Ring Dinger® Interview By Dr Jerry Kennedy Of Rocket Chiro How Come Chiros Dislike The Ring Dinger® Adjustment performed by Your Houston Chiropractor Dr. Gregory Johnson of Advanced Chiropractic Relief in Houston Texas. You can join Dr. Kennedy’s Next Step marketing on his website here. https://rocketchiro.com/
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Dr. Greg Johnson & Dr. Tristan Wendt of Advanced Chiropractic Relief in Houston, Texas provide all of their patients with personalized history’s and examinations. As well as unique, safe, and effective chiropractic adjustments, therapeutic exercises, manual therapy, BioPhysics adjustments, and Full Spine Manual Spinal Decompression Ring Dinger® to give people what they say is the ultimate experience in Chiropractic Care.
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▬ About Dr. Gregory Johnson ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Dr. Gregory Johnson is a Texas State Licensed Chiropractor. After receiving his degree from the Palmer College of Chiropractic, Dr, Johnson began using his “whole person approach” to tailor his Chiropractic care for each and every patient. His highly specialized techniques help patients from across the world relieve themselves of pain and discomfort.
▬ About Advanced Chiropractic Relief ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
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THE RING DINGER CHIROPRACTOR INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:00:00):
All right, Greg. Hey, thanks for hanging out with me. I really appreciate it.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:00:04):
Yeah, it’s my pleasure. Thanks for having me. This,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:00:07):
This is fun for me. I’m super excited. Me
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:00:09):
Too.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:00:10):
So let me ask you this, you told me recently that you sold your practice, and what I was curious about is how has life changed since, since that has happened? Like, what’s been different? Because I saw you’re still doing videos and like, what’s different since the last couple months since you’ve sold your practice?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:00:26):
I sold my practice in November to an investor, and he hired my protege. Tristan went as the chiropractor to replace me. And for the first, what, three months? I mean, I was just relaxing with having fun with my family and driving my Corvette up and down North Houston all over <laugh>. Yeah. You know, but that got boring pretty quickly. And the practice numbers went down after I left. And I told the new owner that I would come back in and help him Rett transition to practice more.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:01:03):
So, is he No, go ahead. I’m sorry. I
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:01:05):
Just, Tristan’s been with me for eight years. First as a patient who was scheduled for surgery at 19. And after one ring Dinger adjustment and my other adjustments that I do on every patient, every visit he canceled his neurosurgery appointment and never had another problem. His lumbo lumbar herniated disc went away and his radiculopathy went away. Wow. So, changed his life. And then he was interested in going to Palmer, so we got him into Palmer and he’s now graduated and got his license in November as well. So,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:01:45):
Yeah, I was actually wondering that because you had said that they, they brought him in and I was thinking like, man, that’s, that’s some big shoes to fill going, you know, taking over a practice. It sort of has a little bit of, of authority built behind it by the doctor that’s there. And so were you not originally planning on helping him with like the, the kind of transitioning or, or what was the original plan?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:02:09):
No, no. I did transition it for probably six weeks.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:02:13):
Gotcha.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:02:13):
Put him in there. He was a preceptor with me for the last trimester of his Palmer education too. So I was starting to transition it all right then and there. ’cause He could adjust patients too. Yeah. And he does, every technique that I do, he does all the thorough histories and exams that we do. So he, he’s really my neuro image. Yeah. In fact, we have two rooms set up side by side now with all the equipment in each room to be able to deliver adjustments at the same time. Now
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:02:44):
I think that’s great that you came back to kind of help out because I could see that being a difficult transition for someone going from, you know, you doing it and kind of being in the face of, of what you do and then transitioning into his own own thing. So I think it’s great that you actually went back and, and are helping him out.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:03:00):
Well, I mean, it was, I feel responsible to him to make him be as successful as he can possibly be. And, you know, I want, I want him to be successful and anything I can do to help him out to accomplish that I’m willing to do.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:03:14):
I think that’s great. ’cause I, I would not give most, I I wouldn’t say most, I wouldn’t give a lot of chiropractors that much credit. I mean, a lot, a lot of ’em, like they, you know, they’re maybe concerned more a little bit about themselves than they are about the next person. And so I I I think it’s awesome that you’re doing that.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:03:30):
Well, I mean, he’s, he’s really my brother in Christ and, you know, that’s how we got to know each other. And I have 100% confidence in him. However, my patients, of course, they’re fiercely loyal to me. And Yeah. Trust, trust me. You know, and I’ve been doing it for 42 years now.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:03:50):
Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:03:51):
And, you know, it’s, change is always difficult for people. Yeah. Especially if she’s going to another doctor. So we’re just gonna give him some more time and continue to transition everybody over to him.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:04:03):
Yeah, for sure. Like, I definitely can see pa chiropractic patients have a tendency to like a certain person’s hands, you know what I mean? It’s like you, like the the way it feels, the, maybe it’s the personality. Like they, they get very attached to their chiropractor and especially when they find a good one. And, you know, it’s, I could see that being difficult in, in any situation, taking over a, an established practice. So I, I think it’s awesome you’re doing that.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:04:29):
Well, I give a lot of credit to him too, because he’s really put his nose to the grindstone and learned all the science and Yeah. I took him and my other intern who’s an at Palmer too, Jeremy Higdon out to Dan Murphy’s seminar on subluxation neurology, just to make sure they knew all the science behind the neurology and the adjustments that I was doing.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:04:50):
So let, for people that don’t know you’re obviously kind of famous for the, the ring dinger, like mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, where did the, the term come from? Can you kinda explain that? ’cause I, I, I read that story in the I think it was the American chiropractor article that you talked about it. Right. But for people that didn’t read that or don’t know, can you kind of tell the story of where that name came from?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:05:11):
Sure. I mean I, I started doing the ring Dang. On patients in 1981.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:05:17):
Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:05:18):
I mean, you know it, I’ve been doing it for years and years and years. People just didn’t know about it ’cause it wasn’t on YouTube. Yeah. So you know, I got tired of writing manual spinal neural decompression adjustment on the Y axis in my <crosstalk> <laugh>. And I just nicknamed it Ring Dinger because I ring the bell every time from the pu down to the sacrum. Every single adjustment. Yeah. So I just named it Ring Dinger and it caught on and I trademarked it and, and utilized it. And that’s what people know me by.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:05:47):
So when you did that the first time, were like, were you considering other names or was it just like that just kind of organically happened and that, that it just, it is what it
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:05:56):
Is. That was the innate response that I had. <Laugh>
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:06:00):
I think Your Innate was was correct on that one. That seemed to be catch on
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:06:04):
Pretty much. ’cause I can go anywhere in the world really. And people come up to me and go, you’re that famous Houston Ring Deer chiropractor.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:06:11):
Yeah. Yeah. I, so how does it go from, ’cause you’re obviously doing this before you gave it a name before YouTube, anything like that. Where did you learn that from? And then how does it go from just something you do where like, it might be one of the tools in your toolbox, which it would obviously as I understand, but Yes. Yeah. How, how does it go from that to kind of its own technique, its own thing? Like how has it developed from you learning it to like what it is today?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:06:39):
Well a fellow Palmer graduate was in Austin, Texas that I went to school with. And I went into see him when I was up in Austin. And I was here in Houston and I had had a compression fracture at T 11 real bad. And I always had chronic pain. Yeah. All the time that no chiropractic adjustment had ever been able to alleviate the pain from not one side posture, all of it drop every, nothing worked. Yeah. So I went up there and saw him and he pinned me in this table. He says, let me try this pull adjustment on you. Hmm. And his name is Russell Jansen. He’s in Clearwater, Florida now. But he did that on me. I thought I’d been rubbed by a truck the first time he did it. I was, oh, that guy. I’ll never do that again. He injured me <laugh>. But a week but a week later after the soreness wore off. Yeah. I had no more pain than I had had in 20 years since the accident playing football.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:07:42):
