<p>Barry Sears and Ann Goldeen</p>

Ann Goldeen and Barry Sears, owners

Astoria Chiropractic Center

2935 Marine Drive, Suite B

Astoria

503-325-3311 or astoriachiropracticoregon.com

Chiropractors for more than 30 years, Ann Goldeen and Barry Sears operate the Astoria Chiropractic Center along Marine Drive. Theyre open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday but work mostly by appointments. 

What type of service do you provide?

Barry: People come to chiropractors predominately because they have back complaints. Thats sort of what were known for, so we treat neck, mid-back, low-back complaints, and we treat a lot of conditions and extremities, as well. We try to help people recover from whatever kind of back ailment theyre suffering from.

Ann: It might include different kinds of physical therapy modalities like ultrasound, laser, massage, electric stem manipulation.

How did you get started in this business?

Barry: My father is a chiropractor; hes retired now. He suggested that I go into chiropractic college, and I thought What an interesting idea. I think ultimately both of us (Barry and Ann) were more interested in natural health care than the mainstream medical kinds of treatments.

Ann: I was going to go to medical school, and the other students that were in the same track in college were cutthroat liars and cheats. I didnt want to have those as my fellows. So I looked around for something else. Natural medicine really appealed to me. Originally I thought I wanted to be a naturopath, but their school was not very developed. The chiropractor school had essentially the same curriculum, and they had Ph.D.s. They had much better offerings and a much better campus.

What is the volume of your business, and why do people come to you?

Barry: Our volume goes up and down, but we tend to see 10 to 15 patients a day. The most common situation would be either low-back injuries from lifting or neck injuries from car crashes. People often show up saying, I cant stand up; I cant get out of bed; I cant bend, twist; I cant put on my shoes. Theyre incapacitated. And then a lot of times with a neck injury, their necks will be so sore that they really cant hold their neck upright. They may have a massive headache or they may have numbness or tingling down on their arms.

Ann: People, when theyre in a crisis, seek us out. And then there are people who see us because they dont want to get into a crisis. Were managing a problem or were trying to prevent a problem.

What are the biggest economic or other challenges you face running your business?

Barry: The biggest challenge is the variations and the constantly changing insurance industry. They are constantly making up new rules and regulations, and youre always adapting to whats the newest thing on the block. The federal guidelines are trying to go more toward an electronic billing, electronic-chart note taking, so that they can kind of, theoretically, streamline the recording and the billing process. Because right now, its just a horrible mess.

Ann: Or things change nationally, like there was instituted a new form that insurance claims have to be billed out in, starting in the beginning of March, and we had to get a new software to adapt to the new form.