About Us

Truth be told, when we opened our doors over 40 years ago we never would have imagined to be where we are today.

As a chiropractic office that wants to honor our patients the way they deserve to be honored, we saw a trend emerging. Many people come to our office seeking help for their chiropractic needs - but many of those same people had other health concerns as well. Things like diabetes, heart disease, chronic inflammatory conditions, and gastrointestinal issues have unfortunately become commonplace, and are not typically going to be impacted through traditional chiropractic care.

So instead of watching those patients walk down the path of life-long disease management, we expanded our focus.

In addition to offering exceptional chiropractic services, we utilize science-based, evidence-guided, personalized health care for those types of issues that standard chiropractic care doesn't typically address. We place the focus on nutrition optimization, and watch health concerns become a thing of the past.

Truth be told, when we opened our doors over 30 years ago we never would have imagined to be where we are today.

As a chiropractic office that wants to honor our patients the way they deserve to be honored, we saw a trend emerging. Many people come to our office seeking help for their chiropractic needs - but many of those same people had other health concerns as well. Things like diabetes, heart disease, chronic inflammatory conditions, and gastrointestinal issues have unfortunately become commonplace, and are not typically going to be impacted through traditional chiropractic care.

So instead of watching those patients walk down the path of life-long disease management, we expanded our focus.

In addition to offering exceptional chiropractic services, we utilize science-based, evidence-guided, personalized health care for those types of issues that standard chiropractic care doesn't typically address. We place the focus on nutrition optimization, and watch health concerns become a thing of the past.

Who We Are

Why we stand out in the crowd.

Our History

Dr. Stephen J. Hill founded Hill Chiropractic (now Hill Functional Wellness, more on that in a bit) in 1983, just a few short months after moving to Arizona from Minneapolis, Minnesota where he graduated from Northwestern College of Chiropractic.

We were originally located near Baseline and Dobson in Mesa/Tempe, and moved to our current location on Southern and 101 a few years later. Dr. Hill has always strived to be a resource to his patients that spans way beyond the therapeutic limitations of a 'typical' chiropractic office. He has an innate desire to see TRUE health manifest in his patients' lives, and oftentimes it requires a more comprehensive scope to accomplish.

Around 2008, Hill Chiropractic expanded its treatment capabilities to include functional wellness and functional nutrition services to fill that void. We utilize the gold standard of blood, hair, stool, and urine testing to uncover the underlying nutrient deficiencies or toxic burdens driving disease production - and we equip our patients to address them at their root. We expanded our identity, and found it apt to change the name of our practice to reflect that expansion: Hill Functional Wellness.

Fast forward to 2011, we brought our second Dr. Hill into the fold. After graduating from the same chiropractic school as his father, Dr. Stephen, B. Hill joined the practice to continue the legacy and healing tradition that has been established since the first day of business in 1983.

Both Dr. Hills practice traditional diversified chiropractic treatment as well as functional wellness treatment, and our office is equipped to assist you with a wide variety of resources for a wide variety of health ailments.

We have helped thousands and thousands of patients find health, and we have done so driven by a deep-seeded desire to create independence and reduce the need for us over the long-term. Our patients love it, and it frees us up to help even more people in need.

Our Core Values

Plain and simple - a world without the need for doctors would be a better world.

Health care comes in many forms. What the United States has come to recognize as standard health care is proving to be inadequate at best, and more likely than not because the focus is misguided at its core.

In this model, emphasis is placed on "management" of disease instead of true prevention. We wait for diseases to emerge so we can treat them instead of understanding how to prevent their emergence.

At Hill Functional Wellness, our promise to each patient that walks through our doors is that every health care action taken is predicated on the idea that you can become health independent. That means your body has the potential to get and stay healthy, ultimately and eventually with little to no intervention from us.

The path to health independence looks different for everyone, but taking ownership of your incredible body is the first step. We promise to help you get there.

We believe that health care administered without proper assessment is all-too-often unsuccessful. Even with the best of intentions, failing to understand the nature of a problem can lead to confusion and misguided treatment.

Proper assessment involves looking at the patient objectively. This means that for a chiropractic care plan, we take x-rays, perform exams, and functionally assess the problem instead of relying solely on the symptoms that a patient feels. And in the case of a functional wellness patient, we test the patient's blood and hair markers as well as assessing lifestyle factors to understand the nature of a disease state instead of making assumptions or guesses about what is going on.

The product is greater success in addressing the root cause of a patient's problem. This saves time, energy, and money over the long term, and helps to maintain long-term success.

A doctor-patient relationship is a two-way street. Very often, though, as a patient, accountability only goes one way - from doctor to patient.

