Dr. Adrian B. Hunter was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and has led an active lifestyle his whole life. Dr. Hunter has participated in a lot of different activities, but fitness is the one that has grasped most of his time.
While in high school and college, Dr. Hunter spent most of his free time teaching, training and competing. After graduating college he decided to become a professional trainer and competitor full time. During a routine training class Dr. Hunter was teaching a simple throw to one of his larger students and felt a very painful “POP” in his low back. Pain is sometimes apart of training, so he “sucked it up’ and finished the class and even did some additional training later that evening.
The next morning, Dr. Hunter got out of bed and hit the floor. He couldn’t walk and was in excruciating pain! After a painful and long crawl to the phone, a family member came by to help him. He went to the hospital and was referred to an orthopedist. The orthopedist recommended surgery. Dr. Hunter had one major “How will this affect my fitness career?” Dr. Hunter didn’t like the answer. Basically, he would be out of training for close to 6 or 7 months and he had a decent chance of having to need a second surgery down the line. The Orthopedist also told him “fitness was too much on his back, find another line of work”.What the orthopedist said just didn’t set right with him so he started looking for an alternative. He didn’t know where to start.
By the grace of God Dr. Hunter ran in to a fraternity brother who saw how hurt he was.This fraternity brother just happened to be a chiropractor, by the name of Dr. Raphael Okonkwor. Dr. Hunter told Dr. Raphael his story. Dr. Raphael made a “we will see about that” face and told Dr. Hunter to come visit his office.
The Chiropractic Adjustment that Literately Changed my Life.
Dr. Hunter went to see Dr. Raphael and had an exam done.He said he didn’t agree with the orthopedist. He did say that Dr. Hunter need some extensive care. During our consultation, he explained that this problem didn’t happen over night and I told him that I had been having significant back pain since I was a teenager. He said that my recent trauma just seemed like, “the straw that broke the camels back”. He then explained chiropractic and gave Dr. Hunterhis first adjustment. Dr. Hunter felt instant relief! He was still in pain, but felt a remarkable reduction and an improvised ability to walk properly. This was mind blowing.
At first, Dr. Hunter was at the office every day for the first week. Then 3x per week and then 2 per week and so on. It took about 3 and 1/2 months, butin the end there was in no pain with zero drugs and no surgery. I continued to see Dr Raphael through out my martial arts career as I felt it was an invaluable asset. I recommended all of my students and colleagues to my chiropractor as well. I witnessed first hand the difference that chiropractic care provided. One day, years later, I was at Dr. Raphael’s office and I light heartedly said, that “I would be interested in becoming a chiropractor.” His face lit up! He was also a recruiter for Life University, (it’s just the largest Chiropractic school in the world!), and he advised me to go and check it out. I took that advice and a few years later I became (pain, surgery and drug free) Adrian B. Hunter D.C.
Healing the Body, My Parents and Chiropractic.
My father has a saying “ Medicine is for Emergency.” My parents (Roland and Wanda Hunter) were always into healthy lifestyles. We were encouraged to eat healthy, grow gardens and cultivate herbs. One of my fondest memories growing up was going to the Eastern Market. It was this huge farmers market in Detroit, MI. There we would sample all types of foods and bargain with farmers for the best deal on a case of this or a barrel of that. Exercise was also a must in the Hunter household. There had to be some type of team sport or activity done all year round. My mother would explain, that “movement was life and if you want to stay strong you have to move.”
My father has a theory that the body gets blockages and debris in it from poor diet, stress, and injury. He explained that “if you let that blockage build up you get disease, if you don’t let the debris and blockages build up you don’t get sick. If you want to get better get rid of the blockage”.
Chiropractic holds very similar ideas. What I took from my chiropractic experience and my family experience, is that the body has the ability to heal itself if the right conditions are achieved. We all will have set backs and trials, but in order for the body to achieve its true potential the body simply needs to have “interference” removed from its path. It is not about some symptom or how one feels on a particular day. Its about the body’s ability to express itself, unimpeded by the “blockage and debris” of the world. Once this is achieved, the body will shine as bright as the sun.
What My Wife, Sports and Pregnancy have in Common?!
My favorite thing about chiropractic is how it changes people. The body running at its most optimal potential is a wonder to behold. I became a Chiropractor because I saw real value in the care I received from it. I then watched the people around me receive similar benefits. My background with chiropractic is related to sports and martial arts, so naturally, I wanted to become a sports chiropractor. That all changed the day I met my wife.
I met my wife, Dr. Heather L. Hunter, on the first day of classes at Life university. We became fast friends, great study partners, and years later we got married. Then we were expecting our first born. While my wife was pregnant, we went to a pregnancy chiropractor. I was a student at the time and was not seeing my wife as a patient, so I can speak from a husbands point of view. Like all pregnancies, my wife’s body was doing some strange and new things. She could not hold things without dropping them and her hips and back hurt constantly, just to name a few. That was until we started going to the chiropractor. She still had some complications, but the difference between before we started with the chiropractor, to after, was night and day. All of the function came back in her hands, and while she had some hip pain it was greatly reduced. During this time we had a few friends who were expecting babies as well. Of course I recommended the chiropractor, and some went and some didn’t. The difference between the women that went to the chiropractor vs the women that did not was so striking, it changed my prospective on the type of patients I wanted to work with. While I still honed my skill in sports chiropractic, I also focused on pregnancy care. Right after my oldest was born, I joined the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) as a student member and started studying up. It was one of the best chiropractic decisions I have ever made.
Chiropractic Babies are Well Adjusted.
My wife delivered both of our children naturally with no drugs or surgery. We had our first born Adrian A. Hunter at the hospital. The nurses and doctors weren’t sure what to do with us. My wife didn’t want an epidural. (Rock Star) She didn’t want to stay in bed. She wanted to walk around.She didn’t want to lay on her back and push, she stayed on her side. I was able to catch the baby, not the doctor. It was a bit of a fight in the hospital to get the things we wanted. We insisted and our reward was a healthy, beautiful, baby boy. We got him home and we waited about a month until we got him adjusted. He was having issues with breastfeeding and he was frequently constipated. We went to our pediatric chiropractor and got our son adjusted. The breastfeeding issues and constipation ended instantly.
Due to the issues we had at our local hospital we decided to have our second baby in the comfort of our own home. We hired a midwife that shared our healthcare values and prospectives. When our beautiful daughter, Alana A. Hunter was born, we wised up. She was adjusted right after she was born and is adjusted on a regular basis. She has had no issues what so ever.
Living Wellness With Family and Community
When away from Balance By Chiropractic, Dr. Hunter lives an active lifestyle. He is an active martial artist, plays golf and works out regularly. Dr. Adrian Hunter resides in Montclair, Virginia with his wife Dr. Heather Hunter and two children Adrian and Alana Hunter.
Over the years, Dr. Adrian Hunter has dedicated himself to giving back to his community.
Dr. Hunter is an active member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity inc. since 2006. He has worked with youth development programs, youth step teams and charities; like Spaulding for Children Orphanage. He as donated toMarch of dimes, and participated in the Backpack to Briefcase seminars through the Sigma Beta Club youth development program. Over the years, Dr. Hunter has worked with various homeless shelters, provided dinners for needy families, worked with donation programs to give coats out in the winter and counseled young men in juvenile detention facilities.
