Stress Response

Fight or flight. Rest and recover.

Two systems of the nervous system that are beautifully designed to function in healthy rhythm.

Unfortunately, chronic stress and unresolved trauma interfere with this balance.

If your lifestyle has you constantly in fight or flight, your body must continually handle:

• An increased heart rate and blood pressure

• Stress hormones flood the body

• Blood flows away from hands and feet

• Dilated pupils

• Heightened senses

Many people come to me so overloaded with stress which is why I make it my intention to help them reclaim a healthy relationship to rest.

When you are on my table, my goal is to help your body relax and restore, so it can finally heal and regenerate.

Numbness and Tingling

Could it be compression from a compromised posture?

You could be anywhere doing anything and all of a sudden feel a sensation of numbness and tingling down a leg, an arm or maybe in your hands. It can feel scary as you realize it’s not leaving and you don’t know what to do.

A smart first place to seek answers is the chiropractic office. Why? Because they are trained to identify pressure and interference on nerves, that often relates to numbness and tingling.

In our office specifically, we take a global analysis of your body. It’s kind of like a contractor taking a look at the foundation of your house. Is the integrity of your house being compromised somewhere that would cause the floorboards to squeak, windows to not shut or cracks in the walls? Of course, you know simply replacing a board or painting over the cracks is only temporary.

It’s the same thing with numbness and tingling. We look at your 3D posture in real time under gravity to identify any compression, weakness or trauma that could create pressure on nerves or reduce blood, oxygen and lymph flow. While a shot in the arm may make the tingles go away, again it’s temporary and important to see where the compression begins.

Whether it’s numbness in the face, down an arm, leg or even in the foot, we have connected many dots for patients, corrected the issue which alleviates the numbness and tingling sensations… and saved them from surgery!

There is a chance numbness and tingling may be from an insect bite or toxins in seafood, abnormal B-12 levels or even medications such as chemotherapy. That’s why we say simply come get checked in a Structural Examination. If we rule out structural compression, we can ensure you’re making the right next step to find the CAUSE.

Just like a contractor being able to rule out foundation issues, letting you know the issue is directly with the window itself. We aim to save you time, energy and money by looking beyond symptoms to travel to the root cause. When you ask the right questions, you get the answers you’re really looking for!

What PROMOTES Great Health?

What would happen if you walked into your living room and saw one of your beautiful green plants wilting?

You’d probably asses if it has been getting enough water and sunlight and check the quality of the soil.

Why do you do this? Well, because you KNOW that the plant requires good water, good sun and good soil to be a healthy plant.

So, you see wilting and take that as a SIGN it needs support back to great health. You turn to those things that support good health.

You would never give it drugs or surgery. Just give it what you know it needs to live a great life.

Yes, we are connecting this back to humans because humans are not only LIKE nature, they are NATURE.

When you have a symptom or sign of decreased health, like the plant wilting, that usually is met with drugs and surgery to fix the symptom. This is SICKCARE. Treating symptoms.

Healthcare would be like the plant example. Asking ‘What does the human require to live a healthy life? Am I doing those things?’

If the answer is NO… then like watering the plant or moving it to get more sun, start doing the things YOU require to live healthy.

As you do, you will see your health start to be restored, just as the plant makes its full recovery.

In our office, we believe in true healthcare. A doctor who teaches his patients how to get and stay healthy. A doctor who understands the wilting is just a communication, not the problem. A doctor who isn’t simply treating a symptom, but rather empowering the body to health.

We always say healthy doesn’t mean ‘symptom-free’. There is so much more for you when you experience TRUE health and vitality. You deserve nothing less during this one life you’ve got to live.

Chiropractic that goes further than a 'Bone Out of Place'

Our spine isn’t like a stack of bricks.

We know this because when you experience a trauma, you don’t just snap in half. (Like that photo!)

Rather, your spine, with its three flexible arches, is more like a spring.

You experience a trauma.
Tension is stored in the body, 
which compresses the spring.

We see the collapse in things such as a low hip, rotated shoulders or weight imbalance to name a few.

This is why our unique care isn’t about simply putting the ‘bricks’ back in place.

It’s about releasing the tension on the spring.

So it can regain its up, open and balanced posture and therefore...

➡️Restore proper function.

➡️Initiate healing processes, from the inside out.

We know that postural imbalances that result from tension + gravity = PAIN.

Whether it’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain, knee pain, etc., it would be wise to have a Structural Chiropractor step back to assess the structure GLOBALLY. Look at the entire body as it is connected to see the patterns of tension, compression and compensation.

You are not just a stack of bricks and it isn’t just a bone out of place. It’s an entire system out of place.

In our office, we use the 3D model to release what is responsible for the postural imbalances so you get more than temporary relief!

Our office is home to the only Posture IQ in East Tennessee, a state-of-the-art 3D postural measuring device that gives real time objective measurements on the changes we are creating each visit so you can not only FEEL the difference, but SEE it as well.

