Chiropractic…My Ultimate Decision
If you would have told me as an 18 year old graduating from high school in Valley, NE that I would end up in central Nebraska practicing chiropractic, I would have told said you’re crazy. But a few good decisions in my life including a girl and an intense drive to succeed have led me to where I am now.
My decision to think about chiropractic, started in the library at UNK when one of my classmates told me I should check out the profession. I was pre-med at the time and was still trying to grind out school and playing college baseball at the time. I never had one of those ah-ha moments, that most chiropractors have in their journey.
My exposure to chiropractic was very limited, to non-existent growing up. I knew what they did but had never been to one personally. Classmates in high school had visited local chiropractors for headaches and low back pain but I had never talked or been to one.
I knew that I wanted to work with the public and help people. Shadowing a local chiropractor was the next step. I liked it, the thought process that was going through my mind was that I could do what I thought I would enjoy doing all while owning a business and not be married to a phone if I was ever on call. It would also be conducive to having a family in the future as well.
My sophomore year in college, I shadow a local chiropractor to see if this profession and absolutely loved it. After a few days of shadowing, I was actually offered a job and ended up working in that office for about a year and a half. The college credits essentially were a wash as I already was on the correct track but ended up picking up a Chemistry minor in order to expedite my education as I was already that far into that track as well.
I only applied to one school, which was National University of Health Sciences in Lombard, IL. At the time it was the only school that required a bachelor’s degree in order to be admitted and it has a very strong reputation for being evidence based. (If you know anything about the history of chiropractic, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence but not a lot of it is researched based and that is where chiropractic has run into problems with other professions). The intriguing issue for me was that the education I was going to receive was going to be based on the current research that was available.
If anyone asks me where I went to school, I proudly say National, there are not many alumni in the state, in fact I think there may only be 6 total. It is a small but good group. I would gladly refer people to attend National.
National is one of the smallest chiropractic schools in the country and can get a bad reputation within the profession as it does not teach the philosophical aspects of the profession as much as the other schools and this is what made me fall in love with my education. Yes, it can be difficult at times but if I could do it all over again I would, in a heartbeat. I met some of my very best friends and colleagues during those 3.5 years in school and we still keep up to this day.
We continue to say that we are going to have a reunion, which could be very interesting both in actions and conversations. But I continue to hope that the gang can get back together again….you too Mark.
As I get into practice, I appreciate my journey into the profession more and more. I don’t get really fall for anything that is outside the lines of current research. Some people will say that the entire profession is not supported by research but numerous guidelines indicate that chiropractic care is well within the lines of conservative care and can be a very cost efficient way to reduce headaches and low back pain, especially when a chiropractor is used as a first contact.
This was just a quick review of how I stumbled into the chiropractic profession. As always, I am going to be on a constant crusade to educate young professionals about the advantages of student loan refinancing. Please read previous posts and as always I appreciate the feedback.
