SPEAKER_00 0:00

We don't think, oh, my blood pressure's been running a little high. I should have my neck checked. But it should be part of the story. Of course, you should, you know, see your medical doctor, do what you need to do, rule out any of the ominous stuff. But care for the nervous system that controls and regulates all of the other functions in your body.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

All right, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Connections That Matter, where we share stories from Northern Colorado's best networkers and find out some of the stuff they do that led to their success. Today I have an uh icon in the health and wellness field. We have Dr. Jane Brewer from Precision Chiropractic. Dr. Jane, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Thanks, Andrew. It's grateful to have the opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Well, you're kind of a big deal. I mean, uh, you were on a big stage leading stuff at uh a big conference, but uh um you've made a big impact in northern Colorado through the work that you do. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Um well tell us uh what is upper cervical chiropractic?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

So we are specialists underneath the greater chiropractic umbrella. We focus on that really delicate junction where the head sits on top of the spine. There's a single bone there called your atlas, and similar to mythology, and where atlas holds up the weight of the world, our atlas really holds up the weight of our world. And it's really through there that all of the nerve fibers in our body pass through as they're going to their end destination. And so it makes sense from an upper cervical model to start there.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Well, I uh went through the process. I got a 3D map of my atlas, which is kind of weird a place to get your picture taken, right? You're like, what does my bones even look like? And it was a little twisty, uh, which you helped me get back uh the right way. But what do you see? Like people's normal lives, are they is there is people's atlas where it's supposed to be?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

A lot of times it's not, and that could be for a multitude of reasons. And at first we don't think about these things. When we're young, we crash and burn so many times, like you know, learning how to ride a bike, learning how to walk. Even a normal natural birth can be difficult on a little spine. And so that little misalignment can manifest super differently for a lot of people. Some people might have headaches or migraines, some people might just have some discomfort or stiffness when they're turning their neck. Some people might develop things like vertigo or dizziness. We see a lot of folks after they've had a head injury or concussion because the amount of force that it's take it that it takes to create a create a concussive force in the head, certainly the neck needs to be checked as well.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Well, I definitely believe something that makes you referable is when you are, you know, you have a specialty, people know exactly the problems that you saw. But how did you choose upper cervical versus some of the other realms of chiropractic?

SPEAKER_00 2:44

And so this goes back a long time. And I was under my own chiropractic care, which totally changed my life. And my chiropractor was more traditional or mainstream, like what most people would probably think of as a chiropractor. And I was older when I went back to school. I was 32 when I went back to chiropractic school to learn how to do this because of the transformative experience that I had. But I remember she told me, she's like, You're gonna go to school and you're gonna learn that there are a zillion ways to do this. And she encouraged me to check out all the different approaches and techniques. And the reason upper cervical really spoke to me is because there is a system and there is a way to individualize that care. We all are put together in basically the same way. We all have the same basic pieces and parts when it comes to our spine, but we're all a little bit different, and just like we're not symmetrical on the outside, we're not just not symmetrical on the inside either. And there is a way to understand that, customize care based on how that person is put together and how their specific misalignment has occurred so that we can achieve the most optimal result with the minimal amount of um intervention.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Well, you you've shared like a lot of your referrals come from other chiropractors where um they they know the kind of specialty care they have. How how do you build those relationships where another chiropractic is like, oh, you should go see my chiropractic friend uh and build those partnerships?

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Yeah, I think I mean it's a huge honor, right? Definitely that people who have gone through the same training and education as you that they seek you out for their own care. And I think I'm okay to say this, but I I think in the chiropractic world, chiropractors know, and I'm not gonna say a bad word, Andrew, but when it hits the fan, they're going to an upper cervical chiropractor because this really is the keystone for everything else. And so I think it's known in the chiropractic world that upper cervical is really the place you go or you send your family members. Like I just imaged the two kids of a chiropractor in Fort Collins today, so they can start care. And when things are complicated, then it requires that precise, delicate approach.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Well, and then you have really cool tools that you play with. I the the one that points on it, or like my daughter went right in your ear and and fixed her. But um, you know, the instrumentation that you use that allow you to be that precise, um, you know, how do you where where do they sell? They don't sell those at Home Depot. So how do you how do you how do you get the right tools that you know you want?

