Hello and Welcome to “The Back Page”

It’s taken me a while to really get my head around regularly writing a blog, but having pulled all my ideas together I’m really looking forward to getting this going. So I hope you enjoy reading about the ‘extra’ side to chiropractic. 

What do you think to the name?  I thought it was a giggle, but when I looked up the words in a Thesaurus it made even more sense (to me, at least). 

Back: advocate, assist, champion, support, advance, move forward. 

Page: leaf, sheet, chapter, episode, event, point, announce, call, call out, seek. 

So, what do you think? 

Right, where shall we start – how about the story of me and chiropractic?   

Hi, I’m Sarah McNeil,  

…born and bred in Billingshurst, where my clinic is now.  Chiropractic came to me long before most people (in the southeast of England, at least) had even heard the word.  Most Chiropractors I’ve met had treatment themselves and then wanted to be able to help others in the same way.  Thankfully, that didn’t happen to me, I just wanted “to help people” and someone, along my path to working out what GCSEs I wanted to take, mentioned Chiropractic.  It sounded great! 

This wasn’t something I was able to do it straight away, though, as there was only one private (and hence out of our ‘financial capabilities’!) chiropractic college in the whole of the UK.  But after gaining a Chemistry degree and working within the pharmaceutical industry for 4 years, the draw was too strong and I re-enrolled at Glamorgan University: 4 years of hard work ahead of me.   

So, qualifying from The Welsh Institute of Chiropractic (WIoC) in 2005 I was let loose on the world as an Associate Chiropractor working in another chiropractor’s practice.   

Since, even before the first day of Chiropractic study, the dream I had was having my own practice.  So, 2 years later, I decided to do ‘mobile’ chiropractic alongside my associate hours.  I already had a portable bench which I used to practice on at Uni, so it went in the back of my car and my journey really started.   

My intention was to build enough of a ‘mobile’ patient-base (a client list, if that sounds better to you) so that I could cover the costs of running my own premises.  And I felt ready for this in 2011 after taking 36 Explorer Scouts on a World Scout Jamboree in Sweden. 

Another 2 years of searching for the right place and applying for all the relevant planning permissions I got into the building that is now known as The Health Tree at 35a High Street. 

The last step on this journey so far is back in December 2015 when I left my associate position.  So, for now I am doing everything myself and working towards taking on my first team members in the near future.  Keep watching this space 😉