SD Voyager Feature
I’m happy to have been featured on SD Voyager’s “Hidden Gems” segment recently and am excited to share their publication with you!
Here’s a little more about SD Voyager and what their mission is:
“Our goal is for people to spend more of their money with mom and pops, local artists, creatives and makers rather than with large, one-shape-fits-all corporations.
We think if people knew more about the lives, journeys, struggles, values and background stories of the local business owners, artists, etc they would be more engaged with them, more likely to do business with them and support them in other ways. We believe the best way to do that is to help get the stories of local hidden gems out there, because once people get to know each other at a deeper level we are confident our communities will become even closer and more supportive.
Over time we plan to grow and deepen our involvement with the community beyond storytelling, to include in-person events that promote local artists and entrepreneurs, etc. We are excited and touched by the number of people that have expressed an interest in being part of that growth.”
Enjoy the read!
Today we’d like to introduce you to William Raines.
William, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I come from a family that works in all aspects of healthcare- nursing, medicine, records, maintenance, etc. You could say that growing up, I was groomed to work in the field of healthcare, or in a position of service. My mom, a registered nurse, wanted me to go into nursing when I was in high school. I was considering nursing, engineering, and I wasn’t really considering anything, until I got hurt. I played high level rugby up until a few years ago, and I sustained injury after injury, which is how I was exposed to sports medicine. Between my athletic trainer and my physical therapist, I became excited about a future in sports medicine. I was lucky enough that my high school, St. Augustine High School, offered sports medicine classes, which I took early on. Between that and rehab of my sports injuries, I knew I wanted to go into the field of sports rehab, so I enrolled at Point Loma Nazarene University and studied Kinesiology. After spending time interning at a sports physical therapy clinic, skilled nursing facility, orthopedic surgeon’s office, and a chiropractor’s office, I decided to emphasize on pre-chiropractic and shifted my focus to pursuing that as my professional degree.
I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship to play D1 rugby at my new alma mater, Life Chiropractic College West. Fortunately for me, Life West had just founded a sports performance institute, and I had some of the most experience working in sports, so I split my time between playing rugby and working on the medical support staff. With the connections made through the sports program at Life West, I was able to work events involving USA Rugby, PRO rugby North America, USA Sumo wrestling, and more. All through Chiropractic school, I knew that I wanted to come back and practice in my hometown. I came home on breaks and shadowed local offices, picked the brains of every clinician I could. I was able to shadow at events with the San Diego Sockers, San Diego Seals, X Games, and Dew Tour. Long story short, I had the opportunity to practice out of an established office and give back to the communities that had given me so much.
Pregame medical support was one service we provided in the Life West Sports Performance Institute, pictured sideline here.
Rugby played such a pivotal role in my personal and professional development! I am always looking for more ways to give back to the game that gave me so much,.
Big thanks to the Life West organization for the jersey at my graduation from chiropractic college.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. I sprained my ACL right before I accepted my scholarship- if I wouldn’t have been able to rehab it in time, I don’t know how I would have been able to pay for my Doctorate degree. But my biggest setback is that I suffered a significant traumatic brain injury playing rugby about a year into school. I suffered with symptoms for over a year, my case was mismanaged and misdiagnosed, and my counselors actually recommended that I took time off from school. This injury not only affected my professional and academic trajectory, but it affected the personal relationships I had with those around me, and it removed me from my support system for months. Having started my practice in November, I was seeing consistent growth, and helping the people I wanted to help, until Coronavirus happened. For the entire moth after the lockdown orders, I was only seeing 10-15% of what I had seen in months prior. With the future of both sports and small businesses unclear, it is tough to say how much this will affect me in the future.
Pictured here behind the scenes at a San Diego Sockers game.
I’m happy to be serving the greater San Diego community with Dr. Corey Lichtman, owner of Solana Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic.
Sports and athletics guided my career path, but it has always been about the people.
Please tell us about your work.By profession, I am a trained chiropractor. That being said, the scope is so broad that no two chiropractors’ practice in the same way. At our office, we specialize in clinical diagnostics, i.e. figuring out exactly what is wrong with you, cooperative care plans- including interventions in our office, as well as lifestyle and activity protocols for patients at home. At the end of the day, we are educators. We educate people on why they are feeling the way they are, and what we are able to do about it together.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
The biggest plan for right now is to return to normalcy, but I’m really looking forward to getting back to being involved with my sports teams. I’m looking forward to helping people get back to consistent lifestyles once orders are lifted, and really just diving back into being a San Diegan. having recently moved back here in September of 2019, between growing a business, coaching rugby, and having a life, I haven’t had much time to enjoy being in my city again. Eventually, we have talked about expanding our office and branching out into different sports.
Address: 538 Stevens Ave., Solona Beach, CA 92075
Website: williamrainesdc.com
Phone: 8586498500
Email: williamrainesdc@gmail.com
Instagram: @williamrainesdc
You can access the full article here.