We exist presently as a sum of our past experiences. My goal is to learn as much about your past experiences as they may relate to your current presentation. This takes a little extra time and listening, which is why Encourage Chiropractic appointments allow 45 minutes, whether you are here for Complete Care Treatment or Training. Complete Care Treatment includes any soft tissue work, exercises, and education in addition to adjustments based on today's presentation. I see a Chiropractic adjustment as a valuable tool when an adjustment is needed. However, since you can not take it with you on-the-go for use at a later time when something happens, it requires you to schedule and come back in. To me, that is less useful than a pill that fits nicely in your pocket "just-in-case." So rather than trade one "pill" for another, I intend to train you with self-care tools and strategies that will improve your ability to resolve things right there on the spot, in the moment. Fact: even if you saw me 3 times a week, that is still only 1.3% of your week. Which means the remaining 98.7% of your week is in your care!

I know that healthcare can be expensive and seems to increasingly disappoint as I get older. This guides my perspective and drive to be empathetic, patient, and competent. I do not simply adjust you in a few regions and send you along, because that seems incomplete to me. Sure, it can restore movement in a joint that is restricted. Yes, it can relieve pain by releasing chemicals that attenuate pain. It may even help relieve symptoms of anxiety and headaches, by allowing freer motion of ribs and diaphragm resulting in deeper respiration. BUT, why did "it" even start? Will an adjustment change the root cause, or just the symptoms without ever addressing the root cause? This is where my Kinesiology education and experience jump in with Proprioceptive Neurological Facilitation, Reciprocol Inhibition, agonist/antagonist/synergist muscle-joint-movement, and length tension relationships. This is where motor behavior and motor patterns are added to the conversation regarding movement restrictions. By simply adjusting, effectively "resetting" the joints proprioception, movement can be improved for a short period, but soon the motor units follow their "programming" and that joint returns to being "dysfunctional."

A better strategy is to combine adjustments with targetted training to improve motor patterns and ultimately reduce risk of injury or reinjury. Motor patterns are easiest to understand by looking at how we right our own name with dominant hand versus non-dominant hand. The non-dominant hand has not been trained/does not have the motor pattern programming to write our own name, despite our brain still knowing how.

We MUST do something intentional and specific every day to improve our lives, whether physical, nutritional, or Spiritual.

Knowing this, I support and encourage you to do as much on your own time as possible. I recommend 3 resistance training days per week and 1 treatment visit every 2 weeks. Know yourself. If you are unlikely to be consistent on your own time; schedule with me and lets get you going! Once the routine becomes established, you will be more likely to stick with it.