The Ninja Dr

The Ninja Dr A chiropractor on a mission to promote the complete aspects of health, including social, mental as well as physical.

Active Release — a very old toolkit, still one of my favorites.How does it work?All the mechanisms are theoretical—there...
24/07/2026

Active Release — a very old toolkit, still one of my favorites.

How does it work?
All the mechanisms are theoretical—there hasn’t been tissue-level research done yet to confirm exactly what’s happening under the hood.
What we do see clinically is consistent: better range of motion, less pain during movement, and a muscle that feels less firm to touch afterward.
My favorite theory involves the CNS (central nervous system):
By compressing the muscle while you move through a specific position, pressure increases inside the muscle.
That input is thought to be communicated to the brain.
In response, the brain may signal the muscle to temporarily reduce resting tone, which can translate to less perceived tension.

Your nervous system has been trying to protect you — and your upper traps are the proof.Here’s something most people don...
14/07/2026

Your nervous system has been trying to protect you — and your upper traps are the proof.

Here’s something most people don’t know:

Your upper trapezius is controlled by Cranial Nerve XI — a nerve that plugs directly into your brainstem. The same part of your brain that decides whether you fight, flee, freeze, or fawn.

That means every time your nervous system senses a threat — a difficult conversation, a deadline, a toxic environment, unresolved trauma — your upper traps brace.

And here’s how each response shows up in your body 👇

🥊 Fight → Both shoulders elevate and brace. Your body is literally preparing for combat.

🏃 Flight → Forward head pull, asymmetrical tension. Your neck is scanning for an exit.

🧊 Freeze → Everything locks up. No movement, but maximum tension. You’re stuck.

🫱 Fawn → Chronic shoulder shrinking. Your body making itself smaller. Submitting.

The research shows your upper traps can stay chronically activated under psychological stress alone — no physical load needed. The same tiny muscle fibers fire first, never fully switch off, and slowly accumulate pain-causing chemicals.

So if stretching and massage only give you temporary relief —

It’s because you’re treating the muscle.
Not the nervous system driving it.

Breathwork. Somatic work. Vagal nerve regulation.
That’s where lasting change lives.

Save this if your shoulders live next to your ears 👂
Tag someone who needs to read this ⬇️

13/07/2026

Every small, mindful choice today compounds into lasting vitality tomorrow.

I will not stop talking about this until it’s common logic. It’s unpopular in some circles. It’s also the only thing the...
10/07/2026

I will not stop talking about this until it’s common logic.

It’s unpopular in some circles. It’s also the only thing the research shows actually creates lasting change.

And if you’ve been in “maintenance care” for months — this is worth understanding. 🧠

Passive care (massage, adjustments, dry needling, ultrasound) is a powerful starting point. Research consistently shows it reduces pain signals, calms the nervous system, and buys you a WINDOW OF RELIEF.

But here’s what the science also shows:

RELIEF IS NOT THE SAME AS RECOVERY.

Research in pain medicine found that passive-only treatment for chronic musculoskeletal pain produced short-term improvement but no meaningful long-term change in pain levels or functional outcomes.

WHY? BECAUSE CHRONIC PAIN REWIRES THE BRAIN.

And the only thing peer-reviewed research shows actually rewires it back, is active, progressive loading - movement, strength, and graded exposure to the things that used to hurt. NOT INDEFINITE AVOIDANCE.

Your provider giving you relief isn’t doing anything wrong. Your body responding to it isn’t doing anything wrong. We need the relief when life gets hard. We need to be shown that the pain can get easier and better.

The missing piece is what happens between appointments.

If your pain is better on the table and back by Tuesday, that’s important clinical information. It means your nervous system is ready to respond. It means there’s a window to build something more permanent. Relief is the door. Active care is what’s on the other side of it.

DR. DONALD UNGER HATEDCHIROPRACTORS. CHIROPRACTORS LOVE HIM.He spent 60 years cracking the knuckles on one hand while le...
09/07/2026

DR. DONALD UNGER HATED
CHIROPRACTORS. CHIROPRACTORS LOVE HIM.

He spent 60 years cracking the knuckles on one hand while leaving the other hand untouched — dedicated to proving that chiropractic adjustments are dangerous and damaged joints.

ZERO DIFFERENCE. ZERO ARTHRITIS. In fact the joints on his adjusted hand slightly looked better.

HE ACCIDENTALLY BECAME OUR BIGGEST ADVOCATE.
And he wasn’t alone — multiple studies since have confirmed the exact same thing. NO LINK BETWEEN KNUCKLE CRACKING AND ARTHRITIS.

