People Are Saying

Before coming to ICS, I was frequently experiencing intense migraine headaches. The headaches were often painful enough to make me stop my daily activities and go to bed. After being treated by Dr Russak, my headaches became less painful over the first few months and eventually became less frequent. They are much more manageable than they were originally and now rarely interrupt my normal routine!

The adjustments were never painful. However, it required me to work through the release of so many toxins into my body. Dr. Russak taught me how hydration worked to rid my body of these toxins and made me feel much better. Within four months or so my headaches' intensity and frequency had improved. My quality of life improved with fewer headaches and interruptions.

I continue seeing Dr. Russak to maintain my quality of health. With monthly visits I maintain proper alignment which leads to fewer headaches and allows me to lead a very active life. I hit the gym six days a week and perform high intensity workouts on a regular basis. I also enjoy competing in agility with my dogs. My professional life is a fast paced and stressful environment that is filled with juggling multiple projects and continuous deadlines. This could lead me to an ongoing cycle of headaches. Dr. Russak is in tune with how I live and focuses my healthcare regimen around that. 

Dr. Russak and his staff are very sincere in their desire to improve patients' quality of life. He is also genuinely interested in the overall health of his patients rather than just curing the symptom of a problem.

I am always comfortable in recommending Dr. Russak to friends and family. I explain his approach to total health and that Dr. Russak is not an ambulance chaser or just someone who treats through a "snap, crack, and pop" approach. 

I love the fact that Dr. Russak treats each patient differently and adjusts them in the manner they need not in a particular style. He is so honest and will tell me when I do not need an adjustment.  

My son and my husband are also patients of ICS. When I first brought my son to see Dr. Russak he was on three allergy medicines a day and had severe sinus infections. After Dr. Russak tested him and gave him one spray he was off all other medications within two weeks.  

My husband had not been able to turn his neck very far for years and ICS has now been able to give him a lot more flexibilty and rotation. We all have benefited from the holistic medicines and keeping our bodies in alignment. 

Dr. Russak does not push us to come or encourage over adjusting.  He is there when we need him and we continue to go for maintenence or if we start to get sick.

When my chiropractor that I had gone to for 18 years retired I was at a loss as to where to go. A chiropractor I knew in another city said the best chiropractor for your situation in Chattanooga is Dr. Russak.

So I started coming and have never regretted it. He is very knowledgeable about the latest techniques and best practices in Chiropractic.

In addition to his knowledge I love his manner of interaction with his patients. You can tell he really cares and wants to find the best solutions for you as a patient. He is not a 'one type fits all' doctor. I would recommend everyone in the Chattanooga area to go to him if you need a chiropractor.

I originally began going to ICS because of hip and back pain. While I eventually had to have both hips replaced due to a genetic disorder, Dr. Russak helped me to manage the pain associated with hip dysplacia prior to the surgeries and helped me to recover quickly and get into a much healthier lifestyle than before.

Dr. Russak is constantly researching and studying new developments about the body and treats the whole body through nutrition and spine alignment. In the years I have been a patient at ICS, I have learned more about the needs of my body and how to achieve a healthy balance and feel my best.

Dr. Russak understands that every body is different and treats each patient according to his/her needs. He is passionate about helping people to feel and be their best.  You won't find anyone who genuinely cares more about their patients.

I first came to ICS with back pain that occurred after moving into a new house. Dr. Russak was recommended to me by an M.D.

I have physically abused my body for over 40 years. Everything from falling off of a bunk bed and landing square on the top of my head on concrete, to whiplashes, to the most uncoordinated person you've ever seen on roller blades, to bicycle accidents before helmets, to a parachuting accident... I could go on. All of these things have finally caught up with me and are trying to keep me from my favorite things, mostly playing outside.

Luckily Aaron Russak gets me. He can see and feel how all those old injuries effect me today. 

When I over do it and feel like a pretzel he can fix the twist. He can realign me. Through a combination of custom insoles, supplements, manipulations, and exercises I can do almost anything I want. Mostly, if I do the wrong thing he can put my parts back in place.

