Dr. Jason Gonzales
Upper cervical chiropractor in Chico, CA.
“The body doesn’t always need more intervention, it just needs less interference.”
I didn’t start here, I had to find my way.
I didn’t start in upper cervical chiropractic. I started where most chiropractors start: adjusting most of the spine, on most visits, for most people. And after just one year of practice, I was frustrated.
The philosophy I’d been taught was beautiful. The body has an innate ability to heal. The nervous system, when free of interference, lets that healing happen.
When chiropractic worked, it really worked. But the technique I was using didn’t seem to consistently deliver what the philosophy promised. Some patients improved dramatically. Others didn’t. And I couldn’t predict who would be which.
It was the elephant in the room. The frustration nobody wanted to name. And the typical response, both from chiropractors and patients, was to just adjust more. Adjust every visit. Adjust everything that hurt. Fill the silence with action.
I’d been exposed to upper cervical care in school, but I didn’t take it seriously at the time. It seemed too simple. Two bones at the top of the neck, often no adjustment on a visit at all, and somehow these chiropractors were getting results with the kind of stubborn, chronic cases that nobody else could move. I assumed they were cherry-picking their success stories.
I was wrong. As I looked closer, I realized upper cervical care was actually the marriage between the philosophy I believed in and a technique that could deliver on it. It’s not easier than general chiropractic. It’s harder. It requires the discipline to stop adjusting when the body is healing. It requires staying out of the way when both the doctor and the patient want to feel like something is happening. It requires patience.
That was 2008. I’ve been practicing this way ever since.
What this means for you
If you’ve been to chiropractors before and it didn’t help, or it helped briefly and then stopped, there’s a reason. The body needs precision, not repetition. It needs the right correction at the right time, then the space to do its work.
That’s what I do here. I run a structured screening to find out if your symptoms are actually rooted in a nervous system problem we can help with. If they are, we have a clear protocol for how care moves forward. If they aren’t, I tell you that directly, and I try to point you toward someone who can help.
I won’t oversell. I won’t add visits to fill a schedule. And I won’t keep adjusting if your body is showing me it’s doing the work on its own.
Training and background
I graduated from Life West Chiropractic College in 2007. My upper cervical training is in the Knee Chest Upper Cervical Specific technique, through a program called the Art of the Specific. I’ve been through the training program multiple times and have served as a guest instructor.
Alongside chiropractic, I do continuing education in functional medicine through Apex, with a focus on functional blood chemistry and protocols for chronic inflammation, hormonal imbalances, and nutritional deficiencies. I incorporate that work into Stage 2 care when it’s needed.
A note on how I got here
Chiropractic wasn’t on my radar until I needed it. I was a competitive road cyclist, crashed hard, and ended up in a chiropractor’s office. That’s how the profession first appeared to me as something worth pursuing.
Outside the office, I have two kids, lift heavy things at the gym, and continue to do my own work on the personal growth side. The patience and discipline this practice requires from me has shaped how I show up the rest of my life too.
Can help you?
If anything I’ve shared resonates, the next step is the same one I offer everyone. A free, fifteen-minute screening to find out if your symptoms are coming from a nervous system stuck in fight or flight. If they are, we have a clear protocol. If they’re not, I’ll tell you that directly.
15 minutes to find out if we can help you, or not.