Chiropractor Career Path: Dr. Knowlton-Key
Hear about our graduate’s success as an athletic chiropractor — and how NWHSU’s Chiropractic School gave him the tools to achieve his chiropractor career path.
How NWHSU Helped Dr. Knowlton-Key Find His Ambitions
“Northwestern made me what I am, which serves a very unique role in the United States Olympic and Paralympic community” reflects Dr. Jordan Knowlton-Key, a 2017 graduate of Northwestern Health Sciences University’s Chiropractic School.
As an undergraduate, Jordan knew he wanted to follow a medical career path — though he didn’t know which specific track. After talking to our alumni and faculty, he knew the Northwestern Chiropractic School would give him the evidence- and science-based program and diversified experience he wanted for a varied career with myriad responsibilities.
Chiropractor jobs allow opportunities to sustain relationships with patients by following through and creating long-lasting connections. Jordan also saw that the chiropractor career path would allow him to continue outside activities, like sideline field coverage.
Plus, his undergraduate university, South Dakota State University, coordinates with NWHSU to enable students to save time and money. In Jordan’s case, that meant just three years at SDSU for a bachelor’s degree, then starting his first year of chiropractic school to earn his doctorate earlier.
Shining the Alumni Spotlight on Dr. Knowlton-Key’s Chiropractor Career Path Success
Dr. Knowlton-Key now works as a Chiropractic Sports Physician at Lake Placid Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in New York. As a sports medicine chiropractor, he loves working with an integrated group of specialists, such as physical therapists, massage therapists, ortho surgeons, and osteopathists.
NWHSU set Jordan apart from other potential sport and wellness chiropractor candidates by teaching him some of the skills one might expect from a primary care provider. Dr. Knowlton-Key understands physical diagnoses and works with his expansive team to determine whether to refer a patient elsewhere or treat them in-house.
His ability to run tests, provide thorough examinations, conduct screenings, and care for both chronic and acute conditions may seem out of scope for a chiro career — but these skills give Dr. Knowlton-Key distinguishing abilities valuable to chiropractor jobs like his.
Why Choose NWHSU’s School for Chiropractors?
“NWHSU is never cookie-cutter,” Jordan says. Our Chiropractic School in Bloomington, MN not only teaches you the tools but also how to think critically to apply them in real time. The result? You master the adaptability required of a student and practitioner.
Jordan particularly lauded these NWHSU resources as pivotal to his student experience:
- The Human Performance Center’s curriculum, which specifically benefits future athletic chiropractors. Jordan’s HPC residency provided him with significant experience for his chiropractor career path. As former HPC director Dr. Tim Stark told Jordan, “In two years, we’re going to make you do what others do in five years.” It also connected Jordan to hands-on work with high school teams, successfully treating acute injuries before he graduated.
- Phenomenal mentorship from active sports medicine chiropractors. Jordan cited Dr. Stark and Dr. Andy Klein as particularly wonderful guides. They provided a roadmap of opportunities and encouraged him to reach his goals. Even before Jordan’s residency, Dr. Stark would share extra courses and different opportunities to help Jordan and his classmates, which Jordan says was “very impactful and empowering.”
- Clinicals that come to you. Many sport and wellness chiropractor students must search out clinical experiences themselves. NWHSU instead offers a university clinic that connected Jordan with a wide variety of hands-on areas to complete his clinical experience.
- The opportunity to build a professional network while still in school. NWHSU works with community-based institutions to give students externships. This opportunity — unique to NWHSU — helps students meet their individual goals while exploring the diversity of options available among chiropractor jobs.