Dr. Erik was born on May 7, 1982, in Gladstone, Michigan and is the second in a family of three children. Growing up in a middle-class family in a small-town community taught him the value of hard work, starting his first job delivering newspapers as soon as he was old enough to manage the route in his neighborhood (eventually trading the paper satchel when McDonald’s built its first location in Gladstone in the late 90s). Much of his free time dedicated to reading, writing, music and studies (and video games), he started undergraduate studies with the goal to become a teacher.
In his early 20’s he had a life-changing event. Debilitating back pain brought him to the ER where he was diagnosed with a muscle spasm and prescribed Vicodin and Flexeril. When the drugs were gone, the pain was not, and he started seeking other ways to cope. It was during this phase of his life he met Dr. Brian, the chiropractor who showed him how years of not caring for his spine created a condition called subluxation that his body was trying desperately to adapt to.
Over the first months of care with Dr. Brian, Dr. Erik noticed tremendous improvement in how his back felt, but also had the experience that “it was as if a dimmer switch on my life was turned to the highest setting for the first time.” It was then he decided to dedicate his life to bring that experience to others who had never been shown how much better life is when your spine is as healthy as it can be.