In this, the final installment of the Hierarchy of Health series, we will be reviewing each of the approaches. Each has their benefits, and each has their costs. In order to be satisfied with our health, it is imperative that we match our goals and values with the approach most likely to meet them.

The first approach is Symptom Treatment. Symptom Treatment is about getting rid of the superficial pain or secondary condition. Success is determined when we feel relief, or at least more comfortable.

The benefit of this approach is that it can buy us some time until we can get to true healing. If we break a bone, we know that the pain killer is not healing us – but provides some comfort while the healing work is done. Symptom treatment is also typically rapid and not time consuming (relief occurs quickly).

The cost of symptom treatment is that it does little to improve – and often impairs – overall health. A comfortable person taking Tylenol is not healthier than they were 20 minutes earlier when they had a headache – in fact one could argue they are now less aware and not as healthy. A lifetime of mere symptom treatment may lead to a significant decrease of health and serious health problems and disease.

The next approach in the Hierarchy of Health is Addressing the Cause. This goes deeper than symptom treatment. This approach understands that in the majority of cases, symptoms are secondary conditions with an underlying, primary cause and that just treating the secondary effects will do nothing to solve the real problem.

At Nexus Chiropractic, our Initial Phase of Care (IPC) is designed to address the primary problem of a spine and nervous system locked in an abnormal state.

Does this take longer to correct than just treating a symptom? Of course. The benefit is that the outcome is typically much more sustainable and even better, when you correct the underlying pattern, very often there are other ‘side effect’ benefits as well.

The third approach in the Hierarchy of Health is Protection. Protection is the first approach that is proactive, as opposed to reactive. Instead of waiting for problems to arise, you take steps on a regular basis to ensure you stay in good shape, much like most reasonable people have the oil changed in their car whether their engine light comes on or not.

While Protection does require regular care, it can go a long way towards preventing major crises that are very inconvenient and very expensive to address in terms of time, energy, lost opportunity, and money.

Our final approach that sits highest in the Hierarchy of Health is Optimization. This approach doesn’t react to problems, or even try to prevent them. The focus of Optimization is continued improvement.

A person utilizing this approach uses their experience to look for new and refined ways to be better tomorrow than they were today. These individuals are maestros of their health and lives.

The more advanced care we provide at Nexus is designed to deliver optimization by helping the nervous system to become ever more adaptable and highly organized.

Where do you spend most of your time on the hierarchy of health? Be honest.

Are you happy with the results you are getting with your currently approach? If yes, keep doing what you are doing.

Do you want more out of your health? Where will you be in 5, 10, 20 years if you keep going the same way? Start by moving up one rung on the Hierarchy of Health, commit to it, and observe what happens.

There is perhaps nothing more rewarding in my work than watching someone choose a higher path for their health and life. It is never too late to make that choice.

Thorin Gault, D.C.

April 1, 2019

In the last article we identified a hierarchy of approaches to health. Success leaves clues and if you observe the healthiest people in the world, you see that they approach ‘health care’ much differently from those who struggle.

We also looked at the first rung on the hierarchy ladder – Symptom Treatment. The value of symptom treatment is that it can buy us some time to get through a crisis so that we can heal and regain our health at a later, safer time. The challenges with symptom treatment are that it does not consider the underlying cause of the problem and very often actually harms our long-term health.

Moving beyond symptom treatment, we come to the next level on the Hierarchy of Health. That approach is Addressing the Cause. An individual with this approach to health may experience the same back pain or headache as someone who just pops a pain killer but will take significantly different actions.

A person who addresses the cause understands that a headache isn’t caused by an Advil deficiency. That a muscle doesn’t just ‘spasm’ for no reason. That high blood pressure is a sign of something deeper going on.

While addressing the cause seems like a great idea to virtually everyone, it is not employed by nearly as many people as you would think. The reason for this is that it takes more work than just treating a symptom. It requires you ask different questions and it typically requires more action over a longer period of time. It is more work to pull out the dandelions by their roots than just chopping off their heads with the lawn mower.

