How did these seven people get into or discover Upper Cervical Chiropractic? Read on to find out.
Dr. Chad 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. Travis Robertson
“I did extremely well in Toggle Recoil Class and in fact got second place (out of 210 students) in our class “Toggle Off” (darn that baby toggle, too strong of a thrust, does you in every time).
I had issues though at the time with the instrumentation and the x-rays. I can remember an instructor tell me to put the dots on the x-rays for line analysis, “About there.” I thought, “About? We are supposed to be specific and you want me to put the dot about there on a shadow, I mean x-ray.” Needless to say I was really turned off to the whole idea for a while after that.
About a trimester or two later I noticed that I was developing a chronic mid back ache with right SI joint and right knee pain. They would get better after an adjustment but only to come back later, sometimes the same day or a few days to a few weeks later. I felt as if I was on this roller coaster constantly going up and down but never really getting anywhere, especially better.
I decided to try Upper Cervical Care, found a student who knew the work, not real outwardly passionate about it though, and began the care. After my first UC adjustment my mid back hurt worse than it ever had before. This was short lived but surprising to me since he did not touch my mid back.
I began to think that maybe there was something to this Upper Cervical thing. Eventually though the mid back, right SI and knee pain subsided, never to return.
The only green book I had read while at Palmer was “The Bigness of the Fellow Within” so I still didn’t know much about the upper cervical work but I did know that it had worked for me and that I would now incorporate some of this work in when I graduated.
Fast forward a few more trimesters and my wife, who was pregnant with our third child, was in a car accident and we think she may have fractured a rib or two. I was seeing her in the student clinic at the time and was doing full spine, adjusting the mid back and ribs constantly but since the accident we had to stay away from the mid back and lumbar spine.
I decided, with my limited knowledge, to put her under Upper Cervical Care with me providing the care. When she was finally able to tolerate full spine again we realized much to our surprise that there wasn’t anything to adjust. Apparently by adjusting the upper cervical spine Innate put the rest back in place better than I ever could thumping away day after day. That made up my mind and the Upper Cervical work became a tremendous focus for me.”
Dr. Richard Doble
“I had severe eczema, migraine headaches, chronic back pain, sciatica, neck pain, right arm pain, thoracic outlet syndrome, allergies, hypertension, depression, a poor attitude, frequent colds and flu, heartburn, indigestion, acid reflux, severe snoring, fallen arches on both feet, and my right leg was one inch shorter than my left despite getting regular chiropractic manipulation for 20 years and being a practicing chiropractor for 8 years.
At the age of 35 I had my first upper cervical adjustment by Dr. Bryan Duff – wow, the lights came on and these health conditions vanished. I learned the Duff method from Dr. Duff and I then sought out Dr. Clarence Jenson who was one of the last chiropractors alive to intern under Dr. B.J. Palmer. I spent the next 5 years under the instruction of Dr. Jenson learning the Palmer Upper Cervical Method.”
Dr. Paige Van Slooten
“To be perfectly honest, when I first learned of upper cervical in school I thought it was crazy that anyone would work with only two bones in the body and ignore the rest of the spine. My views were not challenged in school until nine months from graduation when I was challenged with some key philosophical concepts of how I practiced and whether I was truly meeting my true objectives through the way I practiced.
This challenged me to begin researching and proving to myself to find the best way to improve a patient’s nervous system. I began reading many green books like volume 18 and doing research on neurology and thermography. Within three months my passion for chiropractic was renewed as I knew upper cervical was the most precise way for me to help difficult cases and to truly change lives.”
Dr. Benjamin Kuhn
“As with many upper cervical doctors, it was initially a personal experience that pushed me towards upper cervical. I had been a full spine chiropractic since I was a baby for general wellness as well as treatment of the issues that arise as young boys grow up and do stupid things.
For the most part, I was in great health with no real issues, however I started to notice in my early teens that I was getting very consistent and bothersome muscle knots near my right shoulderblade. Regular adjusting could only buy me at most 24 hours of moderate relief before I was right back in the same boat again. I simply dealt with it for several years, not having any better alternatives until my wife convinced me to come and see her NUCCA doctor.
I had all of the classic objections … “how can he help my upper back by pushing on my neck” … “this costs a lot more than I’ve paid before, I’m not sure it will be worth it” … and the list goes on. What eventually “sold” me on the care was something Dr. Creswell (my Doctor) said, “I want to see you for the rest of your life as few times as possible”. Finally I broke down and did book my appointment, and within a couple of days, my problems evaporated and never returned.
Now I didn’t rush out and apply for chiropractic college right then, it was a few years later when the time and opportunity for a career change came about in our lives and we decided to move our family to Davenport and “do the chiropractic thing.”
While it’s true that my initial experience was with NUCCA and what I knew of the technique both experientially and rationally made sense to me, I was not locked in to tunnel vision. I went to Palmer with the goal of looking objectively at as many techniques as possible and making my final determination off that, which I did … and frustrated a great many of my technique instructors as a result!
In the end I realized that NUCCA was the only technique which most fully addressed any of the issues I could think of as far as safety, efficacy, and in holding with the primary chiropractic plank of find it, fix it, and leave it alone!
I won’t get into all the criteria and questions I asked of any technique I looked into, but here’s a short list for anyone to consider:
– efficacy … how long does it take to get someone “better”?
– if the body is a self-healing, self-maintaining system, then why does a person need to get ADJUSTED (not checked) every week/2 weeks/month perpetually? A body that has actually been made subluxation-free should not immediately start falling apart again.
– if you use a certain metric for identifying the subluxation, then why do so many techniques not use the same metrics for ensuring the subluxation was corrected post-treatment?
– and the biggest one for me … how does the technique theorize that it overcomes the stretch reflex?”
Greg Buchanan
“During my research of what was ailing me I discovered a close link with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction. The symptoms one can experience with TMJ dysfunction are remarkably similar to what I was feeling. After wearing multiple night appliances and getting relief when I had one inserted but not when out, I contacted a dentist who indicated that “if you have had a head injury you probably have a C1 problem and need to see a chiropractor.” Huh? What’s C1? That was when I started researching C1 and bumbled across lots of information about upper cervical chiropractic.”
Dr. Tron Malachowski
“The first time I was exposed to Upper Cervical Chiropractic was in 4th trimester at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. I had Toggle Class with Dr. Strazewski, or Dr. “Straz” as he is better known. He introduced me to Dr. BJ Palmer’s work and the green books. That was literally the first time I had really been exposed to that kind of information. That’s pretty sad because in 4th trimester, you have already been in the program for a year and have already had several philosophy classes, which goes to show that the Philosophy just isn’t being taught anymore.
I will say Dr. Casey Crisp has begun to bring back some of the much needed Philosophy at Palmer.
Also, I became a member of Delta Sigma Chi, a professional Chiropractic fraternity that has been promoting straight unadulterated chiropractic since 1913. The fraternity is where I truly learned about the Philosophy, Science, and Art of ChiropracTIC. I owe a lot to that fraternity because it helped build my foundation.”
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great testimonials. I think all UC docs have similar, life-changing stories; it’s what moves us to do what we do. Thanks for sharing.
Anyone know a upper cervical Dr. in the Central Florida area?
Dr. La Starza,
If you look at the links in my sidebar, click on advanced orthogonal. That is the Pierce clinic in St. Petersburg, FL. I don’t know how close that is to you, but they are great.