Jeffery Carlisle estimates that during peak times 25 people per hour walk by his Edgewater chiropractic and acupuncture clinic. “Of course, you always look for them limping,” he says. Nova Pain Management has been open for only a little more than a month, and he needs the business. Carlisle usually spends at least some of each Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday outside his office, on Broadway south of Catalpa, handing out brochures, business cards, key chains–and free consultations. A placard on the sidewalk advertises a “condition of the week”; among the issues he’s prepared to discuss are headaches, back pain, work injuries, auto accidents, and neck pain.
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Carlisle, who speaks rapidly and has his hair cropped short enough for a tour in Iraq, says his meet-and-greet efforts have pulled in a few new patients, as has the Condition of the Week sign–which he says “makes ’em look.” But most folks keep on walking. “I wouldn’t say people are unfriendly here,” says Carlisle, a North Carolina transplant. “But half of them look at you like you’re gonna mug ’em.”
Carlisle comes from a long line of chiropractors: his grandfather, father, brother, and a cousin are all practicing or have practiced. As a kid he worked for his father, sweeping the clinic’s parking lot, doing office work, and assisting with X-rays. Though he considers himself a “born chiropractor,” he briefly lost his way and studied engineering.
“Y’all can help with people who steal money from homes?” one of the men pipes up. Carlisle looks as confused as the man sounds. The other man, grinning, interprets: “He thought you like a lawyer.”
