Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Erica.
Hi Dr. Erica, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
As a little girl, I knew I wanted to be a doctor, and as I grew older, it became quite obvious that I was meant to be in birth work. I was fascinated by birth and spent hours watching anything I could on pregnancy and birth!
As a teen I had my own personal health challenges. With menstruation irregularities, our first stop was a gynecologist office. Birth control was not it for our family, so we sought out other options and ended up visiting with a naturopath. After testing and 6 months of treatment, things significantly improved, this is where my journey to natural healing began.
My naturopath introduced me to the idea of becoming a chiropractor and so when I completed my degree at UTSA, I applied to the graduate program at Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas, and it was the best choice. Once in chiropractic school, I realized that there was another side of birthwork to be discovered.
I married my high school sweetheart my first year into graduate school and we had our first son 3 months before graduation. Becoming a mother was a humbling experience. I felt like the world of natural healing and homebirth chewed me up and spit me out. My planned homebirth turned into a transfer and into a c-section. I was devastated and it took me years to heal emotionally. That healing journey helped me build connections and relationships when we moved back home. Many of those relationships helped me build my current practice to what it is today. Empowered Chiropractic + Massage celebrated 8 years in March and it has served countless families working to fulfill its name in empowering families in pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and wherever their parenting journey leads them. Over the years, we have added 5 more babies to our family, all born at home into my hands. We started a non-profit and named it “The Birth Threshold”, a name fit to honor the journey that we take as mothers and fathers, finding our way through challenges and uncharted territory, we serve military families, low income families and teen parents, bridging the gap to make chiropractic care more attainable for everyone.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being in practice and serving has never been a stress. When Covid happened, I was expecting our fourth baby. My husband was furloughed and we were forced to adapt. I had a magical outdoor homebirth on our back porch, overlooking the yanaguana, with an amazing team. Things changed at home and in practice, my husband became a homeschooling stay at home dad and I went back to work, doing what I love. I was never worried about the practice failing. This is my calling and when God calls, I try to listen.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Empowered Chiropractic + Massage?
We are woman owned and operated. I am a San Antonio native, born and raised. I am the first in my family to graduate from college, but not a stranger to the entrepreneur lifestyle. My family has a unique lifestyle, I am the one in the community, working and my husband stays home with our children to homeschool them. As a child, he dreamed of being a teacher, so we are both happy, living our dream.
I love learning more about my culture and my family history and finding ways to incorporate that wisdom. A few years back, I learned that one of my great great grandmothers was a midwife here in south Texas, I hope to one day follow in her footsteps and continue to develop my skills as a birth worker.
We are currently the only chiropractic office in Texas to be trained and practicing the Breech Release. We have used the breech release technique in unison with the Webster technique, a chiropractic technique for pregnancy to create space and encourage babies to move into a better position for birth. Although there are many providers who assist women in breech vaginal birth, it is not currently the norm for breech babies. Thank fully we have been able to help many women avoid c-sections over the last year and a half as a result of these techniques being available.
In addition to breech work, I love empowering women through my teachings as a doula, birth advocate and doctor of chiropractic to breastfeed, prepare for VBAC’s (vaginal birth after cesarean) and be active participants in their families health endeavors. We work closely with other providers to help babies struggling with oral ties that create breastfeeding challenges and other developmental challenges.
As a VBAC mama myself, I hold these families dear to my heart. Many women don’t know that vaginal birth after a c-section is an option, or that it is their choice. With the right provider and under the right circumstances, women can safely give birth the way our bodies were designed to even if things didn’t work that way the first time. We offer another service called bone sculpting, which is comparable to the traditional “sobada”, this service is like a massage for the abdomen and extends into the sides and back. These sessions are used to create softness and space, they help women recovering from surgery, women preparing for birth and even those who struggle with pain during menstruation, digestion or for other reasons.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We love working with other local businesses and we love supporting our community. Scheduling an appointment, donating to our nonprofit or sharing our name are all great ways to support our cause. We love getting to know new people and love our San Antonio.
Last year I had the idea to bring back a popular event known as the Latch On, it is an event that raises awareness and serves the breastfeeding community. A couple of other businesses joined me in hosting the event last year and this year, with more help, we will host the event again on a larger scale. On August 1, we will host the second annual Latch On at the Voigt Center in Hollywood Park, from 4pm-8pm. It is a family friendly event with local vendors, live music and lots of fun. The community is invited and encouraged to join us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Empoweredcm.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empoweredchiropractic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1E3vwDdkGQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/Thebirththresholdsa