SPEAKER_00 5:16

And so the right tools have to come after you've had the right training to be able to use them. Right. And so those tools are not available unless you have gone through the steps of understanding how to safely and effectively use those tools. And so I'm trained in the orthospinology technique, and so that is a three-step training process and then a certification process at the end of that. And you must be a member in the organization, you must have gone through the training, and then you're eligible to purchase and then utilize the equipment that we have in our office. And as far as I know, there's only two of those instruments in the whole state of Colorado in use.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Wow. That's super cool. Yeah. Um, do people get intimidated laying down on it?

SPEAKER_00 6:01

A little bit. I mean, it it it's like the gentle giant, it looks so scary. And then before I ever place the stylus of the instruments, so that atlas does sit really high up, it holds our head up. And so the contact point usually is just behind the earlobe there. And I always will show people on their hand the amount of force that's being delivered, and I tell people, prepare to be underwhelmed because it's so gentle. This big, scary-looking instrument delivers the most gentle, precise correction possible. And it can be very surprising for people that something so gentle can create such monumental results.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

How have you been able to um make your name? This is not the right way to say it. What I want to say is like when I talk to people about chiropractic care, and I mention your name, they're like, oh, Dr. Jane. Uh as a as like uh you're leading um the like the profession or that you you have a voice in the area where there's people that are fighting for the same voice. And um is that experience? Is it being a specialist? Is it uh you know, how do you how do you how do you lead from the front, I guess, that in your industry?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

That's a really good question. And I was just having a conversation earlier. You've probably heard the saying, if you want something done, just give it to the busiest person. Yeah. And chiropractic it's a philosophy, it's a science, and it's an art. And our patients and the people that entrust us with their care experience all of that. And we don't really talk about those different legs of that stool necessarily. But I when I learned about chiropractic and it started to change my health and my life, I was all in, and that was it. And I knew that this is what I wanted to do. And then once I was exposed to upper cervical care, I knew that was the specialty I wanted to participate in. And as far as that leadership, I think it, you know, I never asked to be in these positions. It's just that you just you keep showing up over and over again. And you just be a good person, and stuff like that just unfolds naturally. I have a hard time saying no when I'm in service to my practice members and my profession. And it's an honor to be asked to hold those positions, and I'm happy to do it.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Well, it w my last adjustment, you were talking about uh people would come on the stage and have their walk-up song. Yeah. I think it's something like a lot of people have thought about what's my walk-up song, whether you're like a little kid in baseball, like what would you come up and to do that? But if you're a doctor at a walk-up sign, uh what what would be your walk-up sign, Dr. Jane?

unknown 8:40

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Wait a minute. I a few years back was really honored to receive the BizWest uh Women of Distinction Award in the healthcare category, which was a huge win for small business because usually the people winning that award are from Banner or UC Health or Columbine Health System, these huge health organizations. And I I definitely walked up to Lizzo.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Yeah. Well, one thing I noticed is like you you got some flavor, you got the tattoos, uh, you rock the flat brim hat better than anybody that I see, you know. So, um, but it it's it's cool to have like a level of moxie uh when you're out there and putting yourself out there. But yeah, shout out to Lizzo. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Yeah, I mean, that's just me. And I think that's also what makes the practice so successful, is because I think, especially in the healthcare landscape, people are like starving for authenticity. I don't know how to be anybody else other than me. And healthcare has lost its person-to-person relationship. Yeah. And in our office, and you know you've had this experience, like we're just real.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

And we have those conversations with people, and we ask people how their kids are doing, and we ask people, you know, how their cat is or whatever. And it's that human-to-human connection that I think is really lacking in healthcare that we will never ever lose.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

That's good. Well, and I, you know, I always tell people you gotta network with the personal services. Like uh on a given day, how many people come through your office that you're treating, you're building a relationship with? I mean, uh it's always busy when I'm I'm coming in there.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

So we're probably seeing, I would say, between 45 and 50 individuals per day.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

And uh some people come in every once in a while, some people have like a more acute care plan where For sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

It just depends on you know where in the journey they are. We tend to see patients more frequently when they're first getting started because we're really working to regain that strength and stability. And then most people, once they get to a certain point, they realize like, hey, I'm feeling pretty good and I want to keep it this way. And it's so much easier to protect the gains you did work really hard to make than it is to, you know, just kind of hang out there.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

I I was thinking of like the parallels and networking. Like you meet somebody, you want to meet with them like a little bit more frequent to build the relationships, and then like, hey, I saw you at an event again, and um, you know, to get that that tune up. But I'm curious of like the skill you have to like remember the conversation that was the the last visit and when you're juggling 40 different people that come in. How do you how do you do you have a good CRM? How do you do that?

