Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Henss.
Hi Bryan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My wife Lisa and I opened Clairton Family Chiropractic in 2014. The goal was and still remains, to see lives transformed by identifying the root cause of whatever is ailing them. With an understanding and respect for the divine design of the human body and it’s innate ability to heal and maintain itself in balance. Unfortunately, growing up my family didn’t have that wisdom. Growing up on a dairy farm in Illinois we never had much and we worked hard but when my mother lost her health it all got a lot worse. My mother, Bev, began to lose her health after the birth of my little brother. Over the course of the next 10 years she would be run through the medical merry-go-round. For a decade she was offered no hope and no real answers. When she finally found what my parents thought was an answer to her ailments it turned out to be more hopelessness. When she was finally diagnosed with a slew of diagnosis’ she thought maybe that meant some solutions. Rather than hope or healing for my mother, my parents were run through the medical gauntlet. More tests than answers, no hope for healing and a laundry list of life long prescriptions. At no point did any of her doctors attempt to identify WHY my mother’s body was failing her or what could be done to help her body restore balanced health. Every single course of treatment that was recommended to her had 1 goal… mask unwanted symptoms. No root causes identified, no path to healing, no real answers, just band aids.
Over the next 10-12 years my mother’s health only continued to worsen. This lead to increasing medical bills we couldn’t pay. So at just 12 years old I got a full time job. I would work for a neighboring farmer nearly everyday after school and all day on Saturdays and Sundays. I would even miss school at times to go to work. During the summer it was normal to work 60-70 hours per week. At that young age I would often bring home paychecks of more than $800 and hand them to my parents so they could pay bills and buy groceries.
Fast forward and at the age of 22 I was introduced to a group of doctors who viewed health through a completely different lens. Instead of simply prescribing drugs to mask symptoms they started with the acknowledgment that the body does indeed have an innate wisdom and ability to heal itself. Starting with that foundation they would work to identify anything that would interfere with that innate healing ability. The more I studied, the more I learned, the more I knew I wanted to do this work. I set on a course to become a Maxliving Chiropractor.
Maxliving is many things. It is a network of doctors and likeminded professionals who are on a mission to transform the health of America. It is a health care delivery system designed to get to the root cause of that which interferes with God’s perfect design, correct it, and unleash the body’s innate healing wisdom. Most importantly for the individual patients and families that walk into our office it is a place of hope.
Over the past 11 plus years we have had the honor and pleasure of caring for literally thousands of patients from birth to 97 years young. Although I have never claimed to cure anything, I only allow the body to do what it was designed to do which is to heal, we have witnessed 1000’s of amazing testimonies. Testimonies range from chronic pain gone, to infertility reversed and babies being born, to surgeries canceled, auto-immune and chronic diseases reversed, countless medications no longer necessary, and thousands of unwanted pounds shed! We have also seen countless kids, written off by traditional health care and told they would need drugs for a lifetime or inevitable surgeries, restore their health and go on to live their best life. These kids often enter the office with chronic ear infections, colic, digestive issues, weak immune systems neurodevelopmental issues, and even failure to thrive. But the best part is watching lives transform. It has been said that most people have 100’s of hopes and dreams but a sick person has only 1… to regain their health. When a patient excitedly shares their progress report with me, my first question is always, “How has that affected your day-to-day life?” I ask that because that is what it is really all about. It’s the kid who is simply able to be a normal kid again, running, playing and growing. It’s the mom or dad who can now play on the floor and pick up their kids again. It is the man or woman who is no longer hindered at work and can confidently provide for their family. It is the outdoor enthusiast who is back to running, hiking, biking, hunting, or fishing again. It’s the person with a million things happening in their life and they are finally getting a good night’s sleep again. It’s the grandparent who thought their best years were behind them because of failing health and now they are hopeful for the future they have and the influence they can be on their family’s future generations.
