EPISODE SUMMARY
Guest: Valerie Kumkov Hill
Valerie has lived in Lubbock since 1969. Her father came here initially to teach mathematics at Texas Tech. She ended up going to Texas Tech University and has been there ever since. She majored in Art and had a second degree in Dance. She taught in the public school system for 24 years. She has always been mindful of health and nutrition. Currently, in retirement, Valerie teaches yoga to seniors.
Valerie’s husband was the first one to come to the Blair Chiropractic Clinic after doing some research. He'd been having some major neck problems even before they were married. It must've been sometime in the late '70s; Doctor Blair was there at the time. Her husband, as a child, had had some surgeries and physical problems that actually resulted from a childhood case of polio.
While working at a bookstore, Valerie started noticing she was getting stiff and tense in her neck and shoulders. She then started seeing Doctor Blair herself. She started seeing results herself, and after their children were born, they became patients of the clinic as well. By then, Doctor Addington had taken over. He checked the kids out over the years, and they had minor adjustments. Then their son was involved in a car accident as a passenger in high school, and they got him in right away. No one was hurt badly, but their son seemed to recover much more quickly from that. The same happened with her daughter, as an adult, when she was t-boned by a drunk driver in her truck. They immediately brought her in again and had her checked out. She'd had some hip problems because of the way the seatbelt jerked her, and she had some adjustments done in her lower back and pelvis as well.
Valerie has noticed as she’s gotten older that you often don't feel better right away or for a few days after getting an adjustment. When you come back a week later, things have smoothed out, and it was just her body reacting to being aligned again and the muscles having to pull slightly. The first line of care is to run a graph on the cervical vertebra and see how things are doing. Then if there's a problem, take care of it as quickly as possible so that it doesn't become a chronic problem. She has noticed that over the years, She’s had fewer and fewer adjustments. She can't even remember the last time she had her neck adjusted because it has been maintained so well.
While teaching yoga at the community center, Valerie adjusts poses that need to be adjusted for age, and they work on things like getting down and up from a chair or the floor. Taking a long time to warm up, the first thing they do after breathing is to start gently moving their neck muscles, the very top of the spine, and then gradually warming the spine up. Her mission is to let people get over that fear of yoga and not be intimidated.
Valerie wrote a children’s book during Covid called
It was published by Wild Lark Books, a bookstore in Downtown Lubbock.
Here is Valerie’s teaching schedule:
Yoga classes: M, T, TH 9:30 at Maxey Community Center
Seated Yoga: T, TH 10:45
Fitness/light aerobics: Wed. 9:45
To see more of Valerie’s work or to purchase her art:
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Welcome, welcome, welcome to today's episode of What Pain In The Neck? I am so excited about my guest today. She is everything I want to be, and she's approximately my mother's age. When I'm her age, that's how I want to be. Why don't you start by saying your name and just tell us a little bit of who you are and what you're up to these days.
Sure. I'm Valerie Komkov Hill. I have lived in Lubbock since 1969, so almost a lifetime ago. My father came here originally to teach mathematics at Texas Tech. I ended up going to Texas Tech University, and I've been there ever since. I taught in the public school system for 24 years. I've had other various jobs too, but retired in 2006. I'm one of those retirees that found plenty of things to do in retirement, and just every day is an enjoyment and a blessing for me.
That is one thing I admire about you. You have such positive outlook on life, and when I see your posts on Facebook and things like that or every time we even talk in person, there's always interesting things. You do so many interesting things.
I am a very diverse person. When I was in college, my first major was art. Then because I loved to dance, I'd taken dance lessons as a child. I kept taking dance classes at Texas Tech just for my own fitness feeling well, and back then you had to have a PE requirement, which I don't think they do anymore. To me that was a way of keeping myself involved in dance. I got so involved that I ended up getting a second degree in dance.
From there, that became my career, by accident. My father didn't know what I was going to do with two degrees in the arts, and I didn't quite know what to do for a while. Then Lubbock High School started up their fine arts program, their LEAP program back in the- 1979 was the original. I was working as a substitute teacher at the time, and the original dance teacher taught for three years and then left. She said, you would be perfect for this job. Because I had substituted for her during pregnancies, so I applied for the job and I got it. That's what I did until 2006.
That was a long time, and you taught dance?
Yes.
You made a career out of something you had just originally started just because you thought that you would enjoy it and do something good for your health. Is that how it started?
