Today I’ll be reacting to some of Beau Hightowers most ridiculous clips…
BROLL 1: Crack Montage
The cracking circuits in my brain are now satisfied.
Yes interns, the time has come for our return to the world of youtube chiropractors! The self
proclaimed “Loudest Chiropractor on YouTube,” Beau Hightower has amassed nearly 1.5 million
subscribers. His channel bio reads that he is a naprapathic doctor making an impact in people’s
lives. (sceptical) But what kind of impact are we talking about here? Capture your reaction
to the following clips of Stone Cold.
BROLL 2: Stone Cold Hammer clip
Okay Beau, let’s get that hammer out of the way. Whenever dealing with medical professionals that
cross over into the entertainment medium, we must try to separate the practice from the theatrics,
which in the case of social media chiropractors can be difficult. What someone does to draw
attention to their business is not always an accurate reflection of the value and care they
put into their practice. Now if you’ve seen my channel, you know I approach chiros with a
healthy dose of scepticism– so Beau you have some work to do, what lies beyond the snap crackle pop?
Take a trip to Dr. Hightower on Tik Tok which is fraught with sensationalism:
celebrity appearances, loud mics, loud cracks, hammers, nails and tight pants. But today,
I’m determined to go deeper. Show Chris’ reaction to TikTok Scrolling Montage–
BROLL 3: TikTok Scrolling Montage
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Dr. Hightower addresses the infamous hammer
and chisel. “What we are trying to do is get a really specific movement of a very specific bone.
So when you do a manual adjustment with your hands, you’re sort of opening up everything.
When there’s multiple cracks, that’s multiple joints being opened.” So he’s saying that manual
adjustments are less targeted than the hammer and chisel technique. Beau goes on to explain that the
hammer and chisel technique is a more powerful version of the chiropractic activator technique.
BROLL 4: Chiropractic Activator Clip
An activator is a mechanism that creates a quick precise poke or strong flick on the patient.
Beau’s claim is that the hammer and chisel create more powerful targeted impacts
(as compared to the activator) that effectively move bones into correct alignment.
(sceptical) we’ll dig into that statement momentarily… I spent some time on
TheActivator.com official website, where this device is sold, browsing their cited research…
Would it corroborate Beau’s claims? Some of these articles are better than others, some more
relevant– though in all honesty I did not find anything conclusive on their website. There is
evidence that this thing helps some people some of the time, but many of the studies suffered
from limitations such as poor follow ups, small sample size, and no control group. I’m getting the
“possible but not proven” vibe. But then again, people do pay for this type of treatment.
Now, the actual use of a hammer and chisel
was inspired by Beau’s research into traditional Asian medicine.
BROLL 5: Manaka Hammer
My first issue? I can’t hear the taps…
BROLL 5 (same clip again but with with excessive sound FX)
That’s better.
Now, as you can see, Beau’s hammer and chisel is also reminiscent of the Manaka hammer treatment.
You may raise your eyebrows to learn that the inventor of this “tapping” technique Yoshio Manaka
was softly tapping with a wooden hammer to create percussive stimulation on strategic points on
the body– NOT hammering bones back into place. The Manaka hammer treatment is said to create
a piezoelectric effect that stimulates blood flow and produces a relaxation of the muscle. Clinical
Psychologist David Feinstein states that “tapping balances activity between the sympathetic and
parasympathetic regions of your brain, producing a neutral emotional state,” which is very beneficial
to one's overall health. Creator Yoshio Manaka claimed the technique produces results not
so different from conventional light needle acupuncture. I bring all of this up, not to
refute Manaka’s claims but to draw attention to the difference between them and Beau’s claims.
Initially, the hammer chisel treatment was less theatrical. Beau used to “hit things
with [his] palm on a piece of metal, to see if I could fix a frozen shoulder. But in order to
save some wear and tear on his hand and wrist, he began incorporating a hammer and chisel.”
Hammering bones back into place by holding a metal rod against the skin of a patient.
While there is some history and some research (though not necessarily directly connected to the
hammer and chisel) that supports something like Beau’s adaptation of the Manaka tapping technique–
I still don’t know about the whole hammering bones back into place thing.
Beau, can you please tell the class what specific bone you are targeting on this woman here?
BROLL 6: butt hammer on woman
And on this man?
BROLL 7: butt hammer on man
Now let’s watch this sequence:
BROLL 8: Beau Working On Stone Cold (choose best part to illustrate the script after)
Beau is approaching Stone Cold’s neck with the relaxed air of a barber giving someone a buzz cut…
Not even a fade. Hammer and chisel popping around like a pair of clippers. Am I supposed
to believe that some form of realignment is happening here? He didn’t even feel his neck.
Now the ability to identify a misaligned or “subluxated” bone so quickly,
then coax it back in place with a few swift taps kinda makes my brain melt. It is conceivable that
Dr. Hightower has developed a very advanced ability to sense and correct these imbalances,
and possibly even do so without touching his patient– but I… Just. Don’t. Know–
A chiropractor’s ability to feel what they say they’re feeling may be more limited than they
think. Yes there are bony landmarks, some easier to identify than the others– For example, this
is obviously my elbow. There is one bone and it exists very very close to the surface of the skin.
When it comes to the spine and neck, things become more complicated. There are roughly 1.5
to 2 inches of flesh, muscle, ligaments in between what you’re actually feeling and the vertebrae you
are identifying. Biomechnist and researcher Stuart Mcgill has a quote that is relevant here. Stuart?
BROLL 9: Stuart 1 (this full clip is pretty important, so alternate between views somehow to
include the full 13 sec)
This is the subtlety of the perception we are talking about.
