While growing up on a farm in Stephen, Minnesota, a small community in the northwest corner of the state, Dr. Vernon Kuznia had aspirations of becoming either a veterinarian or a schoolteacher. Teaching triumphed and in 2001, Kuznia graduated from the University of North Dakota with a degree in elementary education. He says that, as a teacher, his goal was to make the world a better place by helping to positively shape the young minds of the future.

Kuznia loved working with the children and their families, but after starting a family of his own, he was inspired to make a change. “My wife was always naturally health-minded, and it was because of her that I became more interested in healthy living, especially nutrition,” he explains. It wasn’t long before health became his new passion and he started considering what he could do with it.

After spending five years as an elementary teacher, Kuznia realized chiropractic was a chance for him to not only take care of his family’s health, but to make a positive impact on the world by helping people achieve their potential through natural health. Though it was a big risk—and a big challenge—to give up his teaching career and devote himself full-time to chiropractic school, Kuznia says the reward was worth it.

After graduating from the College of Chiropractic at Northwestern Health Sciences University, in Bloomington, he opened Mind and Body Chiropractic Life Center, in Roseville, in May 2011. The center is unique in that it provides unlimited chiropractic for its members because, like eating well or exercising, people benefit most from chiropractic care that is consistent over a lifetime.

Kuznia explains that by locating and correcting misalignments of the spine—called subluxations—he can help improve his patients’ overall health and well-being. “Free from subluxation, people digest food for nutrition better, respond to exercise better, have more energy, experience less stress and have the greatest potential to be all they were created to be,” he says.

Though he says chiropractic care does not specifically cure or treat specific ailments (because most health conditions have multiple factors that cause problems), it does lay a solid foundation for the body to perform as well as it can. “The spine protects the spinal cord and the nerves that come from the spinal cord,” he notes. “Your spinal cord and your nerves are how your brain and body communicate with each other. This communication is done by sending a sort of electrical signal over the spinal cord and nerves. Knowing this, you can then think of anything in your body that is connected to nerves (such as muscles, lungs, stomach) like ‘electrical appliances’ of your body. If they’re plugged in, they work. If they’re not plugged in, they won’t work.

“To take this analogy further, think of a light. It’s an electrical appliance, and when it’s connected to electricity, it works. When it’s not connected, it doesn’t work. Now, what if I used a dimmer switch to cut down on the current going to the light bulb? The light would still work, just not as well or as brightly as it potentially could be shining.”

The spine, he says, is made up of 24 movable vertebrae, which he likes to call “switches.” When these switches get stuck out of place, they interfere with communication between the brain and the body. If that interference is in an area of the spine with nerves that go to the stomach, for example, the stomach will still work, just not as well as it could be working. This idea can be applied to all parts of the body.

“No matter what symptoms a person has, or better yet, even if a person has no noticeable symptoms, a person is always better off with a good nerve supply than with a poor nerve supply,” says Kuznia. He adds that the bulk of his practice is based on preventive care. “Many patients initially seek out chiropractic because they have an issue—headaches or a bad back, for instance—but once the issue is resolved, I recommend maintenance care to decrease the chance of reoccurrence.”

Since the launch of Mind and Body Chiropractic Life Center, Kuznia has offered a unique membership program that makes it easy for individuals and families to take control of their health instead of just reacting to it. Individuals pay only $67 per month for unlimited visits and families pay only $100 per month. Kuznia provides chiropractic care for people of all ages, from infants to the elderly.

“So many people love chiropractic and its benefits, but they just can’t afford it,” he says. “By setting an affordable rate, I am making it easy for almost anyone to come in regularly and get adjusted so that their bodies operate at their maximum potential. By doing that, I can help that many more people.”

Mind and Body Chiropractic Life Center is located at 3101 Old Hwy. 8, Ste. 106, Roseville. For more information, call 651-600-3521 or visit MindBodyChiropractic.com.