We hold as a deep-seeded value the importance of reciprocation of that relationship - holding your doctor accountable. The way this is accomplished is by keeping measures in place during a treatment plan that allow us to objectively monitor your progress and ensure that the goals you want to accomplish are, in fact, being accomplished.

This requires open lines of communication as well as continued, consistent guidance at every step of the way.

Most of the health care administered in the United States is diagnosis-centered. At first glance, this might seem normal and good, but when you look beneath the surface a much different story can be deciphered.

You've probably seen commercials for medications that promise a 'solution' for a specific problem. "Do you have this problem?", "then ask your doctor if this medication is right for you!" It is a health care business model that places emphasis on treating each symptom with a pill, in the hopes that that pill will alleviate the symptom.

But guess what. This health care model is a pipe dream for true health.

Regardless of the fact that every human being is unique and diverse in millions of ways, this diagnosis-centric system simply categorizes each person by sets of symptoms. Add this to the fact that most of the medications administered do not typically address the root cause of disease, and it leaves the typical patient without a clear answer as to why they have their problem and how they can get rid of it instead of just managing the symptoms indefinitely.

We refuse to conduct Hill Functional Wellness in this way.

Our sole focus for each patient is to discover what makes them unique through personalized analysis, and formulate a treatment plan that addresses their body's specific needs. The lesson here: it doesn't matter what you call it (diagnosis) if you don't know why it's there in the first place. Patient-centric care takes each person's uniqueness into consideration, instead of just labeling them with a diagnosis and treating it with a 'magic recipe'.

We promise to do all we can to uncover why you are feeling the way that you do, and to address your specific needs.

About the Office

All the good-to-know details.

Contact Details:

2143 E. Southern Ave.
Tempe, AZ 85282Click for directions to the office!

480-897-1788Click to call the office!

frontdesk@hillfw.comClick to email the office!

Office Hours:

Monday: 6:30AM - 12:00PM and 1:00PM - 4:00PM
Tuesday: 6:30AM - 12:00PM
Wednesday: 6:30AM - 12:00PM and 1:00PM - 4:00PM
Thursday: 6:30AM - 12:00PM and 1:00PM - 4:00PM
Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Out of Office

Frequently Asked Questions

We've got answers 🙂

Becoming a Patient

We do not bill primary insurance carriers or Medicare. For those patients who have 'out of network' chiropractic benefits through their health insurance company, we can provide a detailed receipt of services that you can submit to your insurance provider directly.

The one exception to this rule is in the arena of automobile accidents. We do work with auto insurance companies in the process of recovering from an auto accident.

Great question. The short answer is YES! Our functional wellness services are able to be administered remotely - testing can be done at a LabCorp location near you, and any consultation communication can be done via the phone or video chat.

Chiropractic care cannot be administered the same way, for obvious reasons. These services must be conducted in-office.

We have many, many out of state patients. Don't let it stop you from receiving the treatment you need!

Chiropractic Care

We have helped a wide variety of problems that our patients have struggled with over the years. Here are some of the more common issues:

Headaches
TMJ pain
Neck pain
Mid back and ribcage pain
Low back pain
Sciatic/radicular pain
Auto Accident injuries
Sports injuries (sprains, strains)

These are the most common issues that present to our office, but we also have helped a wide variety of other musculoskeletal concerns. Shoot us a message with your issue, and we'll let you know if we are equipped to help!

Well, we can say that there is a lot of variability in the approach that each chiropractor can take to patient care. We can't promise that you have a redemptive experience at Hill Functional Wellness, but we do believe that when the approach is patient-centered, the treatment is skillfully administered, and outcomes are measured to hold us accountable, bad experiences are much less likely to occur.

We're pretty cool, too. And that helps 😉

When dealing with structural or mechanical problems in the body, oftentimes consistency is key.

If tight muscles in your neck are leading to non-efficient movement of your head and neck, things like headaches and neck pain can result. Improving the function is necessary to address the painful symptoms. Chiropractic treatment specifically addresses these things.

Now, you can take that to mean that consistency at the chiropractor's office is key, but we believe that the more important thing to keep at consistently is what happens at home - that will decrease the need to come to the chiropractor repeatedly, which we equip our patients to do!

Adjustments shouldn't typically hurt. There are situations, though, when temporary soreness can result - similar to what it feels like after a first workout in a while. Adjustments help restore joint movement in the spine, and if those stubborn joints have been immobile for a long time, restoration can mean temporary soreness.

Our patients learn very quickly that the more relaxed you can be during an adjustment, the more comfortable it will be.

Think about this: what if you went to a mechanic, told him your car's symptoms, and he immediately started guessing what was wrong without even looking under the hood. Chances are, if you're going to a skilled mechanic he will be right a good percentage of the time. But error is much more likely when a proper assessment is not done.

