Our Blog

Helpful tips on staying active and pain free, and more!

Boost Your Immune System with Chiropractic Care

Winter is here. With it, comes unpredictable weather and an influx of illnesses. Many consider winter to be flu season, but along with an increase in flu cases recently, there has been a spike in RSV and COVID cases, too. It’s important to prioritize your health and immune system to stay healthy and reduce your

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The Importance of an Ergonomic Workstation

October is National Ergonomics Month, a time dedicated to promoting comfort, efficiency, morale, and safety in the workplace. Ergonomics is the study of people at work and their efficiency in their working environment. The term and importance of this concept wasn’t as widely known or considered until the pandemic began and more and more people

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Back-to-School Tips from a Chiropractor

Summer really flew by in the blink of an eye. The school year has started for some and is quickly approaching for many others. While we think of kids going back to school, people of all ages are going back-to-school this time of year.  In the chaos of finding all the school necessities, you might

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5 Reasons to Use Chiropractic Care as Self-Care

July 24th is International Self-Care Day. With everything in our lives, we want to take the time to address self-care, the importance of it, and more. Self-care means taking care of yourself to keep yourself healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s about the steps an individual takes to manage stressors in their life and

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Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Men’s Health

June is filled with quite a few awareness events to recognize the amazing men in our lives, including Father’s Day, Universal Father’s Week, Men’s Health Awareness Week, and Men’s Health Month. I’d like to especially recognize men’s health this month. Many don’t think about all the components of their health and oftentimes, men try to

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Staying Active for Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to highlight the importance of mental health and wellness. Our mental health affects how we think, feel, and act, and it also helps determine how we deal with stress, connect with others, and make decisions in our lives. Mental health is important for our overall health and

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10 Shocking Back Pain Statistics

Back pain is one of the biggest health problems around the world and something most people will experience at some point in their lives. It is one of the most common reasons people initially visit a chiropractor and one of the most common complaints to doctors. This is such a common health problem, so there

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10 Signs it’s Time to See a Chiropractor

Many people live with unnecessary aches and pains every day. These could be due to a prior injury, chronic health condition, an active lifestyle, or just everyday stress. However, there are countless physical symptoms to be aware of that signal the need to see a chiropractor. You don’t have to accept or deal with pain,

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Chiropractic Myth Busting 3.0

“I’ve always heard that once I start going to a chiropractor, I’ll have to keep going the rest of my life.” False. My goal has always been to work myself out of a job with each patient. Some cases are really straightforward and only require a few visits; others are more complex and have lengthier

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Understanding Your Pain

There are times when nothing seems to bother us. We can walk 10 miles through the city of Chicago or we can pick up a ton of branches after a big thunderstorm. But then there are also times when we seem to struggle to get over pain or minor things cause pain that doesn’t ordinarily.

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Why Are Squats So Darn Important?!

“Why do I always hear I should be squatting more?”  “I don’t lift weights.” “I’ve never squatted a day in my life, why would I start now?” “What’s the big deal?!” Contrary to what most people think, you squat all day every day. No, not the squat you’re picturing with a barbell and weights crushing

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If You Hear This About Your Pain…Run

I often hear patients chalk their pain up to age. “Well, I guess this is what 50 feels like.” “Just turned 30, that’s probably why I hurt.” “Ever since I turned 60 I’ve hurt.” etc etc. A lot of pain gets blamed on age. But many of you have probably already heard my answer to

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What is a Good Shoulder Exercise for Shoulder Pain?

Who hasn’t dealt with shoulder pain at some point? Shoulder pain can be quite frustrating. Especially if it’s in your dominant arm. Daily activities become quite limited when you are dealing with shoulder pain.  Shoulder pain has infinite causes of pain. It is a very dynamic and mobile joint. What the shoulder gains in versatility

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Do You Treat Pregnant Women?

Things seem to go in waves and that is especially true for the questions we get asked here in the office. The popular question recently is, “do you treat (a lot of) pregnant women?” The answer to that question is a resounding yes! On top of the numerous pregnant mothers we have helped here, I

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Tired of Your Headaches?

