Eva Sheie (00:03):
The purpose of this podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you're making a life-changing decision and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be. There's no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close. I'm your host, Eva Sheie, and you're listening to Meet the Doctor. Welcome to Meet the Doctor. We have a special treat today. My guest today is Dr. Jeanett Tapia and she is a chiropractor in San Diego. Welcome to the podcast.

Dr. Tapia (00:41):
Thank you. Thanks for having me on your show. I appreciate it.

Eva Sheie (00:46):
Before we get into all the amazing things that you're doing, talk to me a little bit about chiropractic in general and why it is so hard for people to find good ones.

Dr. Tapia (00:58):
That's a really, really great question. In general, when people think about chiropractic, they think about back pain and musculoskeletal conditions, but it's actually much broader than that. And I think just like anything, sometimes I meet patients and they'll say, I have found a good one, and they give up on chiropractic and stop looking or searching. And to me it's kind of interesting because you wouldn't do that with your dentist, right? You would continue to look for the next provider until you found a good fit. And I find that chiropractic is the same way. You just have to find number one, who matches what you're looking for, what you need help with. And also personality. That's also a big, big part of healing in my opinion.

Eva Sheie (01:46):
I have this general impression that there's things in chiropractic that we just sort of think are silly, and I wonder if that's accurate or if I'm just being crazy. And what I'm thinking of in particular is the activator.

Dr. Tapia (02:04):
That's an important tool that's used in chiropractic often, but not everybody uses activator. I'm not super verse in the activator technique to tell you how it works or how it doesn't work, but I know it works along the lines of reflexes with the nervous system. But I can't say that I'm an expert in that technique.

Eva Sheie (02:27):
So what kinds of things are you an expert in?

Dr. Tapia (02:30):
So I was going through traditional chiropractic education and I actually developed a lot of back pain myself, and I didn't quite understand what was going on. But let me tell you, when you first start out, they don't trust you with the public. And so students are adjusting other students. And I think I was just getting over adjusted to be honest with you. And I met a chiropractor that sounded completely different in her style of practice, and I decided to go and see her. And it didn't require any cracking, popping or twisting of the spine. I wasn't familiar with this technique. I wasn't familiar at all with how she practiced, but I just knew I felt better. And in that moment, my trajectory of how I wanted to practice what I wanted to learn completely changed. And that technique is the NCA upper cervical technique completely different than what people think about in regards to chiropractic because there's no cracking, there's no popping, there's no twisting, and you lay on your side for the adjustment.

(03:33)
It's very gentle, it's very precise. And because everybody's anatomy is unique to their body, it's really based on specialized form of X-rays that are taken of the shape of the person's head and in relationship to their neck. And it's based on getting the head on straight over the body so that the brain and the nervous system, the spinal cord inside of your back, can communicate more effectively. And like I said, it was just personal experience. I mean, I received it first as a patient and I completely made a U-turn or left turn rather, and decided to focus on that even though my primary education was not in that form of care, it just completely transformed my health and I decided to go in that direction.

Eva Sheie (04:23):
And because it helped you so much, is that how you knew that that was the right direction to go?

Dr. Tapia (04:30):
It's interesting because at one point I thought it's kind of silly that I practice with what works for my body instead of just what works best in general. But I thought for me to really get behind something, I have to experience it firsthand. And I knew that I would attract the type of patient that would have a similar response that had already gone down a traditional route and was still having their symptoms. And so interestingly enough, now the type of patient that I seem to see most often in my clinic is exactly that. Somebody that's already gone to a traditional chiropractor, somebody that has already gone to get a massage, somebody that's already gone through a course of physical therapy, possibly they've already had a lot of different pain medications prescribed to them or have failed all of what you would consider alternative treatments. And sometimes even someone that's already had, for example, a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon or a neurosurgeon and they're just not quite ready to have surgery or it's not severe enough, but they know they should have more choices and more options than what is currently being presented to them.

(05:41)
So that's the type of patient that usually comes in. They've already tried lots of things. I'm very rarely their very first doctor that they're seen. They've already kind of been to 5, 6, 7 different providers prior to walking in our clinic.

