What is Systems Health Care?

Systems Health Care (SHC) is a technique developed by Dr. Stephen Gangemi over his 25 years of practice. SHC is built off the principles of Applied Kinesiology (AK). The body is a highly intricate and interconnected system that cannot be compartmentalized into its parts. SHC utilizes manual muscle testing along with traditional forms of diagnosis to determine the hierarchy of the processes not functioning properly in the body. Rather than looking at the symptoms and grouping them into a syndrome, we diagnose the process that is not working optimally. Once the process is found it is as simple as determining what treatment will allow this process to work optimally in your body. With conventional diagnostic measures, the difficulty is that anything can cause anything in the body, and most methods of treatment will only focus on where the problem is. If your gallbladder isn’t functioning properly rather than jumping to cutting it out, assuming it isn’t about to rupture, SHC practitioners look to find the root of the problem. Maybe you haven’t been able to tolerate fatty foods since “that injury”, or maybe there was a huge emotional stressor that triggered that problem, maybe you just need a specific nutrient you have been missing in their diet. The point being no matter what problem you present with, SHC will look at your whole body to determine the root cause and correct the issue. 

Systems Health Care practitioners will utilize several different forms of treatment including, myofascial and trigger point therapies, acupressure therapies, cranial therapies, nutritional supplementation, exercise recommendations, and diet and lifestyle modifications. SHC is a very patient centered technique that uses the patient’s body through neurological muscle tests to determine the course of treatment. This allows both the doctor and patient to see what will be most effective for treatment and remove the guess work. Our “trial and error” period is in the office so when you walk out you know that the treatment you have been given will be effective in helping you heal.

Systems Health Care is the best form of holistic and natural treatment to correct the root of your pain/symptoms. This systematic method of treatment typically results in faster resolution of the problem and leaves you feeling healthier than you ever thought you could. I couldn’t imagine practicing without SHC and AK manual muscle testing. The ability to efficiently and effectively determine the cause is unparalleled by any other form of diagnosis or treatment method.

“In Systems Health Care, we understand that there is a physiological hierarchy in which health issues need to be treated to remain resolved. We look for specific physiological patterns that are present when a person is functioning well, and we look for other patterns when there is a problem. Expected patterns no longer exist when the body compensates from injuries or long-term health issues. Therefore, the body doesn’t realize that there is a problem which needs to be addressed. Yes, the body can always heal itself – but if the patterns are wrong, then often it cannot do that. Injuries, as well as other health issues, have specific patterns and indicators that should exist, and if they don’t then we, the physicians, need to figure out why. From gait patterns to injury patterns to organ-dysfunction patterns, we are always looking for a pattern, whether normal or abnormal, along with other specific indicators that tell us what to treat first, next, and last. All of these guide us in how to fix the patient. Simply put, Systems Health Care identifies primary problems by identifying and treating patterns in a systematic, individualized progression.”

Dr. Stephen Gangemi, DC, DIBAK, DCBCN