Florence and The Renaissance of the Nervous System: Functional Neurology, Neuroplasticity & Clinical Applications in Rehabilitation
Faculty: Prof. Dr. Frederick R. Carrick, DC, PhD, MS-HPEd, Professor of Neurology, University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Widely recognized as the pioneer and founder of Functional Neurology, Dr. Frederick R. Carrick brings 46 years of specialty clinical practice and groundbreaking translational neuroscience to Florence. A Harvard-trained clinical trialist with over 100 peer-reviewed publications indexed in PubMed, Dr. Carrick’s innovative approaches to traumatic brain injury (TBI) and neurorehabilitation have been featured extensively in global media, including PBS (earning Emmy-award recognition), ABC Nightline, and major medical publications. Dr. Carrick bridges classical scientific inquiry with cutting-edge diagnostics, equipping clinicians across the globe with non-surgical, non-pharmacological tools to restore human function.
Seminar Overview & Learning Objectives
Set against the backdrop of Florence, the historical epicenter of anatomical exploration, perspective, and scientific rebirth, this intensive two-day symposium bridges the art of clinical observation with modern, translational functional neuroscience. Designed specifically for practicing chiropractors, the curriculum moves deliberately beyond conventional reductionist paradigms. Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Frederick R. Carrick, attendees will explore how complex neurological networks can be mapped, measured, and actively adjusted using non-surgical, non-pharmacological interventions.
A central philosophical highlight of the symposium is an exhilarating intellectual journey into the Philosophy of Chiropractic and Neuroscience. Dr Carrick will address a critical conceptual error in modern cognitive neuroscience of ascribing psychological attributes like thinking, remembering, perceiving, or deciding to a part of the organism (the brain) rather than to the human being as a unified whole. Dr. Carrick will guide participants through a novel understanding of the philosophy of neurology and chiropractic, demonstrating that clinical outcomes accelerate when we treat the integrated person rather than isolated tissue. Every theoretical concept presented throughout the symposium is paired directly with an actionable clinical diagnostic protocol and a targeted therapeutic delivery mechanism, empowering clinicians to return to their clinics with immediate, reproducible skills.
The WHY of Chiropractic: Connecting Life, Healing and the Joy of Living and Practicing through the Physical, Emotional, Mental, Bionomic and Spiritual Dimensions of Being
Faculty: Dr. Dominique Hort, DC, CCN, ND (’89 LACC, ’98 IAACN)
In private practice since ’93 in Lugano–CH. Certified in A.K., B.E.S.T., NET, NOT, Network Spinal Analysis and TBM. He integrated these and others techniques (Energetic Bionomics, exercise training, coaching, personal development, detoxification processes, functional neurology in the Hort’s Method™ (www.hortmethod.com). He provided his services to world class professional athletes (A.C. Milan, bikers, hockey, swimming), one of Tony Robbins personal body workers, and has a family practice focusing on kids with developmental delay syndromes and patients from babies to the very elderly providing regular care supporting their life and challenges helping not only their symptoms, but also to better their strategies for living. He serves regularly in humanitarian projects for unfortunate children. Book author, he offers seminars and conferences (ECU ’03, ’08, ’13) to professional and lay people on the subject of detoxification, nutrition, healing and wellness worldwide. Professional coach to DC’s practicing NSA, with the X-CELS program. Co-owner of SOLS ( www.solsociety.swiss , www.magma13.ch ) to create optimal electromagnetic and subtle energy environments in living spaces.
Seminar Overview & Learning Objectives
Why do we do what we do as chiropractors? And how can we do it more effectively—with greater clarity, purpose, passion and joy?
Why are the nervous system and the spine so central to this process? What can functional neurology add to our understanding of these questions, and—most importantly—how can we translate these concepts into meaningful, practical everyday patient care?
This presentation explores health not as a static state to be achieved, but as a continuous process of adaptation, interaction and change. We will examine this process through three interconnected dimensions: Perception, Behavior and Structure—our capacity to perceive what is happening, recognize what is needed, organize the appropriate structure and strategy, and generate the most effective action toward a desired outcome.
At the center of this journey is Presence: the capacity to see and experience reality as it is. We will explore presence through the processes of Awareness, Acknowledgement and Acceptance, and consider the role of the nervous system in facilitating these processes—both within ourselves as practitioners and within the people we serve.
From this perspective, we will examine why vertebral function, together with the broader sensory nervous system, may play such an important role in our capacity to perceive, adapt, act and interact with our environment.
But optimal function involves more than the physical body.
We will explore the interconnected dimensions of a healthy body, effective emotions and feelings, a functional mind, a supportive personal bionomic energy system, and an embraced sense of identity and innate self—or soul. Together, these dimensions provide a framework for considering what it means to flourish, both as a chiropractor and as a human being.
We will also explore the “codes of life”—the patterns and organizing principles through which what chiropractic philosophy has traditionally called Universal Intelligence may be expressed—and consider how these principles influence our choices, relationships, health and everyday experience.
Ultimately, this presentation is an invitation to reconnect with the WHY of chiropractic.
How can we optimize our choices and become the best expression of ourselves? How can we bring greater presence and intention to what we do? And how can we better Serve, Inspire, Support and Celebrate ourselves, our families, our friends, our patients and chiropractic itself?
The challenge is not simply to tell others how to live well, but to lead by example.
To live what we teach.
To embody what we believe.
And, in doing so, to rediscover even greater purpose, passion, gratitude and love for this magnificent profession.