I initially did not realize the extent of what Dr. Russak and ICS offered. I was there for food alleriges and I thought it would be a pretty quick visit, considering my past experience with doctors. However, Dr. Russak took time to explain what was happening with my body and how there is no quick fix in regards to the issue I was having. He makes sure that you have all of the information necessary to make informed decisions about your health, whether it be daily maintenance or something more.  

I continue to visit ICS because Dr. Russak cares about his patients. I trust him and that is most important to me when choosing someone as a doctor.

If you want a doctor and staff that genuinely care about you, if you want to know what your body is doing, why it is doing it, and you want to fix it (not just cover symptoms with a band-aid), ICS is where you need to go.

Testimony for Dr. Aaron Russak

Dr. Russak resolved my back pain within two months with custom orthotics and decompression treatments. I have been pain-free for three months.

I went to Dr. Russak in October 2016 after suffering from lower back pain for about 3 months. My massage therapist, herself a patient of Dr. Russak, referred me to him. I am a 68-year-old female who has never had any back pain prior to its onset in later summer 2016. I attribute its sudden onset to the stress of overseeing care for my mom in her home from 2006 until her death, followed by two months of cleaning out her home at far too rigorous a pace.

Dr. Russak first ordered custom orthotics, which I wore daily for a month. Since the pain had not lessened, he suggested decompression treatments after x-rays revealed compressed disks. The day after the seventh treatment, I started feeling better and with in a week I was totally pain-free.

I consulted Dr. Russak as I value this common-sense approach. He believes in identifying the cause of the pain and then eradicating it.  His suggestions of custom orthotics and seven decompression treatments to addresss the compressed disks have resulted in my lower back resuming its healthy status.

I recommend Dr. Aaron Russak with out qualification.  He is honest, compassionate and interested in helping me recover. He was very honest about the limits to his help, should they not have worked for me.  I feel blessed that his custom orthotics, along with decompression treatments resulted in a fairly quick recovery.  This recovery involved NO medication or pain suppression medicine. He treated the cause, not the symptoms.  I will continue to wear orthotics and will return for more decompression treatments, should I feel any pain.

Mary Alice Wyatt

June 5, 2017

In 1994 I had the bad fortune of being hurt in a manufacturing plant. Over the next 12 years I bounced from one chiropractor to another with the same results. The pain would go away or get better after an adjustment but you guessed it within 2 weeks it was back just as bad as or worse than ever.  

While celebrating my wife’s birthday a friend told me about Dr. Russak. Thinking he was a QUACK I dismissed the story and moved on. Months later while looking for a new chiropractor I decided what the heck I'll give this guy a try. This began the best relationship I have ever had. I could not live without my orthotics period plain and simple. Who from the list of others I have wasted my time with would tell me that my back problems were from my left foot not so much the back?

The body is just one of the 3 factors in my wellness. Dr. Russak treats all 3 aspects of the human existence. The mind, body, and spirit all working together to form our existence. If either of these is not functioning correctly the symptoms might show up in a pain in my leg, neck or anywhere.     

Now on to the most important item I think Dr. Russak brings to your total wellbeing. Nutrition is the key to everything no matter what any MD will tell you. The things you eat today are what you are made of in the future so if you want to be a BIG MAC and FRIES you are not going to get better. Dr. Russak spends countless hours researching all the product lines he carries checking for purity and quality. 

If you have never been to a Chiropractor it can be a scary event. Not knowing if you will be able to walk again. Will he break my neck and paralyze me for life. The answer is NO! This kind of stuff has not proven WRONG! Modern medicine will cure me WRONG! Modern medicine and the majority of chiropractors are the same — they want to TREAT the symptoms not fix the problem. I remember the first visit with ICS. Dr. Russak told me if you are not willing to do what it takes to fix the problem I do not want to see you. This man wants to HEAL you not make a house payment every month from your repeat visits!

