David Perna, D.C.

Have you ever wondered what actually happens when a player on your favorite sports team has a knee injury? Why is this so common, and why is the knee more vulnerable than the ankle or hip? One reason is simple anatomy. Unlike the hip, the knee doesn’t have a deep socket, meaning there is less [..]

Whiplash and headaches are a very common duo that frequently occur after motor vehicle collisions. The good news is that most headaches that arise immediately following a head injury (or shortly thereafter) usually improve after minutes or days. But unfortunately for some, these headaches may persist over the longer term and even become a permanent [..]

Do you frequently feel sleepy throughout the day? Do you doze off soon after you sit down? Do you feel “restored” when you wake up in the morning? How much sleep is REALLY needed and how important is it? Let’s take a look… The short answer is that sleep is REALLY important! Prior to the [..]

The Posterior Cervical Sympathetic SyndromeThe Syndrome of Barre-LieouThe blood flows to the brain through two arterial systems:Anterior Circulation (branches from the internal carotid arteries)Posterior Circulation (branches from the vertebral arteries)The dividing line between the Anterior and Posterior circulation of the brain is the Posterior Communicating Arteries.The diameter of the blood vessels is controlled by post-ganglionic sympathetic efferent neurons (1). As [..]

According to the National Institutes of Health, circadian rhythms include physical, mental, and behavioral changes that roughly follow a 24-hour cycle, responding largely to environmental light and darkness. Most living things possess this trait including animals, plants, and many microbes. So how does this relate to low back pain? Recent studies reveal that the intervertebral [..]

We’ve all seen people working on laptops in airports, airplanes, coffee shops, on the train, walking down the street…you name it! So how does this affect one's neck, and does it contribute to headaches? A 2016 study compared females with posture-induced headaches vs. healthy, age-matched female control subjects to see if there was any significant [..]

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) has a bad reputation for coming and going, sometimes for years, depending on many factors such as 1) age; 2) profession (fast, repetitive, with forceful gripping); 3) general health (diabetes, hypothyroid, and inflammatory arthritis (like rheumatoid), pregnancy, on birth control pills, or taking hormone replacement therapy); 4) hobbies (worse if it’s [..]

When you ask people to point to their hip joint, it’s very interesting to see the vast number of places where people point—the low back, side of the pelvis, front of the pelvis, in the groin, and more! If one were to draw a line between the back and front pocket, that’s basically the hip [..]

Whiplash is caused by the rapid back and forth motion that occurs in the classic rear-end collision, in some sports, and during slip and falls. The initial symptoms associated with whiplash often include muscle tightness and pain. But where is the pain coming from? First, the mechanism of injury that is involved in a rear-end [..]

The focus on aerobic exercise is all around us. You can’t pass a magazine stand without being inundated with cover pictures of people walking, running, cycling, or doing some form of exercise. So the question begs, is walking good enough? Let’s take a look! A GREAT plus about walking is that it can be done [..]

There are 18 chiropractic colleges in the United States:Cleveland Chiropractic College - Kansas City, KSD’Youville College -  Buffalo, NYLife Chiropractic College West - Hayward, CALife University - Marietta, GALogan University - Chesterfield, MONational University of Health Sciences - Lombard, ILNew York Chiropractic College - Seneca Falls, NYNorthwestern Health Sciences University - Bloomington, MNPalmer College of [..]

Patients often ask their doctor of chiropractic, “What type of mattress is best for my back?” Between the many types of mattresses available on the market—foam, coiled, water, as well as combinations of all these, not to forget further options between soft, medium, or firm—where do we begin? All of these variables make finding the [..]