We’ve all heard people say that if it doesn’t hurt, don’t fix it. But what if you’re getting some symptoms and something just feels off? Dr. Elizabeth Hoefer, Blair-specific chiropractor and host of the podcast Is Your Head On Straight, says balance is huge. When you have balance and your body is in alignment, you feel fantastic and you’re not limited in your movement. Sharing how Blair chiropractic works, Dr. Hoefer highlights the importance of balance for better life and harmony.

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Balance For Better Life And Harmony with Dr. Elizabeth Hoefer

 

I’m here with my good friend and wonderful family chiropractor, Dr. Elizabeth Hoefer. Liz, welcome to the show. 

Thanks for having me. 

Happy International Women’s Day. 

It’s a great day.  

I love your podcast name, Is Your Head on Straight? You may not realize it, but I show your cover art all the time when I give stage presentations because your cover art is one of my favorites that we’ve ever done. It shows your personality in it and your sense of humor and it is you. Even though I don’t actually recommend people put their face on the cover of their cover art unless they’re truly famous. It’s okay in your case because it’s like a caricature cartoon version of you with your head tilted and the words, “Is Your Head on Straight?” crooked. It’s one of my favorites because it has a personality and it really comes up across. It makes people stop, read the description and then go, “I’ve got to listen to this.” It’s an attractor and that’s all about you. You are a special kind of chiropractor.  

The longer you hold your adjustment, the better you do. Click To Tweet

You are a Blair–specific chiropractor, which is actually the kind I prefer because it’s not off snap, crackle, pop. There’s a little bit of that, which I appreciate because my back always hurt, but you have a lot of muscle work to do. You have all these different practices that you pull together into one in the way that you run your chiropractic business. I absolutely love it and it’s safe for kids. That’s what I really love. I can bring my kids in and make sure they’re well-adjusted. Our theme is #BalanceforBetter and #LifeInHarmony. I think that there is a place for balance in what you do in chiropractic. Tell us a little bit about that. 

Balance is huge. In fact, I had a lady come in that I haven’t seen in nine months. She said, “I feel like I’m off balance and I feel like I needed to come see you.” Back to the Blair specific work, the neat thing about the work that I do is the longer you hold your adjustment, the better you do so you don’t have to come see me three times a week. She had been feeling so great that the loss of her balance is what tipped her off on to come in. I recommend that people get wellness visits, but symptoms are what drives people. If it doesn’t hurt, don’t fix it. People get symptoms and then they like, “I’ve got to go see Dr. Hoefer.” Her balance is what brought her back in and sure enough she was out of alignment. I adjusted her neck very specifically based on her anatomy. She left the office feeling fantastic and it took 25 minutes to get her adjusted and I have her rest and figure that out. 

My daughters have been coming to you since they were infants, since they were little. That I feel is such a gift that you can have someone take a look at it. Vanessa, specifically had a traumatic birth and she’s my youngest. She’s now almost five and she had to be pulled out by her shoulder and I was always so afraid that this was going to be the one thing in her life like she wouldn’t be able to play softball. Something was going to go on in the future of our life that her shoulder was going to be messed up. They’re like, “It’s fine,” but I could tell when I was feeding her that her shoulder wasn’t in the right place. I couldn’t wait to get her in to see you. That’s something that you’ve watch over time and now I don’t notice a single difference. She’s ambidextrous the way that she writes. I’m so thrilled that we were able to make sure that that didn’t become a nagging problem in her life. 

It’s so important that as a mom, you knew that it was safe and effective to bring your brand-new baby to a chiropractor. There’s a lot of misinformation out there. There’s a lot of fear surrounding that because people think crack, twist and pop your neck and obviously not all chiropractors do that, especially in infants. Even the people that do that other type of chiropractic, they don’t do that to babies. 

You give them a hug. 

Balance: There’s a lot of fear surrounding chiropractic because people think they crack, twist, and pop your neck. Not all chiropractors do that, especially to infants.

