ABOUT US

At Essential Healing Center, we are dedicated to elevating your health journey by

addressing the root causes of pain and discomfort. Our team of highly skilled

professionals is committed to providing personalized, holistic care to enhance

your overall well being.

ABOUT US

At Essential Healing Center, we are dedicated to elevating your health journey by addressing the root causes of pain and discomfort. Our team of highly skilled professionals is committed to providing personalized, holistic care to enhance your overall well being.

MEET OUR TEAM

Dr. Chris Edwards, DO

Dr. Edwards is a licensed physician with over a decade of experience, board-certified and deeply trained in osteopathic manipulation and fascial counterstrain.

His treatment approach blends medical expertise with hands-on techniques to help your body heal and function at its best.

Dr. Edwards is a board-certified physician specializing in osteopathic manipulation for chronic pain, headaches, TMJ dysfunction, sports injuries, post-concussion symptoms, and musculoskeletal conditions. Based in St. George, Utah, he has dedicated his career to helping patients restore function through physician-delivered, hands-on care.

Brooklynn Heward, LPN

Brooklynn joined The Essential Healing Center Team in 2025 and has become an indispensable part of the team. Licensed as a nurse, she is the first smiling face that greets people for appointments and the cheerful voice they speak with on the phone. She also uses her training to professionally collect history and information needed for a successful treatment.

She works with patients to improve their satisfaction and outcomes when coming to The Essential Healing Center and is an important part of the team.

Why The Essential Healing Center Was Started

After watching patients bounce between appointments, medications, injections, imaging studies, and referrals without finding lasting answers, we became increasingly frustrated by a healthcare system that often leaves patients feeling rushed, unheard, and searching for answers.

We were drawn to osteopathic manipulation because it allows us to spend time with patients, use our hands to evaluate and treat dysfunction, and focus on restoring function rather than simply managing symptoms.

The Essential Healing Center was created to provide a different kind of healthcare experience—one built around time, attention, hands-on treatment, and helping patients understand their bodies.

Why We Chose A Direct Pay Model

Insurance companies often limit the amount of time physicians can spend with patients and influence how care is delivered.

By remaining independent from insurance contracts, we can focus on longer appointments, personalized care, and hands-on treatment without many of the restrictions imposed by traditional healthcare systems.

For more information on the benefits to patients of a direct-pay model click HERE.

The Essential Healing Center Offers a Rare Focus in Modern Medicine

While most physicians spend the majority of their day prescribing medications, reviewing tests, and managing chronic disease, The Essential Healing Center has been built around osteopathic manipulation and hands-on diagnosis.

Every appointment is designed to identify factors that may be limiting the body's ability to function and recover.

WHY DO PEOPLE CHOOSE THE ESSENTIAL HEALING CENTER?

A Different Kind of Healthcare Experience

Longer Appointments

Time to listen, evaluate, and create a personalized plan.

Physician-Led Care

Work directly with Dr. Edwards, not a revolving door of providers.

Prevention-Focused

Helping patients improve health naturally whenever possible.

Hands-On Treatment

A practice built around osteopathic manipulation and restoring function.

Treatment Chart | Essential Healing Center

Our Promise: Personalized Answers, And Our Full Attention

We listen where others rush you. Our team provides personalized attention and expert-driven diagnostics to find answers—not just write prescriptions.

We understand the frustration from investing in treatments that didn’t help. We’re committed to clear explanations, practical recovery plans, and support to help you get better. We help people where everything else has failed.

Our Minds:

The best of our thoughts and training

Our Attention:

Focus is on you and your needs

Our Time:

Expanded Visits to serve you best

Our Hands:

Gentle, hands-on assessment & treatment

Our Eyes:

No screens between us

Our Training:

Ongoing education to give you best results

Our Team:

Trained professionals to serve you

Our Ears:

Open ears to hear and understand your needs

Our hearts:

Compassion, caring, and empathy

Help Is Here For You

At The Essential Healing Center, we help patients heal from chronic pain and injury below:

OUR PHILOSOPHY

We believe in treating the whole person—body, mind, and spirit.

Our goal is to help you achieve optimal health and a better quality of life through our comprehensive, integrative approach.

Vision | Essential Healing Center
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ARE YOU READY TO ACHIEVE

ESSENTIAL HEALING?

Pain Relief With Osteopathic Manipulation

Click Below to Learn About The Conditions We Treat, How Osteopathic Manipulation Works, and What You Can Expect From a Treatment Session

Common Patient Questions

Not sure yet? Here are common questions many people have before making an appointment.

What if I've already tried everything?

Many of our patients come to us after trying physical therapy, chiropractic care, massage therapy, medications, injections, and even specialist referrals. If you’re still in pain, it doesn’t mean you’re out of options—it usually means the underlying drivers of your symptoms haven’t been fully identified yet.

Our approach focuses on understanding why your pain keeps returning rather than repeating the same symptom-based strategies. Even if you’ve “tried everything,” there are still likely contributing factors that haven’t been addressed yet.

What if previous imaging is normal?

Normal imaging is very common in patients with chronic pain. X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans are excellent tools for identifying structural damage—but they often don’t explain functional problems like movement restrictions, compensation patterns, or soft tissue dysfunction.

