Kennon Rude - Healing Miracles Great and Small: Living Proof of the Success of Alternative Medicine

Healing Miracles

Great and Small

Living Proof of the Success of Alternative Medicine

Kennon Rude, D.C.

Trafford Publishing

The ideas, suggestions, and techniques contained in this book are not intended as a substitute for the advice of a health-care practitioner. All matters regarding your physical health should be supervised by a trained professional. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any negative effects resulting from the use of the information described within.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Louis Sportelli, D.C., for permission to reprint the illustration of the spine from Introduction to Chiropractic, by Louis Sportelli, D.C., Copyright 1978.

Names and identifying characteristics of people in the book have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.

Editor: Sandra Jonas

Book design: SJ Literary Services

Cover photograph: Joseph P. Jonas III

Cover design: Kuba Holuj

Copyright 2005 Kennon Rude, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Note for Librarians: a cataloguing record for this book that includes Dewey Decimal Classification and US Library of Congress numbers is available from the Library and Archives of Canada. The complete cataloguing record can be obtained from their online database at: www.collectionscanada.ca/amicus/index-e.html

ISBN 1-4120-3467-1

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Contents

In loving memory of my grandparents, both of whom were chiropractors, Elizabeth and William Watts

Darcy McKinstry-Truppo, the former executive secretary of the Colorado Chiropractic Association, asked me to introduce my friend Dr. Kennon Rude to his readers. I am flattered that she considered me competent enough to record the many fine qualities of one of the best chiropractors I have ever known.

I met Dr. Rude in 1981 shortly after graduating from Logan College of Chiropractic in Missouri and moving to Denver. I had set up a meeting with Dr. Donald Zisch, a longtime Denver chiropractor and the president of the Logan Alumni Association, to gather information about state chiropractic laws and the best places to practice. Dr. Zisch insisted Dr. Rude be included because he is the one who can fill you in on all the important things you should know. When Dr. Rude accepted our invitation, I was very impressed that a doctor would agree to spend time advising a fresh-out-of-college neophyte. Upon meeting him, I knew I was in the presence of a warmhearted and devoted healer, one with a vast knowledge of chiropractic and alternative medicine. He quickly became my friend and mentor.

Kennon Rude hails from a long line of chiropractors. He was born to chiropractic parents and chiropractic maternal grandparents on July 5, 1923, in Bemidji, Minnesota. Initially, he chose to study chemical engineering when he entered the University of Minnesota in the fall of 1941. After World War II began in December of that year, Kennon was called to serve by the U.S. Navy to meet a demand for engineers. The navys college training program allowed him to continue his engineering studies before going into active duty. On his birthday in 1945, he was commissioned ensign, and after serving as an engineering officer aboard two ships, he was honorably discharged in 1946.

It was his grandfathers passion for chiropracticand his impending retirementthat propelled Kennon to change his career direction and follow in his familys footsteps. In January 1947 he enrolled at National Chiropractic College in Chicago, the only college at that time offering full-body dissection in the anatomy department. He later transferred to Northwestern College of Chiropractic in Minneapolis, from which he graduated in 1950. Within a few days of graduation, he received his license to practice and joined his parents at the Rude Chiropractic Center in Hector, Minnesota.

Kennon likes to tell a story about how he promoted his business in its early years: An attorney friend was starting a practice in Hector and decided to file for the office of county attorney. Kennon asked him, Bill, why are you filing for county attorney? Youve been in the county for less than six months. Nobody even knows there is a Bill Sutor, attorney-at-law. Bill replied, Thats the point exactly. I pay a filing fee of only twenty-four dollars, and all the voters will at least find out I exist. Thinking that was a great way to inexpensively publicize his name, Kennon filed for county coroner. And sure enough, he was elected. He served as Renville County Coroner for four years (19541958). Also during his years in Minnesota, he was the chairman for the American Red Cross, teaching first aid to many of the people in the county. And as an instructor for the course based on Dale Carnegies book How to Win Friends and Influence People, he taught human relations subjects throughout southern Minnesota.

After providing the Hector community with chiropractic and alternative health care for almost twenty years, Kennon moved his family and practice to Boulder, Colorado, in late 1969. Just a few months later, he opened the Boulder Chiropractic Center and has continued serving the Boulder area to this day.

Throughout his many years in practice, he has been a continuous learner, taking numerous courses. His late wife, Shirley, used to refer to him as a professional student. His postgraduate studies have included chiropractic orthopedics, chiropractic radiology, acupuncture, methods of pain control modification, and sports injuries. In 1974 he earned a B.S. degree in bionutrition from Columbia College in Missouri. Under the statutes of both Minnesota and Colorado, Doctors of Chiropractic must complete at least 15 hours of postgraduate study annually to renew their licenses. Considering Dr. Rudes fifty-five-year career, that requirement has led to an equivalent of 825 hours of postgraduate work, or about fifty-five semesters.

His other great accomplishments include a U.S. patent for a cervical traction device, participation in the founding of the American Chiropractic Association Council of Sports Injuries, and the Chiropractor of the Year Award in 1980.

Kennon cares deeply for his patients. He will never refuse anyone treatment, regardless of an inability to pay. And his mind is always active, correlating physical symptoms with something he may have learned years ago. Consequently, he is continuously developing innovative procedures to solve health problems. He strives to discover more about natural ways to correct the dis-eases that grip his patients. I, along with many of the chiropractors in Boulder, consult with him when we have difficult cases, or for our own personal care.