Evolution of Little Doc
Welcome to Miss Little Doc!
I’m Dr. Lacey. Lately, I’ve been feeling the need to educate people in what I do and what all chiropractic encompasses. We don’t just “crack” your back and send you on your way as some people think.
Recently, my oldest brother (I am the 4th of 5 children and the only girl) who lives around Minnesota and attending Northwestern College of Chiropractic, called me. He is in his last year of chiropractic school and frequently calls me to “test my knowledge”, like he is smarter than me or something…anyway, he asked me if I would be willing to write a blog with him and a fellow student about chiropractic. I told him, “that’s a great idea, but not for me!” I’m not the writing type nor am I the public speaker type (I mean, I talked my undergrad student enrollment officer to trade out my last required credit in public speaking for a calculus class! I can be very persuasive when need be.) My father frequently makes me type up ads for the local newspaper. When he sees something that we need to advertise he always tells me to “write something up for the paper“. I usually tell him, “sure, sounds great, I’ll do it later.” Guess what? Later never comes! I’ve just never felt like I can write all my thoughts into an informative short ad.
Just last week, Dad was reading one of the many chiropractic magazines we get at the office and they were talking about hiring a blogger for your clinic. Dad asks, “What the heck is blogging? Maybe we should look into this?” I immediately shut him down. I mean, why would we pay someone to write a blog for our clinic when they don’t know who we are?! I told him, “We have Facebook and I post on there all the time.” We currently have a whopping 307 likes.
So, I started looking into ways to grow our Facebook page. The more I research, the more I see about blogging. Ok, ok, I get it! God is clearly hinting to me that it’s time to get out of my comfort zone and start a blog…God tends to lightly tap me on the shoulder about something until it’s like he is screaming at me until I give in. Every single time he has pointed me towards something, it tends to be a success. I talked about it with my husband (Jared) and he told me that he was behind me 100% and would be there if I needed help. So, here we are. Let’s talk about what made me go into chiropractic.
1990’s to 2012
When you were in first grade what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a fireman. Where that came from is a mystery! Ask me again in second grade, I wanted to be a chiropractor. I don’t even know if I knew what a chiropractor really was, but I stuck with it. In the eighth grade, we took a career placement test and my highest score was in the medical field. So, maybe I was destined to follow my father and become a third-generation chiropractor.
In high school, I was well known because I was on the dance team. I talked to everyone, although I hung out with only a small group of people. During my senior year of high school, I took college classes to get a jump start on this nine-year degree I was going to pursue. By graduation (May 2005) I had 6 credit hours done. Luckily, we had a community college in town so after graduation I took a summer class. I wanted to save money (as chiropractic school costs 6 figures!), so instead of going to a big 4-year university, I stayed at home with my parents to finish my associates degree at Redlands Community College. I graduated Redlands Community College in December 2006 in only a year & a half. (Along with persuading admissions to change an English credit for a math credit, I also talked them into letting me take 21 hours in one semester.)
With an Associate’s Degree, that put me at 60 hours of undergrad. To enter chiropractic school, Oklahoma requires 90 hours (in specific classes) to enroll. In January 2007, I moved to Edmond, Oklahoma and roomed with 3 other girls (NEVER AGAIN!!). I attended the University of Central Oklahoma for one year getting my last 30 credits and was finally able to go to chiropractic school!
In December 2007, I packed up my life and moved to Chesterfield, Missouri. Have you ever just up and moved…alone? It’s terrifying! I was a 20-year old kid. My roommate was a stranger. Yes, she was attending Logan University, but she was a Tri 7. There are 10 Trimesters at Logan. So, anyone I met was older than me and was graduating before me…not like they could exactly do homework with me. At Logan, you tend to stay with your trimester. They are your family. You take about 35 hours a semester, so you become VERY close. It’s like back in grade school where you have assigned seats and stay in one classroom all day. We were college kids, with assigned seats, and the teacher came to us. It took only about one semester for me to realize I would prefer a seat next to the door. I’m not much of a morning person, I tend to be a tad late to anything that requires mornings. In chiropractic school, you had 7:20am classes. So, I was ALWAYS late.
While in school I rushed Chi Rho Sigma, a.k.a. the green books, a co-ed fraternity. Like 35 hours a semester wasn’t enough, I pledged my first trimester in school and put even more on my plate. I loved the people and my pledge sister ended up being one of my BEST friends, we still talk to this day. (She practices in Tennessee.) I was never the sorority type, so co-ed really appealed to me.
I spent 4 years in Chesterfield and grew to absolutely love the place. I went from having enough furniture for one bedroom to having a full apartment worth of things. Luckily, before I graduated, I bought a house in El Reno. I had started renting it out until I moved back “home” so I wouldn’t have to live with my parents once I graduated. When graduation came, my entire family packed my life back up into a U-Haul and headed home. I graduated Logan Chiropractic College in December of 2011. I was officially 3rd generation.
My father had a practice where I had to beg to have a job. Totally kidding! My father was super excited about me wanting to continue the family legacy and become a chiropractor. So, in January of 2012, after taking my Oklahoma State board exam, I was a licensed chiropractor walking into my father’s practice (after the amount of student loans it takes to become a doctor it was heaven sent!) The first year in practice with my father was an eye opener. Walking out of school you would like to believe that you know everything. Working with a doctor that had been practicing for 51 years, you soon realize that you have SO much to learn! I believe I cried almost daily that first year. My father has taught me more than I ever thought he could. Including the history of chiropractic. So, let’s go back to 1910.
