Interview with Dr. Sonal Dalal
Topic: Functional Medicine
Guest Name: Dr. Sonal Dalal
Guest Credentials: Doctor of Chiropractic and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner
Discussion Details: Interview with Dr. Sonal Dalal, Doctor of Chiropractic and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner at Chatham Chiropractic in Chatham, NJ. Dr. Dalal has extensive training and is specialized in specialized in non-invasive approach to diagnosing and treating disorders of the neuro musculoskeletal system, with a particular focus on the spine and as a Functional Medicine specialist my expertise is in a systems-biology-based approach focused on identifying and addressing the root causes of disease rather than just managing symptoms.
Benefits of Watching:
- What functional medicine is
- The benefits of seeing a functional medicine practitioner
- Who would benefit from seeing a functional medicine practitioner
- What outcomes you can expect after experiencing the program
- What sets Dr. Sonal Dalal apart from other functional medicine practitioners
- How you can get in touch and start your functional medicine journey to optimize your health
Address of Guests’ Business: Summit Health
466 Southern Blvd #1,
Chatham Township, NJ 07928
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Great. And thank you so much for having me. Really appreciate it.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Awesome. So, I’m excited for the interview to learn more. Um so, just tell us a little bit about how you became um interested in functional medicine and what you kind of what kind of got you into doing functional medicine. Um, and a little bit I know you still do chiropractic, but functional medicine is a big part of your practice that you’re growing. How did you get into that?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Well, really, as a chiropractor, I’ve always kind of embraced a holistic approach to my patient care. So, from day one, really, we were always suggesting nutritional advice and lifestyle change advice from the get-go. And back in the day in the ’90s, we were even doing um 24-hour urine testing, hair analysis, and um mineral testing just to identify mineral imbalances to identify heavy metal issues. And uh we were doing saliva testing for cortisol levels. So that was back before people knew anything about functional medicine. Um, also when the uh 4 a.m. movement started, which was the anti- first anti-aging movement back in the 90s, we attended every single one of their seminars to just be in the forefront of that education. So, it’s kind of been a very natural segue. And then when COVID hit, I had some extra time and I decided that I would get a certification, a formalized certification, so I can do this on a formal level.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Very cool. And I know that when I came to see you and the timing was really interesting because I came to see you and then I had a physical like about a month later and the results that you told me were like so similar to my um primary care doctor results, but they were just more holistic and you were able to give me a list of supplements and like different foods I should eat um that was that were going to help me with where my deficiencies were. So, I thought that was really really cool. And some of those foods like I really make sure I prioritize like the blueberries. I remember like the cruciferous vegetables like I still do all of that and it really helps me a lot.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: That’s great.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: So in terms of just um like your mission and your why behind like Chadam Chiropractic Center from the very beginning like tell me about um why you decided to open Chadam Chiropractic just like what’s your what’s your backstory?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Oh, my backstory. Well, um, so actually I bought Chadam Chiropractic Center from the woman that I worked for. And Chadam Chiropractic Center has been in existence since 1975. And I’ve been working in it for a very long time, let’s just say. And then I bought the practice over and so I’ve continued it. But really our mission statement um is that you know we really have a our core belief is that we believe the body has an innate ability to heal itself and if you provide the body with the right support then you can completely change the trajectory of your life and your health and happiness. So it’s really about giving the right support. So we give it with chiropractic care, we give it with functional medicine and it’s just a delight to see lives change, you know.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Yeah. The combination I think is like key. So you know I know that functional medicine is probably one thing that really does set Chadam Chiropractic apart from other chiropractic physicians um or practices. Um what else would you say makes you different?