A Chiropractor’s Road to Ghana: Dr. Craig Slapinski on Travel, Spinal Decompression, and Finding Your Path Episode Sponsor

This episode of Conversations with a Chiropractor is supported by Lemongrove Oil.

Visit Lemongrove Oil and use coupon code DRSTEPHANIE at checkout to save 10% on your next order. This offer is exclusive to Conversations with a Chiropractor listeners.

Lemongrove Oil: https://www.lemongroveoil.com/

Episode Description

In this episode of Conversations with a Chiropractor, Dr. Stephanie Wautier sits down with Dr. Craig Slapinski, a chiropractor and former Palmer College classmate whose career has taken him from the Midwest to Ghana, Nigeria, and beyond.

Dr. Craig shares how a Love of travel shaped his life long before chiropractic school. From building houses in Mexico as a teenager to studying abroad in London, backpacking through Europe, exploring China, and traveling through Southeast Asia, his path has always included curiosity, adventure, and a willingness to step into unfamiliar places.

That same spirit eventually led him to Ghana after chiropractic school, where he worked in a high-volume clinic and quickly learned how to trust his hands, sharpen his adjusting skills, and serve patients with limited equipment and a lot of real-world pressure. Years later, he returned to West Africa with a more focused mission: to bring nonsurgical spinal decompression care to communities where access to this type of treatment was limited.

Stephanie and Dr. Craig talk about chiropractic in Ghana and Nigeria, what makes the healthcare experience different from the United States, and how his clinics use spinal decompression, cold laser, Exercise, ergonomics, and rehabilitation to help patients dealing with disc-related back pain.

This conversation is also about finding your own path. Dr. Craig’s story is a reminder that a chiropractic career can take many shapes, and that sometimes the road you end up on is not the one you planned, but the one that fits who you are becoming.

This episode is meant to inform and inspire, not replace personal medical advice. If you are dealing with back pain, disc issues, sciatica, or considering surgery, please work with a qualified healthcare professional who can evaluate your individual situation.

In This Episode, Discover

• How Dr. Craig Slapinski and Dr. Stephanie Wautier met at Palmer College of Chiropractic
• Dr. Craig’s early love of international travel
• What he learned from traveling through Mexico, Europe, China, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia
• How a planned move to China turned into an unexpected opportunity in Ghana
• What it was like practicing chiropractic in Ghana right out of school
• How high-volume care helped Dr. Craig sharpen his adjusting skills
• How he became interested in nonsurgical spinal decompression
• What spinal decompression is designed to do for disc-related back pain
• Why some patients may explore decompression before considering surgery
• How Dr. Craig combines decompression, cold laser, exercise, and ergonomics
• Why he returned to Ghana and eventually expanded into Nigeria
• The differences between insurance-driven care in the United States and cash-based care in Africa
• What healthcare access, MRIs, and patient Education can look like in Ghana and Nigeria
• How Dr. Craig’s clinics serve patients across West Africa
• Why chiropractic careers can take many different paths

Stay Connected & Explore

Learn More About Dr. Craig Slapinski: To learn more about Dr. Craig’s work in West Africa, search:

Spine and Nerve Center Ghana Spine and Nerve Center Nigeria

Episode Sponsor: Lemongrove Oil: https://www.lemongroveoil.com/

Use coupon code DRSTEPHANIE at checkout for 10% off.

Connect with Conversations with a Chiropractor: Follow Us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@ConversationswithaChiro

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Email for show-related inquiries and sponsorships: [email protected]

Want to be a guest on Conversations with a Chiropractor? Send Stephanie Wautier a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/drstephanie

Credits

Podcast production by Brand|Sound. Start your podcast journey by emailing [email protected].

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Conversations with a Chiropractor 01:00 Meet Dr. Craig Slapinski 01:19 A Love of Travel Begins 02:41 Backpacking Through Southeast Asia 03:31 Navigating Different Cultures and Languages 04:35 From a China Plan to a Ghana Opportunity 05:07 Practicing Chiropractic in Ghana 06:31 Building Confidence as a Chiropractor 07:11 Returning to the US and Discovering Decompression 08:00 Lemongrove Oil Sponsor Message 09:52 What Nonsurgical Spinal Decompression Does 11:10 Disc Pain, Surgery, and Other Options 12:08 Bringing Decompression Back to Ghana 13:03 Opening Clinics in Ghana and Nigeria 15:05 Building a Team Across West Africa 15:47 Chiropractic Training and Practice in Africa 16:40 Chiropractic, Insurance, and Patient Choice 18:17 Caring for a Wide Range of Patients 19:00 Food and Culture in Ghana 20:16 Educating Patients Across Languages 21:15 Staffing and Patient Care in the Clinics 22:00 MRIs, Cost, and Access to Imaging 23:09 What Treatment Looks Like 25:00 Is Decompression Comfortable? 25:54 Results With Decompression Care 26:40 How to Find Dr. Craig Slapinski 27:23 Finding Your Path in Chiropractic 28:00 Closing Thoughts 28:37 Lemongrove Oil Sponsor Message

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Stephanie Wautier Dr. Stephanie, BSN, RN, DC

I am a wife and mother and began my professional career as a Registered Nurse. I went back to school to become a Chiropractor at age 30 and that is where my heart has been. I have the gift of co-owning a MedSpa and I get to use my nursing background as an injector in this arena. I started my podcast, Conversations with a Chiropractor, because I had been listening to my patients tell me stories of their lives for 20 years and due to HIPPA I could never tell anyone these tales. I thought, "but wait, my patients can tell their own stories! In their own voices!" And that is how my podcast began, I wanted to honor and document the living history among us. My podcast has morphed into a place where people can share their triumphs, their healing journeys or other healers can share a different perspective on what it means to be healthy and give us options to make ourselves healthier!