OP_012320

12 | January 23, 2020 | the orland Park Prairie news
OPPrairiedaily.com
Spine Science offers full-body, preventative care in Orland Park
Amanda Del Buono
Freelance Reporter
Austin
Schroeder
Sage VanAntwerp
The doctors are in — in
Orland Park that is.
Orland last year welcomed
Austin Schroeder
and Sage VanAntwerp to
the community — a chiropractor
and dentist, respectively.
The new residents
have not only begun
to care for local residents
but opened their own
business in August.
Spine Science, located
at 18090 Wolf Road in Orland
Park, and has a different
take on chiropractic
care, Schroeder said.
“I wanted to create
something that was a little
bit different than your
typical chiropractic office,”
he said. “We put a
full gym in here. It’s the
same stuff that they put
at the Chicago Bears facility.
We wanted to create
something that was
totally unique to the area
and have all the tools that
anybody that’s into athletics
or just into marathon
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running, just life in general,
they can come here,
recover and train and get
chiropractic care with
physical rehabilitation.
“It’s totally different,
and it’s what the research
says. That’s why
it’s called Spine Science,
because I want people to
understand that this isn’t
just a philosophy; it’s
a scientific approach to
healthcare.”
Rather than simply
treating the problem
alone, Schroeder said he
wants to show people how
to prevent the problem
from occurring again.
“There’s so much more
fear or anxiety about going
out into the real world
or going to the gym or
just doing things in general
where they might
have hurt their back or
hurt their neck or hurt
their shoulder, hip, knee
or whatever it was, and
they’re afraid to do a specific
task,” he said.
In order to make his
patients comfortable doing
these activities in their
everyday lives, Schroeder
combines elements of
various methods he has
learned throughout the
years, using a scientific
approach.
He studied at the National
University of Health
Sciences, USA Weightlifting
and in the Czech
Republic at Dynamic
Neuromuscular Stabilization.
He is McKenzie Institute
certified. He also
is a personal trainer, and
owned a company called
Shredding with Schroeder
during his undergraduate
education.
“Essentially, I try to
run a layered approach
to care,” he said. “When
you come into the office
and you get treated by
me, you’ll work the chiropractic
side; you’ll work
with the normal spine
manipulation, soft tissue
work, whatever it might
be; and also you’ll also
be doing physical rehabilitation
and corrective
exercise. After that, we
put you on some sort of
training program, whether
it be session-based or
whether it be something
where you just learn about
correct movement patterns
for a period of time.
That way, when you’re
done and you leave, it’s
a safe place to come and
work out.
“You’re not going to injure
yourself, and you’re
going to have the proper
guidance one-on-one to
make sure you’re doing
the exercise right, and
it’s going to be beneficial
for you in the long run.
So many times, I saw the
same patient coming back
for the same thing, and
that’s just not good care
in my mind. I wanted to
do something that was going
to make that care that
I originally administered
last for a longer period of
time.”
Having played baseball
throughout his education,
Schroeder was inspired
to become a chiropractor
after he was injured and
treated by a chiropractor.
And Schroeder takes a
special interest in helping
athletes of all ages.
He also has experience
with prenatal care, treating
lower back and neck
pain in pregnant patients,
he said.
Although Schroeder
owns the business, he
has been supported by
VanAntwerp, his fiancee,
throughout the endeavor.
Although VanAntwerp is
one of three dentists at
Orland Oaks Dental, she
also has maintained a role
at Spine Science, not only
supporting Schroeder, but
also working the front
desk, helping with insurance
claims and more, she
said.
“Maybe one day I’ll
own my own dentistry,
but this is enough for us
right now,” she said. “It
actually works out well,
because I work over there
3-4 days a week, and then
on any of my off days I
come in and I’m the front
desk at Spine Science. So,
it’s a nice little break from
teeth.”
Working together to
open the business, the
young couple said they
have learned quite a bit,
most notably on the business
end.
“Every day, you learn
something new, and you
learn you put your ego
aside,” Schroeder said.
“That’s what I did, I put
my ego aside and realized
I don’t know everything
about business. I didn’t go
to school for strictly business;
I went to school to
be a doctor.”
VanAntwerp added,
“They also don’t teach
you a lot about business
when you’re in professional
school, which
stinks. I think one of the
biggest hurdles at the beginning.
Well, once the
building was finally built
out the way that we wanted,
the biggest hurdles are
usually now dealing with
insurance companies,
submitting claims and all
that stuff.”
The young couple always
lived in and around
the Chicago area. They
were ready to be closer to
their family and thought
Orland Park was a great
location not only for that
but also for the business.
“I just loved Orland
Park and I loved this
spot,” Schroeder said. “It
was the right amount of
space that I wanted, good
visibility from the street.
I sat out in Starbucks
for hours, just watching
people walk past, talking
to people and watching
the activity levels out
here, and I really love the
health-mindedness of the
people of Orland Park, as
well. Everybody’s hitting
the trails, they’re on their
bikes, they’re hitting the
gyms. There’s a reason
there’s a tons of gyms and
there’s a lot of boutique
places out here. People
want to be fit, they want to
be healthy and they want
to feel good.”