Why Patients Choose Dr. Schurger at Keystone Chiropractic – Springfield Chiropractor | Springfield IL Chiropractor

Keystone Chiropractic | Springfield, IL

There are other chiropractors in Springfield. Some of them are very good. So when patients drive from Chatham, Rochester, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Taylorville, and as far as two hours away to see Dr. Frederick Schurger — it’s worth asking why.

The answer isn’t one thing. It’s a combination of training, tools, philosophy, and approach that adds up to something most patients have never experienced before. This page is an honest attempt to explain what that looks like — not as a sales pitch, but as a plain-language description of what makes Keystone Chiropractic different and who tends to benefit most from coming here.

1. They’ve Already Tried Everything Else

The most common reason patients find their way to Keystone Chiropractic isn’t that they woke up one morning and decided to try a chiropractor. It’s that they’ve been dealing with something — chronic migraines, recurring vertigo, persistent neck pain, post-concussion symptoms, Meniere’s disease — for months or years, and they’ve been through the standard treatment carousel without lasting results.

They’ve seen their primary care doctor. They’ve been to a neurologist or an ENT. They’ve done physical therapy. Some have tried general chiropractic before. They’ve had imaging that came back normal. And they’re still not well.

For this group of patients — the ones who have been told there’s nothing structurally wrong, or who have been told to manage their symptoms and learn to live with them — Blair Upper Cervical Chiropractic often represents the first approach that actually looks in the right place.

The upper cervical spine, specifically the atlas (C1) and axis (C2), is one of the most neurologically significant areas of the human body. Misalignment here can produce a wide range of symptoms — from headaches and dizziness to tinnitus, jaw pain, and neurological dysfunction — that standard medical workups aren’t designed to find. When the correction is made precisely and the spine holds it, the body can begin doing what it was designed to do.

That explanation resonates with patients who’ve been searching for one.

2. Dr. Schurger’s Credentials Are Genuinely Unusual

Credentials alone don’t make a good doctor. But in a specialty where the depth of training varies enormously from practitioner to practitioner, Dr. Schurger’s background is worth understanding — because it shapes everything about how he practices.

Before chiropractic, he earned a mechanical engineering degree from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology — consistently ranked among the top undergraduate engineering programs in the country. That foundation trained him to think in terms of root causes, precision, and measurable outcomes. It’s not a marketing angle. It’s the actual reason he approaches patient care the way he does.

He graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 2006 and has practiced in Springfield since 2007. In that time, he has accumulated credentials that very few chiropractors in the country hold:

Blair Upper Cervical Advanced Instructor — one of a small number of practitioners certified to teach the Blair technique to other chiropractors
Blair Chiropractor of the Year, 2011 — selected by the President and senior board members of the Blair Chiropractic Members Association
Diplomate in Chiropractic Craniocervical Junction Procedures (DCCJP), 2015 — a three-year post-doctoral program involving approximately 300 hours of advanced coursework, original research, and a three-day board examination covering advanced anatomy, neuroscience, comparative upper cervical technique, and craniocervical junction procedures

He has taught neurology and upper cervical anatomy at Logan University College of Chiropractic and to practitioners in the Gonstead organization. He has presented multiple times at the national Blair Chiropractic conference.

The DCCJP in particular is worth understanding in context. It is the most rigorous advanced credential available in upper cervical chiropractic. It is similar in scope and commitment to a master’s degree — and it is held by very few practitioners nationwide. When Dr. Schurger evaluates a patient with Meniere’s disease, vertigo, or post-concussion symptoms, he is doing so with a depth of training in craniocervical junction anatomy and neuroscience that most chiropractors — and most specialists — simply don’t have.

Read Dr. Schurger’s full bio and credentials →

3. The Tools Here Are Different

Precision requires precision instruments. Dr. Schurger has built a practice around tools that most chiropractic offices — and many specialty medical practices — don’t have access to.

CBCT Cone Beam CT Scanning

Keystone Chiropractic is one of the few chiropractic practices in Central Illinois using CBCT (cone beam computed tomography) — a 3D imaging technology that reveals the exact position, orientation, and degree of misalignment of the atlas and axis in three dimensions. Standard X-rays produce two-dimensional projections that can miss subtle misalignments at the craniocervical junction. CBCT doesn’t. No adjustment is made at Keystone without the structural picture that CBCT provides.

Infrared Thermography

Thermography measures asymmetrical heat patterns along the spine — an objective, non-invasive indicator of nervous system stress and inflammation. It gives Dr. Schurger a live picture of how the nervous system is responding that complements structural imaging, and it’s used to track improvement throughout care.

The NeckCare System

The NeckCare System is an FDA-listed assessment device that measures three things most chiropractic and medical exams don’t assess at all: cervical range of motion in precise degrees across all six directions, proprioceptive accuracy through the Joint Position Error Test, and sensorimotor coordination through the Butterfly Test®.