I was having a return of pain in my joints – knees, ankles, feet – and new strange pain on the top my feet. My chiropractor sent me to Dr. Russak for shoe inserts. 

After discussing my symptoms, Dr. Russak thought that it would be a good idea to wait on giving me shoe inserts, because he believed the return of my pain, and my new pain, was due to inflammation and perhaps other physical issues. He believed the shoe inserts would only aggravate that pain until we got the inflammation down. He suggested we do blood work and get a full panel that he could review to see what might be going on in my system.

He also suggested I try going off gluten. When I did, ALL OF MY PAIN WAS GONE IN ONE WEEK! 

When my blood work came back, it showed I had a slightly high fasting blood sugar, high cholesterol and very low Vitamin D. There were other issues that were of potential concern to him, but he wisely decided to address the sugar issue first, as that was something I could impact through diet and that he could support through all natural, scientifically tested, supplements. He also said these changes would probably interact with some of the other things that were out of balance.

WOW! After two months of being off gluten and any added sugar (white, brown, honey, molasses, etc.) I did my blood work again, and not only was my fasting blood sugar down, but my cholesterol had plummeted and my Vitamin D was at the top of the range! I also lost 15 pounds. 

I have not been able to lose weight for many years, but when I saw the numbers and realized I could feel better, I was willing to remove things from my diet. The supplements helped with support and cut down on any cravings. 

Dr. Russak uses blood work to help you see how changes in diet and using well-researched, natural supplements can balance your body and help it heal itself as it was made to do.

For as long as I can remember, I have suffered from debilitating migraine headaches.  I would experience sensitivity to light and sound, suffer from nausea; staying in the bed in a dark, quiet room all-day long was not uncommon for me.    For those of you who do not have these types of headaches, be thankful.  For those of you who do have migraines, we share a common thread.  I have taken multiple kinds of migraine medications and even been in the emergency room to get shots to help alleviate the pain and nausea.  Migraine headaches are an epidemic, they are real and they are life changing.

Chiropractic care was not new to me, as a matter of fact I have been going to a chiropractor for 20+ years.  However, I was going to the wrong chiropractor who didn’t seem to have my best interests at the forefront of my care.  About 6 weeks ago, and while at work I was suffering from a terrible migraine headache and was about to go home for the day.  At this point, I decided it was time to try and find someone who could help me get relief from these headaches, permanently.  By chance I called Dr. Aaron Russak’s office and hoped they would be able to see a new patient on such short notice, and they did.  The moment I walked in the door, I knew there was something different about his office and immediately knew I was in the right place.  I knew Dr. Russak could help me, and I was more than willing to give his treatment options a chance.  After a limited exam, and discussing my chiropractic history, Dr. Russak asked me if I had ever tried decompression therapy at any of my chiropractic visits.  I had not, I had never been given the option, and wasn’t real sure what “decompression therapy” was, but I was ready to try it.  Later that week, I went back for my second visit, a more thorough exam, and my first session of cervical decompression on my neck.  This type of therapy would continue 3 times per week for a month while Dr. Russak monitored my progress.  Within the first week, I began to see results, and I had not suffered from a migraine. 

At this point, I am 6 weeks into treatment, and my quality of life has been forever changed.  Since that first office visit I haven’t taken any Imitrex, or been back to the emergency room for a shot.  I have now stepped down to 2 visits per week, and there are no words to express how grateful I am to Dr. Russak. 

I would highly recommend Dr. Russak to anyone who suffers from migraines and wants to improve their overall health and quality of life.  Dr. Russak is amazing, and he truly cares about helping his patients get better.

Martha

Dr Russak,

Hello again... It's been a while since we've talked, but I wanted to give you an update regarding my progress. The last time I came down there to see you, you strongly recommended that I stop eating gluten. My response was basically that I had been reducing gluten but that certain things, like home made french bread, I just couldn't give up, which must be frustrating for you to hear and I'm sure you hear it a lot. The holidays of 2012 changed things around for me though. I had made much progress on my weight then. I worked hard at boot camps, which I don't do anymore by the way, and watched what I ate, but then the holidays hit. I baked a lot of gluten filled treats for friends and family and I of course sampled them all. Beer came in and out of the house and I sampled it as well. Come January, my pants were not fitting well and I was feeling pretty bad. Then your words rang in my ears. STOP EATING GLUTEN! 

