“To do right safely, one needs to know very little about law. But to do wrong safely, one must have studied the law.”
Hello everyone and welcome to Elevate Muscle and Joint’s first blog! My name is Kody Chastain, owner and founder of Elevate Muscle and Joint. I’ve proudly served Northwest Arkansas since 2019 and have dedicated my career to continually learning how to better help the people in our community.
Blair Masters and Daryl Lancaster (names that I am sure most of you reading this recognize) were vital to my growth upon graduating from Cleveland Chiropractic College (aka Cleveland University – Kansas City). These exceptional people showed me not only new and efficient adjusting techniques, but how to talk, interact and connect with those who walked in the door.
As time progressed, my understanding of what chiropractic meant to me shifted. I’ve been absorbing every bit of information I could, trying to act as a bridge between these two titans while challenging the very foundation of what I thought I knew but didn’t. Even today, my chiropractic philosophy continues to evolve.
New mentors have come from unexpected avenues, including Dr. Mitchell Gibson, an experienced chiropractor serving Springdale, who has continually shown me support and compassion. Revisiting continuing education materials that once felt beyond my understanding has also helped shape the way I practice today. I’ve also been heavily influenced by the work of Vladimir Janda, Gray Cook, and Craig Liebenson in rehabilitation and movement assessment, along with Gregg Friendman and Jeff Langmaid, whose emphasis on evidence-based documentation continues to shape my practice.
The origin on how Elevate came to me is how our mission statement starts. “To educate, empower, and elevate …” Those patients of mine always seemed the most responsive when I was able to educate them about the cause of their problems. To empower them on how to stretch, strengthen, or modify activities in their daily life that will provide a better, more elevated future self. I want to be able to provide long-term independence and prevent recurrence of conditions. To allow those to enjoy activities that may have been difficult, painful, or impossible to complete before coming to see Elevate.
Most chiropractors, when asked what led them to the profession, tell a similar story. For many chiropractors, the story begins with a personal experience–sports injuries, car accidents, work injuries, chronic illness, or simply parents who believed in chiropractic care. They have all seen and been helped by another chiropractor. Unlike many chiropractors, I didn’t become interested in chiropractic because it helped me recover from an injury. In fact, before chiropractic school I had never been adjusted. I did an internship under one for a semester at the University of Arkansas. However I never asked to be adjusted. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t think I needed one. My original goal before chiropractic school was actually venturing towards PT school. A PT helped my right shoulder recover after a soccer injury, not a DC.
However, it was the president of CUKC, Carl Cleveland III, and his presentation in “Seminar in Exercise Science” that made me fall in love with the notion of becoming a chiropractor. To be told that this conservative, patient-centered approach to healthcare is capable of preventing dis-ease and possibly keeping those away from unnecessary interventions with an extremely low risk for any adverse reaction to the outcome of that patient’s health and wellness. That experience taught me that physical therapy and chiropractic aren’t competing professions–they’re complementary approaches that often work best together. My goal is to collaborate with every healthcare provider involved in a patient’s care to ensure they receive the best possible outcome.
What could be better than that?
Every lesson I’ve learned from my mentors, my education, and my own journey has shaped the way I care for patients today. My goal is simple: to educate you, empower you with the tools to take control of your health, and help you move toward a life with less pain and more confidence.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and I look forward to meeting you.