This is exactly why we utilize x-rays in our assessment process. No two people are exactly alike, and looking at the structure of your spine allows us to see the traits that are unique to you. From there, we can make specific recommendations to address your needs much more accurately to help you over the long-term.

Functional Wellness Care

If we scroll through the hundreds of patients that have gone through this program in our office, you'll find countless examples of problems - both long-term and short-term - improving. Oftentimes nutrient deficiencies or toxic burden will present as nondescript, low-grade, chronic "I just don't feel good/right" symptoms, but we have many examples of specific improvements from conditions like:

diabetes and metabolic diseases
thyroid issues
chronic inflammatory conditions
liver disease
digestive issues
cardiovascular disease
cognitive impairment
obesity

This is truly just a surface-level list. When you take a whole-person approach to addressing any health concern, you will see beyond the diagnosis and uncover the why behind its existence.

If you have specific issues and would like to know if we can help, reach out on our contact page!

It's super easy!

When you sign up for testing, you will receive a comprehensive symptom survey, a LabCorp blood requisition form, and a DoctorsData hair collection kit.

You can download the symptom survey on our website or grab a copy in the office, and fill it out at your convenience.

With the LabCorp blood requisition form, simply be prepared with a 12 hour fast to go into any LabCorp location you choose to have your blood drawn.

Lastly, you can either follow the directions at home for your hair collection kit, or have our staff help you with the hair sample collection process.

Once the testing is done, that clinical information is sent directly to us, and we will contact you when it's ready!

The difference can be seen in the scope of investigation, the way that the data is analyzed, and the recommended action steps.

Scope of investigation - our baseline data collection is much more comprehensive than a typical 'annual' blood assessment at most primary physicians offices. This mostly has to do with authorization by 3rd party payers.
Data analysis - we analyze health data very dynamically. Instead of looking at a lab number as a binary good/bad, there is immense benefit to understanding it along a scope of function. Sometimes a number may not be in a clinical or diagnostic range, but it is trending in that direction. If you catch it early, you save yourself the trouble of dealing with a future disease onset.
Action steps. Plain and simple - most health care recommendations made at a primary care doctor's office will be in the field of prescription medication. While that may be indicated in certain circumstances, we have seen that utilizing nutrition/supplementation is a much more lasting and powerful intervention to maintain and improve health.

This program is not a substitute for your primary care doctor - but many of our patients utilize Functional Wellness as a first line of defense.

The perspective that our Functional Wellness program brings to the table is personalized recommendations. By analyzing your specific health information, we are able to customize an action plan specifically for you.

You can expect these recommendations to be things like dietary changes, supplement recommendations, lifestyle measures to optimize your environmental exposure to chemicals and heavy metals, and education to help you understand the importance of each recommendation.

No two people are exactly alike, and therefore no two people's recommendations will be exactly the same. This is the beauty of the program and the reason why so many of our patients find success.

Typical testing intervals are every 3-6 months. We usually recommend testing your blood every 3 months, and you hair every 6 months.

Each patient is different, but when you are implementing lifestyle, nutritional, and detoxification strategies, it is very important to understand how your numbers are changing as you go. When you retest, you learn about how you are improving and can continuously pivot in response to those changes!

Patient Resources

You can place a supplement order either by calling our office at 480-897-1788 to make an order over the phone, by emailing the office with your list of needed supplements and quantities, or by coming into the office to speak with our staff and order in-person.

If we do not have your needed supplement(s) in stock at the time of your order, it should be in within 7-10 days. Our staff will contact you when it arrives!

If you ever have a question about how to conduct an at-home test, always remember you can call and talk to our staff to walk you through the process over the phone. This is probably the most fail-safe way to mitigate mistakes.

Secondly, the instructions included within the hair test and the stool test are comprehensive as well. They are step-by-step walkthroughs of the testing process, and oftentimes reading through those instructions carefully will help you accomplish the testing successfully.

The first bit of advice is to acknowledge that making an impact on a chronic disease or state of dysfunction can be HARD. This is not to say that you need to fixate on the difficulty; but it is worthwhile to note that just about every patient in our office who has had success has had to overcome some sort of difficulty.

And next, remember that you can absolutely succeed.

Settle for nothing less.

We, as an office, have walked many, many people through the proverbial weeds in order to help them with their health problems. In fact, we have earned a reputation for being able to help those who haven't found help elsewhere.

We have created a useful handout, focused on improving brain health, that gives 6 actionable steps you can start with to get moving in the right direction. Yes, it specifies brain health, but these suggestions are a great primer for overall health as well. Getting started with these will help ease the transition to taking more of the steps outlined in your report.

Also, never hesitate to reach out to our office if you would like one-on-one time with Dr. Hill to talk through any struggles you may be having. We are here for you!

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