About Me

As a child I was enthralled with sports. I grew up participating in martial arts soccer, baseball, basketball, powerlifting, track, and football. However, as my high school years began to come to an end my focus drifted towards football. As a result, upon graduation from high school I decided to attend West Virginia Wesleyan College where I was offered a partial scholarship to play football. Unfortunately, in my sophomore year of college I began to suffer from severe neck pain that resulted in numbness and tingling that radiated down my arm. At times I even experienced temporary paralysis. I soon sought medical help and after a series of steroid shots, nerve blocks and physical therapy I was told that this was just something I would have to live with. Needless to say I had to stop playing football. At first, this was a very traumatic decision in my life. Football was a large part of my life, and it hurt me terribly not being able to play anymore. I couldn’t even watch football on TV. To make things worse, after I stopped playing football my symptoms didn’t improve; instead, my symptoms became more frequent and severe. Normal everyday activities, such as backing out of my driveway, soon became too painful to perform. I felt scared and helpless. At the age of twenty-two I was contemplating surgery and a very real possibility that I might have to live with this pain for the rest of my life. In a last ditch effort to stop the pain I decided to give chiropractic care a try. On my very first visit the doctor explained to me that the pain I was experiencing was coming from my neck, and that once he stabilized my neck the pain would soon go away. To my disbelief, after only two visits I began to experience relief. In addition, I now had more energy and was sleeping better. I knew right then and there that I wanted to help people with similar health problems find the relief that I had now found. 

Aside from having a strong passion for chiropractic, I have had a life long interest in the martial arts. After graduating from college, I moved to South Korea for 10 years and studied with the top masters in Hapkido and Taekwondo, receiving a 4th degree black belt in Hapkido and a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwondo. I also traveled to China and studied Chen Style Taichi with Master Chen Bin. There I achieved a 5th degree black belt and became the first westerner to be elevated to the status of disciple. While in Korea I met my lovely wife Soyoung and now we have two lovely children. Both my family and I try to practice what we preach and maintain a healthy diet, filled with plenty of exercise and regular spinal checks. We are beyond excited to be back in South Jersey helping you reach your health goals. 

What Causes an Atlas Misalignment ?

The top bone in your neck is referred to as your “Atlas” because it carries your world. In most cases a person’s Atlas bone becomes misaligned due to some form of trauma such as a slip or fall, car accident, sports injury, or even from the birthing process itself. Once the Atlas bone becomes misaligned it takes your head with it, creating a head tilt and compression on your brain’s stem and spinal cord. Over time, if the Atlas is not realigned, your body will begin to compensate. 

In most cases this compensation begins in your pelvis, until little by little you develop multiple postural compensations. As the rest of your spine begins to shift every muscle, ligament, and tendon connected to your spine become stressed. The stress from these structures further irritate your nervous system until muscular tension, pain, and soreness ensue. Soon the tension from your muscles begin to cause decreased blood and oxygen circulation, and as a result your organs become nutrient deprived. This is referred to as an ATLAS DISPLACEMENT COMPLEX.

As this ATLAS DISPLACEMENT COMPLEX develops a person can develop an array of symptoms ranging from neck pain, low back pain, dizziness, vertigo, headaches/migraines, indigestion, ringing in their ears, constipation, and sciatic pain just to name a few examples. In most cases if the Atlas bone is re-aligned these symptoms will go away, but if the Atlas bone is left uncorrected a person’s health will continue to deteriorate.

Only a professionally trained Upper Cervical Chiropractor can definitively determine if your Atlas is misaligned however, here are a few things you can check for yourself that might indicate you need to see an upper cervical chiropractor.

1. Do you often feel as if you need to pop or crack your neck?

2. Do you experience anxiety or panic attacks?

3. When you see yourself in a picture does your head tilt off to one side?

4. Have you noticed uneven wear on the soles of your shoes?

5. When you look in the mirror does it appear as if one shoulder is higher?

6. Do you experience frequent headaches?

7. Do you suffer from digestive problems?

8. Do you suffer from fatigue?

If you answered yes to two or more of the above questions, you should schedule a free chiropractic consultation with Dr. Billiris to see if he could help you.