I now have the honor and privilege of not only owning an operating one of the largest natural health clinics in the metroplex but I have been asked to speak on national stages big and small. From speaking to small groups of young aspiring chiropractors to rooms of well over 500 doctors and team members, to local churches, schools, and businesses that are looking to provide wellness programs to their congregations or teams.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have been many struggles and challenges along the way. Learning to run a business is challenging in itself. In my case, my wife and I moved 12 hours away from home and were newly weds. When you add in hiring, training, and managing team along with leading patients it is often times overwhelming.
Our biggest single challenge in business came exactly one year into business. The weekend of the one year anniversary of the practice the office was broken into. We had close to $50,000 in stollen goods and equipment. They took every television screen, every computer, all of our nutritional supplements and trashed the office. All of this took place while my wife was 7 months pregnant with our first child. So on a Sunday afternoon when we should have been celebrating the anniversary of our business, we were cleaning up a huge mess both literally and figuratively. They stole our check book as well so we had to go through the hassle of closing and opening all new bank accounts and switching over all of our credit card processing to those new accounts, all of our automatic bill pay etc. It was a huge challenge not only because it was stressful but it was a huge time commitment to get all that done and it cost us tens of thousands of dollars.
As of today we have 4 children, one who has special needs, so the challenges continue but that’s life. I always say “Hey, I’ve made it this far in life!” the reality is I should say “God has gotten me this far…” Either way I try to focus on what matters most and strive for the next goal and tackle one day at a time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Clairton Family Chiropractic?
At Clairton Family Chiropractic we are much more than a conventional chiropractic office. While many offices might focus solely on pain relief, we take a multi-faceted approach to identifying the root cause of what is ailing out patients and we build customized plans to tackle those issues. Everything we do is designed to help the body return to its innate capabilities. To that end we take a 5 pronged approach.
1-Corrective Chiropractic care. Real health starts with the body’s innate wisdom. that wisdom resides in the central nerve system, the brain and spinal cord. From the moment of conception until the day we breath our last breath, every function in our body, every feeling and emotion, every innate response of the immune system and our ability to heal, adapt, and recover from stress and injury, is under the control and coordination of the nerve system. If that system is stressed beyond its ability to adapt the body begins to fail. Neurological stress and tension has been shown to be correlated to a laundry list of symptoms beyond the typical headaches, neck pain and back pain people often associate with visiting a chiropractor. In order to identify the magnitude of the stressors to a patient’s nerve system we take every patient through a thorough evaluation process including a series of orthopedic test, neurologic test, a bilateral weight differential, surface EMG of the spine (like an EKG of the muscles along the spine) and a series of digital x-rays. Once x-rays are taken our team dose an in depth analysis to identify where the stressors are, what the severity of stress or damage exists, and we begin to develop a plan of attack to correct those issues. That plan will include very specific chiropractic adjustments based on their x-ray findings, mobility exercises to restore proper motion to any areas where proper mechanics have been lost, stabilization exercises to engage weakened or inhibited muscles, as well as passive spinal molding rehab. Another unique part of the corrective approach is that we take follow up x-rays when appropriate and we can see measurable change to a patient’s spinal alignment. Many doctors in both allopathic and holistic settings believe that changing a spine isn’t possible. I have encountered many patients who have been told that they have XYZ spinal problem but it cannot be corrected only maintained. That is simply not true and I hate that many people think their situation is hopeless and keeping the status quo is the only positive outcome.
2-Detoxification. The world we live in today is filled with toxic chemicals that are hiding in our food supply, cleaning products, personal care products, building supplies and so much more. Many of these toxins are neuro toxins causing disruption to the all important nerve system others are endocrine disrupters that wreak havoc on our hormones and still others cause damage to the gut, all of which then interact with all or nearly all other systems in the body. In order to achieve optimum healing it is critical to identify where these toxins are lurking in a patients home and lifestyle and begin to remove them. Step one is to “stop the bleeding” so to speak. We have to help the patient remove these things from their life. Step 2 is to remove them from the body. Many of these toxins have a nasty way of hiding out and not being easily removed and therefore require a target approach with nutrition and supplementation.
