A conversation with Dr. Shulman

Q: When did you know that you wanted to be a chiropractor?

A: I was in University at the time, studying biology. All my life I knew that I wanted to become a Doctor in order to help people achieve a level of health that would allow them to do all the things they love to do. I have medical doctors in my family, so I naturally thought that I was on my way into med school.

In second year university I began to get some serious headaches. They were very debilitating and often kept me in bed for the day. I went to my MD who I respected and admired and told him about my headaches, looking for some help. He offered me medication for them. I had never liked to take medication, it never made sense to me unless it was an emergency situation. I explained to my MD that I didn’t want to take the drugs on a regular basis because I knew that there would be more stress in my life and therefore, more headaches. I didn’t want to be on drugs forever. He explained to me that there was nothing else he could do for me.

I was shocked. I knew that there had to be some way of getting to the underlying cause of my headaches, I just didn’t know how. I began to study different forms of healing. Someone suggested that I look into Chiropractic so I made an appointment at a local chiropractor’s office. He took the time to explain how he was going to take a history, do an examination and possibly send me for Xrays. He was checking to see if there was a bone in my spine that was irritating a nerve, causing my headaches. I learned that studies have shown that most headaches originate from the structures in the neck.

I began getting adjusted and not only did my headaches disappear, other symptoms I had never even told the chiropractor about resolved as well. When everyone around me was sick, I seemed to be staying healthy. (I later realized that my nerve system even controls my immune system). I was so inspired, I decided not to go to med school and “fast tracked” extra courses in university to allow me to get into Chiropractic College. (Which I later found out was the same number of years of schooling as Medical school). I have now been in practice for over 15 years and get to “pay it forward” on a daily basis.

You can only imagine how grateful I am for those headaches. Not only do I get to do something I love every day, I often reflect on where my health would be if I had gone down a different route and taken that medication over 20 years ago.