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Valatie and Chatham chiropractors fix more than necks and backs
  
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By Sesame Campbell
COLUMBIA COUNTY — Local chiropractors are doing much to advance health care in Columbia County, with more than just their patients’ backs in mind. Contrary to popular belief, chiropractic care is not just about adjusting backs and necks; it is about a state of health that addresses the whole human body.
“Chiropractic is about the body’s structural integrity and balance and how it relates to health,” said Dr. Glen Rugen of Rugen Chiropractic.
Rugen Chiropractic, located in Valatie, is a family-run chiropractic care office. Originally started by Robert C. Rugen, father of Robert K. and Glen E. Rugen, the chiropractic family has provided New York state residents quality chiropractic care since the 1940s. Richard Rugen, the older brother of Robert and Glen, practices on Long Island.
The Rugens are graduates of Logan College of Chiropractic. Dr. Hugh Logan began the first four-year chiropractic college in St. Louis in 1935. Logan expanded the then two-year education to four because of his passion for body mechanics, Glen Rugen said. Logan’s research became the foundation for every Logan graduate’s education.
“At Rugen Chiropractic, our patients are evaluated from the ground up,” Rugen said. “We take careful notice of the ankle and arch complex as it relates to the center gait and how this eventually affects the pelvis and foundation of the spine.”
The doctors are committed enough to this philosophy that they provide arch supports and orthotics for their patients from three different companies.
“Being part of a chiropractic family and being raised as such, it is only natural for us to treat every patient as we would like to be treated ourselves,” Rob Rugen said. “This is evident in everything we provide for the patient, from the variety of foot support to the nutritional products we have available, to the care we provide. All are sold at a discount.”
Rob Rugen said that the treatment provided by him and his brother differs from most in that they go to great lengths to maximize the effectiveness of treatment on a multitude of layers.
“We employ a variety of soft tissue techniques, which is both time consuming and intensive, but it not only prepares the body to accept the actual manipulation more completely, but the adjustment will ‘hold’ longer,” Rob Rugen said. “We also educate the people on how best to maximize the effectiveness of our treatment during their daily living activities.”
Starting with structures and simple exercises, each patient is given a personalized treatment aimed to reorganize ergonomic (mechanical) nuggets of information that can get them through the day with an emphasis on healing instead of more dysfunction.
The Rugen brothers’ practice is derived in part from the pioneering work of their father, who was instrumental in getting the New York State Chiropractic law passed in 1964. Prior to the creation of the law, the practice of chiropractic health care was illegal in the state of New York. During the last five decades, the profession has evolved from an often misunderstood and unappreciated science to a highly respected and valued form of care and treatment performed on millions of patients each year throughout the world.
“From 1943 to 1964, dad practiced without a license,” Glen Rugen said. “It’s one thing to be committed to your profession; it’s another to be determined and committed to your professional practice even though to do so might result in an arrest.”
Born in 1918, Robert C. Rugen was still wining tennis tournaments up until the age of 83. In 1970, he moved his family up to Columbia County. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, he would practice on Long Island and then come up Thursday nights to practice in his East Chatham office. The Rugen boys graduated from Chatham High School and Rob and Glen stayed in the area.
“Dad was accepted in the community and developed the practice rapidly,” Rob Rugen said. “The need was here and so was he.”
Both Long Island and Columbia County were more agricultural 50 years ago, so Robert Rugen was often paid with food. “They were so grateful for dad’s help,” Glen Rugen said.
The doctors utilize exercise and nutrition as the core in their curriculum. “My dad had courses in exercise and nutrition in the 1940s,” Rob Rugen said. “Then it was considered radical, now it is common thought. Dad gave us Vitamin C and Kelp tablets when everyone else was taking St. Joseph’s Aspirin for Children.”
Both Rob and Glen said their father never pushed them into the profession. “I remember my dad coming home from work light-hearted and positive about what he did during the day,” Rob Rugen said. “I remember my hearing from my friends that their dads came home grumpy.”
Although the medical profession has historically been at odds with the chiropractic community, these days that is not the norm. Robert Rugen said he is happy with the direction of chiropractic care.
“The biggest change is that it is more accepted by the general public and more utilized than it used to be,” the senior chiropractor said. “Now exercise and good nutrition are part of our daily culture.”
“I remember when we got the first referral from an MD in the area,” Glen Rugen recalled. “Over the years we’ve helped forge relationships with MDs in the area and now they are happy to send us referrals.”
Rugen Chiropractic is located at 1002 Kinderhook St. (Route 9) in Valatie and can be reached at (518) 758-1400.
