Redmond Spine Center

04/30/2026

Health Tip: Sleep is the one thing that genuinely improves almost everything else.

No supplement or morning routine comes close to what a good night of sleep actually does for your body. Your body heals and repairs itself only when you sleep.

Three things I am personally doing right now (and what I recommend for you):

Audit your setup. If your pillows are old enough to vote, upgrade them. The average mattress life is 7-10 years (that's 2018 for a lot of us). And do not sleep on your bedframe (pun intended). A great mattress on a weak frame loses most of its value.

Wind down with intention. Dim the lights an hour before bed, cut the screens 30 minutes out, drop the temperature in the room, and keep a consistent bedtime (weekends included). I personally use a magnesium supplement and find it makes a real difference. Ask me next time you are in if you want a specific recommendation.

Get your mind right. Put the phone down. Read 10-15 pages of something positive before bed. The improvement you will notice is genuinely surprising.
Combine all of these and watch what happens. Better sleep makes every other health goal that much more achievable.

We talk about this stuff in the office all the time, and I wanted a way to get it out to more people between visits. So I started a Health in a Minute newsletter, and sleep was the first topic. If you are a patient and want tips like this in your inbox, send us a message and we will add you to the list!

04/24/2026

"I didn't realize how much I was looking down at my phone."

The phone comment comes up almost every week now.

For every inch your head tips forward from neutral, the weight your cervical spine has to manage roughly doubles. At a full forward tilt, looking down at a phone, that load can reach 50 to 60 pounds.

The spine was not built to hold that position for two to three hours a day. Over time, the curve in the neck flattens, the muscles in the upper back stretch and weaken, and the discs compress unevenly.

Most people feel it as tension between the shoulder blades or headaches that start at the back of the skull. Some feel it as a neck that cracks a lot, or one that feels stiff in the morning.

Awareness is a good start. But the structural changes that have already happened need more than putting the phone down.

If you've been dealing with neck tension or upper back stiffness, come in. We can figure out what's going on and put a plan together.

04/23/2026

"My back pain is just from sleeping wrong. I don't need help."

And sometimes it's true: you slept in an awkward position and it'll resolve by the afternoon.

But when it keeps happening, or when the same spot keeps flaring up, sleeping wrong is the trigger, not the cause.

The spine doesn't randomly lock up for no reason. When a joint is restricted or a disc is under stress, almost any minor irritation can bring the pain to the surface. A bad night of sleep, a long car ride, sitting for too long. The incident gets the blame when the underlying problem was already there.

04/21/2026

I'm seeing this a lot in Redmond -->Most people don't realize whiplash can take weeks to show symptoms.

The impact happens. You check for damage. Everything looks fine. You feel a little shaken but okay, so you go home and move on.

Three weeks later, you can barely turn your head.

Whiplash is a soft tissue injury to the muscles, ligaments, and tendons of the neck. Soft tissue doesn't show up on X-rays. And the inflammatory response that causes the stiffness and pain can take days or weeks to fully develop.

By the time symptoms are obvious, the injury has had time to tighten, scar, and restrict movement in ways that take significantly longer to address than if you'd come in within the first few days.

04/16/2026

Attention Redmond tech community with back or neck pain:

Most of my patients with serious spinal problems didn't have a dramatic injury.

They have a desk at Microsoft.

Eight hours a day with their shoulders rounded and their head drifting forward toward a screen. Over months and years, that position changes the actual structure of the spine.

For every inch your head moves forward from neutral, the effective load on your cervical spine roughly doubles. A head that weighs 12 pounds starts to feel like 24, then 36. The muscles compensate, the joints compress, and the discs flatten over time.

By the time most people feel real pain, they've been in that position for years.

The warning signs show up earlier: tension in the upper back that won't go away, a neck that feels stuck in one
direction, headaches that start at the base of the skull, a low back that aches after sitting and feels better when you walk.

Those aren't random. They're the body asking for help before the damage becomes harder to reverse.

▎ My clinic is in Redmond and I see this every single week. If you've been ignoring these signs, come in and let's
take a look.

04/15/2026

I hear this all the time in the office: "I thought my back pain would just go away." Spoiler: It doesn't.

Pain that fades on its own means the body compensated around the problem, not that the problem went away. The restricted joint, the disc under pressure, the nerve being irritated, all of it is still there. It gets quieter for a while.

Then something minor happens: a wrong turn getting out of the car, an odd night of sleep. And it's back, often worse than before.

The longer a structural problem goes unaddressed, the more the surrounding muscles, tendons, and joints have to compensate. Over time, that compensation pattern becomes the new normal, and reversing it takes significantly more work than addressing the original issue would have.

If your back pain has come and gone more than once, it's worth getting looked at. The pattern is telling you something.