SPEAKER_00 11:12

I don't know. That's a really good question. A lot of this is scary to admit, but a lot of it lives in here.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

And there are times where we might establish maybe eight new patients in a week, and then I look at the schedule and I see all those names, and in the beginning it's definitely a bit fuzzy. I'm like, I don't remember who that is.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Um but then you'll see them walk through the door.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

And then you you just get to know people through your contacts with them. And you're right, it's totally parallel to networking and building relationships and building a business. And it's the more times you're in front of that person and the more, you know, little bits of information you get, like I'm not writing that down somewhere. Every so often we'll we'll type the name of somebody's kid in their chart just so we remember it. But mostly it's just that repetition.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Yeah. Well, the running a chiropractic business versus being a chiropractor different. So what have you learned about being a business owner, especially in the health and wellness field?

SPEAKER_00 12:09

I had a mentor in chiropractic who was actually the founder of the chiropractic college I went to, Dr. Sid Williams. He was, you know, just a force to be reckoned with. And there was something he said that has always stuck with me, and it was never let the hand that touches money touch the hand that serves people. And so in my mind, those two things live in very different compartments. And when I'm in my office and when I'm wearing this, like when I get dressed in the morning, my husband jokes around. He's like, Oh, you put your doctor costume on. Um, it's go time, and I'm not there to think about running a business, I'm there to serve my people.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

And then there is dedicated time to look at the numbers, look at the PL, talk about business strategy, work on the business versus working in the business. So I think, especially in a field where you're taking care of human beings, that it's really important to remember that you're working with humans and that service always translates into money and success.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Well, talk to me about Oliver, one of your success stories, and where you were able to help. How did you how did you come into your office? And then uh what was his uh uh journey, or so to say.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

So I was taking care of his mom initially, and you know, she had had great results, and she was coming in periodically to get checked, and she started talking about her kiddo that was kind of a standout baseball player, and he had a massive collision in the outfield, so bad that the other kid's braces left an imprint on his head. Wow. So massive concussion, and he had been out of school for a few days. And thankfully, I had that rapport established with the mom where she trusted me, and I was like, oh my gosh, please bring him in. He needs to be checked because if he's hit his head that hard, there's no way his neck is in alignment either. And he was really not functioning, hardly sleeping, terrible headache, um, just lethargic and not doing well at all. And you know, because he was wanting to return to sport, he had all the concussion testing and he showed up to my office like a zombie. He was not okay. And we brought him through our intake examination and got him adjusted. And you know how we have patients rest after that upper cervical adjustment to allow it to stabilize. He went in that room to rest and he fell asleep. And I'm looking at my watch, and usually we get people after 10 or 15 minutes of rest. And I looked at the mom and she's like, This is the most consecutive sleep he's had in days. I said, Well, you can stay in there as long as he needs to. And so after about an hour, hour and 15 minutes, we we woke him up. We, you know, we always check our work in upper cervical, so we make sure we got the desired outcome before we set send somebody out the door, and everything looked great. And I told her, I'm, you know, I'll text you tomorrow to follow up on you and see how you're doing. And I did so, and she's like, He's a different human today. Like we have to now stop him from doing all the things that he wants to do. And he went back and had further testing for concussion, and that medical doctor from the concussion clinic called me and said, I need to know what you're doing because he tested better than a 14-year-old without a concussion only a few days later. And I said, It's not me, it's it's the science behind what we do, and that's repeatable. And it actually opened up the doors for a beautiful relationship with that clinic, and now people are getting the complimentary care that they need in addition to all the other therapies that they're getting. So it's pretty cool. He is now playing college-level baseball, which is ridiculous. I haven't aged that many years. That's not possible. Um, but it's cool because you think about what the trajectory of his life would have or may have been had he not gotten that care. And maybe he wouldn't have recovered, maybe he would never have returned to that sport, and maybe he wouldn't be enjoying the life he has now. And that's the stuff that gets me going. That's my why.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

That's awesome. I love to hear that. And uh, you know, in the networking sense, we try to get business owners to be like, what's the question that I could ask to let me know if you could be useful? And you have a really good one. It's like, could it be coming from your neck? Uh those headaches, could it be coming from your neck or your you know, your tingliness or TMJ, those kind of things? So what things could come from your neck that I might be experiencing that I didn't know that chiropracta could be supported?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

