Dr Shannon Lipburger

My Passion

Formally know as Shannon Casinto. She has worked on the Central Coast since 2013. Prior to that, Shannon was working and living in Sydney. The coast has stolen her heart and now the Central Coast is her home. The beach lifestyle brings her grounding joy.

I am a chiropractor who is constantly developing stability, strength, mobility, flexibility, and coordination of my injured back as a result of multiple motor vehicle accidents.

In 2013, on my way to work, I was exiting a roundabout when an absent-minded driver plowed the front of my car.

I sustained whiplash and for the first time in my life, I am suffering from headaches!

In the search for answers, I developed a a personal interest in neck posture and headaches and enrolled into Masters of Research at the University of Newcastle with interests in “neck posture” and “headaches”. I soon found out neck posture and headaches are not as simple as it seems.

“Choose something common and you will find not much is known about it! And so it is with ‘Headache’!”

(Blau and McGregor, 1995)

Then in May 2015, I was heading to the University of Newcastle and found myself in another motor vehicle accident.

This time I was rear-ended and sustained whiplash, lower back pain and now anxiety to driving.

Ironically, I’m a chiropractor dealing with back pain.

The excruciating back and neck pain prevented me from working for a while. The ease of simple activities in my daily life felt like they were unattainable, such as, to sit, stand or even sleep without difficulty.

I had to reduce my work hours, modify my working posture, and had a range of treatments to manage my back and neck limitations.

Together with the treatments, I experienced the benefits of constant specific movement and realised that:

“Exercise is not just my addiction and also my back and neck pain medication.”

From personal experience, I believe in the dynamism of fitness and have a passion for wellness for back rehabilitation (post-injury) and pre-habilitation (injury prevention).

As a practitioner and researcher, I am constantly staying up-to-date with the latest high evidence-based literature in the areas of sport, posture, headaches, and all alike.

Headaches

The main forms of headaches are migraine, tension-type headache, and cervicogenic headaches.
Their characteristics often overlap, thus making the diagnosis challenging.

A study published in Manual Therapy has shown that misdiagnosis may occur in more than 50% of the cases!

The correct diagnosis allows for appropriate management and treatment of head pain.

The World Health Organisation ranked headaches in the top 10 most disabling conditions worldwide and within the top 5 most disabling for women.

Dr Shannon has completed her third degree, Masters of Human Physiology (University of Newcastle) with special interest in neck pain/discomfort and headaches.

See Dr Shannon's thesis below:

1. Stovner, L., Hagen, K., Jensen, R., Katsarava, Z., Lipton, R., Scher, A., Steiner T, Zwart, J. A. (2007). The global burden of headache: a documentation of headache prevalence and disability worldwide. Cephalalgia, 27(3), 193-210.

2. Hall, T., Robinson, K. (2004). The flexion-rotation test and active cervical mobility – a comparative measurement study in cervicogenic headache. Manual Therapy, 9(4), 197-202.

Volunteer

My very first chiropractic patient was a 97-year-old lady!

She walked in with her walking stick and left the clinic without one!

Her treatment consisted of constant joint mobilisations and gentle adjustments.

As the year went on, she decided to withdraw from her physical activity, which was lawn bowls.

I asked “why?”, she paused…then quietly replied, “everyone is younger than me now”.

Sadly her friends at lawn bowls had passed away and she didn’t want to continue her active pursuit.

Consequently, her stability and strength slowly declined.

It was at this point, that I realised that sustaining an active lifestyle is one of the many factors that affect the biopsychosocial model (i.e. biological, psychological, and social factors) in the process of healing and preservation of health.
At that point, I wanted to do something…however, I didn’t know how.

Then in November 2013, an idea of encouraging an active lifestyle within the community was established!

"Get Moving Erina" was born!!!

This is a free community walking initiative in Erina, Central Coast, NSW, Australia.

To encourage the elderly in the retirement village and those of the Central Coast region, and develop friendships.

NOTE: Unfortunately, due to the pandemic 2020, "Get Moving Erina" has been put on hold until further notice.

Find a walking group near you.

There are walking groups in local communities across Australia.

Missionary Trip

In 2012, Shannon went on a missionary trip to provide free chiropractic and medical support to the people of Siliguri, North-West Bengal, India.

The chiropractic initiative raised funds of over $50,000!

The monetary support was distributed among the communities, several schools, and orphanages.

Furthermore, the funds contributed towards equipment, medical supplies, interpreters, and jeeps to get us to remote locations.
All the Chiropractors paid for their own travel and personal expenses.

The experience was priceless!

Between the blackouts whilst in the middle of shampooing my hair in cold water, and holes-in-the-ground toilets, everyday was a new day to learn.

The language and cultural barrier were a few things that I had to get used to.

I witnessed a range of neurological disorders, injuries, and medical problems, which we are fortunate to not have much of these conditions/disorders in Australia.