Chiropractor Michael Curtin has joined the ranks of health care providers at Full Circle Wellness Center.
After 22 years in the field, Curtin says he is still passionate about his work, what he calls traditional chiropractic care, meaning he uses his hands to align misaligned vertebrae.
It’s an approach to health care that is useful for a variety of ailments, he said. “The reason chiropractic works is that the human body is a self-healing and self-regulating organism,” he said. “I re-connect the innate intelligence with the inner organizer. …Chiropractic clears the way for the organizing force to do its job.”
A common ailment people see chiropractors for is whiplash, he said. The old approach was to have the patient rest and leave the neck alone, but often in this scenario the body heals in an abnormal way, and the normal curve of the neck is lost, creating pressure on several nerves and creating a multitude of unpleasant symptoms. When people with whiplash go to see him, though, he said he provides treatments that align the body and allow healing to happen as it should.
It is not just muskuloskeletal pain that responds well to chiropractic care, he said, citing his own experience as a migraine sufferer. Curtin was diagnosed with atypical migraines as a child and struggled with accompanying pain, numbness and speaking-difficulty from ages 10 to 28. The cycle stopped when a fellow pre-med student suggested chiropractic care. He improved after the first adjustment, he said, a trend that continued with further treatment.
“I was so impressed that I became a chiropractor,” he said.
Curtin and his wife Melissa moved to Vashon from the San Francisco Bay area in 2009 after looking for a better place to raise their two young children.
A psychic had suggested to Melissa that they consider areas near Denver, Coeur D’Alene and Seattle, Curtin said. His wife travelled to the Northwest and found Vashon. A family vacation to the Island ensued, and they all stayed in a teepee at the Vashon hostel. Their move here came soon after, but until recently Curtin returned to his California practice each week. His Washington license arrived just a few weeks ago, and he began practicing on the Island Sept. 24.
While Curtin has office hours, he also does house calls, in keeping with the kind of care he likes to provide.
“I’ve always thought of myself as a country doctor,” he said.
Curtin believes he is good at his work; more than two decades in the field have taught his some things, but, he said, healing can happen in a variety of ways.
“Health and healing is a cycle,” he said. “You can enter the cycle anywhere and have an effect because what really heals the body is the innate intelligence within.”
Curtin has office hours on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays but also sees people outside of those hours, including on weekends. He can be reached at 300-1931.