Wow.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:07:43):
So obviously, man, that’s great. Can I come back up there and do that again? Yeah. And I went back up there. I ended up buying his practice in Austin and moved to Austin and started practicing up there.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:07:55):
Huh.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:07:55):
And it had three of those older tables, the inertial Extens advisors, which was the first piece of equipment that I used to do ’em on. You know, he didn’t call it a ring dinger, he just called the pull adjustment.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:08:06):
Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:08:07):
And that’s where I got my introduction to it. And I have just fine tuned it over the 42 years that I’ve been using it. It is what it is today. After I designed my table and everything too, I actually made a table. Yeah. Specifically for this adjustment.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:08:23):
I was actually gonna ask you, because I know that you’ve mentioned it in the article, I’ve heard you mention it in videos, like I’ve obviously seen the table. I was gonna ask you like what role the table plays in the adjustment. Like why is that something that’s so important?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:08:38):
Well, it’s huge actually. The key components of it are, you know, when the patient lays supine on it, I have a foot elevation piece that raises the lower legs up parallel to the table or the floor that relaxes the paraspinal musculature from the lumbosacral region all the way up into the cervical spine really. And then I pin the pelvic iliac CREs in on both sides. So I get a good fulcrum to pull from. And then I wrap a wet towel. That’s something a lot of people don’t get either it’s a wet towel. So I get a better grip and contact the occiput bilaterally and then wrap it around the mandible and just make sure that they have their teeth closed so they don’t bite their tongue
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:09:19):
<Laugh>.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:09:20):
And I’m ring dinging.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:09:22):
Hey, I’m gonna tell you. So, so I when I was in chiropractic college, I had chronic back pain and I, I had headaches, which my chiropractor that just kind of did a diversified type of thing he helped me with my headaches a lot, but my head chronic back pain just would not go away. Right. And my introduction into upper cervical, I actually started doing when I was in practice, I did mostly knee, chest like kale style upper cervical mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and which worked
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:09:50):
Well too.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:09:51):
My introduction into that was similar to what you’re talking about, where I went to this guy, I was curious, he’s like, let’s do this thing. I got down on my knees, he stood behind me and what I can tell he tried to kill me. Like it was just
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:10:03):
<Laugh>. Yeah.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:10:04):
Just throttled me. And I remember like my whole, my, my, like, I just felt kind of tingly. My whole body kind of just felt weird. They, they lay people down and rest them after their adjustment. And I was laying there thinking to myself like, this guy just tried to kill me, like <laugh> I would. And I was thinking like, I would never do that to someone. Like I would never do, like, how can you do such a thing? It’s so aggressive and, but just like you, like I did great. Like I did so well with it. And ultimately that’s why I ended up doing that in practice and sort of, kind of my mind changed where I was like, listen, a moment of discomfort if it works that well. And it turned out I was good at it too, that I really changed my mind because of the results. And, but it’s funny to hear you say that ’cause I can actually, I could, I know that experience ’cause I’ve went through that experience.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:10:55):
Well there’s a scientific reason for that too. I love the knee, chest table as well. If you really know anything about biomechanics and neurophysiology, all of the capsular joints, the synovial joints have a capsular ligament in them. Capsular ligaments have mechanical receptors in there. So when you take that joint through its fullest range of motion, which I call a deep adjustment Yeah. You actually fire off that afer mechanical receptor input into the cerebellum and the motor cortex. And then the brain analyzes that through neuroplasticity and sends out efferent messages to the rest of the body. So that’s the science behind a full range of motion adjustment.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:11:41):
So is that why some, is that why you would personally prefer? ’cause I know that different people have their different preferences. Like there’s a lot of chiropractors really prefer a more gentle kind of, you know, you know, like no pop, no nothing type of adjustment. And then like knee, chest ring, dinger, those things are kind of like on the other side of the spectrum. And I personally prefer a bigger adjustment when I get adjusted. But is that why you prefer it? Is it just because of that benefit that you’re talking about? Or, or is it just
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:12:12):
That’s just what Well, that and, and it works on me and, you know, nothing else works. Activator’s worthless. I mean, soft tissue techniques feel good, but they’re not really correcting your subluxation complexes. Yeah. And that, that’s kind of been a dirty word in chiropractic in modern days is subluxation and innate intelligence. Yeah. All that. Which, if you, if you really know the new sciences out, I’m dealing with the most sophisticated chiropractic scientific researchers in the world right now down in New Zealand. Heidi Ick and Iran Con Nazi. And they’re doing all kinds of publications now on proactive research that they’re doing, analyzing the effects of the chiropractic adjustment on the vertebral subluxation complex and how that interacts with the brain and neurophysiology. And Heidi Hoick is a PhD neurophysiologist and a chiropractor. So she has a very unique take on, on that type of research, which, you know, it’s unfortunate that subluxation has become a dirty term. ’cause The old model of subluxation was bone out of place, pinch it on a nerve. Yeah. That’s not, that’s not realistic. That’s not scientific. Yeah. However, the newest definition, if I might just read it from the, and I, I do a lot of my stuff through the Australian Spinal Research Foundation and New Zealand Chiropractic College, verbal subluxation is a diminished state of being, comprising a state of reduced coherence, altered biomechanical function, and altered neurophysiological function and altered adaptability, which is what neuroplasticity is.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:14:05):
So you were, you were mentioning like that definition of subluxation and what I was curious about from the standpoint of the practicality of what you do mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, how, how does that play a role in you identifying a subluxation within a, within a patient of yours and then ultimately correcting that? Like how does that practically play out in your practice that you, you know, you’ve, you’ve identified something you can help this person with and then you’re gonna go ahead and do what you need to do. And how do you know you’ve fixed that? Like, just kind of walk me through that process.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:14:39):
Sure. I’m not, quote unquote a big supporter of or believer in a specific subluxation like five or C five, you know, because whenever you have a true subluxation, it’s altered by mechanical function. That’s not just, darn it. There we go. That’s not just a bone out of place. It’s the whole spine’s involved.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:15:12):
Yeah,
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:15:12):
Sure. The muscles and ligaments, the disc, all of it’s involved. So I adjust the entire spine and all the extremity. Got it. Because I want to take every joint through its fullest range of motion, pass the anatomical or past the the phase where it’s passive range of motion in, into the anatomical integrity of the ligament so that I can stimulate those mechanical receptors. Proprioceptively. Then if you do the whole spine and extremities, you’re getting a massive bombardment of afferent neurology into the brain, which is the brain’s what’s affecting patient’s pain levels. It’s not a specific adjustment at C five or T five. So, you know, all those people that have griped about being, I’m not specific, I’ve never claimed to be specific. I have a specific intention behind all of my adjusting. Got it. But I, I’m not a C five or T five or L five only. I mean, if you only do that, ’cause we see new patients in our office all the time that have already been to those chiropractors that do that. And they’re not satisfied.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:16:19):
Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:16:20):
They’re not getting good results. So that’s why they come to me.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:16:24):
Yeah, that makes sense. That, that, that, that is, that sort of aligns with what you would see. So, so lemme ask you this. Does that mean that when you decide you’re gonna adjust somebody is, is, are you really doing pretty much this whole protocol on ev mostly everybody the same? I mean, is it everyone it’s all gonna be the same.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:16:44):
Yep. What you see is what you get in my office.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:16:46):
And that’s gonna be, that’s in line with your philosophy of, of kind of opening up the joint space, get the body moving, kind of counting on innate to, to heal and reset and do what it do what it’s gonna do.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:16:58):
