LONG BEFORE she opened her chiropractic medical practice, Dr. Chantal Shelstad learned that purpose can be found within pain. Daily, she watched her husband, Brandon, then 25 and newly assigned to the Army infantry in Hawaii, come home from work bent over like an older man.
“He’d lie on the couch after work, miserable and barely able to move,” Chantal recalled. He lived on ibuprofen, developed stomach ulcers, and pushed through the pain as best he could. “It was awful,” she said. “I remember telling him, ‘This isn’t normal. You’re too young to live like this.’”
She faintly recalled her father once finding relief from a chiropractor and urged Brandon to give it a try. Though skeptical, he agreed — and that first appointment changed everything.
“It was a total 180,” Chantal said. “He went from being stuck and in excruciating pain to finally able to move again.”
The chiropractor discovered a blown-out disc in his lower back. With targeted adjustments, Brandon’s nervous system began to calm, inflammation reduced, and his body started to heal naturally. No surgery necessary! At the time, Chantal didn’t fully understand the power of chiropractic care.
“The doctor was helping release interference in Brandon’s nervous system,” she explained. “When your body is locked in stress or fight-or-flight, it can’t heal. Chiropractic adjustments help your nervous system communicate again — so your body can do what it was created to do.”
During her first pregnancy, Chantal became fascinated by the miracle of birth and the body’s innate wisdom.
“I’ve always been fascinated about what the body can do,” she said.
Though she hoped for a natural birth, her daughter, Penny, was breech, and a cesarean section was necessary. The experience was painful and disappointing; however, it ignited a deep passion to help mothers advocate for themselves. She became a birth doula, supporting women through pregnancy and delivery with education, compassion, and encouragement. Wellness was important to her.
Years later, while working as a birth doula in South Korea and raising her daughter and two sons, Chantal believed God was stirring her toward something more.
“It almost didn’t make sense at first,” she said. “But the more I thought about how chiropractic care helped my husband, the more I felt a nudge from God to become a chiropractor.”
Her husband agreed wholeheartedly. Once his Army contract ended, Chantal enrolled at Cleveland University in Kansas City to study chiropractic care. She balanced motherhood, marriage, and classes while raising three children, including a 2-year-old son.
“It wasn’t easy; however, I knew this was my purpose,” she said.
As she progressed through school, Chantal began to understand the deep connection between the nervous system and emotional well-being — and she saw it firsthand in her daughter, Penny. As a baby, Penny rarely slept. By age 3, her meltdowns could last for hours.
“She would even hit her head on the floor when she was angry,” Chantal recalled.
“She was bright and strong-willed, but we were walking on eggshells trying to keep the peace in our home.” Then Chantal began bringing Penny to the free clinic at school.
“Her whole demeanor shifted. She began sleeping better, adapting better, and our family found peace again.”
Today, Chantal is the proud owner of StartWell Chiropractic, a warm, welcoming space where families come to heal, learn, and grow together. Her vision is to help people start their journey to wellness the right way. Whether it’s a baby recovering from reflux, a mom healing from birth, or a veteran struggling with pain, Chantal meets each patient with compassion and clarity.
At StartWell, every new patient begins with a customized care plan, starting with a nervous system scan that measures stress and communication patterns between the brain and body.
“The nervous system is the foundation of everything,” she explained. “You can take all the supplements, go to therapy, or do physical rehab, but if your nervous system isn’t communicating properly, your body can’t function at its best.”
Her adjustments are gentle, especially for infants and children.
“When I adjust babies, it’s a light press and hold,” she said. “They’re so flexible, they don’t need force. Sometimes parents say it looks like I’m barely doing anything, but the results speak for themselves.”
For Chantal, chiropractic care is more than a profession.
“I believe this is what God created me to do,” she said.
“Helping families heal from the inside out and giving them hope. I love helping the body heal the way it was designed to,” Chantal said. GN
Learn more about StartWell Chiropractic at www.StartWellChiropractic.com.
