How to Maintain Youth: Advice from Local Chiropractor

For those who are, have been or will be 20 years old, the youthful age is often associated with having the world at one’s fingertips. Moreover, it is certainly not associated with limited mobility.

Dr. Andrew “Andy” Fetterman faced the case of a 20-year-old patient with a brain disorder, inflicting the young man with three to four seizures a day, the reading level of a middle school student and a hunched posture. After three to four brain surgeries followed by persistent medical issues, the patient sought help at Creative Chiropractic Solutions.

After approximately two years working with Fetterman, the young man’s seizures subsided to one to two per month, his communication improved and he stood 6 inches taller. He started working at 22 or 23, according to Fetterman.

Fetterman opened his own clinic, Creative Chiropractic Solutions in Berwyn, in 2008. With an extensive background in physical fitness, he became attracted to the chiropractic field and designed several classes to share his message of natural health and healing. On Thursday, Fetterman will visit the Easttown Library at 7 p.m. to deliver his free lecture “How to Stay Young: The First 100 Years.”

For Fetterman, a quality life should exceed merely getting by without pain, no matter the patient’s age. He emphasizes the importance of high energy levels, adequate sleep, proper nutrition and enjoyment of life on a daily basis. Furthermore, he values “natural health” which seeks to “heal the body and let the body heal itself” first without prescription medication and surgeries, he told Tredyffrin-Easttown Patch.

“People fear what they don’t understand or have knowledge of,” he said. “I want to try to get as many people to understand natural health and look at it as a first choice rather than a second choice. People often come here because nothing else worked, they have no expectations, and they just think ‘Let’s see what happens.’”

His one-hour class “How to Stay Young” focuses on his core beliefs regarding movement and function. A question and answer session will follow the lecture portion of the event.

“A lot of people who attend the class find that they haven’t looked at health that way before. It’s a different way of approaching the body,” he said. “No pain does not mean you’re OK or the best."

Fetterman also offers other free classes that focus on different aspects of chiropractic care at various local businesses, events or organizations. For instance, he occasionally presents a hands-on class about balance and coordination at Whole Foods. He brings bosu balls, demonstrating the challenge that the body faces when confronted with an uneven walking surface.

“In a normal day, you don’t realize that you don’t use your body as efficiently as you can – you’re walking on flat surfaces, wearing comfy shoes. Your body knows equations it needs to use. Using the ball changes that idea. The ground is moving beneath you – can you compensate?"

A Lancaster County native, Fetterman obtained his undergraduate degree at West Chester University and his doctorate at Palmer College of Chiropractic- Florida. With experience as a personal trainer and collegiate athlete under his belt, he opened his own clinic as the sole doctor to guide his patients on a personal level.

“We’re all different. We have our own conceptions and misconceptions,” he said. “People in general are individualistic, and it’s the same with health care.”