We recently connected with Dr. Matthew T. Jacobs and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Matthew T., thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I want to take a minute and share a little bit about my story, and why I became a Chiropractor.

My father worked in construction and he started suffering with back pain when he was only 34 years old. He suffered with this taxing pain every day and every night. After 8 years of suffering, he finally reached the point that the pain was so bad, he decided he had to do something about it.

However, since he waited so long to get help, the doctor told him that things had progressed so badly that he had to have surgery. At that time, my father was 42 years old (I was 16 years old) and he went through low back surgery. A short 2 years later, he had to have neck surgery at 44 (I was 18). I distinctly remember him saying that he didn’t feel right after the procedures and that his pain was returning. Unfortunately, my father eventually developed permanent loss of feeling in both of his hands.

Fast forward to present day, I was shocked and saddened further by my father’s physical health. He told me recently that he is fearful to pick up and hold his grandson because he is afraid of dropping him since he has lost all feeling in his hands since having the surgeries.

Watching my father suffer to this day with conditions that could have been remedied before doing permanent surgery is why I became a Chiropractor. At The Disc Doctor, we don’t just treat your traditional chiropractic aches and pains: We focus specifically on disc herniations and nerve-related injuries as your spine specialist.

This is not just a job or a career for me; it is a mission. I want to help as many people as I can avoid the suffering, disability and debilitating pain that plagues my father to this day.

Dr. Matthew T., before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My story started when I was 11 years old. I was playing outside linebacker; I was holding the edge and about to tackle the ball carrier when suddenly and unexpectedly I sustained a blow from behind. I suffered whiplash-type injuries from a wide receiver crackback block. I was in a lot of pain; I could barely move my head and neck and I had to sit out for the rest of the game. I tried getting through the weekend, but was unable to, so my father reached out to my head coach’s friend who was a chiropractor.

I was unsure at first; being 11, you are skeptical about anything new. But my father seemed to trust Dr. Andrew, so I was okay with letting him take a look at my injuries. He told us that he could help me, so I was excited and hopeful.

I completed my treatment protocol and also learned all the lifelong benefits of chiropractic care with Dr. Andrew. I was able to fully return to sport and I played football and lacrosse for many years after. I went on to college where I earned my BS in Exercise Science. Afterwards, I continued my studies and earned my Doctor of Chiropractic.

My first associate position was with Dr. Andrew and it was rewarding in so many ways to continue to learn from my mentor. I also ended up associating with another with another mentor of mine, Dr. Gulitz. After learning from these incredible doctors, my wife and I decided to relocate from Maryland to Tennessee and pursue our dream of opening our own practice: The Disc Doctor.

We specialize in spine-related traumas resulting in disc and nerve injuries. Depending on a patient’s presenting problem, we are able to help them with spinal decompression, dry needling, spinal manipulative therapy or chiropractic adjustments, digital x-ray, and/or dry hydromassage.

Have you ever had to pivot?

We recently made a pivot within our practice, resulting in a complete rebrand of our company. This was influenced by numerous patients coming in with disc-related traumas. These patients were told that they were not “severe enough” to be a surgical candidate, that nothing was wrong with them, that they were just going to have to live with the pain, and/or that taking pain medications was their only option. Shockingly, these were all statements that we heard verbatim in our office from multiple patients over the course of only a couple of months… and unfortunately, still do to this day.

At that time, my team and I reflected on the great results we were able to help these patients achieve and made the decision to rebrand from Broadway Chiropractic & Wellness to The Disc Doctor. We completely abandoned being a generalist chiropractor and decided to specialize in what we are great at: rehabilitating disc-related injuries of non-surgical candidates.

Since making this transition, we’ve been able to help so many patients get out of pain that were lost, hopeless, and told that they didn’t have any other options. We are able to help them do what so many of us take for granted: feeling happiness and joy by being able to do what you love to do – we have helped these patients truly get their life back! We don’t regret our rebrand at all because we can see and feel the positive impact in our community in such a way that we would not have been able to before.

Now I’m sure you’re wondering how do we do it? Well, one of the great treatments we have for these patients is spinal decompression. This treatment has a unique ability to create negative pressure within the disc space to allow for the disc to become more hydrated, which pumps up the disc and helps it to gain back some of its integrity. This integrity is what makes that life-changing difference for these patients.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Being an entrepreneur and business owner, you cannot do it alone, especially in healthcare. You need a group of A-players on your team to reach your peak potential. A large part of getting those a players is creating an environment where they feel respected, communication is valued, and expectations are clear and attainable with effort, It is also imperative that you, as their leader, are humble and take responsibility for their training, their successes and their failures. It goes without saying that to a point, some of the aforementioned does fall on the talent of the individual, but overall, it is your job as their leader to make the decision to hire those people .

So if you find yourself struggling to delegate tasks, grow your company, or hire A-players, you really need to reflect inwards. Ultimately, you are allowing the continuous hiring of less than ideal team members. You are allowing these team members to not be developed. As a result, you are in your own way and stunting the growth of your company.

My goals and visions for my practice can only be taken so far relying solely on my own abilities. However, if I’m able to create a team and unite them, while also giving everyone the love and respect that they deserve, those team members will take this company much further than I could have ever dreamed, and in turn, help thousands live without pain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thediscdoctor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.disc.doctor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/murfreesborochiropractor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thediscsdoctor/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thediscdoctor
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thediscdoctor , https://www.alignable.com/murfreesboro-tn/the-disc-doctor