Yeah. And if you read the, the research out there on neuroplasticity is the brain is constantly adapting to its environment both internally and externally. So we’re changing that internal environment of spine biomechanics, muscles and ligaments linked and, and tonicity. I mean, there’s tons of things that are, are being influenced every time we do those adjustments. But when you do all of them, you don’t miss anything.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:17:26):
Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:17:27):
You just don’t miss anything. And, and patients responded. They love it.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:17:32):
I’ve had people I’ve had people ask me when, when discuss when talking about you, they’ve kind of asked me about things like malpractice insurance or the, the assumption is like, oh my gosh, this guy’s just killing people and hurting people. Sure.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:17:47):
I’ve heard that for
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:17:48):
Years. Yeah. Yeah. Could you talk about that a little bit? ’cause I, I’ve heard that a lot, just that little bit that I’ve, you know, talked to people.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:17:55):
Yeah. Well, I’ve been doing this 42 years now and not one patient has ever even alleged of being injured, let alone filed a claim. I’ve never had a malpractice claim in my entire 42 year career. Nobody’s even alleged to being injured with what I do on them. Not one person. That’s a pretty good track record.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:18:14):
Yeah, absolutely.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:18:15):
Because we see a lot of patients that come in that are hurt by chiropractors trying to do that lumbar roll and that they’re doing the million dollar lumbar roll just to get cracks. You know, one of the things I noticed about your, your other podcast YouTube video that I watched at a team ring Deer doc sit to me.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:18:33):
Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:18:35):
Because I was expecting that to be a bashing video too. But I was really <laugh> I was really impressed with your, your integrity and your, your willingness to, to be open-minded about it enough to learn more about it. Yeah.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:18:48):
Thank you.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:18:49):
Yeah. Well that’s, I thank you too.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:18:51):
Yeah. That was my intention.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:18:52):
I’ve dealt with the bashing for years and, you know, yeah. They can say what they want. My patients are happy. The board, you know, one of the big problems about getting well known on the internet and being out there is that other chiropractors, not patients have ever, none of no patients have ever turned me over to the Texas State Board of Chiropractic Examiners. Yeah. I’ve had to defend five different claims from chiropractors Yeah. Who turned me over to the board.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:19:22):
I don’t doubt that.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:19:24):
And, you know, one of the, the big things, the board, they investigated me till the cows came home for about five years on everything. And they finally sent their head investigator down to my office and spent a whole Monday with me. And I was packed the whole day. I did thorough histories and exams on people and even turn patients away who were contraindications such as atherosclerotic conditions. Yeah. That, that I don’t adjust those people at all. Not just to dinger. I don’t adjust their cervical spines, I just don’t accept ’em as patients. And he came
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:19:57):
That’s what, yeah, I’m sorry, go ahead.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:19:59):
Well, he came down and he’s a chiropractor and he’s a, he was the head of the enforcement committee. And at the end of the day he says, would you mind working me up and adjusting me <laugh>? Same thing with him. He’d had a fractured neck in high school football. Hmm. Had never been alleviated by any chiropractic adjustment whatsoever. And when I got done adjusting him, he got off that table. Oh my God. That’s the first relief I’ve ever had in my neck since my accident. And he, so why hit guy?
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:20:31):
Why do you think that w the way that you’re going about it? Well, ’cause like people could watch it on a video or they may watch it in person and they might assume that it’s, you know, it’s dangerous. You could potentially hurt someone, whatever. But then it’s like, why would you, why is what are doing in 42 years, like you not hurting anyone. Right. But then someone who does a lumbar roll or just a general kind of cervical that is much more accepted in chiropractic. It’s something that is, nobody would look twice at that and be like, oh, that’s dangerous. Right. Why are people maybe getting hurt that way and you feel so confident about them not getting hurt with what you are doing?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:21:10):
Well, you know, and I truly know this for a fact. I have made myself the chiropractor that I am by going to all the biomechanic seminars, chiropractic, biophysics, neurology, and the quality. You know, some people, the art of the adjustment is that it’s really an art. Yeah. Unfortunately, a lot of chiropractors are just trying to get the pop. ’cause They think if they get a pop, the patient thinks they’ve been adjusted. Yeah. That’s not even what an adjustment is. Yeah. <laugh>, you know, but that’s, that’s what they do. And a lot of, quite frankly a lot of ’em have lost the art or didn’t have it to begin with, and they hurt people because they’re not doing the adjustments properly.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:21:56):
So it’s not so much, it’s not necessarily so much that the tech, the, the lumbar role, these other things are necessarily dangerous so much as that the, there’s a lot of people out there, or maybe there’s a percentage of people out there that are not at the skill level that they should be. They’re not putting themselves, they’re, they’re not as committed to the craft as you are.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:22:16):
That I would have to agree with that. Yes.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:22:18):
Okay. That’s fair. I, I, I actually said this to somebody the other day that I was talking to, and I feel pretty strongly about it. Like when, when I first got into chiropractic, I was so into upper cervical that I kind of had this idea that if you don’t do upper cervical, you’re not a real chiropractor. You know, that sort of thing. Like, like my way’s the only way. Right. As time has gone on, I value excellence over anything else. Like, I want the person to be very, very, very good at what they do. Yeah. More so than I want them to be in a particular style of chiropractic.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:22:50):
Yeah. And you know, I mean, for years I’ve been bashed by the evidence based chiropractor. Right. Yeah. Probably no chiropractor on the planet besides Dr. Dan Murphy and Heidi Hoick that are more well versed in the research than I am. Everything I do is honed in to accomplish what the research shows about the adjustment and how it affects the neurophysiology, everything.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:23:16):
So who are the people that, when you, when you have somebody coming in and it’s kind of a no go, like you, you do an exam, you mentioned the atherosclerosis, you know, like, like what does that, what are the, what are you looking for when you see someone they come in, you’re just like, Nope, not a good fit. You know, you gotta go somewhere else.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:23:32):
Yeah, that’s a great question. I mean, of course pathology such as cancer and metastasis, I don’t do those. I don’t do patients who have had recent fractures, of course. I don’t do people that have diagnosed Arnold Shere malformations.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:23:50):
Hmm.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:23:55):
I just, we reel out pathology and, and so long as you’ve got a good thorough history and exam, somebody’s had a heart attack and they had a stent put in, I’m not adjusting them because that is atherosclerosis. Hmm. So I’m just not gonna affect that. I’m not gonna risk that patient’s health and wellbeing just to get 500 bucks outta ’em.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:24:19):
Can you, can you speak to that a little bit? Not for yourself, but maybe for other chiropractors and associates and people that you’ve worked with in the past, the value in understanding when to say no?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:24:30):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the reason that I’ve had a clean slate for four, two years is because I do a probably the most thorough history that’s ever been taken on most patients. In fact, they all often comment, wow, that was a lot more in depth than my medical doctor ever does. Yeah. You know, I mean, I go into everything from birth on history, medical conditions. If they have had cancer, heart attack, stroke, or been diagnosed with atherosclerotic conditions, I immediately stop the, the history and exam and, and tell ’em I’m not their guy.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:25:12):
Are, or would you say
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:25:13):
You’re, I think it’s important for other chiropractors to do that too, because they can avoid malpractice claims by doing the right thing.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:25:21):
Yeah. I was gonna say are, would you say that during your exam, in your consult, you’re looking for reasons not to adjust someone? Is that, is that something you
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:25:29):
Yep. And then if they pass those things, I say, okay, that makes, you’re a candidate for what I do here then. And that’s, that’s fair. As simple as it goes right there. I mean, you know Dr. Dan Murphy, if you know anything about him, he is also, he is a expert witness in malpractice cases. Yeah. For the defense a lot. And the number one thing that they’re seeing are herniated disc exacerbated by that lumbar roll and yeah. Strokes. And if, if you know what you’re doing, you can avoid those things and make sure that you’re giving the patient what they want, which is to get out of pain. This is my philosophy also. Patients want to get out of pain. They want get back to their family life. They wanna get back to work, and they just wanna live without being in pain all the time. So I don’t put patients on long treatment programs at all. We see maybe three days at the most I see people. And if I’m not helping ’em by the third day, I’m not their guy.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:26:30):