Our office sees many people who first come to us with back pain, neck pain, and headaches. Most of them have spent a significant amount of time merely treating symptoms. After examining their spine and nervous system we often see significant structural distortions and a hyper vigilant nervous system leading to muscle spasms and/or weakness, organic issues, and even shifts in mental/emotional well-being.

Does addressing the abnormalities in the spine and nervous system take more time and effort than treating the individual symptoms? You bet. Is it worth it? I think so.

The added bonus to addressing the underlying cause is that people will usually notice that other, more subtle problems that they may not have even been concerned with start to improve also.  In our office, while most people first come to us with some sort of pain concern they quickly report more energy, better sleep, better athletic performance, faster healing, enhanced digestion, better mood and other conditions resolving. Why? A healthier nervous system leads to a better functioning body.

Unlike symptom treatment, when we address the underlying cause our overall health improves at the same time.

So, if you are not getting the results you desire when it comes to your health, perhaps there are some areas where you can look at addressing the cause, as opposed to – or in addition to – just treating symptoms? How might your health be different if in the past, when faced with a challenge you had taken care of the cause right then and there?

How much better would your lawn look today, had you pulled the dandelions by there roots 5 years ago?

In the next article we will take the next step in the hierarchy of health and look at Prevention.

Thorin Gault, D.C.

Part 4 – Holistic vs. Isolated

In the last two articles, we looked at principles lived by the minority of our society that are truly healthy. The first was that they focus on building health as opposed to fighting symptoms and disease. The second was that they seek to enhance awareness instead of sedating.

This article delves into the third principle of healthy people, which is that they see things in a holistic way as opposed to an isolated way.

Holistic is defined as, ‘characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.’

What this means from the perspective of health, is that something happening in one part of our bodies is impacting, and being impacted by other parts of our bodies, and even lives.

I learned this very early in my chiropractic practice, almost 18 years ago. At the time I was practicing a very mechanical technique that understood that the spine was an integrated whole. So, I took full spine x-rays on almost all my patients. What I noticed was that very often, when someone would come in with low back trouble, their low back would look good on the x-ray, but their neck was messed up. The opposite was also true.

What this means is that where we have a problem (secondary condition or symptom) is not necessarily where the problem is. This also means that it is important to assess and address the entire system HOLISTICALLY in order to create a solution.

If you have light bulbs burning out too quickly in your house and appliances shorting out, you could go around replacing the parts, OR you could have an electrician go down to the electrical box and address what is more likely to be the main problem.

Unfortunately, many common health care approaches spend too much time replacing light bulbs and not enough time seeing the big picture. In this case changing light bulbs just delays the inevitable.

A holistic approach to health also involves a lot more than just the physical/mechanical. Healthy people look to their lifestyle and observe how it affects their physical health and perhaps plays a role in their symptoms and diseases.

In my chiropractic practice, it is my observation that as people become healthier, they can see the connection between their symptoms and their diet, emotional state, mental state and even how they are doing spiritually. With this awareness comes the ability to change much more effortlessly.

Research shows us that one of the most accurate predictors of back pain is how satisfied people are in their jobs, financial situation, and relationships. There is a neurological explanation for this beyond the scope of this article but when was the last time you considered how what you were feeling inside may be impacting your physical health?

Healthy people understand this and look to all aspects of their lives when faced with a health problem. When someone with back pain not only addresses what is happening with their spine and nervous system but also assesses what they are eating, how they are moving, their emotional state, their interactions with others, and even assess if they are on the correct path in life, not only does it drastically improve their chances of recovery, it also improves the overall quality of their lives. Isn’t that what we truly want, anyway?

The care at Nexus is set up and delivered in a holistic way. We assess the entire spine and nervous system because we know that a symptom in one part of the body is usually not solely caused by that spot, but by stress on the entire system. We teach our patients specific exercises that increases their somatic – or body – awareness. We give presentations that teach patients how to care for their spine and nervous system at home.

