Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Bek Jarzombek.
Hi Dr. Bek, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story of animal chiropractic is a bit of rogue path. It has required me to take risks and bet on myself in moments I could have taken a safer route.
I am a doctor of chiropractic. I graduated from school in 2016 and completed an additional certification in animal chiropractic. My work focuses on the spine, neurology and the brain/body connection. It has been a wild ride. I have adjusted thousands of humans and animals. I have had animal patients such as horses who have won million dollar races to big world cup grand prix jumpers to rescue dogs who stopped biting strangers to border patrol horses to bomb detection dogs to cats struggling to jump to guinea pigs who got whiplash jumping off the couch. I have so many amazing 4 legged creature stories! Many of them would make you laugh and some would bring you to tears. Animals have made me a better human being.
My first year in practice I moved to a Washington state to work as a human associate doctor with a head doctor I wanted to learn from. I learned a lot of valuable skills, and gained experience that would have taken me many additional years to gain, in a different setting. For that, I am grateful. On my lunches I would experiment getting new horse clients out at local barns. It became clear very fast I had a gift for getting horses better!
I was starting to make good money but my heart didn’t want to live in that state and I wanted to be closer to my family.
At about 8 months of working at that job, I took a risk and put my notice in to leave. As a side note, the office ended up “firing” me before my departure date because I adjusted an equestrian patient at a barn, outside of the office. A young doctor rookie mistake, not realizing that was a potential conflict of interest.
I moved back to San Diego with the sunshine and began to pursue the niche of chiropractic I was best at: horses (animal chiropractic) and equestrian riders. There are not many chiropractors with that type of practice. So I was prepared to create something from scratch that is considered somewhat of a rogue path in my profession. My plan was to give myself 90 days to build a practice and be able to pay my bills. If at 90 days I couldn’t pay my bills, I would have worked part time as an associate at a traditional chiropractic office. My mentality about money was this: If I got patients better, the money would come. Simple as that. And that is exactly what happened. The word on the street got out and referrals quickly snowballed.
Long story short, In 2017 I launched Giddy Up Chiropractic in San Diego. My practice grew within 90 days and has been successful ever since. All because I took a risk on myself. There have been ups an downs like any business but staying the course and choosing to not be a jack of all trades has served me well. From day one have been clear and not waivered about the adjustment, chiropractic, what i am up to, and what i am not. And that has made all the difference.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The initial growth of Giddy Up Chiropractic was fairly smooth. However, my business climaxed in 2021/2022 and my hair starting falling out. I was stressed and had lost my purpose and heart. Ideally, before that point I would have started to scale the business. However, there were some roadblocks.
There are two primary reasons for this;
1. Regulatory red tape that has created a tremendous amount of stress in my life and some of my colleagues life. The veterinary medical board has accused doctors of chiropractic who adjust animals for practicing veterinary medicine without a license. The hook is that DC ‘s must work under the direct supervision of a veterinarian. You can guess there are various reasons why that is difficult and impossible in some scenarios. What is ironic is that someone who has no license or regulatory board can work on an animal with no supervision and no real fear of getting in trouble. They have no laws to follow. Does that make any sense?
This topic could have an entire story written about it. The short story is that we have been working on getting new legislation drafted to correct the outdated 1998 code causing my profession issues. It has taken 8 years to get legislation drafted. It will finally go into voting in 2026! The bill is SB 687
2. In general, scaling a horse practice is not easy. There are actually a lot of moving parts! The work requires a chiropractor with a specialty in animal chiropractic, it can dangerous, and it is physical!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in animal chiropractic care with an emphasis on horses and rider.s. Just like humans, animals have spines and nervous systems. They benefit from chiropractic care too. The coolest part is that animals do not have a narrative when it comes to healing- it either works or it does not. And for the most part, it works. There is no placebo to argue. We have had dogs who have lost function in their hind limbs start running. We have had horse’s chronic performance issues resolve. We have had unique creatures like a guinea pig who faceplanted off the couch and would not eat, begin to eat. The list goes on. Animals tell the story of chiropractic much better than I ever could.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
You must find people doing better than you in life and business. It is important to have mentors in both. ‘Watch and observe others. If they possess attributes you want to learn from, seek them out. For networking, you gotta just go! Put yourself in situations to meet people. Technology has unfortunately created a barrier for actual human connection. I literally built my business from cold calling and physically going to events.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://doctorbek.com
- Instagram: doctorbek.giddyup and giddyupchiro
- Facebook: Bek Jarzombek and Giddy Up Chiropractic
