Mark Heisig, ND

12/10/2025

Stop blaming the barometer (unless you have to)…

Patients (and providers!) often conflate Post-Traumatic Headache (PTH) with Migraine, but the data show they have very different drivers.

🧠 Concussion Folks: A 2019 study by Silverberg et al. found that weather was actually a low-potency trigger. The real culprit? Mental exertion. The danger here is “Cogniphobia”—the fear of mental work. When patients avoid thinking/screens/focus to “save” themselves from pain, they actually make their brains more sensitive. The way out isn’t hiding; it’s graded exposure.

⛈️ Migraine Folks: A 2024 review by Denney et al. confirms that yes, weather (especially lightning and wind) matters. But it rarely acts alone. It lowers the defense threshold so that stress or lack of sleep can sneak a migraine in.

The Takeaway: If you’re recovering from a TBI, don’t fear the rain—focus on safely increasing mental stamina. If you’re managing migraines, build a metabolic buffer so the weather has less impact.

Which strategy do you need right now? Exposure or Buffering?

Drop a 🧠 below if you’re working on exposure, or a ⛈️ if you’re building your storm buffer.

12/09/2025

📢🌶️🧠

12/08/2025

Is age just a number? When it comes to concussion risk, it might be the wrong number.

We are seeing a polarization in youth sports. ➡️One side calls for banning contact until high school to protect the brain.
➡️The other argues that delaying contact creates “bobblehead” athletes—players who lack the neck strength and technical skill to protect themselves when the hits finally come.

Here is the nuance we often miss: Risk isn’t limited to the field.

Statistically, most concussions occur from falls and motor vehicle accidents, not sports. We could cancel every contact sport tomorrow and still face a concussion crisis.

The difference is that in sport, we have the unique opportunity to prepare the body for impact.

A recent clinical review, “The Contact Conundrum”, highlights a critical flaw in our current system: inconsistency.

Rugby introduces contact at U8 in some places, U12 in others. Ice Hockey waits until U15 in many leagues.

But the biggest risk factor isn’t the rulebook—it’s maturation.

We’ve all seen the “David vs. Goliath” scenario: two 12-year-olds, one who has hit puberty and one who hasn’t. The size and power discrepancy creates a massive, unmanaged risk.

The Path Forward: The review suggests moving away from arbitrary age limits and toward competence-based progression.

Contact is a skill. Just like a squat or a sprint, it requires:
✅ Physiological readiness (growth)
✅ Biomechanical competence (technique) ✅ Psychological readiness (maturity)

We help our athletes recover and adapt not by shielding them from the world, but by preparing them for it—progressively and on purpose.

👇 What’s your take? Should we bio-band youth sports by size/weight rather than age? Let me know in the comments. (And if you comment, do it like you’re talking to someone face-to-face in a coffee shop. Not like an anonymous internet troll.)

12/03/2025

(How many times have I shared a study like this with you all? 😂)

📢The worry might be hurting you more than the hits—and that’s actually good news. 🙌

We often treat brain health like a physical scoreboard carved in stone: How many hits did I take? How long did I play? 😫

But a new study on 235 former elite rugby players uncovered a massive, (not so hidden if you’ve followed me) hidden factor: The Worry Loop.

📊Researchers found that nearly 30% of players were “very worried” about their memory.
📈And here is the critical finding: those players were 3.3x more likely to experience depression and anxiety—regardless of how long they actually played or how much pain they were in.

🧐Why does this matter?
👉Because you cannot rewind the clock and dodge a tackle from 2015. That chapter is closed.
👉But the worry? That is happening right now. And unlike your history, worry is modifiable.

If you feel stuck in a cycle of rumination—constantly checking your memory, fearing the worst, and feeling anxious—know this:
Worry is a signal, not a sentence.

🔁The data suggests that distress and worry feed each other in a bidirectional loop. But you can break that loop. Through education to correct fatalistic myths, targeted exercise, and psychological support, you can reclaim your peace of mind.

You are not broken. You are adapting. And adaptation is trainable. 🙏❤️🧠

11/26/2025

🤕“Just rest and wait” is not a plan. It’s a surrender. If you’ve had symptoms for more than 30 days, waiting isn’t working. The data is clear: the longer you delay active rehab, the longer the recovery curve becomes.
❤️You aren’t broken. You are stuck in a poorly compensating nervous system. And sitting in a dark room won’t fix it—it erodes your capacity. We need to set a new trajectory.

🚨For Black Friday, I’m opening 3 spots for my PCS Resolution Protocol. This isn’t a discount—it’s a Clinical Buffer.
📊Recovery is non-linear. It requires a gentle grip on the reins, but a firm strategy. So I’m ✨upgrading the standard 8-session package to 10 sessions (at no extra cost)✨to ensure we have the runway to handle setbacks and finish strong.

