Maine nurses are the superglue of Maine’s healthcare system. I am forever grateful for all that you do. I want to care for you the same way you care for your patients. With love, empathy, experience, strategy, and the attention that you deserve. In 2010 and 2011, I lost my mum to Inflammatory Breast Cancer, then my father to Leukemia. When my parents were hospitalized at the end of their lives, I’ll never, ever, forget the attention, compassion, and professionalism the nurses that cared for them displayed. I value the work that nurses do at the very top of the healthcare food chain. Out of appreciation for Maine nurses, and to honor my mum’s love of cooking, our office will be doubling down on our welcome jar gift of my marinara sauce. All nurses who become new patients between now and July 31, will receive 2 jars of my spicy marinara sauce at their first visit. Twice as much sauce for 100x more stress and hard working conditions they’ve been exposed to the past few months (and always). Nurses are the hearts, minds, and muscles of the hospitals. They deserve our respect and support. They deserve to eat well...

You may want an excuse to avoid family drama, but don’t make it an injury.  With snow starting before Thanksgiving this year, you better take precautions so you aren’t eating your dinner in bed! Your back and body have been out of practice shoveling snow for a few months now. If you dive right back in, without proper planning, you may be compromising the next few days, or worse, the next few months! Here’s what you can do to protect yourself from early winter injuries! Warm Up – Treat shoveling like a sporting event. Stretch and warm up before the “competition”. Get Ergo – If you are using a shovel, get an ergonomic one (with a bend in it) to help reduce bending and stress on your low back and shoulders. Take Small Bites – Don’t fill the shovel with more snow than it is designed to hold, smaller shovels are less heavy. Lighter loads will be less likely to strain your body. You bought it for a reason – If you are using a snow blower, let it work for you, not against you. There should be no need to “man handle” it. Pushing and pulling the blower...

Maintenance Matters. The Chiropractic Table Repair Man   Any machine that gets used on a regular basis, whether it’s your car, a furnace, a chiropractic table or human body, it needs maintenance to stay in the game. We are a small local office with a big heart and we get big results for our patients. We also focus locally on supporting businesses that give back to the community, are honest, caring and give you the time and energy that you need. Just like us. Peter West is the owner of the business Chiro Table Care. He lives in Portland and has been maintaining and repairing the tables at our office for years now. Now that his business is registered, he’s ready to help  anyone with a chiropractic or medical table in need of service or repair.   I have known Peter for years and he’s an honest, hard working engineer with the skills to not only fix your table but make it better. He optimizes the function of your table with his chiropractic table repair and maintenance. Just like you do with your patients. Whether you are a damage control chiropractor that works on symptoms and sends people on...

Dr. Lou’s Kitchen. With the majority of restaurants supplying your meals from SYSCO, Sam’s club or BJ’s, I had an idea. Rather than cutting corners for profit in an industry that is as cut throat as any, why not start cooking more at home. Since I already cook a lot at home, why not help others do the same? Food that tastes good but is made from poor ingredients, misses half the boat when you eat out. At home, it’s easier to do it all the right way. I grew up around parents who cooked, a grandfather who owned a café, and a number of others who were solid participants in the kitchen. I went on to study cooking in Beijing, China and surround myself with people who prioritized food. So much of your health is related to the food you eat. With over 50% of Maine people overweight or obese, and numbers growing locally and nationwide, if you don’t watch what you eat you are going to be more likely to run into problems. Problems ruin quality of life. I remind my patients all the time, as far as we know, we have only one life. We should...

Heavy meal? Work it off in Portland, Maine with these 9 easy methods.   1. Give thanks for your partner with Black Friday, morning love making.   2. Walk around your local shopping district, like The Old Port in Portland, Maine, for an hour.   3. Work off Thanksgiving dinner by Videotaping yourself running up and down the hill of the     eastern prom park.   4. Take your kids to Mackworth Island, visit the fairy houses and keep on walking!   5. Walk into the woods, cut down a christmas tree. Drag it home and put it in it’s stand.   6. Chase your kids around the back cove.   7. Take your family on a walk in the nearest park and take family pictures.   8. Go to the gym and lose 5 pounds before Christmas!   9. Be a 5 day vegetarian. No meat until Wednesday!  ...

Chiropractor With No Initial Exam Required. Chiropractor – Portland, Maine   People often call chiropractic offices just wanting to get cracked. They don’t want an initial exam, regardless of cost, the want a tweak and to be on their way. I can understand the need for instant gratification, our culture has come to expect it.   A couple of months ago my wife took our car into the shop and had it checked out and some regular maintenance done. When I spoke with her and the service manager he said there was some work to be done.   This is what I did not say: “There’s work to be done? Okay, do it!”   Here is what I did say: “There’s work to be done? Okay, what’s wrong with the car and what needs to be done immediately to keep us safe, how much will it cost and how long will it take?”   Jacobs Chiropractic Acupuncture receives calls from new patients daily. Most of them are interested in knowing what is wrong with them before they begin treatment. Like me, they want to know “what’s wrong with their car” before they spend time, money and energy trying to fix it....

Pain Can Be Deceiving Nearly every European patient that I see or have seen have x-ray, MRI, or CT scans. Patients come in with a variety of complaints ranging from foot pain from running to hemi-paralysis from a live polio vaccine at age 1 1/2. I came to an interesting conclusion after my latest trip. Symptoms and underlying problems don’t always match up. People with no pain have major underlying issues on MRI that are just waiting to manifest. Herniated discs, massive osteophytes and degeneration, compressed vertebrae, flattened discs, none of which they were feeling at the time of their checkup. Others came in with tremendous pain and discomfort and their xray, MRI and CT scans showed nothing. Surface EMG (sEMG) and spinal nerve thermography did show tremendous dysfunction in some of those cases.   Bottom line. Pain can be deceiving. It can also be caused my something minor or you can have a major problem with no pain at all. In either case, it’s good to know what is going on in your body and have time to correct things for a healthier, happier future.   Spinal hygiene and maintenance, whether we like it or not, is critical for...