Ames Chamber Cuts the Ribbon with StylEyes and TCB Chiropractic

New two Ames businesses celebrated their openings during December.

Both StylEyes and Nathan Wheat of cut the ribbon with the this month.

A brother and sister pair of optometrists, Dr. Heath Eckhart and Dr. Kristi Wittrock, moved back to Iowa from Indiana and Michigan in 2008.

Wittrock's husband was in the automotive industry in Michigan.

She said it was either leave or let it leave you.

They decided to open a business together here in Ames during November.

The Newton natives thought an Ames corner shop at Kellogg Avenue and Main Street would be a perfect place.

“We love Ames,” Wittrock said.

They also work out of a StylEyes in West Des Moines.

Wittrock said customers will find eyewear brands at 301 Main St. that can't be found anywhere else in town.

TCB CHIROPRACTIC

Wheat celebrated the opening of his new NUCCA practice at TCB Chiropractic on Golden Aspen Drive more recently with both a ribbon cutting and an open house.

He is one of 250 chiropractors in the county who focus on adjustments to the top vertebrae, in which slight adjustments are made to the atlas, the part of the spinal column that houses the brain stem. An atlas that is out of line could cause a number of problems, including poor posture, he said.

Many people who think one of their legs is shorter than the other probably just needs an atlas adjustment, Wheat said.

He is also one of a few chiropractors who uses a set of sterling silver tools for a pressure massage on scarred soft tissues called Graston.

“It's cross friction massage on steroids,” Wheat said.

Wheat moved to the area from Minnesota to study NUCCA because a chiropractor here was accepting an intern.

But he discovered the benefits of chiropractic after he was injured while serving in the Air Force. He was one of 500 service members injured in a 1996 terrorist attack at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in June 1996 when someone pulled a truck bomb up along the base fence damaging the building. He broke his back and injured a knee in the blast. And in 2008 he was hit on a motorcycle. Chiropractic was the only thing that relieved the pain of his injuries, so he decided to join the field, he said.

Most patients come to Wheat seeking help for ailments such as migraines, neck pain and lower back pain. Learn more about Wheat here.