Chiropractic Care and Functional Medicine in Israel with Dr. Reuven Rosenberg

Now an established chiropractor and a board-certified clinical nutritionist in Israel, Dr. Reuven Rosenberg’s unorthodox career path was a winding one. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Rosenberg first attended the School of Visual Arts for Graphic Design. After graduation, this path evolved into dreams of breaking into the film industry. As a young man with a musical background, he found success working on MTV videos and the television program The Equalizer. In this interview with Top Doctor Magazine, Dr. Rosenberg shared his fascinating background story and some refreshing perspectives on functional health, the human body, and practicing abroad.

About Dr. Christopher Lee

At the age of 30, Dr. Rosenberg decided it was time to build the foundation for professional growth. With a keen fascination with the health of the human body and a passion for interdisciplinary education, Dr. Rosenberg chose to go back to school. He moved to Dallas, Texas, and graduated from Parker University five years later. In Dallas, he would not only begin practicing as a chiropractor, but he also had two children with his wife while becoming religiously observant. The Rosenberg family then moved to New York City, where Dr. Rosenberg would practice for five years. On a family vacation to Israel in 2005, Dr. Rosenberg encountered his rabbi from Brooklyn, whom he describes as a very wise and kind man, and with whom he had a life-changing conversation. Six months after that talk, Dr. Rosenberg and his family relocated permanently to Israel.

“It was a lot of work to start from scratch again at age 41. It’s been a lot of work.” After 15 years in Israel, it seems the efforts have paid off, as he experiences no shortage of patients or professional name recognition, locally or in the United States. Many come to Dr. Rosenberg’s private practice in Ramat Beit Shemesh for a wide variety of reasons. Dr. Rosenberg has completed several post-graduate courses in functional neurology and applies that education to many cases, including people affected by Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, & ADD/HD.

Functional Medicine Gives People Hope

After decades of helping people, Dr. Rosenberg took a thoughtful and personalized approach to give his patients the best care possible. For example, he told Top Doctor Magazine about a 28-year-old female patient with ten years of struggle with hypersomnia, which leaves the patient feeling excessive sleepiness throughout the day and unable to sleep at night. The patient was using Ritalin and coffee to manage this problem, but it was very obvious to all this was not sustainable. Dr. Rosenberg helped this patient with his process of testing neurotransmitters, hormones, and manual muscle testing. Dr. Rosenberg speaks from personal experience, “I myself at 21 had chronic fatigue, and I saw a chiropractor… and I didn’t know why at that time! But he helped me with chiropractic and functional medicine. And that is what people are looking for.”

Dr. Rosenberg takes it further. His practice uses the principles from functional neurology and combines them with clinical nutrition and functional lab testing. After 15 years in Israel, Dr. Rosenberg has been able to help countless people who were consistently told their situations were unsolvable: ailments such as insomnia, weight, male and female hormone issues, headaches, migraines, sleep apnea, autoimmune issues, chronic pain, and diseases of the digestive system. Dr. Rosenberg has a novel way of explaining his sophisticated work to the casual layperson, “To me, it’s all about the state of the nervous system,the state of the brain, and the internal terrain. The brain controls the whole body.”

Chiropractors Remove Interference in Your Body

With the surrounding geopolitical tension in Israel, extreme stress is a significant issue that is quite different from most Americans, which is why Dr. Rosenberg seems to have his work cut out for him. “Many Israeli patients haven’t even heard of a chiropractor, but chiropractors have been around since 1895…and really under various names going back to ancient Egypt.” Dr. Rosenberg continues, “Chiropractors from the early days recognized that the body is a self-healing, self-regulating organism. Our main goal is to remove some type of interference…something that is interfering with the transmission of information in the body.”

Every chiropractor has their way of doing things, but they all work towards the same goal. Dr. Rosenberg prides himself in his unique approach of interlacing functional medicine and applied kinesiology, as not many chiropractors can do that.

Managing COVID-19

Dr. Rosenberg was ahead of the pandemic by creating an online Functional Medicine program. “I’ve had the idea for quite some time.” Functional Medicine works very well in a telemedicine model. o serve more people, Dr. Rosenberg has enhanced his approach by collaborating online with a sleep coach. “I proposed to him that we could complement each other.” The work continues to evolve even after 21 years of experience.

COVID-19 presented several challenges initially. “Chiropractic is hands-on work.” The Alternative Medicine division of the HMO that Dr. Rosenberg practices in part-time was shut down for several months but eventually reopened. These days, thanks in part to Israel’s expeditious vaccination efforts, his private practice business has not only returned to pre-pandemic levels but has significantly increased. “I’m a chiropractor. People aren’t coming to me for COVID. They are coming for neck and back pain. But they may also benefit from enhanced immune function in the process of treatment.” With the effects of the pandemic yet unfolding, his work at the Integrative Health Center in Ramat Beit Shemesh will continue to be invaluable in the long-term care and ongoing relationships between Dr. Rosenberg and his patients.