As the holidays approach, one of the hardest things to do is stay healthy. It starts with Halloween candy and colder temperatures. Continues through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve celebrations. Throw in a few holiday parties, some travel, dealing with families both good and bad and the end of the financial year for most people. 

This is by far one of the most stressful time of the year! With this in mind over the next few weeks we are going to talk about thing you can do to make it through this holiday season with your health and waistline intact. 

Cook at home as often as possible during the season. When I was going through my Chiropractic program, I valet parked cars nights and weekends. The busiest time and when I would make the most money by far was the holiday season. We would double some cars that we parked from November to Christmas; it wasn’t because it was colder outside, it was because the restaurant would seat twice as many people. 


This increase in our desire...

TMJ dysfunction creates symptoms throughout the body—not just jaw pain. Because the temporomandibular joint sends approximately 35% of all sensory input to your central nervous system and connects mechanically to the upper cervical spine, sphenoid bone, and hyoid complex, dysfunction here cascades into seemingly unrelated problems.

For a comprehensive explanation of how TMJ affects whole-body health, see: Can TMJ Cause Other Problems?

Here are the ten most common signs of TMJ dysfunction:

1. Headaches and Migraines

Headaches are the most common symptom of TMJ dysfunction. Tension headaches from overactive temporalis, masseter, and pterygoid muscles. Migraines triggered by trigeminal nerve irritation (the trigeminal nerve innervates the jaw and is the primary pain pathway for migraines). Cervicogenic headaches from upper cervical compensation.

Clinical example: Patient presented with 32 consecutive days of migraine-type headache. Multiple ER visits, two neurologists, MRI and CT sca...

Most people say "I have TMJ" when describing jaw pain. That's like saying "I have knee" instead of "I have knee pain." TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint—the hinge connecting your jaw to your skull. We all have two of them. What people mean is TMJ dysfunction: the joint isn't moving correctly, muscles aren't firing in proper sequence, or structural compensation has developed.

Why does this matter? Because TMJ dysfunction doesn't stay isolated to your jaw.

The Neurological Reality of TMJ Dysfunction

Your TMJ sends massive sensory input to your brain—approximately 35-40% of all proprioceptive information processed by your sensory cortex comes from the jaw and surrounding structures. This is why neurologists mapping the homunculus (the brain's representation of body parts) show disproportionately large areas dedicated to the face and jaw.

When TMJ mechanics are disrupted, that distorted sensory input affects motor control throughout the body. This isn't theoretical. We see it clin...

I get asked all the time how the heck do you explain what you do. It’s not just for patients looking for an explanation of Applied Kinesiology and Chiropractic for their family and friends but also from chiropractic students. I thought I would finally take a post to talk about what I do and how to explain what I do.

Honestly it all depends on how I feel when someone asks me what I do. The normal answer is that I am a Functional Chiropractor. Who treats patients structurally with chiropractic and uses Applied Kinesiology and functional neurology to balance the acupuncture meridians and assess them nutritionally which helps them find them get better fast and more effectively.

That explanation is in no way all-encompassing of what Applied Kinesiology or Chiropractic can do. But when I tell people who I help patients find the impediments to what is keeping them from healing and removing them I always get a look like I’m crazy. For some reason, people seem to have forgotten that the body ...

I got a nice little birthday present yesterday.  The CDC announced that there is a wait for it, confirmed case of Ebola here in Dallas.  Consequently, EVERYONE on Facebook lost their minds and posted that they were going to die. 

The funny part to me is that Erin has had a mild cough this week and lost her voice over the weekend.  She is significantly better but still has a very slight cough, but she has to get on a plane tomorrow, I wonder if they will let her get on? 

I thought I would head off the questions before I got them.  I know someone is going to ask, do I need to worry about Ebola? So, let's talk a little about what Ebola virus is and how deadly it can be.  Ebola virus disease (EVD), Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), or just Ebola is a disease of humans as well as other primates triggered by an Ebola virus. 

Symptoms start two days to three weeks after contracting the illness, and the indications, usually, include having a fever, a sore throat, muscle discomfort and headache...

