Gregory Symko, D.C., D.A.B.C.N.
The reason I decided to become a chiropractor more than 20 years ago one is because it was a chiropractor who helped my severe back pain and headaches when I was in my early 20s. I became board certified in Chiropractic Neurology in 1991.
At that time I had a private practice that included a rehabilitation center with all the bells and whistles and the practice was doing well. But in 1999 I had a stroke that left me completely bedridden.
The cerebellar stroke destroyed my sense of balance and I fell many times each day. I found it impossible to focus my eyes on anything because of the condition known as rotary nystagmus. I had partial paralysis and intense pain in my left arm, right leg and the right side of my face pain. One of my vocal cords was also partially paralyzed.
I had to sell my practice for a song but I started down the road to recovery. After the standard rehab protocols, I began my own rehab by making the parts of my body that didn’t work well move. By doing so, I was retraining my brain.
It took me 3 long, painful years until I could get back to some type of work. I was neither strong enough, nor had the balance to return to chiropractic so I worked for some pharmaceutical companies in their drug safety departments. It was interesting work, but I learned even more than I already knew about the detrimental effects some drugs can have on the body.
One day as I was building a tree house for my children, I realized I hadn’t fallen in a long while and if I could build a tree house, I could go back to being a chiropractor. Six months later I was back. It had been 7 years and it was very strange to get back to the profession that I loved, but it felt good – like putting on a favorite pair of jeans.
Had I not had the stroke, I most likely would not have struggled and learned all the therapies I needed to do for myself in order to recover. Because of my stroke, I gained understanding of how and why those things I did on my own had worked. Then I was exposed to new neurological research that affirmed the type of work I did and even went beyond it. That’s when Brain Based Therapy became part of my treatment plan.