Yes. I was not a sports person. For me, being able to dance was a way for me to be active and fit. I've always been concerned with good health and fitness even as a teenager. I remember at some point being mindful about what I had for lunches especially at a school cafeteria. This is when yogurt first became popular in the '60s, and I would bring yogurt and some fruit.
Cool. You have said a few things. You were mindful of your health and your nutrition and your activities even back before that was cool to think about and talk about.
i’m not sure where that came from unless I think from my dad's side mainly he was very athletic. He served in World War II, but he loved playing rugby. When he was stationed in England and met my mother, he joined a rugby team there. He loved to swim. He taught us all to swim when we were younger.
That is important.
Yes. Of all of my siblings, I'm the only one that set a lifelong goal to find some activity, which I think is important for everyone. You don't have to play a sport, you don't have to do aerobics class, but you find an activity that makes you feel good and that you enjoy doing. Otherwise, it's going to be misery and you'll find ways not to do it
That is actually one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you today. I was thinking about who you are and what it was about you that made me want to get your story out there. I think the biggest inspiration that I've learned from you is this consistency that you have. You're talking about lifelong love of movement and the lifelong goal of being healthy. Obviously, this podcast is about health. We've touched about some aspects. I do really enjoy that you're saying you started the dance, because you liked it and it's something that you've consistently done, and it's obviously been your livelihood, but it's also been something that's given you joy in life.
There's definitely an exhilaration from it. Of course, I'm less involved in dance as I've gotten older, but I do currently teach yoga and fitness classes. The reason I even got into yoga was that I had former dance friends who were professional and one of them told me that she was starting to lose her flexibility in her late 40s. She still wanted to continue dancing, teaching, choreographing, and she discovered yoga and found that it just got that flexibility back that she felt she was losing.
That is an important message that just because you're starting to lose something, I obviously in training and consistency, there's a principle that says if you don't use it, you lose it. You can get it back too. You can start using it and get it back.
You can. I have seniors that come to my classes, both regular yoga and seated yoga that have haven't been active for years and their doctors have basically threatened them in some way, "You've got to do something and everyone." There's a certain mindset that thinks, well, this is just what aging is. I'm just getting old. My mindset has always been, well, that doesn't have to be true if you keep on moving. That's the same message.
That is an amazing message, and I agree with that 100%, that a lot of aging has to do with the mind. That, again, is one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you, because you're younger than I am in many ways.
Well, I wouldn't say that, but I'm always inspired by the people that come to my classes and stay with it. I have two older gentlemen, they're in their 80s now, and they're both Vietnam War vets. They have been consistently coming to my yoga class since I first started teaching it in 2007. It's a little more of a struggle for them in some ways, but they are the ones that are always there.
That is great. I want to continue on this theme with consistency, but the reason I know you has also has to do with another aspect of being super consistent in health. My husband and I came to Lubbock in November of 2017 to continue running the Blair Chiropractic Clinic. There was only a handful of patients that were already here that had started with Dr. Blair back in the day and back in the day Dr. Blair started the Blair Chiropractic Clinic in 1949 and turned it over to the second director in, I think it was 1984, '83 or '84. Tell us about why you are here at the Blair Chiropractic Clinic. What happened? Why did you start and what--
I think my husband was the first one to come. He'd been having some major neck problems, and I think it was even before we were first married. It must've been sometime in the late '70s. He as a child, had had some surgeries and physical problems that actually resulted from a childhood case of polio.
Oh, wow.
Not a major case, but it was in his legs and ankles. For some reason it was specifically- he was very uncomfortable in his neck, so he was the one that did the research. I'm not even sure to this day why exactly he picked the Blair Clinic, but he's the same way about doctors now. He does all of his research and gets all the background information and then makes a decision on, this sounds like the best.
We can mention that he is a professor. When you say research, you mean research.
He even had a surgery out of town a few years ago, because he discovered the best doctor for that was in Austin, so we drove down to Austin and had it done there, but he's been like that about everything. Then he was convincing me. I was working just in retail at that particular time, in graduate school and just after, and I was working at Varsity Bookstore.
I was on my feet a lot. I was loading and unloading books and I wasn't dancing as much. I didn't have time for it with a full-time job. I could sense I was getting stiff and tense in my neck and shoulders. He convinced me that I should also go see Dr. Blair. I started going too. Both of us were involved, then our children came along, and at that point, when our children were born, Dr. Addington had already taken over.