The Protocol:
* Precision: Identify your symptom drivers (Vision, Neck, Metabolic)
* Tools: Polar H10 + Motion Guidance kit shipped to dose rehab with heart-rate precision
* Support: 10 weeks of guidance to restore your autonomy

👉The Reality: I can only accept 3 new cases due to the equipment and depth of review involved.

If you want to feel like yourself again in 2025, we need to start now.
DM me “RESOLUTION” to secure your spot. 🙏❤️🧠

11/18/2025

Think poor sleep after a concussion is just “part of recovery”? Mood may be pulling the strings. 🤯

📊 In a longitudinal TRACK‑TBI study (Neurotrauma Reports, 1,557 mTBI patients + 226 controls):
* 25% had persistent insomnia in the first year
* 71% stayed below the clinical cutoff
* OTC patients consistently showed lower sleep + mood symptoms

➡️ Key finding: Depressive symptoms at 3 months predicted worsening insomnia at 6 months (β = 0.20, p = 0.008). ➡️ Insomnia did not predict later depression → unilateral effect.

📌 What the numbers mean:
* Beta (0.20): Strength of the link — higher depression → higher insomnia later.
* p‑value (0.008): Statistically significant — unlikely due to chance.
And here’s the kicker: a subset developed new‑onset insomnia lasting 5+ years. Depression is the leading indicator for sleep problems post‑mTBI — manage it early.

➡️ Swipe the carousel for the 3‑step plan to monitor mood + sleep. ➡️ Comment “Sleepy” for an intro call to evidence‑based brain health strategies to recover, adapt, and perform — on purpose.

11/17/2025

I get it. When I tell people I guide concussion recovery 100% virtually, the immediate question is: “But how?! Is that even legit? 🤨🧐”

The biggest misconception in concussion support is that a virtual consult is “less than.” The truth is, most in‑person visits often leave you frustrated—with a vague label, no clear next steps, or a specialist referral booked weeks to months out (think: you’re seen in March, but your first neuro‑ophthalmology slot isn’t until May or June).

My multi‑domain virtual framework isn’t “less than”—it’s actually the most precise, targeted way (so far) to design your recovery strategy. Together, we skip the guesswork by mapping out your 5 core Symptom Generators.

👉 Swipe to see the exact blueprint of how we structure your recovery, so you can stop chasing symptoms and start adapting, performing, and progressing—on purpose.

👇 Comment ‘VIRTUAL’ to hop on an intro call and explore whether this approach is the right fit for you.

11/15/2025

I started this work just before the pandemic — and it reshaped everything. From patient care to teaching to admin, I’ve now gone 100% virtual (by popular demand, so to speak). The next 5 years? I hope for even more wisdom to share. 🤙

👉Comment “recover” if you’re ready to explore concussion/PCS recovery with me. Surprising things happen when you look under the right rocks - even from home, even on Zoom.🙏❤️🧠

10/03/2025

From yesterday's newsletter:

Pennywise. Michael Myers. Freddy. Jason. The Boogeyman.

All of these are "external" bad guys.

Do you treat your concussion injury like an external bad guy? If so, what does a sample of 91 Canadians suggest about that type of thinking?

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09/16/2025

Earlier today, I made the official announcement through my newsletter and Practice Better EHR:
My practice will be 100% virtual starting in 2026.

Here’s the deal:
👉If I’m being honest, it’s not something I fully wanted to do. But since that fun time called “the pandemic,” my practice has averaged about 70% virtual care.

👉And, also… Arthur Brooks describes the ideal emotional mix for making a significant change as “80% excitement + 20% fear + 0% deadness.” That’s exactly where I’m at.

I already see so many of you virtually — why not lean in and see where this takes me? I can always find an office space later. But this might be a way to help more people, free up time with my family, and make the world healthier on purpose in a more mobile way for both of us. That’s (80%) exciting to me.

Key dates:
• Nov 14 — last day for new in-person patients in Scottsdale
• Dec 18 — final day of in-person care for 2025–2026

TBD: I may still offer 1–2 week “intensives” out of an office space, similar to how folks have traveled from across the country (and world) to see me over the past five years. If that gets established, you’ll hear about it through email, social, and my EHR.

Life is a game. Thank God I get to play it.
Thanks for playing with me.

Let’s get healthy on purpose 🤙❤️

09/16/2025

HUGE announcement being dropped bright and early tomorrow in my newsletter.

Comment “2026” to subscribe and be among the first to know 🤝🙏❤️

08/29/2025

Comment “neck” to chat 🤝❤️🧠

So many folks I’ve seen over the years (who have been dealing with symptoms for years) were simply missing a legit neck assessment.

In the office I use the for assessment, and tools like , , and more to get folks back to school/work or elite sports performance. 🤙