On Route 66, sandwiched between Video Visions and the Chatham House, Dr. Jeffrey Beury, known as Doctor Jeff to many of his patients, treats a number of regional patients. Although he specializes in general chiropractic care, he treats a wide range of sports injuries.
Beury is also relatively local, having graduated from Cairo-Durham High School in 1996. He did his formal chiropractic training at Life University in Marietta, Ga., where he graduated in 2004.
While medical doctors generally go through an eight-year degree, it is not general knowledge that doctors of chiropractic undergo similar rigorous training, with a four-year Bachelor of Science degree requirement in preparation for a four-year chiropractic school degree.
“We are doctors that branch into our specialty, Doctors of Chiropractic. And we’re very well-versed in the human body,” Beury said. “You have to learn about conditions and learn how to diagnose and treat those conditions.”
One of the major philosophical differences between chiropractic care and medicine is that chiropractic takes a more holistic approach to health, while medicine often focuses on the treatment of specific symptoms.
Beury uses an analogy to describe the difference. “Chiropractic care is like when you take a string and wrap it around your finger,” he said. “Your finger starts to hurt after a while and instead of taking ice or a pill to make the pain go away, you take the string off.”
He added that there is a reason why people are in pain. Just because a person has no pain, doesn’t mean that they aren’t in need of chiropractic care. “Chiropractic is wonderful to help pain, but it is wonderful prevention to larger problems,” he said.
Beury recalled a conversation he had with a friend recently. The friend said that someone asked why it was that he went to a chiropractor when he wasn’t in pain. The friend’s response was that the reason he was never in pain was because he went regularly to a chiropractor.
“I look at total body wellness,” Beury said. “Nutrition is a big piece of health. The body is a self-healing organism. It will heal itself if you give it good nutritional care.
Similar to the Rugens, Beury operates his practice with the philosophy that chiropractic care is a preventative measure.
“There is a big delineation between medicine and chiropractic,” Beury said. “Our philosophies are different. People need medical care and chiropractic care, but if we cross-pollinate it can only benefit patients more. We should all be working together. Most medical doctors don’t know what chiropractic care is. But if there are things I don’t know and can’t manage, I send my patients elsewhere.”
Beury said he can help 99 percent of people who step into his office to improve their quality of life. “By patients’ spine in motion, their nervous systems function better.”
With the health care crisis at the center of a national debate, President Barack Obama and political leaders are trying to find a way to provide affordable care to every American who needs it.
“Health care in the U.S. is not health care, it is sickness care,” Beury said. “Many people come to me as a last resort. I explain to them about their body and they start to heal themselves. They start to understand what is happening with their own bodies. Let’s do prevention. Let’s not wait until it gets to a crisis state.”
Beury is clear that he does not tell people to come into his office and he will cure their cancer. However, he does listen and observe their symptoms.
“The brain and spinal cord are first things to develop in the human body,” Beury said. “That creates the nervous system, which controls everything that the body does. If there is any interference it can create ‘dis-ease,’ which later leads to disease and dysfunction. That’s where a lot of the problems are created.”
Beury recalls a young man who came into his office with elbow pain. The youngster had been to several specialists who were not able to help him. Beury was able to look at his posture and determine that the problem wasn’t in the young man’s elbow, it was coming from his shoulder and neck. “Just because the pain is here doesn’t mean that’s where the problem from,” Beury said.
Originally from East Durham in Greene County, Beury wanted to be a chiropractor ever since he was 5 years old. His father had a job-career ending accident and Beury watched chiropractors keep his father walking. He recalls how his father brought him along to his appointments.
“I remember there were times when my father would drag himself into the car to drive himself into the chiropractor’s office,” he said. The experience of watching as a chiropractor did something with his hands that helped his father get up and have the ability to walk again was something he never forgot, without needles and pain.
“It’s pretty cool,” Beury said. “I saw how much chiropractic helped my father and that’s when I realized what I wanted to do with my life.”
Now Beury’s goal is to get the message out to the public that chiropractic care is not just about neck or back pain; it’s about real health.
“It’s about allowing the body to do what it needs to do,” Beury said. “I firmly believe that the body is the only thing that heals itself. Doctors don’t heal the body. Medicine doesn’t health things. It’s the body that does it.”
Chatham Chiropractic & Wellness is a family-oriented practice. Although Beury did not intend it, many high school and college athletes have walked through his doors.
“I try to help kids get better and allow their bodies to heal and teaching them that by doing so, they can reach their potential.”
Beury said that when the body is working at an optimal level, the body can use its energy effectively. “I don’t give people false hope. I don’t know what will happen. But I have had athletes say that they see they are performing optimal performance with pretty big improvements. But that’s not me. It’s their body doing the work. They’re giving their bodies the chance to live up to full potential.”