So many of us struggle with headaches. Some of us lock ourselves in a dark room until it’s over. Others live on Excedrin Migraine. Some have no choice but to struggle through them. Each person’s headache is different. There are different causes and different meanings to your headaches. They can be as simple as needing

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Lean Back, Lean Back…(with an Eccentric Movement)

Who knew Fat Joe was actually rapping about rehab when he sang the classic line, “Lean back, lean back…” That is something I tell my patients quite often, to stand on one foot and lean back in a controlled manner. This teaches an eccentric movement for the core. Eccentric movements are the controlled elongation of

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How to Shovel Snow Without Hurting Your Back

While this hasn’t been the worst snow we’ve had this year, it’s still a good time to review ways to protect your back when shoveling snow on your sidewalks and driveway. Shovel snow without hurting your back: 1. Warm your body up before going outside. So many people throw on their snow gear and immediately

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Do We Only Treat Athletes?

One question we often get asked is, “Do you only treat athletes?” Before we get too deep this, let’s go into a bit of background about our clinic. When we were choosing our name, we wanted to put the word “Active” in it. Why? Basically, two reasons. First, we knew our treatments would include exercise,

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Is Running Good or Bad for Your Back?

Bad, Bad, Bad. It has to be right? The repetitive shock to the spinal joints obviously wears the spine out, right? We get asked about running and back pain a lot. Recently I came across a research article that perfectly highlighted the answer we’ve always given. In the following paragraphs we’ll break down back pain,

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Five Ways to Treat Your Own Headaches!

Nothing can bring a day to a screeching halt as much as a headache. They can be anywhere from a mild annoyance to leaving you out of commission for days. People regularly come to us because they are desperate and haven’t found a way to treat their own headaches. We understand it isn’t always possible

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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It’s the office worker’s ‘tennis elbow’. The problem with both of these diagnoses is they are poor over-generalizations and affect more than one isolated population. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) affects more than just the office worker. It is prevalent in pregnant women, trade workers, dentists, and more. Conventional Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment

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Thoracic Spine Mobility: Test & Treat

If you’re reading this, then you are probably sitting. More than likely, you’re hunched over your desk, or your phone, or maybe even just on your couch. When we are in these positions, usually we aren’t sitting with the best posture. One aspect of bad posture is the “rounding” of the thoracic spine. The thoracic

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Hamstrings & Sciatic Nerve: Test & Treat

In this installment of Test & Treat, we’re looking at the hamstring muscles and the sciatic nerve. We’re lumping these two together for two reasons. First, the tests are pretty similar. Secondly, and more importantly, many people believe they have tight hamstrings when the issue is often a tight sciatic nerve. Quick disclaimer: These tests

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Should I Use Ice or Heat for an Injury?

It’s the age-old question, “should I use ice or heat for an injury?” Just about every new patient that walks into our office asks if they should ice their injury. Usually followed up by, “I can never remember when to use which one.” And to be honest it has taken me a long time to

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Ankle Dorsiflexion: Test & Treat

What do you think is the most important joint in the body? Low back? Pelvis? Shoulder or hip? While all of those are great answers and have merit, I will assume very few will mention the ankle joint. However, an argument can easily be made that this joint is the most important, especially when it

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When is Stretching a Good Thing, When is it Not?

The Stretching 101 Class Again with the stretching? Haven’t we already written articles about the usefulness of stretching? Why yes, yes we have. Today we will get more into the weeds of which muscles to stretch, why to stretch or strengthen a muscle, and the expected timeline to resolve a problem. When someone asks flat

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Hip Flexors: Test & Treat

Worried about tight hip flexors? This muscle group can often be an issue with low back pain, hip pain, knee pain or even shoulder pain. However, not every person who has one of these issues has tight hip flexors. That leads to a lot of unnecessary stretching, where that time could be better used for

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Working From Home? Home Office Ergonomics

Working from home these days? Working remotely was already a growing option for many Americans, and now the latest coronavirus pandemic has turned that option into a necessity for far more. However, working from the comfort of your own home isn’t always comfortable. The Importance of Posture We talk about office ergonomics with many of

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Why a Chiropractor During the Coronavirus Era

Wow. How much has our world changed in a matter of a week or two? Two weeks ago I was ready to watch my beloved Wildcats make a brief appearance in the Big XII tournament before saying thanks for the invite and driving back to Manhattan. Now, we’re all confined to our houses and sports

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What does foam rolling actually “do”?

Foam rollers. Massage roller sticks. Lacrosse balls. Voodoo floss. These are all recovery/mobility/pain-relief tools used by everybody from desk workers, to a typical gym-goer desk worker to even elite professional athletes. If you’re reading this article you’re probably using one (or all) of these tools. But why did you start using the tool(s)? Most likely,

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What Is The Best Sleeping Position?

