Dr. Chad McIntyre is an Upper Cervical Chiropractor in Kernersville, North Carolina. I first learned of him at Upper Cervical Evolution earlier this year. There were some parody commercials that were made for the event and Dr. McIntyre was in a few of them. He did a great job, I might add.
He is getting out all over his community with his weekly patient newsletters and even appearing on News 14 in Charlotte.
I’m grateful Dr. McIntyre could take time out of schedule to answer some questions for The Atlas of Life.
Dr. Brandon: Why did you decide to become a chiropractor?
Dr. McIntyre: “When I was 9 years old, my mom and I were involved in a car accident. Not unlike many car accident victims, I walked away without any immediate concerns. But four years later, while playing soccer, my body just gave out. I suddenly couldn’t run without considerable discomfort… to the point that I had to just lay down and be helped off the field.
Chiropractic got me back on my feet and back to athletics. I’d always wanted to be involved in health care in some way, so it was at my chiropractor’s recommendation that I take a serious look at going to chiropractic school. After doing the research, I decided that it was something I wanted to do.”
Dr. Brandon: How did you get into Upper Cervical Chiropractic?
Dr. McIntyre: “It was over mid-way through my time at Logan. I was, quite honestly, burned out and increasingly uninterested in being a chiropractor. I had gone into Logan thinking that chiropractic was merely a method of “treating back and neck pain,” but when I got there I had been told that it could be so much more.
Unfortunately, none of what I was taught gave me any reason to believe that getting adjusted (full spine) was going to do anything for my health. BJ Palmer was the butt of many jokes. Upper Cervical was a punch line. And I was lost. Dr. Eddie Weller had recently moved to STL and opened an office and, luckily, he was invited to speak to my class about the Upper Cervical elective being taught the next trimester.
In less than an hour, he made chiropractic make sense to me. He helped me make the connection between what I was told chiropractic can be and HOW to actually make that happen. The brainstem controls the body, so make sure its not being interfered with. That made sense.
I called my parents that day and told them to “Mark down this day because it may very well be the day that changes my life.” I consider it to be the day that I found a passion for this profession.
I went to Dr. Weller’s office and got under care. 3 weeks after my first correction, the chronic neck, shoulder, and upper back pain I’d been dealing with since a second car accident in 2001 was gone. I felt the best I had since I was just a little kid. Yet, I also noticed how clear-headed I’d become. I used to have a hard time letting things go and was quick tempered. Upper Cervical care literally made me a different person.”
Dr. Brandon: What technique do you utilize in your clinic and why? Where are you practicing?
Dr. McIntyre: “My primary technique is Palmer Upper Cervical Specific (toggle recoil). I start everyone out with that and see how their scans respond (I use the Tytron C-5000 digital thermography instrument as my primary tool of knowing when and when not to adjust).
I also use the knee chest technique. Personally, there is not an adjustment that will set my atlas better than knee chest, so I figured I better learn it for others like me. My wife is the same way. I like the side posture a bit better because it is such a gentle adjustment, but the most important thing to me is what clears the scan.
I’m practicing in Kernersville, North Carolina. It’s my hometown and there has been a need for upper cervical care here for a long time. When I was in school, I was telling people back home all about the upper cervical principle, but didn’t have any convenient place to send them. It was a long-time goal of mine to bring our unique brand of health care to that community.”
Dr. Brandon: You were featured on the local news in Charlotte, NC several months back. How did that process get started and what was that experience like?
Dr. McIntyre: “When I first got to back to North Carolina, I immediately started sending my e-newsletter to the Charlotte media contacts that I’d been given. I followed that up with a press release, written by UCHC’s Billy Doherty, about protecting your immune system through upper cervical care as a means to prevent swine flu from being a concern.
I think the media was seeking anything that might be comforting to the public, in regards to swine flu, as News 14 came calling soon after. It was a fun experience. I’d never been on TV for something as important as getting out the message about upper cervical. I was a little nervous, to be honest, but I thought it turned out pretty well. We got a nice response from it.
The most encouraging part was how wide spread the response turned out to be. We were in Charlotte, but News 14 covers the entire state, so we got responses from the mountains to the coast.”
Dr. Brandon: You send out an Upper Cervical Chiropractic newsletter to your patients on a weekly basis. How well-received by your patients is it?
Dr. McIntyre: “My patients seem to mostly find it informative and entertaining. There will always be a few that are more difficult to educate than others.
I write it to challenge the way they think about health care, so when you continually try to teach people that what they had previously thought might not be the best way to look at things… there’s always some degree of backlash.”
Dr. Brandon: What was it like filming the UCHC commercials for this past year’s Upper Cervical Evolution?
Dr. McIntyre: “It was fun and I’m glad I got the chance to do it. I’d like to see more of that. I think it shows a more light hearted side to all of us, particularly when those commercials end up on the internet. Showing a humorous side is a good thing.”
Dr. Brandon: What do you envision for the future of Upper Cervical Chiropractic?
Dr. McIntyre: “I see Upper Cervical Chiropractic becoming recognized, by the public, as the highly specified branch of chiropractic that we are. The current health care system is slowly collapsing. As it continues to do so, we’ll continue to educate the public about our system. Once more people know about what we do, the separation will become more apparent that Upper Cervical is very different from everything else.
During our careers, I would hope that we’ll see all Upper Cervical chiropractors of all different techniques unite under the “Upper Cervical doctor” moniker. We only account for 3% of our profession, so surely we can get 2,000 doctors to agree that we stand a much better chance of advancing our specific cause without NUCCA, Knee Chest, Blair, Toggle, AO, etc. labels. We all have the same purpose. We’re all on the same team.
Working together, we’ll be able to really make the changes that need to be made to our health care system much faster. I think it will happen eventually. Once we unite, Upper Cervical Chiropractic has limitless possibilities for where it can go.”
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
nicely done!
Fantastic interview and great video. Keep up the great work!