Body Works Clinic

06/08/2026

Not immediately a topic of discussion within a chiropractic practice, the subject of environmental toxicity and more specifically micro plastics toxicity will often hover on the periphery, as all chemical burden on the body will increase systemic inflammation and at some point, spillover into the know musculoskeletal system, especially chronic pain. It is definitely a topic for many questions from patients with whom were working on hormone balancing, which in most cases, involves as much hormone detoxification support is it does hormone and enhancing support.

As with all things environmental, the proverbial "deer in the headlights look" seems to be the 1st reaction to the topic, as the idea of how, where, and when to start tackling reducing exposure can feel overwhelming. This 30 minute podcast is a great starting point to start understanding the issues, and more importantly, understanding some relatively straightforward 1st step you can take in starting to reduce your exposure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg6151sABPk

05/18/2026

MAY 18TH UPDATE
The new online scheduling link is up and running:
https://scheduler.chirofusionlive.com/bodyworksclinicfionaefletcherdcltd
Appointment reminders are going out via text and email from our new EHR.
The text messaging system is still down while we wait for our phone number to be reassigned, anticipating restart on Wednesday

05/15/2026

FRIDAY MAY 15TH UPDATE: DUE TO DATA MIGRATION LONGER THAN EXPECTED, THE ONLINE SCHEDULING LINK RESTART HAS BEEN MOVED TO MONDAY MAY 18TH

The office messaging and online scheduling system is transitioning to a new platform starting 6 PM Wednesday May 13th. Both functions will be disabled at that time. Existing appointments scheduled on the old platform will be migrated to the new platform. You will receive a text signaling the messaging function has been restored in the next 5 days. The online scheduling is expecting to resume no later than midday on Monday, updates will be posted on www.bwclinic.com front page with the new scheduling link. We appreciate your patience during the transition. In the meantime you can continue to communicate with the office by CALLING 507 263 2393 or emailing [email protected]

The Body Works Clinic has been serving the health and wellness needs in Cannon Falls, Minnesota since 1994. Our mission is to offer healthcare needs using a variety of tools, including specific chiropractic care, support of soft tissue therapy, acupuncture therapy, and integrative nutrition.

05/14/2026

The office messaging and online scheduling system is transitioning to a new platform starting 6 PM Wednesday May 13th. Both functions will be disabled at that time. Existing appointments scheduled on the old platform will be migrated to the new platform. You will receive a text signaling the messaging function has been restored in the next 5 days. The online scheduling is expecting to resume no later than midday on Friday, updates will be posted on www.bwclinic.com front page with the new scheduling link. We appreciate your patience during the transition. In the meantime you can continue to communicate with the office by CALLING 507 263 2393 or emailing [email protected].

05/03/2026

CHIROPRACTIC IN PATIENTS WITH PARKINSON'S AND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/380154147_The_Effects_of_Chiropractic_Spinal_Adjustment_on_EEG_in_Adults_with_Alzheimer's_and_Parkinson's_Disease_A_Pilot_Randomised_Cross-over_Trial

This research article caught my attention recently, as I have been dealing with loved ones in various stages of neurodegenerative progressive diseases (Alzheimer's disease especially). It's a small pilot study testing the effect on brain waves from a single chiropractic adjustment on a sample population of patients with diagnosed Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Both of those diseases share common neurodegenerative pathological mechanisms. It also brought some bittersweet memories of a loved one who passed away a decade ago from Huntington's disease, another albeit genetically transmitted form of neurodegeneration. I was attending neurology appointment for this patient with a well-known Huntington specialist who was also a medical neurogenetic researcher. When she found out I was a chiropractor, she was really excited. She was noticing that a lot of her patients who were receiving chiropractic care seem to have slower progression of diseases, and she was very interested in seeing some formal research in that area. That type of research is notoriously difficult to conduct much less fund, so I was quite elated to find out that our colleague Dr. Heidi Haavik from down under in New Zealand had managed to line up a pilot study, hopefully opening the door to a larger scale research.