BROLL 10: Stuart 2
Yes, you could count down the individual vertebrae of the spine to find a particular one,
but one’s ability to determine very subtle misalignment between those vertebrae is
like finding a needle in a haystack. These discrepancies are VERY subtle. So subtle
in fact that the International Chiropractic Education Collaboration doesn’t even acknowledge
subluxations in their official teaching syllabus in anything other than a historical manner..
In the case that the misalignment is more noticeable and a bone is out of place in the
true sense, then that is a ligamentous problem. This would represent a dislocation,
where The mechanical structure of the joint is compromised and the joint itself is no
longer structurally stable. Something must be done to restore the stability of the joint.
This is not something that you can simply tap, twist, or hammer into place.
This is something for which a reduction must be performed,
quite often in a surgical setting, to restore the position of the joint. Not to mention,
after which a surgical procedure is generally also performed to restore the ligamentous laxity
that allowed the dislocation in the first place. So, for clarity I repeat: a joint
cannot be subluxed or dislocated without some kind of integrity loss to the ligamentous stabilisers.
In cases like these, a force that you apply to the body externally can be used to reduce or relocate
a bone should it be out of place, but as soon as the force is removed the bone or joint will
fall out of place again. In regards to more subtle subluxations that chiros claim to be working on,
the question becomes: how precise is the reduction procedure being used.
With that hammer, can you target a misalignment the size of a mustache hair
through an inch and a half of flesh? [not bloody likely meme here]
BROLL 11: Beau Working on Stone Cold again
While the head of that hammer has the potential for precision, the human body is
designed to simultaneously resist force and diffuse force throughout the organism–thus
avoiding injury. I have seen other chiropractors “target” specific
vertebrae in a similar manner way *cough* Dr. Snaps *cough* and I find it equally dubious.
BROLL 12: Dr. Snaps
But even if we give them a pass on their anatomic landmarking and swift identification
of the bones they claim to be identifying– those bones are there in that general area,
and “may be misaligned”– but more with the techniques used to realign them.
BROLL 13: Mask Chris’ face onto the Bruce
Willis snapping the other guy’s neck while delivering the following line:
“Looks like vertebrae C4 C5 C6 are heavily subluxated. Hold still–”
Come on. I’m not sure how precise that snap was.
And none of what’s happening here looks super precise either.
Take a deep breath.
Okay, I’m happy to have all of that off my chest.
Now… while I may stumble over some of Beau’s techniques, there are some elements of his
practice that I can get behind. Beau is the resident chiropractor-naprapath
at the Jackson Wink MMA Academy and has worked with high level athletes for a very long time,
many of whom trust him to help them prepare for their taxing competitions.
He holds two masters in exercise science and Naprapathic medicine,
practitioners of which are specialists in the soft tissues of the body.
Now I must commend Dr. Hightower who was quoted saying: “if you go to some chiropractor and he
tells you that you’re looking at 20 or more treatments right off the bat, that’s no good.
I work in terms of four or five treatments, and we’ll reevaluate from there if needed.”
He openly admits that you cannot rely on a single cure all method. A manipulation of a
joint might temporarily alleviate acute pain, I repeat, temporarily alleviate acute pain,
but you will need soft tissue work or even strength training to deal with chronic problems.
Lifestyle is at the root of most problems– whether the patient is slumped in a chair all day or
getting brutalised in the octagon.” And for the record, I think that strength training is almost
always required to address a musculoskeletal issue. Almost always. If you disagree,
explain why in the comments section but you best support your argument.
Hightower runs a clinical practice alongside his YouTube channel
and has amassed countless hours of experience over the years.
When watching his videos several things become evident: 1)
I was happy to see that his approach is less theatrical than I envisioned. He
is very skilled at helping his patients feel comfortable, and approaches their imbalances
with a variety of techniques, some of which require his patients to play an active role.
BROLL 14: red shirt guy with shoulder
He clarifies in his session with Goldberg that
some of what he does with the hammer is mechanical:
BROLL 15: Goldberg Question & answer “physically creating separation between
individual vertebrae.” Again, this chunk is important so find a way
to overlay or intersperse the clip to include Beau’s full explanation.
That statement is questionable, but some of what it does is muscular, strategically
applying pressure to the patient to help bypass neurological dysfunctions of the muscle– to
release tension and help enhance the muscular function. You’ll notice Goldberg is pressing
actively while turning his head away from the hammer and chisel. This appears
to be based on the technique involved with proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation.
Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation, or PNF, is a stretching technique utilized
to improve muscle elasticity. PNF increases ROM by increasing the length of the muscle and
increasing neuromuscular efficiency. Its mechanism of action is theoretical,
but study has shown that it effectively causes a significant magnitude of gains to the ROM
of the joints to which it is applied. The combination of passive stretching
and muscular contractions against resistance have been shown in study to be more effective
than stretching alone. So, while PNF stretching is something that you can do yourself,
here Hightower is using a stylized version to lead the client through the process.
2) Hightower is extremely knowledgeable about the algorithm and growth strategies that work in the
YouTube ecosystem and he gives people what they want to see. Many of his celebrity patients seem
to be in his video not for a specific mechanical reason, but for a YouTube collaborative reason
using his platform as a mutually beneficial growth strategy. His videos are reminiscent of a podcast
with sensationally loud cracks, famous people and tight pants in the intro. That’s what the people
want. And when such a viable income stream depends on giving people what they want–
you deliver. And while this is not a chiropractic issue, it is a business acumen issue, and in that
regard Hightower certainly knows what he is doing. For that, I will give props where props are due.
To be honest, I would venture to guess that his clinical practice looks a bit different
than what he portrays with his YouTube content. Let me know what you guys think in the comments.
Outro!