What are Secondary Conditions ?

Secondary Conditions are the conditions that appear when there is a more serious underlying condition. One such condition is an Atlas Misalignment. Some of the Secondary Conditions of an Atlas Misalignment are:

• Low back and neck pain

• Headaches – including Migraines

• Shoulder pain

• Sciatica

• Numbness and Tingling

• Weakness of the arms and legs

• Pinched Nerves

• Herniated Discs

• Spinal Stenosis

• Degenerative Disc Disease

• Degenerative Joint Disease

• Poor Posture

• Muscle Imbalances

• Dizziness and vertigo

• Anxiety

• Indigestion

• Carpal Tunnel

• And many others… we will discuss YOUR unique condition during our complimentary consultation.  

Can they Grow Back?

Have you ever stood in front of an x-ray with your doctor as they dauntingly explain that the discs in your spine have begun or have already degenerated. For most people this is not an experience that they enjoy. Nobody wants to hear that they have a medical issue. The conversation however, usually gets worse as the word “surgery” soon gets thrown out. At this point most people feel their stomach drop and their hands begin to perspire. Once the fear subsides most people ask, “Can my discs grow back?”  Intervertebral discs lie between two  vertebral bodies and act to increase the range of motion in the spine, while additionally increasing the spine’s weight bearing capacity. Intervertebral discs are composed of an inner nucleus pulposus, an outer annulus fibrosus, and two cartilaginous endplates that anchor the disc to the adjacent vertebrae. Adjacent vertebrae articulate with the help of zygapophyseal joints. A recent study by Apfel, C etal. (2010) suggests that spinal decompression reduces the pressure on intervertebral discs and thus promotes reabsorption of the nucleus pulposus and decreases the load on the facet joints. Apfel, C etal.(2010) in their study also observed that spinal decompression creates negative intradiscal pressure which leads to increased disc height and decreased facet joint loading, as well as vertebral endplate degeneration.  However, according to Sarlak, A. etal. (2012) the restoration of proper spinal positioning can also increase disc height, decreased facet joint loading, as well as vertebral endplate degeneration. Therefore, if a properly trained chiropractor helps restore normal spinal positioning, while additionally incorporating spinal decompression a patient can in fact “Grow their discs back!” 

Works Cited:

1. Apfel, C., Cakmakkaya, O., Martin, W., Richmond, C.,  Macario, A., George, E., Schaefer, M., and  Pergolizzi, J. (2010). “Restoration of disk height through non-surgical spinal decompression is associated with decreased discogenic low back pain: a retrospective cohort study” BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2010, 11:155

1. Moustafa, Ibrahim., Diab, Attiah and Harrison, Deed. (2012). “The Height Gain in Scoliotic Deformity Correction: Assessed by New Predictive Formula”
   Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine. 2012, https://www.hindawi.com/journals/cmmm/2012/167021/

Why Start With the Neck First?

A common question I often get asked is, “Why start with the neck first?” The cervical spine or neck as it is often referred to is a common area of misalignment. What most people fail to realize, however, is that you can have a misalignment in your neck that doesn’t result in neck pain. Instead, the misalignment may create a postural distortion that instead results in pain in a different area of your body such as your low back. A recent study by Ibrahim MoIbrahim Moustafa, Aliaa Attiah Mohamed Diab and Deed Eric Harrison (2022) examined eighty patients with low back pain that radiated down their leg. The control group only received treatments to their low back, while the test group received treatments to restore the proper curvature to their neck, in addition to treatments to their low back. At the end of the study, both groups reported improvement, with the group that received treatment to their cervical spine showing slightly more improvement than the control group. The most important finding, however, was seen at the six-month follow-up. The control group revered back to their original pain, while the test group that received treatment to their cervical spine remained pain free. With this in mind, I always start with the neck first in order to provide the best long-lasting results to my patients. 

Works Cited:

1. Moustafa, Ibrahim., Diab, Attiah and Harrison, Deed. (2022) “Does Improvement towards a Normal Cervical Sagittal Configuration Aid in the Management of Lumbosacral Radiculopathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2022, 11(19), 5768;

https://summitchiropracticnj.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/jcm-11-05768.pdf