Kenneth J. Erickson, DC, PhD

My journey into the healing arts began as a young competitive power lifter. The gym I worked out at was used by a few local chiropractors as well as medical doctors. I was immediately drawn to the chiropractor's energy and overall approach to life. It seemed to be life affirming, and focused on health and well-being rather than the seemingly negative perspective that disease, infirmity and death was unavoidable and imminent. 

 

Working as a journeyman electrician gave me a good basis in how electricity functioned and perhaps more importantly, how to think through a problem in a logical and disciplined manner. Skills that would prove invaluable in my later ventures into the wiring of the human body. 

 

A very fortuitous meeting with Dr. Herbert Heineman (my childhood friend's grandfather) led me to an early interest in General Systems Theory, and in short, how all things are interconnected and interdependent.  These seemingly separate subjects would one day blend into a cohesive unified perspective that guides me to this day.

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Having entered into my Chiropractic training unaware of the history and beginnings of the profession, I was shocked to learn that chiropractic began with the restoration of a man's hearing after receiving a corrective adjustment to his spine, and had nothing to do with pain. Seeking to understand the physiological under pinnings that would make this a reality, I was introduced to the study of Neurology. This was a life changing event, in that it took me on a journey of self-exploration that lead me to a doctoral program in one of the top universities in the world, St. Martin's College/Lancaster University in Lancaster England. 

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While immersed in my doctoral studies, I was able to bring together my interest in Systems Thinking, Clinical Neurology, and brain function into an integral model of health care in which both subjective and objective views are honored in their singular and collective forms. I examined how people made sense of and assigned meaning to unexpected and unintended consequences of chiropractic  treatment and the implications of  that knowledge upon clinical practice.

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After nearly a lifetime of dedicated study and exploration into these various aspects of the human experience, what has emerged is my approach to clinical practice; in which the traditional role of the practitioner and patient is seen as a collaboration between two people sharing a common goal to align with a more coherent relationship in which the person is able to achieve a more balanced state, not only physically, but emotionally and psychologically.