Misaligned vertebrae in the neck are probably the most common cause of chronic headaches. This put stress on the joints and muscles in the neck, head and upper back, which if not addressed, eventually leads to headaches.

Most often this misalignment results from chronic repetitive physical stress. Some examples include frequently looking down at a phone, wearing a heavy helmet much the day working such as in construction work, frequent looking over the shoulder or similar movements and much more.

So if you suffer from regular headaches having your neck and upper back checked makes sense to make sure the bones are aligned properly and not stressing the muscles and joints. I’ve treated hundreds of cases of headaches over the years and chiropractic is remarkably effective for this problem.

With many states including Wisconsin now issuing Shelter in Place orders many of us are spending the majority of our time at home. While certainly not what we want it is important to avoid as much contact as possible for the time being in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. In this article I’m listing several foods I personally am stocking up on and suggest you do the same so there is always something with calories and nutrition on hand without frequent trips to the grocery store.

Virgin Coconut Oil: this versatile oil is great for cooking and baking and also comes with lots of Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs). MCTs are burned preferentially by the body to create energy so having some coconut oil each day is great for keeping up energy levels. You can buy a big jar of this oil that will last for a few weeks or more for about $10-15.

Canned Tuna/Sardines: canned fish lasts forever and is a great source of protein and omega 3 fatty acids which are essential for overall health. If you get sardines that still have the bones you also get a nice does of much needed calcium. Also, sardines are cheap. Because of this they are easy to stock up on.

Potatoes: first of all potatoes are darn near a complete food. Potatoes alone will keep you going for quite a while. You can also cook them and then freeze them for later use extending their shelf life even further. You can used them in soups, casseroles, or make mashed potatoes or some other recipe. Also adding fats via butter and protein is easy and any meal with potatoes is likely to fill you up. Once again they are relatively cheap too.

Frozen Fruit: fruits, especially berries, are a vital source of vitamins and minerals. Adding a cup of strawberries to a smoothie in the morning for example, adds a nice does of Vitamin C. The other really nice thing about frozen fruits is they are usually higher in vitamins than their fresh counterparts because they are frozen right after picking. Freezing also allows you to use them when you want and in what amounts rather than being forced to eat up the fresh fruits before they go bad. Bulk size bags are also available which lessens the cost.

Canned Beans and Vegetables: similar to frozen fruit, canned veggies add a nice does of minerals to a meal. And being canned they last much longer and are typically much cheaper than fresh produce. Asparagus, artichokes, and beans are great things to stock up on for later use.

Nutritional Yeast: this special yeast is not baking yeast. It has a slightly cheese like flavor. The reason it’s on this list is because nutritional yeast is absolutely loaded with B vitamins. And you don’ need to eat much to get all the B vitamins you need. Add it to soups, sprinkle on veggies or mix into eggs.

Seaweed Flakes: to be clear, any seaweed will be good for you. However many grocery stores carry salt shakers full of ground up kelp. The reason I suggest you stock up on this is because sea weed is one of the only foods that contains lots of natural iodine. Just a sprinkle a day will keep your body supplied with all the iodine it needs to regulate energy levels through thyroid function. Ohhh, and its pretty cheap compared to the sheets of seaweed too!

Check back often for other articles on foods, supplements and at home routines to maintain health during the pandemic. I’ll do my best to keep you as healthy as possible.

Vitamin C is one of the most important micronutrients for a good, healthy immune system. Here is a list of 5 foods that are easy to find and pack a big dose of this important vitamin.

#1: Strawberries- strawberries are pound for pound one of the best sources of vitamin C around. Even just 4-5 berries a day goes a long way to supplying much needed amounts of vitamin C. Eat them raw or add them to smoothies. Bonus: they are delicious.

#2: Lemons- the first citrus fruit on the list. Lemons are great because they stay fresh a long time and have a nice amount of vitamin C. My favorite way to use fresh lemons is to make honey-lemon tea. Just warm up 12oz of water, add a tablespoon or raw honey and the juice from 1/4- 1/2 of a lemon. I also like to drop the wedge in after juicing.

#3: Broccoli- this cruciferous veggie is loaded with health promoting vitamin C. Probably the best way to enjoy broccoli is to steam it for 5-8 minutes and then season with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste!

#4: Kale- another veggie that is packed with vitamin C is kale. I love adding torn up kale leaves to soups like chicken veggie and minestrone. Once cooked the leaves are tender and have a very mild flavor.

