Finding Alignment with Dr. Aimee
- Woman Up Cleveland
- Feb 1
- 14 min read
Dr. Aimee Polgar - Owner + Chiropractor at Westside Chiropractic & Wellness
By: Woman Up Cleveland
We as humans, especially when it comes to being women, are constantly pushing. Pushing ourselves to be better, work harder, feel and look our best. But sometimes it turns out that the only path to success is slowing down, and listening to our bodies.
No one understands this double edged sword better than Dr. Aimee Polgar, owner and chiropractic physician of Westside Chiropractic and wellness in Avon. We first met Dr. Aimee before her solo venture and connected with her thoughtful personality and fierce support of women and small business.
This year marks her tenth year as a Chiropractor and first being fully in business for herself through Westside. Though she has always been in practice on the west side of Cleveland, her career shifted last year as she decided to leave as partner of a joint venture and begin her own wellness journey.
Aimee grew up in Westlake and was originally from Cleveland. After her undergraduate journey in Tampa, FL followed by Chiropractic school in Daytona, FL, a preceptorship led her back to Avon where she quickly realized the power that could come from returning to your roots. Though she never expected to return to Cleveland, Aimee shared with us a bit about how her recent retreat to Puerto Rico led to her realization that home was always going to be here.
“I just learned that an indigenous species does so well when they’re from that area because it knows how to weather the storms, it’s used to the climate. It was a reflective time for me to think, it really does make sense, coming home to a place where you’re known and you know the area,” she told us.
After moving home for her final round of clinicals, Aimee was an associate for a while and then soon joined with another doctor and eventually became a partner in Great Lakes Health & Wellness. After eight years working there, she felt the familiar pull of entrepreneurship and decided to follow her heart and finally do business the way she felt called to. She said, “I decided it was time for me to go 100% on my own. I really get to do it revolving around my core values and what I value in life and in practice. How can I do what I've learned but make it even better for patients but also for myself and my goals?”
Westside Chiropractic and Wellness opened October 27th, 2025 and has seen incredible growth and success among her patients and the community. Both of which are very important to Aimee as she continues running a business of her own. “Something that I'm passionate about is connecting with the community and supporting other small businesses, women especially,” she shared.
As for how she got here, Aimee told us that she has always had an entrepreneurial spirit calling her to follow her values. Knowing since childhood that she wanted to be a doctor of some kind, Aimee took her experience with a chiropractor she saw as a patient in college and decided that she too wanted to provide care to people in this way. “It really opened my eyes to how amazing holistic healthcare can be. I really didn't realize how great you could feel without the use of medications so that's what kind of led me down the path of looking into chiropractic as a study,” she told us.
Apart from the call to serve and desire to provide care, Aimee also expressed interest in the client facing aspects of the work and how she would be so ingrained in the community as someone who runs a local small business. Most people entering medical fields do so with the desire to help others or to solve problems and improve lives. Most people also don’t realize that if they choose to develop their own practice for care, then there are different aspects that creep into their to-do lists as well as patient care. Aimee said, “You go to med school to help patients but you don't really realize it's also a business. You have to be client facing, you have to be community facing and I’ve always enjoyed that. I love connecting with people.”
We curiously asked her what is the most rewarding part of helping people feel better and be in tune with their bodies. Her reply was unsurprisingly full of warmth and understanding for the way people see their own care, “My sole mission is to really just help people understand how good you can feel. So many of us are so used to ‘normal’ headaches or ‘normal’ back pain. Pain, regardless, is not normal, and some people just get so used to symptoms that they don't realize they can feel better.”
So much of Aimee’s work is focused on helping patients see what they could have with some self reflection and the proper treatment. She told us many stories of patients who see her with long standing or recurring issues that they simply ignore and try to push through in order to keep on with their lives. Making a point of how people often don’t know they even have the option to feel better saying, “One of the most rewarding things is getting somebody through a care plan and then realizing why they were feeling so bad and didn’t even realize how good they could feel.”
Many symptoms not only go untreated, but unnoticed because we don’t perceive them as relevant to our bodies more than our minds. For example, though we often notice ‘common’ pains like headaches, backaches, or soreness, we may not realize how those pains are affecting other aspects of our minds, bodies, and even emotions.
“You don't realize how much being uncomfortable or being in pain can affect you in your relationships. Being a good mom, being a good wife, being a good boss, being a good co-worker, when you're not well, even if it's low grade unwell, you're not yourself, and when you get better, you feel better, you look better, and you're in a better mood, and that is something sometimes you can't necessarily put a price tag on,” Aimee said.
This is, as expected, something she sees very often in women specifically. Our innate abilities to mask pains and push through discomfort to simply complete the tasks that need completed is something not only detrimental to our mental wellbeing, but to our physical wellbeing too.
