Today we’d like to introduce you to Ladd Carlston.
Hi Ladd, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started in chiropractic 20+ years ago, but the truth is I didn’t become the practitioner I am today until I kept meeting patients who had done everything right and were still in pain. OVer and over, I’d see people who had been to the specialists, taken the medications, stretched the muscles, strengthened the muscles – and still couldn’t get back to living their life.
Early on, I realized the traditional model wasn’t built to find the root causes. It treats the painful area, not usually the reason the body overloaded that area in the first place. My engineering background informed my obsession with figuring out how the body compensates – how one weak or “offline” muscle forces another part to pick up the slack until it finally breaks down.
That curiosity turned into a system. Today, I work full-time helping people who feel stuck or overlooked – the people who’ve already tried the standard protocols without relief. A patient with knee pain for six months despite doing “everything.” Someone with plantar fasciitis who was told to stretch the calves or ice the bottom of their foot and wait for it to get better over months. People who’ve bounced between practitioners and feel like they’re the problem.
I built my practice around finding what everyone else missed. It’s extremely hands-on, extremely individual, and designed for the people who feel like they’re out of options. Helping them get their life back – especially after they’ve lost hope – is what drives everything I do.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all. The hardest part was realizing that doing things “by the book” didn’t actually help the patients who needed me most. Early in my career, I followed every protocol exactly as I was taught – it helped most, but there were still people walking out of my office in the same pain they walked in with. That was frustrating and really made me open to other options.
Another challenge was the patients themselves – not because they were difficult, but because many came in discouraged, defeated, and convinced that their pain was permanent. When you’re the seventh or tenth practitioner someone has seen, the weight of their frustration lands on you. You have to earn their trust, and that only happens if your work actually produces change fast.
Running a practice while constantly learning, testing, and refining a different model of care wasn’t easy either. There’s no handbook for the type of work I do. No standardized system. I had to integrate it piece by piece, case by case, often after hours.
But the struggle was necessary. Without those moments of “this isn’t working,” I never would’ve developed the proces that allows me to consistently help the people everyone else inadvertently gave up on.
As you know, we’re big fans of Integrative Chiropractic. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I run a clinic in Overland Park where I work almost exclusively with people who feel stuck in their pain – the ones who’ve tried everything, seen multiple specialists, and still don’t have answers. That’s who I’m known for helping. Most of my patients come in after months or years of frustration, and they’re usually convinced their pain is “just something they have to live with.”
What I do is different because I don’t chase symptoms. I look at how the body is compensating – which muscles aren’t firing, which ones are overworking, and what chain reaction pushed the painful area past its limit. When you fix the compensation, the pain finally has a chance to resolve. That’s why I routinely see knee problems that weren’t actually knee problems, hip pain caused by something nowhere near the hip, and plantar fasciitis that never needed stretching in the first place.
What sets my practice apart is the level of individualized, hands-on testing I do. Nothing is cookie-cutter. Nothing is based on a protocol. Your body tells me what’s wrong, not a formula.
Brand-wise, I’m proud that people trust me with the cases they feel most discouraged about. I’ve built a reputation locally for helping the “hard” patients, but what I want readers to know is that these cases aren’t actually hard – they just need someone who’s willing to slow down, look deeper, and follow the body instead of the textbook.
Whether it’s chronic knee pain, hip issues, plantar fasciitis, or something that hasn’t responded to traditional care, my entire approach is built around finding what everyone else missed and helping people get their life back when they thought they were out of options.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Relentless curiosity.
I don’t assume anything about a patient’s pain – I test everything. That curiosity forces me to look past the obvious, question the diagnosis, and find the real reason their body is breaking down. That’s why I am able to consistently help people who’ve been stuck for months or years.
Pricing:
- My sessions are $100 and include both the full evaluation and treatment. I don’t use long-term treatment plans, contracts, or pre-paid packages – every visit stands on its own. Each session is fully individualized based on what your body needs that day, and most people start noticing real change within just a few visits.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.painreliefkc.com