This particular pilot study showed some rather surprising effect on brain waves of patients with neurodegenerative diseases following a single chiropractic adjustment, showing some improvement in the normal electrical excitability and conductivity in some key areas of the brain.
https://www.bwclinic.com/blog/2024/5/30/chiropractic-care-in-patients-with-parkinsons-and-alzheimers-disease?rq=PARKINSON

05/02/2026

USING VOICE TYPING TECHNOLOGY TO MINIMIZE REPETITIVE INJURIES
It's another 1 of those overdue blogs that I've been meaning to write for a few months now. Every week I have the same conversation with patients whose seemingly never recovering neck shoulder and upper extremity injury is caused by excessive use of typing and mousing on the computer, up to 10 hours a day, 5 – 6 days a week. Ergonomics, although highly needed to make sure the patient's keyboard mouse and screen are correctly place, cannot fully resolve the basic problem: the human body simply not engineered to have this kind a repetitive continuous static loading in front of our computers and tablets.

The urgency of this blog really hit me earlier today. As many of you know, my only living relative left lives overseas, and is well into his 80s. Being able to communicate on a regular basis is really crucial in our relationship and I had sadly noticed recently how little messages I was receiving beyond our weekly video call. A few days ago I found out the rather simple reason: hand tremors. They have been getting worse to the point of making it difficult to type anything on the computer or on a widescreen smart phone. Like many people in his generation, albeit more tech savvy at some point than some, he was not aware of the easily accessible new voice typing options that would allow him to bypass his physical limitations. We changed the setting on the phone to have the little microphone pop-up next to the what's up keyboard on the main screen,and voila ! The weekly litany of complaints, comments and mild badgering is back in full force ( with a few clorful French cuss words).

The democratization of readily available and free voice typing technology is moving at such a pace that you should take this blog information with a grain of salt - it could have changed a little bit even in a few weeks - but I want you to get away with one concept: it's pretty ridiculous to continue killing your body keying and typing when you could use your voice and keep your neck and shoulder in a relaxed position.

For practical steps:
https://www.bwclinic.com/blog/2026/5/2/6z9sjus4zkke8nirkun1nk1joa5wtk

04/25/2026

HOW OIL AND BUTTER CAN HELP YOU BENEFITS FROM YOUR VEGGIES

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28814399/

Fat-soluble nutrients, including vitamins A, D, E, and K along with carotenoids like lutein, beta-carotene, and lycopene, require dietary fat to be absorbed, and without it, a meaningful portion of these compounds passes through the digestive system largely unused.

This latest bit of published research is interesting in that the measured 3 fat-soluble vitamin families (vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin E) absorption rates in relationship to fat ingestion along vegetables. While there are individual differences, the results confirm what previous studies have already shown, namely that fat-soluble vitamins in particular are absorbed at a much higher rate when vegetables are combined with some amount of fat. It does not have to be a lot of fat to be exact, but the presence of fact seems to be pretty crucial for maximizing nutrient status of those essential fat-soluble vitamins. My only and strident criticism of the study is that soybean oil is by far not the oil of choice to add to your vegetable, due to its highly chemically processed nature and polyunsaturated unstable chemical structure. The good news is that most people really do prefer the taste of vegetable when there is alittle bit of added olive oil to their raw vegetables and a little bit of melted butter to their lightly cooked vegetables. This kind of nutritional research that confirms the natural inclination of our taste buds is always welcome.

04/19/2026

FATS: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
https://www.rupahealth.com/the-root-cause-medicine-podcast/the-truth-about-seed-oils-and-how-to-avoid-them

I have wanted to post information about good versus bad fats for a while, but struggling to write a clear blog or connecting with the right, scientifically based and patient friendly resources. So I was really excited to come across this blog in the root cause medicine podcast. The DrCate website was just what you need: clear information, validated, and very practical in directing patients to know what to use in the pantry and what ingredients to look for on labels.