04/14/2026

10 years of daily headaches. 10 years of no relief.

She'd seen specialists, tried medications, and eventually accepted the pain as part of her life.

I adjusted her upper cervical spine, and the headaches went away.

Moments like that are why I became a chiropractor.

All I'm doing is pushing and pulling on the body, using twelve years of understanding how the spine connects to the rest of the system.

I never take for granted that something so straightforward can change how someone moves through their entire life.

04/09/2026

Note on collisions --> we get this question a lot: "Who should I see after a car accident?"

After a collision, figuring out who to see and in what order should not be your job.

We handle that.

If you need imaging, we refer you. If another specialist would help your recovery, we connect you. We work with physical therapists and other providers to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

Some patients need focused in-office work and they're back to full strength in a few months. Others need a more coordinated approach. Either way, we put the plan together and adjust as we go.

All you have to do is come in.

If you've been in an accident and aren't sure where to start, give us a call. We'll take it from there.

04/08/2026

The first question most people ask after a collision: "How do I pay for this?"

In most cases, you don't.

We bill the insurance directly. No bill comes to you.

Two policies usually apply. Your own insurance likely includes PIP, Personal Injury Protection. In Washington, PIP covers chiropractic, imaging, massage, and other care while you're in treatment.

The person who hit you also carries insurance. Once we wrap up your case, their policy covers the remaining bills.

We handle all of that in the background. Your job is to come in and let us do the work.

If you've been in a collision and aren't sure where to start, reach out. We'll walk you through it.

04/06/2026

Collision cases have been up in our office lately, and we wanted to share a video on a big misconception: Pain in one area can mask pain in another. You feel the loudest thing first and miss what's building underneath.

This is how untreated collision injuries become long-term.

So how do we change it?

We start with a thorough look at the full picture. Collision injuries travel through the body in ways that show up over days and weeks, and treating one spot while missing another leads to incomplete recovery.

From there, we work through a combination of approaches based on what the injuries actually are. Soft tissue work. Joint adjustments to restore movement. And sometimes repositioning how your body holds itself, based on what the collision changed.

The goal through all of that is to get you back to how you were before. Back to sleeping through the night, concentrating at work, and moving without thinking about it.

If you've been in a collision and want to understand what's actually going on in your body, give us a call. We'll take the time to figure it out with you.

04/02/2026

Watching this practice grow in Redmond has been one of the best parts of the last few years.

More new patients walking through the door every week.

People from the neighborhood, from the tech campuses nearby, from referrals I never expected.

I am genuinely grateful for every one of them, and I figured it was the right time to properly introduce myself and the team.

My name is Dr. Cody Sandzimier. I'm the head chiropractor and Clinic Director, and I built this practice around one idea: find the root cause, treat the right thing, and don't stop until the person in front of me is actually better.

Here's what matters to us:

>>Every visit starts with a conversation
We talk through what's going on, assess the full picture, and build a plan from there. The pain you walked in with tells us where to start. The full assessment tells us what we're actually dealing with.

>>Auto injury care should be pain-free from the care to the fiances.
If you've been in a collision, we handle the full scope, including all coordination with insurance, lawyers, and other providers. Our accounts manager walks through the financial side with you from day one so there are never any surprises. You focus on getting better. We take care of everything else.

>>You deserve a facility to support complete recovery. X-ray, traction, and in-office rehab all under one roof. And a rehab coordinator who works alongside you through your program, visit by visit.

>>Tech Neck is a serious issue in our area, and we must fix it.
A lot of the people I see have been sitting at a desk for 10, 12 hours a day, pushing through tightness and discomfort until something finally demands attention. This tension on your neck is warning. Slowly, this injury is causing REAL damage. Getting those people back to feeling strong and moving freely is work I genuinely love.

>>We will see the worst of the worst. We're here for the hardest cases
Patients who have been to multiple providers and still don't have answers. People who have heard from other doctors that they just have to manage it. I've dedicated my career to proving that's rarely the whole truth.

If you're new here, I'm glad you found us. If you've been coming in for a while, thank you. You're the reason I keep showing up.

09/16/2024

Hi everyone,

So I did a thing.

I have yet to share much about this, but for a few years now, I have been developing a product that I had an idea for—from scratch.

Basically, it's a visual timer with a light around the face that acts as a progress bar as time counts down and then flashes when time ends.

I initially developed this for my chiropractic practice, but as I started to show it to people, I realized how many people needed it, especially in the ADHD/neurodivergent populations. After many years of working on it, it has finally reached the point of being able to launch, and it is now Live on Kickstarter!

If this would help you in your life or if you know someone it could help, you can support it through the Kickstarter page. If you are curious, you can also check it out.

Thanks!

Looptimer is a visual timer that transforms time into a bright, progressing light that flashes when time ends.