I have been using quite a few therapies to help heal my torn meniscus. I have been taking high doses of Collagen Support Nutrients, vitamin C, Glucosamine, Antioxidants, and the Chinese formula Ox Bone Pearls. However, in addition, I have been using a sound-based therapy with some pretty fantastic results! 
Dr. Stacie and Dr. Tucker Ford at First Choice Chiropractic in Northville have been doing once-weekly treatments on my knee, using their MyACT machine. The principle is to irritate the injured tissues just enough that the body continues to respond in a magnified way….bringing blood, immune modulators, and anti-inflammatory mediators to the injury site to facilitate stronger healing.  In the three weeks I have been receiving treatment, I have had greater mobility, less pain, more stability, and steadily reduced need for crutches or a cane!  The amazing thing about MyACT is it can be used quite effectively with long-standing pain from old injuries (even years...

I prescribe the use of castor oil to almost everyone. As a core Naturopathic therapeutic, Castor Oil Packs are a beneficial and essential part of every healing process. Yet, few have heard of this remedy except for anecdotal memories of grandmothers having them eat a spoonful...something I have done and agree is awful!

Castor oil has fantastic healing properties, and a long history of use. Here are just a few of its effects:

I recently read a blog post extolling the benefits of eating fish, despite concerns of mercury toxicity. The blogger claimed the risk to be minimal to most people, except for maybe pregnant women and extremely young children. He indicated benefits from eating fish far outweighed risks of toxicity which could result, and recommended everyone eat fish 2-3 times per week for the ultimate benefit 

Toxicity aside, the blog post left me wondering only one thing: How in the world can we still assume there to be enough fish in the sea for every man woman and child to consume it multiple times per week?

Beyond what can happen to our bodies, we cannot, we must not make our health choices in opposition to what supports and nourishes us.  For too long, we have put our needs for “nutrition” and “food” ahead of huge warnings about the ability of the world oceans to support our increasing consumption.  Mercury or not, if we fish the oceans until they die, we...

There is a disconnect in our lives strongly fueled by our inability to just do nothing. Americans in particular have a seemingly never-ending obsession with always doing something. Which wouldn't be so bad if being constantly busy made us healthier happier people....but it doesn't and because of that we have a big problem.

On Average Americans Spend:

• 3.5 hours per day on social media
• 4 hours per day watching TV
• 8.8 hours per day working

Meanwhile:

• 13% of the overall population is on antidepressants

• Only 1 in 3 Americans report being happy

Looking at the numbers, we have a significant problem on our hands, we have a population who on average is spending over 16 hours per day combined at work, watching TV, and on social media which is obviously not a recipe for happiness. Yet, activities like meditation, which have been shown to dramatically change our outlook, health, and quality of life is so infrequent, there isn't even a number to quantify who is doing it regularly. 

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I have had one of those weeks to remind me just how powerful the healing power of real medicines can be, and how natural medicine has a place in urgent care conditions because if applied correctly, it can act with speed, and with minimal side effects. Furthermore, with the right resources, every household can have the opportunity to help their loved ones heal quickly.

Tuesday morning, just as I was beginning to see patients, my husband called with a strange sound in his voice, relaying that he was experiencing strange pain, in waves, strong enough to take his breath away and send him to the ground. Rushing home, I deduced he was passing a kidney stone.

He was in absolute agony, unable to get comfortable, being absolutely tortured. Going to my books, I found a homeopathic remedy to fit his symptoms perfectly...nux vomica and gave him the first dose a 30c. Although it produced a change, I then changed potency to a 30x, gave three doses about 5 minutes apart and he suddenly fell...

How we parent our children is dramatically reflected in what we feed them. Filling our kids with fast food, Doritos, coke, ice cream, and cookies is not good parenting.  Many will disagree, I know, but consider the end goal of being a good parent:

• To raise compassionate, aware individuals who can live lives of purpose and responsibility
• To nurture clear minds who can think for themselves and sort good from bad
• To foster a conscious awareness of community, and the interconnected relationship between all people and all things

Conventional foods, aka (those grown with conventional pesticides, in large scale commercial farms, which rely on many poisons and lab-made products to produce “foods” which ultimately cause the death of birds, bees, insects, and soil microorganisms as well as cause damage to local water, air and soil) do not support the above tenants of good parenting.

It is impossible to teach lessons of compassion, strong communities, clear thinking, and...

Heart disease always seems to come out of nowhere. More often than not, that affected thought they were in rather good health until they exhibit problems significant enough to warrant medical attention. The difficult thing about heart disease is, it can present in those who never move their bodies AND those who exercise all the time. In fact, some types of heart pathology are more apt to present in those who are in “amazing” cardiovascular conditions such as marathon runners and those who do sustained cardio for long periods of time.

That being said, there are a few common lifestyle blunders which dramatically contribute to heart disease and are often mistaken for healthy choices. Avoiding these three will help ensure the longevity of your heart and prevent emergency trips to the hospital.

1. Cooking with or eating vegetable oils: Vegetable oils were a rather non-existant entity within the world diet until about 1920-1930. The first vegetable oils were byproducts of large...

I dream of a world where women would never utter, lest engage in the D-word.  That’s right, I said it, the most dirty, destructive, despicable word in the language of life…..Diet.  This simple word, so wrought with implied sacrifice and hopeful yet unattainable outcomes.  This word embodies hours of counting, judging, and evaluating food, calories, ingredients, and portion sizes creating pain and immeasurable emotional toil, setting up lifetimes worth of sadness and self-imposed inequality. 

The truth is this word affects women and men differently.  For men, dieting is largely simple, cutting calories, increasing movement and the end result is weight loss.  But for women, this process initiates a biochemical shift of unimagined proportions, which cannot produce what it is intended to nor can it’s metabolic and psychological damage be undone without significant work. The lowered calories often slow the metabolism, the foods chosen are...

I like most doctors used to treat only 1% of the problem, leaving 99% unaddressed. Although I could get good results working this way, there was always something missing, until I realized how our bodies really work and the essential nature of our matrix and how it contributes to longevity and health.

I started practice in 2003, fresh out of Medical School, my approach was like that of many.....look for nutrient disparities, address symptoms, watch for glaringly obvious signs of weakness in key systems like digestive, adrenal and reproductive hormones and make a few adjustments to diet...done. Over time, however, as I have studied physics along with functional medicine, German Biological Medicine, and expanded my understanding and scope of Chinese Medicine, I have come to an understanding that I was missing 99% of the problem.

The simple fact of our biology is we are made up of mostly “empty space”.  This space is everything that is not cells, blood, organs, muscle,...

Hint: Not for relaxation or Pain!

This past week, I had the unfortunate occurrence of a headache. I tried rolling my muscles, drinking more water, eating a little something, taking some remedies, but nothing was working. Happily, Angelique Sanchez, from Be Present Massage offered to come in and work on me.  Now, I work every day with her, the room she treats clients in is in my office, but in all honesty, it had been months since my last massage. I like many people get busy, I pass off sore muscles, and occasional limitations in my posture as work-related, maybe stress, sitting too long in one place, or not having moved enough that day.  I always move on, drinking my water, stretching here and there, rolling my muscles, and figuring I have it mostly covered.  But as I lay on her table Wednesday, and my body became more relaxed, I remembered what it felt like to be pleasantly in my body.  No tasks, no stress, feeling the enjoyable sensations of muscles being...