Copyright Marisa Wiedl Photography
By Susan Elise Campbell
Because he takes a non-surgical, non-drug, holistic approach to wellness, Dr. Joseph Gulyas of Northeast Spine and Wellness said he dismisses the one-pill-fits-all approach of traditional medicine. Rather, he looks at each patient as they truly are: a unique individual with any combination of physiological, nutritional, lifestyle, and other issues that bear on health.
“We can’t just follow the old fashioned way of going to the doctor, prescribing a pill, and being told to come back in six months,” said the New York licensed doctor of chiropractic who has served the Capital District for more than 35 years.
While some pains and complaints may be easy to diagnose, such as spinal misalignment due to a fall, Dr. Joe, as he is known by patients, said “the stuff underneath the iceberg can sink the boat.”
Dr. Joe was born in New Jersey but his professional training and career was “everything Saratoga,” he said.
Summers he worked at SPAC and at the race track. He was an aide in the ER, worked at a massage school, and was an EMT. He got his undergraduate education at Skidmore College and is a 1987 graduate of New York Chiropractic College.
His diverse experience and training informed the process Dr. Joe built for examining those icy layers below the patient’s surface and customizing a plan to help get ship-shape.
“We follow a doctrine of doing a thorough case history and examination, as every practitioner should do, and a structural evaluation,” he said.
“Like a car, if you hit a pothole it may shimmy to the left or to the right,” he said. “So we look at alignment first and then metabolic factors, such as a rash, that may be present.”
Everything is related to the spine, he said, so in his role as chiropractor with a holistic point of view, Dr. Joe takes the time to examine the connections between the structure and the chemistry of the body.
Next he digs into diet and supplementation, plus lifestyle factors such as exercise and sleep habits that can manifest in different ways. Dr. Joe said health care today is beset by environmental complications, such as the quality of food, the air, and water.
“People die daily from malnutrition and the CDC has admitted is has to get a handle on the problem,” he said. “People are eating but the food isn’t real. It has little nutritional content.”
He said that the CDC estimates at least 60 percent of chronic illness could be solved with good nutrition.
Dietary counseling has been part of his practice from the beginning, and Dr. Joe conducts free nutrition seminars on average six times a year. He has an account with the supplement manufacturer Standard Process, which is a family owned company that relies on practitioners like Dr. Joe to pair the right nutritional supplements with the patient’s health needs.
And then there is stress.
“The body is always talking to you, but we just don’t listen,” he said. “Then someday we may be forced to deal with an illness.”
Dr. Joe said he encourages patients to pay attention to their lifestyle choices and visit him on a regular basis, not once a year like a typical medical appointment. But many people resist that, thinking that if they go to their chiropractor once they will be cured.
“That would be a miracle,” said Dr. Joe. “If you don’t take the time, you’ll never know when you get your health to the top, so to speak.”
A wellness plan may include chiropractic adjustment, acupressure, massage, laser therapy, decompression traction, and other techniques that address the whole patient, not just the symptoms.
“Patients get better because we adjust the spine and feed the body with the correct nutrition through supplementation and diet,” he said.
The main goal at Northeast Spine and Wellness is avoiding drugs of any kind. Dr. Joe said back pain is a five billion dollar industry and pain medications are readily available. With many people on multiple prescriptions, they are more likely to suffer serious side effects like liver disease.
“Medical physicians are not experts on longevity,” he said. “Their average lifespan is about 63 years.”
The challenge of a wellness business is running the back office, “something you don’t learn in chiropractic college or medical school,” he said. All but a small percentage of chiropractors are in business for themselves with a small staff to schedule patients and do the accounting.
“To be in this field you have to be willing to serve people and get good people to help you,” Dr. Joe said. “You are making an investment in yourself, not to get rich.”
Northeast Spine and Wellness is located at 306b Grooms Road in Clifton Park. Visit welladjustedforlife.com for more information.