By Pattie Stechschulte

Chiropractic changed Patricia McLean’s life.

About 20 years ago, she developed severe neck pain, and a young chiropractor used a gentle technique to bring her back to normal health. Shortly after, the two were married and she dedicated her life to chiropractic, commuting between Virginia and Georgia as she attended Life College.

Today, Dr. Patricia McLean has a busy oceanfront practice in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with her husband, Dr. Michael McLean, seeing up to 450 patients in a week. Besides a successful practice, she co-founded the Association for Research of Directional Non-Force Technique in 1984, in partnership with her husband; she is a co-founder of the Virginia Society of Chiropractic; an ICA Fellow; and a Board Member of the Life Foundation. In 1997, the Virginia Society of Chiropractic honored her as the Chiropractor of the Year.

She is also a popular speaker at local, state and national levels, including a Women in Chiropractic seminar series and Dynamic Essentials.

The McLeans have five children, two of them together, Lion and Beth; and three from previous marriages, Dr. Celeste McLean, Dr. Mirthra Green, who are chiropractors, and Demian, who works for Amazon.com in Seattle.

McLean is an inspiration for the way she strives every day to maintain the balance of her service and dedication to God, her family, patients and community.

In a question and answer session, she shared her thoughts on her profession and her sources for motivation and inspiration.

Why did you decide on a career in chiropractic?

McLean: I had an auto accident at 15, and I suffered for a really long time with neck problems. I had seen a chiropractor for ten years, but I had a tumor on my neck and I couldn’t turn my head. My chiropractor referred me to Mike McLean because he knew he used directional non-force technique. It was a very gentle adjusting technique he used to adjust me, because the pain would not let me turn my neck. But I thought that this chiropractor was just trying to get rid of me, because my problem was so horrible.

My medical doctor thought I had Hodgkin’s disease and wanted to get a biopsy. She asked me about my health insurance (I didn’t have any), and then she told me to come back when I decided what to do.

What I could afford was to go down to the waffle shop with my girlfriend to have a cup of coffee. Mike McLean was sitting at the counter, when somebody said, ‘You have got to go to my chiropractor, you can’t even turn your head.’ They pointed to Mike. This was twice in one week that somebody has tried to send me to him.

So, I showed him this big swollen area on my neck, and I asked if he had ever seen anything that looks like this. He said it looked like a chiropractic problem. I walked over to the phone and made an appointment with his office.

Sure enough, my problem was caused 14 years ago by the car accident. He was able to start correcting the problem. In about three months, my symptoms went away, and in about a year, I was back to normal. I decided to go to chiropractic school. It was really, really amazing.

I am the type of person that I don’t believe anything unless I see it. I am very skeptical. I like repeatable results; I like a system. My goal had been to go to medical school, but when I saw that there were repeatable results (with chiropractic) and I learned from Mike about the true philosophy of chiropractic, it was actually the only thing that ever made sense to me.

Was it difficult making the transition from student to chiropractor?

McLean: Mike had been in practice for about six years, and I came into practice in his 10th year of practice. It was very easy, but the hardest part was that I was so beyond ready to practice when I got out of chiropractic school. It’s hard to describe. It’s like having a Ferrari that is up on blocks. You put the pedals to the metal, but the wheels just spin.

In the beginning, you have to get patients, you have to communicate with people, and also you have to balance your family life. It was so much simpler to be in a practice compared to the educational process.

Mike has been my greatest mentor and teacher, because he has supported me in so many ways. He has taught me how to have a successful practice; he taught me about chiropractic philosophy; he helped with my technique; and he helped me understand the necessity of giving back to the profession through local and national organizations, and how to devote 100 percent of our life to God and chiropractic.

How do you view chiropractic?

McLean: I think that chiropractic is one of the most profound discoveries ever been made for the benefit of mankind, because it is such an amazing profession. I think that the depth which chiropractic reaches does touch on a magical, sacred place in history. I hope that everyone in the world will be able to experience this terrific benefit – physically and spiritually – that chiropractic has to offer. That is my goal.

Is chiropractic a good career choice for women?

McLean: One of the amazing things about the chiropractic profession is that there is a good balance for men and women in chiropractic. I think it is an advantage to be a female chiropractor because so many female patients would like to have a female doctor.

I think that there have been many mentoring opportunities for me in both directions. I have been able to help mentor other chiropractors, both male and female. I have had many male mentors who have helped me tremendously to serve chiropractic.

Describe your typical day.

McLean: I get up and work out, then I do my meditation and spiritual work. I go to the office, which is a very busy straight practice where we do only LightForce technique, which is very gentle. We are involved in some research projects, and I might give a talk to a group of children or an organization. There is really no typical day. I am usually actively working with patients.

What research projects you are involved in?

McLean: We both studied with Dr. Richard Van Rumpt, for a technique that he developed called directional non-force technique. It is what inspired me to get involved in chiropractic because of its gentle nature and its very specific adjusting focus.

During the time we have been using it, my husband and I have developed it into a corrective care technique that we use to do spinal corrections. With the research, we have developed the technique called LightForce technique, which has really been the focus of our work for the last 15 years.

What is your greatest accomplishment?

McLean: My greatest professional accomplishment is working with each individual patient on being able to give them the adjustment they need and the time. On the other hand, my greatest accomplishment is keeping a balance of family, chiropractic, life, and to be able to serve God in the best possible way wherever I am called.

How do you give back to the profession?

McLean: We are very involved in local, state and national political action since we only live about three and half hours from D.C. Whatever is necessary to do, we do work for all kinds of projects for the ICA or the state organization has lined up for us. We go where we are needed. When you get involved in any organization, you do anything. I am involved in doing whatever it takes to help chiropractic.

I started getting involved with the ICA in chiropractic school, and I have been a state representative. I am involved in helping. At this point, my husband is a board member, so we work as a team. We definitely have attended a lot of political functions where we get to know our legislators and get to know what is needed to help the chiropractic profession.

[return to top]