1910 to 1946
My grandfather, Bert E. Carder, D.C. graduated Carver Chiropractic College in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1910. The profession was born in 1895 by Daniel David Palmer of Iowa. So, being such a new profession, how did my grandfather even know or want to become a chiropractor? Bert had a daughter that was colic and had bloody diarrhea. After taking her to every medical doctor and specialist he could, a man suggested he try taking her to a chiropractor. Thinking he had no other options he visited a woman chiropractor in Enid, Oklahoma. After their appointment, he took his daughter home and went to work. When he left in the morning, she was crying in her crib. But when he came home that night, she was a laughing, happy baby. Something he had not seen from her before. He decided right then, that if a chiropractor could help a child the way it helped his daughter, he was going to learn the profession.
After graduating in 1910 from Carver, Bert moved to Houston, Texas, and opened a practice. He was jailed every day for practicing medicine without a state license. It didn’t take long for that to get old, so he moved to Arkansas. Arkansas had no laws governing chiropractic, so he helped get the first chiropractic laws passed in 1915. He was the first secretary of the board and actually signed his own license! 
During the flu epidemic of 1918, Bert would come to work every day and have people lined up down the street and around the block to get adjusted. He prided himself on the fact that he only lost one patient during that time. The medical doctors of that time were losing patients left and right, so much so, that the funeral parlor had to stack bodies behind the building due to people dying at an alarming rate. By 1921, Bert moved back to his hometown of El Reno, Oklahoma and got licensed. He was license number 58. He practiced in downtown El Reno until he had a stroke in July of 1946.
During the flu epidemic of 1918, Bert would come to work every day and have people lined up down the street and around the block to get adjusted. He prided himself on the fact that he only lost one patient during that time. The medical doctors of that time were losing patients left and right, so much so, that the funeral parlor had to stack bodies behind the building due to people dying at an alarming rate. By 1921, Bert moved back to his hometown of El Reno, Oklahoma and got licensed. He was license number 58. He practiced in downtown El Reno until he had a stroke in July of 1946.1938 to 2012
Back it up to 1938, Kent E. Carder was born (my father) to Bert and Effie Carder. As a little kid my father would go up to my grandfather’s office downtown. At that time, there were a lot of 89ers’ parades and dad would sit in the window and watch the parades go by, which dubbed him the nickname “Little Doc”. After graduating high school, my father was working in his mother’s grocery store “Stevenson’s”. When the summer was over, he was planning on attending Oklahoma State University to study architecture and rush Sigma Pi Epsilon. But before he could do so, the Dean of Carver College in Oklahoma City came to visit with him and ultimately convinced him to attend Carver to become a chiropractor. So, in September of 1957, he started Carver Chiropractic College.
In 1958, Carver (due to declining enrollment) had to shut its doors and merged with Logan Basic College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, MO. When dad moved to St. Louis he was asked to help teach some of the classes there. The stories are plentiful (hopefully, at some point, we can dive into a few!!) In September 1960, dad graduated Logan and moved back to El Reno, where he opened a practice with a college buddy in January of 1961. In 1967, he built a building to move his practice to on Rock Island Avenue in El Reno, which is where he (we) currently practice.
My father has helped to grow the profession by his services to the profession. His first year out of college he was asked to be the President of the Central District of the Oklahoma Chiropractic Association. He was a state delegate for 8 years for the American Chiropractic Association, was on the Board of Chiropractic Examiners for 28 years and was the secretary of the Chiropractic Orthopedic Council. Needless to say, I have some HUGE shoes to fill!
2012 to Present Day
In January 2012, I became Dr. Lacey in the office (because two Dr. Carder’s was way too confusing!) When I got married I ended up hyphenating my name (one day I will be the only doctor at Carder Chiropractic Clinic and thought changing my last name would be way too confusing). That first-year, patients struggled a bit on what they should call me…so, several people would joke we had Big Doc and Little Doc (there were patients that would say Old Doc and New Doc but Dad didn’t like that one much!) Others would just stick to Dr. Carder and Dr. Lacey. I feel Little Doc is quite appropriate figuratively as well as physically. After all, I am only 5’4. 😘
So, I have struggled to see where I fit into this profession to grow it to educate the masses. I have been asked to give talks to nursing homes, but declined due to my fear of speaking in public. Give me 4-5 people in a group and I can talk your ear off. Give me more than that and I clam up. So, I have known for quite some time that I need to get out of my comfort zone and do something. Baby steps. Blogging is my baby step number 1…and I’m hoping I crush it.
~Dr. Lacey~
Carder Chiropractic Clinic, Inc.
El Reno, OK 73036
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Jess
May 2, 2017 at 4:11 pmI enjoyed the history! Keep up the blogging, you are a natural!
Miss Little Doc
May 3, 2017 at 12:12 amThank you! Glad you enjoyed reading!!
Dr. Lacey
TJ
May 3, 2017 at 11:29 pmthis works lit’l doc – a step for the lit’lr docs to step in one day…but not to soon 🙂
Lcarder21
May 4, 2017 at 1:30 pmAbsolutely not too soon!!! I’m making “BIG” doc stay around for as long as I can!!