#5: Oranges- I bet you were wondering where oranges were? Oranges are a sweet treat that is also loaded with vitamin C. Eat them raw and benefit from this amazing fruits high vitamin C content.

In these interesting times it pays to do anything we can to keep our health and immunity high. I will be posting a series of articles, videos and other information in the coming weeks to help everyone stay healthy.

This year especially staying healthy seems to be very difficult. However there are certain foods and supplements you can take to make sure your own immune system is as strong as possible.

Each of these provides essential vitamins and minerals for immune function and ensures optimal response should your body encounter a nasty virus or bacteria.

#1: Garlic – garlic is well known for its ability to help fend off disease. It provides sulfur, nitrates and a plethora of phytonutrients that help coordinate the immune system. It is most potent raw however it can be sautéed and mixed with meals or taken in pill form. There is no real limit to how much garlic you can ingest.

#2: Vitamin D- critical for many chemical reactions in the body. If you are deficient in this vitamin your immune system will not be working at or anywhere near 100%. I suggest taking 10,000Iu a day.

#3: Lemon- lemon provides a big does of Vitamin C. This is an another absolutely essential nutrient for keeping your immunity high. My favorite way to does up with lemon is to juice 1/4 to 1/2 a lemon and make honey lemon tea. Add the lemon juice to 12oz of water and a teaspoon of raw local honey for an immune boosting tea.

#4: Zinc- yet another crucial micronutrient for immune health. Zinc is not stored in the body in any appreciable amount so making sure to take zinc daily is important for staying healthy. Zine is easily found in supplement form at most grocery stores. You can also get lots of zinc from shell fish, especially oysters.

#5: Bone Broth- the age old advice to drink soup when your sick came from old school soup made with bone broth. Bone broth is made by simmering the bones and collagen containing parts of the bones long enough to leach out the minerals in the bones and collagen. Collagen is an important protein that the body can never have enough of. Drink 1-2 cups of broth per day or use it in soups like chicken wild rice or chili.

Bonus Tip: One other thing to consider this time of year is to drink enough water and stay hydrated. Most people are chronically dehydrated. This is a problem because even mild dehydration slows down chemical reactions in the body and decreases the overall efficiency of the body. Drink at least 64 oz a day but more is ok too.

This time of year is the last hurrah for colds, flues and stomach bugs and they tend to like to go out with a bang. Doing a few simple things can help boost both you and your family’s immunity in the last few weeks of winter.

These are 3 tips I personally use this time of year and I tend to notice they make me more resistant to getting sick even when everyone around me has a runny nose or has a fever.

Tip #1: Drink Honey Lemon Tea

This super easy to make drink provides Vitamin C and if you use local raw honey it actually can stimulate your immune system so its much stronger when a virus or bacteria comes to cause trouble. To make simply heat up a mug of water and add a tablespoon of raw honey and the juice from 1/4 to 1/2 of a lemon (fresh squeezed). Have 1-3 cups a day.

Tip #2: Get Outside

This time of year we start to see some much nicer days weather wise. The suns rays are much stronger than in the early winter and getting 10-15 minutes of sun exposure on some bare skin each day gets your body making Vitamin D. This is important because Vitamin D plays a critical role in your immune response. Getting some sun on the nicer days ensures you have enough Vitamin D to mount a good, strong immune response when needed.

Tip #3: See Your Chiropractor Regularly

Huh? The chiropractor? Yes, that’s right. The chiropractor. Although many people think of chiropractic as mostly for back pain in reality chiropractic adjustments work wonders for the whole body. How you ask? Remember that chiropractic works by removing interference in the nervous system caused by misaligned joints pinching nerves. ANYTHING at the end of a nerve fiber loses some function when subluxations (bones out of place) are present. Getting regular adjustments improves the overall function of the body and this includes a much stronger and coordinated immune response.

In addition remember to drink enough water, get 7-9 hours of sleep a night and exercise. Getting through the last few weeks of winter can be difficult but you can do it with much less illness by just making a few small changes in your routine.

Need to make an appointment? You can contact my Glenwood City or 4 Corners office, use Facebook or just stop in. We welcome walk ins and would be happy to see you!

I treat people for spinal problems, optimizing diet and making health promoting life style changes. One thing that is common in many cases I treat is that the patient comes in only after things have gotten so bad they have few other options.

