Feature -- by Berenice Gargus

Dr. Gary Klaudt runs two chiropractic practices in Calgary.

Dr. Gary Klaudt has been a chiropractor for just under 15 years, 13 of them in Calgary. He currently has two locations for his practice: Eau Claire Chiropractic and Millennium Chiropractic in the Shell Centre. NextSteps spoke with him at the end of his business day - in between him seeing his last patient and interviewing potential massage therapists to work at the clinic.

nextSteps: How did you discover chiropractic?

Dr. Gary Klaudt: One of my acquaintances was a chiropractor and recommended I see her for a low back problem. I saw some good results and stopped care once the pain went away.

I remember the chiropractor saying to me if you don't take care of this now, you're going to pay for it down the road. I didn't believe her and one year to the date of that first incident, I had my second back incident where I herniated a disc. And I was in dire straights for a very long period of time.

Because of the results I felt through chiropractic, I thought I might enter the field. I was working in the oil patch and we were going through a recession. I couldn't climb in my advancement of my career but I could go laterally. So, I thought either go laterally or change my career and I decided to change my career. And then I went to the States.

nextSteps: That's where you studied?

Dr. Gary: Yes, Palmer West. At that time [it] was in Sunny Vale California, Silicon Valley. It's been moved to San Jose and, because of the high price of schooling in the San Francisco Bay area, they're now thinking of moving the school to Fulsome County in Sacramento in 2006.

nextSteps: Do you recommend getting an education in the US or at Toronto's Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College?

Dr. Gary: There are pros and cons [for either]. I prefer the States because you can go through a four-year program in three years. Whereas in Toronto you have to take the summers off so it's a four-year program regardless. In Palmer West or some of the other American schools, you are on a quarterly or a trimester system and they just keep going with no break.

nextSteps: What's your workday like?

Dr. Gary: There are days when I'm just having fun, like on Saturdays. I'll probably see between 40 and 50 patients in a four-hour period, because I'm flowing, I'm seeing families. I'm not seeing a lot of critical stress-related conditions. And of course, I'm not seeing a lot of new patients [or doing a] report of findings, which takes more time.

nextSteps: And on a typical weekday?

Dr. Gary: Between the two practices I probably see anywhere from 40 to 60 patients depending on how busy I am. If I'm going on holidays, probably 70. Everybody wants to get in at the last moment.

nextSteps: Do chiropractors develop problems with repetitive stress disorders?

Dr. Gary: Generally no, but I remember my first year of practice was in California, and a gal that I was working with broke her wrist ice skating and so I had to take all her patients on while she was recuperating. My wrists were extremely sore for a month. I had to ice them after hours.

But once you perform so many adjustments, you do them precisely. There's no harm to the patient and no harm to yourself. In fact, that's how certain chiropractors end their career. If they're not watching their adjustments and they keep being sloppy, the forces come back on them and they create a repetitive stress syndrome or a carpal tunnel syndrome. Arthritis.

nextSteps: Do you have a specialization?

Dr. Gary: I have two. One is in pediatrics. I have a lot of experience with kids and families. I did my initial work in that area and then over time, I also got interested in biomechanics of the spine. I have a fellowship in something called Applied Spinal Biomechanical Engineering. That was extra work taken out of the school context to learn to study how the spine moves under loading conditions and [to aid in analysis].

nextSteps: What diagnostic tools do you use?

Dr. Gary: I use surface electromyography, thermography, x-ray, motion palpation. I do a biophysics analysis - which means I'm doing some visualization, where you have the person close their eyes and have them move. You take the stimulus away from their perception and then you can see if something's acting worn, let's say in a certain muscle group or a certain area in the spine where more neurological domination has taken place. You can kind of map it with that technique. But [I use] a lot of x-rays.

nextSteps: I understand the education for chiropractors is ongoing, with 75 hours of continuing education required every three years.

Dr. Gary: Yes. More, I think, in Alberta than in any other place in Canada - and [possibly] the States. That's like two seminars a year.

A weekend seminar is about 12 hours. But if you're in Alberta, you're at least doing two full weekends. [Most] states say just one weekend is all you need.

nextSteps: The OCCinfo website suggests that general income for chiropractors is $60,000 - $100,000/yr. Is this accurate?

Dr. Gary: [Perhaps] on the average across Canada. I would say that the propensity to make more is there. In Alberta it's probably in that range because, especially in Calgary, there's a lot of competition.

