Charge Health and Chiropractic

04/22/2026

Threat = Pain Amplifier

Good morning Errbody!

Quick story about common low back pain that I think will be helpful for those dealing with nagging issues.

I had a new patient come in who'd been managing low back pain for three years. She'd "tried everything." But when I asked her what she thought was wrong with her back, she said something close to, "It's just broken down. I'm 47. This is just how it is now."

That belief was doing more damage than any disc bulge could ever be!

Here's something that surprises most people: pain research over the last two decades has consistently shown that the intensity of your pain does not reliably correspond to the amount of tissue damage in your body.

A 2015 study in the journal Pain found that catastrophizing, meaning how much you believe the pain is terrible and uncontrollable, predicts disability better than the actual physical findings on an MRI.

Our understanding of pain shifted dramatically once researchers started mapping how the brain processes threat signals, not just injury signals.

What's actually happening is this: your brain functions as a threat-detection system, not a damage-detection system. When you've been hurting for months or years, your nervous system gets better and better at producing pain in response to smaller and smaller triggers.

Add in the belief that your body is fragile, broken, or past the point of repair, and your brain treats normal movement as a potential threat.

Eventually you move less, avoid more, and the pain sticks around not because the injury is getting worse but because the system protecting you has gotten oversensitive.

Soooo, if this sound like you, what the hell do you do about walking yourself out of this loop?

START HERE (seriously do it!):
1. Write down three things you used to do before the pain that you'd like to do again. Not a bucket list, just normal life stuff. Walking to the mailbox. Picking up your kid. Sitting through a movie. This exercise isn't wishful thinking. It starts reconnecting your brain to the idea that those things are possible again.

2. The next time you notice pain, try saying to yourself: "This is my nervous system being overprotective. It does not mean I am damaged." This is not positive self-talk. It is literally more accurate neuroscience than the story most people are running. The brain updates its threat output based on the information you give it!

3. Do one small movement today that you've been avoiding because it usually hurts, and go slowly and deliberately instead of bracing for the worst. Notice if the expectation was worse than the actual experience. Usually it is.

Try these out and reply to let us know how it goes. If you need help with HOW to get back to those things on your list, book a "Treatment" and we'll really dial it in.

Talk soon,
Dom

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04/15/2026

Pain, stress, and the people around you.

I had three separate conversations this week (It's Wednesday...) with people who had seen multiple providers, tried multiple treatments, and still dealing with life altering pain.

Different people. Way different histories, but very similar language coming out of their mouths.

Something to the effect of: "Nothing is really working, I'm starting to believe this is just my curse"

First off, hell no. Second, read on for why I wont accept that for anyone walking in our door.

THE RESEARCH NOBODY TALKS ABOUT
Back in 1984, researchers studied a large sample of patients with chronic low back pain. What they found was striking. The number of treatments those patients received had very little to do with the physical findings in their body. It was much more closely tied to their levels of distress and their beliefs about their condition. Failed treatment does not just fail to help. It actively shapes what a person believes is possible for them going forward.

That is the part that gets left out of most clinical conversations. Pain is not purely a physical signal. It is an output from your nervous system based on how much threat your brain perceives. And your history of treatment, the people around you, and how much stress you are carrying all feed directly into that threat calculation.

THE PEOPLE CLOSEST TO YOU MATTER MORE THAN YOU THINK
I deal with this one personally, so there is no judgment here.
When someone we love is in pain, the instinct is to protect them. Clear their schedule. Tell them to rest. Handle things so they do not have to.

And some of that is needed. But here is what happens when it goes too far.

When everyone around you treats your body like it is fragile, your subconscious gets that message too. Certain daily movement start to feel dangerous. Activity gets avoided. Strength quietly disappears. And the pain gets louder, not quieter, because your body has less capacity to absorb load.

I see the flip side too though. Partners and family members who understand what is actually going on, who encourage gradual movement and help someone stay consistent, can be one of the most powerful recovery tools in the room. The research backs that up.

The people in your corner either help you build capacity or quietly take it away.

There is not much middle ground in a chronic pain story.

THE STRESS PIECE
Think of your nervous system like a cup. It has a capacity for stress.