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: So, you know, I think um one of the things that people may find different about us and maybe don’t know about us is that we are first of all like a concierge type of service. Okay? It’s very one-on-one. Even with chiropractic care, we spend a lot of time with our patients in the room. With functional medicine, no single person uh is the same as another. We sit down with you. We have formal conversations. We provide support from the beginning to the end. You know, the other thing that uh someone may not know about our practice is that it’s encompasses quite a holistic wellness center. We have not only chiropractic, functional medicine, but also massage therapy, craniosacral work, neuromuscular therapy, and we’ve also added softwave to our repertoire. So there’s uh a lot of ways we can help people.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Can you tell us a little bit just cuz you brought it up about softwave and who would be a good candidate to receive softwave treatment?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: So that’s a good question. So softwave is basically kind of like PRP without the invasive um drawing your blood, spinning the platelets and getting the stem cells into the area that is injured. is sending a shock wave which is a little bit painful but they dial it back to what you can um handle and uh that kind of shocks the system a little bit to trigger your physiology to bring stem cells to the area of injury. And who is a good candidate for that? Well, anyone with like chronic joint issues, you know, knee, shoulder, if you have a if you have a rotator cuff syndrome, a rotator cuff tear, or you are staving off like getting a knee replacement or a hip replacement even. I’ve seen it do wonders on on people like in six, seven visits. Um, the good news is that it’s covered by Medicare, so that’s kind of helpful.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: That’s really good. Yeah. Is it How long are the sessions?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: The sessions are really 15 20 minutes long. Okay. And um they’re quick and easy. You’re in and out.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: And do you usually have to do an evaluation prior to that or they just book a softwave appointment? Like how does a person get uh their first treatment?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: So they book an appointment through us but we do not ourselves are not doing the soft wave. We have um the owners of the softwave machine and company come in and they do the evaluation. You sit down with them. They will tell you if you are a good fit for their
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Okay, cool. That’s awesome. Yeah.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Yeah, I know. I in my office. They’re in my office once a week.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: I wish I knew about it when I was dealing with my frozen shoulder because I know somebody who did it for frozen shoulder and it helped her a lot. But it’s really helpful. I can tell you from firsthand experience.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: No, that’s really good.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: So, let’s go go back to um the functional medicine and tell me about like we know I know patients ask us all the time about you know functional medicine doctors and there’s different people who go into functional medicine. So like you know whether you’re a chiropractic physician who I know they go into functional medicine a lot or a doctor they sometimes specialize in functional medicine. Is there a difference going to one practitioner versus another another?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Well that’s a great question really. Um to tell you the truth there are a lot of different types of functional medicine practitioners and yes anyone in the holistic field can go into it. In fact even there’s some nutritionists who are going into it. a lot of nurses, MDs, chiropractors, many people. Um, there’s all different uh specialties. I’m going to say people will specialize in different things. Like, for example, some people will only do lymes, some people only do autoimmune, some people, or I should say they’re really good at it. What you want to find is what someone is really adept at, okay? you know, so because there’s so much out there, you know what I mean? So, um, you know, let’s say somebody’s really specific with lymes or autoimmune, you want to go there. Okay.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: You know, so what do you have a specific area that you um tend to work with more?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: I do, in fact. Um, I love to work with people with GI issues. Um, I’m adept at reading those tests. I’m adept at identifying patterns and uh giving a protocol based on that. Also, people with anxiety, uh sleep issues, and um some hormonal stuff. So, I’m adept at all of those things. And I mean, I pretty much know my repertoire. If I feel like you could use something, someone with a little bit more specific background in something, I will send you that way, you know, because I I’m a strong believer and not everybody can do everything, you know.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Yeah. So, someone who has like maybe IBS or Crohn’s um or even like you know perimenopausal menopausal women who are struggling with symptoms of sleep or um anxiety all pain with menstrual cycle.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Yes, I mean I see all kinds of GI issues, bloating, gas, constipation, um you know, all kinds of things, IBS and so absolutely I can help people who are
