Dr. Heather Cassese
PAST WORK
Dr. Heather was a certified EMT-basic during her education at ECU volunteering at Eastern Pines Fire & Rescue outside Greenville, NC. She also worked as a Sports Care Medical Attendant for ECU rugby, lacrosse, intramura soccer, and ultimate frisbee. She received her group fitness certification from the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) in 1998 and began teaching group fitness at ECU. She is a certified BodyFlow, BodyPump, aqua fitness, yoga, and Pilates instructor.
YOGA
Dr. Heather began teaching yoga in 2002 while living in Portland, OR. In 2011 she completed the "Live Your Yoga" teacher training program at the Yoga Garden of Apex in Apex, NC. This 9 month, 250 hour yoga program focused in Hatha Raja emphasized the history and philosophy of yoga, anatomy, pranayama, meditation, and all classical forms of yoga. This school allowed Dr. Heather to be registered with the Yoga Alliance at the 200 hour level. Dr. Heather has created her own yoga business and currently teaches yoga at CrossFit Surmount and a livestream class with the Yoga Garden of Pittsboro. She is also available for private and semi-private classes.
PERSONAL
In 2017, Dr. Heather received her CrossFit L1 certificate. She coaches CrossFit next door to her APX office at CrossFit Surmount. Dr. Heather enjoys teaching yoga and coaching CrossFit, is an avid runner, loves paddle boarding, snow-skiing, traveling, and staying active. She also enjoys painting and gardening. She lives in Chatham County with her husband Jim, daughter Elizabella, son Joden, and 2 Rottweilers, Molly and Taika who are frequently at the office. She dedicates her work to motivating others to take charge of their health and become more active.
Dr. Heather Cassese is a native of North Carolina growing up in Raleigh and graduating from Millbrook High School. She attended East Carolina University, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Physiology in 2001. Originally wanting to be a veterinarian, she also considered family medicine and orthopedics. After shadowing MDs for years she discovered the alternative when her sister injured her neck and sought chiropractic. This led Dr. Heather to persue a more non-invasive, conservative, and hands-on approach to physical medicine. She completed her doctorate from Western States Chiropractic College (now called University of Western States) in Portland, Oregon in 2005, where she received honors in clinics. She is National Board certified in chiropractic and physiological therapeutics. She is also certified in Active Release Techniques.
Dr. Heather has been licensed in NC since 2005. She became the owner of Back to Basics in February 2008. Over the years, through experience, furthering her education, and following her desires she has taken Back to Basics from a straight chiropractic office to a whole health wellness practice. She has treated patients as young as 2 months and as old as 95 years. By incorporating nutrition, whole food supplementation, herbal treatments, yoga, and meditation with chiropractic she truly feels she is living her passion of helping others to live a more fulfilling life.