By Scott Morgan
In the 12 years Dr. Doris Soernssen-Hahn has been practicing at Back In Action Chiropractic in Ewing, not much has changed in the way the treatments are performed.
What’s changed is the perception of chiropractic care among the general public and the medical establishment.
It wasn’t long ago that traditional medical doctors scoffed at the idea of spinal adjustments and therapeutic massages.
But these days, Soernssen-Hahn (who largely goes by Dr. Doris) gets lots of referrals from the medical establishment, which is coming to realize, finally, that treating every condition with drugs and surgeries isn’t the panacea it was once believed to be.
Dr. Doris has built her practice on a reputation for gentle adjustments and individualized attentive care.
She especially likes to calm those who are new to chiropractic.
“People are afraid of adjustments a lot of times,” she said. Especially when those adjustments get up near the neck.
But being a healer is about understanding people’s anxieties, she said, not just their bodies.
If someone is not so keen on a particular type of adjustment or treatment, she will work around it.
The important thing, after all, is to make patients feel good, not drive them away from care because you’ve manhandled them into taking their medicine.
Among the perspective shift is a better understanding by the general public that chiropractic care is like any other treatment in that it takes a while.
Dr. Doris still hears people criticize chiropractic because patients sometimes need to return for several visits.
Her response is, first, that she never prescribes an automatic three-times-a-week regimen, and second, to remind people that no type of improvement or therapy happens in one sitting.
“Did you go to the gym once and now you’re in great shape for the rest of your life?” she said. “Nothing works after just one time. Achieving anything worthwhile takes time and effort.”
Soernssen-Hahn, who earned her bachelor’s from Excelsior College in Ithaca, New York, and her doctorate of chiropractic (in 2000) from the New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls, always knew she wanted to be a healer.
As a child, she had gone to a physical therapist and knew she wanted to be in the medical field. She was sold on chiropractic after a car accident from which she recovered through adjustment.
She opened her practice at 1070 Parkway Ave. 12 years ago and last year moved to a bigger space right down the road, at 1330 Parkway (known by some as the Eastern Dental building).
From the beginning, Dr. Doris has practiced several modalities of chiropractic and has had a massage therapist, Monika Miletics, on staff. Donella Ulak rounds out the full staff at Back In Action.
Together, Soernssen-Hahn and Miletics follow one simple goal — to heal as many people as possible without the use of drugs or surgery and to maintain wellness in those who have achieved good health by maintaining balanced nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems.
Just keep something in mind (as stated on Back In Action’s website): “Life is not a sprint, but a marathon. Remember, healing takes time.”
Back in Action Chiropractic is located at 1070 Parkway Ave., Suite 11. Phone: (609) 434-0318. Web: drdorishahn.com
Dr. Doris Soernssen-Hahn of Back In Action Chiropractic,
