Issue 7 - May 2004

Liz McGown: In pursuit of knowledge — and a DC
By Todd Stumpf • Photos by Mary Butkus

Much like Davis, Liz McGown took a mid-career turn toward chiropractic. In her case, though, it was the pursuit of knowledge, rather than a life-long dream, that led her to make the switch. She could have chosen just about anything, but was guided by an experience she had in her pre-professional days.

Always an athlete herself, McGown worked for a national governing body in Canadian amateur sports throughout her entire adult life. A coaching career led to an office position.

McGown loved what she did. But love only takes you so far, and a round of sweeping budget cuts led her to question what she was doing. “There were an awful lot of federal government cuts in Canada and amateur sports got hit very hard,” she recalls. “We were asked to run the same program with 50 percent less dollars. It became exceedingly difficult to keep a smile on your face every day.”

Owner of a bachelor’s degree in human kinetics and a master’s in sport administration, both from the University of Ottawa, along with a PhD in education, McGown certainly could have gone a number of directions.

SATISFIES NEED FOR KNOWLEDGE
She chose none of them, at least not directly. Calling on an experience from her days as an athlete (McGown was on the Canadian Olympic teams for sprint canoeing and the luge), and coupling that with a habitual thirst for knowledge, McGown chose chiropractic.

“I’ve always asked the questions, the ‘why’ questions, the ‘how come,’ the ‘where are we going,’” McGown says. “I always had a curiosity there about almost anything. Obviously my degrees are in the area I have interest in — sports.”

It was as a 15-year-old athlete that she had her first chiropractic experience. The Canadian national team had its own chiropractor and it was then that she received her first adjustment, which obviously worked. The full emotional impact of that first adjustment wouldn’t be felt for more than three decades.

“That type of experience always stays with you,” McGown says. “Chiropractic became part of my life. I was always under chiropractic care from that point onward.”

She also saw in chiropractic a way to maintain her connection to the athletic world, while continuing both her quest for knowledge and her want to help people, particularly young competitors.

“It just seemed like such a natural thing, when you’re in amateur sport, trying to assist young athletes, mentally and physically, to peak performance.” she says. “In chiropractic, you’re working toward getting the mind and the body together again, and toward achieving optimal performance of the body.”

McGown is set to graduate later this summer from Northwestern Health Sciences University, upon which time, at the age of 47, she will embark on her new career. It was a move that came with great reservation. After all, she was successful and had grown accustomed to the comfortable type of lifestyle that goes with that.

But, applying a “no-time-like-the-present” frame of mind, she decided to take the plunge. She has chosen not to look back since.

“I don’t think there was ever a point that I said I wouldn’t do it once I decided I would,” she says. “There was a point I sat down and said, ‘let’s look at the pros and cons. Does it feel right for me?’ I was excited and apprehensive all at the same time. I was ready for the new challenge, to embrace it. There is the unknown out there. Being older there’s a lot more riding on it. I’m not in early my 20s, so if it’s not something I like, I don’t have a ton of time.”

McGown would like to be a family practitioner, but also hopes to stay involved somehow in athletics. Either way, she’ll be doing it in the United States. Along with chiropractic “not as accepted by the [Canadian] medical profession,” McGown just likes it here and has few ties remaining in her native country.

“I’d like to take advantage of some of the opportunities around here,” she says. “I moved to a different country to go to school. This is where I want to be.”