 

It’s like the gentlest little thing. I specifically remember when Vanessa came in. She wasn’t even two months old and I could tell that she was favoring, guarding her little shoulder. She didn’t have the ability to communicate, “My shoulder hurts.” She just winced and cried and didn’t function. Obviously being able to read that stuff, I was able to give her a very gentle correction to her neck and her arm then became functional. The next day you noticed a difference. 

I was feeding her and I was like, “She’s calm. She’s comfortable,” because she preferred one side. That was a big deal for me because I am an older mom. It doesn’t always flow in the way that she wanted it to. 

Every kid is different. I’ve had three daughters myself and every baby has been so different. To be able to give moms the ability to know that bringing their baby to a chiropractor, they don’t have to have it all figured out even if it’s their tenth kid. We’re trained to be able to detect different things and ask questions to point us in the right direction to determine what function is being irritated and if there’s an issue with the neurology. That’s what we’re masters of. We’re masters of being able to find and detect that and fix it. 

I want to talk a little bit about how you started your podcast, which is a way for you to communicate all of these wonderful things that both you believe in. You are a deep woman of faith and I value that as well. You get that across, but you are in such service of your community at all times. Part of that is information and making sure that you can share that. The podcast has given you the ability to do that because you can’t talk to everyone every day, even though you could. You’re juggling family work and building a practice. That’s a lot. How has that helped you? 

It’s actually given me so much more confidence to be able to share my voice because one–on–one, I’m golden. I can communicate to my patients and let people feel my heart. My desire is to have a bigger audience and my desire is to have this information shared. The truth is I am very busy, not too busy for new patients, but very busy taking care of people. I can’t schedule myself out at a lunch-and-learn or at a weekend seminar every weekend because I have a family and I have other responsibilities. The podcast has been something that has grown me, stretched me and given me the ability to communicate with people who listen in Germany, who listen in Denmark. 

If your head isn't sitting over your neck the way that it was supposed to, then your brain and your body can't communicate. Click To Tweet

I get emails from Asia asking questions about Blair chiropractic. Another thing that it’s given is it’s a resource for my students who listen and then are feeling empowered to be able to do stuff like this for themselves. It’s an education process for them as well. I’m able to train other doctors on how to do this work so that there are more Blair chiropractors in the world. On every level, it’s been a rewarding experience for me being able to reach the general public, for me being able to talk to my colleagues and for me being able to further train and educate the students that I mentor. It’s been super rewarding.  

You’ve built it in as a part of your business practices, the way that you work and it’s helped to feed all those areas that you want to keep feeding on a weekly or daily basis. The podcast isn’t one size fits all. It’s not a formula where if you do this, you become a celebrity. That is a very small percentage of podcasting. Podcasts are out there helping the world or spreading your message or growing your students. There’s a different model for every type of business or every type of purpose that you would like and we can find a good match for that. That’s what I’ve loved most about working with you is that we’ve gotten to do that one–on–one. 

One of the things I was a little concerned about when I first started is there are only so many things I can talk about Blair because it ends up being the same information. What’s so remarkable, just like every single time I have an encounter with my patient, maybe I’m applying that same science and for them the same way. If they go out of alignment, I do the same adjustment for them, but every single time I have an encounter with them, they’ve experienced an entirely different set of life circumstances. We can communicate with that. When I developed the vision for my podcast and when I do the interviews, I realized that a lot of my life is about Blair chiropractic, but I’m also a multifaceted person who cares so much about social justice. I care so much about people being free in their heart and knowing who they are. I can branch out and meet people on different levels and do different interviews and it all ties together because it’s all connected. We’re all well–connected.  

Well Connected Chiro is actually the location of the podcast. That’s the website. This is what I think is really brilliant. First about the name, Is Your Head on Straight? It allows you to talk about mental clarity and to talk about social justice. You can talk about these other things because you didn’t make it about chiropractic. It has a chiropractic reference, so it has a business reference and a purpose, but that’s not all the show is about. You have given yourself enough roadway, enough bandwidth to be able to morph and be you and talk about the things that you’re passionate about and talk to people who you’re interested in. If you stay engaged and interested, then your audience will too. That’s what I found along the way. 

