Main Street Family Chiropractic Center Offers Care for All Ages

While back pain is most commonly associated with chiropractors, some might not realize chiropractic care goes far beyond the back, even the head and neck.

Dr. Kenneth S. Stopa, Jr. doctor of chiropractic and Board Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician opened his practice, , in downtown Northville in 2000.

“I was a doctor at a high volume clinic in Canton, which was a great experience, but I wasn’t getting paid very well for being so busy,” Stopa said. While wanting to open his own practice, his contract with the clinic read that he couldn’t open within a five mile radius of the clinic.

“So I just got on Sheldon and drove. As soon as I went 5.2 miles, a sign said welcome to Northville Township.”

Besides keeping the backs of Northville residents aligned and pain free, Stopa specializes in sports injuries. It's something he’s very familiar with professionally and personally.

“I was an athlete. I played every sport and I got hurt in every sport,” Stopa said. “I always went to the chiropractor to get fixed for every injury: my ankle, my knee, my shoulder, my wrist, my back, my neck. As an athlete who got hurt, that’s who my parents wanted me to go see.”

Stopa is currently working on continuing his education in a program that makes him, upon finishing, the only sports injury diplomat in the state of Michigan.

Colleen Johnson, the center’s office manager, has been working in Northville with Stopa for nine years now and has seen him in action.

“He never stays the same. He’s always moving forward and excelling at what he does. It’s just amazing,” Johnson said. “I’m proud to say that I work for him. He’s a great doctor to work for and that’s why I’ve been heer so long"

This year, Stopa was invited to the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, CO to spend two weeks working with the athletes. It was an amazing experience, but also, a compliment to his chiropractic abilities.

“I had so many coming just for peak performance adjustments,” Stopa said. Those adjustments aren’t to remedy pain, but to adjust and align the body to peak form so athletes can get the best performance from their bodies.

“I’d do one or two, and then all of a sudden, the whole team would come in,” Stopa said. “That’s really important for those athletes. They would come back and say, just do whatever you did. So that was a great experience, I had a lot of fun.”

There are three U.S. Olympic training centers and they’re all run by doctors of chiropractic.

“The majority of my patients have no pain at all,” Stopa said. “I have a lot of athletes - weekend warriors, golfers that just want to be in alignment. When your body is in alignment you’re going to perform better. You have better balance, strength, better range in motion and it is injury prevention.”

Stopa’s patients know his experience firsthand. Jodi Hechtman has been seeing him for almost 10 years and couldn’t be happier with the service provided.

“He’s just very personable. He talks to you like he really cares” Hechtman said. “I had a pinched nerve in my neck which was all remedied through adjustments. I’m at regular maintenance checkups now.”

Stopa wholeheartedly stands by chiropractic care.

“The best treatments for back pain are specific spinal adjustments. Period,” he said. “There’s nothing better. Drugs, surgery, nothing comes close.