So I was gonna ask you this too, because a lot of chiropractors that fall into the subluxation camp, and if they talk about subluxation and eight and those type of things, they also seem to fall in love with the adjustment. And they seem to think that if one adjustment is good, more adjustments are better. How often do you think someone should get adjusted?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:26:53):
I don’t really put a any specific time on it because I don’t know what they do when they go home and how they sleep. I don’t know how they’re sitting. I don’t know how their activities of daily living are 24 7. So I always put it in the patient. I educate the patient on their posture and whenever they feel less than what they feel when they’re stable at my office, which is usually by the third day. Yeah. Remember how this feels and gauge everything according to this. And then you’ll know when it’s time to get a tuneup adjustment. And I just have ’em come in on an as needed basis that I don’t see patients over three days in a row ever. Yeah.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:27:33):
Yeah. I like that. I, I actually, I’m always amazed with the ’cause to me, like if you go to your traditional philosophy of chiropractic, to me it’s like the, the, the reason someone is well is because they don’t need to be adjusted. So you’re trying to get them to a place where they don’t need to adjust an adjustment and to stay there as long as possible. So the idea that getting adjusted once a week for the rest of your life or getting adjusted, you know, eight or 10 days in a row somehow that’s good for you. Never really, it, it doesn’t really jive with my brain. Like I, I kind of go, well that doesn’t seem right.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:28:07):
That’s practice managers <laugh>, A P B A cell, that’s all that is. That’s to earn people more money. You know, unfortunately, chiropractors have gotten so hooked on the insurance tit that it’s hard for them to do cash, which is what Yep. You know, I’m serious though, hunter.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:28:27):
Oh, I agree.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:28:28):
Yeah. They’re putting people on three times a week for three months and then two times a week for three months, and then one time a week for the rest of the year. How do they know that, that, and they call that corrective care. Yeah. I’ve never seen, and I bet you haven’t either. If you really think about it, there is no such thing as a totally corrected spine that stays that way for the rest of your life, period. Yeah. They don’t care what you call it. Yeah. It just doesn’t happen because we’re living our lives every day in gravity.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:28:57):
Yep. Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:29:00):
And the brain <crosstalk> adapting to that too. It’s a negative neuroplasticity that occurs in patients over time and that’s why they have back problems.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:29:07):
So let, let me why do you, ’cause I had somebody ask me this, so I thought I was gonna ask, I was gonna ask you for them, is I’ve seen you check reflexes, like after you adjust somebody, like what’s the, what’s the thought process behind that? Or is that just something you’re doing for
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:29:21):
Fun? Oh, I always check. No, I always check the reflexes on their exam and see what they are. And then after their ring dinger, I immediately just do that little cry chop on their patellar tendon and they can see for themselves the improvement in their Gotcha. Reflux. So, so it’s, it’s a <crosstalk> It’s kind of fun too. I mean, I’m, you know, I have fun with it too. Oh, you’re still kicking <laugh>.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:29:44):
I used to tell patients, not, not everyone, ’cause not everybody can handle it. ’cause Some people are a little uptight. But I used to tell my patients after I do that knee, chest adjustment, I would go up to ’em and I’d be like, you can still move your legs. Right, <laugh>. And they would, they would look at me funny and they would be like, yeah. And then my response was always, oh good. What are the odds of paralyzing two people in a week? Right. <laugh>,
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:30:03):
<Laugh>. Yeah. Have fun with them. Patients like it when you have a lighter attitude, you as well. I think, I mean, I’m curious about what I do, but I have fun with my patients and they have fun being there and they love being there. Most of my patients, they’ll get adjusted for that initial three days or whatever, or maybe it only takes one or two, and then they don’t come back for two, three years later. Yeah. And they, sometimes they’ve been to see other chiropractors because they were cheaper or they did their insurance or whatever. Yep. But they always come back to me because of the results that they had always.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:30:39):
I, I think that that’s such a good thing. And I, I talk to chiropractors all the time about what real retention is. ’cause I always describe real retention as maintaining the doctor patient relationship over a long period of time. Yep. So it is, it is retention is about time. It is not about visit numbers. Now obviously the longer you see someone, the higher those visit numbers are gonna be. But if you’re just measuring on visit numbers, they’re chiropractors that see someone 60 times in six months or something crazy. And that’s, to me, that’s, you know, you’re just budging numbers. You’re not necessarily having any sort of retention.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:31:14):
Well, what does that have to do with giving the patient what they really want, which is to get out of pain and get back to living their lives. I mean, that’s, that’s as simple as I boiled down everything. We’re gonna give people their lives back without pain and get ’em functioning and their daily activities and let ’em go. And they, they’re smart enough they can come in when they don’t feel the same way they felt after the getting an adjustments.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:31:36):
How do you feel about, how do you feel about chiropractors that, that say that that’s not real chiropractic. Like, it’s like, because they, they, they want to, they want to play like the Jedi mind trick on someone where it’s like, you’re not trying to get outta pain. You’re trying to reach your fullest health potential.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:31:49):
Excuse my language. That’s a crock of shit. It just is. It just, I’m call I’m a brutally honest person. And you know, I mean, you made some comments in your video last time about how I respond to negative reviews. <Laugh>, those negative reviews are mostly done by competitors. Copywriter. Yeah. With anonymity and, you know, some ridiculous things like, oh, well, and he tried to get me to eat a half eaten McDonald’s hamburger. Really?
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:32:20):
<Laugh>,
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:32:23):
Or, or I couldn’t believe it. I was flabbergasted. They didn’t have any recent magazines in their office. We don’t even have magazines in our office. Yeah.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:32:32):
You know what’s always really funny? I always say when, when someone’s making up stuff about me, I’m always like, listen, there’s a whole bunch of bad things that I’ve in my life. Just, just pick the true ones. I hate when people lie about me
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:32:43):
<Laugh>. Yeah. Well, I’m that way too. And I defend myself and I’ve had to defend myself Yeah. For years. That’s fair. You know, I’ve gotten, I’ve gotten good at it. I mean, I passed the scrutiny of the Texas State Board of Chiropractic Examiners. They’re now licensing chiropractors from outta state temporarily to come in and learn my technique and my seminars so they know what I’m doing is a real deal.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:33:06):
When did you start doing that? Like, when did you, when did it go from like, you’re, you’re doing this thing that doesn’t have a name that somebody, you know, this poll adjustment and then you call it Ring dinger, it gets some momentum. Like at what point did you decide to start passing that information on to the next generation?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:33:24):
Yeah, that’s a good question too. I mean, really it was from other chiropractors actually contacting us through our websites saying, can I learn your technique? You know, it looks like it really helps a lot of people. And it does.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:33:35):
And is that from YouTube? Like, that was just Youtube?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:33:37):
Yeah, it’s mostly YouTube. I mean, that’s, that’s how it got to be famous. Not, not, I mean, ’cause like I said, I’ve been doing it for 42 years, so I’m, nobody knew about it until 2013, which is when I started doing YouTube videos.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:33:50):
That’s what I was gonna ask you, because I know that the, the channel you have currently has videos from like six years ago and that’s it. And I know that’s not when you started.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:34:02):
Originally, well, I have two YouTube channels. I have an old one that we started January 1st, 2013. No, 20. Yeah, 2013. What was the,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:34:13):
No, go ahead.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:34:14):
No, you asked your question ’cause it’s gonna fit right in with my answer.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:34:17):
<Laugh>. No, no, go ahead. You say what you’re gonna say.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:34:20):
Well, I think you were gonna ask me, how did you get started doing YouTube videos?
