Three Pillars for Lasting Health With Dr. Alex Hilario

What if the fastest way to feel better isn’t another pill, but a smarter way to move, align, and listen? We sat down with Dr. Alex Hilario — award-winning chiropractor, former powerlifter, and Westchester, NY care leader — to unpack three practical keys that help real people beat chronic pain and reclaim energy: chiropractic care, nervous system optimization, and avoiding the traps of long-term medications and poor posture. His take is refreshingly grounded: start with the safest, least invasive options, and build only as needed.

We dig into why the nervous system is the body’s first responder — and why spinal motion matters for far more than a stiff back. Dr. Hilario explains how nerve irritation can masquerade as digestive issues, reproductive changes, or sleep trouble, and how restoring joint motion sends cleaner signals to the brain. 

You’ll hear a candid micro story about catch-and-release fishing that doubles as a metaphor for sustainable health, plus clear guidance on care frequency, progress markers, and why pairing chiropractic with strength and mobility builds lasting results. If you’ve wondered whether posture can improve, whether nerve health affects organ function, or how to stop chasing symptoms and start changing patterns, this conversation gives you a step-by-step way forward.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a quick review so more people can find these tools. Want more? Tap the links in the show notes to connect with Dr. Hilario and explore our recommended resources.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Dr. Hilario and His Mission
• 1:09 Chiropractic as a Health Foundation
• 2:24 Personal Health Journey and Care Ladder
• 2:51 Micro Adventure: Catch and Release Lesson
• 3:38 Why the Nervous System Comes First
• 4:32 Pills, Pace, and Hidden Costs
• 4:41 Medications and Posture Pitfalls
• 6:08 Reading Body Signals Beyond Pain
• 7:09 Tech Neck, Adaptation, and Arthritis
• 7:34 Can Posture Be Reversed?
• 8:57 Preparedness Sponsor Message
• 10:24 How Often to See a Chiropractor
• 11:21 Final Advice and Where to Connect
• 12:18 Magnesium Spotlight and Affiliate Offer

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:04

Can three simple strategies unlock a healthier you? Dr. Alex Hilario, a celebrated chiropractor from Westchester County, New York, believes so. With over 21 years of experience, he's helped hundreds of thousands live pain-free. This former power lifter who held 13 U.S. Power Lifting Association state records. In this episode, Dr. Hilario shares three keys to better health chiropractic care, nervous system optimization, and avoiding the pitfalls of medications and pore posture. Let's dive in. Hi friends, welcome to the new normal big life podcast. We bring you natural news and stories about nature that we hope will inspire you to get outside and adventure. Along with a step-by-step plan that will practice what you've learned and create your own new normal and live the biggest life you can dream. I'm your host, Antonette Lee, the wellness warrior. Let's dive into today's transformational topic with Dr. Alex Hilario. Dr. Hilario, welcome to New Normal Big Life.

SPEAKER_02: 1:07

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09

Let's dive into the three keys to better health with key number one, harnessing the power of chiropractic care. Your awards for top chiropractic services in Westchester, New York, which I used to live in Westchester for a while, highlights the importance of this topic. Why is chiropractic a foundation for health?

SPEAKER_02: 1:30

It's essential because we have our nervous system, which controls everything. Every organ in your body is controlled by your nervous system, and it's encased in your skull and your spine. So when there's issues going on in the spine, that's going to affect your nervous system, which in turn is going to affect different organs, different aspects of your health.

SPEAKER_00: 1:50

And you have kind of a unique experience that some clinicians don't have, in that you overcame a huge health challenge and had a kidney transplant. Is there anything you want to share about your journey into health and wellness?

SPEAKER_02: 2:09

Well, I think everybody, you know, at some point or another is going to face some challenges. And I think it's important to do a little bit of homework, you know, to kind of get second opinions, to, to try different forms of treatment and find out what works best for you. And sometimes, you know, we we need something as aggressive as a surgery, you know, or transplant. You know, I'm not against any of those types of treatments, but start with the the most benign forms of treatment, the stuff that has the least long-term side effects or or consequences to them. So things like chiropractic, physical therapy, massage, acupuncture, and kind of work your way up into the point, you know, that where you've addressed the issue.

SPEAKER_00: 2:51

Before we cover the next topic in this episode, I want to introduce you to the adventure sports lifestyle with what I call a micro story about an adventure that I've had. The adventure sports lifestyle and my deep connection to nature is essential to my good health. So here's the story. The key reason to practice catch and release fishing is it supports the local fish population. Releasing a monster-sized fish allows those healthy genes to spread and populate the body of water with more healthy fish, with the genes to grow into trophy-sized fish. I hope this inspires you to practice catch and release fishing and to get outside in an adventure alone with friends or the people you love most. Now back to the show where we're talking with Dr. Alex Hilario. Number your second key is optimizing the nervous system for wellness. What pivotal role does the nervous system play in your overall health?

SPEAKER_02: 3:48

Yeah, so so it's so important that it's it's the first organ to form, you know, and and again, it kind of innervates every single organ, every single system. You know, some people will experience numbness or shooting pain. That's an indication that a nerve is being compressed, but it also controls, you know, the different organs. So you could be dealing with digestive issues or reproductive issues, and not know that it's because there's irritation on your nervous system. So it's important to make sure that your spine is moving properly, you have the the proper curvatures in your spine and not you know, not dealing with these type of issues, you know. As Americans, we love to kind of go, go, go, you know, it's fast-paced, you know, we we're dealing with back pain or neck pain. We want to just take a pill and and keep it moving. But over time, that can become a big problem. So it's something we want to look into, something we want to address.

