By Adam MacDonald
Pure Life Family Chiropractic, based out of Silver Rock condominiums, is run by Fernie’s newest chiropractor, 35-year-old Dr. Erik Thorlakson, who believes that chiropractory is a gentle healing art, designed to work with your body’s natural ability to heal itself.
“Your spinal cord is the communication system of the body,” says Thorlakson. “If it gets affected by twists and turns in the spine, that can shut off your body’s ability to be healthy and to adapt.”
Thorlakson’s practices take from a more traditional eastern approach, stressing a natural solution to problems, rather than simply the suppression of symptoms. “It’s a huge shift in the way we think,” says Thorlakson. “With a chiropractic approach, the body is self-healing, and sometimes it just needs a little help to push it in the right direction.”
“I want the old age hesitations of chiropractory to be thrown away and just have people come in,” says Thorlakson on his hopes to change the image of the practice. “I think if people could experience and know what this is about, then they would get rid of those inhibitions that are preventing them from the potential to have great health and a great life. That’s why I offer free consultations and say ‘hey come and talk to me.’ I’ve done this with my wife and I’ve done this with my kids and seen the results.”
Dr. Thorlakson graduated in 2009, in Atlanta, then practised in Calgary for three years in a large pediatric and pregnancy practice, where he was able to hone his skills working on the health of children, before moving to Fernie.
“It’s a special interest area of mine,” says Thorlakson, “Having three young kids of my own. My oldest is seven now and it’s incredible to see the difference of how he has grown up versus how I grew up. When I had ear infections, I took antibiotics, which is why I got four ear infections a year for years, and why I then developed asthma. It wasn’t until I discovered chiropractory that my health recovered in a big way. Now I get to see that my kids are actually growing up healthy, they’re not going to have to go through that recovery process.”
“My previous life experiences led me to chiropractory,” says Thorlakson, who started as a mechanic and then studied environmental science. “The mechanical industry taught me about motion and symmetry, and the environmental component taught me that in an ecosystem, if you mess something up over here, then something gets messed up over there - there’s a connection. When I learned about chiropractory I put the two together and said, ‘well this is a mechanical structure and it houses an ecosystem.’ It was a perfect mix between my career choices of the past.”
Thorlakson started his Fernie practice in February of this year. “My intention was always to come to Fernie,” says Torlakson. “I’ve been coming here for 14 years and I have 13 family members in town. That was probably the biggest influence, then I came here and saw the natural beauty. I love mountain biking, skiing, and getting out and doing the stuff that’s available here. And I love it, not just for the natural beauty, but for the people - there’s a beautiful community here.
Dr. Thorlakson practices from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday in Elkford and various hours Tuesday through Saturday in Fernie.