ABOVE: Doctor of Chiropractic Andrew Schieber does a spinal screening for his two-year-old Zion Schieber. Andrew Schieber is looking to provide the kids of Fairmont with free spinal checks from Jan. 2-10 weekdays, after an initial run Dec. 16-20 produced limited results.

FAIRMONT – Born and raised in Fairmont, Doctor of Chiropractic Andrew Schieber is looking to benefit the community that aided him as a kid.

Schieber said he grew up going to chiropractors in Fairmont like Michael Clancy and Timothy Hamp, the latter of whom Schieber now shares office space with. The care he received then informed his career choice going forward.

“I always noticed how my body felt and functioned better when I was aligned,” Schieber said. “I decided to become a chiropractor because I wanted to make a positive impact on people’s lives by providing a natural, non-invasive approach to healthcare, helping patients improve their overall well-being through spinal adjustments and lifestyle guidance.”

After doing his pre-chiropractic at South Dakota State University and Doctor of Chiropractic at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Iowa, Schieber moved to Montana and began practicing at a clinic. He met his wife there and subsequently went with her to do mission work in Asia.

Schieber had planned to stay in Asia for longer. When he found out his wife was pregnant, he said God called him back to Martin County.

Since starting his practice Journey Chiropractic in October, working in the same building as Timothy Hamp has proven to be a benefit for Schieber.

“If there was people that needed to get in right away but couldn’t see him, then they could see me,” he said. “I was able to start seeing patients right away.”

With a few months under his belt, Schieber said he wanted to start a community outreach program to ensure kids can get their spinal health checked out.

“If you can catch problems early, then it’s going to allow kids to grow and be very healthy,” he said. “The most important time to get checked is when you’re born. Second most important time is now. Addressing problems before they become big problems is really important to do,”

While public school kids already receive scoliosis screenings, Schieber said there are no screening resources available for home-schooled kids like his.

With family and child health near and dear to Schieber, he launched his first Free Spinal Health Check for Kids week from Dec. 16-20. This includes a Spinal Health Analysis, Range of Motion Tests, and a Personalized Posture Assessment. Schieber said this goes further than a standard scoliosis assessment by assessing the whole spine and entire body from head to toe.

“They would be doing a quick scoliosis check to see if there’s a side curve in the spine,” Schieber said. “We’d be checking the whole spine and find out rather than just a side curvature. Are there other abnormal postures or curvatures? Are there misalignments in the spine? Is there decreased range of motion? We’d do all the checks we [normally] do on someone that would come in to get evaluated.”

In addition to standard issues like shoulder and neck problems from heavy backpacks, Schieber said they are seeing a rise in what is colloquially termed “tech neck.”

“Tech neck is strain in the spine caused by bending the head forward to look at screens for an extended period,” he said.

Unfortunately, Schieber said there was less than anticipated turnout for the event. Undeterred, he said a second running of the event will be held from Jan. 2-10 on weekdays. Screenings will be schedulable Monday through Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays from 8 a.m. to noon, and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information or questions, call 507-235-6621 or visit https://www.facebook.com/FairmontChiropractor.