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:34:24):
I, I’m curious. Yeah, yeah. I, I’m predictable. So what I’m curious about, ’cause back in 2008, probably 2009 mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, I was started getting interested in online marketing and YouTube advertising, things like that. And I remember, I remember going on YouTube back then and just curious looking, saying like, are any chiropractor’s doing this? And it was a ghost town. Like there just wasn’t anybody doing anything.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:34:56):
And one original one, Jeff Eckles, he was outta Austin and I know him, he’s a friend of mine.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:35:02):
<Crosstalk>. Yeah. There, there were a couple of people that were doing videos and I don’t even remember what they were. I just remember that it was, there were a couple that were doing it. And I remember thinking that that was something that chiropractors may want to do in the future. And, and, but I don’t really remember, I don’t really remember anyone getting any sort of progress like you have, like it’s, you’ve kind of done a, a completely different thing. And I, and a lot of chiropractors now try to emulate that. So like when you decided to do this, was that your idea? Was that somebody else’s idea? Like did you get started with that?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:35:39):
Well, my son and I were at Office Depot one day, well actually at the end of the month in December. And we were just shopping for office supplies and stuff. And my son we’re walking out to the parking lot and he goes, dad, you should do YouTube videos. And I mean, I, at that time, I didn’t even know what YouTube videos Yeah. Were, yeah. And he go, I said, well, why would I do YouTube? He goes, ’cause people like seeing what they’re buying and what you’re selling is your hands and your treatment and how effective that is. And if people see it, they’ll buy it. And sure enough, I mean, our very first video had like 4,000 views within a week. And that was incredible for me. I mean, we started getting, we started getting new patients off of it immediately, because I always put links to our website in there and
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:36:24):
All our And were you, were you, ’cause I, it’s so funny to me to hear some of these, some people that I talked to that have these success stories, they, they didn’t go about it in some sort of pre-planned strategic way. And people now it’s like, they’re like, oh, they’re gonna have these goals and they’re gonna do these video SEOs and they’re gonna do this and do that. And they’re, it’s so pre-planned and they think that that’s what’s gonna be successful. And oftentimes the people that do it sort of just kind of fall into it and just keep being consistent with it. It’s, it’s interesting to hear you talk about that.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:36:58):
Well I know other chiropractors that have started their YouTube channels because of me that have like 12 subscribers in the last five years. Yeah. You know, so Yeah. And we’ve, we’ve got 530,000 subscribers now.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:37:12):
On our And what’s different about like, at what point, or was it right away? Like at what point did you kind of feel like you had something that was like, there’s something here?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:37:22):
Well, when we started getting new patients scheduling in our office as a result of our YouTube videos, I mean that’s, that’s really when we started hammering on ’em. And I do deliberately title all my videos utilizing s e o because Google picks up on the titles and the s e o.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:37:41):
But you weren’t doing that originally though?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:37:42):
No, no. Not the first. Well the first one I did because my sentence, I said, well how do I title this? He goes, well, how to treat low back pain. So that was my very first video <laugh>,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:37:52):
Which probably helped, which got from a sales standpoint lot. Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:37:56):
About 4,000 hits in, in a week. That’s started crazy. We do patients off of it. So I said, well I’m gonna keep doing this. ’cause I wasn’t paying for any advertising at all. I never have. Yeah. It’s all, in fact, Google pays me. Yeah. Google ads is to put ads on our videos.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:38:12):
At what point, at what point did you started making, making money from YouTube? I mean, ’cause I know a lot of people, some people start YouTube with that intention, but at, at what point did it was like, wait a second, I can make some money doing this. Like that’s cool.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:38:24):
Yeah. You have to meet certain thresholds with YouTube to Yeah. Eligible for that. I don’t know exactly what those are anymore. But we had enough subscribers and enough that I could do that. So what businessman wouldn’t want to monetize their their stuff if he could do that. That’s just additional money they’re paying me to advertise.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:38:46):
Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Like you’re,
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:38:47):
When I say advertise, I’m just saying showing people what I do. Yeah.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:38:50):
The cool thing about what you’re doing is, is your primary business is being a chiropractor. Right. And the videos are helping your primary business. And then you have this other thing that they’re, they’re, they really are just paying you to grow your own business, which is awesome.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:39:05):
It’s side gravy basically. Yeah. I had never ever planned on having that income. It still don’t, I mean, that’s all just extra cash. Yeah. I mean, yeah. You know, we don’t, we don’t do ’em for the views. We don’t do ’em for the, for the revenue. We do them to educate the planet on the benefits of chiropractic care. And that’s always been my purpose behind my videos is to educate the planet.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:39:29):
Now I have a, I have a question ’cause I watched your, the oldest video you have on your new channel and your wife was in there. Yep. And when you decided to adjust the gen, the gentleman in that video and not her, she looked relieved. <Laugh> does. Is, is, is she not the biggest fan of the ringing or adjustment or?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:39:52):
Well, most, most chiropractors know that their families make the work for patients. They do
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:39:57):
<Laugh>.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:39:59):
So I, that’s all I gotta say about that. I mean, she benefits from the adjustment, but you know, getting her to have ’em is like pulling teeth.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:40:06):
<Laugh>. I saw, I was like, I looked at that and I thought, I’ve seen that face before. <Laugh>. Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:40:14):
Yeah. That’s funny. Dan makes the worst patient. So my son, same way. I mean, he loves getting adjusted, but he don’t wanna be on YouTube with it either. He doesn’t do social media. So he wanted me to, but he don’t <laugh>.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:40:25):
Yeah. So were, was your first video the same idea as your current videos? I mean, did you just turn it on start recording or was there were this, were they drastically different?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:40:35):
No, they were all, they have all been unedited. ’cause Quite frankly, I don’t have editing software, nor do I know how to do all that. So yeah, the only edited videos that I’ve ever put up are the ones my son edited for me and did compilations on ring, finger compilations on. And I, you know, I paid for his college by hiring him to do those things.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:40:56):
Nice.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:40:57):
Yeah.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:40:58):
Yeah. I was, I actually, when I do podcasts and things like that, a lot of times my stuff are unedited and I’ve, I’ve listened to people and seen people that have like really, really really edited things and they’ll kind of tell me, you should do this and you should do that. And I’m like, I, I don’t really have the time nor the desire to do it. Like I just, no, me neither. It’s fine the way it is <laugh>. That’s the way I feel too.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:41:19):
I mean, it’s, it is get to go or our patient appointments. I mean, first thing you see me do is checking their posture and analyzing ’em on the x, y, z axis. The last thing you see me do is analyzing their posture on the x, y, Z axis showing improvements in their biomechanics and their posture. ’cause Posture is a mirror of your spinal biomechanics.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:41:40):
Yeah. Is there is, is there is there any sort of time over the last however many years you’ve been recording this stuff where you’ve recorded something and you went like, nah, can’t, can’t put that online. Like there’s like somebody said something, somebody did something, something happened where you’re just like, Nope, not putting that online.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:42:02):
There’s only been a couple of those, but Yeah, I mean when they, when they just were totally hysterical about it. You know, of course it wore off by the time they left. But you know, they were, oh, you just broke my neck. You know, I don’t put those on there.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:42:16):
<Laugh>.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:42:17):
‘Cause I didn’t break their necks and I don’t want people thinking any anymore about it. ’cause They already took that shit.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:42:22):
No, I figured, I, I assumed that as much as you’re doing videos that there has to be you know, there’s a Do you have any?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:42:31):
There’s a couple only.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:42:32):
