Texas Spine and Sports Therapy Center

Dr. Bart Atencio

Clinic Director


Dr. Bart Atencio D.C. (Clinic Director) has been in practice for over 15 years. He is dedicated to providing patients with the latest non-surgical options and advancements in technology to help them fully recover and avoid more invasive procedures.

Meet the Team

Scott W. Spann, M.D.

Born and raised primarily in South Carolina to a Marine Corp family, Dr. Spann went off to high school in Jacksonville, Florida to pursue his goal of making the Olympic Swimming Team. From there, he started college on a scholarship at Auburn University. While there, Dr. Spann was named SEC Swimmer of the Year twice, was the Auburn Athlete of the Year, won three individual NCAA titles, and won swimming’s Kiputh Award as the Most Valuable National Swimmer.

After his sophomore year he transferred to the University of Texas following his coach, Eddie Reese, in 1978. After the mandatory red shirt year, Dr. Spann led UT to its first finish in the top 10 in modern times with a 2nd place in NCAA team standings, and as captain his senior year led UT to its first National Championship. He also captured four NCAA titles while at UT in both individual and relay events.

After college graduation, he married his college sweetheart, Beth, started their family in the ensuing years, and has three wonderful children in Austin, Alexi, and Scott Jr. All have attended UT also on swimming scholarships. Alexi and Scott Jr. were also Pan American medalists, making them the only father, daughter, son combination in history to do so.

From UT, he went to medical school at the University of South Carolina, where he was selected as president of the State Student Section of the American Medical Association.

Partnership and Orthopaedic Residency ensued at Ochsner Foundation in New Orleans. Concomitantly, he enlisted with the US Army Medical Corps and eventually retired with honorable discharge as a Major.

Upon completion of residency, a fellowship in spine surgery was performed while in Atlanta.

Knoxville, Tennessee was the first private practice for Dr. Spann, and by his third year he was elected Chairman of Orthopaedics of the largest hospital system in east Tennessee.

He was then recruited by the world renowned Frank Noyes in Cincinnati to start the Spine Care Institute. Here he participated in some of the FDA trials to bring new spinal products to market. Some of these products are precursors for today’s technology.

After two years, Dr. Spann and his family decided to invest their remaining lives in Austin. He has been back here since 1997, is the founder of Westlake Orthopaedics and one of the initial founders of Westlake Hospital.

Significantly, Dr. Spann has continued to attempt excellence in all his endeavors both personally and professionally. He is frequently a part of the many pioneering fronts in his field of spine surgery.

Dr. Spann sustained a major spinal cord injury in 2005 due to a biking accident. Initially quadriplegic, through excellent surgery, rehabilitation, caring from others and most importantly God’s grace, he has been able to resume his meaningful goal of trying to improve others’ lives using not only his knowledge of the field, but also his own personal experience as a patient in need.

Hobbies include tending to his garden, cycling, swimming, yard work and cheering on his children, as well as an avid interest in hunting and scuba diving.


Dr. Jonathan Shaner

As an Austin native, Dr. Shaner both enjoys and understands the active lifestyle lived by many people in central Texas. His goal is to get patients out of pain and back to the activities they love as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Dr. Shaner was born in Austin and grew up in Georgetown. He then attended Texas Tech University where he graduated cum laude, and from there decided to pursue a career in chiropractic and physical medicine. He went to Parker University in Dallas, Texas, and completed a clinical rotation in Bogota, Colombia.

Dr. Shaner is certified in Active Release Technique (full body and nerve), graston technique, and RockTape techniques. He is also well-versed in corrective exercise, strength and conditioning, and nutritional consulting.

In his spare time, Dr. Shaner enjoys going to the gym, practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and spending time outdoors (preferably with dogs).


Joseph Hagen, Physician's Assistant

Joseph Hagen is a Certified Physician's Assistant, Originally from Nevada where he attended The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) for his undergraduate degrees in Community Health Sciences and Biology. In his Junior year at UNR he did a semester abroad in the Amazon jungle studying microbiology in the town of Iquitos Peru.  Joseph later attended Touro University where he received his masters degree in Physicians assistant studies from The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).

In February 2017, Joseph Hagen joined Westlake Orthopaedic Spine and Sport, in Austin Texas as a Surgical Physician Assistant with a primary focus on spine. He is dedicated to providing evidence based patient-centered care. Joseph works with patients in an outpatient, inpatient, perioperative, operative and postoperative settings. Joseph is the first assist to Dr. Scott Spann.

In his spare time, Joe enjoys traveling, downhill mountain biking, competitive CrossFit, hiking, skiing, learning and spending time with friends. He lives in Austin with his fiancé Sandi and their two dogs Roo and Kopen.

WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?

We treat patients neurologically, orthopedically and metabolically!
No stone is left unturned to determine the exact cause of your health condition!

Neurological Treatments Based on Specific Neurological Testing:

Oxygen therapy: Oxygen is fuel for your brain and nervous system. Your brain and nervous system need two things to survive…..fuel and activation. Fuel comes in the form of OXYGEN AND GLUCOSE. By using oxygen, we will help you heal faster. By using exercise with oxygen therapy (EWOT), we can increase firing to brain. By increasing firing of brain, we help MANY chronic conditions. 

Brain-Based Therapy (BBT) - We use specific brain-based therapies:

  • Vibration Therapy: Vibration fires the back part of the brain called the cerebellum. One of the functions of the cerebellum is control of the spinal muscle.
  • We may also use auditory, visual, olfactory, and caloric stimulation to increase firing of brain.
  • Laser therapy: We use the High Frequency LED light, APLight in our office which is the highest powered laser on the market. Laser therapy helps heal tissues.

Orthopedic Treatments

  • Non-surgical Spinal Decompression: NSSD creates a negative disc pressure and helps to remove pressure off of the nerve. It also provides a slow stretch of the muscles which fires up the spinal cord to increase firing of brain.
  • Active Release Technique: Soft tissue therapy to break adhesion formation. Used for overuse injuries and myofascial pain.
  • High Tech Rehabilitation: We utilize a high tech device that improves Range of Motion, Coordination and Balance and Strengthens the 180 Deep Spinal Muscles.
  • High Tech Electrotherapy that allows us to block nerve pain, improve nerve function, reduce pain or spasm.

Metabolic Treatments Based on Specific Lab Panels:

By using specific blood tests such as a thyroid panel, complete metabolic panel, lipid panel, and a CBC (with auto differential), we can assess your thyroid, adrenal, and gut function. All three can be affected with chronic health conditions. By addressing any problems with your thyroid, adrenal glands or gut function, we can help you to heal faster. We can check your blood glucose levels since glucose and oxygen are needed by the brain to function properly.

We may also test to see if you have an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease is where your immune system attacks a particular area of the body so we test for specific thyroid antibodies to determine IF you suffer from an autoimmune condition.

We can check for gluten antibodies, tissue antibodies such as myelin (fatty sheath around the nerves) antibodies, cerebellar (back part of the brain controlling balance, coordinated movement, and spinal muscles) antibodies and we can test your adrenal glands via an Adrenal Stress Index or ASI as many thyroid sufferers also suffer from adrenal problems. We can run a test for H. Pylori to determine any problems related to the gut function.

We test for decreased brain neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are vital for proper brain function.

We check hormone panels to determine if the patient suffers from low testosterone or low estrogen/progesterone levels.

Finally, we may need to test for inflammation in your system by testing homocysteine levels and C-Reaction protein. Many patients suffering from chronic health conditions suffer from inflammatory processes.

Once we have run the necessary tests to determine YOUR specific condition, we can successfully treat you via proper neurological and metabolic protocols.