When a waterskiing accident left Richard Thomas with severe lower back pain for six months, he said he was "reluctant" to try chiropractic treatment.

Eleven years later, the Wilmington-area native opened his own chiropractic practice in Gastonia.

Thomas said his mother convinced him to try chiropractic treatment after six months of visiting medical physicians who prescribed pain killers and muscle relaxants but failed to relieve his pain.

"Within two adjustments, I noticed my back pain was 80 percent better," Thomas said. "With a few more treatments, my back pain had completely subsided and has remained absent ever since."

 Thomas purchased a practice on Wilmot Road in November 2008 and opened Thomas Chiropractic after practicing in Nashville, Tenn., and Wilmington for four years.

He graduated from Texas Chiropractic College in Pasadena, Texas, in 2004. Thomas said he moved back to North Carolina to be closer to his family.

"My entire family benefited from chiropractic treatment," he said.

He said the relief he got from spinal adjustments convinced his mother, who suffered from lower back pain, and his sister, who experienced daily headaches, to seek treatment.

"That's the reason I became a chiropractor," Thomas said.

Thomas Chiropractics is located at 251 Wilmot Drive, behind the Girl Scouts building.

Thomas said he chose to open his new practice in Gastonia despite tough economic times.

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