While I am no psychotherapist, I often point out how what is showing up in a person’s spine may be connected to what is happening mentally and emotionally in their lives. The state of the spine and nervous system also leave clues about how a person can best go about making the necessary changes in their lives.

So, where in your health and life have you been too caught up in the isolated parts? Where have you been running around the house changing light bulbs, when the electrical system really needed to be updated?

Now, how can you assess and address this in a more holistic manner?

Keep it up! See you next article.

Thorin Gault, D.C.

Awareness: Enhance vs. Suppress

In the last article we explored the first principle the healthy minority live by, which was that they focus on building health as opposed to treating symptoms.

This article continues into the second principle of healthy people and it has to do with awareness. Healthy people look to enhance awareness, while unhealthy people seek to suppress awareness.

There is no area where this is more obvious than when someone experiences pain or symptoms. I am always surprised at how many people literally walk around with a bottle of pain killers in their purses or backpacks. You don’t see that with healthy people.

All symptoms have a common purpose or meaning. They are there to get us to, 1. Stop, 2. Pay Attention, and 3. Do Something Different. That is the job of a pain or symptom.

If we feel the beginning of that signal being delivered by a symptom and immediately suppress it, we miss the opportunity for steps 2 and 3. In fact the suppression may actually allow us to not stop at all, but continue with the behaviours that were causing the damage and pain.

Let’s take your average blue-collar worker with back pain, or desk worker with neck pain and a headache. The symptoms they are experiencing are letting them know that something is wrong, and they are doing damage by continuing to do things as they are. The back pain forces the labourer to bend and lift in a way that protects their injury. The desk worker is forced to sit up straight or take stretching breaks or perhaps even alter their work station.

Even beyond their immediate work environment, perhaps the symptoms motivate them to join a gym to get themselves in shape, change their diet to decrease inflammation, or see a health professional who can address any structural or functional issues they have.

You see, very often the pain and symptoms we experience are not the problem at all – they are the first part of the solution. However, if we suppress the solution with pills, potions, and lotions it is any wonder why so many people are frustrated and failing in their health?

Healthy people know that pain and symptoms are a call to pay attention and ENHANCE awareness. The great thing about this is that awareness is like a muscle in that the more we pay attention, the better we get at it. We can actually learn to listen to our body’s whispers so that it rarely has to scream at us.

Healthy people can listen to the subtle signals their body is giving them, which not only keeps them out of crisis, but allows their body to become wiser over time.

I have missed only about 2 total days of work sick in almost 18 years. Why? I listen to my body and don’t suppress symptoms when they arise. Over time I have developed the awareness that allows me to know when I am just a little bit off. When I feel that way, I make sure I get a little extra rest, clean up my diet, and maybe handle some stresses I have been ignoring.

The same applies to my competitive weightlifting, where aches and pains are a constant and important companion. Pain may mean I need to back off, correct an imbalance I have, work on mobility, fix a technical issue or focus more on recovery. Because I pay attention to these more subtle things I have never had a serious injury that has kept me away from training for more that a couple of days.

The care we provide at Nexus Chiropractic is different from many other approaches in that Enhancing awareness is an integral and necessary part of the process. Patients leave our office MORE aware of their bodies, not less. As a result of this, they become more adaptable over time and can often return to their same lives, but handle them more effectively. At this point the focus of their care shifts from fixing what is wrong to optimizing their ability to adapt in the world.

Homework time! Write down a circumstance or area of your health where you have consistently SUPPRESSED your awareness in order to feel more comfortable. How has worked out in the long run? Are you more or less adaptable than before?

Next, write down some ways you could increase your awareness next time this issue arises. Even better, how can you increase your awareness before issues arise?

Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for another principle of the healthy minority next week.

Thorin Gault, D.C.

Whether we like it or not, the holiday season has begun. The lights and trees are starting to go up and soon it will be time for parties, treats, libations and visiting with family.

As all of this fun is happening one of the biggest challenges many people face is that they tend to get sick and cannot fully enjoy all that the season has to offer. It is not a coincidence that flu/cold season tends to start now and I know that chiropractors also see more back and neck pain ‘emergencies’ at this time of year than any other.

