Dr. Donald A. Ozello, DC, is the Owner and Doctor at Championship Chiropractic in Las Vegas, NV. He is author of “Running: Maximize Performance & Minimize Injuries: A Chiropractor’s Guide to Minimizing the Potential for Running Injuries.” He writes a weekly health, fitness and nutrition column for The Las Vegas Informer. He is published in OnFitness Magazine, LiveStrong.com, SpineUniverse.com and eHow.com. He also has educational health, fitness and nutritional videos on Informer TV, LiveStrong.com and YouTube. We asked Dr. Ozello about his Las Vegas practice and finding a good Chiropractor.
Dr. Ozello, a lot of people think that most Chiropractors offer the same type of services and treatment. What are your thoughts on this perception?
Dr. Ozello: I think that perception is incorrect. The primary objective of most Chiropractors is the same thing. We want to restore proper skeletal motion and we want to optimize nerve flow but there are so many different approaches to it and there are so many other things that we can do. Depending on the doctor’s philosophy and how he likes to treat patients is obviously going to change his approach to helping those people.
Do you think it is possible to find exactly the kind of Chiropractor you need with a little bit of research?
Dr. Ozello: Most definitely. Especially now in the information age. There are so many different ways you can find out about the doctor. If it’s through one of the social media pages or if it’s through their website. I have had people contact me ahead of time and ask a lot of questions to see how I treat patients. That way they get a feel for how I do things before they even come through the door. People always have the option of coming into the office and sitting down and talking to me before they get treatment.
Tell me what you feel separates your practice from other Chiropractors in Las Vegas.
Dr. Ozello: There are a couple of different things. The main thing is just how I approach my treatment and care. I do all my treatment and care by hand where I not only do the chiropractic adjustments by hand but I also do some manual traction, I do a little bit of muscle work in the specific areas that need it and I will do some stretching exercises.
I approach that to not only optimize nerve flow and restore proper skeletal motion, but to get that person back to functioning at one hundred percent. Another thing is that I am a huge advocate of patient education. I want to do everything I can to help that person get back to the activity they want to do and to do that activity at one hundred percent. The reason I say that is because I think a huge part of my job is to educate my patients on things they can do outside of the office.
It may be stretches, it may be strengthening exercises, it may be nutrition or it could possibly be something very simple with ergonomics. I see that all they time with the way people have their computer work stations set up or when they are exercising how they have their bike set up. Little changes in those things really help people out.
I’m also trying to educate them on how they can lessen their exposure to toxins. I also try to change their attitude to a more health-oriented approach and then nutrition. Nutrition is key, it is so vital in helping people live healthier, fitter and more functional lives. We have to find out just what works for that person. Those are all things that I really push in patient education.
What do you find is the most common problem people come to you with?
Dr. Ozello: There are obviously some common problems why people see a Doctor of Chiropractic. Low back pain, neck pain and headaches. Those are some of the most common things that people know chiropractors treat.
I do a lot of sports injuries in my office. A lot of times, unless it’s a combat type sport, a physical type of sport, it is an overtraining type of injury. It could be a flaw in their training where they are going one hundred percent, they are really trying to get better, but we need to tweak a few things to prevent those injuries and to help them manage those injuries. Obviously things that I do inside the office and things they can do outside the office are going to help them to prevent those injuries and to self-manage those injuries.
What do you find is the most common “do it yourself” solution people try before seeking you out for help?
Dr. Ozello: The ice and heat is one of the more fundamental things people should do and I think most people try that. Especially the ice which you should always do when you first get injured. Also stretching, especially with athletes, they know the benefit of doing stretching exercises. A lot of times people can use those fairly successfully on their own, but it just gets to the point where they need to get some professional care, they need to get an evaluation and get some treatment. That’s when they contact me and we combine what they do and what I do to help them out and get functioning back to one hundred percent.
Why would working with a professional such as yourself greatly improve their chances for success?
Dr. Ozello: First of all, just the idea of getting the body to function at one hundred percent-that’s what chiropractic helps people do. We’re restoring proper skeletal motion with the chiropractic adjustment and optimizing proper nerve flow. So you have that proper nerve flow coming from the brain and going all the way down to the working muscles and then coming right back.
When we have that, those muscles are going to function better. When you have the proper skeletal motion, you do not have the abnormal amount of pull on those muscles. Everything is balanced and working the way that it should and the healing capacity of the body is maximized and functioning properly. When you combine that with patient education, proper nutrition, proper ergonomics, rest and recovery, it is ideal.
Dr. Donald Ozello’s mission is to educate and inspire others to live healthier, fitter, more functional lives. His web address is: http:/www.ChampionshipChiropractic.com. He can be reached at (702) 286-9040.