Subluxation Squad Podcast

James Chester lays out a clear framework for understanding subluxation beyond a single definition, introducing three distinct tiers that shape how chiropractors think, communicate, and apply care. He explains how staying at a surface-level interpretation limits both clarity and impact, while a deeper grasp connects philosophy, clinical application, and long-term vision. The discussion brings attention to how gaps in understanding at any tier can lead to inconsistent messaging and confusion for both doctors and the public. What becomes clear is that depth of understanding directly influences depth of communication, and without it, even strong intention can fall short.

Dr. Austin Cohen shares what actually starts to break when a chiropractic practice begins to grow, and why scaling often exposes deeper issues in clarity, communication, and structure. He explains how increased volume amplifies inconsistency across teams, systems, and messaging, forcing doctors to confront what is not yet defined or repeatable. The discussion sharpens around the idea that growth is not just about doing more, but about building systems that protect the objective of care while maintaining alignment across the practice. Growth will always reveal what is not yet clear or structured, and if it is not addressed early, it will begin to work against you.

This episode brings forward a perspective that is usually talked about privately but rarely said out loud. The conversation centers on what chiropractic students are actually experiencing inside schools, from mixed messaging around subluxation to the quiet pressure to conform before developing real conviction. It digs into how inconsistency in teaching, lack of mentorship, and unclear leadership shape confidence early and carry forward into practice. The discussion also surfaces a deeper issue: students are not just learning clinical skills, they are absorbing the tone and identity of the profession in real time. If clarity, certainty, and alignment are missing in the classroom, the future of the profession will reflect it.

Carolyn Boldt breaks down what actually limits growth in a chiropractic office, and it is often not what doctors think. She digs into how physical layout, patient movement, and operational flow quietly shape both capacity and experience, often creating friction that goes unnoticed but compounds over time. The conversation sharpens around retention, reframing it not as persuasion but as a byproduct of clarity, consistency, and an environment that supports the objective of care. As the discussion unfolds, it connects systems, space, and communication into one idea: when flow is dialed in, both the visit experience and long-term commitment improve. The takeaway is straightforward: if your systems and environment are not aligned, they will slow you down and dilute impact whether you realize it or not.

In this episode, Steve and Pacha dig into a tension many chiropractors feel but rarely define: how do you deliver inside-out care while operating inside an outside-in marketplace? They clarify the objective of the adjustment and unpack how marketing language, business pressures, and symptom-focused framing can slowly shift emphasis if left unchecked. The discussion separates philosophy from operations, positioning systems and financial structure as necessary supports rather than drivers of care. They ultimately challenge chiropractors to consider what is truly driving their care, and whether outside-in thinking has quietly started dictating an inside-out message.

Dr. Travis Corcoran shares his perspective on the role of reason and disciplined thinking in a profession often driven by strong emotion and conviction. He reflects on how rhetoric, exaggeration, and reactive communication can unintentionally weaken credibility, even when the philosophical foundation is sound. Drawing from chiropractic history and current cultural tensions, he emphasizes the importance of distinguishing what chiropractors can be certain about from what requires humility and restraint. Travis ultimately calls for intellectual honesty, measured dialogue, and leadership maturity as essential traits for a profession seeking long-term relevance and stability.

In this episode, Steve and Pacha dig into one of the most persistent tensions in chiropractic practice: whether adding therapies, services, and external solutions strengthens care or quietly dilutes its objective. They unpack how contradictions between stated mission and daily actions, especially around symptom-based offerings, can erode clarity, conviction, and public understanding of what chiropractic actually is. The discussion brings business realities into focus, highlighting how financial pressure, insurance models, and operational decisions can begin to influence clinical direction without doctors fully recognizing it. The implication is direct: if the objective of chiropractic is not clearly owned and communicated, everything added to the practice risks shaping the message instead of supporting it.

Dr. David Serio shares his perspective on what he considers the greatest subluxation facing the profession, pointing not to mechanics but to interference in thinking and identity. He reflects on how fear, compromise, and the desire for approval can gradually shift messaging away from a clear subluxation-centered objective. Drawing from history and experience, he distinguishes philosophical certainty from exaggerated claims and emphasizes leadership maturity in communication. His message is direct: clarity and congruence are not optional if chiropractic is to remain anchored in its foundational principles.