It’s not their fault. It’s human nature to think “Oh well, it will get better”. And often times it does, at least for a little while. The problem with many health conditions is that they occur primarily because they have gone untreated for weeks, months or even years. The small wear and tear of day to day life finally accumulates to the point where symptoms appear.

All to often people have had warning signs before the real symptoms occur. Recurring headaches, bouts of sciatica, off and on shoulder or hip issues, low energy, high blood pressure and more are all like “check engine” lights in the body. Ignore them for a little while and nothing will likely explode but ignore it for longer and it’s only a matter of time until you wind up in the shop for some expensive repairs.

This is especially important with the spine because over time it is the slow wearing out of joints and discs between vertebrae that eventually lead to more severe back pain and problems that can even require surgery. I suggest that as long as there are any symptoms such as headaches, back pain, numbness or tingling in the extremities, etc… that 1-3 adjustments per week is needed to stop the problem from getting worse and allowing it to start to heal.

Once the pain or the “symptoms” have stopped regular adjustments about once or twice a month is a good idea to make sure there are not developing problems and to significantly slow down the degeneration of the joints and discs. This will ensure a much more healthy and pain free life as we age.

Taking the steps to address these problems when they are small goes a long ways to making sure you don’t have much bigger problems 5, 10, 15 or even 20 or more years down the road. Take care of your spine. Take care of your health. Without them you can’t enjoy life to its fullest!

Looking for a delicious homemade bread recipe that won’t spike blood sugar and is healthy for the gut? As someone who personally can’t eat wheat this recipe is one of my favorites. It totally satisfies the bread cravings that occasionally happen with a combination of healthy fats and fiber! I have modified it just a bit from the original recipe I had and think it has more orange flavor to balance the tart cranberries.

Its’ very easy to make and the ingredients nourish the gut and the good bacteria in it! Try it plain or spread some grass fed butter over it for a delicious breakfast or a healthy snack anytime.

To Make the Bread You Will Need:

1/4 cup monk fruit sweetner

1 cup whole cranberries

1/4 cup orange juice

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

1/3 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup avocado oil

2 1/4 cups almond flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

To Make the Bread:

Preheat oven to 350

In a food processor or blender pulse the cranberries, monk fruit, and orange juice until small bits of cranberry are distributed equally in mixture.

In a bowl whish together eggs, extract, coconut milk and avocado oil.

In separate bowl combine almond flour, baking soda, salt and cranberry mixture.

Combine the two mixtures and knead until well mixed. Line a bread pan with a sheet of parchment paper and fill pan with dough mixture.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Did you like this recipe? If so click the like and share buttons on this post and spread it around!

I’ve been doing several case studies lately and this week I want to share what I have experienced with cases of headaches. Headaches have always been one of the primary conditions people seek chiropractic care for, but why?

To being with lets review what chiropractic does. Doctors of chiropractic are trained to identify areas of the neck and spine where spinal vertebrae have become misaligned and correct this via the chiropractic adjustment. This safe and gentle procedure corrects misaligned joints, which we call subluxations, and allows the muscle and tendons to heal on their own which causes symptoms such as headaches to go away.

In my time in practice I have found there are 2 primary types of headaches I treat patients for. Those are tension headaches and migraine headaches. While technically different I have found that both types usually respond well to chiropractic care and it is not uncommon to see full resolution of headaches within 1-4 weeks of regular treatment.

Most of the time patients present with either a sudden onset of migraine symptoms or with a history of chronic tension headaches. The pain can range from mild to pretty severe, as in the person can’t do much but lie in bed and take OTC pain meds for several days.

In cases of headaches the physical examination of the neck almost always reveals two primary pathological components. They are excessive muscle tension and misaligned vertebrae which are tender to the touch. It’s important to note that one of the bodies reactions to misaligned vertebrae is to tighten the muscles. This is because the body views the subluxation as an injury and is trying to stabilize the area similar to how a sprained ankle swells up.

Other common physical findings are reduced range of motion, and the patient may reports sensitivity to lights and sounds. Chiropractic treatment of headaches typically consists of a series of adjustments done over several weeks. Often 2-3 visits per week is needed at the onset of care but this is reduced as the muscle tissue heals and the person begins to feel better.