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: so what is the um journey look like from someone who calls you know let’s say someone calls you and says I’m dealing with IBS and I wanted to explore functional medicine what happens next?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: So, if someone calls um and we talk to them on the phone and we both, you know, I explain to them what I can do for them, they explain to me their goals and if we feel you’re a good fit, then the next step would be to fill out a comprehensive health uh questionnaire and then um come into my office for a one-on-one interview and also I could do it on tele medicine if they didn’t want to come in. That’s fine, too. I’ve done people in Texas and Utah and and other places and even different countries actually. Awesome. Um, so I’m open to all that. Then we sit down, we review all the testing that you’ve done in the past year, if you want to bring it in, and we review your goals and your health issues. Based on that, then I do three different kinds of tests in my office. We do a saliva and urine test to find out about your hormones and cortisol levels. We do blood work and urine tests to find out about um what’s going on in your cellular health and different systems. And then we do stool testing to find out what’s going on in your microbiome. So we decide what tests you should do. We then um send a test kit to your house. You can generally do most of them at home. send it off to the lab and then the lab will send me results and I will sit down, review the results, make a six-month protocol for you which will include review of the test findings, understanding them, um lifestyle changes, nutritional advice, and a supplement program. In that six-month protocol, we also include a uh consultation every month just to help keep you on progress, you know.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: That’s good. I think that’s key to have that because people I’m sure have questions that come up or different things I’m sure come up and I want you to succeed, you know. So, my goal here is to support you in any way you need so you can succeed. So, at the end of that six-month period, would the goal be obviously to you would retest? Would you retest at that point and then expect
Dr. Sonal Dalal: I give people the choice, you know, if they would like to retest. Um, certainly we we would love to retest because, you know, health is like peeling layers of an onion. So, there’s always going to be something you can work on. Um, however, if someone is very satisfied with their results, which, you know, many people are, and you want to go on your merry way, that’s also okay, you know.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: So what is what’s probably like um one of the cases that’s most memorable to you? Someone that you really helped that you know and made a big change. Can you tell us a story about that?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I was just thinking about that. Um so I have a few different scenarios uh to just to give people idea of who I can help. But I had a 53-year-old female um more recently who had thyroid issues and um cholesterol issues and she had a lot of GI issues like uh bloating, gas, hemorrhoids, constipation. So we had her come in, we reviewed her regular lab work from her general practitioner and um you know saw that she had uh low thyroid and high cholesterol and she did not want to take medication. She wanted to pursue alternative treatments. So we got her on a good supplement and diet change program which helped her a lot. And then we looked at her GI issues with a stool test and we identified where she had challenges with her microbiome, some overgrowth, some potential pathogens. So we addressed those issues again with diet and supplements and 3 months later she was already seeing changes in everything. Six months later, her thyroid was normal. Her cholesterol is down.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Wow.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: So you know her GI symptoms are are much improved. So, and that’s a big issue because like you want to be able to eat like you know all the time that can affect you any time of the day, right? So, and the fact that her thyroid, she didn’t have to get on the liothy that everybody is on the cthroidid. I mean, her thyroid numbers were just normalized, you know?
