- What was your first exposure to Chiropractic?
I was very fortunate that my parents and grandparents had been seeing a Chiropractor before I was born, so my first adjustment was in my first few weeks as a baby.
My mum cannot remember if it was me or my brother, but she remembers taking one of us for our first adjustment on the way home from hospital.
When I graduated, I was fortunate to be able to work in the practice that we went to as we grew up. While I was there I I found one of my old files from when I was 3 months old. It made reference to a previous file before that, but I could never find it.
- Why did you choose to become a Chiropractor?
During high school I worked out that I wanted to do something in health care. Through a process of elimination I decided I didn’t agree with being a medical GP, most physio’s work in hospitals and I didn’t want to work in a hospital. Then I realized that my family had always used our Chiropractors as the first point of call for any health issues, be it a cold or a sports injury. From that point on, Chiropractic just made sense for me.
- What school did you attend and why?
I went to RMIT in Melbourne. It is the only Chiropractic course in Victoria and was the closest to my hometown of Bendigo which is about 2 hours from Melbourne.
The day before I moved to Melbourne, my Chiropractor, Dr Brett Houlden, told me what I could expect there over the next 5 years and I was fortunate that he and his wife, Dr Helen Sexton looked out for me and mentored me over the 5 year journey (and since then).
- What style of practice do you have?
I consider myself a family Chiropractor. My focus is on caring for entire families over many generations. For me, it keeps practice interesting as we have a wide variety of people in our office, from new bubs, to school kids, to parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. I am lucky to work with my wife Georgia who is also a Chiropractor.
I am very passionate about cranial adjusting, especially as children grow and develop. I am a Certified Craniopath through SOT. I think it is really important for Chiropractors that work will bubs and kids to have a strong understanding of the way the cranial system functions and be able to identify and correct any cranial issues.
- What is your philosophy on Chiropractic and Health?
I consider myself a vitalistic person, as I believe that any living being is pretty amazing as a self healing and self regulating system. I believe that there are many parts to living a healthy life to our full potential and that keeping the nervous system and spine functioning well is a vital component of optimizing our health.
I see my primary role as a Chiropractor to keep people’s spine and nervous system healthy, with adjustments and helping them look after themselves between regular adjustments.
But I also spend a lot of time in practice talking to people about the other components of health, such as stress, diet, exercise. I am not an expert in these area’s, so I often refer people to see a naturopath, kinesiologist, wholistic dentist, pilates, yoga, lactation consultant or to their GP to address these other health issues.
As a primary health practitioner where people come to see us as a first point of call and it is our responsibility to refer people when we see they need help in other areas of the life.
- Where do you see the profession and healthcare in general going in the next 10 years
I believe it is very interesting time to be a Chiropractor. There is a big shift occurring in how people consider their health and how they access information about it. People are developing a deeper understanding of their health via the internet and social media rather than relying on their health practitioners and traditional media.
In the media, there always seems to be something to make you doubt yourself as a Chiropractor and as someone who believes in looking after health in a natural way. In Australia, our profession as well as peoples right to choose natural health care seems under an organized and constant attack and I have many good friends that have personally been attacked as part of this.
I see these attacks that we are encountering, particularly here in Australia, as part of the medical profession (and the big businesses that make heaps of money from medicine) fighting for their own survival as they see that they are beginning to lose the battle as people seek alternatives for their health care, rather than relying on drugs and surgery.
I also see people in our office and in our community becoming a lot more aware of natural health choices for themselves and their families. A lot of people are questioning the information from the government and the medical profession as they can see the influence from big business, especially the pharmaceutical companies. People are becoming more empowered to learn about their own health and take responsibility for their own health.
I think Chiropractic is ideally positioned to be part of this shift to people taking responsibility for their own health. The mechanistic view that the body is flawed and can only be fixed with drugs and surgery is quickly becoming outdated.
For Chiropractors, we need to maintain our vitalistic principles that the body is self healing and self regulation. More and more people are choosing natural health care and recognizing the amazing healing potential that we have when we trust in the natural wisdom of the body.
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Dr Troy Miles is a Chiropractor in Mt Eliza, just outside of Melbourne Australia. He is also the creator of a new Chiropractic adjusting toy of kids – the ChiroClicker. To find out more information about ChiroClicker, visit www.chiroclicker.com
