The clinic opened with a dream to help keep the focus of health care on the person, not just the condition. It is located along Sumner Avenue in Humboldt. The Humboldt office will continue being the primary office, but as of February of this year, there is a second location on the west side of Fort Dodge.

That office is situated along Avenue O West in the row of businesses behind the McDonald’s and not far from Iowa Central Community College. Dr. Cindy VanSickler, the owner of Function First Spine and Sport, said she is excited to be a part of the growing west side and so conveniently located to many of the biggest employers in the Fort Dodge area.

VanSickler is a board-certified chiropractic sports physician and specializes in the management and treatment of athletic injuries. She was joined in practice one year ago by Dr. Kaitlyn Heyrman, and as a team they have developed a plan to provide a different kind of chiropractic health care.

The mission of Function First Spine and Sport is to educate and empower patients to help heal themselves. The doctors focus on developing specific treatment plans that put the emphasis on active exercises and stretches. These treatment plans are designed based on the findings from the patient’s initial evaluation. This evaluation focuses on the biomechanical issues of the patient’s presentation, rather than the pathology. This in turn helps guide the care towards resolution of the condition, not merely masking the symptoms.

Services provided at Function First Spine and Sport include manual chiropractic adjustments, instrument adjusting, certified perinatal care, Graston Technique Therapy, dry needling, and McKenzie Method of Diagnostic Therapy. The Fort Dodge office also has cold plunge therapy and plans to add many other passive rehabilitative therapies to help assist in the treatment of sports related injuries.

Function First Spine and Sport shares office space with Past Tense Therapeutic Massage, owned and operated by Jenn Rollins. She offers a wide variety of massages with a specialty in sports massage.