Costa Rica Living – Inside Scoop – Dr. Ben Spitzer – Discover How People Have Made A Success of their New Lives in Costa Rica

Dr. Ben Spitzer

When Ben, 31, moved to Costa Rica his first months were stuck up in the windswept hills of Heredia in chilly accommodation sleeping on the floor, with cold water showers and no phone, no car, no spare cash and little Spanish.

Most people would probably have stuck it out for a few weeks and then called it quits but this recently qualified chiropractor persevered and is now running two busy practices – one in Heredia and one in the western San Jos+¬ suburb of Guachipelin very close to the big MultiPlaza shopping mall.

“I have so much work, I could do with help. Put the word out with your readers!” commented Ben when he squeezed in the interview before his clients for the day built up.

The son of a doctor, Ben studied chiropractic to post-graduate level for eight years in Virginia but after just a few months working in the States and partly influenced by his father’s early retirement from practicing medicine because of the impossible burdens with malpractice insurance expenses and the whole litigation scene, he started looking abroad to establish his career.

Having visited Costa Rica before on vacation, the country seemed a possible choice and on a second visit, Ben concentrated on scoping out the place for work options and making contacts. Budget was important with little funding to spend exploring too far afield, although he did think about other countries. “It was the first country I visited, and here I’ve stayed.”

Being young and (then) single, actually moving down was straight forward and he came in on a tourist visa before applying for and getting permanent residency.

He started in an established practice but suddenly found himself in sole charge when the previous partner left. “It was very hard at first; I didn’t know the local customs when dealing with the patients, like how and when they expect to pay for treatment.” From working a few days a week, Ben was putting in six days a week as well as adapting to the demands of a different culture, and meeting the administrative demands of running the company, ‘Quiropr+íctica Total’.

Business-wise, a major challenge to taking over the company was the slow bureaucracy but Ben insists it is a necessary stage to go through. “If you can survive the organisational period, there are the returns you can arrive at – being comfortable. Some people burn out and can’t get over that period, but there are luxuries at the end,” he explains.

He has seen people come down and not make it, but hard work can pay off. Another specific challenge was to become licensed to practice. There are about 30 – 35 qualified chiropractors in Costa Rica and initially Ben had to get his degrees recognised by the University of Costa Rica for lack of a qualifying Chiropractic entity.

This, Ben and his colleagues are trying to change by setting up a College of Chiropractors that will give legal professional status to this branch of medicine and although it is a way off to becoming a reality, Ben explains it will give essential official recognition to chiropractors.

Dr. Ben Fitzer and the Escazu Office Team

What is an average day? An early start with a run before breakfast and then if it’s Monday, things are pretty busy with a demanding 8 am to 7pm schedule. The rest of the week is not quite so rushed and he takes Sundays off to spend with his Colombian-born wife whom he met here, and with young son, Matthew.



At only a year and a half, Matthew’s schooling is not an issue so far. However, by speaking Spanish at home and with the help of some private lessons, Ben’s competence in the language has much improved, an important asset since most of his patients are non-English speaking Ticos.

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So what about health care? “Don’t get me started on that!” It took me a while to realize that Ben was referring to traditional health care, not the system in Costa Rica. Pulling out a thick file of articles and statistics, he shot out some worrying figures about the global consequences of over-medication and not addressing the source of much illness that affects modern society.

So many diseases are created by over-medicating whole populations or young people and they are not aware of the options. Although Ben acknowledges that alternative health care is available in Costa Rica, he was keen to disassociate from the connotations brought up by concept of ‘holistic’ medicine. “Chiropractors are fully trained and we study many aspects of traditional medicine like X-rays. But our specialty does not administer medication nor do we do surgery,” he insists.

A big plus in Costa Rica professionally, is the lack of malpractice suits although Ben emphasizes that since chiropractic involves neither surgery or medication is a very safe medical discipline.

When I asked Ben about crime, he does consider crime in Costa Rica an issue that needs to be addressed. His house, office and car have been hit and although he was personally threatened on the street once, the assailant ran off. “I’m a big guy ! Someone smaller may have been messed with.” So he has taken steps to protect his property by using a guard for his house and placing alarms in the office. “You need security regardless of where you live. Crime is high here but I don’t think it is just a Tico thing.”

This does not stop Ben from seeing Costa Rica has a great place to live and whatever he heads for in the future, he has no plans to move for now. He has plans to buy land on the coast and build some day. “The country’s a bit like an adult Disneyland at first; you go through that phase and then get over it.” Although he misses his family at times, his parents and brother have visited often and are even considering moving down as well.

Ben loves to travel and has visited Colombia and Cuba since living in Costa Rica. Its proximity to so many cool places to visit is a big advantage. “If I can, I would like to travel all over Latin America,” he says and adds that if you can’t enjoy a country then ask yourself why you are there. “If you just come to work, for the money, then you might as well stay in the States, ” he said, although he looked wistful about not having the time to visit the beach more often.

When he first lived through those chilly days in Heredia, Ben estimates that a single guy can live quite well for $700 per month outside one of the fashionable areas in Central Valley. A couple would need about twice that but it could include running a car, he considers.

Words of advice are to get over the tough times. An important consideration is that since economic returns are not so high here as in the States, you have to be tighter in business, efficient with running the administrative side of a business. “You have to know what you are doing and be more prepared,” says Ben. “It’s a lot of work so find out first from someone who knows.”

What a pity WeLoveCostaRica.com wasn’t around four years ago!

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Written by Vicky Longland – Vicky has spent all her adult life in Latin and Central America originally as head of the translation department for an international human development organization and currently working as a freelance translator and writer for several national and world-wide publications, specializing in people’s issues, the environment and lifestyles.