In other words, it’s possible for imaging to look normal while the body is still not functioning normally.

We focus on what imaging cannot always show: how your body is moving, adapting, and compensating.

What if other providers couldn’t find the cause?

This is something we hear frequently.

Different providers often look at different parts of the body or focus on isolated findings. When pain becomes complex or long-standing, the full picture is not always identified in a single approach.

Our evaluation is designed to step back and look at how multiple systems interact together—muscles, joints, fascia, nervous system, and past injuries—to better understand what is driving your symptoms.

Just because a cause wasn't found before does not mean there isn’t one.

What if I’ve had pain for years?

Chronic pain does not automatically mean permanent pain. When pain has been present for months or years, the body often develops compensatory patterns that keep symptoms going even after the original issue has changed or improved.

Long-standing pain often requires a different type of evaluation and a broader understanding of how the body has adapted over time. Many patients with years of pain still experience meaningful improvement once contributing factors are identified and addressed.

Do I need a referral?

No referral is needed to schedule an evaluation.

You can contact our office directly to book an appointment. If you have prior imaging, records, or treatment notes, you are welcome to bring them, but they are not required to begin care.

What if I’m nervous nothing will help?

That concern is completely understandable, especially if you’ve already been through multiple treatments without lasting relief. Many patients feel hesitant or skeptical when they first arrive.

Our goal in the initial visit is not to commit you to a long treatment plan—it is to help you understand what may be contributing to your symptoms and whether our approach is a good fit for your situation. Even if you decide we are not the right place for you, you will leave with more clarity about your condition than before you arrived.

How do I know if you can actually help me?

Every patient is different, and not all conditions respond the same way. Our focus is on identifying whether there are treatable patterns contributing to your pain and explaining those findings clearly so you can make an informed decision about next steps.

Is this going to be another temporary fix?

Our goal is not short-term symptom masking. We focus on identifying underlying contributors to persistent pain patterns so that improvements are more sustainable rather than temporary. Most patients who receive treatment have substantial, long-term improvement in their pain, with many having complete resolution of their chronic, on-going pain.

What if I’ve been told my pain is “just stress” or “part of aging”?

Pain should never be dismissed as something you simply have to accept without explanation. While stress and aging can influence how the body feels, persistent pain is usually more complex than a single cause.

We take your symptoms seriously and work to understand all contributing factors rather than attributing pain to one simple explanation.

How is this different from physical therapy or chiropractic care?

Many physical therapy and chiropractic approaches focus on specific regions of the body or symptom areas.

Our approach evaluates how multiple systems in the body may be interacting—especially in more complex or long-standing cases.

We often see patients who have already benefited from other forms of care, including chiropractic adjustments and physical therapy, but are still searching for lasting resolution.

What if I’m worried about cost since you work on a direct pay model?

We understand this is an important consideration. Operating outside of insurance allows us to spend more time with each patient and focus on clinical decision-making without external limitations.

Many patients choose to use HSA/FSA funds or self-pay because they are seeking answers after years of unresolved symptoms.

Curious how a direct-pay model will provide better treatment results? Click HERE for more information.

Will I be treated on the first visit?

In most cases, yes! While the first visit is focused on evaluation, understanding your history, and identifying potential contributing factors, much of the first visit is spent in treatment in order to maximize benefits to you and expedite the healing process.

How many visits should I expect before I start feeling improvements?

While every patient is different and no guarantee can be provided before a thorough evaluation is performed, most patients feel lasting improvements after just the first treatment session, with many needing only 3-4 total visits before their pain has resolved and limitations have decreased.

Is this treatment forceful, painful, or require popping of joints?

No, our treatment approaches are surprisingly gentle and are well tolerated by most people.

What if I've had this pain for too long for it to be helped?

The duration of pain has very little to do with how it can be resolved. Many times chronic pain persistes because there are facets of it that are not being fully discovered. Many times the true causes would not appear on imaging or blood labs because they are functional disturbances, not structural issues.

What if I can't commit to the treatment duration required right now?

Many patients only require 3-4 visits to achieve lasting improvements in their pain. The ideal treatment schedule is one treatment session per week until the issues resolve. If, however, you are not able to commit to that frequency of visits, adequate treatment can still be provided with weeks or months in between visits. Subsequent treatments usually pick up where the previous treatment left off, regardless of the amount of time in between.

LOCATION & HOURS

You can find us inside the Level Up Building

MONDAY 9-5, WEDNESDAY 9-5, FRIDAY 9-2

368 E RIVERSIDE DR #8, ST. GEORGE, UT 84790

Phone Number: (435) 319-0676

Fax Number: 866-493-3225

Essential Healing Center is located inside the Level up Building.
Essential Healing Center is located inside the Level up Building.
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(435) 319 - 0676
866-493-3225
368 E Riverside Dr #8, St. George, UT 84790

or you can visit and follow us on our social media accounts to keep you updated:

Copyright © 2024 Essential Healing Center

All Rights Reserved.

Brand Logo | Essential Healing Center
(435) 319 - 0676
866-493-3225
368 E Riverside Dr #8, St. George, UT 84790

or you can visit and follow us on our social media accounts to keep you updated:

Copyright © 2024 Essential Healing Center

All Rights Reserved.