Lose Unhealthy Fat for GOOD this New Year

There is a good chance you or someone you know has the New Year's goal to lose some unwanted weight, whether it's extra fluff that showed up from one too many holiday cookies or it's pounds you've carried for years.

As a holistic health provider, we say "YES!!! YOU GO!" to people wanting to get healthier and find a more balanced weight. The unfortunate part is that we witness many people not achieve this goal and even years prior, we ourselves let that kind of goal slip.

But something changed all of that for us, and for many of our patients we have educated and it's UNDERSTANDING why fat is clinging and staying put in your body with little budging.

It all comes down to toxicity. Yes, the fried cheese sticks and chocolate brownies can make you fat, but it is because of the toxic makeup of those items.

When anything that is toxic enters the body, it goes to the liver to be dealt with. The issue is when the liver is sluggish or overloaded, it cannot truly deal with it. If you eat a typical American diet, you can bet it is sluggish. If you drink lots of caffeine and little water, its overloaded. If you take medications and are around toxic products like cleaners and paint, your liver needs support. See, when the liver cannot flush the toxin or heavy metal out, it stores it and wraps fat around it to PROTECT you. The toxin cannot do as much damage if fat is wrapped around it. A fatty liver is essentially a liver that has had to store so much toxins it started storing them on the OUTSIDE of the liver until it was fatty.

The more toxins / heavy metals = the more body fat %

The mind-shift happens when you truly understand this. "I am not 'fat'. I simply have a high toxic load in my body and I need to DETOX." Then the weight will fall off. Not for a few months, but for GOOD. Many people try so hard to lose a few pounds and it takes everything in them and then it gets put right back on. That is because they aren't dealing with the ROOT of the issues: The toxic / heavy metal build up within the body.

Can you shift from saying "I am trying to lose weight" to "I am trying to clean up my body of the bad stuff. I trust the unhealthy weight will fall away as I do so"?

Sip Your Way to Great Health: Herbal Tea!

We love herbal teas. It makes healing and supporting your body convenient and delicious. We worked with local herbalist Ruth Shelton, The Empirical Herbalist, to create a CUSTOM tea blend for our office. Tulsi, peppermint and eucalyptus... it boosts the immune system, helps with scratchy throats and frayed nerves and more.

Try it at your next appointment and even purchase a can to take home.

Something Simple YOU Can Do to Prevent Bloating, Constipation and Gut Issues!

Dr. Ryan's Holiday Gift Guide

Supporting someone on their mission to true health is the best gift you can give! Love, encouragement, accountability - it's worth more than gold. However, here are also some unique gift ideas to support them as well!

Let Your Brain Flow

Neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s are growing in prevalence all around the world.

Nearly 1 in 6 of the world’s population suffer from a neurological disorder.

Your body has Cerebral Spinal Fluid that acts like oil lubricating your brain and spinal cord. It is created in the deepest part of your brain and pumps down the spinal column. When there is a structural shift (misalignment) in the base of your skull and the top of the neck, this disrupts that crucial flow.

Just like a clogged toilet where the pipes get stopped up.

Research is showing that when this fluid clogs up in your brain...

Metabolic waste and proteins linger, causing damage to brain tissue

A high-pressure environment is created that causes compression of brain matter (usually resulting in migraines and headaches) that wears out brain tissue, similar to a river smoothing out a rock over time.

Due to these negative impacts, that misalignment in the neck region of your spine can become a contributing factor to neurodegenerative diseases.

At Summit Chiropractic, we release the body back to proper alignment, allowing healthy Cerebral Spinal Fluid flow!

Nature’s Flu Shot

What a trying winter season last year as so many people, maybe even you, went down with the flu (or cough, runny nose, nausea, high temperature, you name it) and had to watch their body put up a fight.

In our office, we always tell our patients, “The best way to prevent sickness is to develop a ROBUST IMMUNE SYSTEM (because that's your army against invaders!)”

There are many lifestyle choices that will support and strengthen that system and many folks don’t realize that a chiropractic adjustment is one of the most powerful!

The nervous system and immune system are hardwired and work together to create optimal responses for the body to adapt and heal appropriately. Neural dysfunctions due to spinal shifts are stressful to the body and cause abnormal changes that lead to a poorly coordinated immune response. Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to boost the coordinated responses of the nervous system and immune system.

That's why when a patient calls in to say they woke up sick and need to cancel, we tell them to do everything they possibly can to make it to their appointment because our care helps the body boost the healing up!

A visit to Dr. Ryan’s table may get them back to work, school or life faster.

Now, back to that virus that seems to be all over the news this time of year. Please, call on your trusted holistic practitioner, whether it is Summit Chiropractic or not. They will teach you about your body and how to support it naturally.

Here is a great recipe to share with anybody who wants a daily immune system boost to sip on:

• 32oz of filtered water

• juice from 1 organic lemon

• grate 1 tsp fresh ginger (peel off skin first)

• 1 tsp local honey