Eva Sheie (05:57):
In the beginning of that sort of long list of things that people try. You said traditional chiropractor, and I wonder if you can expand on the definition of traditional a little bit?

Dr. Tapia (06:07):
Yeah, that's a really great question. So with traditional chiropractic care, it's kind of what you see on social media. At least that's what patients tell me. They'll say there's cracking popping or twisting of the spine. And so that's what most people consider chiropractic. But keep in mind that there's dozens of different styles of adjusting that just happens to be the most common, and that's what gets advertised or marketed the most, especially on platforms nowadays like TikTok or Instagram or something like that. And it's a bit sensationalized sometimes, and people just don't even know that there are lots of different ways that we can help the nervous system without those types of what would be considered like high velocity manipulative adjustments.

Eva Sheie (06:57):
Do you feel like there's a lot of bad information on those platforms?

Dr. Tapia (07:01):
It's hard to tell, but oftentimes I do feel that way because it can scare someone to be like, well, gosh, I don't want you to do that to my neck, for example. And you could say, I'm a neck specialist. And so when someone comes in, oftentimes they're asking me, are you going to do that to me? Please don't do that to me. They get scared. And so I have to do a lot of education to let them know that I don't do that. They don't have to expect that. And if they're not looking for that, that they're in the right place because it's 100% different. And oftentimes patients don't even know that that's a possibility that you can get really excellent clinical results without that type of adjusting.

Eva Sheie (07:50):
And it sounds like in a lot of these cases, you're looking at X-rays to see what's going wrong or to see where the angles need to be addressed.

Dr. Tapia (07:59):
Correct, correct.

Eva Sheie (07:59):
And not everybody does that,

Dr. Tapia (08:02):
Right? Not all chiropractors take X-rays, but in my professional opinion, I feel that's just, honestly, it's chiropractic 1 0 1 in my book because I have to know exactly what's going on with that patient's spine. If I wish I had X-ray vision, I don't be handy. It would be super handy, but I don't. And so it's really important to know what is going on with that patient because everybody's spine is different. The amount of degeneration or arthritis or alignment is completely different. Plus I need to see is there any anomalies? Are there any compression fractures? Can I see disc degeneration or the joints degenerated? And so you can't see that. You can't know that just by just using your hands alone to palpate someone's body. And like I said, I don't have X-ray vision, so in my opinion, in my professional experience, the best results are obtained. If you have X-rays as a starting point.

Eva Sheie (09:09):
How often do you catch really big problems this way?

Dr. Tapia (09:12):
Oh my goodness. Well, at this point in my career, I'm seeing more difficult cases. And so very, very often, I would say more often than not, and if I feel it's warranted, I will also order an MRI to get a clear picture because not everything shows up on X-rays. And so I definitely have had the time to really get well-versed in MRI evaluation, and sometimes I even catch things that were missed from radiology or even primary care because I'm looking at it from a very specific point of view to see what's really going on with the soft tissues, which you can't see on x-ray. So I work with both MRIs and also x-rays to really understand what's going on with each individual patient.

Eva Sheie (10:02):
Tell me a little bit about what kinds of patients you're seeing. What are they coming in the door saying, and then what are the solutions really look like?

Dr. Tapia (10:13):
So the type of patients that I take care of in my clinic within my specialty are, I'll pick an example. Somebody's waking up with neck pain, but it's not, it still allows them to go to work or go surfing or golfing. It doesn't stop them from living their life. But little by little, that problem becomes more chronic, and all of a sudden the quality of life begins to decline, and all of a sudden it's like you're waking up with it. And so maybe you didn't get really great sleep because it woke you up in the middle of the night so you don't feel very rested. And then you are busy, especially I take care of a lot of moms. They still have to get up, get the kids out to school and get everybody out the door, sports practices after school, et cetera. Plus they're working and making dinner and all of these things. And so the quality of life begins to decline. And again, I hear patients say, well, I'll just take a couple Advil in the morning and it helps me get through the day. And so that patient knows that they don't necessarily need to have back surgery or surgery on their neck at this point. It's not that bad yet, right?

(11:33)
But they're concerned, like you were saying, wait a minute, should I do something about this now?

Eva Sheie (11:39):
Yeah. What is it going to turn into?