During treatment I typically ask the person to pay attention to their day to day activities and see if there is some repetitive motion they do that strains the muscles in the neck and upper back. Identifying any of these along with adjusting the neck and upper back can have tremendous benefit for the patient.

Upon successful completion of the treatment I typically suggest 1-2 follow up visits per month to address any developing problems in the neck and back. This is because you just took the time and effort to correct the problem. Why not maintain it so that you don’t wind up back in several weeks or months later with the same problem?

If you struggle with headaches call us or stop in anytime. We are here to help and have years of experience treating headaches. We would love to help you as well.

If you know anything about chiropractic you probably know that it is a great treatment option for headaches, low back pain, sciatica and much more. But the true benefits of chiropractic go far beyond pain relief.

Chiropractors check the spine for misaligned bones in the spine that pinch nerves that exit the spinal cord. These nerves go to all the muscles and organs and anything at the end of pinched nerve is not getting 100% of the information being relayed to and from the brain. This is what results in dysfunction and ultimately the symptoms that lead people to see the chiropractor in the first place.

Chiropractic is extremely safe and is often more effective than drugs or other treatments for problems with a musculoskeletal origin. And again, while it is great for getting rid of headaches, back aches and more it goes soooo much deeper than that!

Benefit 1: Improved Organ Function- the same nerves that to the muscles also go to the organs. If an organ is operating on reduced nerve flow then that organ is not operating at 100%. This is important if your body is trying to digest food, filter your blood and urine or coordinate the distribution of vital nutrients throughout the body. Getting regular adjustments makes sure the body stays in tune and operates at its best which keeps you feeling better!

Benefit 2: Improved Immunity- your immune system also relies on the nervous system to coordinate it’s response to invading virus’s and bacteria. Would you rather have your army of immune cells operating in a highly organized manner to combat an infection or running around chaotically swinging at anything that even looks like a bad guy? Regular adjusting of the spine keeps this critical system operating efficiently and keeping you from getting sick.

Benefit 3: Better Sleep– even if your not in pain per se lingering aches and muscle tightness can make it difficult to fall asleep or to stay asleep. How many times have you gone to bed only to wake up at 3 or 4am with a sore neck or unexplained headache? These are early warning signs that trouble may be just around the corner for you. Regular adjusting keeps the body fine tuned so that recurring problems with the back simply don’t happen as often if at all.

If you are looking to benefit from chiropractic care and improve your health call us or message us on Facebook to set up an appointment. We are here to help you experience better health! If you liked this article and found it valuable give me a click on Facebook or share this article with someone you think would benefit from it.

In many cases of sciatica that I see the cause is misaligned spinal vertebra pinching nerves that are exiting the spine. This causes the typical symptoms of sciatica which are shooting pain down the legs, numbness, tingling and weakness.

Today we’re going to go over a recent case I had of patient with sciatica. He initially presented to the office with symptoms of pain in the left leg as well as foot drop, or the inability to fully control the left foot.

Note: Symptoms Came on Gradually

This gentleman had been experiencing ongoing low back pain for several months and over the last 3 weeks prior to coming to see me progressed to pain down his leg and eventually the foot issues, which was coincidently what lead him to come to my office.

Initial evaluation revealed tenderness of the left lumbar musculature and posterior rotation of the left SI and L5 segments. He also had marked weakness in the left foot. He had had previous X-rays done which showed no pathologic processes or fractures so we knew we were dealing with a musculoskeletal issue.

Note: Many Cases of Sciatica Do Not Have Any X-ray Findings

Due to the severity of his symptoms I suggested an initial course of treatment at 3 times per week for 4 weeks. We then re-evaluated his condition. Initially he did not see much change, however within a month his pain levels had decreased by about 75% and he had only a minor deficit in his left foot.

We decided to treat 2 times a week for an additional 4 weeks and upon completion he had only minor pain in the left lower back and his foot was back to normal.

Note: Sciatica Can Take Up To 2 Months or More to Resolve

His follow up visits now typically consist of 1-2 times per month. He has no restrictions and has to date, not seen any returning of his symptoms.

Chiropractic was able to help with this problem because, like many similar cases, the problem was misaligned spinal vertebra. This problem most often comes about over time due to repetitive stress. That is why there is often no pain or symptoms until they are suddenly very painful and noticeable.

If you or someone you know has sciatica or similar problems, I encourage you to seek chiropractic care. It is much safer and often much more effective than the usual medical route which includes pain pills and physical therapy.

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