When you combine more junk food (which starts with Halloween), a decrease in sun exposure and fresh air, staying out late, more alcohol than usual, and increased financial and family stress you have a recipe for failings in our health that often show up as illness and pain.

So, how do you enjoy the holidays and not end up out of commission? Can you indulge and still stay healthy? The answer is yes if you are smart about it.

The key to staying healthy over the holidays is to continue to do the good things while you indulge in the ‘treats.’ What that means is that while you indulge a little, be sure to continue to keep the habits that make you healthy all year round. Unfortunately many people let it all slide this time of year and end up paying for it.

So, if you know you are going to eat some junk, make sure you are loading up on fresh produce and high quality meat as well. Drink lots of water. If you know you will be out late, schedule some naps and a few quiet nights to minimize the effects. Don’t drop your exercise program. Schedule walks or mediation sessions to be sure your stress levels are handled.

Personally, as the holidays approach I pay even more attention to doing the good things so that I can have lots of fun, stay healthy and go into the new year floor running. Here are some of the steps I take.

Diet is crucial to staying healthy and while I am a self professed sugar addict and love baked goods, I make absolute certain I am eating lots of healthy food each day. Breakfast is a great way to start. I also make sure I load up on green veggies (as well as a green drink supplement) and meat at meal times.

While obviously it is better to get our nutrients from food, supplements really are essential to maximize our health – especially during the winter months. Everyone can benefit from high quality vitamin D, fish oil, and probiotic supplementation at this time of year. I also supplement vitamin C, magnesium and zinc and have seen wonderful results since doing so.

Physical exercise is a great way to stay healthy over the holidays, yet so many people let this slide. I use the extra time off of work to make sure I am physically active on a daily basis over the holidays (it is now a tradition in my house to do a squat session on Christmas day). It does not have to be complicated or elaborate, especially if you are travelling. Go for a hike, do some bodyweight exercises, visit a gym in the town you are in. It doesn’t matter, just move! It will keep you healthy.

Despite my Nordic appearance I really don’t like being outside in the cold and this is a challenge because fresh air is very important to our health. Shovel some snow, go skating, build a snow man, walk to the coffee shop. Get out and breathe the air.

Because it is impossible to eliminate or ‘fight’ stress at this time of year it is important to make sure the effects of that stress are not physically accumulating towards a crisis. I meditate daily which helps with this and my biggest weapon is the Neurospinal Optimization chiropractic care I receive for myself. I much prefer to stay on top of things instead of waiting until I have an emergency on my hands.

Start now to ensure you have a fun AND healthy and happy holiday season. Commit to the good so that you can indulge in some ‘bad.’

If you are looking for high quality supplements, Nexus Chiropractic does carry the fish oil and vitamin D that my family uses. Feel free to contact me to find out where I purchase the rest of the supplements I use.

Happy Holidays!

…and Why it is a Good Idea.

In my last article we looked at the pitfalls of focusing too heavily on treating secondary health conditions (or symptoms). This is the approach of most people, and while it can be very effective in the short term it inevitably leads to long term pain, suffering and frustration.

This article will focus on what happens when we address what is primary to the symptom and how this approach leads to sustainable, long term results and even provides a path to improvement and growth over time.

Imagine a teenage child is struggling in school. They are failing and it is painful to them and those who care about them. If things don’t change they are going to lose the credit and there will be real, undesirable consequences.

Let’s say this teenager is your child. What would you do?

You have some choices. You could go and speak to the teacher and if you were either charming or forceful enough you could have the grade changed to a pass. You could complete the rest of your child’s assignments to get them the credit. You could even turn a blind eye as they conspire to cheat on their next examination.

On the other hand, you could sit down with your child and recognize that whatever they have been doing (regardless of intent) just isn’t working. From that recognition you could strategize and come up with a new plan. Different study habits, getting more sleep, perhaps a tutor, a family field trip to understand the topic in a deeper way. The possibilities are endless.

