I wish I could say that I was a "chiro baby" that was adjusted minutes after birth, but my chiropractic journey started much later. I was a freshmen in high school when I injured my left hip playing football. It wasn't a "cool" injury where I got hurt making the game scoring touchdown or the game saving tackle. In fact, it wasn't even during a game. It happened during practice.
We were doing a conditioning drill called bear crawls. This is a challenging exercise where you run as fast as you can on all fours. On this particular day everyone had to make it across the finish line under a certain time or everyone would have to do it again. Obviously, I was inspired by my desire to not let my team mates down and was giving 100%. About half way through the drill, I felt a severe pain in my left hip, and I went down. The whole team (including myself) had to do the drill again because I couldn't finish in time. We did this about 10 more times before the coaches dismissed us for the day.
For the next two weeks my hip was bothering me quite a bit. But then it started to feel better. The pain was no longer constant, but would bother me at some point every day. It was 2 months after the original injury that the pain began to worsen. My mother took me to see my primary care physician and she ordered an MRI to see what was going on. The MRI came back with clear reports stating that, as far as they could tell, there was no reason that I should be in that much pain. My primary care physician wrote a referral to a physical therapist.
For the next year I would go to the physical therapist weekly. I would walk in and I would hobble out. My hip was getting worse. It got to the point where my leg would give out randomly multiple times per day. I was no longer able to participate in sports (which to my high school self was the end of the world).
One day my mother woke up with severe neck pain. She was supposed to leave for an international trip a few days later and was willing to try anything to get relief so she could enjoy her trip. A friend of her's recommended her to a chiropractor. Dr. Judith Wilson, owner of Wilson Chiropractic in Benicia, CA. My mother went every day leading up to her trip and by the time she left, was 100% out of pain. My mother continued care for several months before mentioning to Dr. Wilson, "My son has hip pain. Can you help with that?" To which Dr. Wilson responded, "Bring him in and we will see what we can do."
The next day I was in her office. It was the first time I had ever heard of or been to a chiropractor. She explained everything to me and, to be honest, I didn't understand it at all. But I was willing to try anything. She brought me back to an adjusting room and gave me my first chiropractic adjustment. The following day, my hip still hurt, but my leg did not give out one time. Over the course of about 8 visits my hip pain went away completely. That's when I knew I wanted to study to be a chiropractor. What could be better than helping people overcome ailments that they had accepted they would have to live with for the rest of their lives? I was in.
That was the beginning of my chiropractic story, but my passion only grew once starting chiropractic school. I had no clue how many different techniques and styles of chiropractic there was. I had never heard the amazing history behind the profession. I had never heard or read the 33 principles of chiropractic which is the philosophy surrounding the profession. It was no longer about neck and back pain. It was about total human optimization. Chiropractic became equal parts art, science, and philosophy.
Chiropractic is more than my business or my job; it is my passion. My passion is to make our community a healthier place. I want to bring chiropractic to the forefront and teach people that chiropractic is more than a last resort or limited to neck and back pain. I want to eliminate the phrase, "no one told me chiropractic was an option."
My chiropractic story continues to this day. The amazing results and testimonials we get in this office are indicators that we are on the right path. Slowly we are making our community a healthier place. We will continue to educate and inspire this community about proactive, preventative health care with the goal of reaching critical mass.
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