As the summer draws to a close, Autumn opens a new chapter for us to celebrate life. Among the beauty of the leaves changing, the pumpkin spice, and the upcoming job fair, this season encourages moments of reflection as we look forward to the future.
Dr. Cynthia Boyd looks back on her time at Life West, gives insight into her chiropractic biophysics practice, and valuable tips for picking an associateship:
Do you remember your time at Life West during graduation and did you feel like you knew what direction you wanted to take?
Cynthia Boyd: Yes, I was very clear on [my] direction. I was very involved with chiropractic biophysics from the start of my time at Life West. I actually entered Life West knowing that I wanted to practice chiropractic biophysics and it was the reason that I chose to go to Life West. At the time, it was the only school that I knew I could practice chiropractic biophysics technique in the clinic. So, I chose to go to school at Life West and then basically attended chiropractic biophysics seminars, and I was very involved in the club on campus through out my time there. I practiced my technique in-clinic and finished ready to open my practice based on that experience.
What year did you start Life West and what year did you end?
CB: 2001-2005
What made you decide on your Chiropractic Biophysics Specialty?
CB: I was influenced by Dr. Tommy Dandrea. He was my mentor chiropractor in New Jersey. At the time, he was seeing multiple patients with multiple sclerosis who were making impressive improvements in their health by way of undergoing chiropractic biophysics protocols. Watching that firsthand was eye-opening because I had watched my grandfather be very sick for most of my life. [He was] going through the medical system and he only got worse.
But here where this collection of patients that all had the same symptoms who were all getting better. So I was influenced by that experience and watching the reverse.
At that time I thought I wanted to go to nursing school, but I realized I wanted to be in a profession that was about healing and health not pharmaceuticals.
What goes into running multiple chiropractic offices?
CB: That’s a loaded question (laughs). I don’t know if it’s the smartest decision, but it happened. There is a lot of work. The reality is that it is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. It’s also about having the right team and the right people that are working alongside you. That is what has made my practice what it is. It is the people that I can lean on to help implement and make the team come alive. It’s about having the right collection of people with various skillsets and knowing what I’m not good at and delegating those things to others.
What are the key benefits of an associateship?
CB: Over the years we’ve had multiple associates and pre(postceptors/ceptors) from Life West and I choose Life West students because there is a very strong presence of Biophysics on campus, and my clinic is profoundly rooted in chiropractic biophysics.
It’s a technique that takes quite some time and extra training outside of the baseline curriculum, so Life West has always been great because there’s always an interest in that technique on campus. Because it’s not really a large focus of baseline chiropractic education, those who want to practice that technique really need to have the experience in a clinic to learn what they need to know to open up a practice. So, doing an associateship/preceptorship/postceptorship allows a student to have an experience that they wouldn’t have in a clinic setting, and that goes from baseline learning how to communicate with patients, talk to them about finances – what care costs – how to apply the technique, how to even understand how insurance, billing and coding works, the legal aspects of seeing patients as far as compliance goes, and so much more.
There’s a lot of things that I don’t think we learn in our chiropractic education, and you benefit from being an associate because you learn from real-life practices. Especially in a chiropractic biophysics clinic. It’s unique from traditional schooling.
What key traits do you look for when filling your positions?
CB: I have found that over the years the best combination of things/traits of an associate/preceptor/postceptor are those students who have gone out of their way to do additional seminars and training outside of the baseline curriculum. That, mixed with the right personality, and the right fit to blend in with an existing team.
A lot of things we can train people on when it comes to a skillset. But, it can be hard to find the right personality, because that personality needs to work best with the team, and with the patients.
Also, the drive to learn. There are just there all about themselves and what they can learn from us, but it’s really a dual relationship, and how we can help each other,
As a “wholistic” professional, what natural remedies for immune boosters during this season do you recommend for your clients?
CB: There’s something to be said for the amount of research that is done on vitamin D-3. And good old-fashioned sunshine. It’s overwhelming the studies, it’s one of the least expensive and well-studied things you can supplement with
I’m also heavily influenced by Dr. Dan Murphy, and I regularly continue to attend his conferences and follow his nutrition advice. I pass it on to my patients as well.
