“What kind of music is Funk Neuro?” with Dr. Stephanie Barbakoff of Oculus Brain Centers
This week of our blog will cover a conversation with Dr. Stephanie Barbakoff of Oculus Brain Centers (OBC). Dr. Barbakoff has her Doctorate in Chiropractic and completed her Diplomate of the American Chiropractic Neurology Board. Establishing OBC just last year with her partner, Dr. Benjamin Terrano, Dr. Barbakoff serves the greater San Diego community and holds intensive treatment protocols for cases outside of the San Diego.
Originally from New York, Dr. Barbakoff earned her bachelors in science with a pre-dental focus, but worked in her family’s automotive business out of college. Having stepped into multiple roles in the business, she spent the majority of her working hours sitting at a computer. Dr. Barbakoff knew she wanted to help people, but didn’t really know how to transition into more of service-based profession.
To make a long story short, Dr. Barbakoff suffered radicular neck pain from a car accident and landed in a local chiropractor’s office, “I really didn’t know what a chiropractor was - all I knew was that I was in a car accident and I had some nerve pain down my arm and I just had like, low energy. I got adjusted for the first time and I just felt amazing. I felt like myself again.” Dr. Barbakoff liked the service-aspect of the profession, she loved the manual therapy, and appreciated results made from a non-invasive approach. To get a better feel of the profession, Dr. Barbakoff took a job working in a chiropractor’s office.
“It was find of bad decision on paper, now that I look back at it. I had this comfy, safe job in my family’s business with a competitive salary, benefits - anything you would want. I worked part-time making minimum wage and I absolutely loved it. I saw people getting better! Like, people coming in with canes and walkers then forgetting them behind them when they were leaving the office.” She packed up her things and moved out west to start chiropractic school. 3 days into school, she meets Ben Terrano, who introduced her to Funk Neuro.
Functional neurology, or Funk Neuro, is a specialized postdoctoral diplomate program that focuses on complex neurological cases conditions and brain injuries. “When Ben invited me to Funk Neuro club, I thought it was a music club! Like, funk music! After attending a few meetings, I realized that it answered all my questions - how to measure progress, how to track progression, how to use metrics as a clinical indicator. Learning about all these different areas of the brain that I had never heard of and diving into what they do, I felt so dumb and I LOVED it. I felt like I was in over my head and there was just SO much to learn.” Dr. Barbakoff began her functional neurology diplomate in her second quarter of chiropractic school, balancing both programs concurrently. “In chiropractic school, there are so many options for clubs or specialties. I specialized early and eventually was known as the neuro intern. I still have colleagues from school that call me up for my opinion on special cases.”
Want to know more about functional neurology? Click here.
Dr. Barbakoff accepted an offer to work in a functional neurology based practice in Santa Barbara right out of school. “Clinically, it was what we (she and Dr. Terrano) wanted. Logistically, not so much. The compensation was not that great, but the role forced us to practice almost independently - we learned how to run our own practice, which exams to do, how to manage procedures, etc. We left that practice knowing exactly what we wanted to do.”
One of the biggest misconceptions about chiropractors and future chiropractors is the idea that budding careers are readily available right out of schooling - the pathways for new chiropractors are quite limited. The title of “doctor” is typically associated with a higher level salary, but this is not the case for individuals freshly out of school. Most chiropractors become business owners - it takes time to develop and build a practice, reported salary data is often skewed, and the product is constantly changing. “We always knew that we wanted to come to San Diego because we both have strong, established networks here. It’s just a bonus that the weather is awesome and there’s so many things to do.”
Dr. Barbakoff and Dr. Terrano opened OBC just last year in central Mission Valley, San Diego. Located in the backyard of the former home of San Diego Chargers, SDCCU Stadium, OBC is in close proximity to iconic pieces of the San Diego community. Serving the greater San Diego community, their practice is easily a 20-30 minutes commute to anywhere in San Diego county.
OBC’s logo emphasizes one of their key philosophies of assessment and treatment - the eyes are the window to brain function.
When speaking about target population and describing the types of people they help at OBC, Dr. Barbakoff had this to say, “We’re typically a last resort for a lot of people. People utilize what their insurance covers first - physical therapy, other chiropractors, conventional medicine, etc. The people we help, there’s no silver bullet for their cases. There’s a time and a place for every type of clinician, we just fill a very specific and underserved population. Also, people are frustrated with the modern medical system. They don’t want to wait weeks for a 15 minute appointment with their doctor, just to get prescribed medications with weird side effects. Again, there’s a place for everything, but the people we see need a good amount of digging and have exhausted all other options.”
The duo behind OBC are in a unique situation where both founders have been in a romantic relationship for the majority of their chiropractic careers, professional and schooling. “Ben (Dr. Terrano) and I have always had this weird thing where, we knew we wanted to build this practice and tackle it as a team. We’ve always been all business with a side of pleasure and play. Yes, we went through a bit of a honeymoon phase and all that, it’s time to work now. The fact that we’re doing it together and we share the load really helps bring out the teamwork aspect of our relationship. Most of our networking and marketing is organic - meaning we just talk to people like people. We’ll take a typical date night activity like trying a new brewery or restaurant and we’ll talk about what we do and why do it with people there. Genuinely being new to an area and plugging into the small business on a face-to-face level is only natural, in my opinion.”
Dr. Barbakoff sat me down and pulled up the My Maps feature on Google Maps. “We literally have mapped out every single brewery, restaurant, medical provider, hike, beach, etc., that we have some connection with. We’ve categorized them by type of business, whether or not we’ve connected with them yet, or if it’ll be a new relationship. It’s an easy way to explore new parts of the city, stay connected with established relationships, plan lunch or coffee meetups, and it also serves as a referral source - both for professional and recreational purposes.”
When asked if she had any last comments, Dr. Barbakoff responded,”We just want to play an active role in the community of San Diego. We want to build a practice that can help and give hope to those complex neurological cases that have no where else to go. We want to inform the population about their brains, their symptoms, and their options. San Diego is home, we want to do our part in taking care of it.” To help give back to the San Diego community, Dr. Barbakoff as started the San Diego Chronic Pain Support Group on Meetup. Her goal is to provide options and resources for the general population who may not be happy with their quality of life and want a bit more direction. The group currently has 2 events planned for February, with many more on the way.