West Ashley Chiropractor

You've Probably Already Been Somewhere Else

Most people who end up in my office have already been somewhere. Often several somewheres.

They've done the physical therapy. They've had the injections. They've been adjusted three times a week for six months by somebody who showed them an X-ray and told them their curve was wrong. Some have had surgery. A few have hardware in their spine.

Those are my favorite cases, hands down.

Not because I enjoy a hard problem — though I do — but because by the time somebody has been through all of that, the scary stuff has been ruled out. Nobody's missing a tumor. What's left is a mechanical problem nobody has looked at from the right angle yet.

I don't care if you've seen an orthopedic surgeon, a physical therapist, an acupuncturist, or some of the top chiropractors in the world. We're going to look at it through a completely different lens.

Finding the Office

I'm on St Andrews Blvd in West Ashley — a white brick building with metal awnings. The sign out front is metal: my name on top, SoftWave Charleston underneath.

Coming from downtown, you'll pass the Cooper School first. If you reach Mex 1 Coastal Cantina, you've gone too far — turn around.

There honestly aren't many landmarks on that stretch, so if you're circling, call (843) 873-6004 and we'll talk you in.

761 St Andrews Blvd, Charleston, SC 29407

Where Patients Come From

I'm based in West Ashley, but people drive in from all over the Lowcountry — Kiawah, Johns Island, James Island, downtown Charleston, Mount Pleasant, and Summerville.

For West Ashley residents, I'm the chiropractor down the street. For everyone else, I'm usually the person they drive to after the closer options didn't work.

Why This Is Different From What You've Already Tried

Physical therapy looks for weakness, usually in one small place. You have knee pain, so let's strengthen the knee. But nobody asks how your ribs are moving, what your hip strength looks like, or whether your ankle has any mobility left. And the exercises tend to be cookie-cutter — everybody walks out with the same sheet.

Most chiropractors are looking for a bone out of place. X-ray everybody, find the misalignment, sign here for three visits a week this month, two the next, one after that.

Here's my problem with that, and I say this as a chiropractor: a bone doesn't move itself. If something's out of position, it always comes back to muscle — and then you have to think like an engineer and ask why that muscle. Usually the one that's screaming is the one that's been doing somebody else's work too long and finally got sick of it.

I do adjust people. Not often, but sometimes it's the right tool. It's just one tool. You can't build a house with only a screwdriver.

The spinal curve thing isn't my approach either. If your neck curve is supposed to be 30 degrees — that number came off a bell curve, and almost nobody sits at the middle of it. Your "abnormal" curve might just be your normal.

And if someone showed you an X-ray and told you the problem is degenerative disc disease — I call BS. By middle age, the majority of people with no pain whatsoever show disc degeneration on imaging. Same with arthritis, rotator cuff tears, meniscus tears. Researchers have started describing these findings as wrinkles on the inside. Almost everyone has them. They don't define you, and they often aren't what's hurting.

What I care about is how you actually move. Elasticity. Strength. Whether the tissue glides.

So I move tissue that hasn't moved in a long time, and I glide nerves that need to glide. I can find a million imbalances in anybody — but I'm only interested in your top one or two. If you microdose those a few times a day, that gets you about 80% of the way there. That beats ten pages of homework nobody has time to do.

Three Cases

Ray*, 72 — a decade of sciatica and a spinal cord stimulator

Ray had been dealing with low back and sciatic pain for over ten years. Physical therapy. Injections. Eventually back surgery. None of it touched the pain. Two years ago he had a spinal cord stimulator implanted — and still had pain.

Whenever anyone comes in, even for something as small as big toe pain, I evaluate the whole body. Hip biomechanics, core, ribs, even the opposite shoulder, because all of it feeds how you move. With Ray we worked on deeper fascial releases. He was nervous when I worked near the stimulator wires — worried I'd break it — even though it wasn't helping him.

Third visit, I asked how he was doing. He looked at me a little wide-eyed. "Really good. Really, really good." I asked what he meant.

He said he didn't have pain anymore, and he still had the stimulator in, and he wasn't sure what to do about that.

I saw Ray yesterday. He played a full round of golf with zero pain for the first time in years. He's contacting his surgeon about having the stimulator removed.

A high school soccer player sent by her orthopedic surgeon

Dr. Robert Schoderbek, an orthopedic surgeon at Roper St. Francis, sent me a high school soccer player who was getting numbness and pain in her feet and legs whenever she played.