Dr. Tapia (11:41):
Yeah, is it going to get worse? Instead of it's coming and going, is it going to be 24 7? And maybe if the pain on a scale of one to 10 is like a four or five, and then all of a sudden it's a seven and it's like, well, what do I do? Do I continue to take that pain medication every morning? And then you may see your doctor for an annual exam and maybe you get some muscle relaxants, and then you stack the muscle relaxants with the painkillers and maybe it gets worse, and then you go to physical therapy, and that kind of helps, but not really. And so before it could be months or even years and you're like, I got to do something. And that is the type of patient that I work with that comes into my clinic that we get phenomenal results because you're absolutely right, they don't need surgery, but it is getting worse.

(12:39)
It is degenerating, and there's a big gap in between. And once quality of life begins to be impacted where they're not able to exercise as much as they want, it's impacting dinner time, it's impacting rest, it's impacting sleep. It's like, okay, let's get busy because all of a sudden you may begin to get headaches or migraines or other things that begin to kind of pile up. And so my job is to, number one, take the backpack off of the patient if you will, begin to remove some of those rocks out of that backpack, right?

Eva Sheie (13:18):
That sounds nice.

Dr. Tapia (13:21):
You don't have to be dealing with this every day, all day or off and on, and using different gentle, non-invasive forms of care because in addition to nucca, upper cervical care, I have learned over the years that technology is really fun and really effective and helping patients. So I use a combination approach versus just the chiropractic alone.

Eva Sheie (13:51):
There's another really important thing I think you just said, and maybe you didn't realize you said it, but there's a big difference between treating symptoms and identifying the root cause and working to resolve the root cause of something.

Dr. Tapia (14:04):
Correct.

Eva Sheie (14:04):
And it sounds like you're finding the root cause in attacking it and not just saying, take some more Advil or take some more muscle relaxers or go get another massage.

Dr. Tapia (14:16):
Right. And Eva, oftentimes, when a patient, I'll ask a patient, when you go and get massages, which massages are great by the way. I'm not saying they're not. They're definitely complimentary, but they're not going to fix a spinal problem is I'll say, when you get a massage and you feel good for maybe a day or two, and then it comes back and it's like, yeah, and then I feel like I have to go get another one a day or two later. But that's not sustainable, that's not feasible for most people just from a schedule, right? You'd have to be going all the time. So

Eva Sheie (14:55):
I just put them next to my personal chef in my guest quarters.

Dr. Tapia (15:00):
And so what patients are feeling is not muscular tension. What they're feeling is spinal cord tension. And that's much, much deeper because we never go around thinking that our spinal cord is inside of our spine right inside of our back, and the spinal cord will get really tense and really tight, which is why it can't be relieved by a massage alone. You have to address it at the core, at the root. And many times, one of the core problems is that because we are three-dimensional, the body begins to distort. And so if the head is off, the shoulders will begin to compensate, the hips will begin to compensate, and the body will also twist a bit. And again, it's microscopic sometimes, but it's enough that it puts tremendous pressure on the neurology, the brain, and the spinal cord inside of our backs. It just torques things just enough that nothing on the surface is going to fix it or take care of it, which is why taking those specialized X-rays really helps me determine, well, what is really at the root of it, how do we fix it? How do we align a patient's body to the best of that person's ability? And then how do we keep it there? Because the goal is not to adjust, adjust, adjust, adjust over and over and over again, which is again, another myth. Or sometimes what people don't care for is that the goal is to get you in alignment and keep you there and retrain the muscles. Because if you've been over here for 10, 15, 20 years for various reasons, trauma, poor sleeping postures.

Eva Sheie (17:00):
Carrying a really heavy baby.

Dr. Tapia (17:02):
Carrying a baby. And so what happens is the old muscle memory pulls you back out and then we're going to do this, but old muscle memory will pull you back out again. And we do this very gently. And then all of a sudden before you know it, the body begins to hold the alignment. It feels like, oh, it's safe to stay here now instead of continuing to go back out of alignment. So put you in alignment, keep you there as long as possible, and retrain the neurology and the muscular system to stay in that position so that you don't have to come and see me once a week for the rest of your life.

Eva Sheie (17:43):
That sounds good. So if this is resonating, I'm listening today and I'm thinking, this sounds like me. What does it look like when we come to see you for the first time?