Daniel Knowles shares what it’s like forming a chiropractic identity while moving through school and being exposed to competing perspectives on philosophy, technique, and practice models. He speaks candidly about the challenge of building clarity around subluxation and communication amid varied messaging, and how confidence is shaped long before graduation. The discussion surfaces the gap between academic exposure and professional conviction, and the influence of mentorship in bridging that space. Daniel leaves practicing doctors with a clear implication: the future tone of the profession is being shaped in classrooms now, and what students consistently see modeled matters.

Dr. Liam Schubel shares how he built and scaled high-volume practices (including his early years pioneering chiropractic in Peru) and why clinical skill alone doesn’t guarantee practice success. He breaks down the “hidden bottlenecks” that keep chiropractors stuck—especially mindset, marketing, conversion, communication, and staff systems—and explains how to run a practice that’s both impactful and sustainable. The conversation keeps coming back to a core theme: you only get “one shot” with a new person in front of you, so your certainty, systems, and messaging must be dialed in. They close with rapid-fire takes on the profession (including political involvement) and what an “unsubluxated profession” would look like.

In this episode, Steve and Pacha turn their attention to one of the most practical questions in chiropractic today: Why do so many strong doctors struggle to clearly communicate what they stand for? They unpack how inconsistent messaging between doctors, teams, marketing, and reports weakens trust and dilutes a subluxation-centered identity. The conversation reframes branding as disciplined clarity rather than design, and systems as the operational foundation that protects the message as a practice grows. They challenge chiropractors to examine whether every touchpoint in their office reflects one coherent mission, or whether internal misalignment is quietly limiting relevance and impact.

Dr. Angela Marick shares how her path shifted from running a practice and raising a young family into leadership coaching—and then into an unexpected calling to bring chiropractic to Kenya. She walks through how relationships on the ground (and a reunion reconnection with Dr. Kyle Troyer) turned a “someday” mission idea into boots-on-the-ground service, including a first trip where the team delivered thousands of visits in just days. The conversation goes deeper than travel stories: Angela names fear and “us vs. them” division as major subluxations in the profession, and makes a case for maturity, collaboration, and having the hard conversations with integrity. She closes with a practical vision for sustainability in Kenya (training locals, potential school pathways) and clear ways for chiropractors to get involved.

Dr. Mark Romano lays out what he believes makes chiropractic relevant to the modern public: a clear identity, a consistent message, and communication that stays congruent with what chiropractors can be absolutely certain about. He contrasts a non-therapeutic chiropractic (NTC) model focused on locating and correcting vertebral subluxation for fuller expression of life with the common symptom-outcome framing that can unintentionally turn chiropractic into just another therapy. The conversation moves from chiropractic history and philosophy into practical realities: how to talk to pain-driven people without making promises, how to build an “oversubscribed” practice through congruence and reputation, and what an “unsubluxated profession” would look like if chiropractors aligned around identity and message.

Dr. Joe Borio shares how chiropractic changed his life early on, then walks through how he built a famously high-volume practice by pairing a crystal-clear mission with simple communication and airtight operational efficiency. He explains the mindset shift from addressing the problems people come in with to leading people toward lifetime wellness care, and why retention (staying relevant when people feel good) is the real superpower. Dr. Joe also gives his “30-second drill” for explaining chiropractic so the average person instantly gets it, plus practical guidance on coaching, humility, and making every conversation “chiropractic” without getting weird about it.

Steve and Pacha sit down with Dr. Richelle Knowles, Sherman Board of Trustee member and grad, family chiropractor, and co-creator of Mile High, to talk about what it really means to be authentic in a profession full of mixed messages. Richelle digs into how incoherent messaging confuses the public, why every office needs a clear, subluxation-and-nervous-system story, and how to use coaching, scripts, and systems without losing yourself. She also gets real about the everyday struggles, staffing, new patients, and missing business skills, and why mentorship and community are non-negotiable if you want a sustainable, congruent practice.

In this episode, Steve and Pacha turn the mic on themselves to wrestle with a big question: What is chiropractic actually for? Using their working “Chiropractic Manifesto” as a starting point, they dig into chiropractic’s brand essence, its purpose, core beliefs, vision, mission, and values, and then stress-test the language. They talk honestly about utilization being stuck in the musculoskeletal box, the decline of subluxation-centered care, and the tension between sounding “relevant” and staying true to what chiropractic really is. Along the way they edit their purpose statement in real time, re-anchoring it around adaptation, interference, and human potential, and finish with a challenge to docs: do you actually live like chiropractic can transform your community, or does your message say something smaller?