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Yeah.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: And she doesn’t have to stay on that thyroid supplement. They’re still staying normal.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Awesome. That’s kind of cool. After making these changes during those three to six months, how long does a person generally have to maintain these changes? Like do they stay on the supplements and do they keep those nutritional guidelines?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Probably forever cuz you know that that’s their sensitivity or not necessarily. So, the nutritional guidelines definitely I I think people should try to follow because they’re very tailored and customized for your specific health. Um, even though I’m not like a dietitian, but still in they’re the general rules are good to follow, but the supplements I encourage people to get off of most of them. It’s a six-month long program, so I don’t I don’t expect people to stay on most of them. I will of course be happy to prescribe like general supplements that I think are healthy for you.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Okay, cool. So, I think that explained a lot of it. Was there anything that I didn’t ask you that you want to add that um you know adds to the experience?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: I think that um the one thing that I would add is that I think people might feel daunted by uh starting something this big. You know, they might feel, “Oh my god, I’m overwhelmed. Not sure I can do this.” And I for that kind of person, I would say, “Listen, first off, give us a call. Let’s talk. Let’s see where you’re at. Let’s see if we can help you. And if so, and you want to start with us, again, we’re happy to do just what you want to do, just what you can handle. If I think you should do three tests based on your health findings, but you’re not ready, let’s start with one. And then even with one test, I can give you the whole outline of what I think what changes I think you should make. But if you can’t make all of them, let’s say I prescribe four supplements, but you can only handle taking two. So we’ll start with the primary two. We’ll start with small. So small steps go a long way is all I want to say here. You know, don’t feel like, oh, I’ll have to change my whole life, you know.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: That’s true. Um, but also like for somebody like you said, this particular client that you’re speaking of, like she didn’t want to go on medication. So that would be someone who’d be perfect for um to see you or someone who um was just not necessarily medication but like just suffering on a day-to-day basis but they haven’t been able to find any other answers and like regular traditional medication or medicine hasn’t really helped them. That would be someone that would be perfect.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: I’m going to say someone who is already health conscious, someone who wants to get to the root cause of their chronic health issues, someone who doesn’t like reaching for the medication on a daily basis. Those are my, you know, perfect clients, you know, perfect patients because they already are very health conscious, you know, and they are trying to understand how can I fix myself? I don’t want to just mask the symptom, you know, because that’s really what we’re all about. Root cause root cause, you know.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Yeah. No, and that’s great, especially the whole medication thing cuz you you just don’t want to have all the side effects of cholesterol medication or diabetes medication like and once you’re on them, it’s very hard to get off. So, the longer you can stay off, the better off you are.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Exactly.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Um, that’s great. So tell me a little bit um of maybe anything about your approach or your services that maybe most people don’t know when it comes to getting to the root cause. Like is there anything that most people might not know or expect?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: I think as I said before, I think that um most people might think it’s daunting and I just I’m here to say that it’s really not as daunting as you might think. It’s a journey that starts with one step. You know, like a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: So, do you have any like just general wellness tips that you might give most of your clients that um you would, you know, maybe just one tip that you would like to share that can help improve someone’s health and health or wellness?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Absolutely. I’m going to say without fail, my number one thing would be to get your sleep under control to, you know,
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: true. Yes, I agree with you.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Get your sleep under control and easy things. Morning light sets your circadian rhythm. 15 minutes of morning light. You don’t have to be outside. You could be near a sunny window. Take your glasses off. Don’t wear sunglasses. Don’t wear the sunscreen. Just 15 minutes of morning light will set the circadian rhythm. Secondly, you know, and we’ve all heard this like two hours before bed, no screens, no no especially like the the phones, you know. Right. No, no phones. And eating 3 hours before bed is probably best not to eat 3 hours before bed, you know? So, little sleep hygiene. Make sure the room is pitch black. Yeah. Okay. So, just those few things to to set your because if you can’t sleep, you can’t heal.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Yeah. No, I agree. That’s when all the healing and recovery happens. Um, yeah, I completely agree with you. That’s true. So, somebody who’s having trouble sleeping and they’ve done all of these sleep hygiene things. I actually had a patient who was going through this and she’s she had even done um cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT, to help with her sleep, but she would keep going into relapse. Like, she’d be good for a few months and then go into relapse. And, you know, she knew all of the sleep hygiene things to do. How could you help someone with that?