Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Anthony Rodriguez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Dr. Anthony. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Growing up in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, I was very active with sports, especially basketball. I always found myself helping my friends stretch, train and become more physically active. By age 13th, I had an injury to my back that prevented me from continuing to play sports at that time. After a few doctor’s examinations, my mother was told I would need surgery to recover. My mother then decided to take me to a chiropractor for a second opinion. Shortly after my recovery started, that’s what sparked my interest in chiropractic care. In the University of Puerto Rico, I was very applied and dedicated to my studies which helped me earn an academic scholarship. During my undergrad years, I was also a Biology and Chemistry tutor and the president of the student chapter of the American Chemistry Society and during my presidency, my college won the national award for the association.
Moving to New York to pursue my doctored degree in chiropractic had its challenges. Communicating only in English was difficult at first. Adapting to the new weather, living on campus without transportation and learning the medical terminologies in English was complicated to say the least. However, these challenges though me many lessons of resiliency and never giving up. Three days after graduating (as the youngest in my class), I landed my first job as a Chiropractor at a busy multidisciplinary clinic in New York City. Working alongside a Family Physician, Neurologist, Pain Management Specialist, Physical Therapist and Massage Therapist was a great learning experience. Living and working in New York City was a huge personal and professional growing experience but I always knew I wanted to have my own practice. Moving to Miami was a step towards accomplishing my dreams. Chiropractic school is great at teaching you how to become a clinician but unfortunately, it doesn’t teach us a lot on how to become business owners. Working as a clinic director for seven years at a large chiropractic group in South Florida taught me a lot of the business side of owning a business.
The process of starting a business had its challenges. For example, writing a business plan, finding a strategic location, negotiating a commercial lease, designing a floor plan and finding a reliable contractor required a whole different set of skills. Being turned away by banks when applying for a small business loan was discouraging to say the least. Thankfully, I have an amazing support group in my wife and family and motivated me to keep trying until I was able to secure the loan to start the business. Looking back and seeing how far we have come, the amount of lives we have positively impacted through natural/conservative treatment and how much we have grown over the last two years makes the journey, trials and tribulations worth it.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Starting your own business/office can be rewarding and challenging at the same time. Rewarding because you help the community in living a healthier and pain-free lifestyle. Challenging because being aware of the national statistics and understanding that eight out of 10 people will experience lower back pain at some point in their life makes you want to help even more people along the way. As a business owner, you are basically on the clock 24-7. There is not much downtime because this becomes your baby -weekends and nights included. I’ve learned not only to be the doctor, but also the receptionist, custodian, administrator, marketer, and biller. As a result, this has been a learning experience like no other.
Please tell us about iCare Chiropractic.
iCare Chiropractic first opened its doors in April of 2018. We are located right outside the Coral Gables area in one of Miami’s busiest streets – West Flagler.
For the past 11 years, I have been a National Board Certified Chiropractor and a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician. Our office specializes in the diagnosis, treatment and management of musculoskeletal conditions. Most people may believe a Chiropractor only treats neck and back pain; however, in our office, we treat everything from ankle sprains to shoulder pain to car accidents and sports injuries.
With lower back pain being the number one cause of disability in America and opioid abuse becoming an epidemic, we are most proud of helping the community recover from their aches and pains in a natural way, without the use of medications, injections or surgeries. It’s estimated that 8 out of 10 people will suffer from back pain at some point of their life, regardless of profession. The repetitive use of the body from sitting for long periods of time, bending, lifting, standing or even sleeping wrong may cause some sort of body pain, and therein lies where we step in to help out.
Being fully bilingual, I am able to understand and explain the fine details of our patients’ needs without the use of a translator or middleman. Our office is a new state-of-the-art facility that is centrally located with free parking and a few steps away from public transportation. Also, to accommodate the busy community, we are open till 7:00 p.m. to avoid having our patients needing to requested time off when visiting our facility. I’m also one of a few Chiropractors in Miami with a post-doctorate certification by the American Chiropractic Academy of Sports Physicians to diagnose, treat and manage sports-related injuries.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up on the west coast of Puerto Rico was amazing. Having access to beautiful beaches, outside parks and basketball courts was great. My favorite thing to do was getting together with my family and enjoy a home-cooked meal. I always enjoyed being active in sports and working out. I also enjoyed being applied in school and getting good grades. Thanks to that, almost every day of the week, I had our house full of friends that used to come over to study. It was fun to turn our study sessions into competitive trash-talking basketball games, dominoes or Mario Kart matches.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5226 West Flagler Street
Miami, FL 33134 - Website: www.icarechiro.com
- Phone: 7863913868
- Email: drrodriguez@icarechiro.com
- Instagram: @icarechiro
- Facebook: iCare Chiropractic
- Yelp: iCare Chiropractic
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