3-Functional Nutrition. Everyone knows nutrition is important to good health. Unfortunately, very few people know what that actually means and where to start. The first step is teaching patients what they SHOULD be eating, eating in alignment with our design. We were not meant to consume so many man made chemicals and so little whole food. So we host regular workshops on various topics (heart health, gut health, immune system health, longevity, weight loss, raising healthy kids, etc) and we always cover nutritional content along with toxicity at each event. In many cases we run labs to identify a patient’s specific needs. With different lab testing we can identify nutrient deficiencies, toxicities, gut dysfunctions, even whether or not a patient can digest certain macro nutrients affectively and genetic mutations, all of which contribute to us developing a customized plan of attack to restore balanced health and healing.
4-Exercise. This is another obvious area that most people are aware of but often limitations from old injuries or past failures can hinder people from taking the first step. We try to encourage patients to find something they enjoy (hiking, biking, pickle ball, etc) and do more of that to start moving their body. We also hold a free group workout in our office 1-2 times per week to encourage taking that first step.
5-Mindset. This is often a very overlooked aspect of health. Author James Allen popularized the Biblical Proverb “For as he thinks in his heart so is he.” in his book “As a Man Thinketh”. This statement is so incredibly accurate and most people have no idea that they are indeed speaking sickness and disease over their own life. When someone says “I am diabetic. I am over weight.” or they claim their disease, “My cancer. My auto-immune disease.” They perpetuate disease in their life by continuing to make it part of their identity. So we strive to encourage people to speak life over themselves and to no longer claim their ailments. In defense of most people, the reason they think and speak this way is because they have often been mislead into believing that they cannot heal and therefore their ailments have become part of who they are.
So we thoroughly evaluate each area in a patient’s life to help remove the interferences. We host workshops regularly to teach the basics in all areas and then we offer 1-on-1 coaching often times in association with running labs. What really makes our office unique though is that we treat every patient like family. I often think “If this person were my mom/dad/brother/spouse, how would I want their doctor to care for them?” Then we strive to go above and beyond that with excellence. This is probably why I have been invited to numerous weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and all kinds of family celebrations from my patients! 🙂
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I think the person who gets some of the biggest credit for my success is my father, Paul. Although we never had much we always had everything we needed. They say more is caught than taught. The biggest life lessons I ever learned I learned from him, mostly in observation. As a kid I was aware of my father’s work ethic. He used to get up to milk cows on the farm at 4am everyday. On occasion I would leave a note for him as I went to bed asking him to get me up to go help him with the morning milking. I observed him working countless hours to provide for our family. There was a pride in getting things done, looking at a barn full of hay or new pasture fence and being able to visualize success in accomplishing an important task at the end of a hard day’s work. I learned the value of hard work and providing for people and things outside of myself from observing him. Not only was it about providing for our family but our livestock had to be cared for as well. Without the dedication and commitment of him and our family our cattle would go hungry and not be well taken care of. As I said we didn’t have much but what we had we were proud of and we took great care of it.
I also learned that providing for those I love doesn’t end at monetary provision. Dad has always been a person willing to jump in and help out if he was able. As I grew up I came to learn about he 5 Love Languages and was quickly able to assess that my dad’s love language was acts of service. I can recall times where he would happily help out a neighboring farmer or family member without pay because they simply needed help and he as able to provide it. Or an instance where as a teenager he was changing the oil in his car and I needed to change the oil in my car but some friends had invited over and he just volunteered to let me take his car and he would change the oil in my car while I was gone. Still to this day when we chat he will tell me stories of going out of his way to help a friend or neighbor. It is never braggadocious, To him it is just small talk but to a son it is a reminder of what it means to be a good man and to be generous with my time and talent. Those lessons have carried me a long way and I hope I can instill those same lessons in my children, his grandchildren.
I have had several professional mentors in my career, Drs. Brian Hooten, Greg Loman, and Charles Majors and Marc Surprenant to name the most influential. All of these men are fellow chiropractors who helped take the raw farm kid potential God gave me and mold it into a successful clinic owner. From showing me how to run an office, to manage a team, to providing the best care possible, these men all played important roles in shaping who I am as a doctor and clinic owner.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://clairtonfamilychiropractic.com/
- Instagram: @docbhenss
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bryan.henss
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bryanhenss533