This is a great question. And I want to be careful when I talk about these things to tell anybody who's listening, these are not necessarily things that we treat directly, right? But we can trace a lot of these things back to alignment and how that involves either our central nerve system or blood flow to and from the brain, or the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid, which keeps all those tissues of our nervous system healthy. And so our bread and butter every day, I think we touch on a lot of them. Like things that can be coming from the neck, of course, are things like headaches and migraines. That makes sense. Um vertigo, dizziness, feeling a little bit off or unsteady. Um, a lot of people these days are suffering with something called POTS, which is um an issue where your heart will start to race when you go from a lying down position to an upright position. Um, that falls under the category of what's called dysautonomia, which means your nervous system isn't working as well as it should be. So a lot of those things can have some or many roots in the neck, and then you start to think about things like blood pressure regulation, digestive function. We don't think, oh, my blood pressure's been running a little high. I should have my neck checked, but it should be part of the story. Of course, you should, you know, see your medical doctor, do what you need to do, rule out any of the ominous stuff, but care for the nervous system that controls and regulates all of the other functions in your body. We see people who get sick more easily than all the other kids in school, and their immune system start to function better because their brain and their body are connected better, because we've removed those obstructions. So there's a lot of stuff that we don't necessarily immediately connect with the spine, but the truth is it's all connected to the spine.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Totally. So are you getting a lot of referrals from other like if I'm my heart's racing uh when I'm sitting up and I don't know what pots is or whatever. So I go to um my primary care and they're like, hey, you might have this thing. And then I go home and Google it and probably like realize all in a chat GPT. But uh are you getting a lot of referrals from those primary care people, dentists if I get like lock jar?

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Uh more and more we are, and you know, I always joke around, like I feel like I'm a one-woman crusader sometimes because those relationships are built over time with a lot of trust. Because those are some unusual friendships, I think. And it shouldn't be unusual if everyone kind of stays in their lane and understands that there's really hardly ever one solution for any given problem. Usually it takes multiple approaches and multiple therapies or interventions to get that person towards better. And better isn't just the elimination of a symptom, better is actually functioning better. And I don't know if I answered your question at all, but those relationships or those referrals that do come from primary care physicians, that come from physical therapists, occupational therapists, medical doctors, osteopathic doctors, dentists, um, those have come more and more because of the relationships that we've built and because they understand that upper cervical chiropractic is quite different. And to be totally transparent, there's some, you know, misunderstanding or you know, misconceptions about like what neck adjustments can or cannot do. And it can be a scary thing, especially for medical providers that might not be educated, that there's a lot of different flavors of chiropractic out there.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

When when you're committed to the overall healing, um you know, you know the tools that you have that can do certain things, but um, you also uh talked about the people that you recommend and how like getting on your list is you know, there's a process to get there. You're gonna be the person who's gonna I don't know, give them a try before you recommend in clients. But um if you can and you uh share share an example of somebody who's earned their way onto your recommendation list. Great. Why do you recommend them and what do they do to keep that recommendation from your house?

SPEAKER_00 20:35

So there's some supernatural um fits for that conversation. Um we have an amazing referral relationship with a couple of the therapists at Colorado in Motion, specifically uh Mandy Shockey and Jennifer Farnell. They I call them my wizards. They complement what we do so beautifully. And for our folks that are dealing with things like dizziness or what we call vestibular disorders, um, sometimes they find me first. And I always tell people those issues can have roots in one of three places, typically your eyes, your ears, or your neck. The neck part we got.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

And if we are working with somebody for a period of time and we don't feel like we're enough of the answer for that person, they're getting sent over there. And that's a two-way street as well. If they've done all the vision and vestibular therapy and the physical therapy for the soft tissues of the neck, but then there's a structural problem, they come to us. Yeah, and it's a really natural flow, and we have an immense amount of mutual respect for one another, and we understand what each of us do and the role that we play in the success because it's never about us, it's always about getting the person well in front of us.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

How did how did you get in front of them or they get in front of you the first time?

