02/06/2024
Meet Dr. Mickey Burt, our Featured Doctor of the trimester! Dr. Burt graduated from Palmer in 1973. In 1974, he and his wife Karla opened Burt Clinic of Chiropractic in Walcott, IA, where he now practices with his three sons. Keep reading to learn more about Dr. Mickey Burt!
1. What year did you graduate?
I graduated from Palmer in December of 1973. I started my educational process at Palmer in October of 1968. Being the second oldest of nine children and coming from a blue collar family, going to college was considered a privilege and the cost of tuition was totally on me. At that time, there were no student loans to be a chiropractor, so I had to work full-time and go to school at the same time. Therefore, it took me a little longer to go through the program because of my finances, but it was well worth all of the long days and late nights.
Today, I am proud to say I have the privilege of practicing with my three sons: Dr. Chad who graduated in 2001, Dr. Bradley in 2002, and Dr. Austin in 2012. For the four of us, it’s always been about family and Chiropractic.
2. What made you decide that you wanted to pursue a career in chiropractic?
As a junior in high school, I was involved in a motor vehicle accident. My father was seeing a chiropractor at that time, and the chiropractor insisted my father make an appointment for me for a spinal evaluation. At that time, I was unimpressed with the idea of seeing a chiropractor, but after a few visits I began to notice a significant difference in how I was feeling. In the spring of my senior year, the chiropractor asked what my future intentions were. College was not on my radar because of my family’s financial status. He gave me an application for Palmer and asked me to fill it out and bring it back on my next visit. He said he would take care of the rest.
For me, the program was stressful- working full-time and going to school at the same time. I was not sure as I progressed through the program that I had made the right choice until I started my clinical work. It wasn’t until that time that I came to realize how impressive chiropractic was and how great a career in chiropractic would be. Upon graduating from Palmer, I was one of two doctors who received the clinical excellence award at graduation. My last year at Palmer and seeing patients was a life changing experience for me to say the least.
3. Do you have any advice for students before they graduate?
After being in practice for the past fifty years, the best advice I could possibly give to any student in a Chiropractic program is to develop a comprehensive understanding about all of the adjusting procedures that are taught at your college. There is no one adjusting procedure that will meet the needs of all the patients walking through your door for care. The second bit of advice I would give is to learn all you can about taking x-rays, doing pathological reads and most particularly, become proficient in doing the line analysis. When you become proficient at taking a history, doing a spinal, neuro, and orthopedic exam, taking the x-rays, analyzing the films and putting it all together, then taking that information and you can apply the appropriate adjusting procedure. You will soon find out just how powerful chiropractic is. Leave any one of those steps out of the equation and you will fall short with your desired outcome. I’ve been in practice now for fifty years. I show up to the office everyday committed to providing my patients with the best care possible. When you do it correctly, it’s not hard- it’s fun, and the results are amazing.
4. What techniques do you utilize in practice and what kind of patients do you see?
We use all of the adjusting technics taught at the Palmer: Gonstead, diversified, upper cervical toggle, Thompson drops, and we use Activator and Impulse adjusting instruments. We also do disc-decompression work for lumbar and cervical disc issues, along with other adjunctive procedures like cold laser, e-stim, and ultrasound.
Our primary focus with patients is to determine what sort of spinal instabilities (subluxations) they have, and if there are any other complicating factors that are associated with them. Once we know what we’re dealing with, we can then apply the appropriate adjusting procedure and treatment plan. Our office is known for treating patients of all ages and conditions. We do not limit our care to one or two types of patients.
In our office, we view Chiropractic like this: you cannot go your whole life without seeing a dentist and expect to a mouth full of healthy teeth. The same applies to chiropractic. You cannot go your whole life without seeing a chiropractor and expect to have a healthy spine. The difference between the two is that the spinal column houses and protects the spinal cord and nerve roots. Subluxations, fixations, DDD, and DJD all affect the functioning of the nervous system, which in turn has a profound effect on one’s overall health. Chiropractic care is not one or two adjustments here and there, it is a lifetime of regular chiropractic care from birth to burial. It happens no other way.
5. Do you have a favorite clinical case that you have seen?
Oh my God! I have a treasure chest full of favorite cases, but the one that stands out the most was a 40-year-old lady who come to see me while I was doing my internship at Palmer. She had been suffering with sciatica for six months and rated her pain as constant and 10/10. She was scheduled to have a surgical procedure the following week where they were going to cut the sciatica nerve in an effort to relieve her pain. Her family brought her into the Palmer clinic on a stretcher. It was a Wednesday afternoon, and I went through the whole process of doing the history, spinal, neuro, and orthopedic exam. I then came up with a diagnosis and subluxation level to adjust. I adjusted her, things went well, and I scheduled her back for a follow-up visit two days later. Much to my surprise, on her follow up visit she had very little pain and was able to walk into the clinic without any assistance. That evening, she and her husband went to a wedding reception and they danced. That was a true miracle, and because I then had started my practice in Walcott shortly after graduation, I had the privilege of taking care of her until she passed at the age of 87, and she had never had another bout of sciatica.
6. Are you part of your state Chiropractic Association? If so, what are the benefits?
I have always been a member of my state association and have served in it as an officer at both the local and state level over the years. It is important for all of us to be a member of our state association, because they are the ones who work day in and day out to protect our ability to practice. Currently, I’m serving my state association as a committee member for our educational and research foundation. I am proud to say all three of my sons have served, or are currently serving our state association in some capacity or another.
7. What is your favorite part about being a chiropractor every day?
Let me answer the question this way: the other day one of my sons was telling me about the encounter he had with one of his new patients. The patient informed him that he’s been suffering chronic pain through the shoulder and trapezius region, and it had gotten to the point where it was affecting his ability to work. He’s was prescribed pain killers, and had gone through a course of physical therapy, a spinal injection and an MRI with no relief or answers for the cause of his pain. On his second visit, he informed my son his pain was significantly improved. Now, this person is in healthcare and has the ability to the best healthcare possible. His comment to my son was, please explain what you did in the simplest form possible so I get it. Reason being, you’ve done something for me one else was able to do, or figure out, and I’d like to better understand what you found and did. This is what we do every day in our office. We listen to our patient’s chief complaint, and start the process of figuring out exactly what their problem is throughout the examination process, its complexities, and what treatment approach would be best. As chiropractors, we do things everyday other healthcare providers don’t do. We fill a void in healthcare that has been there forever, and many aspects of healthcare are starting to recognize the good work we do. The key to chiropractic’s success depends our commitment to excellence in the delivery of care.
In closing, let me leave you with this: Chiropractic and its ability to change lives will never let us down. It is us, as chiropractors, who fall short by not doing all we can and committing to excellence in the delivery of care for our patients.