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Another that is another great question. So, another case that I have is a 50-year-old male who is generally very healthy, eats well, does all the right things, exercises. He came into me not long ago, probably two months ago, and was telling me, you know, I’m consistently waking up at between 2 and 3:00 a.m. I can fall asleep, but then I’m up again, you know. So, what can we do? So, we brought him in, we did his health history and all that, and we decided to do saliva and urine testing to identify what’s going on with his hormones and his cortisol levels. Well, sure enough, you know, things showed up where he’s what we call wired and tired. Um, his cortisol levels were spiking more while he was asleep, you know, where they should be really plateaued, flatline almost, right? So, we changed a few things with his diet and his lifestyle and gave him adrenal support because when you’re wired and tired, your adrenals are burnt out. We gave him adrenal support. We gave him just some sleep support with benign supplements and the targeted therapy. Really, in one month, he’s sleeping.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: That’s awesome.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Right. In one month, he’s sleeping like a baby. We ask him all the time when we see him like, “How are you doing?” and you know, he’s like, I I’m really doing well.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: That’s awesome. And then he’s probably also, I mean, following all the sleep hygiene tips that you’ve given him in addition to help support all of that. That’s that’s amazing.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: And the little tweaks just made his adrenals like, you know, so sometimes you’re just, you know, you’re a healthy person, but you just need just that little something.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Yeah. You know. Yeah. No, that’s awesome. Very cool. So, I noticed that you’ve done um like on social media. I follow you, by the way. If anybody wants to follow you on social media, they can follow it’s um I think I have it here, Chadam Chiropractic Center on Instagram. And you’re also on Facebook, Chadam Chiropractic, right? Yes. So, um definitely follow Dr. Sonal Dalal. But, um I know you’ve done stuff with other businesses in the community. What kind of things do you do with other businesses in the community?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Well, so we did a little um collaboration with the yoga studio downtown Foundations Yoga where we came in and we did how the gut is affects your anxiety and you know also how yoga then can help with anxiety. So we did the the whole gut and brain connection and she did the how yoga can help calm you down. So that was a really nice collaboration. So it was a lot of fun with people, you know, listening to my lecture for half of the session and then also doing some yoga at the end and meditation. So that was lovely.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Very cool. So that’s a really good way to connect to the community and help people to know what you do and how it could help them.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Yeah. Yes.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Awesome. Do you guys ever run any promotions on your functional medicine um packages or anything like that? And what does that look like as your um you know, how can people find out about those?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Sure. Absolutely. We run them all the time and we like to start in the spring because everybody wants to do a spring cleanup and clean up your health, too. So, we’re running $100 off the first consultation for the entire spring. The starting I guess March 21st is the first day of spring. So, coming up. Coming up.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Cool. So, it’s $100 off. um the initial consultation. Very cool. So that’s good. Um and then it’s a package so that lasts for six months. So if someone starts now, they’ll probably be done in the fall just in time for starting. So that’s perfect timing. Okay, cool. Thank you. Um so tell us a little bit about your office dog.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Oh, my little doggy. She’s up here. She’s like one of the most beautiful dogs I have ever seen. She is such a sweetheart. She is a Irish setter. She’s about seven years old now and she loves to be in the office and get up and greet people and loves treats of course and pets. So she’ll just lay down and, you know, with her belly up and have you rub her all day long until you go in the room. She doesn’t like closed doors though, so she won’t go in the room all the way.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Okay. So that’s uh I love seeing your dog whenever I see when whenever I see she’s beautiful. Um so for anyone who wants to start working with you, what are what is the next best step for them? How do they get in touch? Do they call? Do they email?
Dr. Sonal Dalal: The best way to get in touch is really by phone because we are very good at answering and returning phone calls. So they can just call our office at any time and even when we’re not here, I check messages even when we’re not here. So we will return your call in 24 hours.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Okay, cool. And then you also have a website, I know, chadam chiropractic.com. Correct.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Correct.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: So they can also go on your website and read a little bit more about you and the practice and how it can help them. Um, and then again the Instagram handle was Chadam Chiropractic Center for anyone who wants to follow you.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Perfect. Thank you so much. It’s been great learning all of this stuff. Um, is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you want to share?
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Come on in. It’s a fun place to be. Everybody leaves smiling.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Yes, I give that for that.
Dr. Tejal Ramaiya: Um, great. It was great having you on and thank you so much.
Dr. Sonal Dalal: Thank you, Tejal. Take care.