What’s that?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:42:33):
There’s only a couple of ’em since 2013 that I have decided not to put up. And I mean, like two <laugh>.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:42:40):
I have, I have one, I’ve done hundreds of podcasts and I do have one that I interviewed a guy and I never published it. And it was, he said something during the interview that I made my kind of red flags go off and I just, I came to the conclusion the guy was a liar. Yeah. And I ref, I was like, I don’t know if everything he said to me was a lie, but I know this one thing was a lie.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:43:05):
But you can’t, you mean one you never know about anything else. They say I didn’t trust them.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:43:07):
And so yes, I do two, I didn’t post it. And but I’ve only had the one, but I figured you had to have at least one that was in there.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:43:17):
Well, we’ve had to take a couple down from the channel because people got back to where they lived and their boss. Well I didn’t know you were having back problems, you know? Oh. It was a freaky on their job. So I, you know, I took it down for ’em because that’s what we do. We get signed releases on everyone though.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:43:35):
Yeah. I was gonna ask you like, I’m assuming they sign stuff.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:43:38):
Oh yeah. My attorneys drafted digital release forms and you know, that they, you know, we’re not violating any hipaa we’re not telling people their intricate details or even mentioning their last names ever. Yeah. Or their addresses, anything you say where they’re from. ’cause We see so many people from outta state and out the country even.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:43:58):
Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:43:59):
They’re flying into Houston to get this adjustment from everywhere.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:44:02):
What, what’s the, what’s the furthest away that someone has come, do you know?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:44:06):
Australia and China.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:44:08):
Yeah. That’s a big deal.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:44:10):
It is a big deal.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:44:12):
They came in just for you.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:44:13):
They came specifically to the US to see me. Yes.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:44:16):
There’s a, there’s a sense of pride on your face.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:44:18):
Well it’s, you know, because they, and I say this a lot too, I mean, when you watch our videos, a lot of people instinctively know, wow, I need to have that done. My spine feels compressed all the time. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And they come in and say, well, I just knew that’s what I needed when I saw those videos and those people getting out of pain immediately. And the results of these adjustments are immediate, well, they get sore for about 90 day or about three days, 90 hours. But, you know,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:44:50):
I’ve heard chiropractors make the comment that they, one of the things they don’t like about the phenomenon of the the ring dinger is they don’t like when people come into their practice wanting it or expecting it because they do something different. Right.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:45:04):
I, that that’s really miffed a lot of chiropractors about me because, but you know, I go to, to Palmer Homecomings and Texas Chiropractic Association events all the time. And chiropractors are always coming up to me thanking me for bringing new patients into their office too. So there’s a double edged and most of them have been asked, can you do the ring dinger on me? Most? I don’t think there’s a chiropractor out there that hadn’t been asked that question Yeah. That I’ve ever run across.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:45:32):
Is there, I mean, I I’m assuming you don’t feel bad about that. <Laugh>.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:45:39):Of course not <laugh>. I don’t feel bad about anything that I do never have. ’cause what I’m doing is based in science. It’s based on skill and it’s based on the science, art and philosophy of chiropractic. I’m probably the purest chiropractor in the entire state of Texas. ’cause All I do is adjust.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:45:54):
Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:45:55):
I don’t do any therapies or modalities whatsoever. I just adjust. And so does Tristan,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:46:01):
Have you noticed with your videos, like would you have a category of something you would consider good content versus not good content? I mean, do you, if you film somebody, are you thinking, do you ever have the thought of like, oh, this is gonna be good versus this is not gonna be a great video?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:46:16):
Yeah, I mean there’s, and I don’t wanna sound sexist with this, but a lot of these chiropractors doing just YouTube videos for the sake of doing YouTube videos, they’re trying to get all these hot chicks and yoga pants with big breasts on there. Yeah. And they do get the views. I mean, we never tell patients to wear that in, but if they do Yeah. And they wanna do a video. In fact, patients have to ask us to do videos. We don’t just do ’em on everybody. I mean, we wouldn’t be able to get through the day if we did on every single person. So,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:46:44):
So they, they ask.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:46:46):
Only patients that ask us for ’em get videos.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:46:49):
Interesting. so let me ask, you kind of alluded to this and this is probably the last thing I’m gonna talk about, or at least that I have planned on talking about. Sure. you had kind of talked about some of the downsides of being YouTube famous. Is can you kind of just elaborate on that a little bit? Because I know that like everybody, it, I, there’s a weird thing in society now where people really value attention. Like it seems to be like the, this currency that everybody craves and Yeah. And I understand that the attention has brought a tremendous value to your practice. It’s given you the opportunity to do things that you wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. But I think a lot of people don’t understand that attention by itself is not the best thing necessarily in the world. Can you just kind of talk a little bit about how the YouTube famous part has impacted your, your life?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:47:45):
Sure. I mean, from patient’s perspective and individuals who are just out in the general public, they all love me. They all, Hey, I see you on YouTube. Can I get my picture taken with you at gas stations here in Houston or Chicago O’Hare Airport when we go to Palmer Homecoming. Yeah. But the biggest Yes. Me, the downside chiropractors leveling judgment against me, turning me over to the state board of chiropractic examiners has probably been the biggest problem with that. And, and the board knows that too. Well, you’re famous. You know, people are, people are jealous of what you do. So they’re calling us and telling us you’re killing them.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:48:30):
Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:48:31):
And they’re telling us you’re hurting people or you’re, you’re doing this or that, or you’re gonna cause somebody to be paralyzed. You know, we know different Dr. Johnson. ’cause we investigated it all thoroughly. But that’s what chiropractors are doing in thinking. And that’s probably the biggest downside. But that’s also been a blessing in disguise because by me showing the board everything that I was doing, everything and I’ve even made everything they have now come to understand the quality that I represent in our profession. And they’re, like I said, they’re down licensing outof state chiropractors to come into the state of Texas and do my seminars Yeah. As a result of that. So it’s a blessing in disguise. I always try to take the bad things and turn ’em into blessings.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:49:16):
Yeah. That’s a, I could see that being taxing. You know, over, over time. W would you say that there’s an one particular thing that’s kinda like the biggest misunderstanding people have about you or the, the, the technique and what you’re doing is, is, is there, is there one kind of thing that you’re just like, oh my gosh, makes you roll your eyes and you’re just like, this is the big, the big misunderstanding.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:49:40):
Yeah. That I’m just doing it as a gimmick and no science behind what I do. Or that I’m a old fashioned hick subluxation chiropractor that Yeah. Didn’t know anything about evidence-based. I’m probably more evidence-based in scientific research, knowledgeable than any chiropractor around that I know. And you can ask Tristan to my protege about, I mean, I was spoonfeeding him scientific research even when he was, did his yearlong internship with me.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:50:11):
I think sometimes chiropractors misunderstand they, they may be value complexity over excellence. And and they think that by I, if, if what somebody does is not complex, meaning that they’re not doing like 15 different things and adding this service and that service and this thing and that thing and, and whatever, then all of a sudden it’s not, it’s not good. And I, I will tell you the best chiropractors I’ve ever met in my entire life had very simple approaches to practice. But they were very, very good at what they did.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:50:43):