I want you to tell that story, but before we do that, I would like to ask a follow up question about, I don't, this was a long time ago, but do you remember what happened when you first came in? You were just talking about how you were all tense and getting stiffer. What changes did you notice and did it happen right away? Was it a gradual process or do you remember anything about that?
It's been a while. Obviously I think there were good results, because I kept coming back and back in the day, a visit to Dr. Blair took some commitment, because he had long lines in the waiting room. You could expect to be there for over an hour while, or maybe. When you first got an adjustment, of course you had to come back like the following week, and then it was down to two weeks, and then to three weeks. There was an extended period of recheck and it was a big commitment, but obviously, because we both felt the results, we kept coming back.
Great. You wanted the results. W, you wanted to talk about your kids,. Let's get into that and then I'll ask my next question.
Well, we did make a decision when the kids were younger to have them checked out. One specific incident, and it didn't have to do with neck or anything, but my son was just learning to walk and he took a bad tumble and obviously did something with his ankle, and then suddenly he wasn't walking. He was back to crawling on hands and knees. We brought him in to Dr. Addington.
He was the doctor in charge at the Blair Chiropractic Clinic at that time.
Yes. This must have been around '87 then if my son was two. Dr. Addington just did the- this quick adjustment on his ankle and he suddenly stood right back up again and was walking around.
That is a fun story.
I thought it was amazing. He checked the kids out over the years and I think they had minor adjustments. Then my son was involved in a car accident as a passenger in high school, and we got him in right away. I just noticed of all the people in the car at that time, no one was hurt badly, but he seemed to recover much more quickly from that.
We have seen that a lot of time. I have been in a Blair upper cervical office since 1994, and I have noticed that people who come in that are already patients and have been in a car accident, and to come in and get checked and adjusted quickly after a car accident have much less symptoms than people who come to us, they've been in a car accident and they come, because they're not getting better. They've had a much more severe journey.
We were pretty proactive on that, because we didn't really wait and see if he kept having symptoms.
Yes, that's what I mean. That's the best way to do it.
The same happened with my daughter when she was t-boned by a drunk driver in her truck, and it could've been a lot worse. This was when she was an adult, but we immediately brought her in again and had her checked out. She'd had some hip problems, because of the way the seatbelt jerked her, and she had some adjustments done in her lower back and pelvis as well.
I want to bring up something that you've said a few times. You've talked about being adjusted and then you've talked about being checked.
Yes.
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about that.
The original adjustment, and I've noticed as I've gotten older, you often don't feel it right away or for the few days after your body reacts and starts tugging back in a different direction and you go, ow, maybe this didn't work. When I come back a week later, things have smoothed out and I understood that was just my body reacting to being aligned again and the muscles are having to pull slightly.
They've gotten used to drifting in a certain way to compensate. I was feeling it in my body little aches or whatever. Then after being rechecked and being assured, everything is still on track, then another week later and everything's fine.
Great. One of my burning questions comes from one of the major things people say when they talk about starting upper cervical care or one of the things people are really afraid of is once I start, I have to keep coming forever. Here, essentially we're hearing a story of you started with Dr. Blair and you initially sought treatment back in the '70s, and now when we are recording this, it's 2022. What would you say to that person that would be afraid to start, because once I start, I have to keep going?
Well, in a way I have been coming back forever, but it's not the same use of my time, I should say. It's not a chore to me, because I come once a month now just for a quick check just to make sure everything's working or in line. I think of that as the same way as if I were just picking up a prescription or going to a fitness class. It's something I do, and usually everything checks out just fine or if I have any specific- can you check this out? I've been having twinges here or there, and it usually takes 15 minutes. Not like in the old days, as I mentioned Dr. Blair's office, it's pretty quick and easy now. It's an in and out and I'm on my way.
Yes. People have fast paced lives. We have to honor the appointments these days. What I hear you saying is regardless of your choice, we do have to live with our body. Maintain it in some way is not a chore, but a thing that enhances your life. That brings it full circle back to where we started. I wanted to talk to you, because you're such a fun, active, interesting person.
The overarching theme for this episode is consistency. That's what we've talked about over and over. Can you talk a little bit about starting in the '70s? You've been through upper cervical here in the '70s to '80s to '90s, 2000 to [unintelligible 00:18:52], and now we're into another decade here. You've been through three different doctors, but all with the same clinic. Can you talk a little bit about what's been the same and what's been different?
