Hayfield High School graduate Dr. Carl Bamlet is one of just a few people who practices the way he does.
Bamlet is a chiropractic doctor who practices applied kinesiology, is a certified nutrition specialist and does chiropractic acupuncture.
After high school, he went to the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire to study pre-chiropractic and business administration. Then he went to Northwestern Health Sciences University to finish his bachelor's degree and get his doctorate degree in chiropractic.
Bamlet is practicing on two continents — here in Rochester (at Pirkl Chiropractic) and in New Zealand.
"In New Zealand, I'm working in the same office that I interned at as a student," Bamlet said. "I got a nice job offer, but I also went because I'm learning a lot. With these techniques, it's as much of an art as it is anything you can learn, so I practice and practice and get better as I go along under guidance. I feel you can never be 'good enough,' you can always learn more and never stop teaching yourself."
ADVERTISEMENT
Personal experiences led Bamlet to his professional field.
"I had a lot of sports-related injuries in high school," he said. "At one point, I hurt my shoulder and couldn't lift my arm up. I went to a medical doctor and got pain killers as muscle relaxants and was told to sit out for two weeks. Then I went to a chiropractor who adjusted my neck and rubbed my arm, and five minutes later, I had feeling in my arm and could use it normally.
"Then, when I was 19, I had brain cancer and had to go through a lot of treatments and go through a lot on the medical route," he said. "And as I was going through it, I felt as a whole our society doesn't know a lot about what causes this disease I had. We know how the disease process goes, and we treat the symptoms, but don't know as much about what causes it. That made me explore the non-traditional route."
Bamlet's practice involves kinesiology — the science of human movement — nutrition and food intolerances. He recently was approached by a publisher to write a book on his technique.
"I don't ever expect someone to just believe it because I say it," he said. "I encourage them to come try the process and see that there is something to it. Western civilizations don't practice energetically the way many other cultures do, and we spend the most on health care of any other country in the world but are ranked 37th (for health-care performance) by the W.H.O. (World Health Organization). So it seems to me either every other culture is wrong or maybe we might be leaving something out."
Bamlet plans to work in New Zealand for the next few years while still coming back to Minnesota from mid-December to mid-January every year.
"I plan to practice in Minnesota when I return, so I like being able to keep up with patients when I come back each year," he said.
You can find Bamlet on Facebook, where he posts regular updates full of quick health tips.
ADVERTISEMENT
Four cheers!
Congratulations to the Fierce All Stars , a competitive cheerleading team from Rochester that just cleaned up at the Spirit of America Cheer Championship last weekend at the Mall of America.
The "Youth Black" (ages 8-11), "Junior Silver" (ages 10-14), and "Senior Teal" (ages 15-18) teams all won first place in their divisions, while the "Tiny White" (ages 3-5) team took second place.
The completion, on Jan. 25, involved some of the Midwest's most talented dance and cheer teams, with more than 2,000 dancers and cheerleaders competing.
"I'm so proud of them and how all their hard work is paying off," said coach Katie Erickson. "Now, we are looking forward to Tiny White's nationals in Iowa in February, Junior Silver's and Senior Teal's nationals in March, and Youth Black's nationals in Chicago in April."
