Today we’d like to introduce you to Craig Maples.
Craig, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was a paramedic in Fort Worth, Texas, and I loved what I did and wanted to do more. My wife, Megan, and I were married with a couple kids at that time, so it was a team effort to continue working and take all the pre-med classes that were not part of my humanities degree. My first year of medical school I started learning the basics of hands-on osteopathic care. My wife had just had our 4th son, and she had had back pain for years and years. We had tried many different things for it, but nothing worked, and she got used to just having to deal with it and carry on. Using some of the simple techniques I had learned in class, her back pain went away in one treatment and has never been back. Shortly after that, we went on a medical mission trip to Honduras, and I was able to see how helpful hands-on osteopathic care could be in a setting where chronic medication management wasn’t an option. After these experiences, I knew I wanted to make this my career. I did my residency in Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, which is the specialty that looks at people as whole people who are body, mind and spirit, and uses gentle hands-on manipulation to help the body heal itself. Most of what we work with is chronic pain – migraines, TMJ, neck and back pain, sciatica, foot pain, etc – and we take a holistic approach to get to the root cause of people’s pain and aid the body in finding its way home.
For a long time we had wanted to make Colorado our home, and after seeking out the best training possible we were finally able to prioritize where we wanted to live. I also wanted to be able to spend more time with my patients, and have the flexibility to really care for them, so having a small, private practice was a must. Currently, we happily live and work in Castle Rock. Our practice is called Still Point Osteopathic Care, and the whole staff is Megan and I – I see patients, and she works the front desk and everything else.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course not! There were a couple years I worked full time as a paramedic and was a full time pre-med student. My wife and I did our best to make sure our kids still had enough time with me, which was a difficult balance to strike. When I was in medical school, our 4th kid was born, so medical school with a wife and 4 very young children was a unique experience. When I was deep in studying for boards, they used to bring me dinner at the library and that was our family time. Luckily, after medical school each year of residency seemed to get a little easier to balance life and work. It took a lot of teamwork with Megan and I, and that continues now at Still Point (our practice). Of course, starting a practice is also difficult, but allows me to spend more time with my patients, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Still Point Osteopathic Care?
At Still Point Osteopathic Care, we take the time to listen, we seek the root cause of people’s pain, and we try to get people better as fast as we can. We use hands-on osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) to gently release what’s stuck or out of place, and help the body take it over from there. We are often able to graduate people from our care in as little as 3-5 visits. I love treating patients with chronic pain, and finding a way out of it that isn’t surgery or constant medications. We love that our clinic is a beautiful, quiet and peaceful place where people can find hope and relief.
New Patient visits typically take 45 minutes to an hour, and that entire time is spent with me. We go over your medical history, go into detail about the pain you have been experiencing, then move into a thorough hands-on physical exam to see what your body is having trouble overcoming. We start treatment on the first visit, and usually give some simple exercises or stretches you can do at home to advance on what we did in the office. We then tailor our follow-up plan to you, but most people return in 1-2 weeks, and then we try to space out visits as you get better again, with the ultimate goal of getting you lovingly graduated from our care. To protect our time and the quality of care you receive, we are privately owned and are not contracted with any insurance companies. You pay us directly, which means no surprise bills weeks or months later, and we can give you what you need to request reimbursement from your insurance company.
What’s next?
Our goal is to be around for decades, and be known as the best place to go when you are in pain. We want to care for our community, and may carefully add like-minded physicians who put patient care first.
Pricing:
- New Patient Appointment – $245
- Follow-Up Appointment – $195
Contact Info:
- Website: www.stillpointosteopathiccare.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/stillpointosteopathiccare?igshid=MXU1bmV0Y3ZmaHg3Zw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550835196624&mibextid=LQQJ4d
Image Credits
Family picture – Kara Taggart Photography