Beury has also welcomed Cynthia Hansen, licensed massage therapist, into his practice.
Chatham Chiropractic & Wellness is located at 19 Hudson Ave. and can be reached at (518) 392-2300.
“Chiropractic is about the body’s structural integrity and balance and how it relates to health,” said Dr. Glen Rugen of Rugen Chiropractic.
Rugen Chiropractic, located in Valatie, is a family-run chiropractic care office. Originally started by Robert C. Rugen, father of Robert K. and Glen E. Rugen, the chiropractic family has provided New York state residents quality chiropractic care since the 1940s. Richard Rugen, the older brother of Robert and Glen, practices on Long Island.
The Rugens are graduates of Logan College of Chiropractic. Dr. Hugh Logan began the first four-year chiropractic college in St. Louis in 1935. Logan expanded the then two-year education to four because of his passion for body mechanics, Glen Rugen said. Logan’s research became the foundation for every Logan graduate’s education.
“At Rugen Chiropractic, our patients are evaluated from the ground up,” Rugen said. “We take careful notice of the ankle and arch complex as it relates to the center gait and how this eventually affects the pelvis and foundation of the spine.”
The doctors are committed enough to this philosophy that they provide arch supports and orthotics for their patients from three different companies.
“Being part of a chiropractic family and being raised as such, it is only natural for us to treat every patient as we would like to be treated ourselves,” Rob Rugen said. “This is evident in everything we provide for the patient, from the variety of foot support to the nutritional products we have available, to the care we provide. All are sold at a discount.”
Rob Rugen said that the treatment provided by him and his brother differs from most in that they go to great lengths to maximize the effectiveness of treatment on a multitude of layers.
“We employ a variety of soft tissue techniques, which is both time consuming and intensive, but it not only prepares the body to accept the actual manipulation more completely, but the adjustment will ‘hold’ longer,” Rob Rugen said. “We also educate the people on how best to maximize the effectiveness of our treatment during their daily living activities.”
Starting with structures and simple exercises, each patient is given a personalized treatment aimed to reorganize ergonomic (mechanical) nuggets of information that can get them through the day with an emphasis on healing instead of more dysfunction.
The Rugen brothers’ practice is derived in part from the pioneering work of their father, who was instrumental in getting the New York State Chiropractic law passed in 1964. Prior to the creation of the law, the practice of chiropractic health care was illegal in the state of New York. During the last five decades, the profession has evolved from an often misunderstood and unappreciated science to a highly respected and valued form of care and treatment performed on millions of patients each year throughout the world.
“From 1943 to 1964, dad practiced without a license,” Glen Rugen said. “It’s one thing to be committed to your profession; it’s another to be determined and committed to your professional practice even though to do so might result in an arrest.”
Born in 1918, Robert C. Rugen was still wining tennis tournaments up until the age of 83. In 1970, he moved his family up to Columbia County. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, he would practice on Long Island and then come up Thursday nights to practice in his East Chatham office. The Rugen boys graduated from Chatham High School and Rob and Glen stayed in the area.
“Dad was accepted in the community and developed the practice rapidly,” Rob Rugen said. “The need was here and so was he.”
Both Long Island and Columbia County were more agricultural 50 years ago, so Robert Rugen was often paid with food. “They were so grateful for dad’s help,” Glen Rugen said.
The doctors utilize exercise and nutrition as the core in their curriculum. “My dad had courses in exercise and nutrition in the 1940s,” Rob Rugen said. “Then it was considered radical, now it is common thought. Dad gave us Vitamin C and Kelp tablets when everyone else was taking St. Joseph’s Aspirin for Children.”
Both Rob and Glen said their father never pushed them into the profession. “I remember my dad coming home from work light-hearted and positive about what he did during the day,” Rob Rugen said. “I remember my hearing from my friends that their dads came home grumpy.”
Although the medical profession has historically been at odds with the chiropractic community, these days that is not the norm. Robert Rugen said he is happy with the direction of chiropractic care.
“The biggest change is that it is more accepted by the general public and more utilized than it used to be,” the senior chiropractor said. “Now exercise and good nutrition are part of our daily culture.”
“I remember when we got the first referral from an MD in the area,” Glen Rugen recalled. “Over the years we’ve helped forge relationships with MDs in the area and now they are happy to send us referrals.”
Rugen Chiropractic is located at 1002 Kinderhook St. (Route 9) in Valatie and can be reached at (518) 758-1400.
On Route 66, sandwiched between Video Visions and the Chatham House, Dr. Jeffrey Beury, known as Doctor Jeff to many of his patients, treats a number of regional patients. Although he specializes in general chiropractic care, he treats a wide range of sports injuries.
