Neck Therapy That’s A Cut Above

Of all the cuts, curls and blow dries that Jupiter-based hairdresser Danny Benz has performed, there are three that stand out above all the others, three that can be labeled brushes with greatness.
“I worked randomly with tennis great Serena Williams a couple of times and did a blow dry for Olivia Newton-John once,” Danny reveals. “That blow dry with Olivia Newton-John was totally unexpected. It literally came out of nowhere.
“The water was out at her home, so she came to our salon for a shampoo. She was getting her nails done when someone came up to me and said, Your next client is Olivia Newton-John. I said, Shut up. And they said, I’m not kidding. She’s right there.”
The two celebrities are among the hundreds of clients that Danny has served across two decades as a hairdresser, a profession he dove into after college because it offered him a chance to express himself artistically.
“I’ve always been a lover of art and creativity and was active in musical theater, dancing and singing when I was much younger,” Danny shares. “I got into hairdressing because it’s a creative field where I can also help people, and I’ve fallen in love with it.”
Danny, who runs a small boutique, also loves to run, hike, kayak and roller skate. There was a time not long ago when aggravating neck and back pain forced him to put those activities on hold.
“I’ve found out over the years that hairdressing is a full-contact sport,” he says with a chuckle. “It is if you do it full time because at one point or another, you’re almost certain to end up with chronic body pain somewhere.
“The reason is that hairdressers are always on their feet and using their arms and hands in ways that are not bilateral. You can have one hand up high for a while and the other down low, and it eventually leads to some challenges.”
Those challenges include knee and ankle problems, neck and back pain, even carpal tunnel syndrome, which can lead to tingling, numbness and pain in the hands. Danny knows plenty of hairdressers who have undergone surgery to correct such issues.
Danny first feared he might be joining that group about a year ago. The nagging neck and lower back pain he’d fought through for several years intensified and began to affect every aspect of his life.
“The neck was the most problematic because it was so sore that it left me with very little range of motion,” Danny details. “It was so bad that I feared I’d be in trouble if I sneezed too hard, picked something up wrong or got out of bed wrong.
“I felt as though I was one misstep away from seriously injuring myself and having to miss a lot of work, but that wasn’t an option for me because we’d already lost a lot of work during the COVID pandemic, so I had no choice but to fight through it.
“It affected my life outside of work, too. I like to run and hike; I also do a little street dancing, and those activities were affected greatly because the pain made me less comfortable and less inspired to do them.”
Danny didn’t wait long before seeking medical attention for his pain. After about a month of suffering, he visited a local clinic that tried treating him with physical therapy. When that didn’t work, he followed a friend’s advice and sought help elsewhere.
“This friend had dealt with some neck and back pain, too, and he told me about this place he went to called Active Health Center,” Danny recalls. “He said they have a machine specifically for neck pain, so I checked it out.”

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At Active Health Center, Danny first met with Marc A. Weinberg, DC, the founder of the practice. Following a thorough examination, Dr. Weinberg turned Danny over to Cody Grigsby, DC, who began standard chiropractic care.
“We did that for about a week and realized it wasn’t providing the desired results,” Dr. Grigsby explains. “Danny was getting some short-term relief, but then everything would tighten up again. That’s when we decided to put him on the MCU machine.”
A technologically advanced nonsurgical device that is exclusive to Active Health Center in South Florida, the MCU, or Multi-Cervical Unit, is an instrument that not only assesses the strength of neck muscles, but also isolates and strengthens those muscles.
A tool in what doctors refer to as evidence-based medicine, the MCU records 16 ranges of muscle movement for strength to determine the areas of the neck where there are weaknesses, imbalances or a loss in range of motion.
Once that data are collected, a treatment program is designed that allows the MCU to correct the problems. As such, the MCU is considered the most effective and efficient system for assessment and rehabilitation of the neck.
It has proven so effective that MCU technology is being used by chiropractors and physical therapists worldwide, including those working with athletes in the National Football League and Major League Baseball.
“Starting in the 1990s, a fair amount of research came out that showed neck weakness will lead to neck pain, and you need to address the neck weakness to treat the pain,” Dr. Weinberg points out.

“It’s an amazing treatment, and now I have no neck or back issues whatsoever.” – Danny

Each MCU session lasts 20 to 30 minutes, with patients typically going through three sessions a week for nine weeks. Patients are retested at least three times to determine the effectiveness of the treatments.
“We retest the patient every nine visits and compare the results with the results we received from our original examination,” notes Colin O. Behrue DC, another member of the Active Health Center staff.

Jordan Pysz / ifoundmydoctor.com Treatment on the MCU machine has Danny feeling “great.”

“The comparison shows us how the patient is progressing. Based on the findings, we make clinical changes that help the patient continue to improve and build strength. MCU sessions are painless and there’s always someone available to help you.”
They are also effective. Studies show that following MCU therapy, pain levels decrease by 66 percent while strength levels increase more than 70 percent, with more than 90 percent of patients making a full recovery, according to Active Health Center.

“An Amazing Treatment”

The evaluation conducted with the MCU machine on Danny revealed the cause of his discomfort was a broad weakness of his neck muscles, many of which were being overused during his work routine.
“Hairdressers are always looking down while lifting their arms up, so Danny had a lot of stress and tension in his neck muscles because they were always being taxed but were never gaining any strength or balance,” Dr. Grigsby explains.
“That told us chiropractic adjustments alone were not going to hold without strengthening, so we put him on the MCU to strengthen those weak areas. Now, he’s doing great because his pain is gone. The MCU treatment worked well for him.”
Danny confirms that he “feels great now,” and he attributes that to the care provided by the staff at Active Health Center and Dr. Grigsby’s decision to test and treat him on the MCU machine.
“I’ve been to some chiropractors who just adjust you and that’s it,” Danny reports. “That doesn’t begin to compare to treatment on the MCU, which allows you to actually see where you’re getting better and to what degree.
“It’s an amazing treatment, and now I have no neck or back issues whatsoever, so I feel very fortunate to have found Active Health Center. In fact, I still go there once every month or so for standard adjustments to keep everything in line.
“Thanks to Active Health Center and their MCU machine, I’m back doing all the thing I love to do, and I’m working pain-free, so I gladly recommend them to anyone who is having any kind of neck or back issues.
“I especially recommend them to anyone who is feeling hopeless and is thinking they may have to live with their pain and discomfort forever because that’s where I was before I found Active Health Center.”