Dr. Tapia (17:55):
So when a patient first walks into my clinic, first, I need to know what's happened to you before I met you. And so I take a thorough consultation, see, is there a lot of trauma? What are your life habits kind of sports did you play when you were younger? How many car crashes have you been in? Basically a rundown of what's happened to you. Have you had concussions in the past? Have you had disc herniations or disc bulges in the past, et cetera. So really get to know you. And then I do an exam head to toe to see what's going on, not just where you're telling me it hurts, right? So if a patient comes in for a sciatica, guess what? I'm still going to check the upper part of their spine, not just their lower back or their leg. So really being able to look at you as a whole.

(18:49)
And then I take the specialized X-rays that I was talking about of the head and neck and also X-ray, the area that is bothering you because I need to see what's going on there as well. And if I feel that MRIs are warranted, I will order MRIs to a facility that's near our clinic to make sure that I have all the information that I need. And it takes me about an hour to review everything after I send you home to look at everything, study and analyze your exam findings, and of course what I find on your imaging. And so I can come up with a treatment plan to stabilize you as quickly as possible, and of course get you the most relief from the symptoms as well.

Eva Sheie (19:35):
Having helped lots and lots of patients. At this point in your career, when you go through that initial assessment before you see the x-rays or the MRIs, are you most of the time able to form a theory that's accurate before you see the pictures? Now, are you a little bit psychic at this point?

Dr. Tapia (19:54):
It's interesting you asked me that. I don't usually share this, but I think it's okay to share it here. I'm pretty intuitive as well. And in addition to that, I always look at patterns, right? Like you said, at this point, I've seen so many patients, I'm always looking for patterns of what I have seen in the past. So it's not uncommon that things kind of run together. And so we just kind of go down a list of questions based on the patterns that I've seen from prior patients that I've had, and that can be, nowadays, it's not uncommon for people to have a host of symptoms that kind of work together. And I'm able to formulate my questions based on those patterns. So the things that go together, headaches, migraines, ringing in the ears, TMJ pain, a lot of stiffness, sometimes even cracking or noises in the neck, permanent retainers. And even for female patients, especially with severe neck pain, sometimes I'll ask them if they've had breast implants, for example, because the upper part of the body, those symptoms can crawl up into the neck, for example. And so yes, you're absolutely right. I'm able to put a lot of pieces of the puzzle together before I even take the images, but the images are still very, very valuable, of course.

Eva Sheie (21:27):
You still wouldn't want to guess.

Dr. Tapia (21:29):
No, not at all. There's no guesswork at all. I mean, after all, it's your spine.

Eva Sheie (21:34):
How often do you run into somebody who you really truly have to refer away and say, this is beyond me?

Dr. Tapia (21:42):
So that actually does happen again, because I'm usually not the first stop. Sometimes patients are coming in. I mean, I've had patients come from the emergency room when they're dealing with really severe back pain or sciatica like symptoms, and they're leaving the emergency room and they get on their phones and they search for something else because maybe not life-threatening, not the right place for care for that type of thing. The emergency room is meant for life-threatening conditions. So you ask how often that is. I would say it's not often. However it does happen. And something like somebody comes in that really acute stage and sometimes they're literally begging me, please do. Can you do something right, right now in the next five minutes, for example, because the pain is so debilitating, I still don't guess. I still do my due diligence of having the proper imaging doing a proper history, proper exam. And if I find that it is not within my scope of practice, I have zero hesitation to tell the patient, I wish I would've met you sooner. At this point, you do need a surgical consult or you do need to see a different type of provider that you need at this point. It's a little too late for chiropractic. And so it does happen. And I always feel so terrible because many times it could have been avoided, you know?

(23:18)
But there's nothing you can do sometimes.

Eva Sheie (23:21):
So along with that helpfulness and the candor that are very obvious qualities that you have, what else do people say about you when they are your patient or when they've been helped by the work that you're doing?

