What happens when you allow your chiropractic practice to evolve alongside the things you genuinely care about?
For Dr. Liz Walker, that journey has taken her from playing college tennis in Australia to studying chiropractic in New Zealand, building a practice in Montana, expanding into women’s health and pelvic floor care, and preparing to move into a significantly larger clinic.
I recently sat down with Dr. Liz for The Informed Chiropractor Podcast to talk about that journey.
What stood out to me was that her story was not built around one perfect business strategy.
It was built around relationships, curiosity, community and a willingness to let the practice evolve.
Today, her interests include pregnancy, menopause, pelvic floor health and women’s chiropractic care. At the same time, she is navigating many of the same questions other chiropractors face:
How do you grow without losing what makes your practice special?
How do you find the right associate?
And how do you expand your clinical interests while staying connected to the community you serve?
A Personal Experience That Led to Chiropractic
Dr. Liz’s path into chiropractic began when she was 16.
A personal experience with chiropractic care changed the way she thought about health and ultimately influenced the direction of her career.
She went on to complete a degree in exercise science before attending the New Zealand College of Chiropractic.
It was there that she met her husband, Ian.
Eventually, their journey brought them back to Montana, where Dr. Liz began developing her chiropractic practice in 2014.
Like many chiropractors starting out, she faced an important question:
How do you build a practice when nobody knows who you are yet?
Her answer was surprisingly simple.
Become part of the community.
Building a Chiropractic Practice Through Community
There is no shortage of marketing advice for chiropractors.
Digital advertising.
Social media.
SEO.
Email campaigns.
Funnels.
All of those tools can have a place.
But Dr. Liz’s experience is a useful reminder that some of the strongest practice growth still comes from genuine human relationships.
She became involved with local business organizations, women’s networking groups, fitness communities and activities she already enjoyed.
She did not simply market to the community.
She became part of it.
That distinction matters.
When people repeatedly see you, interact with you and understand who you are, trust develops naturally.
For chiropractors building a local practice, that kind of relationship can be incredibly valuable.
Why Women’s Health Became a Bigger Part of the Practice
As Dr. Liz’s practice evolved, so did her clinical interests.
Women’s health became increasingly important, including areas such as:
- Pregnancy
- Menopause
- Pelvic health
- Pelvic floor function
- Women’s wellness
This progression makes sense when we consider how dramatically a woman’s body can change throughout different stages of life.
Pregnancy places new mechanical and physiological demands on the body.
Postpartum recovery introduces another set of changes.
Later, menopause can bring different experiences involving movement, recovery, comfort and overall wellbeing.
For chiropractors interested in working with women through these stages, it becomes important to understand the patient as a whole person rather than simply focusing on an isolated symptom.
Understanding the Pelvic Floor Beyond an Isolated Muscle Group
The pelvic floor is often discussed as though it exists independently from everything around it.
In reality, it functions as part of a much larger system.
The pelvis interacts with:
- The spine
- Hips
- Abdominal wall
- Diaphragm
- Breathing mechanics
- Movement patterns
- Nervous system
That broader perspective is particularly relevant to chiropractors.
Instead of thinking only about an individual structure, we can begin asking how different parts of the system are coordinating with one another.
How is the person breathing?
How are they moving?
How much tension are they carrying?
How comfortable do they feel in their body?
And how might their current stage of life be influencing those patterns?
Those questions create a more complete clinical conversation.
Bringing Pelvic Floor Concepts Into Chiropractic Care
Dr. Liz attended my Unlocking the Pelvis and Pelvic Floor seminar in Calgary.
One of the interesting parts of our conversation was hearing how she experienced the work personally before beginning to incorporate concepts from the seminar into her own practice.
That experience reinforced something I believe is important in chiropractic education:
Sometimes we understand a concept differently when we experience it ourselves.
