Atlantic City, NJ Health and Fitness

Doctor of Chiropractic Stacy Cohen founded First State Health & Wellness shortly after he received his degree from New York Chiropractic College in 1984. Since then, his center has expanded to seven locations and welcomed aboard 12 other chiropractic physicians.

Each location features traditional adjustment techniques, mainly x-rays and Activator tools that rapidly and gently prod trouble spots. A few locations feature specialty techniques such as the Newark location’s high-tech subluxation scanning and the Wilmington location’s adjustable Thompson Terminal Point table made up of several different cushions that help it morph into an even more therapeutic surface: a ping-pong table.

Dr. Cohen and his staff complement their chiropractic touch with acupuncture, massage, and nutritional counseling services, which are overseen by the center’s own licensed acupuncturists and certified massage therapists. Together, the team’s collective efforts have been awarded The News Journal’s Reader’s Choice Award for Best Chiropractic Office in 2010, 2011, and 2012, as well as the BBB’s Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics in 2009.

Nestled among towering trees in a stone-flanked cottage, Cosmetic Skin Care Specialists of Cherry Hill highlights clients' inner beauty within a serene, homelike environment. Cosmetic surgeon Dr. Lyle M. Back calls on more than 20 years of experience as he polishes silhouettes with focused surgical procedures and in-office cosmetic services. Meanwhile, his veteran staff enhances appearances with a slew of nonsurgical treatments—including facials, massage, and waxing—that return bodies to the ravishing, youthful state they flaunted when first hatching from their eggs.

Versa Fit Studio's two locations blend old-fashioned support from personal trainers with newfangled technology, including the Vacu Fit, which, according to an ABC News report, exists nowhere else in the country. Classes and workouts incorporate the good vibrations of the Power Plate machine that quickens circulation, and Vacu Fit elliptical machines enclose lower halves in a heated vacuum chamber to trim away excess inches. Group exercise sessions bow to restrictive schedules with a range of classes that, unlike getting a tan from an Easy-Bake Oven, last only 30–60 minutes. In addition to high-tech courses, guests can drop in on traditional sessions such as core-toning Pilates, yoga, and boot camp, or they can burn calories in spin and dance aerobics that amp up heart health.

From its bamboo floors to its locally sourced ceilings, Body Solutions embodies owner Steve Young's belief that healthy environments beget healthy bodies. Within the eco-friendly facility, Dr. Young melds the best of Eastern and Western medicine to help patients recover from injuries or to bolster wellness. Rather than kneading bodies with chemical-filled lotions and used motor oil, massage and physical therapists soak pores in all-natural soaps, cleansers, and lotions. They supplement massage therapy with Pilates, yoga, and martial arts, helping clients optimize their range of motion and achieve whole-body health.

While waiting for a group of tour participants aboard his kayak on Cape Island Creek, Bob Lubberman made a new acquaintance when a 4-foot great blue heron landed on the nose of his boat. It's not an entirely new experience for the owner of Miss Chris Kayak Rentals and Tours, as opportunities to commune with nature came often as he crabbed and fished as a child from his grandmother's dock. Now he's able to connect visitors to this ecosystem as they independently paddle rented sit-on-top kayaks or as they participate in guided kayak or boat tours.

Paddlers on kayak tours often catch close-ups of ospreys, terns, and other birds, and see diamondback terrapin turtles sunning themselves on the shore or trying to hold their own ice-cream cones. Day and sunset tours let guests explore the wildlife-rich salt marshes, and night tours led during high tide let them paddle over grassy terrain to otherwise inaccessible areas. Guests explore similar territory on tours aboard the Osprey as they watch migrating shore birds or look out on the harbor's historic buildings. Kayak tour guides include an associate naturalist and a Cape May Bird Observatory field associate, and land-based staffers maintain a touch tank on the Miss Chris mooring dock, which they temporarily fill with conches, eels, and other sea life pulled up using open-sided conservation traps.

For the past 20 years, seasoned physician Dr. Birgit Toome has spearheaded Appearance Dermatology’s crusade against epidermal antagonists, a devotion that has garnered her multiple years in the Daily Journal's One of the Best listings. Dr. Toome and her team of assistants stay abreast of the latest medical and cosmetic skin treatments, remedying conditions of all kinds. Their arsenal of 13 noninvasive laser devices can resolve a range of epidermal maladies, from acne scars and freckles to unwanted hair and blatantly plagiarized birthmarks.