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#39 Why Did I Become A Chiropractor?

3/18/2014

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            Patients ask me all the time why did I become a chiropractor?  This goes back to 9th grade at which time I decided that I wanted to become an orthodontist.  How cool it would be to put wires on kids teeth all day.  From then on until the end of my Sophomore year in college this was my goal.  Then on the night before my dental admissions test I changed my mind and didn’t show up for the test.  I will joke that I didn’t like the idea of working inside people’s mouths for the rest of my life, but although that is true, the full truth is much more interesting. 

           

            I met my wife, Diana, during my senior year in high school in photography class, a class that probably is not offered today given the state of our budget.  I asked her out to my grad night (she was 2 years behind me) and the rest is history.  We were married two years later and have been happily wedded for 30 years.  However, what I quickly learned about was her affection for or addition to Excedrin, a concoction of aspirin, Tylenol, and caffeine.  She came from a long line of headache and migraine sufferers and was taking 16-18 Excedrin per day for her headaches.  Later one of her grandmothers would die from a bleeding ulcer due to Excedrin.  From her I learned the dangers of legal drugs.  I had already learned from others in my early life the dangers of illegal drugs.  So, Diana began to visit a chiropractor and her results impressed me so much that I followed this doctor around and become increasingly interested in his work.  I loved that my then fiancé felt so much better from his drugless approach and it also connected with my mother’s approach to health, both natural and active.  From my mother I had learned that wellness is not an accident, that is must be worked for, and I know of no one who has worked at it harder and more consistently than she. 

           

            So in August 1983 I began studies at Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, now the Southern California University of Health Sciences.  After 10 semesters of intense study including a year of internship I graduated 3rd in my class, summa cum laude.  Between my education there and countless post-graduate conferences, seminars, and classes, I learned the role that subluxation plays not only in my wife’s headaches and migraines, but also the importance it plays in diminishing all aspects of our wellness.  So while my first reason to become a chiropractor may have been merely to help my wife with her headaches, it has evolved over nearly a quarter of a century to rid as many people of as much vertebral subluxation as I can in one life time.  And I am honored to have that role with you today.

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    Dr. Rick

    After writing an article per week for a year, I just kept going.  These are most of my collection.  They are written with my existing patients in mind, so some stuff may seem odd or unusual, but would make perfect sense to those who know chiropractic and who know me.  Enjoy and share!  For my personal blog visit: 

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What Our Patients Have To Say

Yolanda wrote:
     
     I used to suffer severe headaches and migraines on a daily basis, usually all day.  I managed to work in an office because I had to.  When I went home at the end of the day I would often close the shades and go to bed.  I could not plan weekend events because I simply never knew how I was going to feel tomorrow.  If there were a special event such as a birthday or wedding, I would begin to medicate myself two weeks in advance to give myself the best chance of making the event.
     Friends and fellow church-goers had been trying to get me to see Dr. Rick for some time before I finally gave in.  Looking back, I don’t know why I waited.  Within a month, I was headache free.  I couldn’t remember what it was like to not feel pain.  I could do whatever I wanted and not live in fear of the headache.  This was a miracle for me, but the story does not end here.
     An opportunity came up for us to adopt a newborn baby girl not long after I began chiropractic care.  This baby was particularly important to me and my husband because her mother is a relative.  Tragically, her mother was also a drug user and did drugs during her pregnancy.  If we could not adopt the baby she would have been put into the foster system since the biological mother was incapable of raising her.
     To keep a long story short, we did adopt her and she is doing fantastically.  There is no sign of any effect of the drugs on her as of yet, and with God’s help, there never will be.  We think that is because of the vast amounts of love and attention she gets from us, her real mommy and daddy.
     What does this have to do with chiropractic?  The reality is that without chiropractic, I would still be nearly an invalid with headaches.  I COULD NOT HAVE TAKEN CARE OF AN INFANT OR RAISED A YOUNG CHILD.  THEREFORE, SHE WOULD NOT HAVE ANY OF THE OPPORTUNITIES IN LIFE THAT MY HUSBAND AND I WILL BE ABLE TO PROVIDE FOR HER.  MY DAUGHTER’S LIFE IS POSSIBLE BECAUSE SOMEBODY MADE ME GO TO A CHIROPRACTOR. 
     You need to tell everyone you know what you know about chiropractic.  Who knows who’s life you will change too.
Andrew's mother, Barbara, wrote:

     Hello, My name is Andrew and I am a happy, healthy one year old.  But I wasn’t so happy or healthy when I first met Dr. Rick a few months ago.  I had been having problems with my ears for four months, I couldn’t sleep at night and I was miserable.  We’d been to the doctor lots of times but nothing was helping.  In fact, all the medicines the doctor had tried seemed to make me worse instead of better!  Both the regular doctor and the Ear-Nose and Throat doctor said that if the antibiotics didn’t work, then they’d just have to put tubes in.  Now my Mom and dad weren’t about to let them do surgery on me, especially since they had been reading and learned that tubes can cause more problems than they solve.  My mom and dad did a lot of praying.  Then my mom heard that sometimes babies who have a traumatic birth like mine have ear trouble.  You see when I was born they used a vacuum extractor and forceps to pull me out.  I guess all that yanking on my head, hurt my neck.  She also heard that chiropractic care can be the answer.  Now she was skeptical because she couldn’t imagine a chiropractor helping ear infections!?!  But at that point she was willing to try anything!!  Happily, a few weeks of adjustments and my ears were all cleared up.  In addition, I no longer had a stiff neck or shoulders and my whole personality was happier.  I have to tell all babies who have ear troubles, don’t let them give you tubes until you at least try chiropractic care first.  After all, it can’t hurt and if you’re like me, you could be perfectly well with no drugs and no surgery.  In my family, we thank God for Dr. Rick, because I feel better, my mom and dad are happier and sometimes, I even sleep through the night.