Align Alabama’s Dr. Nathan Lewis, a Bremen native and Cullman resident, found himself supporting the principles of overall wellness and healing through chiropractic care after battling some injuries of his own.
“I went to Cold Springs High School where I was a multisport athlete, but ultimately landed on running,” Lewis said. “It was through running that I first came to know about chiropractic care. In one particular incident, I was struggling with a hip issue. I diligently tried every conventional form of medicine and therapy to no avail. I was ultimately rendered unable to walk without significant pain, let alone compete and run at the level I wished to.
“After exercising everything I knew to do, it was at the acknowledgment of a trainer associated with the school that recommended I ‘try seeing a chiropractor.’ It was on the heels of trying to break a then 36-year-old Cullman County record in the mile run (set by William Calvert – my then principal at Cold Springs). I was desperate to try anything and it was through a friend that I knew of Below Chiropractic and Dr. Jeff Cole. I made an appointment, and in short, was radically and immediately ‘healed.’ What had hurt me and plagued my running was gone in one adjustment. I was completely amazed and mesmerized by chiropractic from that point forward.”
Lewis said his running success throughout high school was closely tied to chiropractic care and learning more readily about moving the body to perform and function better through chiropractic care.
“(It was) through another incident my freshman year of college that culminated in an ATV wreck,” Lewis said. “I had a fractured spine, and an extended stay in the hospital. It was chiropractic care that truly changed my trajectory in healing and returning to competing running collegiately again.”
At Align Alabama, Lewis said, the goal with any new patient is simple: reflect the patient’s goal, within reason, to the best of their ability.
“I want to share with them some education about how chiropractic care can serve them and their needs,” Lewis said. “I often communicate to patients that there is nothing quite like pain or dysfunction to get them through the doors of a chiropractic office (or any health care office for that matter). Patients, often, come to me frustrated and ‘sick and tired of being sick and tired.’ I desire to meet them exactly where they are at and meet their need to feel better while educating them around the importance of chiropractic care and better function.”
Lewis said he often says, “As we move your body to better ‘function,’ we can’t help but improve how you ‘feel’ secondary to better function.”
He said, “I care about how you feel but I care more about how you function. That statement is not to sound insensitive to the pain one may be experiencing, but to begin an education process, for many, the idea of function over feeling. Education is a big part of any health care experience, especially in our office. As we know better, we do better.”
Many who visit Align Alabama are already experiencing pain, not looking to prevent it. Lewis said the process begins with finding relief.
“I believe that process, for many who may be in pain, begins with getting them symptomatic relief and interrupting what otherwise can feel like a vicious cycle,” he said. “’Because I don’t feel well, I can’t exercise/work on myself; because I don’t work on myself I don’t feel better,’ and the cycle goes on and on. Interrupting that vicious physical cycle also opens up the mind and mental battle that that phenomena can present. I, and our team, are my patient’s biggest cheerleader in successes and setbacks while we evaluate what strategies and efforts we might implement to best serve their goal of working on themselves.”
Align’s office, Lewis said, by design and based on the most current research, integrates an active warm-up process that engages patients with movement and comfortability with movement patterns that are encouraged and prescribed at home. Some of these modalities require specific equipment while others are easily implemented at home.
“I love to mitigate any concerns, fears, worry or misinformation by introducing chiropractic care to every patient (whether they have previous chiropractic experience or if they have never been to a chiropractor) by recognizing that I personally believe chiropractors, as a profession, have historically failed the general public in communicating ‘who we are, what we do and why it is important to our health,’” Lewis said.
“I believe Cullman is blessed to have many fantastic offices and chiropractic providers. I like to piggyback off of a profession that I believe has done it better than any other health care profession, and that is dentists. We all recognize who they are, what they do and why it is important to our health. I communicate personally that my 6- year-old daughter and 4-year-old son both practice dental hygiene. Why? Because it is important. We recognize that fact, yet the disconnect when it comes to caring for our spine and nervous system? I don’t blame the patient for this fact; I blame it on poor communication of who we are, what we do and why it is important to our health.
“I continue by communicating, if our dental hygiene is important (and it is), how important might our spine and nervous system that animates and controls every function in our body be. As children, we get a second chance (of sorts) with our adult teeth. If something happens to our adult teeth, we have ‘do-overs’ like false teeth, implants, veneers and the like. While I’d advocate to take good care of what the good Lord gives us, a do-over does exist. How many do-overs do we get with our spine? Zero! I like to educate that it is the very first part of our body to develop in utero (called the notochord) and it will be the same spine and nervous system that remains with us our entire life. Might I invite you into a conversation and perspective that recognizes that it might be important to care for?
“I think once patients recognize the importance of their spine and nervous system and how chiropractic care is trained and positioned to support what I like to call ‘spinal hygiene,’ then the conversations and experience that follows simply makes sense.”
To date, Lewis said his favorite compliment he and his team hear often is akin to, ‘I could simply walk in this place and leave feeling better and encouraged.’
“While, yes, we believe we deliver chiropractic and wellness as well, and better than anyone, we work hard to cultivate an environment, on purpose, that leaves people encouraged to heal and feel better so they can walk in their God-given purpose in all areas of life,” he said. “We are glad to support that mission and serve our community in that way.”
Lewis’ faith is a central and integral part of his office and a vision to serve people and the community as an overflow of his place of business.
“A ministry for Him that just so happens to be a chiropractic office,” Lewis said. “Something as simple as the music playing in our office and as profound as a staff and team that will pray with patients, those are the pieces that will always mean the most to me. The name, Align Alabama, is both a vision and a command! While the play on words ‘align’ can’t be missed as a chiropractic-centered office, I have a vision for my patients, community and beyond to ‘align’ in health and healing and command that truth to be evidenced for myself and all those I come in contact with. It isn’t an easy task both personally, or professionally, but always a worthwhile endeavor that promises to produce fruit physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.”
Lewis said he has a vision for a health care office that recognizes and supports health and healing across all domains of health: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
“I long for and wait with great anticipation for how God continues to develop that in my own life first, and the overflow of that place and how it impacts my community and vision for that reality made manifest,” he said. “I have a big vision and plan to spend a lifetime refining and bringing that to life for the community of Cullman and beyond. The past 2.5 years, since opening, have proved to be some of the most rewarding years of my life and simultaneously the most difficult personally and professionally. I am thankful for the tremendous growth that has come in both arenas and recognize that it directly reflects how I serve people. I am thankful for the support of so many that have allowed me and our team to serve them in health and healing as we endeavor to: ‘Inspire Hope, Inspire Health and Inspire Healing.’”
Align Alabama Health & Wellness is located at 1207 Loring St. NW in Cullman. Learn more at www.alignalabama.com.
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