So I did...

Going gluten free was tough at first. It was profoundly apparent how limited my choices were when i looked in our larder for a snack. Over time we adapted though and I found that being gluten free really isn't that difficult. I also adopted the primal diet where possible and choose meats that are hormone and anitbiotic free. I stopped eating lunch meats with preservatives. All refined foods were eliminated, except for the occaisional gluten free baked treats my wife makes for me every now and then. Alcohol consumption was also greatly reduced. My hunger is now satiated with less... The net result - I FEEL GREAT! It took a few months to feel it and I may even make more progress as I continue to eschew gluten... I didn't even realize how good I could feel because I always ached even when I didn't think I ached. I guess you just get used to the aches and pains over the years. A month ago I was out of town and I was really hungry but there was little non-gluten food at my cousin's house where I was staying, so I ate some pizza (3 big slices)... 

Bad move. My digestion was disrupted and uncomfortable for the next two days and into the third. But it was a good eye-opening experiment. The pizza didn't even taste that good anymore. I don't miss any of it, bread, beer, cookies, whatever.  My back feels very good and things are moving more freely. I dropped more weight then I ever did by stressing my body with boot camp work outs. Now I excersise by gardening and hiking and just staying mobile and my weight continues to drop nice and slowly. I think more clearly as well. This advice from you has changed my life and has done more for me than ALL of the doctors I ever visited about my aching arthitic back. 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

I though you should know....

My four-year-old boy was complaining a few times a day that his stomach was hurting. Sometimes he would just curl up and want me to hold him, and it was breaking my heart for him not be be up running and jumping and playing all the time as usual. I had ruled out many of the common causes of stomach pain like constipation and lactose intolerance and wanted to dig deeper. I felt that there must be a reason that his stomach was hurting. Our regular medical doctor wasn't concerned and felt that it would go away on its own with time, but it was not getting any better, and I couldn't just sit around and wait with my little boy in pain.

We drove from the Nashville area to ICS in Chattanooga because of the strong recommendation of a family member about Dr. Russak's innovative and natural approach to health. It was a pleasure to meet Dr. Russak and as we discussed my son's stomach issue, I was relieved to find a doctor who believed that his stomach shouldn't hurt and that there must be a reason. He started us on a logical journey to finding the cause of his stomach pain, which included homeopathic drops, supplements, diet, bloodwork and a fecal test.  

One day, when I was checking out at Dr. Russak's office, my son was just lying on the floor at my feet because his stomach hurt, and I couldn't hold him as I checked out. Dr. Russak came around the corner, bent down on his level, and told him not to worry, "We're going to get you better," he said. His words and care gave me so much hope. Now, several months later, it has been weeks since he has complained about his stomach and months since he has wanted to curl up or stop playing because of it. What a blessing it is to have my happy little boy back! We are so very thankful for Dr. Russak. He is so very knowledgable about natural approaches to health and is truly passionate about helping people feel better.

We continue to come to ICS to complete my son's care for his stomach. We would come if any other health issue arose for anyone else in our family, even having to come from the Nashville area, because we appreciate Dr. Russak's philosophy of health and his tremendous concern for his patients. We have never had a doctor's office email us just to check and see how we were doing and feeling until we came to ICS.  

Dr. Russak always answered all of our questions and took the time to address all of our concerns. We were never rushed in his office. This high standard of care is rare and hard to find.  ICS has been nothing but a tremendous blessing for our family!

Unlike most doctors out there, it is obvious that Dr. Russak is more concerned about the patient's well being than getting money. Everything he charges is very generous and fair. It is obvious that his main motivation is getting positive results for his patients.