Dr. Tapia (23:36):
One of the things that patients say to me often is that they come in for chiropractic, they end up walking away from their appointments with lots of other information. I love, love, love to always be learning and studying. They may come in for a back pain type of symptom, but they walk away with so much more. My background is in nutrition, and I also have a background in education. And so inherently without me knowing, I'm always sprinkling in other lifestyle habits or other things that they can do to really compliment the chiropractic care that they're getting. And I can't tell you how many times patients will be even saying to each other when they see each other in the clinic, like, gosh, I just never know what I'm going to learn today when I come here. Because they're learning so much more about how to take care of themselves, not just their back.

Eva Sheie (24:40):
It sounds like a great experience. And I'm going to buy a plane ticket.

Dr. Tapia (24:46):
I absolutely love what I do. I didn't come into the chiropractic profession as my first career. Like I mentioned, my bachelor's is in nutrition, and I worked at the hospital setting and I really loved it, but I saw the limits of what I could do there. I really didn't feel like that was going to be a sustainable environment for me. I took a bit of a detour, if you will, and became a high school science teacher and loved high school students. Oh my gosh, loved science. But again, I began to see that I was a bit squirmy and I wanted to dig in deeper. And one of my friends at the time recommended that I apply to work for a large pharmaceutical company, which I did. I worked for some of the large pharmaceutical companies, and that gave me a completely different view of health, but it was still kind of in line with working in the hospital setting in the allopathic model.

(25:50)
And I called on gastroenterology, cardiology, family medicine, internal medicine on the sales side, and really got to see the inner workings of how allopathic medicine operates. And one day, one of my clients, a gastroenterologist here in San Diego, said, you are the most non allopathic sales rep that calls on me. And he said, are you sure you want to do this? And I'd been doing it for years and years, and I thought, you know what? He's right. And so I picked up my life, sold my house, quit my adult life to enroll in chiropractic college in my thirties, and started all over again. And my gosh, what a blessing for my own health, for my own life, for my own family. So this is a true labor of love for me, and I don't really consider it work because people really need options. Again, there's a huge gap between having to take pain medications and muscle relaxants, going through a series of things that are not alleviating the symptoms and having the need to potentially have surgery down the road. And there's a huge gap in between. And I love what I do, and I love being able to help those patients that are searching for that. Right? And not everybody is, and that's okay. I meet patients where they are and kind of hold their hand through the process of hopefully never needing invasive procedures.

Eva Sheie (27:29):
You seem to also have a little bit of a protector sort of spirit going on that you're trying to help people stay away from things that are much worse.

Dr. Tapia (27:40):
Absolutely. Because if something can be prevented, why not?

(27:45)
And I'll tell you what, Eva, if I felt that surgical procedures were the answer for every patient I saw, I would be a surgeon. But so many times I've seen patients have either neck or back surgery and failed back surgery syndrome is real. I think most people at this point have met or known someone that had back surgery and didn't really get the relief they were looking for, or it was limited. And the need to have a second one or a third one is also very real. And that's not to say that that's the case for everybody, but I find that if we can prevent it and you get to keep your spine and you don't have to deal with scar tissue and complications down the road, why not? So you're right. I am pretty protective because I want to make sure that patients have the information, the knowledge, that they can make informed decisions before they need that.

Eva Sheie (28:46):
Certainly, you cannot do this by yourself. So will you tell us a little bit about the team that you have around you and who we might expect to meet if we come to see you?

Dr. Tapia (28:56):
Absolutely. So I work with my husband, Dr. Devin Young. We met in chiropractic school. So when I say it's a labor of love, no pun intended, dual meaning, and we work together. And so patients can count on both of us to help take care, take care of them. And we don't have any associate doctors or other providers in our clinic. It's just the two of us. And so we're all in getting patients better. And we do have, of course, a great team that helps us. And they have been so diligent about learning, not just about chiropractic, but the technology that we utilize in our clinic. And I mean such a fabulous team from the moment you pick up the phone and call us, they're smiling over the phone because they are all in too, right? We have a great company culture, and I got to say that's one of the compliments I get a lot is, wow, you have a really great team.

(29:57)
Like, where'd you find them? Where can I hire people like them? But I just hire people that have a big heart that really deeply care about our patients as much as the doctors do. And I think it shows, and they're a big part. And as we work with patients, because we offer nonsurgical spinal decompression technology, we offer shockwave therapy, we offer laser therapy, and they're also providing some of those services. So they're hearing firsthand the success stories from patients while they're working with them. And I think that's really beneficial for the patient, but also for our staff.