Aimee told us that her new patient onboarding consultations or exams always include questions about pain management and what patients can no longer participate in or get through due to their pain. Her responses from women are almost always the same. “Most women say, ‘I’m doing everything still, I just push through it.’ Women obviously are biologically known to have a higher pain tolerance than men. We go through a lot more stuff on a month-to-month basis as well as giving birth and all sorts of things that we just have a higher threshold for. So when a woman comes into my office to get help I already know it's probably been going on longer than that person wants to admit,” she said.
One example Aimee gave is of a patient who came in with headaches that has been occurring daily for four entire years. Delivering this shocking symptom as if completely normal, the patient went on to unsurprisingly admit their frequent neglect of their own needs in an effort to put those of others first.
Women especially so often ‘don’t have the time’ to put themselves first and will make their pain and discomfort simply a part of their ‘new normal’. Aimee reminds us that this is impossible. Though we may not realize how much it can be weighing us down, sometimes until it’s too late, recurring pains can be a sign of many physical issues and a disoriented nervous system. The underlying theme that must be understood by all patients, regardless of gender, is that pain itself can never be ‘normal’ and by treating it as such, we are simply accepting discomfort instead of getting to the bottom of the issue.
Eventually, the pain will win out and force your body to stop its routines and heal so it’s always best to seek solutions before reaching a breaking point. Women so often forget to not only take time for themselves but to ask for help. Aimee gave a reminder of this saying, “It’s the classic saying ‘you can't pour from an empty cup’. And we're the worst about that, especially if you have kids or if you're a working woman we just put everyone else first.”
Overall however, we touched on how our society is moving slowly toward a bit more of a wellness centered mindset. Taking care of ourselves is ‘in’ and many people are beginning to finally take note of how they feel and acknowledge if those feelings aren't right. Aimee said, “I feel like our society is in a bit of a wellness movement right now which is great because I think people are realizing that hustle culture isn't going to work for you long term. and at the end of the day if you won't take care of yourself nobody else will.”
It can be hard to take the first steps toward care, especially when it involves seeking out a medical professional and making time in our busy lives. It never feels important enough to stop the flow of life to take care of ourselves but it is essential in the presence of pain to remember that we must care for the vessel that allows our brains to work and create the way they desire to do.
We asked Aimee what advice she would give to women who think they may benefit from these chiro services. She encourages doing research to find not only a chiropractic professional near you, but one whose values and practice align with your own. Resonating with a doctor is just as important as the treatment itself and when it comes to holistic care, the relationship with your provider can be vital to the healing process. The search is all about finding the best fit for your own individual and unique needs.
“The cool thing about Chiropractic is there's a huge art to it. Sometimes it can work against us because you could walk into ten different offices and they could treat people in ten very different ways which is sometimes hard. They all have different techniques, different philosophies and different therapies that they offer,” Aimee said.
Then, she suggests, “Most importantly just do it. Make the new patient appointment, schedule it, put it on the calendar, and go. Even if you're not sure if you want to take on any sort of treatment, I think a good Chiropractic exam consultation and even x-rays can give someone so much information.”
Oftentimes, Aimee has patients who leave a consultation appointment saying that they have learned more and felt better in the very first visit that any primary care doctors have done. She went on to say that sometimes, it can simply be the validation that there is in fact an issue that helps patients feel more in control. Calling out that something is in fact wrong physically helps to name the problem and acknowledge that with a concrete issue, there can always be a concrete solution.
Stress, dehydration, insomnia, and other shortcomings of self-care can be the source of physical pain but are so frequently cited as such that patients can feel dismissed in their complaints by the simplicity of ‘drink more water’ or ‘get more sleep’ solutions. The validation of a physical reason for their discomfort is often a huge step in the right direction of healing.
As for her advice, especially to women who have grown used to the neglect of their health, Aimee says, it can be no strings attached. “My best word of advice is just schedule the appointment and go do it. Don't feel pressured to have to take out any sort of care but just go get the information, get the exams and if it's something you want to try to fix and take care of, great. If not, at least you know kind of where you'll stand if down the road that's something you want to do,” she said.
From the outside, it seems like people forget chiropractic care can help with more than we assume. Though it can be a helpful tool for relaxation and stress relief when it comes to massage, there is more to the field than that. This practice can help to diagnose and treat issues almost anywhere in the body, not just in the places we are used to hearing about being referred to a chiropractor for.
Aimee said, “Many people just think of Chiropractic for the neck pain, the lower back pain, sciatica headaches and we do really well with that, obviously it's bread and butter for most chiropractors. We kind of forget that the nervous system controls literally everything in our body and our nervous system sits within our spine.”
This reminds us to dig deeper and look beyond the usual answers and solutions for pain management and seek out another way to manage it. Aimee encourages us to look below the surface level with persistent pain saying, “If there's something going on the doctors are testing for and everything's coming back normally, sometimes moving toward the holistic area of Chiropractic care can help because there's something going on that we can't test for. But if we can get the spine adjusted and just open up all those pathways to the nervous system and get it functioning like it should, we get relief.”