Yeah. And that’s, that’s, I consider myself being that category. I have, I have gone to postgraduate education seminars, adjusting seminars, extremity seminars, you name it. I have studied it and, and honed in on those abilities, the art of the adjustment to accomplish those end goals. And that’s what I am very proficient at. And a lot of people think that chiropractors, not a lot of people, but most chiropractors think that I’m just doing the ring dinger as a gimmick and it’s dangerous and it’s ruining the profession. You know, the ring dinger is not the most scientific name you’re gonna come up with. In fact, I renamed it Johnson y axis adjustment for the scientific research that we’re gonna be doing.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:51:31):
Yeah. And what are they looking,
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:51:33):
If I would’ve named it that from the get-go, that probably would’ve been more accepted by chiropractors, but still at the same time getting you
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:51:41):
Wouldn’t be known.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:51:42):
That’s right. And I am known worldwide for my ring dinger.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:51:46):
Yeah. There’s stuff there. It would’ve, I can tell you with certainty, ’cause I’m a bit of a marketing branding nerd, is that the consequence of that being more sophisticated or whatever your people want it to be, it would have damaged reach. So the reach you have is somewhat connected to the name and kind of the package trademark.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:52:07):
Yeah, that’s right. That’s why I trademarked it because it’s valuable. I’ve got 10 different trademarks now with all my techniques.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:52:15):
I So is there anything that I didn’t ask you about that I should have? Or anything that you wanted to talk about kind of before we get off of here?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:52:25):
Yeah, only one, one thing.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:52:28):
What’s that?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:52:28):
That you said in your, in your first video that you wouldn’t get the ring dinger done. And you know, I’ve had other chiropractors say that before. Like from the board and from T C A and all that. Yeah. And then when they finally come in and get it done. Oh my God. That’s the best I’ve ever felt from an adjustment. So I would invite you to come here to Houston and experience it for yourself just to see what the hype’s all about.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:52:54):
I’ll tell you what from the time I did that, and I don’t remember the first video I, I, when I did that video, it was, it was probably a year and a half, maybe two years ago. And when I did that podcast, that was my conclusion. And I will tell you after, you know, we’ve talked on the phone we’ve emailed back and forth, we’ve had this conversation, obviously. Right. I, I have been moved to the direction of if, if I’m around you, if I’m in Houston I’ll come by and I’ll and I’ll get it done.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:53:24):
Yeah. You have to do it in my office. ’cause I’m not hauling that table around anywhere. <Laugh>.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:53:28):
Why not?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:53:29):
<Laugh>? Well, plus, as you know, we get, we get offers all the time. We had a Saudi prince wanting to fly us over to Saudi Arabia for $30k.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:53:36):
$30k? Oh, interesting.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:53:37):
For half a million dollars. Wow. To, to treat him and his harem.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:53:42):
You didn’t do it?
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:53:43):
No. Hell no. <Laugh>. That’s when they were cutting heads off on YouTube,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:53:47):
<Laugh>. Oh. Oh. It’s not, it’s not enough <laugh>.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:53:51):
I said, you know, aren’t you just come over here? If you got that much money, you can, you can rent out the entire hotel Yeah. For you and your head. And you can stay here and pay me. <Laugh>.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:53:59):
Wait, your, your head’s, your head’s not worth a half a million dollars. Come on. <Laugh>.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:54:03):
Uhuh. Yep. So, you know, it’s, it’s been an interesting journey. It’s been fun. I still having fun with it. I love chiropractic bottom line. I love my profession. I love what’s going on in our profession. And I just wish more chiropractors would be open to getting back to the real art of chiropractic, which is the adjustment. ’cause A lot of ’em have foregone that for what I consider gimmicks, which are these get rich quick schemes like stem cell injections and Yeah. You know, all this other stuff that’s really not chiropractic.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:54:41):
Yeah. One of the things that, that I’ve defended about chiropractic even with the evidence-based chiropractors that I talked to and whatever, is that the one thing that makes us unique as a profession is the adjustment. That’s right. And it is the one thing, and I know chiropractors do other things, and I I’m actually okay with that, but the adjustment is the value that we have to offer. That’s the big thing. That’s the thing that makes us different. That the things that makes us unique, that’s the thing that’s going to get the most results if done well.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:55:10):
That’s my opinion.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:55:12):
And so I, I agree with you that I think it’s a shame anytime there’s a school a group or, or anybody that takes these other things that are honestly, I just don’t think as powerful and I don’t think they’re the identifying marks of a chiropractor and they put them above the adjustment.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:55:30):
Yeah. And you know, a lot of chiropractors that have come to see me just to get the adjustment to see what it was like themselves. Yeah. They go, wow, Greg, this is great, but I don’t wanna work as hard as you do.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:55:43):
<Laugh>.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:55:43):
I I put ’em in therapy and I see ’em for a couple minutes and then they’re gone. You know? Yeah. They’re making most of their money by doing peripheral modalities Yeah. As opposed to the adjustment. But the patient comes there to get out of pain and get back to living their life. So I think the adjustment’s the most important thing we do as chiropractors.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:56:02):
Yeah. The people that are relying really heavily on insurance have a tendency to do that more than the chiropractors who aren’t because the insurance will pay for those secondary services and tertiary services.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:56:14):
Opt better than the adjustment.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:56:15):
Yeah. Yeah. They’re bundling stuff together. It’s, it’s right. It, it is a financial reason for Right. For certain, certain people.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:56:23):
Which I have a hard time letting those people who are doing that for those reasons judge me in what I’m doing for the reasons I’m doing it.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:56:31):
Yeah, that’s fair. I think that’s fair.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:56:33):
I have, I have a problem with that kind of criticism.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:56:37):
Yeah. I think that people in general sometimes have a hard time looking in the mirror and being honest about where they fall short because it’s, you know, it’s so easy to cast stones, especially people that are, that are popular or known or kind of whatever. Like if, if, if someone has a, a level of success that somebody wants, it’s so easy to throw stones and find stuff to pick at and whatever. And without looking in the mirror and saying, Hey, you know what, your, your poop stinks. You know what I mean? Like, you’re, like, you’re, you’re not perfect.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:57:06):
I’m certainly not perfect either, and I don’t want to come across as being that way, but I have done the things necessary to make me the best chiropractor I can be for people. And that’s what I practice. That’s what I teach. And, and that’s just who I am.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:57:23):
Well, I’ll tell you the, the thing that is a little bit unexpected for me from the time we initially talked until now that I really, genuinely actually appreciate about you is I appreciate your comfort level in your own skin. And I actually, it’s something that I think a lot of people struggle with because they, they do sometimes concern themselves too much about working on becoming the best version of themselves. And they worry about what other people are gonna think or what other people say and all this other stuff. Instead of focusing on like, how do I become the best version of me? And I think that, that without kind of trying to, you know, boost up your ego, I, I do think that you do a good job of staying in your lane trying to become very good at the stuff that you’re very good at and not really worrying about the other stuff.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:58:10):
Yeah. And another thing that, that people, chiropractors specifically had dislike about me is that my wife and I and our family are very spiritual. Yeah. Our faith is in God, and we put God first in everything that we do. And He’s, he’s a, he’s been really the biggest part of our success. ’cause He has blessed us and highly favored everything that we do.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:58:32):
Yeah. It’s not, and
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:58:33):
That’s affected my core.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:58:34):
It it’s not popular to be a Christian anymore. You know what I mean? It used to be years ago, like that was kind of the, in America it’s like you’re, it was almost like expected that you’re a Christian. And now if you’re, if you’re a Christian, you believe the Bible, you really believe what it says, and you try to live your life accordingly you’re, you’re an outcast. And it’s not something that’s looked upon nicely.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:58:55):
Well, my wife and I just say prayers for those people, you know?