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Yeah, so it's kind of weird. Mandy and I actually met at a yoga class about 11 years ago and really didn't understand what each other w did. And then it was actually through the story I just told about um that kiddo with the compassion. Um they work it's called the Asha Brain Clinic, and I think they're transitioning now and uh bringing on a new medical provider because the previous provider who was wonderful retired. And that's professionally how we kind of got reconnected with the whole thing. And then, you know, you just let the results speak for themselves. You have, you know, the proof's gotta be in the pudding.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Yeah. Well, and especially if you're both a physical therapist and a carpenter, you're seeing your clients in a more frequent um interval. Um, communication's gotta be huge, and and uh what an awesome resource to have in northern Colorado. Um you also did a a walk with a dock, uh, which I thought was a cool way to get in front of a community and and do it in a healthy way. But share a little bit about walk with a dock and uh what kind of things did you talk about?

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Yeah, that was a pretty cool opportunity too, also through Colorado in Motion. Um Katie Wrench is a doctor of physical therapy who works at the Windsor location, and through another colleague who works in the mental health care space. Um, I saw that she did that. I'm like, hey, that looks really cool. Can you introduce me? And so I was introduced and she slotted me in for this August walk. And it's through the town of Windsor. And I gotta say, there's probably about 20 people who showed up. We have, you know, maybe our 10 or 15 minute presentation. So I talked a lot about how kind of like I just mentioned, you know, the eyes, the ears, and the neck all play a role in balance, and you know, especially when you talk about things like walking, there's things we could do, like walking is great for your health, but if you start to incorporate head movements while you're walking, how that integrates differently and just helps your body be better balanced. So it was pretty cool. We talked for 15 minutes and then we went on a mile walk, and it's a really neat thing.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Yeah, yeah. Super cool. And I think one of the things that like makes Windsor special or Northern Colorado, that that small town, and having people feel like they can get connected to the local people that are are close to them. Yeah. Um, Dr. Jane, this was awesome. Thanks so much for the conversation. Um people watching this, and one, if they want to network with you, where what circles are you networking in? Because I know there's a lot of like health and wellness circles that you uh are hanging out in.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Yes. So first and foremost, Dr. Olivia, who is my incredible associate doc. She is extraordinary. She's in Yeah, shout out to Dr.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Olivia.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Yes, she's in your Raymakers group, so that's a great place to connect with her and the practice in general. Uh, we're also a member of the Northern Colorado community, which is Ann Barron's group up in Northern Colorado, and she's amazing. She knows everybody. She's an incredible connector of people, and I think does a lot of great stuff for the community. And then we host at my office quarterly whiskey tastings for providers. It's seriously, it's it's the coolest thing. I have a really dear friend who's a whiskey sommelier, and so he leads us through a tasting. We just had one a couple weeks ago, and we had it was a really interesting room. We had a physical therapist, acupuncturist, um, uh MD who does more holistic work with women, like just a really eclectic group of people. And, you know, there's no sales pitch. It's literally just a way for all of us to be in a room, get to know other providers in the community, and learn something new about whiskey. And so I love doing that.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

Um yeah, I think that's awesome. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Well, and like you're uh you know, all you have to do is listen. I mean, if you have 40 people coming through it, there's there's probably networking that happens in the office every day.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Um and that's why I think it's so important to know of people, and that's been something that I've shifted throughout my networking experience. Like in the beginning, you think, Oh, I'm talking to the person in front of me, and that person is, you know, that person's gonna become my patient. But that's not how it works at all. And it's just, you know, in my office, every single day I hear people looking for somebody to cut their hair or somebody to check their furnace, or I mean, seriously fill in the blank, and vice versa. I know now who to ask when I need something because of the connections that I've made through your group and everybody else's.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Well, right on. Well, if somebody's watching this and being like, Man, I wonder if that's coming from my neck. Uh uh how do people get a hold of you or set up an appointment?

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Yeah, so our website's a great place to start. It's precisionkyroco.com. Or if you land on precisionchiropractic.com, that's kind of an umbrella site for myself and some of our colleagues who practice in a really similar manner. Um, step one for all of our new patients is a complimentary consultation. We want to sit down with somebody, understand what they've been through. Many people that find their way through our doors have tried a lot of stuff that has yielded limited results or success, and they're just looking for something different. So we just want to sit down, understand that it's also an opportunity for us to explain our approach to care because it is quite different from a more conventional chiropractic approach. And before we do anything else, we start with that conversation. So that's step one.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Well, super cool. If somebody watches this and they get them something fixed because they found this episode that makes my heart happy. So uh Dr. Jane, thanks so much for coming on the show. Thanks for uh, you know, helping me with my own alignment. And uh yeah, we'll see you around Northern Colorado.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Thanks so much for what you do and how you bring people together too.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Hey all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado, I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh, go in the podcast description. There's a way so you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.