Patient Testimonials

Hello,

My name is Donna Cavanaugh, I am 47 years old, and I have owned and operated my own day care for over 25 years. Additionally, I have owned and operated my own tax preparation firm for over 18 years. I spend more than 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, either in the floor with the kids, or bending over, or picking up the children. Then, after the day care closes, I spend several hours, at least 5 months of the year, either at my computer, or at my desk, working on tax returns.

For the past 15 years, I have suffered from muscle spasms in my middle back, which I believed to have been caused by the simple act of picking up a child out of his or her bed. Sometimes the spasms would tighten to the point that I could barely breathe. I have seen doctor after doctor, and all that they have done is throw drugs at me, muscle relaxers and pain killers, which if I had taken all of them, I would have had to be in rehab more often than Hugh Grant. Additionally, about a year ago, I tried to add walking on the treadmill to my regular workout, but my feet started to hurt to the point that I was hobbling around more slowly than my 80 year old grandmother. I went to the doctor and he told me that I had bone spurs, and he gave me enormous shots of cortisone in the heels of my feet. When that did not work, he sent me to a podiatrist, who immediately started talking about surgery, going into my feet and severing my ligaments that attach the front bones of my foot to the heel bones. NO WAY! I am the most noninvasive person you will ever meet.

I met Doctor Steve through clients in my day care. When I started coming to him, he made me remember all of the damage that I had done to my body over the past 47 years. Then he adjusted my neck, back and especially my feet. You cannot know the joy of standing up and not having pain in your feet. It was amazing! Just being able to stand and walk around the room, without hobbling, or enduring the feeling of a knife stabbing my feet, was truly fantastic. Of course, he couldn't fix 47 years of mistreatment to my feet and back in just one session, but I have only been coming here for about 4 and one-half months, and already the time between treatments has lengthened, now I only have to come about once a month, to stabilize the worst of the areas, my mid-back, and my feet.

Since the cessation of pain in my feet, I have been able to go into the woods with my husband, and I am preparing to get my youngest of five children married next month. I probably would have had to hire someone, like a wedding planner, before Doctor Steve started working on my feet, simply due to the fact that I was unable to even shop for more than 20 or 30 minutes. Now, I have done it all! I even shopped at 3 malls in one day! And we found the perfect dress and shoes, at the last one. I have given out Dr. Steve's name, and number to all of my day care associates, and even to strangers that I met at City Hall. I think that everyone would benefit from being adjusted, I know that I have been changed. Not only in the fact that now I can walk without pain, but since he had adjusted my back and neck, I have not had an episode of bronchitis or pneumonia. And I used to get one or the other at least once every other month, in fact one year, I had pneumonia 7 times and bronchitis twice. Happily, I have not needed to see my regular doctor in over 4 months, whereas, normally I would see him at least once and usually 2 or 3 times a month. My husband is estatic, and so is my checkbook! My pharmacist saw me the other day, and wanted to know what was going on, as I had not been to see her and get medication for over 4 months. I told her all about Dr. Steve, and she was impressed. I had been to see her so often, I know the names of her grandkids!

I would like to express my "THANKS" for your help in drastically improving my quality of life. I have not felt this well in several years.

On my first visit 4 months ago, I could not turn my head right or left. I could not lie down without propping my head on several pillows. I was taking approximately 12 Advil a day. My professional and personal lives were an effort to maintain. I could hardly tolerate the first adjustment (even though it was delivered at a baby’s pressure) and turning my head for the required X-rays was difficult.

I had appointments approximately 3 times a week for 2 months and gradually able to tolerate a "full" adjustment. I greatly appreciate your patience and kindness during those initial visits when I was in such pain. I recently have extended my visits to every three weeks for maintenance. I have returned to an exercise program and am enjoying life again.

Even though there are still skeptics among my family and friends, I have been convinced that chiropractic medicine is alive and well and keeping me that way, too. I wish you the best in your new practice; I am sure you will be very successful.

Mine is a success story that I will describe in terms of ‘before and after’:

Before

During the night, and all night, pain that I call "to the bone" gripped my chest and upper back as I groped to lay down in a comfortable posture. The new pillow-top mattress I used to refer to as a ‘bit of heaven’ now felt like a bed of tortures as I maneuvered throughout the night to avoid the pain that each slight movement of my arm, leg or back resulted in. When my morning alarm rang, I woke up stiff and sore. I struggled to sit up, and slowly stepped out of bed to face another sleep-deprived day at work. My mirror accurately reflected my face: worn, drug-puffed and anxious. After physically and emotionally dragging myself to the office, I’d down various painkillers to cope through the day. This cycle repeated itself daily for four months and I sunk into a depression as my quality of life ebbed.

Finally, a dizzying array of visits to three doctors and a battery of tests resulted in my diagnosis: "You have three degenerated discs, and one obtruded disc in your upper back. You will have to live with this pain the rest of your life."

After

A friend strongly recommended I try one more doctor -- Dr. Steve Goninan. I reluctantly made an appointment to see him, though I felt he would only echo my bad-news diagnosis again. However, on my first appointment I was immediately impressed with his quiet intelligence, enthusiasm and acute interest in my condition. He was undaunted by my diagnosis, and after a meticulous examination and X-rays, he encouraged me to embark on a treatment plan of weekly visits to his office. I took the leap of faith and agreed.

During the ensuing weeks, every week brought relief and a heightened level of well-being as Dr. Goninan skillfully aligned my spine and rib cage with a ‘state of the art’ treatment tool called the Activator. The percentage of pain I had, subsided five to ten percent with each passing week until the day I could honestly tell him, I was "pain-free!"

Dr. Goninan’s approach to chiropractic is scientific and superior to the ‘back-cracking’ methods I had received for many years previously. He adds a warm and caring manner and a dash of humor too. I whole heartedly recommend him to you. He was the only doctor that gave me a ray of hope, and he did not disappoint!