It’s been really fun getting to talk to all kinds of different people from all kinds of different walks of life and giving information about the financial health and giving information about somatic experience and sound healing and Blair chiropractic. I’ve even been interviewed by other podcasters about my personal story and what I’ve been walking through personally and people hear it and I get comments like, “I can’t believe what you’re walking through. That really helped me. What you said made me feel like I could keep going.” That’s what it’s all about.  

We were talking about #BalanceforBetter and that’s the thing that the International Women’s Day organization chose. I added #LifeInHarmony because I wanted to make sure that we had an understanding that balance wasn’t a solo thing. It’s a group effort. I consider you the extended part of my team here because when I’m not well, no one functions well. I have come to know my body over time and know instantly when I’m not sleeping well or when I’m getting a headache or things are recurring or my head is hurting. I’m out of alignment. I’m not well–connected. I talk to my team and say, “I’ve got to get in.” That’s one of the things we need to keep doing for ourselves. That is the way we help ourselves is by reaching out to those team members. Our health team is really critically an important part and we see this so often. We put things off and I come from a family of like, “If the medicine doesn’t taste like junk, it’s not working or you don’t need a doctor. You just need to grin and bear it.” I come from a family of that. My mom will call me and I’d be like, “I’m on going to the chiropractor.” “What’s wrong with you?” “Nothing. I want to stay well. It’s important.”

Balance: Chiropractic care assesses the function of your nervous system. If your nervous system is good, then you’re going to be good.

 

Getting people to realize that in chiropractic care, we assess the function of your nervous system. If your nervous system is good and then you’re going to be good. Taking it from this place in people’s mind of is a luxury and making it a necessity because without your nervous system functioning well, nothing is well. I want people to thrive in every area of their life. That is part of my vision is to educate about that. 

This is the interesting thing that I’ve come to realize over time. Once I started in Blair Chiropractic, I started up North with Dr. Forest who’s famous in the Blair chiropractic. 

He’s like the grandfather to me because he trained me and he’s like our patriarch. 

I found all the doctors who studied under him and I’ve been going into their practices wherever they are and whatever state whenever I need help because he’s so good at it. I was so grateful to find it because the first time that that happened, I wasn’t fully adjusted and what came through is the mental clarity that I had and the emotional clarity. I think I was on permanent PMS. That’s how it felt. You were permanently grumpy because you were actually always in pain. It’s just that I didn’t recognize it as pain. I thought I was having a lifetime migraine. That’s how it was all the time. I could count the days I didn’t have headaches and it was a car accident that brought me in there for the first time. I’m grateful for that car accident. Isn’t that funny? 

I often say car accidents are blessings in disguise. When you have a car accident, you’re like, “No, you have to see a chiropractor.” 

When you find a Blair chiropractor, everything else gets better and you realize you’ve been suffering needlessly for years. Click To Tweet

You have to do something. 

If you find a Blair chiropractor, the car accident is the blessing that got you in and then everything else gets better and then you realize you’ve been suffering needlessly for years and you just didn’t know. 

That’s exactly it. It was like all of a sudden a cloud lifted and I was like, “This is what well feels like.” That’s where I think it’s really interesting that you’ve chosen that name, Is Your Head On Straight? because that’s really how it feels. All of a sudden, I can think clearly. I can feel clearly like all of that is going and working together. 

There’s a principle in chiropractic called ADIO, Above, Down, Inside Out and that’s where Is your Head on Straight? comes from. If your head isn’t sitting over your neck the way that it was supposed to, then your brain and your body can’t communicate. If your brain and your body can’t communicate, you don’t feel well. You don’t even realize this is it because you don’t know what you don’t know. Then once you do get your head on straight, I joke, “I’m going to get your head on straight.” People laugh but then when they experience it, they’re like, “I didn’t realize how unwell I was until I wasn’t.” 

