There would be no podcast without Tracy Hazzard. I want to say that clearly, right at the start, because it is true and she deserves the credit.
Tracy and her husband Tom are the founders of Brand Casting You, and when Tracy told me I should start a podcast, I said okay. Just like that. Because when Tracy Hazzard tells you something is a good idea, you listen. She is an Inc. columnist, a CEO, an author, and a speaker who has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Wired, and CNN Money. She is also one of my favorite patients, one of my closest friends, and the woman who introduced me to some of the most important relationships of my professional life.
She is also the reason I got to adjust a bride on her wedding morning. But we will get to that.
She Found Blair Through an Accident
Tracy's introduction to Blair upper cervical chiropractic came the way so many people's do: through a car accident. She ended up in the office of Dr. Forest in Northern California, who happened to be the same Blair chiropractor who had trained me as a student in Davenport, Iowa. We were in different parts of the country at the same time, being shaped by the same doctor, without knowing we would eventually end up in the same practice in Southern California.
When Tracy and Tom moved south, she came to Precision Chiropractic in Rancho Santa Margarita, where I was interning under Dr. Tom. She had been under Blair care and she knew what it felt like when it was working. She was understandably cautious about letting a brand new intern touch her neck. What she said to me about that experience has stayed with me: she saw that I had gifts that complemented Dr. Tom's, and she decided to give me a chance.
That is one of the most generous things a patient has ever done for me. And I have been taking care of her family ever since.
A Lifetime of Migraines She Did Not Have to Carry
One of the things Tracy shared in this conversation that I think is so important is her history of migraines. She had been getting them since she was about nine or ten years old. Severe enough that she would come home from school and disappear into a dark bedroom for hours, unable to function. By the time Alexandra was born, she was having more days with migraines than without.
She did not know Blair existed then. Nobody told her there was a structural answer to what she was experiencing. It took an accident and a lucky referral to get her into the right office, and even then, the migraine relief was gradual. Year over year, they lessened. And now they are so rare she barely thinks about them.
That is years of suffering that could have been addressed much earlier. And that is exactly why I tell every patient: bring your kids in before they have a reason to come in. Because by the time the migraines start, the structural issues have often been building for years.
Lannea and the Bounce House
Tracy's family has three daughters. Alexandra, her oldest, started coming in after a fender bender rattled her enough that she burst into tears when it happened, which is exactly the kind of signal a mom pays attention to. Tom started coming in around the same time.
And then there is Lannea, who goes out at the bounce house. Every time. Tracy knows the drill. Bounce house visit on a Saturday, chiropractic appointment on Monday. She does not panic about it because she knows exactly what to do when it happens. That is what it looks like when a whole family understands what Blair care is and trusts the process.
And then there is Vanessa, the youngest, who has been under care since she was brand new. Tracy told me that Vanessa, who was barely two at the time of this recording, would tell people in full sentences: I want to see Dr. Hoefer. I want to get checked. No fear, no hesitation. Just a toddler who knows that going to the chiropractor is part of taking care of herself.
I could not love that more if I tried.
Pregnant at the Same Time, Twice
Tracy and I were pregnant at the same time, not once but twice. Our younger girls, born just months apart, are so similar that Tracy and I look at them and cannot quite explain it. We have decided it must have been something in the water. Or possibly the regular Blair adjustments.
What I know for certain is that both of those little girls started life with upper cervical integrity. They came into the world with nervous systems that were supported from the beginning, and they have been developing with that foundation ever since. Watching Vanessa grow from a newborn into a bright, fearless, completely unreasonable climber-of-everything has been one of the great joys of my practice.
The Wedding Morning
Alexandra got married, and I was invited. Not just as a guest, though that alone would have been an honor. Tracy called me because she woke up that morning knowing she was out of alignment. It was the morning of her daughter's wedding and her body was not cooperating.
I adjusted her. She made it through the day. She told me afterward that she could not have enjoyed it without that correction.
I felt like royalty being included in that morning. Meeting the family members who had flown in from the East Coast, being part of the circle around a bride on her wedding day, understanding more history and love and connection than I ever would have otherwise. That is what it means to be a family's chiropractor. Not just the person who helps when something hurts. The person who is woven into the life.
Why Families Belong in Blair Care
Tracy said something near the end of our conversation that I want to close with, because it is the whole point.
Chiropractic is not just about physical pain. Most of the time, pain is what gets people in the door. But what it is really about is developing with integrity on every level. Emotionally, physically, mentally. Having a structure that supports you instead of working against you.
Her daughters did not come in because they were in crisis. They came in because their mom understood that the nervous system is the foundation of everything, and she wanted that foundation to be right for her children from the very beginning.
That is the vision I have for every family who walks through my door. Not just the person who is suffering. The whole family. Together.
Listen to the full conversation with Tracy Hazzard on the Well Connected Podcast: Live Your Life in Alignment. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
Find Tracy Hazzard and Podetize at podetize.com. Find us at wellconnectedchiro.com.
