Why I got in to integrative medicine

Eugene’s Story

I wanted to be a baseball pitcher, so I would pitch every day that I could. One day, when I was 12 years old, I woke up and could barely move my arm. My mother worked in a hospital, but no doctor could tell me what was wrong.

The little league worked with a local chiropractor who examined me and said that I had overdone it and caused a misalignment of my elbow and a vertebra in my neck that controlled the arm. He restored normal motion to my neck and elbow, and in no time my arm was as good as new. However, my passion switched from wanting to be a pitcher to wanting to be a Doctor of Chiropractic and help other pitchers. This started me on my journey into integrative medicine.

Thinking that once I became trained in chiropractic, I would find the solution to my problem, I enrolled in The Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. In my second term, I was perplexed and frustrated that despite my training, I could not find the source of my condition. Not even my experienced teachers could help relieve

my pain. A classmate told me about a cutting-edge discipline known as Applied Kinesiology (AK). Though it was not taught at school at the time, it had the reputation as being miraculous for its ability to tap the body’s innate healing power. I saw some impressive demonstrations of AK by upper classmates and became intrigued. As it happened, the founder of AK, George Goodheart, was giving a weekend seminar nearby. I decided I would go to the source to learn more about it. Little did I know that it would be a life-changing experience for me.        

At the seminar, Dr. Goodheart taught about many conditions that could be helped AK methodologies. I listened intently as he said, “Athletes are finely tuned and need to be finely treated.”

Then he specifically talked about how this new approach could dramatically help with athletic injuries. I. was thoroughly impressed by the depth of his knowledge as well as his humility about what he discovered.

After the presentation, I went up to him and shared the story about my ongoing shoulder condition with him. He listened intensely, then asked three specific questions: how it began, where the pain was localized, and what treatments I had undergone. Literally, within minutes, he diagnosed the source of my problem: a slightly separated acromioclavicular joint detectable only through muscle testing and a procedure known as extremity challenging, both specific to AK.

Right on the conference floor, he gave me a light chiropractic adjustment to the shoulder joint. I felt relief for the first time in years. He then prescribed advice about what to do to accelerate the healing process for the strained ligament: how to tape the shoulder properly; some specific exercises and changes in my diet and nutrition. I took detailed notes and left with hope for relief.

Within three months my shoulder was completely cured. I had begun my journey to true health that I follow to this day. Ever since this personal experience of being healed by AK, I have been excited about AK and have made it my life’s work.

—Eugene, DC, DIBAK