"I couldn't roll over in bed without pain. I couldn't sneeze. I couldn't put my pants on."
What issues were you dealing with and how long were you dealing with them before you found Cornerstone Health?
My name is Kristin White. And I started having chronic back issues, lower back issues about 20 years ago. And every few years my back would go out and I would just lay for a week and it would get better. And I got into my early 40s and that recovery didn’t happen as quickly And so I found Dr. Fergus about a year and a half ago And was really looking for a chiropractor who had a much broader spectrum of tools to draw from and liked his focus on functional movement and rehabilitation.
A lot of people think there isn’t a solution to their pain. Did you feel this way before coming to Cornerstone Health?
I did! I had prior to coming here I had spent six months at a physical therapist and had found some relief but concluded that and still had some discomfort and limitation in how I could move. And had really decided that that was just aging. It was something I had to live with. And so when I came to Dr. Fergus for the first time I was hopeful but nervous about whether or not he would actually be able to help me fully recover and prevent those sort of lower back problems moving forward.
How long have you been coming to Cornerstone Health and what improvements have you seen?
So I call Dr. Fergus my evidence based shaman. Because when I first came here I learned more about my body in 45 minutes with him than I’d ever learned from any specialists or physical therapists. And saw him for three months twice a week. And each week recovered a little bit more of my strength and mobility and just range of motion. And when I came here I couldn’t roll over in bed without pain. I couldn’t sneeze. I couldn’t put my pants on. Standing up was difficult. And so my goal is seeing him was I told him I just want to roll over in bed and not feel pain. And so after three months he really stabilized that and that acute pain had diminished and we had restored some mobility and that’s when I moved into the strength training. So I made a commitment to do that permanently and I’ve been doing that twice a week for the past about 20 months.
How is Cornerstone Health different from the other clinics you've experienced?
What impresses me about Dr. Fergus, because he’s the only physician here I’ve worked with, is his breadth of knowledge about the human body is just phenomenal. His knowledge of the soft tissues, the nervous system, joints, organs, sort of how all of that works together to create functional and proper movement. So that impressed me. His focus on restoring natural functional movements that babies develop and the progression that they do that in working with me. And I think the biggest most humbling thing I learned from him was learning to breathe. I was not breathing correctly. As a women in this culture you’re taught to suck in your stomach and tuck your tail. And what that does is it changes how you breathe in a way that is not protective for your back. And so over decades and decades of doing that my back had weakened as a result. And so he had to reteach me how to breathe which was very humbling.
What would you say to someone that may be hesitant about coming to Cornerstone Health for treatment?
Well I would tell them first to just go for an assessment. That they will likely learn more about their body in that brief session that they have ever been told before. And that in hearing all of that information from one of the physicians here they could see an opening for rehabilitation or addressing chronic issues. I love Cornerstone Health! They’re the best! I really do feel like that their approach and their comprehensive strategies is exceptional and I have full mobility and full strength and feel a confidence for my future to grow old and with full mobility and not have to be afraid of injury. And I feel cared for and supported here.
