Dr. Mosher with his daughter Kristen.
Dr. Ian Mosher
Chiropractor
Dr. Mosher is a graduate of Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (1996) located in Toronto, Ontario. After practicing in Bridgewater and Halifax, Nova Scotia, he moved back home to Calgary in 2005 and began his practice in Hidden Valley.
Dr. Mosher is continuously upgrading his training, recently studying “corrective chiropractic” which emphasizes not only on symptom relief but also on postural and spinal correction. This training fits in with his personal philosophy of wellness care and putting his health as well as those of his patients first.
Dr. Mosher is a member of the Canadian Chiropractic Association and the Alberta College and Association of Chiropractors.
Dr. Mosher’s Story
“What I always knew but didn’t do!”
I would like to tell you my story about why I am a chiropractor. My introduction to chiropractic started the same way as many potential chiropractors’ experiences did; with an injury.
I was 15 years old and had hurt my back very badly. I had just started trying out for the high school basketball team the timing of this injury was devastating to me. Instead of being able to practice basketball, I was lying on the couch and taking some powerful pain killers that my mom (a registered nurse) had stored up from one of my dad’s surgeries. The medication was not helping at all! I could hardly move for days (almost two weeks). I had not been to school for most of that time and I was scared.
Then one day my dad pulled me up off the couch and said “we are going to the chiropractor”. Well I had no idea what that meant but I knew I had to do something. Next thing I know I am face down on a chiropractic table. I was a little sore the next day, but it was a different kind of pain so I continued with treatments. I was feeling better within 2 to 3 days and by the end of the year I managed to win rookie of the year for our school basketball team. Unfortunately, I learned little from this experience about my health or about my career. After high school I went on to the University of Calgary to get a Bachelor of Commerce degree in finance. There were a few intermittent chiropractic visits for an injury here or there but nothing organized or intelligent.
He said he loved going to work and thought of his patients just like “friends and family”. That sounded great! After some more research, I went back to university for another five years and just like that (well, it seemed very challenging at the time) I was a chiropractor… or so I thought. Luckily I did well almost right away. I was fortunate to work with an awesome older doc who was looking to retire. However after a year or two I found that I was getting stressed and the job of fixing pain was demanding. I decided to examine what I was doing at work. I concluded the following:
- I was trying to fix pain
- I should do it fast
- I should do it cheap
- Once a patient stopped hurting I should discharge them right away so they won’t think that I am scamming them and trying to keeping them coming forever.
This caused some contradiction because I felt that my regular treatments really helped me. Also I was checking and adjusting my family and some of my patients on a regular basis and they seemed to be the happiest and healthiest patients that I had.
I realized that what I was doing was not being honest. I was not doing what I knew to be the best thing for my patient. Instead I was doing what I had thought the patients, medical doctors, and any person who doesn’t know about chiropractic wanted me to do. Then the most timely thing happened at a seminar. I won some tapes on chiropractic. I listened to these over and over again and was amazed. They were talking about what chiropractic was supposed to be. It finally made sense with what I was seeing everyday.
What I now know (or what I always knew but didn’t do).
- I don’t fix pain.
- Pain is a warning sign, not a problem by itself. Only the body can repair itself- my job is to correct the underlying interference so that this can happen.
- I should do this thoroughly and with the best expertise I have; the rest of healing depends on many factors, I control one.
- Chiropractic care should be affordable so that people can achieve great results and have the opportunity to embrace health for as long as they want.
- I would not cushion reality. I will be honest with patients and treat them as I would my mom or my best friend. I would educate them about the benefits of an ongoing chiropractic lifestyle.
Today I am a chiropractor who loves coming to work to see friends, to have a laugh, and watch people change their lives. I plan to practice until my grandchildren can take over for me. I hope you find a passionate chiropractor wherever you are.
Thank-you!
Ian