September 2005

Why be a chiropractor?

by Dr. Jonathan Amdur

We all spend many days in practice and life getting trapped in the day's time‑ consuming negativity, pulling our focus from the really important aspects of our chiropractic life.

How much time do you spend complaining, focusing on, and thinking about how bad insurance and managed care is to you and your patients, how terrible your staff is, how the patients don't get it and don't want to pay, how the MDs talk negatively about you, or how depressed you are because you aren't living the life you would like to live? I've gone through these same draining, energy exhausting, flame‑extinguishing thoughts. They led to inactivity ‑‑ or actions of negativity, depression, and need.

Truly successful people have gone through this and recognized that they have control over their future by acknowledging such thoughts and feelings for what they are ‑‑ thoughts and feelings of lack and need, which breed more lack and need. They've understood that changing their focus can change their thoughts.

One way to do this is to constantly focus on why you entered our profession in the first place ‑‑ to help people to improve their lives and health in this and future generations through the gift of chiropractic.

It used to be that most individuals who became chiropractors had a miracle in their life as chiropractic patients and decided this was what they wanted to do for people in their lives as their mission. I think that today, however, there are many men and women who've become DCs either because they wanted to be called a doctor or they heard they could make money as a chiropractor. Yet, this will only drive you so far and life will eventually get you out of the profession, unless you change your focus now!

If you've forgotten why you became a DC, I suggest you remember it and tell all your patients your story every moment you can. If you don't have a personal story, look for one. I learned early on in practice to look for miracles in all my patients, and I would find small ones that motivated me further each day. Sometimes it's just seeing someone out of pain. It could be a child that no longer needs an inhaler, or a woman who doesn't have multiple sclerosis anymore. The more you look , the more you find.

My hope for our profession is that we all have miracle stories that drive us forward to save the world from drugs, disease, anger, and health care practitioners who've lost their faith in the innate intelligence. I remember early in practice I was always waiting for that big life‑ changing miracle that I always heard other chiropractors talk about that changed them forever, helping them to realize the true power of chiropractic.

Allow me to share a story that inspires me and hopefully inspires you to continue on your quest to deliver chiropractic to the masses of the world for the right reasons.

Three years ago, there was a family that had a child they took into foster care. The child was a six day‑old boy named Bobby who had been born addicted to Vicodin, Tylenol with codeine, and suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. He was taken off a ventilator and delivered to the foster family the next day. He was underweight, all his reflexes were abnormal, he was emaciated and his face looked like a bug. He was extremely fragile, and in a constant state of spasticity. He went through periods of seizure‑like shaking and he suffered from chronic diarrhea due to the detoxification of the drugs. According to the foster mother, Bobby had to be carried in a pouch attached to the front of her all day or he would cry incessantly and go into spastic fits. He woke up every hour at night crying and in distress. The foster parents were at their wits end. Chiropractic care was begun as soon as Bobby came home from the hospital.

Bobby was brought to his pediatrician and the foster parents were told they should consider themselves as a stepping stone in his life and that he would be mentally retarded as well as have severe physical deficits. A pediatric neurologist was consulted and the foster parents were told that he wouldn't be the sharpest tool in the shed and that he'd be left with mental retardation and intellectual and physical deficits.

The foster parents thanked the doctors for their help and continued with daily chiropractic care.

After six months, Bobby made it through his detox period and the spasticity began to improve as well as his cognitive functions. He became responsive and less spastic. At his one year check up with the neurologist, the foster parents were told that either they got lucky or a miracle happened and that none of his patients ever got lucky when they were addicted to these drugs so it must be a miracle. They were told Bobby was essentially a normal boy. The foster parents were ecstatic, and certainly they continue with chiropractic adjustments to this day.

Now, it's three years later and Bobby is a vibrant, energetic, beautiful child with normal reflexes, strength, attitude and intelligence. He's one of the most loving children you'd ever meet. He is truly a chiropractic miracle and a miracle of life that drives me and my wife in practice and life daily. One thing I didn't tell you is that Bobby is my son. My family has lived this miracle of chiropractic. Bobby beat all the odds and the limited belief of the medical profession. If it wasn't for chiropractic, he'd probably be retarded and not have much quality of life. Chiropractic is not about back and neck pain, it's about life. It's for miracles and that's what we do!

Each time you deliver an adjustment expect a miracle. They always happen. It may not happen the way you think it should but it will happen. Trust in yourself, God, innate and that you are in the right place at the right time to deliver chiropractic to all who are in need, real need. We're all ordained as healers and it's our birthright to bring it to the masses of sick and dying that are suffered and being tortured by "modern" medicine. Join the chiropractors of the world and reach into your heart for the healing of the world. It truly is our job, no one else has the ability or the tools to help the world heal.

Remember your miracles as we remember Bobby, and you'll never back down from your principles ever again. Go out and heal the world without anyone or anything to hold you back. The world needs us to stand up and fight now, so adjust until you can't adjust anymore.

Stay focused on what's important ‑‑ and remember why you are a chiropractor!