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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Defending One's Back: Dr. Charles Goodman, a chiropractor in Los Gatos, is also a second-degree black belt in jujitsu and a first-degree black belt in Aikido. He teaches at Pacific Coast Academy in Campbell.
Public Citizen
Goodman moves with the flow
By Erin Mayes
Chiropractor Dr. Charles Goodman says he's merely an underling as far as teachers go over at the Pacific Coast Academy in Campbell Plaza. A second-degree black belt in jujitsu and first-degree black belt in Aikido, both Japanese arts of self defense, he has been assisting teachers at the academy on Winchester Boulevard for about six years.
Goodman has been practicing martial arts for 13 years and got started to relieve tension when he was working as a police officer.
"Some people play golf; I do martial arts," he says.
The purpose of martial arts, Goodman says, is to neutralize attacks and overcome opponents. He says the moves he has learned have been useful in his work as an officer.
"A lot of things in martial arts aren't worth a darn thing [as far as fighting is concerned] and in real life you find out what works and what doesn't," he says. "A lot of people don't understand how deadly [martial arts] can be."
As an officer in Stockton, Monterey and Santa Rosa, Goodman went through some tough times, culminating partly in the notorious Cleveland Elementary School shooting in January 1989 in Stockton. A gunman opened fire on young children, killing five and injuring 30 before taking his own life. This incident was a blow to Goodman's psyche because his son, age 6, was the same age as many of the children who were killed.
Adding to his discomfort with his chosen profession, one of Goodman's friends was shot and another was beaten to death by a parolee.
Switching careers was a major life decision for Goodman, who'd intended to work his way up the ranks to police chief. He'd earned a degree in criminal justice administration from California State University at Stanislaus and a master's degree from Sacramento State University.
The Cupertino resident says he had an interesting chiropractic experience as a teenager. When he realized he didn't want to work as a police officer any longer, he was dating a physician who was going to a chiropractor.
Coincidentally, perhaps, Goodman says the purpose of chiropractic work is to keep the flow of function continuing and that martial artists study the flow of function.
The 41-year-old has also studied Japanese restoration therapy and Okazaki long life massage therapy and says he sometimes massages car accident victims, but it's not the type of massage most people think of. He says his type of massage doesn't always feel good and can cause patients to sweat.
His youngest patient was his friend's newborn baby. The child was put in an incubator because it was having trouble breathing. With a few quick adjustments to the baby boy's neck, he immediately began to breathe easier. Goodman explains that the vertebrae in newborn children's necks can sometimes get twisted during the child-bearing process.
Many people are wary of chiropractors, he says, and will show up at his Los Gatos practice only as a last resort.
"Most people who are resistant usually get to a point of pain in their life where they're willing to try anything," Goodman says.
However, by the time some people visit him and they've already been through every other possible treatment, it's not always possible to reverse the damage that has been done.
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Campbell, California
