Dr. Craig Backs:
CBA Personal Medicine
Dr. Craig Backs was one of Mike Suhadolnik’s first “experiments.” Under Suhadolnik’s guidance, Backs went from weighing almost 240 lbs. to a much healthier weight of around 185 lbs. in 2012. Now, Backs has integrated what he learned into his private medical practice.
“It has really changed just about everything about my life,” Backs said. “The focus of my practice has changed a great deal, from trying to rescue people from bad things that were happening to trying to be more preventative toward chronic illness.”
After more than 30 years as a doctor, Backs knew just about all of the conventional advice for overweight patients. But once he began to put that advice into practice himself, he saw how difficult it can be.
“I have more understanding, knowledge and empathy about what it takes to change one’s lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise,” he said. “I think it has given me more credibility with people as I give them advice on how to help themselves when I’ve actually done that myself.”
Backs’ practice is rooted in scientifically sound medicine, but he says he takes more time now addressing a patient’s underlying problems instead of just treating the symptoms. He says learning more about managing problems like heart disease – the leading cause of death in the United States – has made him more optimistic.
“I’m much more hopeful that we can have fewer deaths and disabilities from cardiovascular disease if we just apply these things,” he said.
Although the benefits of this type of practice are obvious to Backs, he says it may be years or even decades before the traditional health care system catches up.
“Right now, we’re still very much in the mode of reimbursing for treating illness,” he said. “I think what we’re seeing now is that there are individuals who are taking enough interest in their own wellness and are willing to spend their own resources and time to help themselves and not wait for their insurance company or a government program to help cover it. That’s going to happen more among people with more disposable income in the beginning, but that’s been true of just about every innovation that we’ve seen in our culture, whether it’s color television sets, home computers or smartphones.”
In the meantime, Backs is helping change the culture of medicine by working with Mike Suhadolnik on his “Doctors and Nurses Get Fit” concept. And Backs seems to be genuinely enjoying his practice.
“It has been very meaningful, satisfying and inspiring to see the results that my patients are getting now that I never saw them doing before,” he said. “They were probably turned off by hearing good advice from a bad example.”
Contact Patrick Yeagle at pyeagle@illinoistimes.com.