Dr. Liz has since incorporated pelvic-floor-informed concepts into her clinical approach with appropriate patients, including people presenting with concerns such as incontinence and complex histories following cancer treatment.
This does not mean chiropractic care replaces pelvic floor physiotherapy, medical evaluation or other appropriate healthcare.
Quite the opposite.
Women’s health often benefits from collaboration.
The chiropractor can be one part of a broader healthcare team.
Knowing when to care, when to collaborate and when to refer is part of good clinical judgment.
Why Pelvic Floor Care Requires Good Communication
Pelvic health is personal.
Patients may feel uncomfortable discussing:
- Incontinence
- Pregnancy-related changes
- Postpartum concerns
- Menopause
- Pelvic tension
- Changes in sexual or urinary function
That means communication matters enormously.
Clinical knowledge alone is not enough.
Patients need to feel respected.
They need to understand what you are doing and why.
They need an opportunity to ask questions.
And they need to know that their boundaries matter.
This connects directly with the broader nervous-system-informed approach I teach.
How care is delivered influences how care is experienced.
The patient’s sense of safety, choice and predictability matters.
Patient Safety, Choice and the Nervous System
This is where the Polyvagal lens can add another layer to the conversation.
The nervous system is continually responding to cues from the environment.
Tone of voice.
Facial expression.
Touch.
Pacing.
Predictability.
Relationship.
For any patient, these factors matter.
For sensitive conversations involving pelvic health, they can become particularly important.
The goal is not to make patients fragile or afraid.
It is to create enough clarity and choice that the patient can participate actively in their care.
Simple communication can make an enormous difference:
“I’ll explain what we’re doing before we begin.”
“If something doesn’t feel right, tell me.”
“We can pause whenever you need to.”
These are simple statements.
But they communicate agency.
And agency can influence the entire clinical experience.
Pregnancy, Menopause and Different Stages of Women’s Health
Another valuable lesson from Dr. Liz’s journey is that women’s health is not one clinical category.
Needs change throughout life.
A pregnant patient may have very different goals from someone navigating menopause.
A postpartum patient may have different concerns again.
This is why listening matters.
Rather than assuming what a patient needs based on age or life stage, ask better questions.
What has changed?
What is difficult right now?
What activities matter to them?
What would meaningful improvement look like?
Those questions help move care away from generic protocols and toward the individual.
Practice Growth Often Follows Clinical Curiosity
There is another interesting side to Dr. Liz’s story.
Her growing interest in women’s health is also influencing the physical evolution of her practice.
She is preparing to move from a roughly 700-square-foot clinic into a 2,000-square-foot facility in Midtown Missoula.
That is a significant transition.
The expanded space is intended to create opportunities for services such as:
- Massage therapy
- A wet room
- Sauna
- Cold plunge
- Additional wellness services
But what I like about this story is that the expansion is not simply about getting a larger building.
The space is following the vision.
That is an important distinction for practice owners.
Growth for the sake of growth can create complexity.
Growth that supports a clearly defined clinical vision can create opportunity.
Finding the Right Chiropractic Associate
Of course, physical expansion introduces another challenge:
People.
Hiring an associate is one of the biggest decisions a practice owner can make.
The temptation is to focus primarily on technical skill.
Can they adjust?
Are they confident?
Can they handle patients?
Those things matter.
But Dr. Liz’s experience highlights another factor that may be even more important:
Alignment.
Do you communicate similarly?
Do you share compatible values?
Does the associate understand where the practice is going?
Can both people communicate openly when expectations are not being met?
A talented chiropractor who does not fit the culture can create enormous friction.
The right associate should not simply fill a schedule.
Ideally, the relationship creates room for both the associate and practice owner to grow.
Communication Is the Foundation of a Healthy Associate Relationship
Associate relationships often struggle because expectations remain unspoken.
One person assumes one thing.
The other assumes something different.
Eventually, those assumptions become frustration.
Clear communication needs to begin early.
