Exploring Life & Business with Lindsay Mumma, DC of Triangle Chiropractic and Rehabilitation Center

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Mumma, DC.

Hi Lindsay, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I found incredible relief in chiropractic care from unrelenting back pain when I was a teenage athlete. I decided I would become a chiropractor myself to help other athletes who had similar struggles. After graduating from chiropractic college, I started my practice; I knew I wanted to work for myself, and I planned to work with an athletic patient population. I attended races, sporting competitions, and events, and connected with gym owners to begin making connections. I enmeshed myself in the sports world for about nine months.

Then my husband and I decided that we’d like to start a family. As we began to talk about getting pregnant and I did my best to prepare for it, I realized how very little I knew about pregnancy in general. I’d already treated pregnant patients and had some basic education surrounding prenatal care when I got my doctorate, but I still felt ill-prepared to take on the task myself; especially because I planned to continue my athletic endeavors.

The guidance surrounding working out during pregnancy was sparse in 2012, but I kept digging. I consulted with some colleagues and read anything I could get my hands on. I felt empowered by the information I was learning and opted to continue working out regularly when I became pregnant. I quickly became the go-to person at the gym for answering questions about pregnancy and simultaneously found myself determined to fill in the gaps that the majority of prenatal care in our country was missing.

The deeper I dove into this world, the more I realized how much we have it backward: we think of pregnant women as fragile and insist that the most important thing a postpartum woman can do is squeeze back into her jeans. But the opposite is true: pregnant women are strong and incredibly capable. It doesn’t hurt to help them with the door or bring them a meal, but we really need to flip the script on how we treat postpartum women.

These women have undergone 40+ weeks of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual change, and then begin the task of figuring out how to feed, care for, and otherwise guide and protect a new human in the world. The immediate postpartum time period is daunting and arduous for many women.

I realized the need for supportive care during the entire perinatal time period and naturally, my practice saw a gradual shift from a focus on athletes to a focus on perinatal care.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It’s not exactly the easiest shift in practice branding to go from treating bulky male athletes to welcoming a woman during labor, but my own pregnancy seemed to help soften the change. I also had always maintained a focus on core health with my patients, so it was pretty easy to shift toward the most rapidly changing core – a pregnant one!

The hardest part wasn’t in shifting the focus of my practice, but in balancing my life as a doctor and entrepreneur with that of being a mother. I know so many parents can relate to this struggle! I’ve since welcomed a second child and they’re both active young boys now. Growing a practice alongside growing a family has had many challenges, but despite the struggles, both have grown beautifully.

I sometimes look around my office and am filled with immense gratitude. My first patient walked in my door nearly a decade ago, and since then I’ve had the opportunity to be part of so many people’s lives. It’s an honor that I take very seriously. I’ve also been able to hire multiple staff, including bringing in a second (and soon to be starting third) chiropractor, an acupuncturist, and a pelvic PT. The tiny little practice that started with me running my own front desk now has full-time staff and keeps growing!

With that growth comes some growing pains, and running a healthcare practice in 2020 and 2021 hasn’t been sunshine and roses, but overall the joys of running a practice far outweigh the negatives. I’m so grateful for a staff that’s committed to making each patient’s life just a little bit better, and a family that supports my career.

As you know, we’re big fans of Triangle Chiropractic and Rehabilitation Center. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Since opening in 2012, we’ve helped hundreds of people move and feel their best. Our youngest patients are hours old, and our oldest is in their 90s. We maintain a focus on core health, women’s health, and the perinatal time period, but see a wide variety of cases because this practice has largely been built by referrals.

We offer chiropractic and physical rehabilitative care, including dry needling and a variety of manual therapies; acupuncture; pelvic PT; infrared sauna; Plunge (our 39-degree cold water immersion tub); a cyclical women’s fitness class; and a variety of online courses.

Our providers and staff genuinely care about each of our patients and we maintain a relationship-based approach to care. We have been voted “Best Chiropractor” by a few different publications, but find that our highest accolades come in the form of referrals from our existing patients or other providers in the area.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking?
I love assessing risks and determining what the best outcome will be for me. I attempt to thoughtfully consider all possibilities and take calculated risks, but sometimes I just get a strong gut feeling and dive into (or away from) something.

A lot of people thought it was risky to start practice right out of school and at such a young age, but I thought the risk of going to work for someone else was greater. I didn’t know it at the time, but my life as a parent would have been significantly different (and it’s possible I may have even left my career) if I hadn’t been my own boss.

My first son wouldn’t take a bottle: he refused it. Without much of an alternative choice, I opted to bring him to work with me to stay in the office with our nanny, which was an obvious risk for my business. Not many employers allow children in the workplace, but it turned out to be the best thing for our family and ended up opening up a lot of conversations with patients about the challenges of working and parenthood, the dynamics of maintaining a career throughout motherhood, and the reality of burnout as a working parent.

Another risk came more recently: I used to be part of an organization that generated a lot of referrals for my practice, but after realizing that there were some ethical issues within the organization, I took the risk of leaving. At the time, it felt like a leap of faith because I’d been very involved for several years, but I landed on my feet and am so glad I stayed true to my values and left.

I’ve found that when I take risks is when I often feel the most isolated, but quickly realize how much I’m very supported by my family, friends, and staff. I think each of us has a level of risk that we’re comfortable with, and I’ve found that mine seems to be a little bit higher than a lot of people’s. I’ve talked to a lot of other entrepreneurs who seem to have similar experiences. For me personally, it’s because when I’ve taken risks, even my failures have seemed to work out for the better, and in general, I have an optimistic (although quite often skeptical) view of the world.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.trianglecrc.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/trianglecrc
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/lindsaymumma
• Other: www.lindsaymumma.com

Image Credits
Amanda Ditzel (of Raleigh Birth Photography)