Meet The Team
Dr. John Pietila (Dr. J.) grew up in a small town in northern Minnesota. He was very adventurous and enjoyed hunting, biking, swimming and working on his uncle’s farm. He was a natural athlete playing basketball, football, and running track. But, after a fall from a pile of hay bales, he was left with chronic low back pain that severely limited his physical abilities. Not knowing what else to do, his mother took him to the local chiropractor. After just three treatments he was already back to his old self… almost. In college he became a champion decathlete, but found his back pain limited his ability to hurdle. He turned again to chiropractic care and although beneficial, seemed to be a never-ending long-term care plan. Dr. J was intrigued by the results and decided to pursue a career in chiropractic, but knew there must be a better way.
Dr. J attended Northwestern College of Chiropractic and graduated in 2002. He then continued his education with the Carrick Institute of Graduate Studies, graduating and receiving a diplomate from the American Chiropractic Neurology Board in 2006. Incorporating everything he learned from being an athlete, his chiropractic education, and functional neurology he was able to develop the NeuroTarget System. A system designed to reveal and target the barriers to healing, allowing more efficient and effective healing.
Now Dr. J focuses his practice on unraveling the complex puzzle to promote healing by identifying and correcting breakdowns of the nervous system, fuel delivery, and joint mechanics. The nervous system controls muscles, which support and protect joints. Fuel delivery supports neurological function and healing of injured tissue. Joint manipulation and therapy activate and change the brain. Rather than using his adjustments to put a bone back in place he uses them to create neurological feedback to change the brain and how it controls the body. This was the edge he was looking for because he finally discovered a better way to treat his patient’s conditions without a never-ending long-term care plan. Dr. J was able to prove the effectiveness of the NeuroTarget System by working with a professional soccer team in Florence, Italy. The highlight of his career was being chosen, because of the success of the NeuroTarget System, for the medical staff of the Italian National Soccer Team and traveling with them to Brazil for the confederation cup in 2013 and again for the world cup in 2014. Now he is constantly immersed in the ever-expanding field of functional neurology, looking for new and better ways of improving the nervous system’s control of the body.
Dr. Engesether attended the University of Minnesota for her undergraduate studies in human biology from 1998-2002. During this time, she began her work in the field of chiropractic and gained much experience helping to serve a very large and diverse patient population. It was also during this time she developed her passion for functional neurology and a deep respect of the need for integrated healthcare. Dr. Engesether completed her Doctoral studies at Northwestern College of Chiropractic in 2006 and earned her Diplomate of the American Chiropractic Neurology Board the same year, becoming a licensed Chiropractic Neurologist. Dr. Engesether has logged over one thousand hours of study in functional neurology including ADD/ADHD, autism, dyslexia, vestibular rehabilitation, movement disorders, electro-diagnostics, neurochemistry, and neuro-immunology in addition to others.
Dr. Engesether has been with NeuroTarget Chiropractic since 2008 where she began perfecting her use of the NeuroTarget System. Other than Dr. J, the technique’s developer, she is one of the only people who are qualified to teach the NeuroTarget System.
In addition to caring for patients with injuries, applying injury prevention and performance optimization techniques using the NeuroTarget System, Dr. Engesether also focuses on metabolic rehabilitation. She enjoys helping patients reach a better quality of life and in many cases helping to reverse metabolic conditions including thyroid disorders, hormone imbalance, diabetes, adrenal dysfunction, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, migraines, gut dysfunction, and numerous functional neurological conditions.