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:58:58):
Oh, me too. Yeah, a hundred percent.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:58:59):
I mean, you can’t really, I don’t, I don’t wanna fight ’em about it. I’m not there to preach to people, but we live our Christianity every day. Yeah. Live our lives through Christ every day.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:59:09):
Yeah. And I, I’m the same way. My wife and I are the same way where it’s like we, you know, we have people in our lives that just don’t they don’t appreciate our faith and they don’t take it as seriously as we do. And they don’t believe either.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:59:24):
Yeah. Most of them. And that’s,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:59:27):
They think it’s silly.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:59:28):
That’s sad for them, in my opinion. That’s how we just pray for ’em. Yeah. So that’s all you can do for those kind of people. Yep. And that culture’s really running rampant these days with the current culture out there.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:59:41):
It, it’s, it’s not cool to be a, a bible believing Christian Christians do not have permission to believe things that are not in the Bible. It’s like, this is our guidebook. Now, if you don’t want to be a Christian, fine, like go do something else. Right.
Dr. Greg Johonson (00:59:56):
Exactly.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (00:59:57):
But if you claim to be a Christian, you have the rule book and the guidebook for, for your belief system. That’s right. And believing that does not make you an extremist. It makes you a Christian. And when you don’t believe it and you take bits and pieces of it, it’s like that person who’s following, partially following it. And you’re just like, well, you’re just, you’re just a, you’re a crappy Christian <laugh>, you know, you’re, it’s like you’re not.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:00:20):
Well, that’s lukewarm. And you know what, you know what God says about lukewarm, he is gonna separate the wheat from the chaff. Yeah. And you know, we just, we just, you know, I could be a lot more bothered by the criticism I’ve taken since being on YouTube for so long, but I just, I just chalk it up to, to that’s that’s who I am. If you like me, like me. If you don’t, I you don’t, I’m, I’m not changing who I am to Yeah. Fit your needs, you know. Now you said in your first video is kind of funny. He said, well, he’s just not cool. He is got all these little things that are my grandpa attitude.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:00:56):
Oh, I’m not cool either.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:00:58):
And, and then what was, what else was it?
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:01:01):
My son, my son just told me the other day, we decided that my beard and my motorcycle is the only cool things about me and <laugh>, everything else is not cool, but I’m happy. There’s two things on the list. So Yeah.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:01:13):
I mean, my Southern accent that’s just who I grew up in Southern Illinois. Not too far from where you are. I know. That’s the way people talk there. I know. I just grew up with it. So, you know, that’s, that’s Beau Hightower. You’d mentioned him. Yeah. He’s a cool one. He is really the YouTube superstar right now. Yeah. He’s got like a million and a half subscribers. And Beau and I are good friends, by the way. Yeah. He’s an innovator too.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:01:37):
He does a lot of videos. I saw him adjusting somebody with a Captain America Shield or something crazy. I don’t know what he was doing. It was weird.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:01:43):
Yeah. He does a lot of his stuff for entertainment value as well. Yeah. Which is fine. I mean, he’s an innovator though, that hammer and chisels soft tissue technique works. Hmm. He’s done it on me.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:01:54):
Interesting.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:01:54):
It’s painful as hell, but it works.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:01:56):
Yeah. I I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it done. I’ve never, obviously I’ve never experienced it, but I’ve seen it done.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:02:02):
Yeah. So he’s a good guy. And in fact men’s Health Magazine’s doing a big feature story on Beau Hightower, is he the new Pimple Popper?
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:02:15):
<Laugh>.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:02:16):
And he told ’em about me. So they called and interviewed me a couple days ago about it. And I said,
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:02:21):
What are, are you gonna be in there together or are you gonna do a, they’re doing a separate thing on you?
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:02:26):
No, they I think they’re gonna put me in there as part of his piece, but that’s fine. I’ve already had three or four magazines interview me and publish it. And we were in Texas Monthly Mail magazine was the first one. And then we did a document 30 minute documentary.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:02:42):
And you’ve, you’ve obviously peaked with my podcast. That’s obviously the most amazing thing. <Laugh>
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:02:48):
Oh yeah. <Laugh>. You know, I was really looking forward to this, to be quite honest with you. ’cause I know you’ve heard all that other side of things about me. Yeah, yeah. I was, I was actually looking forward to getting on here and explaining who I am and what I do and how the, how come I do it.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:03:01):
Well, is there anything let’s, let’s do this. Is there any way that people like should get ahold of you? Is there somewhere you would refer chiropractors to? If, if you, whether it’s your training that you’re doing. Is there, is there something you want to kind of say to people bef before we wrap this up?
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:03:20):
Yeah, the biggest thing that I would like to say to chiropractors is that we are in the greatest profession in the world, in my opinion. And just respect it for, for what it is. And be the very best chiropractor that you can be for your patients. And, and then you’ll be happy. I mean, happiness is not about making a lot of money. Happiness is about being fulfilled every single day that you do what you do and you love what you do. Yeah. And that’s, that’s the biggie for me. I mean, people can go to our website advanced chiropractic equipment llc.com and sign up for our seminars and buy our equipment. So, you know, that’s what I’m spending majority of my time doing now that I’m transitioning to practice. Tristan, I’m, I’m doing my equipment and my seminars and I have trademark licenses that I’m licensing out to people that they can use. You know, the chiropractors that I’ve taught have all been very good chiropractors. They biomechanics a lot of Gonstead people, chiropractic, biophysics people because they get bio.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:04:24):
Yeah, I could see that. I could see that.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:04:26):
And they also get some of the neurology. So, you know, when they come and and do that, they want to do it to enhance the care for their patients. They’re not coming there as a gimmick or you know, so they can do YouTube videos with it. Yeah. But they can use my terminology, ring dinger and team ring dinger on their websites and draw people. ’cause People are searching for it.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:04:48):
Yeah. Yeah. I see that.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:04:50):
Searching for “Ring Dinger chiropractor in my area”.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:04:52):
Yep.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:04:54):
I mean, I know that’s there because we’ve analyzed Google backwards and forward with all that stuff. Keywords.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:05:00):
Yeah. Well, Greg, thank you so much for spending time with me. I’ve enjoyed this. I think it’s awesome.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:05:08):
Me too. Maybe we can do some more in the future just about I cool. Chiropractic stuff. <Laugh>. I might, I might be grandpa, but I’m still a big proponent of chiropractic.
Dr Jerry Kennedy (01:05:18):
<Laugh>. I listen, I You’re welcome back anytime. So thank you for being on. I really appreciate it.
Dr. Greg Johonson (01:05:22):
Well, thank you for having an open mind and having me.