Physical stress, emotional stress, poor sleep, demanding job, hard seasons of life. All of it goes in the same cup.

When the cup is full, your system is running in a high-alert state. Pain signals get amplified. Recovery slows down. Injuries start to happen more frequently. Not because something new broke, but because there is no room left in the system.

Most people do not connect those dots. They come in with a flare-up after a hard week at work and assume they slept wrong. Maybe. But a nervous system under that much load is also going to be far more sensitive to inputs it would normally handle just fine.

That is not a mindset problem. That is a capacity problem.

WHAT WE ARE DOING ABOUT IT
First of all, words matter. A lot.

How I talk about pain or symptoms will either increase fear/worry, or reduce it and provide reassurance that this is recoverable.

Same goes for you, what story you tell yourself about your current condition will become reality for you. Because if you believe you can't recover, you're right, you won't. But if you do, and are willing to put in consistent effort, you can overcome just about anything!

We are leaning hard into this fact at ReCharge too.

The science is clear that the nervous system can be trained to tolerate more stress, recover faster, and stay regulated under pressure. Cold exposure is one of the most effective tools we have for that. But only when it is done right.

We are moving to fully coached sessions. Here is what that looks like:
1) Pre-session breathwork — We teach you how to downregulate before you get in the tub. Not just for comfort. Because the state you enter in determines the state you come out in.
2) Coaching through the shock — The first 30 seconds of cold exposure are where most people lose control of their breath and spike into a full sympathetic response. We walk you through it. That is the actual training.
3) Post-session recovery protocol — What you do after matters. We guide you through the integration so you get the full parasympathetic rebound.
4) Objective measurement — We test your parasympathetic activity before and after every session. So you are not just feeling better. You can see the actual shift in your nervous system on paper.

That last one matters a lot to me. Because one of the things that breaks down in chronic pain is trust. Trust in your body. Trust that things can actually change. When you can see measurable evidence that your nervous system just shifted states in under ten minutes, that starts to rebuild something pretty powerful.

WHAT THIS BUILDS OVER TIME
Every time you get in that tub and stay regulated, you are training your nervous system to handle discomfort without catastrophizing. And the coolest part is that skill does not stay in the tub!

It shows up when your back tightens after a long day at work. It shows up when a stressful week rolls through and your body would normally fall apart. It shows up as more capacity. And more capacity is the whole point.

ONE THING
If you have been to ReCharge yet, I want to formally invite you to go check it out and offer And if you have been coming in, I want you to try the coached version and tell me what you notice.
Reply to this email with one word describing what your stress cup looks like right now. Full. Half. Overflowing. Whatever is true.
That is all. No pressure. I am just trying to understand where people are at.

Talk soon,
Dom
Charge Health & Chiropractic

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03/23/2026

Structure > Motivation

Morning!

I love my job because there's so much pattern recognition required yet at the same time, every puzzle is different.

Last week I had multiple conversations around the topic of motivation.

Different people. Different stages of life. Same underlying problem.

And I get totally it. Life gets busy. Stress piles up. Pain lingers. (AKA story of my life) And at some point, doing the work just feels… heavy.

But the honest truth is Motivation isn’t the problem.

Back in ancient Greece, long before rehab programs, macros, or cold plunges, the idea of Olympism wasn’t about winning.

It was about a way of living. They believed in three core principles: Excellence. Friendship. Respect.

But what stood out to me the most wasn’t any of those individually.

It was this idea: Joy found in effort!

Not outcome. Not results. Not recognition.

Effort.

That’s a hard concept to swallow in today’s world because everything around us is outcome-driven. (I personally get caught here too often!)

Lose 20 pounds.
Make $X/month.
Run faster.
Look better.

And when those things don’t happen fast enough, we assume something is wrong.

So we stop.

I had a patient last week who’s doing everything “right.”

Showing up consistently. Doing their exercises. Paying attention to their body.
But they were frustrated because the pain wasn’t completely gone yet.

Another patient?
Has all the tools, knows exactly what to do… but can’t get themselves to work on themselves.

Again, two completely different situations. Same root issue.

They’re both chasing an outcome instead of committing to the process.

Here’s where I’ll challenge you a bit...

Whether you realize it or not, you’re always choosing a form of suffering.

