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Health & Fitness

Husband-Wife Chiropractic Team Helps Families Adjust to Healthy Lifestyle

Dr. Briana Duga — Dr. Bri, as she likes to be called — has joined her husband, Dr. Seth LaFlamme, at Great Works Chiropractic & Wellness, 235 Main Street, South Berwick.

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — It’s “all in the family” for a well-respected chiropractic practice, not only because it now features a husband-wife doctor team priding itself on valuing its own family, but also because it transfers that attitude to its patients and their families.

Dr. Briana Duga — or Dr. Bri, as she likes to be called — joined her husband, Dr. Seth LaFlamme, on Feb. 4 at Great Works Chiropractic & Wellness, 235 Main Street, to be a practicing chiropractor intensely interested in taking care of families and children, her biggest interest being pregnancy, infants and toddlers.

“We’re very excited,” says Dr. LaFlamme — or Dr. Seth, as he likes to be called. They’re both eminently qualified in treating adults. But treating children is a special area of interest they both have, and that’s why they’re both undergoing advanced training in that treatment area.

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“She has a real way with kids, and having undergone three pregnancies herself, she’s really great at working with woman and pregnant moms and motherhood,” Dr. Seth said about Dr. Bri.

Dr. Bri, 31, is from South Berwick; Dr. Seth grew up in North Berwick. Dr. Bri started practicing Feb. 5. “I’m very excited — obviously,” she says. “I’ve been on extended maternity leave, so it‘s been a while since I’ve been [involved with chiropractic], so it’s nice to start the process.”

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The doctors graduated together from Life University in September 2010, Dr. Bri graduating cum laude and winning various academic awards. Their middle child, Luna, was only 3 months old at the time. Their youngest child, Gideon, came 15 months after Luna was born. Luna is now 2½; Gideon is a little over a year; and their oldest, Zoey, is 5½.

“I’ve been spending a long time with my children,” Dr. Bri says. “It’s very important to be with them when they’re little. And it was wonderful to stay at home with them. Dr. Seth and I feel very strongly about being with our kids. We even did that with our oldest child, who was born while we were in chiropractic school. We slowed down our courses, and we had opposite schedules so that one of us could be with her pretty much all the time for our first year. And you can tell when your kids get enough attention from their parents. They’re much better bonded. They’re much more well-adjusted.”

Dr. Bri is starting practicing part-time at first. “Having the two of us at the practice is really going to boost the family aspect of the place,” says Dr. Seth. “Being parents has really put us through the issues that parents face these days, and many, many times it has served us really well and helped us to guide others when they come here for help with their kids, which has been a real plus. So with her being the main caregiver to the kids, she has, in some ways, a whole lot more to offer to the practice in this regard.”

Dr. Bri’s focus is primarily moms and children, and babies are her secret passion. “To see well-adjusted kids and take care of moms when they’re pregnant so that they can have the best labor outcome possible is truly gratifying. Many moms don’t realize they have a lot of stress in their pelvis that chiropractors can help with. And chiropractors can be a really good resource for moms looking for alternative care such as home birth. We tend to be tapped into the other realm more than mainstream medicine. I’m also tapped into the Dover La Leche League, so I’m able to serve as a resource for new moms.”

Great Works is also finishing and will soon open an expansion of its South Berwick location. “So we have a lot of exciting things going on,” says Dr. Seth. “We’re just really charged up to be serving our community like this. It’s all good stuff. We’ve been very fortunate. The town has received us well — really the whole area has — so we’re grateful for that. We’re very happy to be serving people in an even greater capacity by adding another doctor, with her own talents and interests.”

Great Works Chiropractic is a business partner of the Green Alliance, a union of local sustainable businesses promoting environmentally sound business practices and a green co-op offering discounted green products and services to its members. GA members receive a complimentary consultation and examination when they show their Green Card at Great Works.

For more information about Great Works Chiropractic & Wellness, visit www.greatworkschiro.com. And for more information about the Green Alliance, visit www.greenalliance.biz.

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