Why I am a Chiropractor

I always knew I wanted to be in a profession that helped people. From a young age, I had planned to go on to university and study something in the health sciences. I had no clue if it was going to be medicine or optometry, but I did know this for sure.

I had to be helping people, and it had to be a physically active career.

I knew I could never be happy sitting at a desk.

So, I did my research, and through university, I visited several types of professional practices and settings and was still undecided. Upon visiting chiropractic offices, I was very impressed.  All the chiropractors, the patients, and staff seemed generally happier than in the other professional offices I had investigated. It looked like a fun place to be. However, the problem was that I had never personally visited a chiropractor as a patient, so I was still a little nervous about committing myself to that route.

Then, during my last year at University, I started developing debilitating migraine headaches.

I had always been a “headache” person, and headaches were a part of my daily life, but I had never had migraines before. A professor suggested their chiropractor to me, and off I went for my first visit.  Within a few weeks, my headaches significantly reduced. Add to that, some numbness that I had been experiencing in my left arm had disappeared too.

Well, that decided it! I was going to be a Chiropractor!

Chiropractic college was an incredible learning experience, and I fell more and more in love with my chosen profession. However, I didn't understand the full impact of chiropractic until I had been in practice for a few months. One of my first patients was a big, burly, truck driver, the sweetest man, but the kind of person who physically would have scared me to meet in a dark alley. He came into the office with debilitating low back pain, and we had been working with him for a few weeks, showing significant improvement.

Well, on this particular day, I walked into the adjusting room and as we were chatting about what the goals of that day's treatment were to be, he started to cry. I had no clue what it was about, but after a few minutes, he was able to tell me that the evening before, he had been playing soccer with his son, and he shared that it was the first time, ever, that his back had been strong enough to do that. His son was ten years old, a huge soccer fanatic and his Dad had never been able to kick the ball around with him until that day. It was at that moment that I realized that helping people as a chiropractor is much more than just helping them with pain; it offers others a chance to live happier, more fulfilling lives. It blew me away!

Fast forward 21 years and I am more committed to helping people than ever.

My skill set has grown, and my knowledge base has expanded, but what has not changed is my feeling that assisting people to heal physically, allows them to be a happier person.  We all need to express ourselves and our talents to the world, but we cannot do that to the best of our ability, or in some cases do it at all, if our physical body is not working well. 

 If we are in pain, if we can’t move well, if we cannot sleep well, we are not happy.  If we are in pain, we aren't able to be the best citizen, parent, worker, coach, artist, partner, athlete or person. That causes distress.

I need to know what I can help each of my clients with, how they are being affected by the condition they have, and what their goals are. I want to know what they hope to be able to do once they improve.

Helping people with pain is great, but helping people live more fulfilling lives is better!

I am a chiropractor because I am passionate about helping people live their best and happiest life, and chiropractic care helps me do just that every day. It's a beautiful thing. If you have questions about Chiropractic care, I would love to chat more.

I always knew I wanted to be in a profession that helped people.