You can choose:

The discomfort of discipline
or
The discomfort of staying stuck

The humility of starting small
or
The regret of never starting at all

There is no option where you avoid it completely!

The people who actually change? They choose their suffering first. Then motivation shows up later.

This lines up with what we see in training/rehab all the time.

If you pick the right variables and consistently apply effort, the body adapts.
Not because you felt ready. Not because everything was perfect.
But because you showed up enough times for your system to respond.

That’s it.

And here’s the part for those of you already doing the work.

Your “best” right now?

It’s good. It matters. Keep going! But don’t get comfortable there!!

Because capacity is something you build. The whole point is to work toward more of it. More strength. More control. More resilience to stress.

It happens when effort stays consistent long after the excitement wears off.

This is exactly why we do what we do at Charge.

It’s not just about getting you out of pain. Not ME fixing YOU. It’s about helping you build a system that can actually handle life.

Progressive strength work. Intentional recovery. Nutritional structure. Consistency over time.

We’re trying to give you a body and mind that doesn’t break down every time life gets hard.

Chew on this a while and reflect on time in which you were waiting for more motivation to act. Did it come? Or are you still waiting....?

PS. We are out of office next week for spring break so if you need in, call. The schedule is tight but we will do our best to accommodate!

Love,
Dr. Dom + Team

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03/16/2026

ISO's, Slings, & Clean Eats

Many of you have asked, "Who treats you when you need an adjustment??"

My response: ME!

Two weeks ago I tweaked my low back doing hack squats. Nothing dramatic. No loud pop. Just a spasm at the bottom of a rep.

Did a proper warm up, hip mobility, back extensions, and some hamstring curls to set pelvis. I worked up to 360lbs on the machine, and on my last set I felt my right QL light up harder than it should have.

That rep did get away from me as I could tell I was driving harder through my right leg than my left. It happens!

That’s not a random event for me. I’ve got a long history of disc issues, plus an old right rib fracture. My system already has a tendency to bias/protect that side.

And when things gets heavy or overall stress increases the body will always default to its most predictive pattern.

So instead of ignoring it or trying to stretch the hell out of my back, I went back to the same principles I give yall!

Within the next 72 hours I focused on three things.

1. Isometric work for the muscles that stabilize the pelvis
Glutes, groin, hamstrings.

Long holds. Controlled breathing. Just reminding the nervous system that those muscles are still allowed to do their job.

2. Cross body movements
The body moves in spirals, not straight lines.

Things like (videos linked below)
• Curtsy lunges with an opposite lat stretch
• Step ups with an oblique plate chop

These patterns reconnect the shoulder, rib cage, pelvis, and hip so the spine doesn’t have to do all the work.

High level sprint coaches have talked about this for decades. The spine rotates and transfers force between the upper and lower body, which is why cross body movement is so important in both performance and rehab.

3. Nutrition that actually supports healing

This one gets overlooked big time!!

Because I’ve spent months tightening up my diet, my body has a solid micronutrient profile to pull from when tissue gets irritated.

You cannot expect tissues to repair themselves if the raw materials aren’t there.

By the end of that third day I was back in the gym (sounds way to close to "by the third day he rose again" lol.)

Heavy lower body lift was back on the table. Wasn't rushing it. Just knew what I was capable of and how the body responds when you give it proper fuel and input.

Pain RARELY about one angry muscle.

It’s about capacity and coordination across the whole system.

If something flares up, the goal is not to panic. The goal is to restore balance and keep moving.

I filmed quick videos walking through a few of the drills I used and continue to upload some of my favorite exercises when it comes to mobility and joint health to our CHC YouTube page.

Try a few of them next time your back or hip starts talking to you.

Have a great week everyone!

Dr. Dom + Team

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03/04/2026

03/02/2026

Low and Slow Wins the Race

Happy Monday!

I want to talk about a tool for relief that sooooo many of us are simply missing the mark on. Its such a SIMPLE and EFFECTIVE strategy yet most of use are "too busy" to utilize it. First off, we all are busy, its a s**t excuse for not taking care of yourself, so save it. Second, if you want power over how you feel RIGHT NOW you'll learn and apply what I'm about to put down!

