Dr. Pavloa “Dr. Pav” Santamaria
Owner and Chiropractic Physician
Dr. Pavloa “Dr. Pav” Santamaria is a board certified Chiropractic Physician graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic Florida. Before furthering her education at Palmer, Dr. Pav graduated from the University of Delaware where she received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Exercise Physiology.
Dr. Pav realized the importance of understanding soft tissue injuries, so she enrolled in a 500-hr therapeutic massage therapy course. Dr. Pav became a licensed massage therapist and utilizes this approach when treating patients with soft tissue dysfunction from various traumas and injuries, more specifically auto accident victims.
If you have been in an auto accident, you have 14 days to be examined by a doctor. Dr. Pav provides a thorough examination and focuses on the treatment and diagnosis of such injuries. Hospitals will check vital signs, make sure there are no life-threatening conditions and release you with pain medication. They normally do not treat the underlying improper musculoskeletal biomechanics that can and do lead to future pain and do not correct structural or soft tissue damage. Dr. Pav and her team have therapies designed to help you overcome these pains.
Dr. Pav’s neurologically-based approach to healthcare has helped people with a variety of issues including: neck and back pain, herniated and bulging discs, headaches, and other seemingly disparaging conditions. Utilizing the knowledge from her undergraduate degree, and related coursework, she blends her chiropractic treatments with lifestyle changing advice, providing her patients with all the tools they need to get the most out of their treatment. Dr. Pav has taken post graduate seminars through Cox’s Flexion/Distraction technique including cervical and lumbopelvic assessments to effectively treat herniated/bulging disc, spinal canal stenosis, and degenerative discs, to name a few.
Dr. Pav is a certified Webster technique practitioner in Tampa Bay and has helped many pregnant women achieve optimal birth outcomes. This technique was discovered by Dr. Larry Webster, founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA), in 1978. It is a specific pelvic adjustment for pregnant women to help balance pelvic muscles and ligaments and potentially improve birth outcomes. The first woman who came into his practice and had this technique applied, was pregnant with a breech baby. Shortly after beginning care, the baby turned to a head down position. Although Dr. Webster continued to offer this adjustment for all pregnant mothers in his practice, for those presenting in a breech position, he claimed a 95% rate of these babies assuming a more optimal and safe positioning for birth.
In the latter part of 2018, Dr. Pav became certified in Frequency Specific Microcurrent or FSM. This treatment allow pain management doctors to utilize specific frequencies to change pain, function and even structure in a wide variety of clinical conditions such as: reducing inflammation, treating fibromyalgia, nerve, joint and muscle pain and dissolving or softening scar tissues. FSM has also helped patients with inflammatory conditions such as asthma, irritable bowel, cardiovascular disease and diabetic neuropathies. Dr. Pav is one of the only certified practitioners to utilize FSM in the Tampa Bay area.
In her free time, Dr. Pav enjoys spending time with her chirokid living the simple farm life.