What You Should Not Be Eating When You Have IBS

If you've been diagnosed with IBS, you've probably been told to "watch what you eat" or "keep a food diary." Maybe someone handed you a list of trigger foods. Maybe you're already avoiding half the grocery store and still having symptoms.

Here's what nobody explains: the foods that trigger your IBS aren't the problem. They're revealing the problem.

When your gut is functioning properly, you can eat garlic without bloating for three days. You can have an apple without gas and cramping. You can drink milk without spending the afternoon in the bathroom.

The issue isn't that these foods are inherently toxic. The issue is that your gut is dysfunctional, and these foods expose that dysfunction through fermentation, inflammation, or immune reactions.

Understanding which foods to avoid is important for managing symptoms while you heal. Understanding WHY you're reacting is essential for actually fixing the problem.

Remove All Grains First

T...

What Is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)?

IBS is one of those diagnoses that patients mention almost apologetically. Most people don't walk into my office saying "I have IBS." They tell me about gas, bloating, unpredictable bowel movements, stomach pain that comes and goes.

They've learned to plan their lives around bathroom access. They know which foods will wreck them for days. They've been told it's stress, or anxiety, or just something they'll have to live with.

Here's the reality: about 20% of the population suffers from some form of IBS. That's one in five people walking around with a gut that's actively rebelling against them.

But IBS isn't a disease. It's a symptom cluster pointing to underlying dysfunction that conventional medicine rarely addresses. When your doctor diagnoses you with IBS, what they're really saying is "your digestive system isn't working right, and we don't know why."

The good news? We do know why. And more importantly, we know how to fix it.

The Officia...

Every time a new patient comes in, I take a thorough history and ask them the medications and supplements that they are currently taking.  It is shocking how many people are taking probiotics these days. 15 years ago when I started studying health and wellness, most people would look at me like I was crazy if I mentioned that they might need to take a supplement of bacteria (probiotic).

I still find it funny that people will buy their yogurt because it has the “good probiotics” in it and will at the same time be loading up on hand sanitizer and antibacterial soap because they are a “germaphobe."  

The question is, does everyone need probiotics? We have previously talked about how the microbiome or balance of bacteria in and on your body affects your health.  However, today we need to look at if the supplementation of particular strains of bacteria change your health.

Personally and clinically, I have only seen significant results with the supplementation of Lactobacillus be benefici...

Know your egg labels! What exactly is the difference between cage-free and free-range eggs?

Well, honestly not much. These are just labeling terms that the food industry has been using to make their product seem superior to another. The best eggs you can buy are probably pasture raised eggs.

Eggs are a staple here in most people's homes today with approximately 250 eaten by the average American every year. The sad part for me is that I do not get to eat them that often. When I do, I have become a massive label reader. The problem is that labels are massively deceiving in what the say about how the chicken was raised.

This was a lesson that I had to relearn a few weeks ago. I have been buying organic “cage-free” and "free-range" eggs from whole foods for a couple of years, feeding them to Erin and the kids on a daily basis.  I knew that cage-free wasn't caged free, but I thought that free range was a great equivalent to pastured at a lower price point. 

Then I picked up some pasture...

What is Adrenal Fatigue?

Adrenal fatigue is one of those terms that natural health practitioners have discussed for decades, but conventional medicine is only recently beginning to acknowledge.

You won't find "adrenal fatigue" in medical textbooks. It's not recognized as a disease. But the symptoms are real, the mechanism is understood, and millions of people are suffering from it right now.

Adrenal fatigue describes a state where your adrenal glands can't keep up with the demands placed on them. They're not pathologically diseased (Addison's disease). They're just exhausted—hypofunction rather than complete failure.

This matters because your adrenal glands regulate stress response, inflammation, blood sugar, immune function, energy production, and more. When they're depleted, everything breaks down.

Here's what adrenal fatigue actually is, how to recognize it, and what to do about it.

Understanding Your Adrenal Glands

Your adrenal glands sit on top of your kidneys. They're smal...