The simplest answer is yes, and it might even be essential. When I started my practice 11 years ago one of my first patients presented with severe pain in her neck. As a flight attendant, she would only be able to take one trip or so out a month because the pain was just unmanageable.

When the pain became so severe that she was genuinely unable to work, she had a spinal fusion surgery in her neck. The back surgery took her pain down to what she considered a manageable level of 2-4, but the pain never completely went away. I was invited to give a lecture at a nearby Curves, and that's where we met! She scheduled an appointment and, after a thorough exam, I determined that I could help her.

After just a few treatments, which included adjustments to her entire spine, neck, and the segments above and below her fusion, she was pain-free. Once pain-free she returned to her globetrotting job as a flight attendant working full time. It may be essential to get adjusted after spinal surgery be...

Type 1 vs Type 2: Different Diseases, Same Problem

Diabetes—both Type 1 and Type 2—reflects one fundamental problem: your body can't regulate blood glucose properly. The mechanisms differ, but the outcome is the same: chronically elevated blood sugar damages blood vessels, nerves, kidneys, eyes, and cardiovascular tissue.

Type 1 Diabetes (Insulin-Dependent) typically develops when an environmental trigger (viral infection, gut permeability, dietary protein mimicry) combines with genetic predisposition to create an autoimmune attack on pancreatic beta cells. These cells, located in the islets of Langerhans, produce insulin. When they're destroyed, insulin production stops. Type 1 diabetics require exogenous insulin for survival.

Type 2 Diabetes (Non-Insulin Dependent) is metabolic dysfunction, not autoimmune disease. Your pancreas produces insulin—often too much—but your cells have become insulin resistant. They're saturated with glucose and refuse to accept more. The pancreas respon...

I get asked all the time, "...how is it those little pills that you give, that taste sweet, can make a person feel so much better that quickly and take away so much pain?" Well, those little pills are homeopathic remedies!

They can unlock amazing results in the human body, restore balance to the human condition, and help your body heal gently, rapidly and permanently. Homeopathy was founded by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).

He is called the Father of Experimental Pharmacology because he was the first physician to prepare medicines in a specific way; proving them on healthy human beings, to determine how the medicines acted to cure diseases. In a healthy person when a large dose of a substance is administered, whether it be chemical, plant, mineral, or animal, produces a set of symptoms you may then dilute the material down and treat those same symptoms in a sick person.

In the 1700's cinchona bark was used to treat malaria. Dr. Hahnemann was healthy at the time and decided to eat...

The yearly push for everyone to get the flu vaccine is on! I've had so many people tell me about receiving emails from their medical doctors announcing the availability of the flu vaccine. All the signage at grocery stores and Walgreen's remind us that it's here - as though the flu shot will be the one thing that keeps you healthy this winter.

I can't tell you to or not to take any form of prescription medication, including the flu vaccine, I would suggest you consult with your physician that prescribes them (that's my friendly disclaimer).

Let's dive into why the flu vaccine has become the "mandatory" trip to your local drug distribution establishment every year. The flu in the past could be a severe illness, in fact, the 1918-1919 flu may have caused more deaths than the plague did during the entire middle ages.

While that pandemic flu was a very aggressive strain of the flu, we probably should look at what was going on in the world at that time. There was a World War going on, a ...

If you're like me, you’ve probably spent the past two weekends glued to your TV and computer watching football and tracking your fantasy football teams. (And, if you're like me, you've watched your fantasy teams get shellacked two weeks in a row!)

You've probably heard or read about the focus at all levels of football to diminish the occurrence of concussions. The question is: Why do concussions matter so much? The actual medical name for a concussion is Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. This brain injury term is a much scarier and much more accurate way of describing what a concussion is.

The brain is three pound of fat and protein, it's encased in the rigid bony skull, and the dura attaches it to the skull. The brain is also cushioned and surrounded in the skull by cerebral spinal fluid that acts a lot like a liquid airbag around your brain. The primary proposed etiology of a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury is that the jolt to the head is hard enough that the brain will strike, or come clos...

So, it feels like someone is sticking a knife in your shin when you get done with your run or if you have to move quickly to catch the toddler before he falls? You could have shin splints, or, worst case scenario, a stress fracture of one of the bones in your lower leg. I'll discuss stress fractures another day; today let's focus on shin splints. There are a couple of potential causes for shin splints, and neither of them has much to do with overuse. In my clinical experience when a person presents with shin splints it is usually an imbalance of the joints of the foot or the muscles of the lower leg; mainly the posterior tibialis muscle.

There are two types of shin splints - anterior and posterior.  The anterior type of shin splint usually involves the anterior tibialis muscle; this is the muscle that is on the front part of your tibia (shin).  It is typically painful in running or downhill walking and can be very sharp, knife-like pain in that muscle.

The posterior type, involves th...

As a parent, business owner, doctor, and lecturer I understand what it's like to be truly sleep deprived. When my kids were still feeding through the night, I remember that tiredness that is just in your bones. The red, burning eyes that feel like they need a fire hose to put out the fire, and the need for bottomless cups of coffee. The worst part of those few weeks was the brain fog!

Even when I would lie down, my mind would start racing and be wide awake but too tired to do any productive work. I know that I am not alone in the lack of sleep department, so it's not surprising that a recent research paper said 60 million Americans take prescription sleep aids. One of the more popular sleep aids on the market is Ambien, which increases the action of an inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA.

This inhibition is what causes you to "fall asleep" because it turns off your brain. I don't know about you, but that sounds terrifying to me! My brain has been by far my biggest investment in life, an...

Question: I have debilitating migraine headaches and hate taking medication, is there anything that Chiropractic can do to help?

Yes, Chiropractic has been shown to help tremendously. In the past two weeks, I had two patients come in with active migraines that would have sent them home to lay in a dark room for the rest of the day, and they left the office without any a headache at all.

Let's talk just a bit about what a migraine is, it is a throbbing pain that is usually one-sided, usually over the eye or near the temples or forehead. It frequently alters the activities of daily living and can last several hours to several days. Migraines tend to have sensory and emotional changes before a migraine. These can include changes in mood, becoming irritable or depressed. Some may have “aura” an hour or two before a migraine, which can include flashing lights, blurry vision or blind spots. Some can even have distinct smells or tastes as an indication that they are about to have a migraine...

"No illness which can be treated by the diet should by treated by any other means."
-Moses Maimonides

Moses Maimonides was a 12th-century rabbi, physician, and philosopher. This quote is one of the more brilliant things I've read. Modern physicians could learn a lot from what Moses Maimonides was teaching when he said these words. A recurring theme amongst drug companies is "when diet and exercise fail to try this drug or that surgery." The simple fact is - diet and exercise don't fail when properly taught and properly followed. Eating a diet that we were designed to eat, and moderate exercise with intermittent high intensity is the key to health!

It's that wonderful time of year again!  Across the country parents are letting out a giant sigh of relief as they send their children back to school and structure once again fills their home.  It's also the time of year that I get asked how to best keep kid's healthy and focused the entire academic year.  There are three surefire ways to keep health and focus on your side.

Diet Drop breakfast cereals and oatmeal, even the whole grain cereals are as bad as the sugary, chocolate puffs.  All cereals, even fruit, put your star students on a blood sugar roller coaster.  This will impede the brains ability to learn and focus because of the spikes and crashes in their blood sugar.  It also leads to moodiness, obesity, and overall crabbiness.  As I know with my own children, most kids don't need help with crabbiness! So start and end their day with heavier protein and fat based meals.  This will help balance their blood sugar, give them sustained energy throughout the day, and let them sleep...