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Dr.
Thomas Baur,
New Life Spine Center
Getting His Life in Line
by Rod Brandt |
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"As he was studying other careers, Tom happened to come across an article about chiropractic care. He read how the first patient was deaf and got his hearing back through chiropractic treatment.”
“It was also at this point in his 'journey'’ that Tom began to draw closer to God. On the first day of chiropractic school, a fellow student invited Tom to join his Bible study."
Tom Baur understands humility.
Humility is growing up with 12 siblings and accepting, graciously,
a childhood of hand-me-downs. Humility is giving up the school
basketball team to take a job to help the family pay the
bills. Humility is serving as your school’s janitor
at age 13, cleaning up after the kids you were just in school
with that day. It’s giving your time – and a
lot of it – to a community-wide health program, just
because you believe in it. It’s choosing God’s
will for your life rather than your own.
Do the same thing over and over and it begins to define
you. In Tom Baur’s case, it’s taking the path
less traveled, doing what is right and necessary because
it’s right and necessary, and expecting no recognition.
Dr. Baur is a chiropractor and proprietor of the New Life
Spine Center. His office at 1331 Conant St. in Maumee is
just the latest stop along what he believes is a divine path. “God’s
got me on this journey,” Dr. Baur said.
It’s a journey that has taken him from his roots in
southern Ohio, to Bowling Green State University where he
majored in education and met wife Kristen, to Atlanta for
a career change and back to northwest Ohio.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Tom was the eighth Baur child.
His dad worked at Proctor & Gamble and the family made
do on that income. The Baurs were able to send their kids
to private Christian schools, but each had to work various
jobs to pay for their own tuition.
Early in his schooling, Tom showed an aptitude for the sciences. “As
a child I just kind of had a default that I would be a science
teacher,” he said. He also took an interest in the
human body, fueled in part by a back injury he suffered as
a freshman in high school.
Tom’s career began just as he always thought it would – as
a teacher. He worked hard to inspire and motivate his students. “I
poured myself out,” he said. “Every day I had
a quote, something positive” for them. But it didn’t
last long, as Tom found himself professionally frustrated. “I
thought, ‘I can’t do it anymore. I’ve given
it everything,’” he said.
As he was studying other careers, Tom happened to come across
an article about chiropractic care. He read how the first
patient was deaf and got his hearing back through chiropractic
treatment. “I said ‘Wow, if that happens, if
anything like that happens, I’ve not only made people
feel better, I’ve changed somebody’s life,’” said
Tom.
Tom and Kristen moved to Atlanta in 1997 so he could enroll
in chiropractic school. “My wife is an awesome woman,” said
Tom. “She was willing to do that.”
It was also at this point in his “journey” that
Tom began to draw closer to God. On the first day of chiropractic
school, a fellow student invited Tom to join his Bible study. “I
got into this Bible study and chiropractic school and I thought, ‘Man
this is the real life,’” he said. “Every
day I learned Christianity as intently as I did chiropractic.”
After graduating, Dr. Baur started a part-time practice
and taught at the chiropractic school. A year and
a half later, a fellow chiropractor invited him to
join his practice in Toledo. Tom took the offer and
he and Kristen moved back to Ohio in 2003. As he gained
more experience and grew in his faith, Dr. Baur felt
called to have his own practice where he would have
more freedom to share that faith. 
Once he made the decision to go it on his own, things just
fell into place. Within two months, he had office space and
all of the necessary equipment. He also made a fortuitous
discovery – the walls in his newly acquired building
were already lined with lead, a requirement for x-rays.
He did no advertising and was careful not to tell his existing
patients that he was leaving to open his own practice. Yet,
when the New Life Spine Center opened in January 2006, 50
patients came through the doors the first week. Tom had hoped
for five.
He received a call out of the blue from a woman inquiring
if he could perform the Cox technique, a specialty that requires
a table with decompression capabilities and someone who knows
how to use it. Dr. Baur was one of only two doctors in the
area certified to perform the technique. “And, I had
just gotten (the table) that day,” he said.
How did all of this happen? Some might call it luck. Perhaps
it was just rewards for living a life of humility. Tom believes
it was his willingness to take a journey, to seek God and
the call placed on his life. “I feel like that was
God, what I call His manna,” said Dr. Baur.
A believer in holistic care – body, mind and spirit
working together – Dr. Baur warns against gimmicky
solutions. “I’ve been involved with a lot in
health care and a lot of it these days is tricking the body
into doing something,” said Dr. Baur. “One thing
I know as a chiropractor is that you cannot fool the wisdom
of the body.”
When given the opportunity to take that message to the world,
Dr. Baur jumped at the chance. He volunteered to coordinate
Healthy Toledo, a program designed to help people take control
of their health through supplementation, exercise and changing
their eating habits. The health results among participants
in the program have been “phenomenal” and a book
is being written to replicate Healthy Toledo internationally.
At the same time, the New Life Spine Center is thriving
and Dr. Baur is believing for great things. “I truly
think – and I’m not being boastful – miracles
will be heard of this place,” said Dr. Baur, “just
because of the honor I’m trying to give God. It’s
not about me.”
True to form, they are words spoken in humility.
New Life Spine Center
Dr. Tom Baur
1331 Conant St.
Suite 104
Maumee, OH 43537
Phone: 419-724-5433
Email: docbaur@aol.com
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