One of the primary causes of headaches is the constant stretching (weakening) of a network of muscles at the top of either side of your neck and occiput (base of your skull) called the suboccipital triangle, or SOT. These muscles contain the highest percentage of mechanoreceptors (receptors that sense mechanical sensation and pressure) of any region in your entire body.…
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Don’t Let YOU Down!
When a patient steps into my office, that chiropractic adjustment doesn’t end until that patient is noticeably better and I have done all I can to balance the spine by removing a vertebral subluxation (misalignment of the C1 and/or C2 vertebra). Restoring proper balance to the spine, which removes pressure from the nerves and allows the body’s innate intelligence to…
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Where Neck Stiffness & Upper Back Pain Come From
Neck stiffness and/or upper thoracic (upper back) pain is very common and can be caused by a number of different reasons. Sleeping on a pillow that’s too flat or too fluffy can cause neck stiffness or upper back pain. A car accident, even a minor fender bender, can cause neck stiffness or upper back pain. Spending too much time hunched…
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Happy 124th Birthday to the Chiropractic Profession!
In September 1895, Daniel David Palmer, known by most as D.D. Palmer, gave what was considered the first chiropractic adjustment. The 18th of September has generally been accepted as the actual birthday of chiropractic by the profession itself. After the first adjustment, D.D. Palmer coined the term “chiropractic,” from which he combined the Greek words cheir (meaning ‘hand’) and praktos (meaning ‘done’),…
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Chiropractic & Osteophytes (aka Bone Spurs)
Osteophytes, otherwise known as bone spurs, are a very common condition, especially as people age. Most people believe that bone spurs are a part of life and that they come with the territory of getting older and things breaking down. But that is not necessarily the case. First off, let’s define what a bone spur is. From Wikipedia: Osteophytes, commonly…
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3 Steps to Getting Better Sleep
If you’re an American, chances are you’re not getting enough sleep. And if you’re a parent? Forget about it. Unfortunately, there are also some things we might be doing to make our sleep worse without even realizing it. Watch the video to learn 3 ways you can enjoy a more restful night of sleep.
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Fun Times at Sherman Lyceum
These photos are from Memorial Day weekend 2010, when I spoke at the Sherman College of Chiropractic Lyceum in Greenville, SC. When I was in school at Parker University, I started a blog called The Atlas of Life that gained some notoriety in the chiropractic profession. Three months after I graduated, I was asked to speak at the following year’s Lyceum…
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Much Safer & Far Cheaper
If it’s not a misalignment in your upper cervical spine, it’s a misalignment in your lower cervical spine. If it’s not that, it’s a misaligned 1st rib. This has been the case for my patients 100% of the time in my 10 year career. Since this is a fairly common problem for a chiropractor to see (and help with), does…
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3 Ways to Prevent Chronic Pain from Shrinking Your Brain
In 2004, researchers from Northwestern University conducted a study in which they discovered that chronic back pain diminishes 5-11% of the gray matter in your brain per year—the equivalent of 10-20 years of normal aging. Last year, the CDC revealed that over 50 million Americans have chronic pain at any given time. As a whole, chronic pain costs $635 billion…
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Plugging Up a Leak with Duct Tape
If you tie a string around your finger and the tip becomes purple from a lack of circulation, would you cut off the purple part of your finger? Or would you simply untie the string? When you have pain and/or symptoms, your body is telling you that there is problem—aaaaannnd that it has been there for a while. Sciatica, migraines,…
