We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Amanda Massey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Amanda below.

Amanda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

Before my internship year of chiropractic school, I enrolled in Parker Chiropractic University’s postdoctoral Animal Chiropractic Program for veterinarians and chiropractors. This what what I had come to chiropractic school for, to be an animal chiropractor!

While in the animal chiropractic program I met a friend who was ahead of me in her internship and she also worked at Vitality Sports Medicine, a sports chiropractic office in Dallas and Frisco, that just so happened to service many professional athletes and olympians in the Dallas area. Her and I had a similar practice style and desire to help people and animals recover from injuries sustained during high performance training and competitition. She invited me to shadow Dr. Ford’s office and apply for his internship program, which was very competitive and sought after. After shadowing and learning how to plug myself into their system to be a useful body around the office, I felt good about applying for the internship.

The shadowing before my application for the internship proved that I was a coachable, hardworking intern, Dr. Ford picked me to work at his office. After the internship, I wanted to move to Austin, TX, but Dr. Ford had fractured his hand so I continued to work for him part time in Dallas as I transitioned my life to Austin. I had spent all of my breaks between semesters shadowing different doctors all over Austin to try to see where I would want to practice and who I felt most aligned with to work alongside and learn from. I have always wanted to surround myself with people who can teach me something and have a similar healthcare philosophy. By shadowing and showing other doctors in the area that I was self motivated, driven, ambitious, hardworking, and now had premium sports medicine and orthopedic training from my experience at Vitality Sports Medicine, I had several job offers and business opportunities to choose from in Austin coming out of school. I decided to take a risk and start out as an independent contractor working for a functional medicine doctor in SW Austin. She is an incredible doctor and businesswoman and I was able to learn a lot from working alongside her. She was my first choice of doctors to work with coming out of school, so I asked her to hire me after she had just had a baby and she did not want to expand her practice. She recommended that I work for another doctor in town. I was about to sign a contract with the other doctor, when I get a phone call on Christmas eve of 2015 with an opportunity that I could not refuse working at Infinity Wellness Center. I was going to be able to work with a nurturing team of women practitioners, learn how to build a cash practice organically, and practice in a way that I felt best serves my patients. I also was able to provide a service to her patients that she was not able to offer herself because of my experience diagnosing and treating extremity and sports injuries. It was a win win situation for many years and I am thankful for that opportunity as my second job in the field.

The takeaways I learned from how to get the job that I always wanted was to value and build relationships and make that the number one priority so when you do need a job, no one would blink an eye at hiring you because they know you are dependable and will add value to their business. Second learning niche skills that are specialized set you apart from everyone else. If you are the only person who can do that job, then you will always have a job in that field.

Currently, I own and operate my own chiropractic practice for people and animals in Central Texas. But I am confident I could get a job tomorrow if I needed to based on my experience, skillset, work ethic and network. It takes time and effort to gain experience in your field, learn new skills, build a network, and strengthen relationships, but with any career, it is crucial for development and continued growth in your profession.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Growing up on a horse farm in north east Texas, I sustained several debilitating injuries riding and training horses. Some of our horses also sustained injuries. We spent a lot of time with veterinarians taking care of our animals and it inspired me to want to work with animals as a profession. My sister and I both went to Texas A&M taking all of the coursework to prepare for veterinary school. In my last year of undergrad I realized I did not want to become a veterinarian. I still wanted to work in healthcare and work with animals, but I was not sure how to proceed. I sustained a back injury before the Intercollegiate National Polo championship that I was competing in and was completely immobilized. It was recommended that I see a chiropractor, and I am so glad that I did because it allowed my body to heal quickly and get back to playing polo competitively, I regularly saw this human and animal chiropractor who fixed me up and inspired me to become a chiropractor myself for people and animals.

While I was in chiropractic school I became very interested in functional nutrition, myofascial release techniques for treating soft tissue injuries, and animal (quadriped) anatomy. Because of my special interests in these areas, it set me apart from traditional chiropractors because I like to address my patients concerns from a holistic perspective. I believe that most injuries and chronic pain can be treated with a combination of balancing the nervous system, addressing how fascia moves the body, and reducing inflammation and providing nutrients to rebuild healing tissue. This three part system is the secret for healing the body in half the time, compared to traditional medical treatments that sometimes provide a good bandaid, but do not always solve the core cause of the problem.

I like to see each patient as an individual, prioritize their health goals, and create an individualized treatment plan with lifestyle improvements to help patients heal their bodies quickly and effectively depending on what structural concerns they have.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I started building my reputation as an animal chiropractor and an expert in treatment of extremity injuries while I was doing my internship at Vitality Sports Medicine in Dallas. I was able to work with elite professional athletes and understand how they train and how their bodies work. This initial experience gave me the stepping stone to start building a practice in Austin. I also am a huge networker. I joined BNI, Texas Women in Business, Young Womens Alliance, various health meet up groups, in addition to playing polo, volleyball, swimming and competing in triathlons. All of these groups allowed me to meet people that I could help with my services. Once I was able to help some of these people I started getting more organic referrals. I started seeing my patients entire families. I got to know my patients family members through them, so when it was time for Dad, Grandma, or Jack the dog to come in for a visit, everyone already knew what to expect from me, and they were confident that I was going to help them. Every patient that I see, I treat them as I would my own family member. This is a principle I stand by to offer quality patient care to every living, breathing body that walks in my office.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

At the beginning of the Covid pandemic in 2020, I went from working as an Independent contractor for 3 different businesses to having zero income. During this time, I wanted to continue pursuing my personal goals which included purchaseing my first home, and a horse, but I was not sure if I was going to be able to fiscally accomplish this task with the many restrictions that had been put into place as an IC during that time.

I realized that I needed to take the leap and find a safe location where I could see patients one on one with adequate time alotted to properly clean the space and by offering a safe work environment, I would be able to work in order to help peoples bodies heal. This is when I decided to start my own practice officially with no staff, working next door to Jonathan Parr PT, who is a dear friend and referral partner of mine. Going from fully staffed IC positions to now being the business owner was a huge adjustment. On the positive side, I was able to double my income in 6 months time during the pandemic because I was able to offer people and their pets a service they were seeking and a service in high demand. Holistic body work and sports medicine treatments by the doctor, no technitions, no assembly line, and no crowded waiting room. A safe place to feel heard and do work to heal the body.

From my perspective, it was hard work treating patients all day and then going home to do all of the behind the scenes admin work. It was a huge shift and a sacrifice to my personal life, but I was able to buy the home I wanted to, and fulfill my goals/dreams that I had sought after despite several bumps in the road.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.amasseychiro.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitemotionperformance/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.comprofile.php?id=100063621306317
• Linkedin: Amanda Massey DC

Image Credits
Georges Schemagin