Doctor of Chiropractic Tabetha Super is a firm believer in patient advocacy. At her practice, Dr.Super’s House of Health, she and her team provide chiropractic care, massage, reiki, raindrop therapy and reflexology with an approach of truly listening to patients and validating their concerns.

Super grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, and her family had many friends that were nurses. As a teen, she volunteered at nursing homes and had always been interested in the healthcare profession. Being a doctor seemed to be a natural fit, but while completing her premed track at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Super had a change of heart.

“I realized that I didn’t want to be a regular doctor,” she recalls. “Every doctor I talked to was dismayed by how insurance companies dictate patient care, and how they are not able to best serve their patients. I thought I had made a huge mistake going into medicine.”

Soon after, Super was offered a rugby scholarship to attend chiropractic school. She wasn’t familiar with the field, but when she toured Palmer College of Chiropractic, in Iowa, she realized how chiropractic philosophies closely aligned with her own. “There, I saw every reason that I wanted to be a doctor in the first place—to prevent people from getting sick.”

Super graduated from Palmer in 2018, returned to Pennsylvania and worked at two, high-volume, insurance-based chiropractic clinics in King of Prussia and Reading, where she developed a passion for pregnancy and pediatric care. However, she still felt that she couldn’t spend adequate time with her patients. With $120, she struck out on her own and launched Dr. Super’s House of Health in 2021.

Super and her team strongly believe in making care accessible to everyone. Sliding scale fees are available for patients on Medicare, Medicaid and for U.S. armed forces veterans. The clinic hosts free community care days three to four times per year where anyone can come in for a free vital screening, adjustment and chair massage. Super and her team work with the LGBTQ+ Center of Greater Reading, and host fundraisers for animal welfare and youth organizations. “I want trans and LGBTQ+ patients to feel comfortable at my office,” Super emphasizes. “It’s a safe space in our community that supports and validates underserved populations.” They will participate in the Good Medicine Indigenous Wellness Celebration, presented by the Widoktawden Center for Native American Knowledge, on June 3 at Riverfront Park, in Reading.

Super particularly enjoys offering pregnancy and pediatric care, but she sees everyone from infants to centenarians. “If you have a spine, I can work on you,” she says. “I really want to help patients realize that their symptoms do make sense. I believe them, I will listen, and I will do whatever it takes to give them their lives back.”

Gentle chiropractic adjustments can help pregnant patients experience reduced labor time and a low-to-no-intervention birth. Chiropractic care can also alleviate symptoms of sciatica and ligament pain during pregnancy, Super says. She works with patients postpartum to develop proper posture while breastfeeding so there’s less pressure on the mother’s spine and the infant can latch easily.

Chiropractic care can help correct nerve imbalances in children that affect reflexes and that can potentially lead to imbalances later in life, Super explains. She has used chiropractic care to help children with chronic bedwetting and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “Spinal adjustments help calm the nervous system so it can develop properly,” she says. “Misalignments in the spine affect fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest nerve responses.”

Super will either use her hands for adjustments or activator tools to help patients that prefer not to be touched. She uses gentle techniques such as Sacro-Occipital, similar to CranioSacral Therapy; the Logan Technique for babies; Webster Technique for pregnant patients; and others.

Dr. Super’s House of Health also offers massage, reiki, raindrop therapy and reflexology. “I use evidence-based techniques and modalities,” she affirms. “If there’s no scientific literature to support how it works, I don’t feel comfortable using it.”

Super strives to educate patients and teach them about their bodies to help ease their fears and give people hope. “The term ‘doctor’ in Latin means ‘teacher’, so if you’re not teaching your patients, you’re not doing your job,” she says. “My patients know their own bodies the best, so if they say something is wrong, they’re probably right. I will investigate to find out what’s wrong, and if I can’t figure it out, we’ll find someone who can.”