What are we talking about today? STRETCHING!

Most people “stretch” the same way they brush their teeth when they’re late. Quick. Rushed. Half present. Then they stand up and go, “Welp. Still tight.”

Trust me, I get it. Life is loud. Work is loud. Kids are loud. When looking for relief you want that quick hit. So you grab the easiest lever you have, yank on a muscle for 20 to 30 seconds, and hope the body cooperates.

Problem is the body usually does not cooperate with frantic/random inputs.

A short story that matters
Older culture systems, prioritized sustained positions with a focus on breathing. Yoga held shapes. Martial artists sat in low stances. "Old school rehab" had people in long holds that looked boring, but boring is often what your nervous system needs to finally chill out.

Modern fitness/rehab has taught us that if it doesn’t burn, shake, or sweat, it doesn’t count. Stretching got dragged into that same mindset. But flexibility, tissue tolerance, and parasympathetic tone are not built through bootcamp approaches.

What the research says about short holds vs long holds
If your goal is to actually change range of motion and stiffness, duration matters. One study comparing different static stretching durations found that very short holds (20 seconds) did less than longer bouts like 60, 180, or 300 seconds for reducing stiffness.

A 2024 systematic review in Sports Medicine also found that when stretching is performed with sufficient duration and weekly volume, it can even increase strength and muscle size in certain contexts. In other words, longer holds are not just about feeling looser. They can create real structural change when applied correctly.

So when I suggest/prescribe a stretch held for 2 to 3 minutes, it is not because I want to waste your time. It’s because that time window gives your system a chance to stop guarding. The first 30 seconds is basically the introduction. The next 90 seconds is where the conversation starts.

My experience with this in the office
The people who benefit most from longer holds are the ones who feel “tight” but are also stressed, wired, and constantly bracing. They are not just dealing with short muscle tissue. They are dealing with a protective strategy.

That’s why the long hold is paired with low intensity. We are not trying to win a fight with the body. We’re trying to convince it that it is safe enough to change.

Breathing patterns that stack the effect
Breathing is not an optional add on btw. Breathing is the steering wheel!!

Slow breathing reliably opens a noninvasive window into parasympathetic influence. And specific breathing parameters matter. For example, a controlled slow breathing protocol that includes a brief pause after exhale can increase HRV compared with the same breathing rate without that pause.

Here’s the simple pattern I want you to use during a 2 to 3 minute stretch:

Inhale through the nose for 4 seconds. Exhale slowly for 6 to 8 seconds. Pause 1 to 2 seconds after the exhale

Repeat, and keep the stretch intensity at a 2-3 out of 10!

That long exhale and tiny pause is a signal. It tells the system, “We’re not afraid. We’re not fighting. We can chill.”

The parasympathetic shift is real, and it is measurable
Some people think stretching is purely mechanical, like pulling taffy. Not true. There is a nervous system component, and it shows up quickly. A study looking at stretching and autonomic responses found that parasympathetic activity increased rapidly after stretching.

So yes, stretching can be a nervous system tool when it is done the right way. The right intensity. The right duration. The right breath.

Now the weird part: your painful side might not be the real limiter
I see this all the time!! Someone has right sided hip pain or right shoulder tension, and they obsess over the right side. They stretch it. They roll it. They smash it to death with a lacrosse ball.

Then we test the left side and it is the one that is truly limited. Doesn't always have to be “tight” in the classic sense. Sometimes it is just under moving, under loading, and under trusted by the brain.

Research backs up the idea that working one side can change the other side, even when you never touched it. Unilateral stretching has been shown to increase range of motion on the contralateral side, likely through changes in stretch tolerance and central nervous system factors rather than just local tissue changes.

Plain language version: your brain runs both sides. If one side feels unsafe, the brain can create protective tone somewhere else. When you improve the “other side,” the brain sometimes stops clamping down on the symptomatic side because the whole system just got a better option.

What I want you to do tonight
Pick ONE stretch you already know you need. Hamstring. Hip flexor. Pec. Calf. Does not matter.

