EMERALD OAK
EMERALD OAK
"Welcome to the new age of Western medicine, where patients partner with their health care provider to achieve optimal wellness."
- Emerald Oak
Your Health, Your Hands
Personalized Wellness Plans
Meet with Dr. Jake, DO to discuss your health goals and design an individual wellness plan.
Celebrate Your Progress
Nursing 360 +
Our certified Registered Nurses are here to cheer you on and coordinate your care, every step of the way.
Heal Mind, Body, & Spirit
Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy
Performed by our OMT credentialed Doctor of Osteopathy.
Office located 10 minutes west of the Woodlands.
House calls available by appointment.
About Us
We offer a truly unique approach to medicine.
At Emerald Oak, we specialize in whole body health, working with individual patients to create treatment regimens that best serve their values and health goals.
Co-founder, Chief of Medicine
Dr. Jake, DO
"From a young age I had many family members who required routine medical intervention. This sparked my passion for human health and to become a physician so I could help the ones I love. I encourage you to take your health into your own hands. Together we can work toward a healthier, happier future."
Co-founder, Director of Nursing
Caitlyn Symonette, rn, bsn
CCRN, TCRN, CEN, CPEN
"After 6 years of working in critical care, trauma, and emergency medicine, I am overjoyed to be part of an organization whose primary focus is intervening before a patient becomes too sick to survive, much less thrive. I feel fortunate to have the passion and clinical expertise to help people create lifestyles that will keep them out of the hospital and in the best shape of their lives."
Heal Mind, Body, & Spirit
Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy
We encourage your body to heal itself by ensuring that your nerves, muscles, and bones are optimally aligned and properly balanced.
60 and 90 minute appointments offered in office and at your home.
Dr. Jake, DO
Your Physician
Dr. Jacob Fischer, DO graduated from the Western University of Health Sciences in 2020. He then served a medical internship in Saint Petersburg, Florida where he trained in integrative functional medicine, surgery, intensive care, pulmonology, and emergency medicine at Saint Petersburg General Hospital in south Florida. Additionally, he trained in cardiology at Salem General Hospital and in nephrology at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.
Furthermore, Dr. Jake has conducted research in reproductive neuroendocrinology, metastatic breast cancer, and circadian rhythm biology as it pertains to disease. Throughout this research and years of clinical practice, a common thread has arisen - medical intervention will never rival lifestyle modifications when treating illness. The primary causes of morbidity and mortality in America today are heart attacks, strokes, cancer, heart failure, diabetes, high blood pressure, and psychological ailments. All of these conditions respond best when treated with a whole food, plant-based diet and other lifestyle interventions, not medications.
Currently, Dr. Jake is Chief Physician of Emerald Oak Wellness, where he develops wellness plans for patients with the intention of minimizing their need for pharmaceutical and surgical interventions. As an osteopathic physician, Dr. Jake is passionate about empowering patients to be intentional with how they live every aspect of their daily lives - from nutrition to exercise to personal communities.
Dr. Jake, DO
Virtual and office visits are available 24/7 by appointment.
Caitlyn Symonette, RN
Your Director of Nursing
Caitlyn Symonette graduated from the University of North Florida in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, magna cum laude. She then began her career as an Emergency Department Nurse at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Caitlyn treated patients of all ages and soon became certified in adult and pediatric emergency nursing, going on to become a clinical preceptor and adjunct educator with Baptist's Nurse Residency Program. While continuing to work in the ER, she learned from patients from all walks of life with a vast array of medical conditions.
As a traveling emergency department nurse, specializing in trauma, Caitlyn spent 4 years working in 8 hospitals from New England to the border of Mexico. During this diverse chapter of her career, she witnessed the power of one common denominator - preventive medicine. Caitlyn began to research the subject in international medical journals, and transitioned to a heavy focus on nutrition and physical fitness while advising patients on their health in the emergency setting.
Currently, Caitlyn Symonette is Director of Nursing at Emerald Oak Wellness, where she leads Nursing 360, oversees implementation of wellness plans, and develops new strategies to enhance the quality and availability of primary care, education, and community outreach in the Houston area.
Caitlyn Symonette, RN
CCRN, TCRN, CEN, CPEN
Nursing 360+ consultations are available 24/7 by appointment virtually and in office.
Nursing 360 +
Our triple threat approach to seamless support
Enjoy access to our Registered Nurses via Zoom, phone call, and in office 24/7 by appointment
Track your progress with personalized nutrition and exercise regimens.
Meet biweekly to discuss achievements and strategize opportunities for improvement.
*Nursing 360+ consultations are available 24/7 by appointment. Office located 10 minutes west of the Woodlands.
Osteopathy
Your being is made up of Mind, Body, & Spirit and is capable of self-regulation and healing.
By bringing these 3 systems into balance, we can work together to treat any health condition.
Aligning Mind, Body, & Spirit
OMT is performed by a licensed Doctor of Osteopathy. Osteopathic physicians undergo identical training to that of traditional MD physicians, with an additional 200+ hours of clinical practice in manipulation.
By reducing tension and strain patterns, we will work together to ensure that your nerves, muscles, bones and vessels are adequately aligned and properly balanced. This is the first step in removing hinderances from your body's ability to perform, and in encouraging your body to heal itself.
60 and 90 minute appointments offered in office visits or at your home.
Serving The Woodlands, Pinehurst, Tomball, and the greater Houston area.
Techniques
Acupressure
Acupressure consists of pressing acupuncture points to reset neural impulses that are causing spasm of muscles, vasculature, and nerves. This relieves tension and restores flow to energy channels throughout the body.
Acupressure is similar to acupuncture, but therapy involves fingers instead of needles to target problem areas.