I am filling out my own form because I’m now writing a column for Authority Magazine to feature new podcasters. If you’re a podcaster and you’d like to be featured, you just simply need to reach out to me and I’ll make sure you get the link. As I was doing it, we added this last question and when I was consulting with the editors of the magazine and they wanted me to put out, “If you could interview anyone on your show, what celebrity, it has to be living, not dead, who would you interview?” I kept thinking in the back of my mind, I was like, “Dr. Hoefer wants to interview Lady Gaga.” 

Balance: You’re not really great in the beginning, but as you go on, you feel more confident and pretty soon you have spectacular divine appointments and encounters with people.

 

You just read my mind. 

That’s how well I know you. Tell everybody why though. 

I got to go see her in Vegas and I’ve always appreciated her music and I’ve loved that she’s so authentic in her delivery. Whether you love her or hate her, she’s her. She is who she is. I respected that about her. My husband and I got this opportunity to drive the Vegas and see her and our leaving for Vegas was already set months in advance that came on this really awful news that my husband was getting laid off from his job. It was this horrible family crisis and we’re going to go celebrate and Vegas. We went and I said, “This weekend we’re just going to have fun.” 

When I saw her in concert, she was mesmerizing and she inspired me. Then about probably two and a half months later, her documentary, Five Foot Two came out and I could see the pain and the trauma and the struggle, and I appreciated her even more because I saw what a phenomenal entertainer she was. She does that in of the chronic illness that she lives with, which is, fibromyalgia and all of these undiagnosed issues. I see all these practitioners working on her. I was bawling and I said, “I have to be her chiropractor. I need to get her head on straight.” I know that she’s got a house up in Santa Monica. I know people that know her. Somebody has got to connect me to lady Gaga. When you said that, I was like, “I have to interview her because I respect her for who she is. I respect her for what she does and I respect her for putting herself out there even in her struggle.” She’s real and authentic and she’s sharing her message with the world in such a vulnerable way. That is something that I want to be a part of and I want to help her be able to do more. I know for a fact that once I get her neck adjusted with the Blair upper cervical correction, it’s going to be game over for the rest of the world. 

Then she really will be unstoppable. I want you to recognize what you said though, that’s you too. You struggled through so much and that’s why all of you out there, you have to listen to her podcast. You have to listen to the interviews that she’s done because this is a phenomenal woman who has struggled with so much in her life and she has come through into this beautiful world of love. She is surrounding yourself with amazing kids and a husband and a community and a practice. It’s all full of love and healing. That’s a lot of power you’re bringing into the world too and I am honored to be a part of your support group. 

I’m honored that you received the care that I give so well and it’s a blessing. You and your family have been a huge inspiration for me. Obviously, one of the reasons why I’m doing my podcast is because you saw it in me and you pushed me to it and I trusted you and I challenged myself. Now, I’m being successful at it. It’s like anything, you’re not really great in the beginning but as you go on, you feel more confident and pretty soon you just have these spectacular divine appointments and encounters with people. You can’t imagine it any other way.  

Thank you so much for joining me, Dr. Liz Hoefer on International Women’s Day. Celebrate the women in our life. Thank you so much for that. 

It is my pleasure and thanks for having me. 

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About Dr. Elizabeth Hoefer

Dr. Hoefer (Hay-fer) earned her Doctor of Chiropractic degree, Bachelor of Science, and Associate of Science in Chiropractic Technology at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa (the birthplace of Chiropractic).

Dr. Hoefer is board certified by the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners, serves as an x-ray supervisor through the California Department of Health’s Radiologic Health Branch; she also holds certification with the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners. She is Vice President of the Blair Upper Cervical Chiropractic Society and has served on their board for several years. Dr Hoefer is a certified instructor through the society and educates other chiropractors and students on the Blair technique nationwide.

 

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