CAA national conference @ sheraton, perth - 3 day conference

===dun we look like one happy family?? well, we're missing neo and valerie===

din touch my blog for a few days d. quite bz and been really tired this few days. im just gonna skip tru wednesday and go straight to yesterday, friday the 10th of october 2008. as poor poor students, whenever u get the chance to pay a lil to get someting BIG, just go for it ok...dun tink twice. same goes to every other students everywhere.

tats wat my frenz and i did for this seminar. all we had to do was become a financial member of CAA national and then we get to go for the 3 day seminar for FREE. CAA stands for CHIROPRACTIC ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA. the membership feez are A$60 and the seminar per day is like A$100++ for students and non-members. so wat a bargain rite? pay 60 and get to go for free. it started of on thursday wif a welcome cocktail nite in sheraton. we couldnt be bothered going cuz we were all stuffed from watever we were doing truout the week.

yesterday morning caught the 75 bus down to the city wif mel. rego started from 7-8.30am. got there at about 8am. they gave us a bag and a few goodies inside. there was also a chiro exhibition next to the golden south ballroom. i am very glad that we decided to come for tis conference cuz it was fabulous. it got me tinking so much about my future and wat i wanna do. i noe im not the brightest student but still, it opened my eyes to the world of chiro. we learnt about vertebral artery dissections (VAD) and lotsa cervical stuff cuz that's where all the controversies are. wat other health professions tink about us, our future working hand in hand wif medical doctors, nutritionist, massage therapist, and so on so forth. knowing where we are in the australian and worldwide community. chiropractic demands worldwide and what really needs to be done to get out to the public, public education, unity of chiropractic on the world scale and our future in general.

"TODAY'S CHIROPRACTIC FOR TOMORROW"

since this is a very sensitive topic close to heart, i just wanna briefly touch on it. what is chiropractic?? i have asked many ppl about it, i shd say, oni well educated ppl noe wat chiropractic is and what we do. other ppl are just giving me the 'blank faces' reaction. i find it really funny once, i asked a fren and this is wat he said:

"oh yes, of cuz i noe wat chiropractic is. its where u design and plan out dance routines for dancers rite??"

i just gave him another stare and started larfing. be honest if u dunno wat chiro is cuz to be honest wif u, i din noe wat it was when i first came across the word chiropractic. i have never heard of that word before in my entire life until i asked about it. i didnt get the best definition from that person either cuz he wasnt a chiropractor, he was just a murdoch rep. i noe wat physiotherapist are thou. interesting enuf, i got the idea that chiro are back doctors, someone who 'cracks' someone's back to make them feel better. from that alone, i find it interesting enuf to enroll for the course and forego medicine. for once in my entire life, i actually did what i wanted following my heart and instinct. as long as its under the health sciences, i am up for it. saying that, i am fully supportive wif all sorts of medical related science. be it natural, alternative or just the medicine in general. i told myself when i was younger, tat i will never ever be an accountant or a business woman. i wanna be a doctor, someone who helps ppl in anyway possible. i told myself as well tat, the title dr isnt everyting. its just 2 extra alphabets u put in front of ure last name. some ppl become drs for the sake of getting the title DR. some ppl are just forced into doing medicine. my dad said he wants me to be happy wif wat i do but still, if i were to tell him i wanna do medicine, i tink he will be happier cuz in my first year, he kept asking me if i wanted to swap n do med. i told him no, unless i cant go tru chiro anymore, then i'll change.

so back to the topic, everyone has different definition of the word chiropractic. it is relatively new to the public i agree. there are sooooo many philosophy behind chiro and i guess i have my own. may be its similar to some ppl, maybe its just wrong to how im tinking but im sticking to it. chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine, where we not only adjust and correct alignment of the human spine, we also take into consideration, the wellness and health of the patient. we diagnose but we do not prescribe drugs like medical doctors or pharmacist do. its not all about the cracking tat takes place. we also look at the musculoskeletal, neurological and the biomechanix of the human body. we see patients in a very hollistic way. we believe that the human body is self regulatory and it is capable of self healing. we do not cure ppl from cancer or diabetes or arthritis or watever u have to throw at us. tats the worse assumption someone can get from seeing a chiropractor. we give treatment, we diagnose, we give treatments, rehabs, preventions, maintainance, we may do referals, we x-ray patients if necessary, we do orthopedic testings, neurological testings, motor and sensory, etc etc. we help bring patients back to their homeostatic balance and also guide them tru to a better lifestyle. our number one focus is on the person's health and well being as a whole. we base our treatment on manual therapy, using our hands. we also believe that a subluxation causes many tings to go wrong within the body, be it from nerve impingement rite tru to headaches and wat not. so we un-subluxate the joints.

i tink there are more to it than wat i just said but i guess tats simple enuf for everyone? u may get different views from other chiro ppl but tats my philosophy. its up to u to take my word for it really. but dun say u noe wat chiropractic is until u see a real chiropractor in action. if ure someone who just listens to rumours or crap stuff about tings, then i feel really sorri for u. good luck to u on tat. if u tink tat medical doctors can give better treatment then go for it, i insist. saying that, if u need a surgery to fix someting, u really shd go to a surgeon and not come to us expecting us to cut u open. chiropractic cant do everyting, and neither can medicine. at the end of the day, we had a student forum discussing about:

"WHERE DO YOU SEE CHIROPRACTIC IN THE YEAR 2020"

we get to listen to all sorts of diff speakers from president of the CAA perth, rite down to student rep from 'MoveIt', a student chiro body in murdoch. another interesting topic. lots of question from students and even working chiropractic. questions that i did ask myself...

1. where do i see myself in 2020?
2. what sort of practice do i wanna run or be in?

there are a few other questions but tats personal :) i shall keep it wif myself and answer it within my own chiropractic bubble :P today's seminar was a lil boring. not cuz the topics were boring, cuz the speakers are freaking monotonous and really, one even tok about his life rather than chiropractic. but it was a fun day cuz we finished early, unlike yesterday where i reached home at 6.30pm :( and had bilateral temporal stabbing headache. we took some pictures and it was fun fun fun.

oh i forgot to mention another good ting about being a student and being an asian. maybe it doesnt apply to all asian students but i tink majority of us practice tis. whenever there are free stuff, GRAB IT! the exhibition had so many free un-necessary stuff tat we grab and grab and grab somemore. notepads, pens, booklets, magazines, sweets, stress ball, post-it stickers, and so on. oh boy, wat started of as an semi empty bag, it was filled wif stuff. omg..unbelievable. the exhibition, wonderful. they had stands for chiro beds, chiro pillows, adjustment tables (man are they fancy or wat!! i would trade my bed for the A$17,000 table), management plans, finance, more tables, chairs and so on so forth. let me tell u one thing, the chiro bed is soooooo comfortable. i even made a joke telling the exhibitor tat im staying over the nite on that bed...he actually tot i was serious?!?!?! i sat on of the chairs, and my gosh, i LUB it, the back support, fantastic. A$500++ minimum for one chair ok. but seriously, the adjustment table, the latest model OMG OMG, i so totally wan one of those in my practice next time. A$17,000!!! im just excited when i saw the table hahaha. spent like 20 minutes playing around wif it.

ok la, im very sleepy actually, i wanna have a nap then at 5.30pm driving to mel's plc and head down to osborne park, where val lives. she's celebrating her 21st bday today. 3 weeks earlier than her actual date. i bought her a costume jewellery watch from malaysia. now that i look at it, i tink its tooo big for her :P dun care, i buy d, cant change hehehehe. if she doesnt wear it, she can just put it around her table or someting hehehe.