Back home in business

Dr. Wayne Button is back in his hometown of Labrador City and well underway to fulfilling a dream he worked long and hard for.

Button, a chiropractor, opened his own private practice at the Labrador Mall early in June and he is quite happy with his decision to come back home to pursue his career.

He began his education with a four-year study at Dalhousie University, which earned him a Bachelor’s Degree of Kinesiology.

After that, Button didn’t know exactly what it was he wanted to do, but there was a field he was drawn too.

“I wasn’t sure exactly, I just knew I wanted to do something with the human body, biology,” he recalled making the decision to further his education. “I then became interested in chiropractic and I talked to the chiropractor here and then I got really interested in it.”

In short order, Button applied to the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (the only English option for chiropractic study in Canada) in Toronto, ON and got in.

Another four years of study earned him his Doctorate of Chiropractic and shortly after graduation he worked in Ottawa at a clinic.

“I liked my time in Ottawa but wanted to start my own practice, because that was my goal,” he said. “Out there, for example, there was like six chiropractors on the same street that I worked. So there was an awful lot of competition, very expensive and word of mouth didn’t work as well out there. Back here, people know you and, I find, in a smaller town they appreciate what you do more. I find if you help someone, and they are happy with how you treated them, they will likely go out and tell more people.”

Button knows building a solid clientele is about gaining the trust and confidence of his patients and that is what he is concentrating on in order to make his private practice a success. And, so far, it’s been good.

“I am very happy, I expected it to take some time to build my client base,” he commented. “But I have more customers than I thought I would have this soon, so I am very happy for sure.”

Growing in popularity

Chiropractic care is gaining more and more popularity in this country, according to Button, but he feels sometimes people may not really understand all the types of conditions and problems chiropractors treat.

“A lot of people think we just treat the back and the neck but it’s a lot more,” he said “Since I’ve opened, for example, I’ve treated sprained ankles, frozen shoulders, sports-related problems. I’ve seen a lot of cases since I’ve come here like golfer’s elbow, tennis elbow, you name it. We can treat ligament tears, headaches, anything that hurts and aches, really, we can look at it.”

He understands people may have specific questions and he welcomes people to drop by or call the clinic to get the answers.

Coverage

Just as more and more people are seeking chiropractic therapy as an option for treatment of injuries and conditions and for preventative measures, more and more companies are offering insurance benefits for their employees to cover chiropractic fees.

“Most companies and organizations have some type of coverage for chiropractic services,” said Button. “I haven’t had anyone since I started up my practice who didn’t have some kind of coverage. Some insurance cover a certain percentage, some cover 100 percent up to a maximum amount. And all a person has to do is call up their insurance company and ask.”

Connecting with family doctors

If something is diagnosed out of his scope of treatment, Button said he makes sure to record what he does find and he passes that information on.

“If I see something on an x-ray and realize it is something out of my scope, I will write a letter for the person’s family doctor,” he said. “I would say about 60 per cent of my patients I send home with a letter to their family doctors just to keep them informed on what I found.”

There is a rapport developing between general practitioners and chiropractors, he feels, and many times doctors are recommending chiropractics to their patients as an alternative.

Bright future

Button feels there are great possibilities in this area and leaving is not in his plans.

“I am here for the long haul,” he said. “I hope to be here in 30 years. I am not here to get a piece of the pie then leave. I want to be here in 30 years and be like Dr. Costello and Dr. Mitchell when I go to the grocery store and people will wave and say ‘hi’ because they all know me.”

SIDEBAR

HEAD: Back to school advice

As parents are busy getting their children ready for a new school year, Dr. Button offers some advice.

On Backpacks:

• An important point to remember when purchasing a backpack and what goes in that backpack, is children should not be lifting anything that is over 15 per cent of their body weight in their backpacks.
• The heaviest books are to be closest to the back.
• It is recommended to use two straps.
• I would recommend a waist strap as well because that will decrease some of the force that goes through the back and spread it out evenly.
• And the most expensive backpack is not always the best and the cheapest is not always the worst.
• Have your child try on the backpack with the books he/she is going to have and wear it in the store before you purchase it.

On shoes:

Choosing proper footwear making sure they right fit are also very important, he says.

Look at the top eyelets of the shoe when they are tied together. If they are too far apart, then the shoes are too small (narrow) and if the eyelets are too close together then the shoes are too big (wide).

An improper fit can lead to pinched nerves, bunions, calluses, ingrown toenails and Achilles problems.

Girl thing

Dr. Button emphasizes that parents of young females should encourage them to get them on the right track with footwear early.

“I would say 80 per cent of the foot problems I see in older females (adults) are caused by long-term wearing of fashionable footwear without proper support,” he said. “Stay away from footwear that offer no stability—very soft shoes, flat, high heels…these are fine now because the child is growing but later there will be problems such as claw toes.”

Claw toes is a condition that he says can be congenital but can also be the result of long-term wearing of footwear that offer little support, such as sandals.

“If you wear sandals for years, you will train the muscles to tighten and tighten and the toes can all go in the shape of a claw,” he explained. “I don’t get men with that problem, just women.”

Dr. Button can be reached at 944-6040, email: nhealthchiro@gmail.com or check out his website: http://northernhealthchiropractic.com