After moving to Townsville from Victoria earlier this year, Stacey Iles recognised a gap in local chiropractic care. Her Neuro Muscular approach avoids traditional cracking techniques, offering a unique approach to the industry. With her first and middle initials being S.M and after taking on the surname Iles in 2022, following her marriage, there was no better name than S.M.Iles Chiropractic.
Tell us about yourself and Smiles Chiropractic.
Earlier this year I made the brave decision to pack my family up and move my chiropractic business, from Victoria up to Townsville as I saw a need for something different in Townsville.
Why Townsville? Do you seriously have to ask! Townsville is beautiful, amazing and after living in Victoria for most of my life, it is most importantly, warm!
But what makes Smiles Chiropractic different to other chiropractors already in Townsville? I use a different style of chiropractic to treat my patients called Neuro Muscular and it vastly differs from the traditional cracking chiropractic. I actually do not crack, and I don’t personally like being cracked myself!
Neuro Muscular is often compared to Bowen Therapy or Emmett technique and the chiropractic technique with the activator or what is often called the clicky gun. But it is more than that. It is being able to detect tightness or regions that are causing you to be in pain and releasing them allowing joints to move more freely and with greater ease resulting in less pain. It is solely dependent upon the skills and sensitivity of the practitioners’ hands. Fortunately, my hands are very finely tuned and very good at finding your tender points!
So how did this all come about?
I have loved working with my hands almost all my life but did not pursue it for a career until after I started having my family, observing the power Neuro Muscular had with my infant children and then myself when I became pregnant. I was so inspired that I started training at RMIT in Melbourne when my eldest son was 3, my daughter was 22 months and had a 5-month-old baby. I was only somewhat determined! I obtained both my undergraduate Bachelor and my Master of Clinical Chiropractic degrees with distinctions as well as having a 4th child part way through my studies and I began working in regional Victoria, opening my own clinic 2 years after graduating.
In 2022 I remarried taking on the surname of Iles. With my middle name beginning with M it was too easy to become S. M. Iles (Smiles) Chiropractic. This is a very fitting name as those who know me, know that in clinic is where I will always have the biggest smile on my face. I truly love doing what I do to help people feel better.
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What has been the most challenging aspect of owning Smiles Chiropractic?
There honestly is nothing more daunting and challenging than taking a successful business and relocating it 2000+ kilometres away. The expectations I had with opening my doors in Townsville and being different was that people would be instantly queuing up glad to have a fresh approach. Learning how to network and promote myself would have to be the hardest but most rewarding lesson I have learnt since arriving. Townsville works on word of mouth, but getting people talking about me in a good way has been hard work. I have loved making new connections and I am excited for the connections I am yet to make.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
My husband Chris and I have 8 children between us and we decided to be crazy in 2023 and take them all on a Central Australia/ 4 state whirlwind trip. We travelled all the way up to Darwin from regional Victoria, spending almost 3 weeks up in the tropics. It was during this time, both Chris and I fell in love with the climate and what the north of Australia had to offer. Chris and I travelled back to Townsville twice more in 2023 before committing to relocating at Easter of 2024 with part of their family, the other children have an amazing school holiday location!
What is the best piece of career or business advice you have ever received?
The best bit of advice I have ever received was get comfortable with being uncomfortable if you want your business to thrive. You have to take your comfort zone and get rid of it as the best learnings happen when you are outside of it.
You never know, you might actually like it. I know I have learnt to like being a little bit uncomfortable.
Going forward, what is next on the cards for Smiles Chirporactic?
Going forward I would love to increase awareness about Smiles Chiropractic so the people who need a chiropractor, who is very different from your typical chiropractor, can find me. I would love to expand my clinic to incorporate other modalities of allied health to really hone in on being a patient centred clinic.
I have no doubt my chiropractic clinic will thrive in Townsville, as it is something a little different and with my infectious smile and up beat personality the Townsville community will be a little brighter with having me here.
Main image – Stacey Iles
Images Credits – All images supplied.
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