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May 3, 1998
'by Sandra Brown Kelly
He Feels Led
By the Lord to Help Aching Bodies
Since he was a teen-ager,
chiropractor Mark Schueler has believed the body could heal itself if
treated with respect.
It's probably more common for
a person to select a profession and then build a lifestyle around it.
Chiropractor Mark Schueler and his family insisted on making the two
parts work together. In February, he opened Roanoke Valley Chiropractic
& Clinical Nutrition Center in a strip shopping center on Orange Avenue.
But, more than a year before, the Schueler family began settling in on
40 acres in the Hardy area of Franklin County. Moving in was quite a
feat.
The family includes his wife,
Andrea; son, Tobin; and 11 cats, eight goats, three dogs, a rabbit and a
bunch of pheasants, quail, guineas and plain old chickens. Except for
keeping down the tick population and providing eggs, the animals' roles
are as pets.
The goats were housed in an
old house on the property. Schueler, who is also a carpenter, built pens
for the remaining animals.
The Schuelers moved into a
mobile home on the property. A permanent house won't be started until
fall.
With more than $100,000 in
student loans and only enough patients so far to pay the office
overhead, Schueler, who will be 42 in June, couldn't be happier.
"I knew the Lord led me into
it," Schueler said.
Events that showed Mark
Schueler the way to chiropractic work and Southwest Virginia
appear to be as much a part of a plan as the spines he aligns.
Since he was a teen-ager in
Cincinnati, Schueler believed the body could heal itself if treated with
respect. But he didn't know what he wanted as a career. He was good
working with his hands, so he bought houses, repaired them and sold
them.
At the same time, Schueler
took side jobs in sales. He said one day during a house call, a customer
led him to Christ, and religion became a crucial part of his life.
When as an infant Tobin began
having seizures after getting an immunization, the Schuelers sought his
healing by prayer. Schueler is convinced it worked.
Tobin, who is home-schooled,
is now a ninth-grader and has had no more seizures, Schueler said.
By the time Schueler chose
chiropractic as a profession, he had moved to Mebane, N.C., joined a
carpenter's union and served as contractor to build the family a house.
But he still didn't have a profession. He said he prayed about it and
also saw a career counselor.
The counselor thought he'd do
well working with people in health and with his hands.
Schueler enrolled at Life
University in Marietta, Ga., to get a bachelor's degree in nutrition and
a degree in chiropractic.
The principle of chiropractic
treatment is to remove nerve interference caused by misalignment of the
vertebrae and allow the body to heal itself. Chiropractors also study
how to adjust bones in arms and legs.
"We adjust about 350 times
before we get out of school," Schueler said.
Chiropractic studies include
some 4,485 class hours plus clinical work, a sort of internship. During
the internship students learned to do adjustments on each other and then
had to find volunteers in the community to practice on. Schueler took
three national exams and a state exam to obtain his license.
It was nearly seven years
before he was ready to graduate. Then he needed a place to settle that
met his standards: reasonably close to family in Ohio, mountainous and
not overrun with chiropractors.
The Schuelers found out about
Roanoke in a library book on the top 500 small cities. The prospects for
business also were good in the valley.
Based on industry figures, the area has about one chiropractor per
8,000 residents. The market doesn't get saturated until the ratio is one
per 5,000 residents, Schueler said.
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After the move here, the family joined Grace
Covenant Fellowship, and some of the members helped Schueler do the
renovation to get his practice open. Schueler joined the Virginia
Chiropractic Association and the Christian Chiropractic Association.
The practice of health
Schueler is attuned to the latest in his profession in both equipment and
marketing.
A Systemic Motion Analysis and Resonance
Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) machine is the centerpiece in one of Schueler's
treatment rooms. The machine, made by Sigma Instruments, cost $11,000 and is
approved by the Food and Drug Administration for diagnosing and adjusting
spines.
A two-pronged metal head, called an adjusting wand, is wired to the
machine. When the prongs are placed straddling a vertebra, the machine
displays a bar graph indicating the alignment level of that section of
spine. Once a misaligned vertebra is found and treated, Schueler can use the
machine a second time to confirm the corrected alignment.
The same forked probe that measures alignment is used to correct it
through percussion. Repetitive pulses, at pressures from 10 to 35 pounds,
build up a vibration that moves the vertebra into place.
The procedure eliminates the popping noises a patient sometimes hears
when a doctor realigns the spine by hand.
People think the noise is bone against bone, but the best theory is that
it's gas escaping from joints when they are put back in position, Schueler
said.
He also manipulates spines by hand, and even when he uses the machine to
do alignments, Schueler uses his hands and fingers to apply pressure to
muscles to relax them before aligning them. This is called "trigger point"
work.
Schueler offers the traditional testing done in chiropractic offices and
a lot more.
He uses Carilion Health System's labs for blood tests and X-ray services
and gets digestive tests done through Great Smokies Diagnostic Lab in
Asheville, N.C.
Digestive tests are used to analyze stool samples to determine how a
person is digesting proteins, carbohydrates and fats and to see how much
good and bad bacteria are present. Sputum tests are used to look at hormone
levels.
Schueler said he works with a medical doctor on about 30 percent of his
cases. For example, if he learns a patient is anemic, as he did recently, he
consults a physician.
Nutritional supplements are an important component of his practice, but
before he recommends them, a patient must complete a stack of questionnaires
about health and often undergo diagnostic testing.
Not everyone needs supplements and certainly not everyone needs the same
kinds in the same amounts, he said.
He also helps patients or potential patients review their eating habits.
The Schuelers avoid beef, but don't preach against it. However, they do tout
the value of tofu, soy drinks, blue corn flakes and flaxseed meal.
To help the public become more aware of chiropractic practices, Schueler
has followed the example of colleagues who are promoting their services
directly to potential patients through demonstrations and lectures.
Last week, one Roanoke Valley chiropractor discussed the principles of
alignment with shoppers at a local Kroger store. Schueler has written
Winn-Dixie corporate offices to ask for similar access. And on the first and
third Thursday evenings of a month, he lectures at his office. Osteoporosis
is the topic for May.
Schueler has even attended the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce's
"After Hours" gathering.
"Our greatest challenge is to be heard by the public," Schueler said.
Once people hear what chiropractors do and how they do it, they come in,
he said.
This article was originally published in the May 3, 1998
issue of The Roanoke Times and is reprinted with permission from
Times-World Corp. Sandra Brown Kelly can be reached at 540-981-3393 or
sandrak@roanoke.com. |