While acupuncture is a wonderful method, we find that we achieve equivalent results without the need for puncturing the skin.
Balanced Ligamentous Tension
BLT (not bacon, lettuce, tomato) is a gentle osteopathic technique that aims to reset ligamentous proprioceptors - nerve sensors in your ligaments that tell your body where it is in three dimensional space.
This restores tensegrity of the joint and allows for proper vascular, lymphatic, and nerve flow to the affected area.
This technique is particularly useful for people with moderate to severe pain who need gentle body balancing.
Counter Strain
Counter strain uses passive body positioning of tight or spasmed muscles and dysfunctional joints to relax those muscle groups.
You will be amazed at how a tenderpoint (spot of your body that is painful or ticklish to touch) will disappear entirely and allow tension to melt away.
Cranial Sacral
Did you know that the human skull is made up of 22 individual bones? Each of these bones oscillates 8-14 times per minute, facilitates the flow of cerebrospinal fluid throughout the skull and spinal cord.
This flow is vital for washing away cellular waste and bringing fresh nutrients to the brain, much in the same way the heart brings fresh blood to the rest of the body.
When these bones get into a dysfunctional rhythm, this flow becomes restricted and can lead to headaches, brain fog, attention deficits, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. In more severe cases, this lack of nutrition to the brain can manifest in any part of the body that is connected to the brain and spinal cord.
Guided Stretching
Stretching is one of the most important things you can do at home to keep your body aligned between appointments.
While we all likely learned some form of stretching in primary school, there are many specialty stretches that isolate specific muscle groups while allowing other muscles to relax.
This specific targeting allows for more fascial unwinding and a greater therapeutic effect - fascia is the connective tissue webbing that wraps around our muscles.
This specific targeting allows for more fascial unwinding and a greater therapeutic effect - fascia is the connective tissue webbing that wraps around our muscles.
High Velocity Low Amplitude
While this method can be utilized, it is only used when patients ask for it specifically as it can be startling to those who have not had it before.
HVLA or "cracking" is an osteopathic technique used to relieve movement restrictions by applying a quick force that travels a short distance. HVLA therapy aims to restore a more "normal" range of motion within a joint and alleviate pain.
This technique works best when paired with other soft tissue techniques that help align ligaments and tendons to help prevent joints from slipping back into their old "bad habits".
Lymphatic Drainage
The lymphatic system is part of your immune system. It consists of a large network of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, lymphoid organs, lymphoid tissues, and lymph (the clear fluid).
Strains in the body throughout the fascia, muscles, and internal organs can cause kinks in these delicate lymphatic vessels and decrease their flow. This decrease in flow leads to swelling, poor drainage of cellular metabolites, and decreased immunity.
There are a few different ways to open up these vessels, and they are all very gentle as these vessels can be smaller than a single hair in diameter.
Muscle Energy
Ever feel like you are carrying a lot of tension in your muscles? Common places are your jaw, shoulders, fists, and pelvis. Muscle energy techniques utilize Post Isometric Relaxation and Reciprocal Inhibition.
Post Isometric Relaxation is the decrease in muscle tone experienced after a brief period of isometric contraction of that muscle.
Reciprocal inhibition describes the relaxation of muscles on one side of a joint to accommodate contraction on the other side.
By using these two physiological phenomena, we will soothe tension and realign muscles and nerves.
Myofascial Release
Fascia is a thin web of connective tissue that surrounds and holds in place every organ, blood/lymph vessel, bone, nerve, and muscle. When stressed, fascia tightens up to help maintain stability.
This tension can lead to impingement of nerves and vessels, which decreases the flow of nutrients and freshly oxygenated blood to the muscles, organs, and bones.
Myofascial release is a gentle osteopathic technique that aims to unwind these fascial tensions.
Spinal Inhibition
Spinal inhibition is an osteopathic manipulative technique in which the fascia around the spine is softened in order to decrease the sympathetic (fight or flight) output from the sympathetic nerves, which arise from this area.
These nerves create tension throughout the body and can affect the internal organs as much as they stimulate muscles.
This release is especially beneficial for people who have gastrointestinal issues, elevated or irregular heart rate, and breathing difficulties.
Still Technique
Andrew Taylor Still is the founder of osteopathy and his "signature move" resets nerves, mechanoreceptors and proprioceptors, thereby allowing the body to return to a state of balance.
This technique involves moving a joint through its range of motion with compression and traction to reset guarding reflexes formed by surrounding muscle groups.
Visceral Manipulation
~70% of your immune system is in your gut
~95% of your body's serotonin (your "happiness neurotransmitter") is also produced in your gut
These facts make this technique beneficial for whole body health, not just what's going on in your abdomen.
Visceral osteopathy involves gentle manipulation of the abdominal and pelvic organs to allow for increased blood flow, regulation of GI motility, and balancing of your enteric nervous system.
Philanthropy
Helping Others Get Healthy
Your service costs are donated directly to Space of Love Health
Fighting the pharma epidemic with whole foods and lifestyle medicine
Space of Love Health is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides global access to health and wellness resources.
It is a lofty goal to change the health of our world, but with your help we can bring the power of knowledge back to the people and minimize our reliance on traditional Western medicine.
Your contribution helps fund a place where people are equipped to take their health into their own hands, and helps make this education more affordable for those who need it most.
If interested in sponsoring an underserved member of your community to receive our services, we invite you to submit a contact form or email us directly at [email protected]
Serving The Woodlands, Pinehurst, Tomball, and the greater Houston area.
Contact
Upon receipt of your inquiry, we will reach out to schedule a consultation.
Thank You
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