Vanessa Willetts, DC, is a chiropractic physician who takes a holistic approach to helping patients feel and be well. She employs a variety of techniques: chiropractic adjustments, medical acupuncture, clinical nutrition and functional medicine, to address the underlying cause of dysfunction for each individual. Read on for more information about each aspect of Dr. Willetts’ clinical approach to helping you achieve optimal wellness.
FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE
Dr. Willetts is one of fewer than 1500 IFM (Institute for Functional Medicine) Certified Practitioners in the world. IFM Certification requires hours of course work, a case study, and a rigorous exam. Functional medicine seeks to address the root cause of health issues. It asks not just “What are the symptoms and how can we treat them?” but “Why are you having these symptoms?” and “How are all your symptoms related?” Functional medicine is personalized and lifestyle-oriented. That means working on sleep, stress management, nutrition, movement or whatever other lifestyle factors might be underlying your current health struggles. Common individualized treatment plans may also include balancing stress hormones and sex hormones, finding hidden food sensitivities, and healing the digestive tract health. Read more about functional medicine here.
CHIROPRACTIC
She uses several different chiropractic techniques—some of which are very gentle and cause no “popping” or “cracking” sound. These include Diversified, Activator, SOT, drop table, flexion-distraction and soft tissue modalities similar to therapeutic massage. Her aim is address the underlying causes (not merely the symptoms) of musculoskeletal pain. As part of her customized treatment plans, Dr. Willetts also offers research-informed advice on posture, sleep, stress reduction, and rehabilitative exercise, as these issues are often at the root of why the pain appeared in the first place.
“Dr. Willetts is amazing, I feel so relaxed and complete after being adjusted and having acupuncture.”
ACUPUNCTURE
Dr. Willetts began her acupuncture training in 2005, but she found that, for her, despite her respect for the ancient art of Traditional Chinese Medicine, its ideas about energy channels in the body were difficult for her to situate within a modern, scientific understanding of human anatomy and physiology. When, a few years later, she discovered medical acupuncture—which blends the best of traditional Eastern treatment methodology with modern Western scientific knowledge—she was hooked. In addition to over 100 hours of post-graduate acupuncture studies at Logan University, Dr. Willetts completed a comprehensive training course with the British Medical Acupuncture Society in 2013.
Dr. Willetts graduated cum laude with her Doctor of Chiropractic degree in 2006 from Logan University in St. Louis, MO. She received a B.S. in Human Biology summa cum laude from Logan in 2004 and a B.A. in Religious Studies magna cum laude from Indiana University in 2000. In addition to her IFM Certified Practitioner status, Dr. Willetts also holds post-graduate certificates in Advanced Clinical Nutrition and Prenatal/Pediatric Chiropractic from Logan University and is a member of the British Medical Acupuncture Society, the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine.
As a young adult, Dr. Willetts suffered back pain that hindered her enjoyment of life for years. After trying a range of conventional and alternative treatments, she was finally helped by a gifted chiropractor and was inspired to learn how to give the kind of help she’d received to others. In her spare time, she enjoys doing yoga and Pilates, cooking, reading, and taking walks by the lake with friends.