Follow me on the story of a patient and her search for the best sleeping position. Cheryl is a stay-at-home mom. Most days she’s busy driving the kids to and from school, sports, and after school activities. Recently Cheryl and her husband had sold their house. She had been busy packing up the house and

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The “Best” Low Back Pain Exercise

If you’re reading this, you probably have low back pain.  Or maybe a family member or a friend has low back pain.   So you want to find the BEST exercise(s) for low back pain.  All over the internet, there are hundreds of videos and articles and blogs on the best exercises for low back pain. 

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Our Chiropractic Treatment Philosophy

Treatment Philosophy As we mentioned earlier finding a good chiropractor is like finding a good mechanic. Once, you’ve found a good chiropractor, or mechanic for that matter, hold onto them. It can be tricky to find another good one. Since we’ve covered how to find a good chiro, let’s talk about our thought process and

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How Your Kids Can Be Like Pat Mahomes: Being A Youth Multisport Athlete

Wow, that was an amazing Super Bowl! I’m still watching highlight clips and reliving the night over and over. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for a more exciting game. It certainly was not Mahomes’ best game, but he and the Chiefs demonstrated such resilience. It’s exciting and promising for the city to see such a

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How To Find A Good Chiropractor: 5 Tips

If you’re a current or past patient of ours, you have obviously already found us and we sincerely hope you consider us a “good” chiropractic office in the Kansas City area.  However, what if you have a friend in another city or are moving to another city?  We often get asked how somebody in those

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Why Perform a Chiropractic Adjustment? What Changes?

So last week we mentioned what we are looking for when we decide to do an adjustment: a joint that doesn’t move as much as it should. Now we will discuss why this matters. When a joint isn’t moving properly a whole cascade of events happen. Depending on what happens in that series of events

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Understand the “Pop” of an Adjustment

We are often asked, “what makes the popping sound during an adjustment?” That is a great question. So let’s start off by explaining what we are looking and trying to accomplish with an adjustment. When the joints are assessed/palpated, we are looking for joints that don’t move as well as they should. This lack of

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Five Tips To Help You Sleep Like A Baby

Part I of our sleep article detailed the importance of sleep and how it relates to our mental skills, our physical & athletic performance and to pain.  In this part, we’re breaking down how to make sure you set yourself up for success in getting 7-9 hours of quality sleep.  Let’s get rolling… 1. No

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Understand Your TMJ

The DOs and DON’Ts THOMAS COTTER, DC, DACRB TMJ is another great mystifier. Nearly 1/3 of us will experience TMJ symptoms. The problem then is figuring out what to do about it and who to go to to get it fixed. Some go to their dentist, MD, chiropractor, massage therapist, etc. All of those are

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Understand Your Back Pain: The Dos and Don’ts

Back pain is incredibly common. Upwards of 80% of people will experience back pain in their lifetime. It can be likened to the common cold. You can almost count on getting it from time to time. The difference is what you do during that episode of back pain can change how severe and how often

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How Lack of Sleep Makes You Suck at Life

How was your sleep last night? And what about the night before that? How about three nights ago? Did you feel relaxed and refreshed each morning after getting the recommended 7-9 hours? Or are you among the growing group of people who don’t get 7+ hours each night?  A 2013 Gallup poll showed that a

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Understand Your Plantar Fasciitis: The Dos and Don’ts

Thomas Cotter, DC, DACRB We all either have had or know someone who has plantar fasciitis (PF). It plagues the old and the young, and the fit and the sedentary alike. The plantar fascia is a ligament that supports the foot when load is placed on it. PF develops when that ligament gets strained. Think of

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What Is The “Perfect” Posture?

What is the best posture? Does it even exist? All of us remember a time as a kid when somebody told us to “sit up straight.”  Maybe it was your mom tired of you watching TV.  Or maybe it was a teacher making sure you were paying attention in class.   Or maybe it was just

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Piriformis Syndrome/Sciatica. Which is it? How Can it be Fixed?

We are continuing our deep dive into sciatica and sciatic-like pain. We are going to look at a couple of deep muscles in your rear called the piriformis and gluteus medius. A diagnosis called “Piriformis Syndrome,” has become quite pervasive in today’s society. Piriformis Syndrome is a condition in which the sciatic nerve bisects the piriformis muscle; each

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Fixing Sciatica with Nerve Flossing – Part 2

There are numerous things that cause sciatica or sciatic like pain. Last week we looked at disc herniations or disc bulges putting pressure on the nerve roots and causing sciatica. The focus of this article will be on adhesions along the sciatic nerve that cause sciatica and how nerve flossing can help. I’ve always pictured

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Pain with exercise…. stop or keep going?

