We have all heard the Einstein quote, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when creating them.” Not surprisingly, there is a lot of wisdom in that quote, and it has powerful applications to our health.

Just as we cannot solve life’s problems with the same thinking that created them, we can’t solve our health problems with the same approaches that created THEM.

I am a competitive Masters (old timer) weightlifter. For the first 4 years of my competitive career, I made consistent and rapid progress in the results I was achieving, which culminated in winning the Pan Am Masters championship in 2016. Everything was great. Then, I plateaued. Then I noticed that my numbers were dropping. This continued for almost a year and I didn’t know why. It definitely was a big PROBLEM!

Because I am not that smart, my first approach to the problem was to just do the same thing (in training and preparation), but more of it. I trained more often and harder. What was the outcome? You guessed it, the problem got worse.

People told me that I was just getting old and I should just accept it, but I was not quite willing to go down without a fight. I knew that I had to change my approach to training (thinking).

So, I studied books and articles looking for answers. I changed my approach to recovery between workouts. From the new insight I gained, I came up with a new plan with a significantly different approach and it has started to work. My trajectory is now upwards again, and I am excited for what will come as opposed to being scared and frustrated regarding to future.

I see a similar narrative play out with many individuals regarding their health. Everything is fine and then one day a health problem shows up. Back pain, headaches, anxiety, digestive problems.

Most people focus on the elimination of the symptom. What is rarely considered is what the symptom (more accurately termed a secondary condition) means. A secondary condition means that your body is no longer able to effectively adapt to the stressors being placed upon it.

A symptom or disease means you have an adaptability deficiency. So, you can eliminate the stressors in your life (such as work, your kids, physical activity), or you can upgrade your adaptability and re-enter life functioning at a higher level.

Most of the time when we treat a symptom, we are really just decreasing our awareness, which leads to even less adaptability. That is what I was doing by training harder. I was ignoring what both my body and the scoreboard were telling me. Had I continued on this path, my results would have continued to decline, and I likely would have either burned out my system or had a serious injury that would have taken me out of the game.

What if instead of making the secondary condition the enemy, your asked yourself, ‘how can I rise above this? How can I take my thinking, approach, and awareness to a whole new level?’

There are many ways to do this that will provide you with an entirely different trajectory in both your health and life.

One of the reasons we get the results we get at Nexus Chiropractic is that we don’t chase symptoms – we upgrade the body’s software (nervous system) to help it become more aware, more efficient, and more adaptable. Instead of fighting your body, we help it rise above the problem.

Why go back into life the same – only a little older and more fragile – when you can rise above and play the game of life at a whole new level?

Thorin Gault, D.C.

March 27, 2018

     I recently had a conversation with a white-haired weekend warrior who years ago had benefited from the care I provide. He was complaining of sore and stiff muscles around his shoulder blade that just weren’t going away this time. He asked if I thought I could help. I told him that we see conditions like his improve every single day because they are often SECONDARY to what is called a Neural Shift, which is what we focus on correcting in our office.

While this man trusts me, he seemed skeptical that Neurospinal Optimization(NSO) could help him. Why? Because he knows how gentle NSO care is and felt like he needed something more invasive or ‘harder’ to fix the problem.

This is a common belief amongst non-elite athletes and a misconception that not only gets in the way of them getting the care that can get them back on the field (or rink, court, golf-course) but creates a missed opportunity to perhaps increase their performance and health to a new level.

A few days after I spoke to this man, I was on the phone with a chiropractor colleague whose approach to care is very similar to mine. He mentioned that he had been providing care to a high-end athletic trainer who works with many professional athletes who fly significant distances to work with him. The trainer was so excited about what my colleague was doing  that he asked him to work with his athletes as part of his services. These athletes, who have access to the best-of-the-best doctors and therapists absolutely loved the work, understood the value, and knew they had found a unique edge.

Why did the athletes love NSO so much? Because it delivers so much more than temporary relief of pain, muscle spasm and other secondary conditions. In fact, some of the athletes refer to their care as their “steroids” due to the fact that it allows them to do things they could not otherwise accomplish (drug-free by the way).

So, how does Neurospinal Optimization, by focusing on the detection and correction of a Neural Shift affect athletic performance? Here are the top 5 ways:

     1. Increased Body Awareness. Somatic, or body awareness is essential to any athlete. A keen sense of where body parts are in space, how they are moving, and the ability to adapt in an instant is what makes great athletes great. A Neural Shift caused by trauma and stress decrease our awareness by design. Freeing the body of a Neural Shift can produce a powerful improvement in body awareness very quickly. I have had multiple weightlifting patients consistently make record lifts shortly after starting NSO care.

     2. Increased Flexibility and Range of Movement. A Neural Shift is like having too much current running through the wires of your home. Those wires (nerves) connect to every part of your body, including the muscles. Neural Shifts produce tight, inflexible muscles and restrict the range of motion necessary for high performers. When the Neural Shift is addressed with NSO care the athlete becomes more flexible not only through the large muscles, but actually is able to increase their range of motion in the small muscles that precisely move each joint. This range and precision could be the difference between victory and defeat.

3. Increase Efficiency of Movement. The best athletes are the most efficient athletes. A study featured on the cover of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, compared functional MRIs of subjects performing a simple movement before and after care. The result was that after care the parts of the brain involved became much more specific and precise, indicating much greater efficiency.

This study also indicated that the brain was more efficient post entrainment, which has phenomenal implications for both sports and other areas of life.

4. Injury Prevention. Nothing can impede athletic progress more than injuries. Obviously, if you are more aware of your body, more flexible, have a greater ROM and more efficient with your movements a great number of potential injuries will be prevented.

5. Faster Healing and Recovery.  A Neural Shift indicates the body is locked in a fight or flight, or defensive state. In this state all of our resources are directed towards survival – even if we aren’t in danger. This means fewer resources are available for healing, repair, recovery and growth. NSO allows the body to move from survival to ease and healing. I have personally recovered from injuries in literally a tenth of the time predicted by orthopaedic surgeons. A few years ago I tore my hamstring playing baseball. The surgeon prescribed intensive physiotherapy and no running for 10 weeks. With no treatment I was running full speed in 5 days!

There are many ways to have aches, pains, injuries and muscle spasms temporarily relieved. Top athletes know that this is nowhere near enough to ensure top performance in their disciplines. Neurospinal Optimization provides an opportunity to not only get past challenges, but take you to the next level.