Dr. David Slossberg is the new owner and treating chiropractic physician of Ponte Vedra Beach Chiropractic. The practice is currently located at 814 A1A N., Suite 102, Ponte Vedra Beach, but later this summer, it will be moved into a larger space in the courtyard at the Veranda business center.
Tell me about your background.
I was at Florida State University from ’92 to ’96. Got a Bachelor of Science in biology. I grew up in Southeast Florida, so I went down there.
I knew I wanted to go into the health care field. I didn’t know if it was going to be medical school, chiropractic, physical therapy …
One day, I was randomly picking chiropractors out of the phone book and calling them, asking about their profession, that kind of thing.
I found one and, long story short, she was impressed with what I was doing. She invited me in. Then, I started working for her.
She had one of the first multidisciplinary clinics. She had chiropractic, medical — different things there.
I got exposed to different approaches. So, I decided to go to chiropractic school in Atlanta at Life University. I was there from ’98 to 2002. Then, I went down to South Florida and opened a practice.
That practice evolved into a multidisciplinary clinic with chiropractors, medical doctors, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, acupuncturists. A kind of decent-sized operation.
I decided to move to Colorado in ’18. Kept the practice in Lake Worth, Florida, and ran it remotely.
I sold that and lived in Colorado for three years.
Moved to St. Augustine in ’21. Decided to go back into practice in late ’22 and I bought this practice.
The only other thing I’d say that’s interesting is that I went to India three times with a group of chiropractors and set up a clinic out there. We treated thousands of people.
I got exposure to a lot of different types of patients, conditions, lot of different approaches, techniques, a thousand seminars and different things.
Tell me about Ponte Vedra Beach Chiropractic.
Obviously, I do chiropractic. We have massage therapy and two massage therapists. We have some other therapies, electro-muscle stimulation, ultrasound, things like that.
I do a lot of work with athletes. So, I do a lot of extremities. A lot of foot and ankle, a lot of shoulders, knees and hips, a lot of extremities. I do a lot of physical rehab.
Spinal decompression, which is a nonsurgical approach for disc herniations, disc bulges, disc problems in general. A do a lot for feet, orthotics. I also have a large focus on posture. Fixing posture and handling its effects on health.
I’m in a golf training program. It’s called the Titleist Performance Institute. They train you on, basically, everything related to injuries. Any injury related to golf and then the mechanics of the golf swing. So, learning how to evaluate someone to see if they’re moving properly or if they’re having issues. You’re looking at everything from the feet up to the neck, to the shoulders, the wrists, to see if there are any issues that are affecting the golf swing.
I’m very good at injuries related to golf and looking at the mechanics, like, how much someone’s shoulder needs to move, their hips, where they’re having limitations, deficiencies, which would affect their swing.
What other areas do you work in?
I do a lot of nutrition. I had a lot of training in functional medicine, which is basically more specific nutrition and testing to find the underlying reasons of why things are happening.
If I need to refer to a medical doctor, I’ll do that.
I get really good results with digestive issues. Sleep’s also a huge one. A lot of women — guys, too — come in and they can’t fall asleep or they wake up in the middle of the night and they’re wide awake.
What do you like best about what you do?
Just seeing people get better naturally; they’re not just loading themselves on meds and things like that. That’s probably the most exciting part.
I’ve been doing this for 22 years, and it bothers me when I see people that are sick and in pain and getting worse and they’re taking more meds and they’re doing less, they’re not exercising and there’s just a downward spiral. I can make huge changes in that.
If I can adjust people to the point where there’s less pain and they’re moving better and I can get them to exercise, that in itself is huge.
I like helping people. I’m fully into this. I’m constantly thinking about it. I’m reading. I’m studying. I’m going to seminars. I’m constantly taking the knowledge I’m getting and figuring out better ways to deliver it to people.
What do you like best about living here?
I think I like, to some degree, that there are seasons here. Geographically, I like the location. It’s, to some degree, Georgia-like in terms of the people and the feel. I like that a little better than being in South Florida all the time.
I went to Florida State. That’s not too far. Orlando, Tampa are not too far. Savannah, Charleston, Atlanta, you know, the Panhandle. Geographically, this is a nice location.
Anything else?
I’m hoping to get back into some type of regular lecture series on nutrition or fitness or general chiropractic … I look forward to doing more education.
It’s cool to take what I’ve learned and what I’ve studied and what I know and what I love and be able to deliver it to people and see the light bulbs go on when people get stuff. That’s exciting.
