41. Why pain is a business problem and what a 25 year chiropractor wants founders to know

Dr. Waj Hoda has spent over two decades treating the factors driving the symptoms people can see and feel. With his 25+ years of experience, he’s identified a consistent pattern: jaw pain, back pain, headaches, pelvic tension, etc., the physical complaints almost always have an emotional and nervous system root. Stress manifests differently in every body and he’s a master at finding the pattern and addressing the root.Waj trained at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto, the only English-speaking chiropractic institution in Canada at the time and one of the most evidence-based programs in the world. Before building his practice, he spent two years working with sports teams in Western Australia, where a mentorship under leading clinician Dr. David Walkley shaped the way he thinks about performance, recovery, and the relationship between body and identity.He's since returned to Toronto, where he practices out of Totem Life Science on King West, treating everyone from competitive athletes and young professionals to executives and desk workers navigating the long-term cost of chronic stress.Outside the clinic, Waj is a father, hiker, and someone who has lived the principles he teaches, from burning out in his twenties and leaving the country to find perspective, to building the kind of work-life architecture that makes long-term performance sustainable.Waj is the only practitioner I trust with my recovery and is the only practitioner I feel confident in referring friends and family to. In this episode, I sit down with Waj and chat about what chronic stress actually does to your body, why your injury cycle is probably rooted in your nervous system, and how most people spend years chasing symptoms they created by ignoring their own signals.In this episode:Why your jaw pain, back pain, or headaches are often emotional before they're structuralThe difference between body awareness and hyperawareness, and why getting it wrong makes both worseHow growing up without physical modeling creates adult injury patterns most practitioners never addressThe real reason smart people keep doing things they know are making their body worseWhat 25 years of treating founders, athletes, and everyday people has taught Waj about the body's relationship to stress, identity, and controlConnect with Waj:Dr. Waj Hoda practices at Totem Life Science | 445 King Street West, TorontoInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/drwajhoda/