West New York chiropractor Mitch Holsten first started to think about chiropractics after his brother-in-law started seeing one to treat his asthma.
“After the first month of chiropractic care, his asthma was gone,” said Holsten. Holsten’s mother then decided to get chiropractic care.
“I asked her why she was going to see a chiropractor; there was nothing wrong with her,” said Holsten. “She said, ‘I want to stay that way.’ That made an impression on me.”
Holsten studied chiropractics and graduated from Life University in Georgia in 1981. After practicing in Georgia and Mississippi, Holsten received his New Jersey chiropractic license in 1993.
Holsten, who lives in Jersey City and currently works at Tower West Chiropractics on Boulevard East in West New York between 60th and 61st streets, recently returned from his first missionary trip to Jamaica, where he joined a medical team to tend to the country’s general population.
Christ Church in Montclair, a non-denominational Christian Church, sponsored the two-week trip in March.
On a mission
Holsten joined a medical team that consisted of pediatricians, dentists, gynecologists, nurses and technicians who traveled to Jamaica from March 10 through the 21st. The team also gave the country about $7 million worth of supplies.
The team of doctors worked out of churches in four different communities in Jamaica and according to church estimates, the doctors treated 1,700 people while there.
“There was an alarming amount of people with diabetes and high blood pressure,” said Holsten, adding that some people were walking around with more than 400 blood sugar levels and not knowing it. “When you asked them how they were doing, they just said, ‘Fine, okay.'”
Holsten said that the biggest problem in Jamaica was that the people did not have the simple things, like toothbrushes, that we take for granted in the United States.
“The dentist must have pulled at least 100 teeth in one day,” said Holsten, before taking a bite from his ham and Swiss cheese sandwich at the deli on the corner of 60th Street and Boulevard East.
While most people wouldn’t visit a chiropractor to treat illnesses such as asthma, Holsten said that he was able to treat a wide variety of patients.
“When people think of chiropractic, they think of pain,” said Holsten, who was able to treat a little bit of everything while on the trip. “I treated a lot of headaches and back pain.”
Holsten said that while waiting for patients coming to see him, he would help treat others.
Although he doesn’t think that chiropractics is a cure-all for all illnesses, he does see it work for a number of different ailments.
“Sometimes you can see symptoms disappear like that,” said Holsten. He said that just a simple thoracic adjustment can help people breathe better. “It is not a panacea, but it definitely helps.”
Holsten went on the trip to open the eyes of other doctors on the trip as well as to help the patients.
“I was the only chiropractor there,” said Holsten. “That is why I went.”
“A lot of people don’t accept chiropractors,” added Holsten. “But by the end of the trip, other doctors were coming to me for adjustments. Now they know chiropractics is not voodoo.”
The first time around
While the visit to Jamaica was Holsten’s first missionary trip, Holsten had also traveled to Costa Rica in 2000 with a team of chiropractors.
Holsten first learned about this trip from reading a chiropractic magazine. He then contacted Life University, who sponsored a team of six chiropractors to attend the trip, sponsored by Chiropractors Without Borders.
This trip, which took place the week of July 4, 2000, allowed the chiropractors to tend to the country’s young athletes participating in their national games.
“Most of my patients there were 20 years old or younger,” said Holsten, adding that he treated a lot of knee and shoulder injuries while in Costa Rica.