Can you see how different choices in this case will lead down very different paths? Can you see how the first path leads down a very slippery slope that will likely result in some serious long term pain? The second path, while requiring a bit more work initially, has the potential to create long term success for that child actually as a RESULT of today’s challenge?

The first path is based on chasing secondary conditions or symptoms. The second, on addressing what is underlying the secondary pain.

Almost everyone recognizes the wisdom of this concept when it comes to school, finances and even relationships – if you don’t address the underlying cause you are setting yourself up for future pain.

Perhaps the most difficult area of our lives to apply this is in our health – yet it is likely the most important place to do so.

It seems so easy to just cover up our health challenges as the solutions are typically readily available to us and quite convenient. What we need to remember are the benefits we actually gain by taking the time and energy to address the primary condition behind our challenges.

When we address what is primary, some new results happen. First we get long-term sustainable results as opposed to the typical fleeting changes that frustrate people so much. Cheating on one test won’t help you on the next one.

In addition, when the underlying problem is addressed quite often we see that other secondary conditions either improve or go away all together. New study habits improve all subjects just like a normalized spine and nervous system improve a variety of functions.

Finally, taking care of the primary condition creates opportunities for the future. Never getting to the root of a problem means you will never develop past that problem. You are a slave to it. Taking care of business allows you to evolve to the next level, and the next and the next. Most people don’t even know that is possible. It is.

At Nexus Chiropractic we focus on addressing a primary condition called a Neurospinal Shift that often underlies secondary conditions such as back and neck pain, headaches, low energy, restlessness and a variety of others. Neurospinal Shift also stunts learning, growth and development.

‘Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.’

–       William Arthur Ward.

In the third article in this series we will focus on the fact that if you approach health challenges (or any challenge) by attacking the surface problem YOU WILL BE DOOMED!

I know that this sounds harsh and I choose my language to consciously grab your attention. The reality is that I have worked with thousands of people in my office over the past 13 years and one of the most heart breaking(for me) and frustrating(for the patient) things is this never ending cycle of treating secondary conditions that leaves them in the same place, only years older and more broken down.

So, while some of you may find this post ‘negative,’ we will focus on why YOU ARE DOOMED if you approach your life and health the way most of the population goes about it.

For the sake of simplicity I am going to refer all pain and symptoms as SECONDARY CONDITIONS. This term could also apply to problems we encounter in other areas of life such as the debt example we used in a past article.

This first reason we are doomed if we merely attack the secondary conditions is that they are SECONDARY. There is something more PRIMARY that is behind the secondary condition or pain. Most treatments only address the secondary issue, so that we are made more comfortable for the time being. Because the PRIMARY cause that lies deeper has not been handled, what do you think will happen? That’s right, very often our pain or challenge will come back – sometimes after a short time, sometimes after a longer period.

I know many people who have been through so many doctors and treatments, yet still deal with the same problems for years. Is this frustrating? You bet! Without a change in approach they are doomed to a lifetime of the same experience.

It is bad enough to revisit the same challenges again and again over the years (kinda like the movie Groundhog Day), but it gets WORSE. The reason it gets worse is that if a primary condition is not taken care of, what can you expect to happen over time? Yep, it will become more severe. A more severe primary condition will typically lead to more severe secondary conditions as well and people will wonder why after so many treatments things are getting worse. This is so common that we have a name for it. People call their worsening condition AGING, and actually come to expect it as inevitable.

I am going to get all of my negativity out in this article so I will share with you that it gets even worse. Not only will focusing on superficial secondary conditions such as back pain doom you to chronic and worsening problems over time, it will also lead to MORE different kinds of problems!

Because an underlying PRIMARY condition can result in a variety of SECONDARY conditions, it stands to reason that a persistent primary condition will eventually lead to other problems. This is why it is common for people who initially only have back pain will later develop headaches, extremity problems and even end up with trouble sleeping and low levels of energy. Again, we chalk this up to aging.

