At the time the trained builder was left “black and blue” and after six months of treatment he was still unable to work or walk unaided. Frustrated by his slow recovery, he was advised to try something different and was given the name of Wellington chiropractor Cyril Phelps.

He said Phelps changed his life.

“He was a great man and a great doctor. He took me with him. I said, ‘I don’t have much,’ but he said, ‘Let’s not worry about money.’ Let’s worry about making you better,’ and I’ve never forgotten that,” he said.

“I finally felt myself again and set out again.”

It was Phelps’ suggestion that Whitehead study to become a chiropractor. So the 23-year-old packed up his family and moved to the United States to attend college.

It was a brave move. It was a different healthcare environment back then and there were skepticism about the practice, but he believed in what he was doing.

“This was viewed as something new. In the USA, they were putting people in jail because they didn’t have a driver’s license. But it was good in a way. “This made me even more focused and determined,” he said.

Whitehead had worked day and night to save the £1,200 needed to sail to the USA. To earn extra money, he played guitar and sang in a band on weekends. Back then, he said, you could buy a house for £700 and a new car for £300, so spending that money and uprooting a young family was a leap of faith.

He continued to play music in jazz and rock bands—even a polka band—on weekends in New York, often in places like Long Island and crowded venues like Hell’s Inferno, as a way to support his young family while he studied.

“It was great money. We can earn $1200 a week. “It was really crazy,” he said.

In 1962, young Dr. He graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Whitehead, Iowa, and later pursued graduate studies at Thompson Chiropractic Clinic, Gonstead Chiropractic Clinic, and Parker Chiropractic Research Foundation.

Returning to New Zealand four years later with a full licence, the family was passing through Palmerston North on a beautiful spring day in the Ford Fairlane they had brought from the USA, and they pulled into the city.

“The sun had risen, the trees were in bloom. “She looked so beautiful.”

So he started asking around for a suitable home to set up his new practice and eventually found one on Featherston St.

The Ford was sold and the money was used to help establish the clinic. It didn’t take long for the news to spread and any doubts about whether building customers would take time were soon dispelled.

Often there would be a row of rubber boots in front of the door. Soon an independent clinic was built next to their home.

But despite a book full of glowing references, doubts about the profession remained. Whitehead returned to the United States and joined other professionals in a protest march to the White House to create change; it was his faith and belief in the practice.

New Zealand established its own Royal Commission of Inquiry into the practice in 1978; Ironically, he said, this served to give credence to the profession’s findings. As a result, chiropractic gained greater prestige and became more incorporated into established medical and government institutions.

“It’s all water under the bridge now,” he said.

“The most important thing is to know what you know and to know that it is true. When there is doubt, it is not the same as when you are strong in your faith.”

In 1978, Whitehead was named Chiropractor of the Year by the Parker Chiropractic Research Foundation, USA, for his outstanding contributions and dedicated service to the field of chiropractic. . He was the first New Zealander and only Australasian to receive a postgraduate certificate from the Gonstead Chiropractic Clinic in 1971.

He has always embraced technology, purchasing one of the first computers on the market to assist with management. The clinic was able to take x-rays in the 1980s and purchased a mobile x-ray machine. Nowadays the entire building operates as a private clinic.

Today, at age 89, she is still interested in case management and remains as passionate as when she first started her career. He has been able to pass on his love of the profession by working with his daughter, Jodie Whitehead-Wilson, for the last 30 years, as well as his son-in-law, Mark Wilson, and his grandson, Carson Taare, who will graduate from the New Zealand College of Chiropractic. in Auckland.

In addition to being named New Zealand Chiropractor of the Year, he was also awarded the New Zealand Chiropractic Order.

Looking back, it all started with that serious back injury and Dr. It surprises him that it started with a chance meeting with Phelps.

“It was an exciting journey. I keep smiling about this. How did everything happen? he said.