SPEAKER_00: 4:41

And that leads us to number three, which is avoiding medications and poor posture pitfalls. Why are long-term medications and sub-optimal posture, like slumping forward, for example, threats to your overall good health?

SPEAKER_02: 4:56

Yeah, so so medication is very important sometimes, and we we definitely want to follow our medical doctor's recommendations, but a lot of times we're we're going to the pharmacy and we're just kind of picking up stuff there on our own without any real guidance. And it could be years where you're taking over-the-counter stuff and then develop issues with your GI, you know, your gastrointestinal problems where you're developing ulcers. There was a study that found that over 30 million people take over-the-counter stuff. And there's over 100,000 hospitalizations and over 16,000 deaths related to this. So, you know, it's not something you want to just keep doing. Obviously, you know, if you're in pain, you need to take something. By all means, take it. But, you know, try to figure out what the root of the cause is, what the problem is, you know, what's causing it, and not just, hey, I just, you know, because we don't have a tyanyl deficiency, we don't have an advil deficiency, you know. So, so what's causing this? You know, and and take some time to do some digging.

SPEAKER_00: 5:58

It's interesting that you talk about the root cause of things. One of the things that I try to remind people is that when you take a medication and it masks your symptoms, that means you're not getting information that your body was trying to give you. Do you have anything you want to share as it relates to the kinds of information that we should be looking for inside our body to know that it's telling us that we are unwell, we have some dis-ease within us.

SPEAKER_02: 6:29

Yeah, I totally agree. You know, what happens is that we'll we'll have dysfunction appear first. So there's an imbalance in the muscles, there is, you know, a shift in the spine and the in the vertebrae, and the pain comes later. You know, the pain is your your alarm going off. You know, there's a problem, there's a problem, there's a problem. But but then if you're taking something to address the symptoms, you're not gonna correct that issue, right? You're not gonna correct the cause of it. So you're just kind of addressing the symptoms. And you know, you're you're over time it gets worse because your body's gonna adapt to that. You know, and that that brings me back to the posture you asked about the posture, but over time your body changes because your body adapts to that. So, you know, as again, as Americans, we spend a lot of time, well, I think everybody nowadays spends a lot of time on their cell phones and laptops and and you know, all types of devices. So we're always hunched over or bent over. Uh, and your body does adapt to that. So over time you can develop arthritis, you can develop issues where it's very difficult to correct those curvatures.

SPEAKER_00: 7:29

And so let's say you've been practicing poor posture your whole life. Is it possible to come back from that? And what kinds of therapies, treatments, and how often would a functional medicine doctor or a chiropractor work with a patient to reverse some of the rounding of the spine in bad ways and curvatures and stiffness and even arthritis symptoms that they're experiencing.

SPEAKER_02: 7:59

Yeah, so so everybody's gonna be a little bit different. The first thing is to try to evaluate, you know, figure out the severity of the issue. You know, the older we are, the more we've we've had the issue, the harder it is to correct. But usually there is a course of treatment where you're kind of retraining your body, right? So you're creating this new memory, this new position of the spine, this new position and movement within the joints. But we've seen people with with severe arthritis get to the point where they're pain-free. We've seen people with, you know, really abnormal curvatures correct them over time. So if anybody's dealing with this type of issue, it's definitely worth looking into and worth adding to any type of treatment that you may be doing. You know, physical therapy is great, but it's mostly focused on the muscles and strengthening the weaknesses there. You know, adding chiropractic is also going to help restore motion to the spine. So, you know, there's a lot of great treatments out there, but sometimes you may need to add, you know, one or two more.

SPEAKER_01: 8:57

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SPEAKER_00: 10:22

Use my affiliate link in the show description. How often should someone see their chiropractor? And is does that depend on their problem, or do you have sort of a rule of thumb on that?

SPEAKER_02: 10:34

Yeah, that that varies, you know, from patient to patient. You could have, you know, a child who fell off of a swing and and they may not need much treatment. You may have somebody who's older and has had, you know, or is a blue-collar worker and has been re-injuring their back for years that may need more treatment. So the frequency can can vary, you know, it could be a couple of times a week, but because again, it's a retraining process, kind of like going to the gym. You know, if you go once a month, you're gonna get very little results, if any. If you're going frequently, you're going a few times a week, your body will adapt to that, to those stresses. Your body will change over time.

SPEAKER_00: 11:11

Well, that's been very insightful. Is there anything else you want to leave the listeners with?

SPEAKER_02: 11:17

Definitely look into integrating chiropractic if you've never done it. It's about like 3% of the population that use it. So, you know, there's a lot of people out there that are not benefiting from chiropractic care, restoring the motion to the joints, getting the pressure off of your nervous system. If you're dealing with issues like even digestive issues or reproductive issues, and you you haven't been able to find the cause, you know, at chiropractic, you know, we don't go around telling people that we correct these issues because, you know, it's not something where you can directly link, but sometimes it is your nervous system that's being affected. And when there's pressure on the nerves, that's going to affect the function of the organs. So removing that pressure can definitely give you the results that you're looking for.

SPEAKER_00: 11:58

Well, thank you for joining us today, Dr. Hilario. And if you want to connect with Dr. Hilario, there will be links to his Instagram account and website for more information in the show description.

SPEAKER_02: 12:10

Awesome. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00: 12:12

Until next time, friends, I'm your host, Antonette Lee, the wellness warrior here at the New Normal Big Life Podcast. I hope one day to see you on the river, in the backcountry or in the horse barn, living your best life. Struggling with health problems or seeking natural health solutions, don't miss our latest podcast episode, exclusive blog posts, and free ebooks packed with life-changing wellness tips. Join our newsletter at nnbl.blog to unlock this blowness content and start living your new life today.

SPEAKER_01: 12:44

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