We have to grow the profession

Dr. Benet-Canut Makes a Mark in His Home Country

Originally from Mexico City, Enrique Benet-Canut, D.C., CCSP (Main, ’66) enrolled in Palmer College in 1963, set on returning to his home country, bringing the healing art of chiropractic with him. When he returned after graduation, there were less than 10 chiropractors in the country. Yet with his wife Patricia Gregg*, a practicing attorney, by his side to devote her knowledge of the law to chiropractic, they would leave an indelible mark on the profession.

“In the 1970s there was no official recognition of chiropractic,” says Dr. Benet-Canut. “I practiced without a license from 1966 until 1976 and had a lot of patients—artists, politicians, medical doctors, and entrepreneurs. I always found that when I explained logically what chiropractic is, most people understood it.”

A major turning point happened in 1970. While volunteering for a social program called the Institute of Protection to the Infancy, one of Dr. Benet-Canut’s patients referred a 10-year-old girl who had been deaf and mute since birth.

“After receiving care, her hearing was restored. The local news media ran a story on her recovery from chiropractic care, and from that point chiropractic began to get attention in the country,” Dr. Benet-Canut says. “I continued to work with kids for nine years, and people never forgot what chiropractic has done for children.”

This program eventually led to Dr. Benet-Canut, along with a small group of chiropractors, gaining the support of the Governor of the State of Mexico to start the first chiropractic program within an official university in Mexico.

Over his 50-year career, with his wife, Patricia Gregg, he led the effort to institute three chiropractic colleges within Mexico, was essential in the development of three professional chiropractic organizations—the Mexican Sports Chiropractic Association, Scientific Chiropractors of Mexico, and the Latin American Federation of Chiropractic—the first chiropractic association to be officially recognized by the Mexican government; and served within the World Federation of Chiropractors.

“People ask me, ‘why do you keep working so hard?’ I say, it’s because it’s my duty to keep growing chiropractic. Like B.J. Palmer says, this is history in the making. We’re very proud of what we’ve done.”

Despite the growth over the years, Dr. Benet-Canut urges there is more work to be done.

“Chiropractic is still the minority. We have to understand how chiropractic has evolved from one person, D.D., then B.J. We have to work together to grow the profession, feel proud of and not lose its basic principles,” also adding, “I cannot thank enough professors like Dr. Galen Price, Dr. Virgil Strang and Dr. Dave Palmer who taught me the Principles of Chiropractic. I think all chiropractors should go to Palmer at least once, because it’s the Fountainhead of chiropractic.”

READ MORE from Palmer Proud Magazine

*Since this article published, Patricia Gregg has passed away.