The topic of good and bad fats is incredibly relevant not just for metabolic syndrome and lipid profile. It's extremely important in managing chronic inflammation, and its even more important in understanding oxidative stress in the body. The majority of oils and fats in food preparation are highly unstable and oxidize quickly. It's often a source of oxidative stress that's overlooked and no amount of "super antioxidant foods" is going to make up for their continuous toxicity to our health.

https://drcate.com/list-of-good-fats-and-oils-versus-bad/

04/18/2026

CHEST PAIN AND CHIROPRACTIC

The common question posed during the patient encounter: "can chiropractic help pain in XYZ area?" can be applied to many many places but today I want to explore the chest. Pain in the chest obviously raises a lot of alarms about the potential of life-threatening cardiothoracic causes, and those obviously always need to be ruled out before I will look at a patient with acute chest and chest wall pain. But in many cases, I see patient come in who have had a battery of tests and being told with glee that the do not have a heart or lung problem, but not given a lot of options to resolve their pain.

Chest and chest wall pain can come from many know musculoskeletal structures that are treated by chiropractic. Below are my most common culprits.

– Mid cervical disc herniation, spinal nerve compression. The C5 and C6 nerve roots will radiate to the upper shoulder and clavicle. Submit cervical disc herniations for example, or chronic degenerative bony spurs, can trigger a sensation of vague pain in the upper chest. In most instances, patients will have noticed a correlation to neck movement and position.

– Brachial plexus above the clavicle in the scalene muscles. A remarkably common area of problem that's escaping detection. I sometimes joke that I could pay my mortgage alone by working on the anterior cervical spine muscular injuries. The brachial plexus exits between 2 branches of the scalenes, and is remarkably susceptible to irritation or compression between the exit from the spine and the entrance into the axilla. Another 1 of my overused jokes is that there is as much cervical spine in the front as there is in the back. Carefully palpating the neurological structures as they exit the anterior cervical spine can be a bull's-eye for mysterious pain in the shoulder chest and arm. Of all the conditions affecting the chest, this particular 1 is more immediately gratifying ...
https://www.bwclinic.com/blog/2024/6/20/chest-pain-and-chiropractic

04/01/2026

SPECIFIC CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENTS VERSUS RANDOM MANUAL MOBILIZATION:WHY IT REALLY MATTERS

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377361433_A_randomized_controlled_trial_comparing_different_sites_of_high-velocity_low_amplitude_thrust_on_sensorimotor_integration_parameters

Over the last 30 years of practice I have often found myself answering the same question many times over. 1 of those questions is why I seem to only be adjusting only one side and only one very specific spot, when patients may have had previous experiences with chiropractors or other manual therapist that showed a much broader contact, and adjusting multiple areas of the spine on both sides. With the addition of Dr. Steve as my esteemed colleague and associate, I realize I'm not the only one answering that question. Dr. Steve and I have very similar approaches and background in manual adjusting, (more specifically we both had most of our training in the Gonstead technique and system), which means that on occasion we will both bemoan the drift of our profession away from specific and systematic manual adjustments based on a system of analysis that aims at isolating the main segment(s) of spinal dysfunction that should be adjusted, while leaving the rest alone.

There are good scientific rationales behind that approach: the spine is a very dynamic system of action and reaction based in gravity. What happens in one area of the spine will often lead to broad compensations in a different area, and it takes some clinical investigation to make sure you address the root cause rather than waste your time (and your body's limited healing energy) on areas of compensation.

There is also good and pretty solid research to validate the specific approach. I was thrilled to come across this wonderful paper by our colleagues from down under in New Zealand (especially Dr. Heidi Haavik who has been a workhorse of basic science chiropractic research for well over a decade). The nuts and bolts of the study was to measure the brain-based motor response of an adjustment...
https://www.bwclinic.com/blog/2024/5/30/specific-chiropractic-adjustments-versus-random-manual-mobilization-why-it-really-matters?rq=specific