My journey to become a Chiropractor

My Voyage to Chiropractic
Growing up I never believed in chiropractic. I
remember at a young age, my friends dad coming to my
school during career day and teaching us about
chiropractics and how he performs his job. All I thought was what
my parent's always told me and what everyone else said
which was that chiropractors are not a real doctors
and its a "Mickey Mouse" business. This guy was there
holding a spine and waving it around trying to teach
me about health and chiropractics. Little did I know
that 20 years down the road I would be doing the same
thing.
Growing up I was always the athlete in the
family. When I was a kid in elementary school I was a
champion cross country runner; "woohoo". I never really
liked it but I was good at it and was happy about
being good at something. I saw the movie Rocky and
the "Eye of the Tiger" song kept playing in my head
while I ran. Rocky didn't give up and neither did I.

Did I mention that I am Canadian? You know what
that means; "hockey, hockey, hockey". Everyone's little
kid was the next Wayne Gretzky. So I've been on skates
from the time I was 3.
I got out of the cross country running when I made it
to high school and got into track. I ran the 100m, 200m,
800m and 1500m. Unfortunately this is where I would
endure my first serious injury. While sprinting, I tore
a tendon and had an avulsion fracture of the femur. I
didn't care. I still pushed through the pain and still
played.
I also played competitive hockey all through high
school in Toronto for the MTHL and for the greater
Toronto hockey league. As you know, when you play
Hockey, you take a lot of hits. I wish I could describe
to you the intensity of being checked against the
boards or doing a complete summersault in the air and
landing on your head while the player that
checked you lands on top of you and kicks you in your
face with his skate while your down. Needless to say
I've been pretty beat up.

I remember this one time, I was hurt bad after a game, I couldn't breath in air all the way. Every time I would breath in I would feel a sharp pain across my chest. After seeing a general practitioner
for a month I had enough! I did not want to take any
more meds so I just told the doc that there has to be
something else. Walking home from school one day I was talking with
one of my friends who played on the soccer team. I was
telling him about the pain I was feeling and it just
so happened to be while we were walking by his
chiropractors office. He dragged me in there insisting
that the chiropractor would help me. I had no idea
that seeing a chiropractor would change my life.
When I met the chiropractor, he just looked at me and said
"Lie face down on my table.". I didn't know what he was doing
but he cracked the @#$! out of me. I got up and I
swear the pain was gone! He told me that my rib was
out of place and he popped it back in to the joint.
Boy I was impressed! All those years of making fun of
chiropractics and now I felt like a new man.
I went home and told my mom "I now know what I want
to do with my life". She must have been quite relieved for
the first 2 seconds until I told her that I wanted to be
a chiropractor.
My mom actually cried but my dad was supportive. I
thought that it was the perfect fit because I've been
into sports my whole life and I was now convinced that
chiropractics really works.

I got accepted to York University in Toronto for
Kinesiology and Physical therapy and my goal was to
finish my degree and to become a chiropractor.
Since 1993 when I saw my first chiropractor, I've
continued to play extreme sports like hockey, kick
boxing, football, soccer, snowboarding, skiing,
rock-climbing and the list goes on and on. I've
injured and re-injured my self over and over again
from the limits that I push myself. I've been
treated by chiropractors for about 14 years now and my
back feels great. I've developed my own protocol that
I practice myself and with my patients. It involves the adjustment,
physical fitness, proper postural biomechanics, nutrition, physical
therapy, therapeutic massage and more.
I know what I'm talking about when it comes to pain and I
know what I'm talking about when it comes to pushing
the limit. I know what I'm talking about when it comes
to goals and trying to achieve the best. I take care
of myself and use myself as an example on overcoming
obstacles and trying to achieve optimal health.
Finally whenever my mom is in town I adjust her. My
father and sister go to a chiropractor in Toronto. All my
friends back home see a chiropractor and always encourage people
to go. I know that sometimes all I can do is wait till someone
is in a lot of pain and they've tried
everything else and nothing worked. Hopefully
they will come in and see me so that I can show them
what I can do for them and return the favor that my
soccer friend did for me by dragging me into that
chiropractic clinic when I was injured 14 years ago.