What's been the same is obviously the first line of care is to run a graph on the cervical vertebra and see how things are doing. Then if there's a problem, taking care of it as quickly as possible so that it doesn't become a chronic problem. I noticed that over the years, I've had fewer and fewer adjustments. I can't even remember the last time I had my neck adjusted, because it has been maintained so well.
Well, that's fun. That would be actually interesting to go back and look at.
Yes. I know Dr. Addington used to say that to me, "Well, you've held this adjustment for such a long period of time, this is almost a record for anyone here." Then Dr. Elder, your husband, always says, "Well, you were boring today. I had nothing to do."
Yes. The badge of honor here is to be a boring patient. That's the biggest compliment.
Yes. The consistency is that all three doctors are looking at the best way to keep you moving and healthy and holding that adjustment, which obviously means that if you do that well, your body gets used to feeling well. Then along with exercise and all those other things, you have fewer and fewer need to have your neck adjusted or any other part of your spine.
I like that way of putting out fewer and fewer needs. Isn't that what we want?
Yes. It's not like we want to just continually come in and feel like, oh, now something else is wrong. Something else is wrong. Why does everything go wrong? Once you are consistent and your body manages to maintain good posture, good health, good spine, then the only things that seem to disrupt that is if you do have an accident or a fall or something that's out of the ordinary. Then you know, okay, I'm going to fix this. That my first line now is, say if I've had a bad fall, is not to rush out to the doctor clinic, but to come and check all over with my spine and neck first, and then if it needs to go beyond that then go in. Of course, if I broke a limb, I would go to the doctor.
Yes. That certainly has a time and a place. I appreciate your positive point of view on this and I've been nodding my head a lot while Valerie has been talking here and I, I just agree so much that it's not about getting adjusted that makes you well. It's about holding the adjustment and the checkups is just a peace of mind to know that, yes, I'm doing okay. I'm on the right track. Things are in shape the way they're supposed to be. I think of it like going to the dentist. My goal is to have zero cavities and to have the hygienists say, oh, you're in great shape. I didn't have to do a lot.
Exactly. It's the same kind of thing. I'm very observant now and especially teaching yoga fitness of looking at people's spines postures, the way they carry themselves, and seeing people that are uncomfortable or in chronic pain. Over the years, I keep seeing these ads. I get targeted ads on Facebook, of course and I keep seeing these ads for what's called computer neck where everyone's bent forward and drifted over.
Of course, I used to see that mainly in older people, but I see it in younger people now, because everyone's bent over their phones or leaning over their computer. You have that forward drift of the cervical spine and it just makes me- I want to--
Yes, we're definitely going to do some episodes about that, but we call what pain in the neck? It's about not having any pain in the neck. Obviously, that's a literal pain in the neck, but we're also talking wider about chronic issues that just bug you. It's like a real pain in the neck all the time.
Now that you've done a really good job laying out what it means to maintain and be proactive and consistent in staying getting healthy, why don't you tell our listeners what you're up to these days? I know you have a little store and you're doing a lot of things. Talk a little bit about the different things that you're involved in and also how our listeners can get ahold of you or look at you online, or if you're listening to this in Lubbock, maybe somebody wants to try your yoga classes or come and look at your art.
Well, I'll address the yoga classes first, because I know people are intimidated by yoga. I've had many people say, "Well, I'd like to take yoga, but I'm not flexible."
Oh, yes. That's so important, because I hear that too. You are so right about that.
It's like people tell me, "Well, I'd love to be an artist, but I don't have any art skills." I said, "Well, it's like anything else. If you want to do it, you try it. If you want to be an artist, take some art lessons.
and practice. Right?
Practice. Yes. With yoga, I think many of them, and especially people my age, I'll be honest, if they go into a normal yoga studio, it is intimidating.
I agree.
Everybody is young, everybody is thin, everybody's fit, very strong and sometimes those classes can feel overwhelming. I try and offer something that's a little more gentle and acceptable. Everyone goes at their own pace. I adjust poses that need to be adjusted for age and we work on things that younger people don't think about like getting down and up from a chair or the floor.
That's super important.
Yes. Taking a long time to warm up. The first thing we do when we warm up after breathing is we start gently moving our neck muscles. The very top of the spine and then gradually warming the spine up. My mission is to let people get over that fear of yoga and not be intimidated. If you want me to plug my classes there.
Tell the people in Lubbock how they can come and visit a class. Maybe for people listening not in Lubbock, do you have something online that they can try?
Well, I do. I have some small YouTube videos I made during COVID when all of the classes shut down-
That's what I thought.
at the Community Center.
