Dr. Alyssa Brooks first discovered chiropractic care after she injured herself while wakeboarding.
At the time, she was a Waupaca High School student and her father recommended that she see Dr. Stuart Boelte, of Chiropractic Health Center in Waupaca.
“It kind of opened my eyes,” she said. “I give him (Boelte) a lot of credit. It turned me on to chiropractics.”
Today, Brooks is a doctor of chiropractic and is preparing for the opening of her own chiropractic practice.
Brooks Family Chiropractic opens Monday, Aug. 29, at 717 Churchill St.
“I see it as preventive wellness,” she said.
After high school, Brooks headed to St. Peter, Minn., to attend Gustavus Adolphus College. She had many interests and graduated with a degree in business management, with an emphasis in art history.
“I knew I always wanted to be in business for myself and also for the farm,” she said.
The daughter of Ron and Terri Brooks, she is the sixth generation on the Brooks Farm. “My dad always stressed to me to be your own boss some day,” she said.
While in college, Brooks also played basketball and sustained a number of injuries, including a torn Achilles, concussions and several sprains. She again turned to a chiropractor for her care.
By the time she was a junior in college, she knew she wanted to be a chiropractor.
“The recoveries I saw with athletes and with myself – it got down to the root of the problem,” Brooks said.
Before graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College in the spring of 2007, she visited about five different chiropractic schools before deciding to enroll at Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis.
“It offered the most programs and the most options with techniques,” she said. “It was open-minded and holistic, but, yet, scientific-based.”
Brooks began her studies there in the fall of 2007 and graduated last December.
Her love of travel resulted in many road trips as she began to think about where she wanted to live and work.
She narrowed it down to Sedona, Ariz., Bozeman, Mont., and her hometown of Waupaca.
She looked at a couple of practices in Montana after she graduated and then returned home to look over everything. While back in Waupaca, she helped out on the farm and spent time with her family. She realized that if she moved, she would constantly want to be going home.
In the end, she chose Waupaca.
“Why here?” is what she has been asked numerous times since making her decision.
Brooks said while she loves visiting cities, at heart she is a country girl. “My whole family is here. My parents are high school sweethearts. Both sets of my grandparents are high school sweethearts,” she said.
All four of her grandparents live in the area, and she has three younger sisters.
Brooks could not start working anywhere in Wisconsin, because the state was in between its old and new tests for state licensure.
“I couldn’t be hired or work, so it was frustrating,” Brooks said.
She went to state Rep. Kevin Petersen for assistance with the process and thanks him for getting the bill through.
Brooks took her test on July 18.
As she waited to take the test, she began to think about opening her own practice.
“Because I couldn’t work for anyone else, I thought, ‘Forget it. I’ll buy my own place,'” she said.
On March 1, she bought the former Farmers State Bank branch office on Churchill Street, financing it through that same bank.
“I’m doing it all on my own,” she said. “I worked three jobs during undergrad and two jobs during grad. I saved every penny I had.”
K & E Builders redesigned the building, and Tom Hackbarth helped Brooks do the laminate flooring.
Her parents and grandparents also helped her get the space ready, and she appreciates all that they have done and their inspiration.
Her father made the front desk. The wood is from a cherry tree that Brooks helped him cut down when she was in high school. He had it cut into boards, which were stored in one of their old barns. He told her she could use it someday. The desk’s granite top is from Darboy Stone & Brick.
Brooks wants to treat people on a weekly or monthly basis to prevent them from having pain. “I really want to emphasize total wellness care – diet, exercise and lifestyle,” she said.
Her specialties include pregnancy, infants, athletics and performance athletics.
The tree featured in her logo symbolizes life, growth and family, because she wants to serve families, from infants to grandparents.
Since returning to her hometown, Brooks has quickly become involved in the community, joining the Waupaca Breakfast Rotary Club, Jaycees, Waupaca Community Arts Board and helping with the high school girls basketball program.
Brooks Family Chiropractic will have flexible hours and will have an open house from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2.
The first week she is open, Brooks will take appointments Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and late Friday afternoon. She can be reached at 715-258-7001.