"I always associated a chiropractor with, you know, the cracking and I didn't really wanna do that."

How did you find Dr. Fergus & Cornerstone Health?

– My husband had been going to Dr. Fergus for some work on his shoulder and convinced me to come and start working with him.

What issues were you dealing with and how long were you dealing with them before you found Cornerstone Health?

Did initially come for my shoulder even though I did have knee issues. We worked through the shoulder actually fairly quickly, but then we started working on some of my issues with my knees. I have osteoarthritis in my knees.

How long have you been struggling with osteoarthritis in your knees? What have you tried in the past & what are you currently doing that's working?

Well I think Dr. Fergus was the first person I worked with, you know, related to my knees, particularly my right knee is worse. We’ve done a number of things, and one of the things I really appreciate about Dr. Fergus is that he keeps trying different things. Not everything that we’ve done has worked, everything, and it’s been a process, and some of the things that I’ve also dealt with is because my right knee had more limited range of motion then that caused things to become sort of out of alignment, you know, in other parts of my body, and so we had to work on things that weren’t necessarily directly related to my knee also.

How was your experience working with Dr. Ben?

My experience working with Dr. Fergus is that he considers the treatment to be a process, and it’s not a one stop, you know, there’s an answer, here’s the answer, it’s this one thing, but it’s been a kind of a voyage of discovery, and it’s of trying some things, you know, having a hypothesis, does it work, does it not work, does it move me along farther? If not, let’s try something else.

How long have you been coming to Cornerstone Health & what improvements have you seen?

I’ve been coming to Cornerstone Health for several years and I’ve seen a number of improvements to my quality of life. I’ve got more flexion in my knees, I have more strength. About two and 1/2 years ago Dr. Fergus thought it would really benefit to add an exercise component to it, and he had just started the Foundational Fitness program, so I started with that, and two and 1/2 years later I’m still doing personal training twice a week, and that has made a big difference I think, just gaining the core strength has. For example I used to have really a lot of flare-ups of the piriformis and I don’t have that anymore because that has worked out between the exercises and the other treatments that I’ve done with Dr. Fergus.

What would you say to someone that maybe hesitant about coming to Cornerstone Health for treatment?

I was hesitant coming in, then my husband really had to talk me into it because he had been a patient of Dr. Fergus’ and seen great improvement in his shoulder. I was very hesitant, but one thing that really benefited me as a person who was hesitant is the incremental approach and the fact that Dr. Fergus explains everything, and he explains the anatomy and the physics and how everything works and what exactly he’s trying and what he thinks would be the next step. Dr. Fergus doesn’t push you into anything. I don’t think I’ve ever had a real adjustment here because I didn’t want to do that, so he’s worked in other ways, and so that I appreciate. He listens to you as a patient. He doesn’t do things that are uncomfortable for you. He is very straightforward though with what he feels would work and wouldn’t work and then will discuss with you what might be the most appropriate treatment plan.

Can you share with us why you were hesitant to come in for treatment?

Well I think the reason I was hesitant to come and see a chiropractor is because I always associated a chiropractor with, you know, the cracking and I didn’t really wanna do that. I think I’ve had that maybe, I had someone wanting to do that on me once and I just was never comfortable doing that. That was probably my biggest hesitation, and just really not really understanding his approach, Dr. Fergus’ approach.

What improvements have you seen from Shockwave Therapy?

Dr. Fergus had actually just I think gotten the instrument in his office and talked to me about trying it on my knee to see if that would help to speed the process. So I did a series of six or eight sessions. I can’t remember exactly, six or eight. I would have a session of shockwave therapy and then I would have an exercise session. So it was the tandem of the shockwave therapy and that, and one thing I really noticed was I had a lot of swelling in my right knee that is pretty much gone and that has remained gone even though it’s been a while since I’ve, I’ve now been several months since I’ve had the last shockwave treatment.

How quickly were you able to see results from Shockwave Therapy?

Oh, I think it was kind of a long-term, more of a long-term approach, although the one, Dr. Fergus was telling me that in some studies it had actually reduced swelling, and I will say, and as he was doing that particular treatment he said, “Wow this is, it is going down,” and I could really tell afterwards, but it has been, it really took the series. It’s not really a, you know, for me it was not a one time to it. It took the series of doing it over time.

How has Foundational Fitness helped your recovery?

One of the things I really learned in Foundational Fitness at the beginning was very focused on alignment and proper positioning, and just, you would start with moves, very specific moves that would then build into larger exercises, and I had not worked out for a while so it was a little bit of starting over from scratch. I found that the Foundational Fitness is incredibly beneficial, and it’s beneficial in the sense that you really learn the correct ways to do exercises, to do the strength training, to align your body so that you do not injure yourself and you build, especially that you start building up your core, and then as your core gets stronger then, you know, you can do more and more of the exercises.

Do you feel that the Foundational Fitness classes have reduced your chance of injury?

Absolutely, they absolutely are much less. When I first started doing that my physician said that to be careful because a lot of people, she, a lot of her patients had worked with personal trainers and then come to see her because they were injured, and I’ve never been injured with Foundational Fitness. As a matter of fact the whole concept of it is so that you don’t get injured. And I’ve been doing this now for two and 1/2 years and I have not had any injuries and have been continuing to progress. It also allows you to start at whatever level you are, whether you’re, you know, up here or down here, and it doesn’t matter. You can have, you know, different people at different levels in the same class at the same time working with a trainer and everything is accommodated that way.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

You know, I really appreciate Dr. Fergus for working with me all these years and kind of working through all of the hesitations and really taking the time to explain the process and, you know, keep trying, keep working at it.