That would be a good place to start, maybe.
Yes, they are available although I've gone completely blank about what my YouTube channel is.
That's okay. We can put it in the show notes. Look in the show notes and we'll find the link and put it there.
They're very amateur and the sound is not as good as this. They were made in the backyard with my daughter filming when we were all in lockdown. I did that for my yoga students so that they could do them. I've had them send them to relatives to do and also when I was on vacation, I reminded them if classes aren't meeting, you can do the videos.
Then for people in Lubbock?
For people in Lubbock, I teach at Maxi Community Center and I teach regular mat yoga on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 9:30. Then I have a seated yoga class where it's all done in the chair and we use hand weights. That is Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:45.
I can find that on I think it's Lubbock Parks & Rec.
Yes. Lubbock Parks & Rec. If you go in Maxi Community Center, they have flyers about it too.
Very good.
All the things offered there. Anyone is welcome to observe my class or try it once just to see if that's what they want to do.
Tell us about some of your other projects.
Well, once I retired from teaching and my kids were grown, I had much more time for artwork. I've been very involved in the arts community in Lubbock member of the Arts Alliance. I sometimes participate in First Friday Art Trail activities. I'm about to have some work put up at LHUCA for their member artist show in October. It seems like I'm consistently showing art and also being part of the community, supporting other artists. I have a little Etsy shop that I sell my artwork on as well.
We will put the link to that in the show notes as well. Yes.
Then of course, my other project, which happened purely by accident and that was during COVID, was I wrote a children's book
That is so cool.
I was drawing little illustrations, little paintings that turned out to be Llama, and I developed a whole story around Clive the Lonely Llama, and just recently had it published through Wild Lark Books, which is a shop downtown.
I heard about that. They're going to have a ribbon cutting soon.
Yes. It's everything you want in a bookstore. Lovely, charming little place. They're also a publishing company, so they've been publishing both local authors and also two or three that are actually out of state in other states. I had an opening for the book and signed copies of the book, and it's available on Amazon too.
It's on Amazon. What's the name of the book?
Clive the Lonely Llama.
By Valerie.
Komkov Hill. There's a version in Spanish too.
Speaker 1: Oh, cool.
Why? Because Clive lives in Peru or South America somewhere. The publisher, Brianne, suggested, "Would you be interested in a Spanish version of this?" I went, "Of course." She hired a translator, and it's Clive la Llama Solitaria.
Fantastic.
Whoever wants the Spanish version.
We were talking around the dinner table as a family, and we talked about your book, and our whole family all agreed that a Llama is a great character, and there's all kinds of drama and fun you can do with a Llama. I haven't read the book yet, but I'm really excited about reading it. Also, I foresee maybe sequels in the future.
That's possible. I did some extra paintings beyond the ones that made it into the book, so my brain is churning around with some more adventures for Clive.
I think that that is so good, just to wrap it up and tie it full circle. The whole point of doing things to maintain our health is you can stay active, your brain is going, your body is going, and you're having a very full and fun life.
I will say right off the bat that I am 72. That means, I look ahead, projecting in the future, and hopefully have at least 20 more years. I want to feel the best I can during that time, because I know a lot of people, their activities, and their interest diminish, because they just don't feel good.
There's a saying about chiropractic, that says it brings life to your years.
That's a good saying, because I have through that and through what I eat, I wouldn't call myself obsessively a health nerd over food. I do know what good food is, and the more you eat and prepare and taste good food, and in the right proportions, the less you want all the fast food and junk food.
It's part of self-care. It's the opposite of deprivation. You eat good food that you like, and that love you back.
II've never been deprived of food. I love food, and I love really good food. I like to say I've never been on a diet, because if you eat right-
We don't have video, but you guys, Valerie looks amazing.
Thank you.
You just exude health, and life, and vitality, and fun. I saw that immediately the first time I met you, and it's been almost five years now. You're just getting better. Let's see, Valerie, do you have a favorite quote or a life verse that you want to share?
I do, and I think it pretty much ties into what we've been saying here. I don't know the author of this quote, so we'll call it anonymous. The quote is, "If you take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves."
Oh, I haven't heard that.
I know. That's a nice one.
That's something I will have to meditate on today. To close us off with today's quote, why don't you say that quote one more time at the end of the episode here?
It ties into yoga as well, because in yoga I like to remind everyone to be mindful, to be in the present moment, experience what you're experiencing in this moment. The saying is, if you take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.
Wow.