10/14/2026
π¨**Long post alert**π¨
The most common thing new patients tell me when I've finished working on them the first day is that "you're not like any other chiropractor I've ever met"
Well that's because you never knew Dr. Alex Cox. And Dr. Alex taught me the vast majority of what I know.
Dr. Alex hailed from Mt. Horeb, WI and worked directly under Dr. Gonstead, who developed the Gonstead technique which I practice. He spent many long hours (literally Drs. Alex & Gonstead would often be working until 2 or 3am to be able to see everyone, most days of the week). Dr. Alex eventually purchased Dr. Gonstead's clinic, hotel, and teaching seminar.
When I was 4 months into school as a student at Palmer, my new friend and classmate, Anette, and I decided to travel to Paris to learn from Dr. Alex at a class he was teaching which happened to fall on a break from school.
When he learned we were in attendance he was amazed we traveled so far to learn from him as we were only 2.5 hours away from him at Palmer. Dr. Alex also recognized my last name, and realized that he was the chiropractor for my grandparents-before I was even born!
Dr. Alex told me that day: if you're serious about chiropractic, I'll help you all I can to be the best one possible. He gave me his home phone number and said to call anytime.
So I took him up on that.
After traveling to Paris I started to call Dr. Alex with all my questions. I signed up to take his classes at his seminar, started going to his house to learn from him on weekends, and would go out to eat with Dr. Alex to celebrate. When I'd ask Dr. Alex what we were celebrating he'd say: can't we just celebrate?
I learned from Dr. Alex not to adjust too many vertebrae, or too often, or too many visits. I learned from him that an adjustment doesn't take too much force, you just have to "show it the way home". I think of him every time I adjust a jaw. Once while I was still in school and at his house, he asked me to adjust his jaw. I had learned how in school but never really understood it and had not tried it yet. I told him I was not the one he wanted doing the adjustment but he insisted. He talked me through it and said: that's a real good start.
Dr. Alex also taught me: if you take care of your patients, they'll take care of you.
Early into practice, I was competing in a sprint triathlon and got thrown from my bike. Shortly after that I was at Dr. Alex's house learning and reviewing cases, he could tell I was hurt. He adjusted me at his house 2x a week for a few weeks. I'm still not sure if I learned more from what we talked about over the years or from experiencing his adjustments. They are still the best adjustments I've ever had.
Dr. Alex also came to visit my office many times. Once even before I opened to 'scout it out' for me and the other times once I was open in the middle of my work day. He said he just came to check if I was busy, and when I did get busy when he would drop in my office he would say: but no time for lunch? He'd wait in my waiting room until I had time to go to lunch. He even made it a point to come out for my 30th birthday party! (See photo)
If you read this far, and if you didn't already guess it, Dr. Alex died yesterday at the age of 97.
I could go on and on with stories which probably make no difference to you my patients, but the reason I posted this is so you know why perhaps I might be a bit down the next few days. But what will help me the most is being able to work and see all of your smiling faces π
Because the best way for me to honor my time with and what I learned from Dr. Alex is to continue his work in order to help the sick get well and to keep the well from getting sick.
**I'll still be in the office tomorrow (Wed) from 10-6. I'm still planning to go on vacation Thursday-Tuesday, and I will be back in the office Wed-Fri as the funeral is not until the weekend of the 24.
PS-sorry for any typos. Written by me, Dr. Laurie and not AI. I was also not going to torture myself re-reading this to proofread. π