Do this: 2 minutes, low intensity hold. Breathe 4 seconds in, 6 to 8 seconds out, 1 to 2 second pause after exhale. Then stand up and take 10 slow steps and notice what changed

If you are not currently scheduled and you want help picking the right stretches for your body, reply “RESET” and we’ll reach out to you set up for an 30min visit going through some of my favorite stretches for your problem area.

Have a great week!

Dr. Dom + Team

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02/16/2026

"Stop chasing pain!"

This may be (or should be) one of the most influential messages I've sent!

Most people walk into our office and complaining about the mid back or shoulder blades. It feels tight, sore, and never quite settles.

But here’s the part that's misunderstood. A lot of the time, the mid back is not the starting point. It is the reaction.

The front of the rib cage, especially the sternum, is often the driver.

This is why I spend so much time massaging and mobilizing the chest wall, the subclavius, the costal cartilage, and why I’ll even hit specific points with the Dolphin units in that region. The goal is not just “loosen the pecs.” The goal is to get lymph moving and promote expansion of the entire rib cage.

And Dr. Perry Nickelston has been one of the people who helped me think this way.

If you know his work, you know he is big on the idea that you cannot treat the body like it is made of separate rooms. One hallway gets clogged and the whole house starts acting weird. His holistic approach is simple in concept but deep in application.

Stop chasing pain. Start clearing the traffic.

Stick with me and let’s connect the dots!

Lymph is your clean up crew. It is fluid movement, immune traffic, and waste management. It moves because of pressure changes, breathing, muscle contraction, and movement.

High pressure flows toward low pressure.

The lowest pressure drain point for lymph is at the collarbone area where the ducts empty back into the bloodstream. So if the drain is at the collarbone, the highest pressure tends to show up furthest away. Think hands, feet, legs, head.

This is why Dr. Perry and others emphasize clearing the main junctions first. He calls them the “Big Six.”

1) Collarbone region
2) Top of the neck behind the angle of the jaw
3) Armpit area
4) Abdomen
5) Crease of the groin
6) Back of the knee

The sternum, T5, and why your mid back gets smoked

Here is where most people miss the mark. They treat mid back stiffness like it is purely a joint or muscle problem.

But the sternum is the front anchor of the rib cage. The ribs attach through cartilage. The thoracic spine is the back anchor. Your rib cage is the bridge between them.

So when the sternum and anterior chest wall are stiff, tender, puffy, guarded, or just not moving well, the thoracic spine is forced to take extra load.

If you press on the sternum, people are often shocked by how tender it is, even though they never complained of pain there.

Then where do they usually feel symptoms? Right through the mid back. T5 to be specific

That spot becomes the “sweet spot” of irritation. Not because it is weak, but because it is stuck in the middle of a system that cannot expand and rotate like it should.

And once T5 gets irritated, it rarely stays isolated.

Segments “broadcast.” T4, T3 above it. T6, T7, T8 below it. Suddenly the person has pain here, tightness there, weird symptoms over there, and they are chasing the pain everywhere.

Meanwhile the front of the rib cage never got addressed (unless you come see me ;))

The sympathetic chain lives right where this problem lives

Now bring in the nervous system.

The sympathetic chain runs along the thoracic region, near the spine and ribs. That is the relay station for fight or flight output to a huge amount of the body.

So if you have chronic irritation in the mid thoracic spine, and the anterior rib cage is stiff and guarded, you are basically poking the bear.

You are feeding a region that is already loaded with sympathetic wiring. This plays a way bigger role in why some people feel like they cant ever truly rest.

They stretch more. They roll more. They crack more. They try to posture their way out of it.

How this ties into “organ issues” without getting weird about it

This is the part I want to handle carefully!

I am not saying your sternum causes every gut problem. I am not saying lymph work cures disease.

What I am saying is this...

The thoracic spine segments influence the autonomic output to organs. The mid thoracic region has major relationships with visceral function through sympathetic pathways.

So if someone has an irritated thoracic spine, a compressed rib cage, shallow breathing patterns, and a nervous system living in fight or flight, it is not surprising when they also report things like:

-Digestive sensitivity
-Reflux or bloating patterns that come and go
-“Pressure” feelings in the chest and upper abdomen
-Trouble sleeping
-More reactivity to stress

Could be a hundred reasons. But it is a pattern worth respecting!!

In practice, I see this all the time.

