Pain drove Dr. Samantha Brooks to a chiropractor. Relief from pain gave her a passion to help others through chiropractic care.
Like many women, Samantha was experiencing low back pain while pregnant with her son, Davey. Years earlier, she had been diagnosed with a congenital knee malformation that her orthopedic surgeon had said she would just have to live with. Her knee pain was so severe she required a handicap sticker, and she couldn’t use stairs. The extra weight of pregnancy made her knee pain worse, but it was for sciatic pain that she sought the help of a chiropractor. When the chiropractor worked on her pelvis and sacrum to help alleviate the source of her sciatic pain, she got more relief than she expected.
“I remember the day I recognized that I was no longer having knee pain,” Samantha said. “I had been sitting on the floor watching TV and I stood up and didn't have knee pain.” As someone who had always braced herself to stand, she couldn’t believe what she was experiencing.
At her next appointment, she told the chiropractor her knee pain was gone. “She’s like, ‘Oh, you have knee pain?’” Samantha said. “She explained to me how the alignment of the pelvis and sacrum affects how the patella tracks over the femur and the tibia. It just made so much sense. By the time Davey was 3, I was enrolled in chiropractic school.”
After becoming a chiropractor, she earned a special certification to work with those often underserved by chiropractic care—pediatric and special needs patients. Serving as the executive director of Atlanta Birth Center, a non-profit that offers an alternative to hospital births, Samantha opened her practice, The Brainery, in the same building. It was only natural that she started seeing infant patients. “We work a lot with their neurological reflexes, their primitive reflexes, that help them with developmental milestones through the first couple of years,” she said.
Samantha said it’s important that reflexes, such as the one that helps babies roll over, develop bilaterally. When they don’t, it can set the child up for brain issues. Reflexes that haven’t been integrated can even cause problems such as the inability to sit still in school and bed wetting. The Brainery, through referrals from pediatricians, also helps special needs kids, including those with autism and ADHD, function better through a neurological approach. Samantha said many of the autistic kids she sees still have some of their primitive reflexes. “We have to do exercises to help them drop those reflexes and integrate the neurology,” she said.
Samantha sees patients in Peachtree City on certain days but has plans to open a full-time office in Fayette County. Her goal is to also provide space for mental health and craniosacral therapists, a lactation consultant, and a Learning Social Club for children. The club would offer community-centered, drop-in classes that would include parents and provide interactive toys and games.
Although she specializes in young patients, Samantha sees patients of all ages. She does a comprehensive health history and full chiropractic assessment before any adjustments occur. “We like to get into whatever their primary complaint is. Whether that's a particular challenge that they're having or a particular goal that they have. We spend a lot of time with patients – up to 60 minutes for the initial exam. Almost all my patients go home with stretches and strengthening activities to do. We try to look at the whole health picture. Can you imagine if you're in pain every day and you get out of pain? That does so much for your mental health. It affects so much beyond just pain.”
For more information about The Brainery, visit www.thebraineryatl.com.
Benefits of chiropractic care:
In Pregnancy: Adjustment of the pelvis and sacrum during pregnancy and even labor can provide a more comfortable and shorter labor.
Infants: Gentle adjustments, even within minutes after birth, can address problems like having difficulty nursing, colic, and torticollis, commonly called wryneck.
Children: Adjustments can help with common childhood problems including ear infections and bed wetting.
Adults: Adjustments can provide relief from chronic pain, promote improved posture, and increase range of motion.
Dr. Samantha Brooks, owner of The Brainery, is a chiropractor who takes a holistic approach to healthcare. She earned her doctorate of chiropractic from Life University and has an additional 14 years of experience in medical administration and clinical work in pediatrics and orthopedics. She also earned her certification for Holistic Health Coaching from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Samantha has offices in Atlanta and Peachtree City and is an Atlanta native.