In our office we focus on detecting and addressing a primary condition known as Neural Resistance which can lead to a myriad of secondary conditions such as neck pain, back pain, anxiety and others.

In the next article, we will wrap up the series with a more ‘positive’ theme. I will share some steps to help you to ‘Go Deeper to Get Better,’ whether you have a health practitioner or not. After all, I don’t wish for any of you to be DOOMED.

Anyone who has visited our chiropractic office knows that we do things a bit differently than your ‘average,’ or ‘traditional’ chiropractor. We take pride in this and are dedicated to continually learning and refining the care we deliver. The next series of articles will highlight and explain what our office focuses on and hopefully answer some of the questions you may have.

Most chiropractors are of the traditional variety. Traditional chiropractors typically have the goals of decreasing muscle spasm, increasing range of motion, and reducing pain. These are worthy goals and most of the doctors I know do a great job of this.

At Nexus/Gault Family Chiropractic we focus on Neurospinal Optimization by utilizing gentle chiropractic entrainments, teaching you specific exercises and perhaps making some lifestyle recommendations in an effort to improve a condition called Neural Resistance.

We are all familiar with normal body temperature: 37 degrees Celsius. How do we know when someone has abnormal eyesight? How about an irregular heartbeat or high blood pressure? How do we know if the air pressure in our tires is too low? The only way to appreciate abnormal is to know normal.

When it comes to normal, we are not expecting anyone to be perfect. However, if your head displaced beyond what is acceptable and your muscles are locked with a significant amount of abnormal tension, this is an indication of Neural Resistance. This is no different than the strings of a guitar being too tight or the amount of electricity running through the wires of your home being even a bit too high. Because the amount of resistance in your nervous system is too high, extra stress is placed on the muscles which then pulls the spine out of its normal alignment thereby placing abnormal stress on the tendons, bones, ligaments and discs.

What would happen if there was too much electrical current running through the wires of your home? Would it be reasonable to suggest that you lights would burn out more quickly? Would you expect your appliances to not work as well? Do you think that over time you may actually have to replace faulty major appliances as a result of this abnormal electrical current?

As you probably guessed, the problem is abnormal resistance, but in this case in the wiring of your home. Traditional doctors, regardless of what area of healthcare they are in, typically look at managing Secondary Conditions rather than focusing on the underlying cause. The traditional doctor will replace the burnt out light bulbs and repair your refrigerator. Will any of that correct the problem?

What would you do first if this were your home? Of course, you would get out of that house for a short time and hire an electrician who focuses on wiring take care of the problem. After that, and a little work on the secondary effects from the abnormal resistance you’re good to go.

The next article will look at some of the secondary conditions, or symptoms that may result from the presence of Neural Resistance.

Let’s say you wake up one morning, stagger into the bathroom, look in the mirror, and are shocked by what you see. You wonder how you got so fat (whatever that means to you), tired, old and unhealthy looking! This is completely unacceptable to you and you make a decision in that very moment that you are going to do something about it.

Now, what happened on that particular morning? Was there some event that occurred that suddenly made you fat and unhealthy? Of course not – there was a process of behaviours, perceptions and structures over a period of time that led to the current situation. THAT morning a threshold was reached that brought it to your conscious mind. The same thing could be said for a crisis in your finances, relationship or really, any other area of your life.

So, if it was a process that created your undesirable reality, what is the solution? Is there a magic pill that you can take or a magic procedure you can have that will make it all better? Obviously that is ridiculous – you must reverse the process!

When it comes to many health problems people have learned to see them as events instead of processes and therefore search for events to fix their problems.

Take back pain for example. Most people search so hard for the event that ‘caused’ their pain. “I must have slept wrong last night.” “I bent over to tie my shoe and that caused my back to go out.””I gardened yesterday, that’s my problem.” You get the idea. The fact of the matter is that in most cases of injury (with the exception of something like being hit by a truck), there has been a process going on for some time that ultimately led to the straw that broke the camel’s back and led to the end secondary condition of pain or some other symptom.