We calm the rib cage. We restore expansion. We reduce sternum guarding. We improve thoracic motion. We get the system to exhale again.

And the person feels like their body finally took the foot off the gas!

What we actually do with this at Charge

This is why I do the combination of:
-Chest wall and sternum work
-Costal cartilage mobility
-Subclavius and first rib attention
-Dolphin microcurrent points in that region when appropriate
-Then immediate movement to lock in the change

Because if you open the front of the rib cage and then you teach the body how to use it, the thoracic spine stops having to yell.

This is also why I am not impressed by “just cracking the mid back” as the whole plan.

It is a tool to create movement, but it cant alone address the system.

So if you are the person who has been living in mid back tightness, shallow breathing, and constant tension that keeps coming back, book an Rebuild visit and let me help you find better tools that address it all!

Dr Dom + Team

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02/09/2026

"Its all connected."

Hey yall!

I want to share a quick story from this week because it explains how I think about pain and why our process have evolved over the years.

A patient who has been doing our shoulder micro mobility work for less than two weeks sent this message:

“My heels don’t hurt no more!”

Little heel specific work.
No calf stretching.
No foot drills.

Just a recent add of shoulder work.

Here is the important context. She is hypermobile.

That matters more than most people realize.

When someone is hypermobile, their joints move easily, sometimes too easily. Range of motion is not the problem. Stability is. Their system is constantly scanning for the safest way to move. It prefers positions that feel predictable and controlled, even if those positions overload certain tissues over time.

This is why so many hypermobile people resonate with things like:
- Chronic tightness despite stretching constantly
- Pain that moves around
- Always feeling like one wrong move could set something off

When stability is lacking in one area, the body finds it somewhere else. It stiffens joints that are not meant to be stiff. It overuses tissues that are meant to assist, not dominate.

Pain is often the result of that strategy. In her case, the shoulders were a missing piece.

Here is where the bigger picture comes in...

I was watching some content recently from ALTIS, one of the most respected performance training organizations in the world. They have produced Olympic medalists, world champions, and some of the fastest humans to ever walk the planet.

What makes them special is not flashy exercises. It is how deeply they understand movement as a system. They shared a story about a high level track athlete who had chronic Achilles pain. He had tried everything. Local rehab. Soft tissue work. Strengthening. Rest.

Nothing stuck.

One of the Altis coaches asked a simple question about an old shoulder injury from adolescence. They shifted their focus to restoring shoulder function and control.

The Achilles pain disappeared.

That story stuck with me because it perfectly describes what we see in everyday people, not just elite athletes. The body moves in cross body patterns. One shoulder connects to the opposite hip. That hip connects to the opposite leg and foot.

This is how force travels when you walk, run, or simply get through your day.

If a shoulder cannot accept load well, especially in someone who is already hypermobile, the system looks for stability elsewhere. Often it finds it by stiffening the opposite leg and foot.

The heel becomes the anchor.

The Achilles becomes the shock absorber. The system feels safer, but the tissue pays the price.

Add in a nervous system that already struggles to feel secure and you get pain that seems disconnected from the actual cause.

So when we worked on shoulder control, awareness, and tolerance to load, something important happened.

Her system felt safer.
Movement cleaned up.
Force spread out instead of getting dumped into the heel.

The brain stopped asking the Achilles to do the job of the entire system.

The pain did not move because we chased it. It moved because the pattern changed. This is why "micro mobility" matters.

Not because it stretches things. Not because it loosens you up.
But because it gives your nervous system small, controlled signals that say, this joint can handle load.

This position is safe. You do not need to over protect somewhere else.

That said, micro mobility is not the end goal. It is a habit. A starting point.

One piece of a larger system.

Long term change comes from building strength, capacity, and confidence once your body trusts those positions again.

Mobility gives access.
Strength gives ownership.

If this story made you think about your own body or an old injury that never quite went away, I want you to do one simple thing.

Reply to this email with the word “shoulder”.
No pressure. No sales pitch here.

We have our own shoulder micro mobility program available as a standalone option for those who want to start building this habit at home.

You do not need to chase pain anymore.
You need to change the way your system feels about movement.
That is where real progress starts.

Dr. Dom

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