4704 Pacific Ave SE STE B, Lacey Washington 98503
I've been waiting to write this response to you and also excited to do so. Also, I am not receiving any compensation nor was I even asked or told to write a review (not mentioned in anyway)... I am doing this entirely on my own. I visited Dr. Ryan Sweet, per referral from Dr. Jennifer Penrose (she runs a large physical therapy clinic in the area), for the first time on January 22nd. In the lead up to that appointment, I texted back and forth with him (he contacted me as a follow-up to my online inquiry). I had not agreed upon any obligation or financial exchange to him, nor even booked an appointment. And yet, he texted me on his phone and took hours of his own time from his life & family to send me various information (literally hundreds of words of cited material, knowledge, and research) about what I am dealing with, causes, treatments, and his own experiences for free. This is when I already knew that he was legitimate, in addition to the referral. I was going to wait for an MRI before first seeing him, but now I figured it wouldn't matter as I had decided that I was going to see him regardless. Fast forward to the 1st appointment, and it was very thorough, professional, and detailed. It was an informative consult which included x-rays as a "before" stage of your atlas. Unlike most chiropractors who on the first appointment, give you a rough idea of what's going on then crack/snap your bones and then schedule your next appointments which continue indefinitely. Dr. Sweet had actual metrics and calculations that you could follow and analyze--he had a goal to move your atlas and neck to a specific value and would take x-rays to show you what value it is currently at. Within that, he would tell you how/why that subluxation of your atlas could be causing the issues. To preface the 2nd appointment, I have had a multitude of symptoms for as long as I can remember and have seen all kinds of chiropractors, doctors, acupuncturists, massage & physical therapists, etc. Nothing helped. Migraines, neck and orbital pains that get cripplingly bad throughout the end. This would happen even after sitting for an hour or two, where I'd get excruciating upper back soreness and throbbing pain in my shoulder blades. Dr. Sweet mentioned the atlas subluxation likes to present as pain in these pressure points. I would also get incessant orbital neuralgia that would give me blurry vision in at least one eye every single day for most of the day, also presenting with aching and throbbing pain all day. To make it even more confusing, I always had various rib pain (particularly on the left side) that sometimes was stabbing pain shooting to my sternum, which led me to believe I may have a herniated disc or some other internal issue (which various scans and blood tests ruled out). Basically, I would have to be loaded on anti-inflammatories throughout the day as those were the only things that would help (in addition to some caffeine). I couldn't sit for even an hour, even standing for over an hour had become the most painful as my entire body would start to hurt and give out, from the bottom up. Only walking and sometimes laying down was comfortable and pleasant. I could not train or workout with any type of intensity, besides walking, or I'd have nerve pains all over and be basically crippled for a week or more.