Introducing Gainesville Chiropractor Dr. Chance

I thought that I would either be the quarterback for the Baltimore Colts or shortstop for the LA Dodgers. When I turned 10, I realized that I wasn’t a gifted athlete. What did I really want to be when I grew up? I wanted to be like my Dad – a Chiropractor. My Dad helped people everyday and that’s what I wanted to do! I grew up with Chiropractic and whenever I didn’t feel well, my Dad would check and adjust me. I would immediately feel better. I never got sick like my friends. I always felt healthy and I didn’t even know what an aspirin was. Chiropractic was the “natural” choice--both meaning non-artificial and obvious choice.

Dr. Michael Chance Preferred Gainesville Chiropractor

There was one detour on my path to my chosen profession. While attending the University of Florida, I became interested in helping others through public service and government. I became a sociology/political science major, heading to law school. My goal was to help people by becoming Florida’s next Governor or U.S. Senator. In 1974, I became the traveling aide to a U.S. Senate candidate here in Florida. He was obviously the best candidate, but he lost. Money had bought the election and I became disillusioned. How could I help people if I didn’t get elected? Then I realized that, through Chiropractic, I could help people everyday and that the only vote I needed was the patients’ vote of confidence in electing me to help them.

When I arrived at the Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, I knew instantly I had made the perfect “natural” choice for me. I, and 120 of my classmates in 1978,, were all working together to become the best Doctors of Chiropractic that we could be. We all wanted to help people naturally become healthy through Chiropractic – the only health care that I had ever known.

In practice, I realized that Chiropractic doesn’t cure any disease. Only your own body can cure itself. Chiropractic helps remove the obstacles that prevent the body from healing itself. These obstacles can be structural, chemical or emotional. That’s why my practice incorporates Chiropractic adjustments (structural), nutrition and NAET (chemical) and NET (emotional).

I believe that symptoms are not the problem but are pieces to a puzzle and will lead to finding the underlying cause of the person not having optimum health. If I focus on listening to my patients’ story about their health, than I should be able to find the missing pieces. Some people’s puzzles are simple and have only a few pieces and some peoples puzzles are complicated and have many pieces that have to be put together. I kid patients sometimes that there are only two types of patients, ones that are easy to figure out and those that are here to make me smarter. Hopefully, for that patient, they are not here to make me smarter. I find deep satisfaction in helping people who modern medicine can’t help.

I married my childhood sweetheart, Sandi. We came to UF together and she is the one who went to law school. She is a professor in the College of Journalism and Communications and runs the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information. We have three children--Dean, Justin and Caroline. Dean is a Chiropractor and practices with me. Justin is attending the Palmer College of Chiropractic/ Florida Campus. Caroline is getting her Masters in Counseling at UF. While she’s not going to be a Chiropractor, she works in my office as an intake counselor in our Healthy Weight Loss Program. She wants to learn NET for her counseling practice.

Health is of major concern of mine. I tend to get a Chiropractic check- up whenever I can get Chris, Mark or Dean to fit me into their busy schedule. I exercise on a regular basis, I used to be an avid runner, but now have opted for a bicycling spin class, which is a little easier on my knees. I have a pretty good diet except for my obsession with key lime pie. I take Standard Process Nutrition daily and go on their 3-week cleanse once a year. I meditate, usually twice a day, in the morning and at lunch, to help focus my energy on the patients I am about to care for. My hobbies are golf and water sports especially boating, fishing and snorkeling. My family also enjoys watching the Gators win National Championships in football and basketball (check out my Gator waiting room).

Enough about me. Can we help YOU attain optimum health? Give me a call so that we can help you take your first step toward better health. Although we love Gators, we have lots of Seminoles and Bulldogs as patients. We even have patients who don’t like sports, but love feeling great.

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Dr. Chance Asks some important questions of interest to Gainesville residents - Chiropractor Gainesville Dr. Chance Asks...

How could a child benefit from chiropractic?
Regardless of our age, each of us in Gainesville encounters physical, chemical and emotional stresses that exceed our ability to handle. For newborns, it could be the trauma encountered at birth. For toddlers it could be from learning to walk or ride a bike. Many of the problems we chiropractors see in adults are the result of neglected traumas from childhood.
What's a side effect?
It may sound like a bonus; something extra, but chiropractors know it should more accurately called an "unintended effect," and "unwanted effect" or in some cases an "adverse effect." A pill can't come close to matching your body's ability to create and deliver the essential compounds it needs. That's when it's important to make sure your nervous system is working correctly—the purpose of chiropractic care!