I got to do really cool stuff in undergrad, like design, build, and test an EKG. My senior project was spent at Parkland in OR assisting an anaesthesiologist with data collection for a heart rate variability study. So, as far as the huge change from engineering to health-care wellness, it's not really a huge change. My goal is to be wellness professional who utilizes chiropractic to facilitate improved wellness in my future patients. I've been working in quality engineering for more years than I want to admit - it's all about prevention versus appraisal. It's easier to prevent a defect, than to rework it later. The corollary with health & wellness is that it is easier (& less painful) to prevent disease, that to treat it later. And, the human body was created by one AWESOME multi-disciplined engineer.

Now to the second part of folks questioning about the change, Chiropractors are real doctors. Chiropractic is drug-free treatment for DIS-ease. If you fix the DIS-ease, can disease be prevented? Remember, it's all about prevention versus appraisal. Chiropractic is not new - it's not a "flash in the pan". Ancient texts from Hippocrates mention spinal manipulation. In Chinese records dating to 2700 BC, manipulation of the joints part of standard care. Ancient Egyptian records from 1500 BC relate proper spinal alignment to healthier stronger bodies. Back-walking is pictured on hieroglyphs of ancient native people in the Americas.

Hippocrates said, “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.” Claudius Galen was known as the Prince of Physicians after he cured a Roman scholar, Eudemus, of a paralyzed right hand by “adjusting” his neck. If you know anything about spinal nerve origins & terminations, it's easy to see how Galen made this kind of impact on Eudemus.

It was not known as "Chiropractic" until a somewhat over 100 years ago. DD Palmer performed his first adjustment on a deaf Harvey Lillard. A short time later, Lillard starting to see improvement in his auditory capability. But wait! Hearing is controlled by cranial nerve eight - hearing is not "controlled" by any of the spinal nerves. Right? Thus has been a very long controversy about the possibility that a link could exist between the Harvey Lillard's spinal adjustment at the hands of DD Palmer and the return of Harvey's hearing. Critics have long claimed that it was not possible for a spinal adjustment to affect certain areas, including the brain, because the spinal nerves do not enter into the encephalon. However, today, anatomists & neurologists know that sympathetic nerves arising in the lateral horns of the upper thoracic spinal levels form the upper cervical ganglion with postganglionic fibers ascending to supply, DRUM ROLL PLEASE, blood vessels of the BRAIN. So, if there was an interuption in the signals to the blood vessels supplying the brain, could that not cause any number of nuerological manifestations, including but not limited to a loss of hearing?

D.D. Palmer (the founder of chiropractic & Palmer College of Chiropractic) did not “invent” manipulation of the spine, however, he is due credit for reviving, refining, and advancing it as a powerful wellness tool. Many of the earliest chiropractors were MDs.

Lack of research has long been one of the main reasons claimed by detractors as proof that chiropractic medicine is not real. What is not disclosed by those detractors is that when chiropractic is referenced as "quackery" by groups that sought to destroy chiropractic (by eliminating the competition), is that there has long been a strong lobby against research dollars being granted in chiropractic. now that more research dollars are making it to chiropractic, we are seeing some evience of what DD Palmer proclaimed over 100 years ago. Even more amazing is that some of the geminal studies on the spine & how spinal health impacts the human body have been done by other other health-care professionals. And, these studies actually support the efficacy and foundation of chiropractic.

The relationship between individual doctors is much better today as most doctors, regardless of specialization, want the best care possible for thier patient, but our national professional organizations and some individuals on both sides still don't see eye-to-eye. It's really quite sad because when we don't work together, the patient loses.

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