Beury is also relatively local, having graduated from Cairo-Durham High School in 1996. He did his formal chiropractic training at Life University in Marietta, Ga., where he graduated in 2004.
While medical doctors generally go through an eight-year degree, it is not general knowledge that doctors of chiropractic undergo similar rigorous training, with a four-year Bachelor of Science degree requirement in preparation for a four-year chiropractic school degree.
“We are doctors that branch into our specialty, Doctors of Chiropractic. And we’re very well-versed in the human body,” Beury said. “You have to learn about conditions and learn how to diagnose and treat those conditions.”
One of the major philosophical differences between chiropractic care and medicine is that chiropractic takes a more holistic approach to health, while medicine often focuses on the treatment of specific symptoms.
Beury uses an analogy to describe the difference. “Chiropractic care is like when you take a string and wrap it around your finger,” he said. “Your finger starts to hurt after a while and instead of taking ice or a pill to make the pain go away, you take the string off.”
He added that there is a reason why people are in pain. Just because a person has no pain, doesn’t mean that they aren’t in need of chiropractic care. “Chiropractic is wonderful to help pain, but it is wonderful prevention to larger problems,” he said.
Beury recalled a conversation he had with a friend recently. The friend said that someone asked why it was that he went to a chiropractor when he wasn’t in pain. The friend’s response was that the reason he was never in pain was because he went regularly to a chiropractor.
“I look at total body wellness,” Beury said. “Nutrition is a big piece of health. The body is a self-healing organism. It will heal itself if you give it good nutritional care.
Similar to the Rugens, Beury operates his practice with the philosophy that chiropractic care is a preventative measure.
“There is a big delineation between medicine and chiropractic,” Beury said. “Our philosophies are different. People need medical care and chiropractic care, but if we cross-pollinate it can only benefit patients more. We should all be working together. Most medical doctors don’t know what chiropractic care is. But if there are things I don’t know and can’t manage, I send my patients elsewhere.”
Beury said he can help 99 percent of people who step into his office to improve their quality of life. “By patients’ spine in motion, their nervous systems function better.”
With the health care crisis at the center of a national debate, President Barack Obama and political leaders are trying to find a way to provide affordable care to every American who needs it.
“Health care in the U.S. is not health care, it is sickness care,” Beury said. “Many people come to me as a last resort. I explain to them about their body and they start to heal themselves. They start to understand what is happening with their own bodies. Let’s do prevention. Let’s not wait until it gets to a crisis state.”
Beury is clear that he does not tell people to come into his office and he will cure their cancer. However, he does listen and observe their symptoms.
“The brain and spinal cord are first things to develop in the human body,” Beury said. “That creates the nervous system, which controls everything that the body does. If there is any interference it can create ‘dis-ease,’ which later leads to disease and dysfunction. That’s where a lot of the problems are created.”
Beury recalls a young man who came into his office with elbow pain. The youngster had been to several specialists who were not able to help him. Beury was able to look at his posture and determine that the problem wasn’t in the young man’s elbow, it was coming from his shoulder and neck. “Just because the pain is here doesn’t mean that’s where the problem from,” Beury said.
Originally from East Durham in Greene County, Beury wanted to be a chiropractor ever since he was 5 years old. His father had a job-career ending accident and Beury watched chiropractors keep his father walking. He recalls how his father brought him along to his appointments.
“I remember there were times when my father would drag himself into the car to drive himself into the chiropractor’s office,” he said. The experience of watching as a chiropractor did something with his hands that helped his father get up and have the ability to walk again was something he never forgot, without needles and pain.
“It’s pretty cool,” Beury said. “I saw how much chiropractic helped my father and that’s when I realized what I wanted to do with my life.”
Now Beury’s goal is to get the message out to the public that chiropractic care is not just about neck or back pain; it’s about real health.
“It’s about allowing the body to do what it needs to do,” Beury said. “I firmly believe that the body is the only thing that heals itself. Doctors don’t heal the body. Medicine doesn’t health things. It’s the body that does it.”
Chatham Chiropractic & Wellness is a family-oriented practice. Although Beury did not intend it, many high school and college athletes have walked through his doors.
“I try to help kids get better and allow their bodies to heal and teaching them that by doing so, they can reach their potential.”
Beury said that when the body is working at an optimal level, the body can use its energy effectively. “I don’t give people false hope. I don’t know what will happen. But I have had athletes say that they see they are performing optimal performance with pretty big improvements. But that’s not me. It’s their body doing the work. They’re giving their bodies the chance to live up to full potential.”
Beury has also welcomed Cynthia Hansen, licensed massage therapist, into his practice.
Chatham Chiropractic & Wellness is located at 19 Hudson Ave. and can be reached at (518) 392-2300.
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