We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeff Merkt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jeff, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back on your career, have you ever worked with a great leader or boss? We’d love to hear about the experience and what you think made them such a great leader.

The best boss I ever had was Dr. Mark King in Cincinnati, Ohio at Mt. Lookout Chiropractic. I can accredit him and everyone that worked in that office as having a monumental impact on where I am today. Dr. King and the office took their time to teach and show me how beneficial chiropractic care can be in helping people get back to feeling better and not take the cookie cutter approach. In my time in that office, I was shown new and different techniques that go hand in hand to help improve the patients’ quality of life. Dr. King helped to show me that I could combine my first career as a strength and conditioning coach and apply that in the care for my future patients. He made it evident that there is no one perfect way to treat patients and to always be open minded in the care you provide to those who came to you for help. Ultimately my time in that office is what drove me towards becoming a chiropractor.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am where I am today because of the injuries I had throughout the years I competed in sports. I’ve had knee surgery, wrist surgery, elbow surgery, multiple herniated discs, broken bones, muscle tears…the list could go on and on, but the injuries were worth it because in some weird way they have propelled my career. I did every sport imaginable growing up but found track and field to be the most enjoyable while also being the one I was better at. I had no idea what track and field up until high school, even then I only started to do it to stay in shape for football. It turned out I was decently fast, could jump far and high but my best ability was being able to throw heavy objects long distances. I enjoyed throwing the discus the most as well as the shot put but the discus was my better event by far. Finding track and field is what lead me to go to college and start me on the road that led me to where I am today.

At my first university I competed in all the throwing events which included: shotput, discus, javelin, hammer and the weight throw. The adjustment to the increase in weight to the college level implements was rough on me and the level I was used to performing at. My freshman year my marks were abysmal and lead to me switching events to the decathlon going into my sophomore year. Unfortunately, and fortunately, I had torn a ligament in my elbow throwing the javelin which led to Tommy John surgery and not competing my sophomore season. This made me reassess my athletic career, I began looking to transfer schools or go back to playing football. I ended up taking a visit to the University of South Carolina where I immediately got along great with the team, the throws coach (Mike Sergent) is one of the best coaches in the world and also a phenomenal human being. For some reason he saw great potential in me and developed me into a nationally ranked discus thrower. I never would’ve thought I would get to where I was in my wildest dreams. It was my greatest decision to transfer and continue pursue throwing instead of the decathlon.

After my collegiate athletic career was over, I was fortunate to be able to go from athlete to coach at my alma mater and start my first career as a strength and conditioning coach. This career allowed for me to be more appreciative of the time and sacrifice coaches give to help see others succeed. That career was instrumental in how I provide care to patients today. The importance of exercise to help address physical issues quite often missed in the chiropractic field unfortunately.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Being an effective communicator is crucial. You need to be able to explain to your staff/patients’ what’s being done and have the ability to effectively explain to whoever why it is being done.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Word of mouth from past and current patients. There is no greater compliment than when someone refers a friend or family member to come and see me for their care.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.healthsourcechiro.com/st-peters
• Instagram: @jeff_merkt_dc @healthsourcestpeters
• Other: HealthSource Of St. Peters
  233 Salt Lick Rd.
  St. Peters, MO 63376
  (636) 277-9251