Know Your Neighbor
Steven Goodstein had a breakthrough moment while studying at Long Island’s New York Chiropractic College in the early 1980s. He was learning the technique known as applied kinesiology, when he looked to alleviate the chronic pain his father had been experiencing in his elbow for five years.
After conducting tests, Goodstein found that some of his dad’s joints were out of alignment.
“So I let applied kinesiology guide me to the proper correction of the elbow joint and in about a week his elbow pain was gone and I was hooked,” Goodstein recalled. “I was convinced this is what I wanted to do, the direction I wanted to go in.”
Today, Goodstein is on the short list of Westchester chiropractors who practice applied kinesiology, which evaluates the structural condition and functional status of the body. It is one of about 100 types of chiropractic techniques used by practitioners today.
Goodstein has now been in practice in Westchester for more than 25 years. Although his main office is on North State Road in Briarcliff Manor, Goodstein recently returned to his professional roots on May 1, with the start of Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon office hours at the Westchester Center for Natural Health on Bedford Road in Pleasantville. For about 20 years, until he moved to Briarcliff in 2007, Goodstein’s operated out of the Rose Hill Shopping Center in Thornwood.
“This is good, (to) get back to the Mount Pleasant area, see some of the old patients and get on to some new ones,” said Goodstein, who also has a satellite office at the Saw Mill Club in Mount Kisco.
While many people may associate the need for a chiropractor with relieving back pain or some other chronic discomfort, any area of the body can be affected by stress to the nervous system or the spine, Goodstein said. Certainly back pain is a common reason to seek out help, but those with digestion disturbances, allergies, recurring headaches, fibromyalgia and fatigue and myriad other symptoms can be helped through chiropractic work, he said.
In fact, most people with pain, and sometimes even their doctors, can’t figure out why there’s discomfort. Some solutions to chronic are as simple as properly adjusting the height of their computer screen, getting orthodics for their shoes or removing their wallet from the back pants pocket, which can place them off kilter.
“It’s the insidious little traumas that pile up over time,” Goodstein said. “Most often, I see people come to me with chronic pains and they have no idea what caused it. It’s easy when you can relate it to a trauma or an injury from five years ago–I slipped down a flight of stairs and since then my back’s killing me. Most people don’t have that story.”
When Goodstein, 52, a Long Island native, first went off to Syracuse University he didn’t imagine that he’d become a chiropractor. At the time, he was studying architecture but the dean of the university’s school of architecture bluntly told Goodstein that he couldn’t draw and should choose another profession.
Goodstein, who was forced to abruptly shift gears midway through college, earned his undergraduate degree in biopsychology. He became interested in alternative medicine, although he had already been exploring health care options outside of traditional medicine.
“I had never been to a chiropractor before,” said Goodstein, who is married with three children. “I had the idea, the philosophy of doing a drug-free approach and so I interviewed a couple of chiropractic students and chiropractors and changed by mind, particularly to go in this direction.”
He graduated from New York Chiropractic College in three years and began searching for work in 1984. Shortly afterward Goodstein arrived in Westchester. A chiropractor in Somers who specialized in working with triathletes needed an associate and he worked there before starting his own practice in Thornwood in 1986.
Goodstein is also a certified clinical nutritionist and a certified personal trainer and is a healthcare wellness consultant who does work with corporations and various organizations.
The best part of what he does is helping people who’ve been in agony and seeing them walk out of his office pain free after a series of treatments.
“It’s wonderful to see that, working with the hands and a non-medical solution,” Goodstein said. “That is the most satisfying part of this work.”
For more information on Dr. Steven Goodstein, visit www.drgoodstein.com. He can be seen by appointment only and can be reached at 914-432-7117.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
