- April 19, 2024
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How can you tell that Michael Struble believes in his job? Because the Palm Coast chiropractor goes to see a chiropractor himself.
When he employs the side posture technique while working on his patients at his practice in the West Point Plaza, 4883 Palm Coast Parkway NW, Unit 4, he can sometimes knock his own vertebrae out of alignment.
“It can be a pretty good push with your shoulders and back to move a person’s pelvis,” Struble said in a recent interview with the Palm Coast Observer. “Then I’ll feel it in my back and have to go get adjusted.” (He sees a friend in Ormond Beach, Dr. Peter Wakeman.)
One of his patients is Scott MacDonald, an employee of the city of Palm Coast, who was one of last year’s Standing O’s. MacDonald said Struble deserves recognition because of the way he goes out of his way to serve others in his office.
"His patients always come first."
SCOTT MacDONALD
“His patients always come first,” said MacDonald, who has seen many chiropractors in the past 14 years of living here. “Michael listens intently. He will change his schedule to accommodate his patients that cannot arrive at normal business hours. … In my opinion, he works harder than any other chiropractor in Palm Coast.”
Struble, who started his practice in Palm Coast in 2004 with another doctor before starting his own office in 2010, works with his wife, Betty, who is the receptionist. He also coached soccer for 12 years for his children’s teams. He has two sons, Caleb and Byron.
“Family is my hobby,” he said.
When Struble was a child, his father was superintendent of parks and recreation in DeLand, and Struble became a lifeguard. That experience, along with his interest in science, led him to consider a degree in medicine. Growing up, Struble also went to a chiropractor, Dr. Robert Poss, in DeLand.
“There was no major injury,” Struble recalled. “I just woke up one day with a sore back, and he was able to help me.”
Struble decided to become a chiropractor himself because he likes contributing to people who are trying to live a healthy lifestyle.
It’s satisfying to have a patient — someone who might be skeptical about chiropractors — come into his office in pain and walk out feeling better immediately.
“A lot of times you get stubborn patients who don’t want to be here — their wife made them come,” Struble said. “Those are the ones who are fun because they almost don’t like you to begin with but when you get better, they are the ones who turn around and tell everybody about you. You feel like you’re accomplishing your goal of helping people.”
To help someone with back pain or other issues, Struble first identifies where there is inflammation around the spine, using a nervoscope, which detects heat. He then isolates the joint that is causing trouble and adjusts the patient so that only that joint is getting the pressure.
What happens when someone cracks his or her own neck?
“There are seven vertebrae in your neck,” Struble said. “A lot of times people are doing that because a vertebra isn’t working well, but your’e gross-manipulating all the vertebrae. You’ll feel relief for 20 minutes because nerves feel movement faster than they feel pain, so you’re just distracting your brain.”
The cracking sound during an adjustment is similar to what happens if you crack your knuckles: Nitrogen is being released from the facet capsule at the joint. Then the inflammation can be relieved, and the joint begins to move as it’s intended to.
Struble’s first goal with a patient is to listen. He doesn’t want to have a patient make return visits any more than is necessary, and he thinks that is the path to success.
“I’d rather see 100 patients doing well than see one patient 100 times,” he said. “If I take care of them, they’ll let their friends know.”