Steve and Pacha sit down with Dr. Monique Andrews, chiropractor and neuroscientist, to unpack what chiropractic really does for human potential. They dig into how stress, the nervous system, and vertebral subluxation affect adaptability, and why our biggest problem isn’t lack of research but how we communicate it. Dr. Mo shares practical ways to “measure something” in practice (HRV, outcomes, scans) and turn complex neuroscience into simple language patients actually get. If you struggle to explain chiropractic beyond pain relief without over-claiming, this episode gives you cleaner language and stronger frameworks.

In this episode of Subluxation Squad, Steve and Pacha sit down with Dr. David Fletcher, longtime chiropractor and owner/CEO of Chiropractic Leadership Alliance (CLA), to talk about where chiropractic is really at and what’s holding it back.Dr. Fletcher shares how he went from a busy practice to leading CLA. With tens of thousands of offices using CLA technology and millions of scans flowing through their systems, he has a unique vantage point on what’s working in chiropractic and where the cracks are showing.He and Steve dig into what Fletcher sees as the profession’s biggest subluxations:A confused brand: mixed messages about what chiropractic actually is.A culture of fear: fear of using the word “subluxation,” fear around the cervical spine, fear of being “too chiropractic.”A crisis of self-worth and small thinking inside many chiropractors themselves.From there, they talk about how modern scanning and big data support the Big Idea showing changes in adaptability, coherence, and neuroplasticity over time and why exams and scans are the start of the journey, not the end. Fletcher lays out what separates thriving offices from struggling ones, why so many chiropractors underestimate how big they can actually be, and how often the real subluxation is in the doctor’s own mindset, not in the marketplace.

Dr. Jack Bourla joins Steve and Pacha to tackle a blunt question: how did chiropractic drift so far from the thing it was created to be? This conversation cuts straight to purpose, clarity, and the definition too many chiropractors were never actually taught. If you’ve ever wondered where the profession lost the plot and what it would take to bring it back, this is the episode to start with.

Steve and Pacha take on a question that always stirs the profession: what’s the best chiropractic technique? Instead of choosing sides, they use the debate to explore something deeper: what is the actual objective of an adjustment, and how do you know you achieved it?They break down the major technique models, talk about how approaches evolve, and examine the real tension between tradition, innovation, and clinical outcomes. The conversation shifts to analysis and decision-making, the part many chiropractors were never fully taught: when to adjust, when not to, and how to verify change.They close by looking ahead to future episodes with technique leaders across the profession and the bigger question they all need to answer: how do you know it’s working?

Steve and Pacha reveal a major behind-the-scenes project: The Chiropractic Manifesto. It’s an attempt to give the profession a clear narrative it can finally stand on. They discuss why most practices have values on paper but no unified message in the real world and why the public stays confused as a result.They wrestle with the central question: what exactly should the profession be promoting? The word chiropractic, the act of correcting vertebral subluxation, or the promise of better human potential?The episode ends with an invitation to help refine the manifesto and define a shared purpose that principled chiropractors can genuinely agree on.

Steve and Pacha dig into the “subluxations” inside the profession that hold chiropractors back: unclear philosophy, weak communication, inconsistent systems, and marketing that undersells the power of chiropractic. They talk openly about why the profession feels fragmented and why so many doctors struggle to explain what they do in ways the public actually understands.Together they reframe chiropractic’s promise and connect it to business. If your systems, leadership, or money mindset are out of alignment, your practice can’t reach its potential either.This episode ends with a challenge: which business subluxations should the Squad tackle next?

In the first episode of Subluxation Squad, Steve and Pacha finally hit record on a conversation that’s been 16 years in the making. Pacha shares how, as a patient in Steve’s practice, the “Big Idea” of chiropractic completely changed how she saw health and why she still can’t believe most people have never heard it put that way. Steve lays out the core problem: chiropractic has incredible potential and sky-high satisfaction, yet only a small percentage of the public ever experiences it. Together they unpack how confusion, mixed messages, and weak communication inside the profession have kept chiropractic stuck in a tiny box instead of being understood as a powerful, life-changing approach to health and human potential.They also introduce what listeners can expect from Subluxation Squad going forward: candid “table talks,” news and topic breakdowns, live Q&A, hot-seat case studies where they help doctors find “the subluxation” in their practice and business, and a recurring segment called “The Adjustment” where each episode ends with one practical action step doctors can implement right away.