The truth is now starting to surface — sedentary lifestyle contribute to arthritis. Yes, “not doing anything” is the biggest contributor to development of arthritis— soSTOP WORRYING ABOUT THE NOISE. START WORRYING ABOUT THE STILLNESS.

08/07/2026

When you have fully booked day and everyone showed up on time. 🙌

Have you ever heard the joke - “if you drop a brick on your foot, you’ll cure your headache”?That’s exactly what’s happe...
07/07/2026

Have you ever heard the joke - “if you drop a brick on your foot, you’ll cure your headache”?

That’s exactly what’s happening every time you foam roll your IT band. 🤭🤭🤭

Here’s the thing. For years, everyone -doctors, physios, researchers — believed the IT band was rubbing over the bones at the knee. That friction caused irritation. That irritation caused pain. So we massaged it. We foam rolled it. And yeah, it gave some relief... but it never lasted.

Then in 2006, anatomy was updated.

Turns out the IT band never moved. Never rubbed. All it ever did was compress. And sitting right underneath it? A fat pad. When the IT band compresses too strongly, it squashes that fat pad — and that’s where the pain was coming from the whole time.

“But if I massage the IT band, that will reduce the pressure, right?”

🙂‍↔️ WRONG!!!!

It takes more than 2,000 lbs to IT band to create any CHANGE. Your bone will break before the IT band gets massaged out. 🤭

So what were we doing when we foam rolled it?

Compressing an already painful area. Treating pain with pain. Placebo effect. Distraction. Just like dropping a brick on your foot to forget the headache - it works until it doesn’t.

So FORGET stretching it, rolling it, massaging it — Not doing what you think. The real answer lives at the top of your hip - nowhere near where you feel the pain.

06/07/2026

When your fave patient has a rehab appointment with your colleague.

We’ve all done it. 😅Woken up with a stiff neck, a tweaked back, or that dull ache that just won’t quit — and told oursel...
06/07/2026

We’ve all done it. 😅

Woken up with a stiff neck, a tweaked back, or that dull ache that just won’t quit — and told ourselves “I’ll be fine. I just need to sleep it off.”

So you wait.

Day 3 becomes Day 10. Day 10 becomes a month. And somewhere in between, you stopped signing up for things, skipped the gym, snapped at someone you love, and quietly started doing less of everything that makes you you.

Here’s what nobody tells you about waiting out the pain:

It doesn’t just cost you money when you finally show up — and yes, the longer you wait, the more complex the treatment, and the higher the bill 💸

It costs you so much more than that.

It costs you your mood — because chronic pain is exhausting, and exhausted people aren’t their best selves.

It costs you your focus — try concentrating at work when your back is screaming louder than your boss.

It costs you your self-trust — because every time you push through instead of showing up for yourself, you send your body a message: “You’re not worth it.”

It costs you your reliability — to yourself, your family, your goals. You start cancelling, avoiding, withdrawing.

And over time? It quietly feeds fear avoidance and anxiety in ways most people never connect back to that ignored ache they had months ago.

Toughing it out isn’t strength — knowing when and where to ask for help is.

Your body has been asking. Loudly. For weeks.

Have you ever heard the joke — “if you drop a brick on your foot, you’ll cure your headache”?That’s exactly what’s happe...
05/07/2026

Have you ever heard the joke — “if you drop a brick on your foot, you’ll cure your headache”?

That’s exactly what’s happening every time you foam roll your IT band. 🧱

Here’s the thing. For years, everyone — doctors, physios, researchers — believed the IT band was rubbing over the bones at the knee. That friction caused irritation. That irritation caused pain. So we massaged it. We foam rolled it. And yeah, it gave some relief... but it never lasted.

Then in 2006, anatomy was updated.

Turns out the IT band never moved. Never rubbed. All it ever did was compress. And sitting right underneath it? A little fat pad. When the IT band compresses too strongly, it squashes that fat pad — and that’s where the pain was coming from the whole time.

So what were we doing when we foam rolled it?

Compressing an already painful area. Treating pain with pain. Just like dropping a brick on your foot to forget the headache — it works until it doesn’t.

Oh and one more thing — it takes over 2,000 lbs of force to actually create any change in the IT band. That’s more than enough force to break bone. So stretching it, rolling it, massaging it? Not doing what you think.

The real answer lives at the top of your hip — nowhere near where you feel the pain.

Swipe through to learn more 👆 and save this for the next time someone tells you to just foam roll it out.

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