There’s no doubt about it: We live in an increasingly complicated world, and nowhere is that more evident than in the health-care field. Along with advances in technology and age come increasing pressures from insurance companies and political directives.
What’s a doctor to do? Sometimes the best plan is to go back to basics.
Guided by one of Coronado’s most revered physicians, Donald Dill, M.D., Christopher Coulsby discovered a perfect pathway to helping patients achieve optimal health.
Christopher Coulsby, D.C., M.S., now heads Crown City Chiropractic and Sports Performance at Dr. Dill’s Health and Wellness Center.
Dr. Coulsby knows the office center at 171 C Ave. well from his childhood when Dr. Dill, his uncle by marriage to his aunt, Christine Gordon-Dill, was his primary physician. When the Dills renovated the center in the mid-2000s, young Christopher, just out of high school, he oversaw the building’s exterior remodel. And while attending Occidental College in Los Angeles, he periodically worked vacations at the health center.
He also continued working in construction. “What I loved about construction is I could take something that was broken in someone’s life and fix it to add to their quality of life.”
He didn’t know at the time that his health-care career would allow him to do much the same.
After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology with emphasis in cellular/molecular and marine biology, Dr. Coulsby started in biological research.
But, feeling cut off from people and not seeing the direct benefits of his work in society, Christopher turned to the Dills for guidance and they broached the idea of going into health care.
Dr. Dill suggested to Christopher that he might not enjoy going into Western Medicine because of the increasing control of governing bodies and the insurance industry over patient care.
Dr. Coulsby said Dr. Dill’s timely counsel was profound: “I have no idea what chiropractors do, but here’s what I do know,” Dr. Dill said. “My patients who go to them like them. And my patients who go to them regularly, I tend to see less in my office. So chiropractors are either effectively managing their condition or preventing them from having it in the first place.” Moreover, chiropractors do this with just their hands and knowledge of the human body.
Dr. Coulsby followed his uncle’s advice and chose Logan College of Chiropractic in St Louis, Mo., based on its penchant for research (a requirement for graduation) and its dedication to athletic injury. He received his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree and a Master’s Degree in Sports Rehabilitation and Exercise.
He joined Dr. Dill’s Health and Wellness Center in 2014; he also works with Point Loma Chiropractic, where his practice includes the care of athletes participating in various sports of all levels.
“Chiropractic is all about the restoration of function, which is fundamental in preventing disease,” Dr. Coulsby explained. “Ultimately a body in motion is a living body, and a body in stasis is a dying body.”
Many medical conditions can be helped by chiropractic beyond what most people think, including headaches, indigestion, skin conditions, anxieties, irritable bowel syndrome, and incontinence. “Even kids with colic and ear infections can be helped with chiropractic,” he said.
An increasingly sedentary culture is leading to an explosive need for chiropractic care, Dr. Coulsby noted.
“We’re hunched over all day, working on computers and iPads. And now we have this relatively new device — the cell phone — and we walk around caved in and peering down, texting all day long.”
The cumulative effects on the body result in tight pectoral muscles, tight sub occipitals, weak neck flexors and weak thoracic extensors. “In effect, you’ve created a tight and weak ‘X’ from the front to the back of the body,” Dr. Coulsby explained.
Dr. Coulsby effectively treats patients who come for corrective care, perhaps following a trauma like a fall or traffic accident. But he would prefer to see patients for preventative care, who never needed the correction in the first place, “much like a dentist,” he said.
Dr. Coulsby adds Active Release Therapy (ART), a technique developed by a chiropractor who was working with the Air Force Academy and professional athletes around the world in Colorado Springs, Colo. Using a combination of tissue depth and tension with the patient’s active motion, ART breaks up scar tissue and allows muscles to more quickly return to their normal tone. For example, for a patient with shin splints, Dr. Coulsby will ask the patient to move their ankle for a series of passes as he applies compression and tension through the muscle’s specific action.
The dynamic technique pairing the doctor and patient’s efforts is effective in reducing scar tissue. Dr. Coulsby describes it as “a manner that is similar to peeling back layers of an onion, working from the outside in.”
“We have learned that scar tissue results not just from traumatic events such as surgeries or a car accident, but can also be the result of repetitive motion. If one does something many, many times, scar tissue will eventually alter or restrict the motion of the muscle and nerve,” he explained.
ART works beautifully in conjunction with chiropractic, Dr. Coulsby said. “Did you ever hear someone say an adjustment didn’t hold?” he queried. “That can happen because the tight or shortened muscle pulled it back out and restricted the joint motion. So if I address the musculature while I’m addressing the joint, I can perform treatment more effectively.”
ART is now a favorite therapy among national sports teams, all of which have onsite chiropractors, and the international Ironman competitions have adapted ART. Last year, Dr. Coulsby worked on the field with the Coronado High School football team and looks forward to expanding to other sports teams in the coming school year.
It’s natural that Dr. Coulsby’s chiropractic practice extends beyond basic treatments to include nutrition and lifestyle counseling. “Your workout and nutrition can start anywhere,” he stated, and cited the case of a patient — a stubborn, middle-aged gentleman who weighed close to 300 pounds — during his schooling in St. Louis. “We started out with small lifestyle changes. I mean I literally had to tell him I wanted him to get up and get his own beer rather than having his wife get it for him. That’s where we started. Eventually, we got him to join a gym, and then partnered him with a trainer. He lost close to 100 pounds. It’s not about how you start, it’s that you start.”
Chiropractors are trained as primary care physicians and act as such in many states. Dr. Coulsby said, “We are trained to that level of care and because we see our patients on a more regular basis, we are often the quarterback for their medical care, ordering X-rays, blood work, and coordinating with their primary care physician.”
Dr. Christopher Coulsby’s services include Class IV deep tissue laser therapy for treating patients with acute pain, chronic conditions and post-op pain, kinesiology taping to assist in mobility and circulation while healing, and new custom orthotics from Foot Levelers that utilize a three-dimensional scanner.
“These orthotics correct the way your foot contacts the ground on every stride so that we can correct the standing posture and help alleviate painful conditions like plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, fallen arches, low back pain or hip pain,”
Dr. Coulsby said, then added with a smile, “Or they can just help improve your golf game.”
