'Most humbling moment in my career,' says Mitchell chiropractor on Rising Star award

MITCHELL — “I love being able to show people their bodies can feel better, and the pain they have is not their story.”

That’s the approach Kelsey Dobesh has lived by as a chiropractor who has been providing Mitchell area residents with unique and effective treatment methods for over a decade.

Her success in helping patients improve their body movement and health was recognized on the biggest stage she’s ever been a part of in late April when Dobesh was honored with this year’s South Dakota Chiropractors Association Rising Star award.

With a little over 500 chiropractors practicing in the state, Dobesh said being nominated by fellow chiropractors was humbling in itself. Being chosen as the 2023 Rising Star was what Dobesh described as the “most humbling, emotional moment” she’s ever experienced in her budding career as a chiropractor.

“They said my name, and it was an immediate standing ovation. It was very emotional for me. I normally have a lot to say, but when I got up there I didn’t have much to say because of the emotions I felt,” she recalled of her reaction to receiving the prestigious award during the Sioux Falls award convention.

The award came at a pivotal time for Dobesh, as she is in the process of completing an expansion at a new clinic location in Mitchell. She was practicing out of a one-room clinic she rented on the west side of Mitchell.

As her clientele has steadily grown, Dobesh said it was time to move into a larger space where she can offer more services like an infrared sauna room and laser therapy. Dobesh has been practicing out of her new clinic, located at 1204 S. Burr St., for two months.

“It’s so nice having more space with more rooms to offer our patients. This has been a goal of mine, and it’s finally here,” she said of the new clinic.

From middle-aged runners to young athletes seeking to improve their body movements and reduce pain, Dobesh handles a wide variety of patients with different needs and goals.

Her passion for chiropractic care remains the same as it was when she began her career.

“When I have someone keep coming who can’t move their arm, and in two visits they are picking up grandkids and high-fiving people, that is just so incredible to witness and be a part of,” Dobesh said of the rewarding moments she experiences in her career. “Those little miracles that happen everyday make me say, ‘This is as good as it was the first time it ever happened.’”

There are many techniques chiropractors utilize to restore body movement and relieve pain in patients, but Dobesh said she’s always stuck to matching what her patients can handle — a technique she says is considered a unique approach in the field.

As Dobesh put it, when people walk into her clinic they are a “patient, not a robot.”

“There are a lot of chiropractic techniques, and I use four to five on any given patient. My technique needs to match what they can handle, not they (patients) match my technique. I don’t like that mindset,” she said of her chiropractic techniques.

Lisa Larson can attest to the type of care Dobesh provides. As an avid long distance runner who competes in marathons across the nation, Larson said Dobesh has helped her improve her marathon finish times by about seven minutes since she began receiving care from Dobesh eight years ago.

Larson is also an employee at Dobesh's new office.

“I run 10 to 15 miles at a crack, and I thought, ‘How the heck can my glutes be weak?’ She had me start working on boosting up my glutes, and sure enough it helped shave a lot of time off my marathons,” Larson said of the type of care Dobesh has provided her over the years. “She can give you all the tools but it takes commitment.”

With a deep background in sports medicine and athletic training — which she studied during her undergraduate college education at University of Nebraska-Lincoln — Dobesh utilizes her knowledge in sports medicine and biomechanics to create what she explains as “efficiency and pain-relief within your musculoskeletal system” as the team chiropractor for Dakota Wesleyan University’s athletic programs.

When she’s not practicing at her clinic on Burr Street, Dobesh finds time to pass her knowledge on to aspiring chiropractors as an adjunct professor for Dakota Wesleyan University’s athletic training program at the graduate level.

“I hope to be a leader for other chiropractors and females in the field to help pave a path for them and show them it can be done,” Dobesh said.