Dr. Chris Cucullu

Why I became a chiropractor

I grew up in Anchorage playing competitive hockey, and years of it caught up with me. I went through the medical system and came out with no relief and no real answer.

My parents had been taking my brother, who has autism, to a chiropractor to help his quality of life. My mom suggested I go see him too. I figured I had nothing to lose.

What I remember is the waiting room. Kids, older people, everyone in between, all talking and laughing. Nothing about it looked like a healthcare office to me. Then he sat down and explained that my body was intelligent and could heal itself, as long as my spine was not interfering with my nervous system. He took films, ran the temperature down my back, and gave me my first adjustment.

It felt like a switch had been turned on. I have been under care ever since.

Why I practice this way

When I got to Palmer I realized the fundamentals I was being taught were the Gonstead system, sitting alongside a few other technique systems. Then I heard one of my future mentors, Dr. Richard Burns, talk to the students about cases he had seen.

Knowing there was a systematic way to find where the problem actually was, and to fix it with some confidence, is what made sense to me. It has not stopped making sense. I went well past the required curriculum, logged more than two hundred hours of Gonstead, GMI and GCSS seminars, and ended up teaching the technique to other students.