NZ Chiropractor of the Year Les Whitehead, 89, reflects on career

Palmerston North chiropractor Dr Les Whitehead started the clinic in 1962.

A horrific back injury as a young man changed the course of Les Whitehead’s life.

It still astounds the well-known Palmerston North chiropractor that seeking help to walk again all those years ago would open doors to a life-long and rewarding career.

Whitehead, who was recently named New Zealand Chiropractor of the Year, was born and grew up in Whangārei and was an accomplished weightlifter as a young man, boasting a national power-lifting title in the 1950s.

But an accident at the gymnasium one day saw him fall heavily from some of the equipment, badly injuring his tailbone and spine.

“It was a silly thing to do,” he said.

The trained builder at the time was left “black and blue” and after six months of treatment was still unable to work or walk unaided. Frustrated by his slow recovery, it was suggested he try something different, and he was given the name of Wellington chiropractor Cyril Phelps.

He said Phelps changed his life.

The team at Whitehead Chiropractic Clinic; Jodie Whitehead-Wilson, Les Whitehead, Sharon Rushton and Mark Wilson.

“He was an amazing guy and a wonderful physician. He took me in. I said ‘I haven’t got much’, but he said ‘let’s not worry about the money. Let’s worry about getting you better’, and I’ve never forgotten that,” he said.

“I finally got feeling back and got going again.”

It was Phelps’ suggestion that Whitehead train to be a chiropractor himself. So the 23-year-old packed up his young family and moved to the United States to attend college there.

It was a brave move. At that time it was a different health climate and there was scepticism about the practice, but he believed in what he was doing.

“It was looked upon as a new thing. They were putting people in jail in the US for not having a licence. But that was good in a way. It made me even more focused and determined,” he said.

Whitehead had worked night and day to save the £1200 needed to sail to the US. He played guitar and sang in a band at weekends to earn extra money. At the time, he said, you could buy a house for £700 and a new car for £300, so to spend that money and uproot a young family was a leap of faith.

He continued to play music in jazz and rock bands – even a polka band – on the weekends in New York, often at packed venues in places like Long Island and venues like Hell’s Inferno, as a way of providing for his young family while studying.

“It was great money. We could make $1200 a week. It was crazy, really,” he said.

In 1962, young Dr Whitehead graduated from the Palmer College of Chiropractic in Iowa, to be followed up later with postgraduate studies at the Thompson Chiropractic Clinic, the Gonstead Chiropractic Clinic, and the Parker Chiropractic Research Foundation.

Arriving back in New Zealand four years later fully qualified, the family were driving through Palmerston North in a Ford Fairlane they brought back from the US on a fine spring day and were drawn to the city.

“The sun was out, the trees were in bloom. It just looked so good.”

So he started asking about a suitable house to set up his new practice and ended up with a house in Featherston St.

The Ford was sold and the money was used to help set up the clinic. It didn’t take long for word to spread and any doubts about whether it would take time to build up a clientele were soon put to bed.

There were often rows of gumboots outside the door. Soon a stand-alone clinic was built next to their home.

A glimpse at the pages of Dr Les Whitehead's first appointment book shows just how sought-after his services were.

But despite a book full of glowing testimonials, scepticism about the profession remained. Whitehead travelled back to the US and joined other professionals in a protest march to the White House to bring about change, such was his conviction and belief in the practice.

New Zealand held its own Royal Commission of Inquiry into the practice in 1978 – which, he said, ironically served to credit the profession in its findings. The outcome was that chiropractic gained a greater standing and became more embedded in the established medical and state institutions.

“It’s all water under the bridge now,” he said.

“The most important thing is to know what you know, and know it to be right. When there is doubt, it’s not the same as when you are strong in your belief.”

Whitehead was named Chiropractor of the Year in 1978 by the Parker Chiropractic Research Foundation in the US for his outstanding contributions and dedicated service to chiropractic. . He was the first New Zealander and only Australasian to be awarded a post-graduate certificate by the Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic in 1971.

He has always embraced technology, buying one of the first computers on the market to help with administration. The clinic was able to perform x-rays and purchased a motion x-ray machine in the 1980s. These days the entire building operates as a dedicated clinic.

Today, at age 89, he is still involved in case management and remains as passionate about the profession as he was when he first started. He has been able to pass on his love for the profession, working in tandem with daughter Jodie Whitehead-Wilson for the past 30 years, with son-in-law Mark Wilson and grandson Carson Taare due to complete their qualifications from NZ College of Chiropractic in Auckland.

In addition to being named NZ Chiropractor of the Year, he has been awarded the New Zealand Order of Chiropractic.

Looking back, it amazes him that it all started with that serious back injury and a chance meeting with Dr Phelps.

“It’s been an exciting journey. I keep smiling about it. How did it all happen? he said.