In 1989, I became a chiropractor, but it wasn’t until 1993 that I found chiropractic.

When I graduated in 1989 from Life Chiropractic College, I was $100,000 in debt. I was scared, and I didn’t know what to do. After a brief associateship, I decided to open up my own practice. But since I was in debt, scared, lost and so far away from chiropractic philosophy, I thought I would be able to mix procedures, using subluxation-based chiropractic and machines for ultrasound and muscle stimulation, because I needed to pay the bills.

Struggling In Practice

Then, in July 1993, something happened to me in my clinic. I was doing ultrasound on a patient named Pat. I had done ultrasound on her during every visit for the last three years. She was one of the few patients who actually stayed with me, because honestly, at that time, my practice was failing.

So, as I was doing ultrasound on Pat, by her sacroiliac joint like I had always done, suddenly she began writhing in pain, exclaiming, "Oh my God! Oh my God!"

I slowed my circular motion around her sacroiliac joint and I asked hesitantly, "Pat, are you okay?" And she answered, "Oh my God! I’m in so much pain, I can’t breathe!"

I could hear the pain in her voice, and she was hoarse from not being able to take a breath in. I quickly turned off the ultrasound and stood there, watching Pat wiggle, like a fish out of water, on my table. I said to myself, "What have I done?" I broke out into a cold sweat, and thoughts of malpractice flew through my head. All I saw was my name in bold headlines. I saw my life – and what little practice I had – going down the tubes.

But luckily, I relied on my knowledge in physics, which I had studied several years before chiropractic school. My basic understanding of physics told me that if ultrasound, which produces heat, caused this, then maybe ice, which produces cold, would undo it. I ran to my refrigerator, got one of my many cold packs and applied it to her sacroiliac joint. In about 10 minutes, Pat got up from the table and walked out of the office. She actually remained a patient, to my great surprise.

As Pat left the office, I was in tears. She was my last patient for the morning, and I cried all the way home. I cried in my wife’s arms, and I said, "Lisa, this is it. I have had it. If this is what chiropractic is, I don’t want it anymore. I am fed up. I can’t live this way. I can’t live not knowing, and not having predictability."

That’s the problem with machines. They have no predictability. With an adjustment, you have total predictability. I can do the same thing over and over again and know the results, and there are no side effects. Machines are like drugs, because you don’t know what’s going to happen. I could not deal with that unpredictability anymore. It was too much for me to handle.

So I said, "Lisa, I am ready to quit. I am ready to just get out of this thing." My wife, who has been such a rock for me, and such a blessing in my life, said, "No, Drew. Everyone has been telling us to go to Dynamic Essentials. Let’s go one more time, and see if we can finally get the message and figure this out. Let’s go one more time and give it a shot."

An Eye-Opening Experience

Lisa and I went to DE in late July 1993, and we sat on the third row for Dr. Sid Williams’ Thursday introduction.

Dr. Sid had not been speaking for more than three or four minutes when he told this amazing story: "There was a garbage dump in Marietta, right down the road from the school, and it was huge. It was piled so high that they couldn’t put any more garbage on it. But one fellow, who was an architect and engineer, said, ‘This would be an awesome spot for a magnificent mall. A magnificent huge mall.’

"And do you know what he did? He took a bunch of construction machinery and he leveled that garbage dump, and right on top of the garbage, he built the castle of his dreams, the mall of his dreams – on top of the garbage. He didn’t excavate all of the garbage. He built on top of the garbage."

I sat there in the audience, three minutes into the DE experience, stunned, saying to myself, "Wow! I never thought about it like that!" I don’t even think Dr. Sid realized the impact of what he had said to the audience and to myself, in particular.

For years, after graduating from chiropractic school, I had tried to figure out my life and why it wasn’t working. I kept talking to that little inner child and asking, "What’s going on in there?" But instead, I suddenly realized that I didn’t have to wait anymore. I didn’t have to excavate, to dig, to delve, to find out what was wrong. All I had to do was build the castle of my dreams on top of the garbage heap.

That was one of the most powerful moments of my life. On Monday morning after DE, one of my first patients was a woman whose husband was a recently graduated physical therapist.

"Jennifer, do you think your husband Scott wants some ultrasound and some muscle stim units?" I asked.

She looked at me with puzzled eyes and said, "Sure."

I said, "Great! Wait right here."

I ran to the back of the clinic and I brought her the ultrasound unit that I had unplugged a couple of weeks ago and a big tub of ultrasound gel. Then, I said, "Here, take the muscle stim. Wait a second …" I ran to the back closet and got all the little pads for the electrodes for the muscle stim, and said, "Here, take these. Hey, do you want a Hydrocollator, too?" She said, still confused by what was happening, "Sure, doc. Anything you say."

So I dumped the water out of the Hydrocollator and said, "Here’s the Hydrocollator, and here are the Hydrocollator pads. Oh, and let’s not forget, I have to get the Hydrocollator towels for you, too." So, I ran to the closet, opened it up, and I said excitedly, "OK, here’s everything."

Now, Jennifer is sitting in a roomful of stuff, and, being the gentleman, I asked her, "Do you want me to help you to the car?"

I took all of that junk, put it into her trunk, and said, "Bye, Jen, have a great day! I’ll see you Wednes-day." And she drove away, not really knowing what had happened.

That day changed my life. The most amazing thing about it was that I was still paying for those machines. I had a five-year lease on those machines, and had only paid 3-1/2 years of it, but I gladly paid for them to be out of my office.

A Renewed Focus

Then, everything changed.

Everything miraculously changed.

In less than three months, my practice tripled. And I did nothing different. I didn‘t have any new videos. I didn’t have any new posters. I didn’t have any new marketing schemes. I didn’t do anything different. But the difference was between my ears. That’s what was different.

It changed my life. My life became totally unique and special. And because I was different, people were attracted to my office like a magnet.

It took four years of searching as a chiropractor until I finally found chiropractic. I graduated in 1989 as a chiropractor, but I didn’t fall in love again with chiropractic until 1993. I needed those extra years to grow, to learn and to face challenges.

Hopefully, my story will touch someone who is searching. As B.J. Palmer said, listen to the "wee small voice." It is always right.

About the author: Drew Rubin, D.C., a 1989 Life Chiropractic College graduate, is in practice in Cresskill, N.J. He is the author of the novel, The Adjustment, and is working on a sequel, The Acceptance. Inquiries may be addressed to him at 310 Knickerbocker Rd., Cresskill, NJ 07626; E-mail at rubinchiropractic@excelonline; or through his Web site, www.theadjustment.com.