60 years of back pain
Longtime chiropractor never stops learning new ways to treat patients
By Brian Ojanpa
Free Press Staff Writer
The turning point may have come when he adjusted the vertebrae of a local car dealer in pain, who came to him in desperation.
Scott successfully manipulated him, the grateful guy went around like a town crier, and Scott’s waiting room began to swell.
One man who’d inexplicably lost all his body hair came in. Scott adjusted him and his hair grew back, albeit curly.
Another guy who fell off the back of a pickup truck arrived in a daze-like state complaining of neck pain. Scott went to work on him and the man came out of his fog.
“Once you’re in a rural area and get a good reputation, people would come in for everything,” said Scott who, as any reputable health professional, has always remained cognizant of his limitations.
When medical intervention is deemed appropriate, he’ll recommend that.
Scott works Tuesday and Friday mornings as a salaried employee of chiropractor Eric Saugen, who purchased the practice in 1988.
Saugen said what sets Scott apart from many of his colleagues is his zeal to constantly learn new techniques.
“He definitely feels like he has a lot to offer, and he still enjoys it,” Saugen said. “I work on him, he works on me, and we both keep each other healthy.”
Scott said he has taken many techniques and consolidated them into a form he calls applied kinesiology, which emphasizes making weak muscles stronger. He also uses a neuromechanical adjusting device that delivers rapid thrusts to problem areas of the body.
“It sounds like I’m doing a shingle job on a house.”
Scott’s patients include a rural couple he’s treated for half a century, and Karen Voss of Le Sueur.
Voss said the pain of job-related physical demands prompted her to see Scott after medical doctors couldn’t provide relief.
“I’m a cosmetologist, and I could not do my job if I didn’t have him. He genuinely cares about his patients. He’s the real deal.”
Scott has treated multiple generations of Le Sueur-area families. He said that’s something he humbly hangs his hat on.