If you're a good chiropractor you can make more. You can make, I would say, easily $150,000/yr net if you're all-purpose and you know what you're doing. Some chiropractors are making more money than that. Some people see 100 patients a day.

nextSteps: How is it possible to see that many patients?

Dr. Gary: They're doing different techniques and they have more staff [etc.]. It depends on the philosophy of the doctor and how they want to run the practice. If you're only doing upper cervical [adjustments] you might be able to easily see 100 patients a day: you're only doing one segment of the spine. Whereas for someone who's doing full spine work, 100 patients is almost impossible.

nextSteps: Some people are anti-chiropractic and don't believe in its value. How do you deal with this?

Dr. Gary: To be positive, initially, and if you can't change their attitude with some positive responses then I might turn it into a jest, to switch it around. A lot of people are misinformed and so I always say don't be negative about it unless you've experienced it yourself.

People who've had a bad experience [have] vowed they would never go back. If they had a bad dental experience they would obviously go back to see another dentist. Give it another chance.

I was at my son's hockey practice the other day. One of the mothers looked right at me and said, 'No offense but I don't believe in chiropractic'. So I tried to reeducate her a little bit. We go to school for 7 years plus, we spend well over $100,000 [US] in tuition and living costs. I can't understand anybody who would want to go to school that long and be in debt that long if the profession was not effective. If it wasn't a rewarding profession.

nextSteps: What is the most rewarding aspect of your practice?

Dr. Gary: Seeing people that have tried everything that go to chiropractic and see the results within a short period of time. Seeing children respond with no interference. As an adult or as a teenager we have years and years [of wear and tear and] there may be layers of damage. For a newborn or a young infant dramatic changes occur with the child. Miracles that you wouldn't otherwise see. It's pretty spectacular.

nextSteps: And the most challenging?

Dr. Gary: Always being on-track. Every day. Can't have a down day. Can't shut the door and put my feet on the desk and say I'm not feeling well today, I don't want to see people. You have to be upbeat every single day, otherwise you're not going to be effective. And having to perform every day. Not to be messy with your adjustments or not giving a great focus to your patient every moment.

nextSteps: Do you need to be a savvy businessperson to be a successful chiropractic doctor?

Dr. Gary: Yes. I think a lot of chiropractors that graduate, that's the thing that they fail at. They don't have the business understanding. I was fortunate, I [studied] business classes practical to chiropractic so I was able to understand how to run a business and hopefully market myself.

nextSteps: Any advice you'd give to young people who are interesting in pursuing this career?

Dr. Gary: First of all, become a patient. See what it can do for you. [Then] look at what the whole profession is doing. You'll get a better perspective for yourself, and what you want to do.

See as many chiropractor's offices and different techniques as you can before you go to school, and then when you graduate do the same thing. There are so many different facets to our profession. Some people only do low back pain, some only do upper cervical and of course there's a vast variety of us that do full spine and do family care, for the right reasons.

nextSteps: For the right reasons?

Dr. Gary: Some [doctors] only want to see people for low back pain. I find that chiropractic is more than that. Chiropractic, when it first came out in the late 1800s, was for visceral somatic dysfunctions, which is like problems with organs and diabetes and high blood pressure. It wasn't for neck and back pain and headaches, it was for changing quality of life.

Since the insurance companies have come on board chiropractic has gone into more of a back pain, low back neck thing because of reimbursements. You have to validate what you're doing: it's hard to validate to see a person for gall bladder disease or woman problems. And so I think we've lost our identity a little bit.

nextSteps: So chiropractic is a holistic medicine.

Dr. Gary: It's really holistic, but there are some chiropractors that don't look at it [that way] and that's why I say be broad spectrum when you're looking at going into this career. [That way you'll] experience what the essence of having a healthy nervous system is all about.

nextSteps: Do you go for adjustments?

Dr. Gary: I go once a week, still, after 20-some years. I perform better, I have more energy, more focus. If I don't get adjusted I start to lose my focus and I'm not as precise and all-purpose as I can be.

nextSteps: Are you adjusted by one of your partners in the practice?

Dr. Gary: Currently I don't have any partners. I'm in the market for [some]. Again, if you're not on purpose and you're not doing great business you won't be as successful - especially in the Calgary market because it's more competitive.

Recommended reading and links

Dr. Gary: Chiropractic First by Terry Ronberg

International Chiropractors Association

Canadian Chiropractic Association

American Chiropractic Association

College of Chiropractors of Alberta

Accredited Colleges

Student Canadian Chiropractic Association

International Chiropractic Pediatric Association

The Georgia Straight reviews two books, one for and one against chiropractic medicine.