You Are Not a Disc Walking Around: Dr. Leisa Grgula, DC, on Regenerative Medicine, Whole-Body Healing & the Art of Giving Your Chi

On this episode of The Care2Grow Show, Dr. Larry Arbeitman sits down with Dr. Leisa Grgula, DC — a Scottsdale, Arizona chiropractor with nearly 30 years of experience who doesn't just teach healing, she's lived it. While still in chiropractic school, Dr. Lisa faced a severe diagnosis of ulcerative colitis that required surgery and extensive medical treatment. That experience reshaped how she thinks about the body, care, and what it really means to heal — and she's been medication-free since 2000.

Today, Dr. Lisa integrates chiropractic care, acupuncture, nutrition, and regenerative medicine to help patients treat the whole person, not just the symptom in front of them.

In this episode, they discuss:

Dr. Lisa's winding path into chiropractic care, including a health scare that pulled her out of pharmacy school and led her to Chicago's National University of Health Sciences for her doctorate.

Her own diagnosis of ulcerative colitis during chiropractic school, and how healing herself naturally — rather than staying on medication indefinitely — became the foundation of her philosophy of care.

Why she refuses to call herself a "healer," and instead sees herself as a tool for the body's own innate ability to heal.

The concept of "throwing your chi" — the energetic exchange that happens any time one human being lays hands on another, and why she sometimes has to cancel acupuncture for the day when she's too depleted to give it safely.

Her whole-body philosophy of care: "You are not a disc walking around" — and why she looks at a patient's full history, medications, and even psychological blocks before treating the presenting complaint.

How she designed her office as a healing environment on purpose — aromatherapy, sound frequency music matched to each patient's emotional state, moss walls, lighting, and a strict "phones off" policy during treatment.

Provider burnout and self-care: her strategies for "refilling the vending machine," including fully shutting down her practice on depleted days rather than pushing through.

An inside look at regenerative medicine — stem cells (Wharton's jelly/HCT), PRP (platelet-rich plasma), and ozone therapy — how each works, how they're combined with chiropractic and acupuncture, and how she used stem cell therapy to heal her own torn rotator cuff without surgery.

Medical tourism to her Scottsdale, Arizona practice, and why patients travel from out of state and even other countries for care.

A lightning round covering her care philosophy in one word (empathy), her biggest influence (Dr. John Amaro), and what she wishes every patient knew about her.

About Dr. Leisa Grgula

Dr. Leisa Grgula is a Doctor of Chiropractic based in North Scottsdale, Arizona, with nearly three decades of experience helping patients restore their health through a holistic, patient-centered approach. She earned her Doctor of Chiropractic degree from the National University of Health Sciences in 1995, where she also became certified in Cox Decompression Manipulative Therapy, and later studied acupuncture under Chinese Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Chih-Wei Rei. Her philosophy is rooted in her own healing journey with ulcerative colitis, and she has been medication-free since 2000. She integrates chiropractic care, acupuncture, nutrition, and regenerative medicine to help patients heal from the inside out, and is an active educator, speaker, and community advocate for compassionate, individualized healthcare.

Connect with Dr. Leisa Grgula

Website: www.CaringPainRelief.com
Facebook: facebook.com/AccurateCare
Instagram: instagram.com/accuratecaremedicalwellness
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCEMXfXOJnEI9OkC1VE051_Q

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — that's how we put the care back into healthcare, one conversation at a time.