The News Herald News Article

                  Chiropractor Adjusts Using Just Her Hands

                                                                     By Lisa Vidaurri-Bowling  

                                    

GROSSE ILE, MICHIGAN — Chiropractor, Bertie Ryan Synowiec, uses a gentle approach to healing. The owner of Grosse Ile Family Chiropractic, 28641 Elbamar Drive, Grosse Ile, Michigan, uses the Logan Basic Technique with her patients. “I use my hands only,” Synowiec said. “It’s a very gentle technique. It’s a technique that I was called to do.” In her practice, Synowiec uses a technique that focuses on balancing the pelvic area and allows the spine to remain balanced. She uses a thumb (apex) contact on a ligament, which causes the body to relax from a “fight or flight” state to a state of calmness. Synowiec then can place her hands along a patient’s spine to remove any interference. “This correction then allows healing to take place,” she said.

After a successful career as an educator, speaker and author, Synowiec said she was called to the chiropractic profession. It all began in with an injury from a trampoline accident. Based on a suggestion from her son, Synowiec made an appointment with Taylor-based chiropractor Joe Belcher. “I had an incredible experience of healing,” she said.

Her health improved, including no more headaches, complete neck movement, a smoother complexion and the disappearance of heart palpitations and exercise-induced asthma. Synowiec liked the chiropractic philosophy and later wrote a book about her experience, “Healers, Helpers, Wizards and Guides: A Healing Journey.”

The book was picked up in the chiropractic circuit and she started to attend and speak at chiropractic conferences. It was during a speaking engagement at a 50th anniversary conference in Nevada for well-known Texas chiropractor Jim Parker that Synowiec realized she wanted to pursue the profession.  “I said to myself, ‘Oh my God, I can do this, I’m going to become a chiropractor’” she said.

Four months later, with the blessing of her husband, Richard, Synowiec, she packed her bags and moved to St. Louis for 3 1/2 years to study chiropractic care. Richard, a Ford Motor Co. retiree, maintained their Grosse Ile home and continued to stay active as the Ford Yacht Club’s grounds director and working with one of their sons at his Ann Arbor-based Divers Inc. Scuba Shop.

The Synowiec’s have been married for 44 years and have five children and seven grandchildren. They saw each other by taking turns commuting back and forth from Michigan to a home Synowiec rented with three other students. “It was just like I had a home — at one point, I had five teenagers at home,” she said with a laugh.

College life was nothing new to Synowiec. She has a bachelor’s degree in premedicine from Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia and a master’s degree in biology from Adelphi University in New York. In 2005, she graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic. At age 61, she started her practice, Positive Support Family Chiropractic, in Brownstown Township.

When Dr. Thomas Smith of Grosse Ile Chiropractic Center moved his practice to Oak Park, Synowiec bought his island business and changed her practice’s name to Grosse Ile Family Chiropractic. She sees patients by appointment. “I spend a lot of time with my patients,” she said. “That’s just who I am. I book them on the half hour.” She said she wants to develop the time to get to know her patients and find out what needs to be done to get them healthy again.

Synowiec said a common reason patients seek chiropractic care is because they are experiencing pain. She said there are four phases of care. The acute stage’s goal is to reduce pain and inflammation and accelerate the healing process. The subacute phase works to reduce and eliminate pain, increase range of motion, accelerate the healing process and improve joint function. In phase three, also known as the corrective phase, the goal is to improve posture, eliminate pain and restore the range of motion to normal. In the wellness phase, the chiropractor works to preserve joint health, prevent spinal decay and sustain structural correction and normal range of motion.

“As chiropractors, we are taught to think through the spine,” Synowiec said. “As we realign the spine, we remove nerve interference.” She uses soft tissue massage in her treatments.

“I have a good practice,” Synowiec said. “I see whoever God sends me. My patients are very special to me, and I want to help them to age gracefully. “I want to do this for as long as I can,” the 67-year-old said. “I make the last payment on my student loan on Oct. 15, 2035, on my 90th birthday.”

                                                           Grosse Ile: Grosse Ile Family Chiropractic

                                                           Location:    28641 Elbamar Drive, Grosse Ile, MI 48138

                                                           Phone:      734-671-1740   Fax: 734-676-0694

                                                           Owner:      Bertie Ryan Synowiec, MS, DC of Grosse Ile, MI

                                                           Services:    Chiropractic care.

                                                           Hours:     Monday 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m; Wed 9:00 a.m. to 7 p.m.              

                                                                                                         Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

             Web site:    www.grosseilechiropractic.com

      

Call to schedule an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome, although most appointments are scheduled. 

                        http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2009/12/02/business/doc4b156f3ac9fc8718639789.txt