The ultimate solution, therefore is not some event (and adjustment, pill, massage, surgery) to get rid of the secondary condition (misalignment, inflammation, muscle spasm, scar tissue) but to actually address and remedy the underlying process.

Granted, there are many effective ways of treating muscle spasm, pain and inflammation yet those treatments are not designed to correct the underlying process and thus do not truly correct the problem. The unhealthy and overweight individual in the first paragraph could put on some make-up and wear body enhancing underclothes – but to truly take care of the problem they will have to undergo a process of changing their lifestyle.

At Nexus Chiropractic, we focus on addressing Neural Resistance which is like your car revving it’s engine at 25,000 rpm even when driving casually. Eventually, this will lead to a poor fuel efficiency, parts wearing out quickly, and ultimately – breakdown.

Neural Resistance may lead to a variety of secondary conditions down the line such as back pain, neck pain, headaches, poor posture and because the nervous system coordinates our organ systems even digestive troubles, a weak immune system, and anxiety.

Because we know that the development of NR is a process, addressing it is a process as well which is why we recommend an initial intensive period of care. While nobody is perfect, once the NR is significantly reduced some people choose a reduced plan of protection to make sure that their investment is well taken care of into the future.

Start seeing your current circumstances as the end result of processes in your life. If you see something you would like to change, come up with a process to get it handled.

They say that the joy is in the journey. I agree – and the journey IS the process.

8.33 percent is 1/12^th and is approximately how much of the year is made up by December. It is also a number that is very important to your health and wellbeing.

Why is the month of December so crucial to your health? Because December is the month that many people slack off on the practices that keep them healthy and happy exactly at the time they need them the most.

When we get busy with shopping and cleaning and going to parties and concerts I know that it can seem more difficult to get to the gym, prepare high quality meals, go to yoga class or make your regular chiropractic appointment. This is why many people let those things slide, telling themselves they are just too busy. While this makes sense on some levels, it can be a big mistake.

In our office, we detect and work to correct neural resistance, which is when you’re nervous system becomes like a piano whose strings are tuned too tight. None of the notes sound quite right. Because our nervous system coordinates the function of our bodies, when neural resistance is present it can result in secondary conditions such as pain, stiffness, poor posture, and even anxiety and a lack of ability to handle stress.

What contributes to the development of neural resistance? In addition to physical trauma and repetitive motion, neural resistance can be increased by mental and chemical stress. When do we face more of that? That’s right….holiday time.

At this time of year we many of us are more stressed about getting everything done, about finances, about travel, and about all of the lovely drama that can accompany spending time with loved ones. On top of that, we tend to eat more crap, drink more booze and sugar, and stay up late more often – all of which add to neural resistance and the secondary conditions that result from it.

That being said, I am not suggesting that you forgo your holiday plans this year to avoid neural resistance. What I AM suggesting is that while you are partying and stressing you continue to actively take steps to minimize the neural resistance you are creating.

If you are going to treat yourself by indulging in things that may be good for the soul but are not so good for your body (and nervous system)  then it is even MORE important that you continue to eat lots of good stuff too! If you are going to be tired and stressed, that is fine but make sure you continue to bust that stress with exercise, meditation or visits to a chiropractor who can address neural resistance.

What happens if you don’t? For one, you may end up sick and out of commission for all of the fun. Or, you may find yourself spending all of January catching up for your lack of attention in December. December + January = 16.66%!

So, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater this Christmas. Have fun and do it in a way that won’t have long term consequences for your health.

We are committed to helping you stay healthy this holiday and will be open from 10am-3pm on Christmas Eve and from 3-6:30pm on Dec. 27^th.

Healthy Christmas Gifts?

If you need Christmas gift ideas we have some healthy options. We have high quality Omega-3 Fish Oil, Vitamin D3 Drops, and Probiotics available for sale. We also have great water pillows (the kind I personally use), a full line of Q-link products to minimize EMF exposure, and copies of Dr. Epstein’s books on healing in stock. Stop in to pick some up.