“Is pain with exercise OK?” “It hurts when I run, should I stop running?” “My knee hurt when I vacuumed the house, how long do I need to wait to vacuum again?” Questions like these are probably the most common type of questions I get from people in pain.  Patients and clinicians both know the

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Sciatica and How to Fix it – Part 1

Low Back Pain Extensions Tom Cotter, DC, DACRB Active HealthKC Sciatica: sci·at·i·ca /sīˈadəkə/ noun pain affecting the back, hip, and outer side of the leg, caused by compression of a spinal nerve root in the lower back, often owing to degeneration of an intervertebral disc. We’ve all been at a party or a family function

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The Number One Cause of Knee Pain

What’s the number one cause of knee pain? Take a guess. Is the main cause of knee pain due to old age? ACL/PCL injury? Medial meniscus tear? Lateral meniscus tear? Collateral ligament strain? Patellar tendon tendinopathy? Iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome? Lower-crossed syndrome? Patella tracking issue? Hamstring trigger points? If any of those were your guess,

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Shoulder Pain – Part 1

Rotator Cuff Tears and Shoulder Pain Surgery Right? Dr. Tom Cotter, DC, DACRB Active Health KC So often we hear of a friend or family member that has been struggling with ongoing shoulder pain. Most try to ignore it for a while. Eventually they go to their doctor. The doctor takes either an X-ray or

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FAKE SURGERY VS REAL SURGERY. ANY DIFFERENCE? PART-II

This is part II of Is “real” surgery any better than a “sham” surgery?  To read part I, click HERE.  In that blog post, we talked about how researchers are looking at sham surgeries and we looked at a few examples using back pain surgeries.  Here in part II, we’re looking at a few recent

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Fake Surgery vs Real Surgery. Any Difference? Part-I

Fake Surgery vs Real Surgery? Any Difference? Part-I Surgery for spine or joint pain is very common.  According to the CDC, there were 63 million visits to orthopedic surgery centers in 2010.  The American Association of Neurological Surgeons estimates that there were 1.5 million spinal surgeries performed in 2011.  When people are told they need

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Prairie Village Chiropractors Fix Low Back Pain Part 1

Low Back Pain and How to Fix it – Part 1 Low Back Pain and Doing the Opposite Dr. Tom Cotter, DC Active HealthKC We’re on to low back pain this month folks! Let’s sit back and figure out how we can take care of that annoying low back pain. The rest of the month

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Headaches and Posture – Part 4.

Headaches and How to Fix Them – Part 4 Posture and Your Headaches Helping Prairie Village eliminate their headaches Finally, here we are. The final part to our four part headache series. A culmination of it all. This week we are looking at posture and how it affect your headaches. Poor posture leads to everything

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Headaches and How to Fix Them – Part 3

Headaches and How to Fix Them – Part 3 TMJ and Your Headaches Dr. Tom Cotter, DC Active HealthKC For the third iteration of this series, we will focus on TMJ related headaches. TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint or in simpler terms…  your jaw. Similar to people not realizing they are breathing improperly, many people

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Headaches and How to Fix Them Part 2

Headaches! They’re such a pain in the…well, the head!    This week we will take a look at how/why your upper traps/upper shoulder muscles (see figure 1) cause headaches and what can be done. As discussed in week one, anterior head carriage or holding your head in front of your shoulders, can strain the suboccipitals.

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Headaches and How to Fix Them – Part 1

Headaches and How to Fix Them – Part 1 Suboccipitals Dr. Tom Cotter, DC Active HealthKC Headaches! They’re such a pain in the…well, the head! This month we are going to be talking about various causes of headaches and simple exercises to help alleviate your headaches. Each week we will zero in on a different

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Seven Myths Regarding Tendon Pain

Seven Myths Regarding Tendon Pain Plantar fasciitis? Achilles tendinitis? Jumper’s knee? Rotator cuff problem? Golfer’s elbow? Tennis elbow? Any of these sound familiar to you? If so, you might want to read this article.  How are all of these conditions similar? They are all different types of tendinopathies, which basically translates to “something is messed

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Is Training Your Core a Waste of Time?

