our website at www.alliancehealthcare.ca

This past weekend I traveled to sunny Orlando to take place in another Kennedy Decompression Technique seminar.

It felt great refreshing my Decompression knowledge and talking to other professionals from across North America regarding this exciting and effective technology.

While there I realized the importance of stressing to patients and the curious alike the importance of your Chiropractor in the process. A common misconception regarding Spinal Decompression Units is that they act as a magic machine, one in which little diagnosis, monitoring and parameters are set by the operator.

NOT THE CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is in fact quite untrue as without the assistance of highly trained Spinal Decompression professional you could essentially be doing more damage to your symptoms then healing.

It all stems from analysis, finding out exactly where the problem is, whether it is a disc problem or movement disorder, setting up an ergonomic schedule for diet and exercise, along with executing proper decompression techniques.

I could go on into more exact details but I have a feeling some of you may already have a case of the Mondays…. so for now if you have any questions regarding this therapy please don’t hesitate call us as at 905.845.2291 and I will speak to you at my earliest convience. Also you can visit our homepage at www.alliancehealthcare.ca for additional information.

Doc Talk w/ Dr. Huggins

Adopt an Athlete Mindset

After more than 25 years in practice I can tell you a phenomenon that never fails . Along come the leaves and everyone is out tackling all of those jobs put off all summer chomping at the bit to clean up before the snow arrives. Now after all those years I can tell you there is that group of people that come almost crawling into the office because they over did things.

You need to adopt what I call Athlete Mindset…. a what you ask. OK consider this. Can you imagine any professional athlete after being virtually dormant for the past 4-5 months taking the field, ice, pitch, whatever and attempting to function at full capacity. Well of course they wouldn’t. They have things like Spring Training to address fitness and function.

Now think of yourself. Are you any different because you are swinging a garden tool as opposed to a bat? The philosophy you need to adopt for every time that you tackle a more physical task.

for more information please visit our website at www.alliancehealthcare.ca

A new episode of DocTalk has hit the Internet on youtube. The episode focuses on proper ways in which to conduct yard work for the fall season. As we all know the leaves won’t stop dropping no matter how hard we rake and bag. It’s important for you to not over exert yourself and end up here in pain at the office.

We discuss proper raking patterns, appropriate tools and disposal of yard waste.
If you are at all interested please follow the link below to the official third episode of DocTalk.

CLICK HERE for DOCTALK EP.3

Remember to subscribe to Dr. Huggins channel on youtube by clicking right here and hitting the yellow subscribe button.

For future episodes of DocTalk please send your questions to info@alliancehealthcare.ca and follow us on twitter @ www.twitter.com/alliancecares 

………………… for more information please click here to follow us back to our homepage !!!!!

Thanks,

Doc