Ulcers, the most common stress ailment of the 1950s, have long been displaced by back pain – the ubiquitous disability that haunts a large portion of America’s population in the 21st century. Many who suffer from lower or upper back pain are told it’s due to stress, herniated discs, carrying too much weight, lifting improperly or performing a repeated sports activity incorrectly. Few want surgery as the solution, but many need help, and they go to Dr. Phil Striano, at Hudson Rivertowns Chiropractic health Care, in Ardsley.

An Irvington resident, Dr. Striano, has been practicing for 15 years with the simple philosophy, “The patient should exhaust all the least invasive options before surgery.” But, many of Dr. Striano’s patients come to him post-surgery, often with nerve damage and other debilitating symptoms. He seeks to find the neurological cause of such physiological problems and makes chiropractic adjustments to help the bones and soft tissue return to the proper motion and position.

First, Dr. Striano looks at a patient’s MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan, the X-rays and sonograms, basically any film or digital record of the ailment. As he said, “Radiology is like artwork, 10 different doctors can have 10 different opinions of what they are seeing.” And, depending upon what he sees is wrong with his patient’s spinal discs, and if the treatment is appropriate, he might recommend the DRX9000, a computerized spinal decompression system that looks like traction to patients but functions quite differently. Lying on a comfortable padded “table”, the machine pulls but then relaxes the spine, so that no protracted muscle spasms occur. The angle is adjusted depending upon which disc(s) need treatment. Patients often fall asleep during the 24 minute treatment, and a feedback loop adjusts treatment throughout, in case of movement.

Manipulation under anesthesia (twilight sedation) might be suggested for serious adhesions that form around muscles, if a patient cannot tolerate the pain that accompanies chiropractic adjustment but needs full range of motion reinvigorated.

And, now that golf season is in full swing, Dr. Striano will be obtaining his Golf Fitness Training Certification at the Titleist Performance Institute. He is becoming expert in breaking down an individual’s basic golf swing to its component parts, finding the faults, and creating stretches and muscle strengthening exercises to insure that joints execute the proper swing. Once a golfer identifies an injured or tight area that is preventing peak performance, rehabilitation can lead to a proper functioning swing.

Whether performing safely and to maximum effect on the golf course is your goal, or feeling better by healing degenerative physiological conditions, Dr. Striano’s aim is to help the body heal itself from within.