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By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

GREENVILLE — Catskill Valley Chiropractic opened its doors in Greenville, offering a range of care and treatment modalities.

The facility, located at 20 Country Estates Road, held a grand opening June 11.

Dr. Liz Boomhower, a chiropractor who grew up in Greenville, said she is gratified to bring her health care offerings to her hometown community. The center offers far more than chiropractic care, she said.

“I was very intentional about the name — Catskill Valley Chiropractic, A Center For Wellness — because it’s really not only chiropractic. Although I am a Doctor of Chiropractic, that is what I bring to the facility, but we also have a bunch of practitioners here that I am working with, such as yoga, Reiki and Natural Aesthetics by Linda also practices out of here.”

The center has a yoga practitioner and offers group fitness classes, and more services may be added in the future, Boomhower said.

“We hope to expand to bring more to this community, like meditation and other healing arts that align with my mission, which is to bring holistic and conservative care and healing modalities to my hometown,” she said.

Boomhower said her parents were born and raised in Greenville, and she graduated from Greenville Central High School before receiving her chiropractic training. She was drawn to the field because of her love of nature.

“Early on in my teen years I started hiking the Catskill Mountains and exploring the beauty. I have always been in love with nature,” Boomhower said. “I was raised on a farm so I love animals and I think that peace and healing and environment that I found in the mountains when hiking and in nature, that is really what inspired me to try to bring that to others in whatever way I could, whether by creating a place to find that same healing or providing manual therapy and healing in that way.”

“That was my inspiration, so I felt a calling to come back home,” Boomhower said.

She wanted to make treatment accessible in her hometown of Greenville so residents would not have to travel to Albany or Kingston for care, she said. She explained her philosophy of care, which is to take into account all aspects of a person’s life when determining a course of treatment.

“Every chiropractor is different, every yoga practitioner is different, every therapist is different, so different practitioners have different philosophies,” Boomhower said. “Mine is incorporating that holistic approach to care — what else is going on in life that may be triggering the symptoms that people present with when they come to get care from me. I want to explore that and dig a little deeper and find some of the root causes of what could be going on and not just shake off things like stress levels or family life or intensive job requirements. I like to dig back some layers and look at the bigger picture so I am not leaving anything out.”

In her portion of the wellness center — chiropractic — Boomhower can provide care for many kinds of conditions.

“Chiropractic is traditionally a back pain and neck pain provider,” she said. “I am also passionate about treating disorders of the shoulder, such as rotator cuff issues. I love treating the muscles of the body — I specialize in myofascial release techniques, which also provide great relief that a traditional chiropractic adjustment alone may not offer.”

Boomhower is also certified in the Webster Technique, which is treating pregnant women with chiropractic care.

Chiropractic adjustments seek to realign the body, particularly the spine, to a proper position. Improper alignment can be caused by poor posture, living a sedentary lifestyle or trauma, among other causes. That can lead to other problems as well, she said.

“You can get dysfunction happening in the body and some muscles may be working more than others, so therefore your knee might turn inward so you have hip pain, and then you have back pain, and your gait is altered,” Boomhower said. “That is the focus of my holistic approach — that everything is connected. It really starts with your spine because that is your central nervous system, that network of the body — your lifeline.”

Other health issues may also be positively impacted by chiropractic adjustment, including headaches, menstrual cramps, indigestion and more, Boomhower said.

Chiropractic treatment is done on an individual basis, she explained.

“I usually work on a case-by-case basis because everyone has different needs,” she said. “In that initial appointment it is usually an extensive 45-60 minutes of exam, assessment and then a first treatment. After that, I think of it as getting a boost — a lot of times we are in this dysfunctional living for a long time, so you need frequent care to boost you into a new way of being in your body. Once you are in that new way, you can start to come less frequently.”

Early treatment may involve one to three visits to the center a week.

“That will only happen for maybe three to six weeks, and then we reassess,” she said. “We are constantly reassessing what is working and what is not working, and then from there we can say maybe once a week and see how that goes, and then once every other week, and kind of taper you off, like with any other type of care.”

Visits to the center are also supplemented with exercises that are done at home.

Catskill Valley Chiropractic, A Center For Wellness, is located at 20 Country Estates Road in Greenville.