Our Team

Drs Mike & Opal Garman

Drs. Michael & Opal Garman’s story is a story of hope lost and found. Both went through years of pain and diminished health that no medication could relieve. But then they found Upper Cervical (UC) chiropractic care and got their lives back. Because of their transformational health journey, they understand and empathize with individuals at the end of their hope who come to them for help. 

From 18 years of age, Dr. Opal had chronic pain. She took over-the-counter pain meds, and when these were no longer effective, at age 23 she went on prescription pain medicine and was contemplating a hysterectomy. But these meds too stopped working, and her pain was so excruciating, “I didn’t want to continue with life,” she said. “We’d moved to St.  Louis and I needed to go to the hospital.” She called a friend who lived there to find out which hospital would give the best care. 

Instead, the friend took her to Upper Cervical chiropractors, “and the rest is history. When I got a correction, I got a 15-minute break in the pain level I had not been able to touch since I’d become immune to that prescription pain med. I knew at that moment that I’d found hope, not just for myself but for my mom and my sister who’d had previous hysterectomies, and for people who had no hope for their health conditions being turned around.” Dr. Opal said she knew she’d found an answer and resolved to stick with Upper Cervical chiropractic exclusively for her health, which also meant the cessation of all medications. “I haven’t taken anything, even over the counter. No Tylenol, no nothing.”

Dr. Michael's problems were allergies. “I was a kid who had to have allergy shots, had frequent ear infections, and just wasn’t healthy—I always had respiratory issues. I was allergic to shellfish and all kinds of things.”  After he began getting UC corrections, Dr. Michael says, “I was able to get rid of all his allergies, and now I can eat shellfish and the other foods I would react to.  My health has been changed, and I stopped taking allergy medication.”

“We haven’t taken any medication since 1995. Our children haven’t either—just because we didn’t need it,” Dr. Opal explained. “Our family’s been changed because of that. We manage our health and care through Upper Cervical.” The Garmans have six children, including two biological, two adopted, one foster, and a young woman they took in to live with the family.   

Both doctors are licensed general chiropractors and had benefited from general chiropractic care themselves, achieving more mobility, but the adjustments never touched their serious health issues. They knew Upper Cervical was the gold standard to give to others. “I just knew this was just bigger, that what God had given was not for me to get better, but He intervened in my path because there was a bigger purpose for other people.”

Consequently, they pursued years of highly specialized training and became qualified to perform a variety of UC techniques, such as Blair, Knee-Chest and Orthogonal.  “We wanted to be the best in the Upper Cervical fields. It’s a difficult technique that takes years to master and involves a lot of mathematical application. To understand it and be able to do it takes a lot of time and dedication and skill. We wanted to give our patients the best of the best.”

But Dr. Opal takes no credit for the healing she witnesses daily among her patients. She’s quick to say, “God’s the healer. I’m not the healer. I have training and education. Knowledge is one thing, but to allow God to use us as His vessels and to be able to incorporate that into care comes into the fact that I know where the healing comes from.” Prayer is incorporated into their practice on every level. 

“God designed our bodies to heal themselves,” Dr. Opal said. “I believe He designed them to heal without medication. And I believe healthcare should be built on that truth. I stand against the lie that our bodies were destined for disease. That’s our mission statement, and that statement is behind the story of how I got my health back.”

Fun Facts: Dr. Mike loves reading about old West history and Dr. Opal loves to hike.