My Superpower

I often get asked about myself – and over the last several months I’ve been sharing bits and pieces of my lived experience on Facebook and Instagram, but for the first time, I want to share on my website so that patients – new and old – can learn more about me.

I didn't always know I wanted to be a chiropractor. I wasn't born into a family with a long line of chiropractic doctors. I didn't have my first adjustment until after I started chiropractic school.  I'd be lying if I said that I chose chiropractic as my profession. Instead, Chiropractic chose me. It chose me because of my superpower: my disability.

Before I was born, the amnion of the sac I was developing in partially tore. This created bands of scar tissue inside the sac. Those bands wrapped around my hands and strangled them, so my hands look and function differently. The bands also restricted my spacial room in utero. That lack of space forced my right foot to curl under my body, creating a club foot and a twisting effect on my spine.

The medical term for my condition is called Amniotic Band Syndrome. It's a spontaneous phenomenon that occurs in 1 out of every 2,000 pregnancies, but only 1 in 10,000 live births. If the average person's odds of being born are 1 in 400 trillion, and I stack a 1 in 2,000 and a 1 in 10,000 chance on top of that? Let's just say I beat the odds at life. I already won, just by being born.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing more about my story – what it was like growing up with limb difference, what school was like, what my experience with the medical establishment was like, and my journey to where I am today. I hope you join me as I share about my superpower.

Why popping your own neck won't solve your neck problem

Chiropractors hear this all the time, "I crack my own neck, so I don't need a chiropractor." 

Before I unpack this statement, let's talk about the difference between "cracking" and getting adjusted. In a word, the difference is specificity. Chiropractors spend roughly 8 years learning about the human body and the chiropractic craft. It is impossible to get the same results chiropractors get without a chiropractic education.

"I feel better after I crack my neck, so it must have worked."

Cracking your neck releases endorphins, so you will experience a feeling of relief. However, that feeling will be temporary because you haven't addressed the CAUSE of your problem. Most people resort to more frequent cracking for relief, but that actually does more harm than good.  If you self-adjust too much, your joints will become unstable, and it will be difficult to keep a proper adjustment in place. 

FYI: Chiropractors NEVER adjust themselves, and you shouldn't, either. Instead, chiropractors get adjusted by other chiropractors.