For patients dealing with vertigo, Meniere’s disease, post-concussion symptoms, and chronic headaches, these functional measures often reveal exactly what structural imaging missed. And when care is working, the numbers confirm it — independent of how someone happens to feel on a given day.

Together, these three tools give Dr. Schurger a picture of each patient’s cervical spine that is more complete and more precise than anything available in most practices in the region.

4. The Approach Is Gentle — and That Matters

One of the most common reasons people avoid chiropractic is the expectation of forceful twisting and cracking. The Blair Upper Cervical Technique is nothing like that.

The correction is gentle, low-force, and specific to the individual patient’s anatomy as determined by CBCT imaging. No two adjustments are the same because no two spines are the same. The goal isn’t to adjust the whole spine — it’s to correct the precise misalignment at the atlas or axis that is driving the patient’s symptoms.

After each adjustment, patients rest for approximately 30 minutes in zero gravity chairs. This isn’t a waiting room courtesy — it allows the correction to stabilize before the patient returns to normal activity, which is one of the reasons the corrections at Keystone tend to hold longer than what patients have experienced elsewhere.

For patients who have been hesitant about chiropractic because of past experiences with forceful adjustments — or because they’ve been cautioned against neck manipulation due to a specific condition — the Blair technique is frequently appropriate where other approaches wouldn’t be. It’s worth discussing at a consultation before assuming chiropractic isn’t a fit.

5. Progress Is Tracked With Data, Not Just Feelings

How you feel on any given day is influenced by sleep, stress, diet, activity, and dozens of other factors that have nothing to do with whether your spine is holding its correction. At Keystone, the care plan isn’t adjusted based on symptoms alone.

Repeat thermography, NeckCare assessments, and imaging at progress milestones give Dr. Schurger — and the patient — objective confirmation that improvement is happening, or a clear signal that the approach needs to be adjusted. Patients don’t have to rely on guesswork or blind faith. The data tells the story.

This approach is particularly meaningful for patients with complex or long-standing conditions, where the path to improvement isn’t linear and the temptation to quit during a slow week is real. Seeing functional numbers improve — even before symptoms fully resolve — gives patients a reason to stay the course grounded in evidence rather than hope.

6. He’ll Tell You If It’s Not the Right Fit

Not every patient who walks into Keystone Chiropractic is a candidate for Blair Upper Cervical care. And when that’s the case, Dr. Schurger says so.

If your condition is better served by a different provider or a different approach, you’ll hear that clearly — along with guidance on what a better next step might look like. This isn’t standard practice in healthcare, but it’s the standard at Keystone.

Patients who’ve experienced high-pressure sales environments at other practices find this refreshing. The first visit is an evaluation, not a commitment. You leave knowing what Dr. Schurger found and what he recommends — and then you decide.

7. The Conditions He Works With Are Specific — and Serious

Blair Upper Cervical Chiropractic isn’t a general wellness practice. The conditions Dr. Schurger most commonly helps with are ones that significantly affect quality of life and that have often resisted other forms of treatment:

These aren’t conditions that most chiropractic practices focus on — or have the training to approach confidently. The combination of the Blair technique, DCCJP-level training, and the diagnostic tools at Keystone makes it a genuinely specialized practice for patients whose conditions require that level of specificity.

What Patients Say

The reviews that consistently appear on Keystone’s Google profile share a common thread: patients who came in after trying everything else and finally found something that worked.

One patient had been dependent on forearm crutches to walk. After upper cervical care, she renewed her expired driving license. Another was an eight-year migraine sufferer who was headache-free in two visits. A third had broken her back, was in severe daily pain, and after her first treatment knew she had found the answer she’d been looking for.

These aren’t exceptional outlier cases promoted to make the practice look good. They’re representative of the patient population Dr. Schurger works with — people for whom other approaches had run out of answers.

Is Keystone Chiropractic Right for You?

The best way to find out is to schedule an evaluation. Your first visit is a genuine assessment — not a sales presentation. Dr. Schurger will review your history, run the appropriate assessments, and give you a clear picture of what he finds and what, if anything, he recommends.

If upper cervical care is the right fit, you’ll know why. If it isn’t, he’ll tell you that too.

Patients come from Springfield, Chatham, Rochester, Sherman, Riverton, Athens, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Taylorville, and across Central Illinois. No referral needed.

Schedule your first appointment at Keystone Chiropractic →

Or call us directly: (217) 698-7900

Keystone Chiropractic | 450 S Durkin Drive, Ste B, Springfield, IL 62704 | (217) 698-7900
Dr. Frederick Schurger, DC, DCCJP — Blair Upper Cervical Chiropractor serving Springfield and Central Illinois since 2007.

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