Gingerbread Muffins!

Happy Holidays!


Martha and Jeff are baking up a storm tonight!  Doing their annual baking project for gifts to their friends and associates!




Here's the yummy batch they made.  Makes about 60 muffins


Preheat oven at 350 degrees


5 cups Whole Wheat flour 
1 cup Ground Flax Seed
4 tsp  Baking Powder
4 Tablespoons of each-Powdered ginger, cinnamon, 
1/2 tsp of each cardamon, cloves
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp salt
4 Cups of Molasses
1 1/4 cups of butter at room temperature
1 cup of Brown Sugar
2 tablespoons Vanilla
5 eggs
1 Cup of hot brewed coffee
1 cup of Buttermilk
2 fresh pears


Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.  Then mix the wet ingredients (except the pears) in another bowl.  Mix the two gently but thoroughly.  Cut the pears into thin slices.
Prep your muffin tins with cupcake papers.  Fill the papers 3/4 full.  Put a slice of pear in each with a half of it sticking out for garnish.
Bake for 15 minutes or until nothing comes out on a toothpick.  Note that they don't rise much and are VERY moist!  
Let them cool for about 20 minutes and then eat!  Great for any time of the day!

Is My Neck Pain Serious?

Is Your Neck Pain Serious?

The answer to this question is not a simple one.

Often I hear this from my patients:
“I was in an auto accident but I don’t think I was hurt.”

“But the accident happened so long ago.”

“The pain went away so I am fine.”

                                                                                       “I just slept wrong.”

There are more factors than pain to take into account after an injury or auto accident.  Many people feel that if there was not severe pain or broken bones, then they weren’t hurt. In fact the emergency room doctors are happy to release people after injuries or accidents since their specialty is emergency-life-saving care.  But there is more going on with the neck than pain.

How the Neck Works

Your head is held up by your neck.  It acts as a shock absorber and holds the weight of your head over your body for balance.  It allows you to turn your head to see, hear and smell things in your surroundings.  Also it carries important nerve messages from your brain to all parts of your body and back up to your brain.  Those are important functions!

The neck is held together with seven bones as well as numerous ligaments and muscles.  Neck injuries such as whiplash change the alignment of the bones and tear ligaments and muscles.  The important functions of the neck mentioned above will continue to the best of the bodies ability despite the whiplash.  Therefore, the injury is often disguised and using the degree of pain to determine if there is an injury is unreliable.

Only a doctor of chiropractic is trained in detecting the misalignments of the bones in the neck.  By detecting and treating these misalignments, a person can live a long and active life, pain free!

Any potential neck injury should be checked out immediately as the pain may not come for days months or even years later.

Fun With Google Body Browser

If you remember the launch of Google Earth and your reaction the first time you saw satellite imagery that allowed you to zoom down and look at your own car parked in your driveway, you’ll be awestruck again by the Google Body Browser.

As the name implies this is a tour inside the human body. Peel back the layers, zoom, rotate and explore your innards in a brand new way. This project is still in the ‘lab stage’ over at Google, but is already an incredible tool. If you are a visual learner, you might find a new love for anatomy.

Google Body Browser allows you to isolate certain organ systems, individual organs and bones to get a better look at them. Once you have the view you want you can zoom and rotate it in three dimensions. All the supporting structures remain visible to keep the context.

Still images don’t do the tool justice. You really need to use the online interactive version. Since this tool is from Google, it seems to work best in Google’s own Chrome browser. You can find it here - http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com/body.html# 

A couple cool features to point out... You can turn on and off labels to all the different body parts as you explore. If you ever need to study for Jeopardy and learn the name of the muscle that controls your little finger—it’s in there!

Of course since it’s a Google product, you can search too. If you can’t quite remember where the sciatic nerve is you can type it into the search box and it will be highlighted for you. If there are muscles, bones or joints we discuss at an appointment and you want to share the explanation with your spouse or friends later, just search for it by name.

You can also send a link to a specific view that you have created. If you need to share an idea or diagram with another person or save it for future reference, you can create a link that will go right back to that view. Here is an example that should take you directly to a view of the C1 vertebra – also known as the atlas. http://goo.gl/8q0W2

Interacting with this tool makes me wish something like this had been available for anatomy classes. If you have kids or friends in any type of human biology class, forward them this link so they’ll know about this great learning tool.

Have fun exploring Google Body Browser on your own.

It's raining now but warm spring weather is just around the corner. I can't wait to get out and play more tennis! How about you? What do you want to do once the sun comes out? Now is the time to start your exercise program! Here are some tips to get started on today!

1. Be consistent - With regular exercise, you feel the

rewards and will want to keep going!

2. Start out slow and keep at it. That way you will

improve without overdoing it!

3. Have a goal! Find something you like to do--go for it!

Bike? Jog? Tennis? Golf?

4. Get the rewards of good health and have FUN!

I am a very dedicated athlete. I play tennis almost every day and work out on top of that. If you need some incentive or some help on specific exercises that are safe and good for your body, please come see me for a free Consultation! My purpose is to help you get in good health so you can enjoy life to it's fullest!