Reflections

Posted On: January 21, 2017

I am Dr. David Johnson, licensed both as a chiropractic physician and a physical therapist. As it is January, I would like to reflect back on my career in rehabilitation as to what has changed and what has remained relatively constant.

I was the first chiropractor in Lake Forest, Illinois to ever open a practice. I opened the practice in 1988 in Lake Forest when I realized that there was no chiropractor in the area. I was a new graduate from the Logan College of Chiropractic (now Logan University) and I was eager to get started.

As I was the first, I was given the privilege of defining what chiropractic care was to many individuals. There was of course some of the usual bias against chiropractors as many people were skeptical of the profession. I overcame a lot of these notions by simply being a thorough, caring professional who was good at his craft.

Lake Forest at the time had paucity of conservative musculoskeletal specialists in practice. I went on to fill that void by first getting certified as a chiropractic sports physician and then by reaching out to the community in need. I gave lectures at the Lake Forest Recreation Center, I reviewed aerobic dance classes and educated aerobic instructors at the 41 Sports club and volunteered to serve as the Lake Forest Wrestling Team physician.

Soon my practice took off and I needed to hire help. The first person I had working for me was a kinesiotherapist, then I hired good personal trainers. Eventually I hired a young man who was a physical therapist as well as a chiropractor. At this point I realized that I needed to define my practice as more than just chiropractic so I opened North Shore Spinal and Sports Rehabilitation.

I moved the practice first to a different location in Lake Forest and then to Lake Bluff. Those early days were exciting and fun. I continued to work in the community performing team physicals for the Barat College Basketball team and giving injury prevention lectures all over including Abbott. One of my crowning achievements in those days was to have the good fortune to work on some of the Bears and eventually some of the Bulls during their championship years.

The practice grew more and I was compelled to open a second location in Highland Park and in the mid 90’s. Though I wasn’t the first chiropractor in Highland Park, I again served a void in musculoskeletal care.

Over the years I have continued expand my education, receiving board certifications in orthopedics, getting a degree as a doctor of physical therapy and a masters degree in advanced clinical practice. I have taught at the graduate level to the medical profession, chiropractic profession and the physical therapy profession breaking down bias as I go.

Through it all I have kept to one simple principle and that is to deliver the highest quality of care that I can. It has served me and the communities I serve well.