She continued to share some examples of symptoms and ailments that usually surprise patients to find they can be cured with Chiropractic care. Digestive complaints are frequent as well as treatments for babies for digestion or torticollis. Many other symptoms that seemingly have no relation to your nervous symptom or spine often come back to the basics of your body itself being off and simply causing other issues.
There is a heavy connection between medical care and serving others that sometimes can get lost within the technical jargon and overwhelming symptoms or scary results. A human element carries itself through each and every step of the healing process and that is something that Aimee understands well, both in practice and in business ownership.
We asked about how the Cleveland community has influenced the way Westside Chiropractic and Wellness has not only been founded, but has continued to flourish since opening its doors. Aimee’s first thought was back to her recent travels and the mangrove trees she encountered. She said, “Growing up in Cleveland a lot of us think ‘I got to get the heck out of here when can I go somewhere that’s as far away as possible.’ Then you come back and you realize your roots are so important. Without roots nothing else can grow and I think that's really cool.”
She mentions the idea of ‘Midwest nice’ as a constant reminder that community can be so supportive and thoughtful. Continuing on about how it feels like everyone is rooting for each other Aimee said, “As business owners I feel like we get some of the big city perks of Cleveland but also the small town feel. It's been really rewarding to get to network with all sorts of people.”
She has experienced community in every sense of the word throughout her journey as a business owner. From picking brains of colleagues and competitors alike, she has seen firsthand that community over competition is more than just a saying. With women especially, Aimee has experienced such acceptance, warmth and guidance that she is constantly inspired to be that for others as well when opportunities arise.
Her humorous way of explaining why she does not feel threatened by those in her same industry is, “There are plenty of spines to go around. What I do is not what they do, What I am is not what they are. People find their place and there's plenty of people in Cleveland for us to all be successful.”
Although funny and a little cliche, there is a great truth to this idea that no one else is even capable of doing exactly the same thing as you, because at the end of the day, they can never be you, and therefore can never offer the exact same things. Squashing imposter syndrome which feels constant, especially as an entrepreneur, is a huge part of navigating not only business but life as women.
Aimee is no stranger to these challenges in industry and in entrepreneurship. Talking about imposter syndrome and the paralyzing feelings that come with not thinking we are good enough for a role or career she went straight to our biology saying, “We're the only animals on the planet that limit ourselves from growth. Every other natural animal or plant or anything else alive on the planet just grows. Humans can literally mentally force themselves not to grow and that's such a sad reality to me.”
Overcoming self doubt and allowing yourself to flourish can be an uphill battle but it is one we all face at some point in our lives. The desire to overcome and understanding that it is a valid feeling is a driving force in overcoming these obstacles and reinvigorating your drive to succeed. As with so many struggles, community is often the solution.
Similarly, Aimee mentioned a lack of funding as a more business oriented challenge she has faced in her journey to owning a practice. Although she feels lucky to have been in the industry for years, already having an existing client base, and being in a good place financially when she started her business, she knows this isn’t the story for everyone and it drives her to create a sense of community surrounding these issues and hopefully help to solve them for others in the future.
Finally, the idea of always wanting to do more and push the bar higher for yourself and those around you is one that Aimee has struggled with in her own story. She knows that community can help here too and has often sought out her own in an effort to combat the feeling of constantly striving for more. This has often brought her back to her important roots as she says, “The highest form of leadership is being authentic versus comparing yourself to any other business in the community. Being authentic within yourself and deciding this is how you want to practice is what makes you special.”
Physical exhaustion, never wanting to settle, and pushing through to the next big thing are all feelings Aimee mentions having at some point in her work and she continues to seek out community to lean into and use as motivation for success. Taking time to be proud and reflect on how far things have come is essential to not only staying grounded but maintaining long term fulfillment and a comfortable place for patients to land with their own obstacles to overcome.
Aimee mentions acknowledging these feelings and showing herself grace saying, “This is what I've always wanted. This is where I wanted to be. It took a while to get here but I'm really comfy for the time being.”
Sometimes, much to the surprise of some, actually wanting less becomes our goal for the future. For Aimee, the goal is to be able to have life outside her business as well as and have more of the other things she finds fulfilling. More joy, adventure, and being happy in the present is what propels her work and ultimately explains it as well. Her efforts to seek comfort and relief for all of her patients inevitably creates a clear path for them to pursue their own dreams and goals, free of pain and burden.
Dr. Aimee Polgar is a one-of-a-kind caretaker who provides validation and freedom to her clients who seek relief from pain and discomfort. In Westside Chiropractic and Wellness she has created a warm safe space for patients to be honest about their struggles and confront these issues head on with the knowledge that a solution can exist. She provides so much more than stress relief and relaxation and gives her patients the gift of peace of mind and understanding. Aimee is thoughtful, intentional, gentle, and honest. She truly cares about not only those who set foot through her doors seeking help, but to the community that she serves so passionately. It has been an honor to work with Aimee in a few different ways over the years and is even more exciting to partner with her for our Heart to Heart event at her studio this month.
