Wiping the snow from our faces, we can finally look toward spring. Bend, Oregon's nice weather will allow us to be more active, and we know from last months email, we need more activity to stay healthy.  To remain active, we need to avoid injury. Injury happens when the loads placed on the tissue exceeds the tissue’s capacity to handle them. We need to improve our body's ability to handle loads and here are some ways to accomplish that goal. 1. The Marriage of Stability and M

As I climb out of my cave after this winter of hibernation :), I began to think about what should I be doing to stay healthy activity wise. So, I'm going to throw a few questions at you. Do you want to live longer with more energy and improved mood? Would you like to be sick less, sleep better, and have less pain? What about being smarter? Well, guess what, for the low price of regular exercise, you can reap these benefits! I know I can use some of these added benefits in

With the weather causing the roads to get more slippery, car accidents are more common.  It is unfortunate that we get into car accidents, but I am one of the best options for care following a crash.  Following the accident, it is crucial to get treatment sooner rather than later if you have any symptoms.  I often hear, "my neck or back hurt because of my car crash years ago," and most of the time they did not receive care.  The most common symptoms seen from a car accident a

Just real quick to give you some background. I had cancer in my right ankle diagnosed in my late 20s. Luckily, I caught it fairly early and didn't have to have too much intervention, and it was in the soft tissue between my lateral malleolus (bump on outside of ankle) and skin. The cancer was called a myxofibrosarcoma, and it took three surgeries, the loss of a small muscle called the extensor digitorum brevis and a little over six months, and I was cancer free. Due to the

Here are some of the things I do to battle the "cold" season in Bend, Oregon. Keep your body strong and it will have a better chance to take down those bad bugs. Exercise- 3-4 per week for at least 20 minutes. Studies have shown that that improves the immunity. Colorful Fruits and Veggies- Adds a wide variety of vitamins and nutrients to your diet. Garlic- Kills vampires and disease. Keep those hungry vampires and bugs away this winter. Omega-3- This fatty acid helps improve

Our spine is an essential part of our bodies. It allows us to stand upright; it protects our spinal cord and the 24 vertebrae that make up the spine enable us to move around! I may be biased since I'm a chiropractor, but the spine is my favorite region of the body :). The three main regions of the spine are the Cervical Spine (Neck), Thoracic Spine (mid back), Lumbar spine (Low back). It has an S shape from top to bottom. There are so many interesting and cool features of

Do you breathe with your diaphragm?  Let’s do a test, put your hand on your stomach and your chest, now take a deep breath. What hand moved first? What hand moved more?  Most of you reading this probably had the first and more motion with your chest hand. Breathing is the first motion we learn when we are born, it is the base of our motion.  Look at a baby breathing and their abdomen is expanding in and out. Over time as we move less and sit more, we lose this ability. It bec