The Business of Dealing Hope

story by Jackie Hostetler | photography by Sarah Reeves

If you ask Dr. Dana Huebner about his business, he will tell you that he is in the business of dealing hope.

Dr. Huebner is the owner and lead chiropractor at New Hope Chiropractic located off of 65th Street in Shawnee.

It all started when Huebner was seeking a little hope of his own.

“When I was 18 years old, I rolled a vehicle going 60 mph,” Huebner says. “I walked away from the crash but ended up in the ER later that day. Everything appeared OK, but I was not feeling OK. One of the nurses recommended I go see a chiropractor. He helped me feel a whole lot better when everyone else had said that there wasn’t technically anything wrong with me.”

This experience sparked an interest in chiropractic care with Huebner. Though he initially explored pre-med in school, another experience led Huebner to down the road to chiropractic.

“I was an MMA fighter when I was in undergrad college (see “Still Training” at right). I had a fair amount of injuries. The medical side of things failed me. The physical therapy side of things failed me. It was a chiropractor who was able to keep me fighting,” he says. “That’s when I decided I didn’t want to be a medical doctor. I wanted to be a doctor of chiropractic and be able to help people in a natural way, with my own hands.”

After two such impactful encounters with chiropractic care, Huebner knew the path he had to take. He and his wife, Lacie, moved to Kansas from their native Nebraska so Huebner could attend Cleveland Chiropractic College, located in Overland Park. After four years of undergraduate work and four years of post-graduate work, Huebner opened his practice in Shawnee just months after graduation.

“We had every intention of going back to Nebraska. We just liked it here so much we wanted to stay,” Huebner says of his Kansas home.

In terms of his business location, Shawnee has proven to be the ideal spot.

“We really like the overall location of where we are at. It’s a business district, a busy area with convenient access between (Interstate) 435 and Shawnee Mission Parkway,” he says. “We see people from Overland Park, Olathe, Bonner Springs, Leavenworth, and even the Missouri side. Shawnee has quick access to everyone in the metro. We can serve everybody without taking a huge amount out of their day.”

The clinic, which specializes in pre-natal and pediatric care, just celebrated its third anniversary in July.

Pediatrics was an easy call for Huebner when he, once again, had an impactful experience involving chiropractic care and the hope that it can provide.

Huebner and his wife, who are the parents of three, faced what he calls “the perfect storm” with the birth of their second daughter, Rachel. This included a stressful prenatal experience and heart complications, among other things. Rachel spent a week in the newborn intensive care unit. These complications lead to chronic ear infections and sensory challenges, including sensitivity to loud noises, sensitivity to changes in environment, and sensitivity to materials and textures.

Seeing the hope that this specialized form of care brought to his daughter and their family lead Huebner to focus on prenatal care, infants, toddlers, and children in general.

Both Jo Taylor and Lauren Thomas are patients at New Hope; Taylor for the past year, and Thomas since April of this year.

“When I injured myself while working out,” Taylor says, “I scheduled an appointment and Dr. Dana got me right in and learned I had a rib out of place.”

Thomas’ first contact was for a prenatal massage. “After learning about the benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy, I started seeing Dr. Huebner. … When my son was born in May, both he and my daughter began receiving chiropractic care as well,” Thomas says.

Huebner understands that a different approach must be utilized to really get to the heart of the concerns.

“Seeing Dr. Dana every week has been a huge benefit,” Taylor says. “We are a family of athletes, so there is never a shortage of ailments. Having consistent care is huge. Dr. Dana and Lacie really make it feel like a family environment.”

“I love the family atmosphere at New Hope,” says Thomas. She also credits the care she received at New Hope for a more comfortable pregnancy. “I also believe that chiropractic care may have played a part in saving me from another round of postpartum depression, which I suffered after my first child was born,” she says.

“Our pediatrician had some concerns about our newborn son that were immediately resolved after his first adjustment by Dr. Dana. This made me, and my husband, firm believers in the benefits of chiropractic care.”

Not only does Huebner focus on family when it comes to his patients, he also has his entire office designed to be family-oriented, and that includes his own family.

“Lacie plays all the roles,” Huebner says of his wife, “office manager, front desk, and massage therapist. She kind of runs the show.”

The office’s staff is composed of another massage therapist who specializes in traditional massage, as well as cranial sacral fascia techniques, which focuses on infants facing challenges such as lip ties or tongue ties. Two chiropractic assistants hold down the front of the office.

“Baby holding and playing with kids is a big part of their job,” says Huebner.

Everything at New Hope Chiropractic is designed to be family friendly, from short wait times to a toy room, to a mother’s room for breastfeeding, to available snacks and drinks. Every detail has been covered, down to the baby-proofed office, complete with padded furniture corners and outlet covers.

“Moms can take a deep breath for a minute. Stay, hang out, have a cup of coffee, talk with whoever is at the front desk. We want kids and families to feel at home here,” Huebner says.

He doesn’t limit the hope to only families and children within his practice; he also spreads hope to people and organizations around the world. New Hope has sponsored multiple mission trips to Guatemala, and 100% of the revenue from new patient exams goes to supporting young people as they travel to Guatemala to build schools or teach English. Locally, New Hope has provided recreational equipment, such as basketball nets and tether balls, to community organizations.

When it comes to giving back, Huebner is also a part of an international professional organization called the Pediatric Chiropractors. This is a U.S.-based team of prenatal and pediatric chiropractors from all over the world, including Canada, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia, with the mission of changing the tone of chiropractic care.

Thomas agrees with that mission. “We have experienced better health, improved immunity, and quicker recovery from illness and stress response as a result of chiropractic care.”

“It’s not just a quick fix for your back. We can actually positively impact people’s life and health.” Huebner says of the group. “Our motto is ‘Hope Dealers.’ We give people hope that they don’t have to have chronic struggles. Hope, answers help — that’s what we always strive to provide.”

M.M.A., or mixed martial arts, is defined as a contact sport that allows for a wide range of fighting techniques, including striking, kicking, and grappling. Managing pain and injury from this intense sport was one of the paths that lead Huebner to his chiropractic practice.

“I started in high school with tae kwon do and, as I got into college, I expanded what I was doing and wanted to compete. Unfortunately, a few of those injuries prevented me from competing. Then, when I got into chiropractic college, I didn’t have time to do a lot of extra training,” he says.

Though injury and lack of time may have prevented him from competing in the past, Huebner isn’t one to give up.

“Now I’m just a kickboxer, just punches and kicks, no wrestling. Currently, I train five days a week, one hour per day,” he says. “I’ve been training again this past year for an unsanctioned fight coming up here in just a few weeks.”

16314 W. 65th St., Shawnee, KS 66217; 913-766-0460

www.NewHopeChiropracticKC.com; www.Facebook.com/NewHopeChiroKC

HOURS: Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 7:30–11 A.M., 2–6 P.M.; Tuesday: noon to 5 p.m.; Saturday: 8:30 to 11 a.m.; closed Thursday and Sunday