Eva Sheie (30:38):
You're mentioning technology that's not typically associated with chiropractic, or maybe I'm just old and I'm out of date, but can you tell us a little bit more about non-surgical spinal decompression and shockwave and laser and how those are incorporated?

Dr. Tapia (30:55):
Absolutely. And so the longer I practice, the more I realized that I'm in 2023 and technology can be really, really useful in helping patients other than just my hands. And so when I decided to look into nonsurgical spinal decompression, and I mean, I search high and low for the best technology. And so we have at DRX 9,000 decompression machines in our clinic, and they're these gigantic computers. And most patients fall asleep while they're on the treatment, while they're on the table. And it's used for disc injuries, spinal stenosis for arthrosis, that type of thing for both the neck and or the low back. And so for the low back, it's for things like sciatica, again, disc herniations in the low back, et cetera, or leg type symptoms that can run all the way down into the foot. And basically what the computer does, does what I can't necessarily do with my hands, it's checking in with the patient's body while they're on the table, and it's decompressing and relaxing, decompressing and relaxing the spine, creating a vacuum phenomenon so that more moisture, water, nutrients, oxygen gets sucked back into the disc space and can take pressure off of those pinched nerves.

(32:22)
And it's a phenomenal piece of technology. It's really the gold standard in nonsurgical spinal decompression, and many patients get significant symptom relief. And so I pair that oftentimes when a patient needs it, again, I get a lot of that information from the imaging and not everybody needs it. However, a lot of patients that come in have been doing their research and they'll say, okay, I want that. I think I need that. And sometimes it's my job to say, actually, you don't need that. Let me tell you what you do need. And shockwave therapy is a relatively new piece of equipment. The technology we have is from Switzerland, so it's really, really great. It helps it break up scar tissue, so any type of fibrotic tissue, and it also helps stimulates your own body's healing cells to come to the area and begin to turn over those tissues so that the body heals from the inside out.

(33:22)
And one of my favorite things about that technology is that it's a really short treatment. We're all short on time, and you also don't need a lot of treatments. It's typically a series of five, maybe 10 sessions, and it's really great for extremities, shoulders, knees, that type of thing. And of course, cold laser therapy, oh my gosh, it's probably one of my favorite technologies that is currently being used in our clinic in cold laser therapy comes in different versions, different flavors. What we have is a class four laser, which is most powerful, and we actually have a couple of them. And what patients love about laser therapy or red light therapy, another name is photobiomodulation, it's a big word, is that it really decreases pain. It decreases the inflammation at the cellular level. And so talk about healing from the inside out. And again, not invasive, it's just light, it's red light, but super powerful. And so I personally love it because it ties into mitochondrial health, which is the wave of the future. If our mitochondria are healthier as a whole, you're going to be healthier, period. And so laser therapy's very, very beneficial. So I put together a combination of approaches based on what the patient needs. And again, everybody's different. There's no cookie cutter human.

Eva Sheie (34:50):
I just pulled up a picture of the DRX 9,000 and it looks almost like a video game.

Dr. Tapia (34:58):
I know, right?

Eva Sheie (35:00):
With a treatment bed on it. Yeah,

Dr. Tapia (35:01):
Correct, correct. I know patients are like, I feel like I'm going into space.

Eva Sheie (35:07):
Yes. It does look like a spaceship.

Dr. Tapia (35:09):
And like I said, most patients fall asleep, they take a nap, they're super relaxing. So I don't know anything that could be more gentle or non-invasive and that you can take a nap at the same time and rest. Yeah.

Eva Sheie (35:22):
That's like, again, with a dual purpose. Some of us just want to come in to take a nap.

Dr. Tapia (35:29):
And I always joke with patients that say, whatever's going on out there in the world for you at home or at work or wherever, leave it at the door and walk in and take the time and give yourself this gift of time to take a nap, rest, relax, rejuvenate, and most importantly, heal on your way out. If you want to pick that back up, go ahead, but feel free to just leave it there because that's a big, big part of healing is giving ourselves enough rest and enough time to really reap the benefits.

