Issue 7 - May 2004

Never too old
Dr. Richard Davis pursues his passion
By Todd Stumpf • Photos by Mary Butkus

It is said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Dr. Richard J. Davis begs to differ. Davis is proof-positive that it is never too late to learn — especially when it comes to pursuing a life-long dream. It's just a matter of getting started.

It was in 1991, at the age of 62, that Davis finally began pursuing his passion: helping people. With nothing to lose but time, his journey began. He enrolled in Logan College of Chiropractic, graduated magna cum laude and is now heads Chiropractic Healthcare, seeing up to 75 patients a week.

At the age of 75, Davis is still going strong. He has provided an ample answer to what had been one of his greatest questions before getting into the profession: Can an older DC exist with the rigors of the profession?

“It was a difficult decision going back to school in my 60s,” Davis says. “I wanted to know how long chiropractors could practice. I visited a number of chiropractors in their 80s before I made my commitment. They were having a ball, physically and emotionally. I am blessed with health and vitality. I can work a 12-hour day and still feel good.”

While he may not have envisioned 12-hour days, Davis knew he wanted to work. He put in 35 years with Monsanto Co., as an engineer and a manager before being offered a buy-out in 1985. After that, he owned a marketing consulting company.

He was working, but the work wasn’t what he wanted to do. In fact, he had never done what he really wanted to do, which was to help people.

“Someone convinced me as I was approaching college age that maybe engineering was a better profession,” Davis says, recalling why he strayed from his true passion the first time around. “You know how those things go with kids. So I went to an engineerig college and got a degree in chemical engineering… My interest moved toward marketing. I got involved with marketing and spent about 30 years in it.”

Some personal life experiences ultimately led him to finally pursue healthcare. He turned to his faith and prayed. And he admits that perhaps he was swayed by the fact that his father had had a similar desire — but he never followed his heart.

“When I was very young I knew I wanted to be helpful to people and serve people,” he says. “Where that came from is hard to say. When I was eight, I realized that healthcare was what I wanted to do. It kind of runs in the family. My father died at 91 saying, ‘Gee I wish I’d have been a surgeon.' One of my sons became an osteopath/emergency room physician."

Davis never had such specific goals. He knew he wanted to help people and he knew he wanted to be hands-on. He initially became interested in massage therapy, but after studying anatomy, he realized he could do more for people than massage therapy would allow.

So, prompted by that along with a memory of having been helped by a chiropractor for the first time two decades earlier, Davis enrolled at Logan College of Chiropractic.

“I was quite impressed with him,” Davis says of the chiropractor who treated him “way back when.” “A chiropractor and applied kinesiologist sort of became my primary doctor. I didn’t need medicine very much.”

With his second career still years in the future, Davis spent his time with Monsanto culling knowledge that he would put to use later. He says those days were not wasted time; he learned valuable skills throughout his career, especially in the realms of marketing and running a business.

Those are skills he says are sometimes taken for granted in the profession, but they are clearly necessary for a successful practice.

“I knew the basics of marketing, the importance of the customer, how to approach the customer, how to advertise, how to use public relations,” he says. “I’ve used that skill in my practice but even more in my work on various boards and committees and some work I’m doing now in the profession. The business part of it is toughest for chiropractors who don’t have business experience.”

Beyond his business background, his years and training in the engineering field also provide a solid base for his chiropractic career.
“An engineering mentality is a problem-solving mentality, a diagnosis mentality,” Davis says. “My specialty is solving problems, diagnosing problems that have eluded other people, whether they’re medical doctors or other chiropractors. The most rewarding thing to me is if I’m able to find the problem and solve it. That’s my reward.”

As a chiropractor, Davis misses some aspects of the business world: He enjoyed the structure of large corporations. He misses the “moving and shaking.” He has since filled these gaps by working on several boards of directors.

He sat on Logan’s board for nine years, was a board member at the International College of Kinesiology, a chapter of the Missouri State Chiropractic Association and a local business association. He is also the first chiropractor to serve on a credentials and peer review committee for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Missouri.

Throughout his extracurricular activities, Davis hasn’t lost sight of why he entered the profession: to help people. He has seen patients as young as three days old to as old as 98. His typical patients are senior citizens, in part because of the location of his practice, and, well, because “birds of a feather …”

“I’m a senior citizen and I can understand where they’re coming from and I can talk about life experiences with them,” Davis says.

“My practice is very gentle. I don’t ‘hard adjust.’ Some people who haven’t been to a chiropractor express fear about being adjusted. Some, after experiencing results, ask about entering the profession. And many are not kids."

If they were kids, though, Davis would have one message for them: If you have a dream — a passion — chase it. With that, and with Davis’ story and successful career as a chiropractor in mind, the question begs: Why? Why at 62? Why not the first time around? Davis is honest.

“I don’t think I was ready to be a doctor then,” he says. “But I find my engineering and business background really helpful in what I’m trying to do, whether it’s in my practice or elsewhere in the profession." Chiropractic is very fulfilling. It’s something that I’m motivated to
do and I’m finally doing it. I find it very enjoyable.”

Todd Stumpf is a freelance writer from Akron, Ohio. He has a contributing editor to Chiropractic Economics for four years. He can be reached at TSumpf22@yahoo.com