Katie B.

I am a current chiropractic student at PCCF. In October, I was one of five chiropractic students that made the trip to CLEAR Institute. We all went to CLEAR to learn more about the latest research and techniques for scoliosis treatment. I first became interested in the scoliosis treatment when Dr. Clayton Stitzel came to speak at Palmer Florida. He shared with us the amazing results they have been having with scoliosis patients. I was really excited to hear this because, at that point in school, I had learned that routine chiropractic has little success with scoliosis. A few days later, I watched a video of a Harrington Rod surgery on a scoliosis patient. It was the most appalling thing I have every seen. I realized at that point that chiropractic really needed to step it up and give scoliosis patients a better option for treatment.

I noticed immediately that I had better posture, better breathing, [and] better balance.

While at the CLEAR Clinic, we were all treated by Dr. Woggon. There is no better way to learn something than to experience it yourself. After taking x-rays of my spine, we discovered that I had a 15 degree scoliosis in my thoracic spine and a 185 percent loss of curve in my cervical spine. Wow, I was shocked. I have always had difficulty with balance, coordination, poor posture, and chronic back pain, but never knew I had scoliosis. I was treated at Dr. Woggon’s for three days, and my scoliosis decreased from 15 degrees to 4 1/2 degrees and my cervical curve improved to a 68 percent LOC!! I noticed immediately that I had better posture, better breathing, better balance, and mind you I had been getting standard chiropractic care before, and had not experienced any of these changes.

I received spinal adjustments that were very specific to my spine. The adjustments were both manual and instrumental and not always pleasant. I also had specific spinal exercise and rehabilitation such as vibrating traction, scoliosis traction chair, mirror image therapy on an Eckard table. I also was given an at-home spinal re-hab protocol that I have to follow in order to prevent my spine to returning to its original position. I have to do cervical traction, head weights, wobble chair, and about 7 different spinal exercises that are specific to my spine. I have been doing the spinal rehabilitation and exercises pretty consistently, and I am continuing to feel great.

Since my time at CLEAR, I have a greater confidence in my ability to help scoliosis patients. After spending time with a few scoliosis patients at Dr. Woggon’s clinic, I realize the need for advancements in scoliosis treatment.