Eva Sheie (36:06):
Are there any questions that we still need to answer or anything else that's popped into your head while we've been talking?

Dr. Tapia (36:15):
I think one of the things that I really want to encourage people listening to not give up on themselves. Oftentimes when I meet people, they've lost a bit of hope that they can feel like a million bucks again, and we kind of take it for like, well, this is just the way it is. I'm getting older. This is how it's supposed to be. Now. I hear those types of things and I call bologna on that. Yes, genes are important, but the environment that we're in is most important because that's what turns on the genes. And I got to tell you, Eva, I'm 52 almost getting close, and I did not feel this good in my thirties because everything that I offer in my clinic, I do for my own personal health, and I feel I have more energy now. I don't need an alarm to wake up tons of energy throughout the day.

(37:13)
I have an ache and pain here and there, but I feel so much better now than I did decades ago, and it's all by applying the things that I walk the talk. And so don't take that when you hear that. I just learn to live with it. No, I don't agree with that at all. And patients can definitely sail into their forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, even nineties, and feel really good. That's the bottom line is that we don't have to deteriorate slowly is that you can be proactive, you can take excellent care of your body, and like I said, in all of the therapies that we do is zero or invasive in any nature and reap tremendous clinical benefits.

Eva Sheie (38:04):
Are there nucca chiropractors like you everywhere in America, or are there just a few of them? How many are out there?

Dr. Tapia (38:13):
Last time I checked, I believe there was less than 300 nucca chiropractors worldwide. There's not very many of us, and it is a pretty small group of us, but we're mighty. But yeah, there's not that many of us.

Eva Sheie (38:30):
There's that candor again, and I can tell why patients love you. It's very obvious.

Dr. Tapia (38:36):
Oh, thank you.

Eva Sheie (38:38):
Tell us a little bit about what you like to do outside the office.

Dr. Tapia (38:43):
Oh my goodness. I'm such a geek. I'm a total science nerd. Currently. I love spending time outdoors, and I love going for walks with my dog. I love reading and of course spending time with my husband, but currently, my current jam that I'm literally spending so much of my personal time learning about is quantum biology. It is a emerging field, and every chance I get, I'm sprinkling in quantum biology concepts into my chiropractic practice. A big, big part of quantum biology is circadian biology and making sure that all of the clocks in our body are running properly.

Eva Sheie (39:31):
I've never heard these words before and now I'm very curious, but we're going to have to do this on another day and have you back to talk about quantum biology and circadian biology.

Dr. Tapia (39:41):
You're right, it can be a complete podcast on its own.

Eva Sheie (39:46):
If someone's listening today and they want to find you or learn more about you or potentially come and see you, where should they go for more information?

Dr. Tapia (39:55):
Well, just like you mentioned, I'm in San Diego, California. They can find me by doing a simple search online, and my website is san diego nucca.com. Nucca has two Cs, and patients can also find me. We have a YouTube channel. If you just search for InTouch Chiropractic in San Diego, of course you'll find this. And on that YouTube channel, you'll be able to see quite a lot of patient testimonials. Video testimonials is always super fun. And you can also, of course, find me online. You can read patient reviews on Google or different platforms, but I'm pretty easy to find. I think I love what I do and I look forward to helping other patients.

Eva Sheie (40:42):
And what part of San Diego are you in?

Dr. Tapia (40:45):
The clinic is in Mission Valley. It's right in the heart of San Diego, maybe 10 minutes from the airport.

Eva Sheie (40:51):
Oh, easy.

Dr. Tapia (40:52):
So right in the center of town.

Eva Sheie (40:54):
I'm on my way.

Dr. Tapia (40:56):
I'd love to have you.

Eva Sheie (40:59):
Thank you so much for sharing yourself with us today. It was really a pleasure.

Dr. Tapia (41:04):
You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

Eva Sheie (41:10):
If you are considering making an appointment or are on your way to meet this doctor, be sure to let them know you heard them on the Meet the Doctor podcast. Check the show notes for links including the doctor's website and Instagram to learn more. Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who'd like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book your free recording session at Meet the Doctor podcast.com. Meet the Doctor is Made with Love in Austin, Texas and is a production of The Axis, T-H-E-A-X-I S.io.