In young athletes that presentation often points toward compartment syndrome, where deep fascia in the calf restricts blood supply and causes numbness and pain under exertion. The diagnostic test is genuinely painful — a large needle into the leg. The surgery is worse, and it leaves significant scars.

Orthopedic surgeons send me the cases that haven't responded to anything else, where they'd rather avoid operating. Dr. Schoderbek and I have known each other a long time.

We checked her biomechanics, and before touching a single muscle we looked at nerves. She had nerve entrapments in both calves and both ankles driving the pain and numbness. After two treatments she played her weekend match and ran without pain for the first time in months.

Two weeks later the same surgeon sent her teammate. Same diagnosis, same findings on my end, same result.

David — bone-on-bone knee, and a cane he threw across the room

David came in with a bone-on-bone knee. He told me it had been years since he could really walk. He used the motorized cart at Walmart — his words. He couldn't walk his dog. It had shrunk his whole life down.

He struggled to get out of the chair in my waiting room and came into the room on a cane.

With David I suspected the bigger driver was chemical, inflammatory irritation. I tell patients: if the house is on fire, this isn't the moment to remodel the kitchen. So we used SoftWave — a type of shockwave therapy that's unique in that it treats deeper and wider than other shockwave machines. I describe it to patients as something like a moving MRI: as I work across the area, it finds the damaged tissue.

After the treatment he stood up and put weight through that leg for the first time in years. Then he threw the cane down and squatted — also for the first time in years.

Then the tears started. He broke down right there, because it was the first time he'd had hope.

That night he left a Google review, sent an email, and texted the office.

*Name changed for privacy. David's story and video are used with his permission.

What I Won't Do

I won't treat you three times a week for the rest of your life.

If we're doing the same thing over and over and you're not changing, that's information — it means the approach is wrong. I'll switch it up fast rather than run out the plan. When I can't crack a case it genuinely keeps me up at night. It's not unusual for me to text a patient out of the blue because I had an idea about them over the weekend.

I don't take X-rays. If you need imaging, I'll refer you out. People ask how I can treat without seeing the film — but X-rays don't show muscle. They show bone. And bone position is often transient; take an X-ray after a car accident and another two days later and they can look completely different.

Same with MRIs. A report is usually enough. Imaging can show narrowing or gross pathology — real information — but it tends to show symptoms of a problem rather than how or why you got there. Hands on the tissue gives me more data than a scan does.

No packages. No signing up for a year.

Your First Visit

About 30 minutes, and yes, I treat on day one.

I'll ask about previous injuries, but I'm more interested in what your days actually look like. Desk work? A repetitive motion you do a thousand times? That tells me what to expect before I put hands on you — and whether your tissue matches your life.

We work through the tissue, identify your top two or three imbalances, and try to take out as much pain as possible on that first visit. You'll leave with two or three homework exercises to microdose through the day. Not ten pages.

• Wear loose clothing — we need to bend, twist, and get to soft tissue.
• No referral needed.
• Insurance: we accept Medicare and some Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, and we have affordable cash rates.

Hours

• Monday – Friday: 7:30 AM – 1:00 PM, then 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
• Saturday & Sunday: Closed

Conditions I Treat Most Often

• Sciatica and leg pain
• Low back pain
• Neck pain
• Headaches and occipital nerve pain
• Shoulder and rotator cuff problems
• Knee pain, including bone-on-bone knees
• Plantar fasciitis and foot pain
• Hip pain
• Carpal tunnel and wrist pain
• TMJ and jaw pain

The tools I reach for most: Active Release Techniques, nerve release and nerve flossing, SoftWave therapy, spinal decompression, and chiropractic adjustment when it's actually the right tool.

Common Questions

Where exactly in West Ashley are you?
761 St Andrews Blvd — a white brick building with metal awnings and a metal sign. Coming from downtown you'll pass the Cooper School; if you reach Mex 1 Coastal Cantina, you've gone too far.

Do I need a referral?
No.

Do you take X-rays?
No. If you need imaging I'll refer you out. X-rays show bone, not muscle, and most of what I'm treating is soft tissue and nerve.

Do you take insurance?
We accept Medicare and some Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, and we offer cash rates.

Will you put me on a long treatment plan?
No. If the same treatment isn't producing change, the approach is wrong and I'll change it.

Do you treat on the first visit?
Yes. First visits run about 30 minutes and include treatment.

What should I wear?
Loose clothing we can move, bend, and work through.

Ready to Find the Actual Cause?

(843) 873-6004 · 761 St Andrews Blvd, Charleston, SC 29407

Schedule an Appointment