Discuss:
- Clinical philosophy
- Patient communication
- Scheduling expectations
- Professional development
- Practice goals
- Responsibilities
- Long-term opportunities
Alignment does not mean agreeing about everything.
It means understanding where each person stands and being able to discuss differences constructively.
The same principle that builds patient trust also builds professional relationships:
Clarity creates safety.
Why Practice Growth Should Still Be Fun
One of the themes I appreciated most from my conversation with Dr. Liz was enthusiasm.
Practice growth is often discussed as though everything needs to be optimized.
More patients.
More revenue.
More locations.
More systems.
More productivity.
But there is another question worth asking:
Are you still enjoying what you’re building?
Dr. Liz’s practice has evolved around things she genuinely cares about—community, women’s health, movement, relationships and new clinical interests.
That enthusiasm matters.
Patients feel it.
Staff feel it.
Associates feel it.
A healthy practice is not simply a productive business.
It should also be a place where the people involved have enough energy and connection to enjoy the work.
Let Your Practice Evolve With You
Dr. Liz’s journey offers an important lesson for chiropractors at almost any stage of practice.
You do not need to know exactly what your practice will look like ten years from now.
Your interests will evolve.
Your skills will develop.
Your community will change.
New opportunities will appear.
The important thing is staying curious enough to recognize them.
For Dr. Liz, that evolution has taken her from a small chiropractic practice toward a larger multidisciplinary space with an increasing emphasis on women’s health, pregnancy, menopause and pelvic floor care.
For another chiropractor, the path may look completely different.
That is the point.
The goal is not to copy somebody else’s practice.
It is to build something aligned with the doctor you are becoming and the community you want to serve.
Final Thoughts
There is a lot we can learn from Dr. Liz Walker’s story.
Build relationships before chasing marketing tactics.
Follow the clinical subjects that genuinely interest you.
Choose associates based on alignment, not simply availability.
Allow your physical space to support your vision rather than define it.
And when working in areas as personal as women’s health and pelvic floor care, remember that communication, choice and trust matter just as much as clinical knowledge.
A thriving chiropractic practice is rarely built through one breakthrough.
It develops through hundreds of smaller decisions about people, community, clinical curiosity and purpose.
When those decisions begin pointing in the same direction, growth becomes much more meaningful.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pelvic Floor Chiropractic
Pelvic floor chiropractic generally refers to a chiropractic approach that considers the relationship between the pelvis, spine, movement, breathing, nervous system and pelvic floor function. The exact scope of care depends on the chiropractor’s training, jurisdiction and the individual patient’s needs.
Appropriately trained chiropractors may incorporate pelvic and nervous-system-informed assessment and care within their professional scope. Depending on the patient’s symptoms, collaboration with pelvic floor physiotherapists, physicians or other healthcare professionals may also be appropriate.
Pregnancy changes loading, posture, breathing, pelvic mechanics and the demands placed on the pelvic floor. Understanding these changes can help healthcare practitioners provide more individualized support throughout pregnancy and postpartum recovery.
Hormonal and physiological changes associated with menopause can affect many aspects of women’s health, including pelvic tissues and urinary or pelvic symptoms. Patients experiencing these concerns should receive individualized assessment from appropriately qualified healthcare professionals.
Pelvic health can involve sensitive and personal concerns. Clear explanations, informed consent, patient choice, appropriate boundaries and predictable communication can help create a more respectful clinical experience.
Participating genuinely in local organizations, professional groups, fitness communities and other activities can create relationships and trust over time. Dr. Liz Walker’s experience demonstrates how community involvement can complement traditional marketing when building a local chiropractic practice.
Clinical ability matters, but communication, shared values, professional goals, expectations and cultural alignment are also important. A successful associate relationship should ideally create opportunities for both the practice and the associate to develop.
Find more information’s about upcoming events at theinformedchiropractor.com
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- Chiropractic Communication
- Patient Retention and Trust
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