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All articles re-printed here with the permission of InFocusMedia,
www.infocus-zine.com and By Debbie Kwiatoski

A Healing Way

By Debbie Kwiatoski

Like their father, the late Dr.Warren Sussin, Doctors Mark and Elliot Sussin have a gentle, holistic approach to living well and staying healthy. Today, the town brothers continue the chiropractic practice established by their father in 1951.

“What’s going on today, I believe, is nothing less than a Wellness Revolution, “Mark Sussin explained. “It’s a movement of people who are taking charge of their own health, employing methods of their own choosing for healthcare and taking a largely natural approach to staying healthy.”

Chiropractic medicine, he adds, has been in the forefront of this movement – even though it has actually been around for more than a century.

“Chiropractic began on September 18, 1895, when Dr. Daniel David Palmer healed the first patient – possibly by accident – by adjusting his spine to bring some relief,” said Sussin.

When the patient suddenly began to feel better, Dr. Palmer suspected that he stumbled onto to a very powerful means of working with the spine and nervous system to help individuals stay healthy

“It’s kind of like what happens when you take your foot off of a garden hose and the water starts flowing freely again,” Sussin explained. “Your spine is like that hose and by adjusting it properly, it literally opens the energy pathways in your body and optimizes your system’s ability to take care of itself.”

Combined with nutritional eating patterns, regular exercise and a normal amount of sleep, chiropractic adjustments, Sussin stressed, helps people maintain their health for the long haul.

According to Sussin, chiropractic and what we now view as more traditional medical practice existed on a more or less equal footing for many decades, but as traditional medical doctors became more organized, they also mounted a sustained effort to downplay the importance of chiropractic care in daily life. Traditional doctors, he noted, came to focus more on intervening in the human body with medicines and surgeries to cure aliments – while chiropractics focused on maintaining wellness by keeping the nervous system functioning to its full potential. And so, the battle lines eventually became drawn.

“I have nothing against traditional medicine,” said Sussin. “In fact, there are times when surgery is necessary or when various treatments must be given. When a person has cancer or breaks a bone, for example….but I wish that this respect would run more in both directions. There are times when our treatment methods have much more to offer.”

Sussin Chiropractic began with Mark and Elliot’s father in the early fifties, first in Kingston for a couple of years and ever since in Rhinebeck, where they worked side by side in a downstairs office in their family home on Livingston Street, until Dr. Warren’s death a few years ago. Today, Drs. Elliot and Mark maintain that Rhinebeck practice – although both now also maintain an office in Poughkeepsie, as well.

“Our father used to treat all the farmers from around here, when there were still active, working farms,” said Sussin. “Those guys couldn’t afford to be sick – and it was a very strenuous life. They needed to feel strong and healthy.”

A half century later, the Sussin’s office is still decorated with all the farm tools and implements of 19^th century rural life that came as small gifts to the practice.

“My father loved this stuff,” said Sussin,” So many of our customers just started to bring things in for the office!”

According to Sussin, his father first became interested in the power of chiropractic to heal in the twilight of World War Two, when he was trying to recover from a back injury suffered during the war. Chiropractic was the only thing that really brought any relief. Convinced of its efficacy, he enrolled in Palmer College and became one of the first doctors of chiropractic medicine to practice in Upstate New York. His younger son, Elliot, followed him, entering Palmer after graduating from Syracuse Universitywith a science degree, and then working with his father in Rhinebeck for many years.

Mark, however, took a different path into the field.

“I was always deeply interested in the environment and in environmental conservation,” said Mark. “So, although I also have a science degree from Syracuse University, I wanted to work in that field for awhile. So, I went to George Washington University for graduate school – and later worked in various government agencies …in the environmental conservation field….for a number of years.”

Eventually disenchanted with life as a government bureaucrat, Mark later enrolled in Palmer and received his degree in the early 80s. He’s been working in the family business ever since.

“Chiropractic is not just a method for curing something,” said Sussin. “It’s a whole approach to the way you live. It’s important to develop and maintain healthy lifestyle patterns. They will sustain you your entire life.”

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