Brace yourself! Or don’t, because it may be a waste of time.  Either way, we’re about to talk about the importance (or lack thereof) of core strength, core stability, core training and core “whatever else.”  And it’s going to be controversial.  Before we dive in, let me tell you a bit about myself and my

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Low Back Pain Care in Prairie Village

Low Back Pain Prairie Village Chiropractic Care How prevalent is low back pain today? Research has show that 70-80% of the population will suffer from low back pain.  That means that in the Kansas City metro area alone, over 1,750,000 people will suffer from low back pain.  Often, low back pain will go away on its

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Aren’t All Chiropractors The Same?

One of our pet peeves is when we, as chiropractors, get lumped in with all other chiropractors.  While we share the same profession as our colleagues, that’s where a lot of the similarity ends.  The purpose of this blog is to emphasize a few of these differences. Two Types of Chiropractors A good way to

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Proper Breathing Can Help Kansas City Have Less Stress

Proper Breathing Can Help Kansas City Have Less Stress Can You Really Breathe Wrong? Right now you’re probably saying, “Really? An article about breathing? What’s next, an article about watching paint dry?” While a little harsh, those are pretty fair questions. After all, if you’re reading this article, you’re obviously able to breathe, so what

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Treatment with McKenzie Method of Diagnosis and Therapy

We use various different treatment techniques and methods in our office, but one of the most important is the McKenzie Method of Diagnosis and Therapy, or MDT for short.  Named after renowned physical therapist Robert McKenzie, this technique is an absolutely invaluable tool for muscle, joint and spinal pain.  Rather than babbling on about what

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Have Pain? Your Diagnosis Doesn’t Matter!

My Diagnosis Doesn’t Matter?! That statement might sound a little extreme, so let me clarify it a bit.  First, our clinic deals with pain and injuries.  So this post is about diagnoses for musculoskeletal conditions.  Hopefully, it’s obvious that if you’re dealing with pain caused by something like cancer, your diagnosis is VERY important and

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Common Gym Exercises to Avoid

Common Gym Exercises to Avoid It pains us to see some people routinely performing exercises that are destroying their bodies. The worst part of it is that many people believe they are actually helping themselves! The purpose of this article is to look at five gym exercises that you shouldn’t be performing, tell you why,

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Stop Sitting! Get Up and Move!

Stop Sitting! Get Up and Move! Low back pain is a common occurrence in today’s world. About 80% of the population will have low back pain in their lives. At this very instance, 20-30% of us currently have back pain. A big reason for low back pain in today’s world is due to desk jobs

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Pregnancy and Unresolved Back Pain: Part 2 – Post-Partum Pain

Pregnancy and Unresolved Back Pain: Part 2 – Post-Partum Pain Last week we focused on back pain during pregnancy. This week I want to focus on back pain after pregnancy. As mentioned before, 68% of women who experienced moderate to severe low back pain during pregnancy continue to have back pain after birth, according to

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Pregnancy and Unresolved Back Pain

Pregnancy and Unresolved Back Pain Don’t Let Back Pain Interfere with Your Pregnancy Part 1 Our first child coming in 8 weeks and my wife is now coming in for regular visits to keep pregnancy-related back pain at bay. Pregnancy, as you can imagine, has been on my mind a lot. Pregnancy can be a

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What is Dry Needling and How Can it Help Me?

What is Dry Needling? Many of you have heard we have integrated Dry Needling (DN) into our practice in the last 1-2 years. You might have heard it from us or another patient talking about the benefits of our “evil needles.” What you might not have heard is exactly what DN is and what it does. DN is

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To Stretch, Or Not To Stretch?

To Stretch, Or Not To Stretch? Some people do it every day, some people do it just once a week, and some haven’t done it for years.  While this could be true of many activities, today we are talking about stretching.  Most of us probably learned how to stretch way back in our elementary Physical

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The Rise of Youth Sports Injuries

The Rise of Youth Sports Injuries Over the past 10-15 years, there has been a large increase in the occurrence of injuries to young athletes. Shoulder and elbow injuries are up 500% in baseball and softball players. While anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries have increased 400%. There are numerous other examples for all sports. It’s obvious

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Chiropractic Myth Busting

Everyone has a different viewpoint on chiropractors. Some absolutely love them while some think they’re all “quacks.” While these varying viewpoints are frustrating to us as practicing chiropractors, we can understand the confusion. Generally, it is due to the general public not really knowing what we do. So to help clear things up, this article

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Sports Chiropractor in Kansas City

Do you suffer from a sports-related injury? Stop your pain in its tracks today. When you need help the most, the leading sports chiropractor in Kansas City, Active Health Solutions, has you covered! There is nothing more exhilarating than getting back to the sport you love after a long journey of recovery. Active Health Solutions

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