Meet Dr. Tim

Meet Greensburg Chiropractor Dr. Tim Strittmatter

Why I Became a NUCCA Doctor

When I was a young child, I was sick and tired a lot. During the school year, I was constantly getting colds and running to the doctor’s office with my mom. Many of my classmates also missed school due to illness, so it just seemed normal. Of course, I didn’t like it, but I just thought it was par for the course.

By the time I was a teenager, I continued to get sick relatively frequently, plus I observed my grandmother going in and out of nursing homes, typically over a fall that resulted in a broken bone. I vividly remember the smells, the lifeless and hopeless faces, trays after trays of drugs, the plain and lifeless foods served, the rushing around of the shorthanded staff, the moaning and groaning. Most of all, I recall the complete horror my grandmother felt each time she had to go back. I’d be heartbroken when I knew she was headed to the nursing home, and visits to her filled me with mixed emotions. I loved going to see her to lift her spirits, but I hated what I saw and heard there.

By my early teens, I told myself that I’d never end up in a place like that – that I’d do everything possible to avoid it. This declaration was the beginning of everything I have done since – to avoid sickness and to be proactive in creating health and wellness for my family, others, and me. My grandmother’s and my sickness motivated me to become a Wellness Doctor instead of a Sickness Doctor.

A Sickness Doctor treats the condition or merely the symptoms of a condition – and the symptoms simply return when a patient is done with the medication prescribed by the Sickness Doctor (or worse yet, they need a second medication to deal with the side effects of the first!).

A Wellness Doctor seeks to uncover to the root cause of the sickness and lays out a game plan to alleviate the illness and to prevent the problem recurring, as well as to prevent related problems down the road.

Although I knew what I wanted to do – help people avoid sickness and nursing homes – I had no idea how I was going to do it.  But everything about this mission in my life began to fall into place while I was in college. Four key experiences led me to the path of becoming a NUCCA doctor.

First, my college friend Lucas (who’s now a NUCCA doctor, too!), had passion and insight about chiropractic, which convinced me to switch my focus from physical therapy and athletic training toward chiropractic, as well. When I finished my undergraduate degree in sports medicine, I enrolled at Palmer College of Chiropractic, where I further fell in love with the philosophy of helping people without drugs, radiation, or surgery.

The next moment of revelation came when I found out over Christmas break that my grandmother’s chiropractor refused to adjust her due to her osteoporosis. I wondered if that meant I would be unable to help older people as a chiropractor. I thought to myself: there must be another method to correct the spine in a gentler way, something different than what I am learning, but what could that be?

The third “A-ha!” moment happened on break from school when I was massaging my mother’s shoulders.  I asked if I could adjust her neck. She gave me a vehement “NO!” I asked her, “What about when I’m a licensed Doctor of Chiropractic?” She begrudgingly told me, “Maybe.” When I asked her why, she said, “I don’t like my neck being twisted and popped.” This further reinforced my commitment to finding another way to adjust the spine.

Finally, during my second year of chiropractic school, Lucas told me he’d discovered a technique that was gentle, yet created incredible results:  NUCCA (National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association).   When I talked to the upper-class students who were doing the NUCCA procedure, I heard stories of healing that were vastly different from those of the students doing traditional forms of chiropractic. I was intrigued! However, I figured that if I was going to invest my life in the NUCCA procedure, I first need to experience it for myself.  I traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma to one of the best NUCCA doctors in the country – a mere 10-hour drive from Palmer in Davenport, Iowa.

Dr. Brooks corrected my spine and immediately I felt new sensations all through my body. I thought it was crazy that a painless neck adjustment could make my whole body feel different in a positive, yet strange way. I was shocked when the lower back pain I had for years went away for months and then years after the corrections. I had been getting adjusted for lower back pain weekly at school, but the relief would only last a few days before the pain would return. Obviously, this experience sold me on NUCCA. I couldn’t wait to graduate, to share this procedure with the world, and to hear life-transforming stories – like I heard from NUCCA doctors and students – in my own practice!

I am grateful I found this path and became a NUCCA doctor because my mission and passion is helping others overcome their health obstacles, and I believe NUCCA is the foundational block for building and rebuilding health. That is, a balanced spine and nervous system are essential for true health and for the effectiveness of all other healing modalities.

NUCCA transformed how I look at health and wellness: It’s not waiting for ill health to find you, rather it’s proactively pursuing wellness through lifestyle. And I practice what I preach! I pride myself on sticking to healthy habits that keep me well. Therefore, when I recommend these habits to my patients, I can be confident that they will have positive and life-changing results, just as I have.

It is awesome to see so many of my practice members get – and stay – well.  What joy it brings! I have been truly blessed by God to be able to share this procedure in my practice. I am so excited for the possibilities that lay before you. Christ be with You.

~Dr. Tim

To hear directly from my patients about how NUCCA helped them with conditions such as asthma, TMJ, trigeminal neuralgia, whiplash, and more, please visit our testimonials page.

November 2021