Nexus Chiropractic

11/26/2025

One of the things we have always taken very seriously at Nexus Chiropractic is our comprehensive, objective initial Neurospinal Examination.

Before we start anyone under care, we measure. We measure to know what is going on with your spine and nervous system and to be able to monitor objective improvement over time. This is non-negotiable to us.

Because of the importance of this examination we (almost) never offer it at a discount.

As a show of appreciation to our loyal patients and practice members, the holidays is the one time of year we offer you a certificate you can gift to those you care about for 75$ off our initial examination.

Just a heads up that because we take our time with this comprehensive visit, and some people like to book that examination before the end of the year before their insurance resets, our exam times in December will fill fast.

You can pick up certificates at the office.

Happy Holidays!

11/25/2025

HOLIDAY THRIVAL GUIDE

As the holiday season approaches, we have noticed two patterns emerge over the last 25 years of chiropractic practice. The first is that we see our highest rate of missed visits and people falling off from care as the perceived stress of the season builds through late November and into December. The second pattern is that we see more ‘emergencies’ with people in crisis during the month of December than at any other time of the year.

It is not a coincidence that these two phenomenon happen together and it gives us some insight as to why so many people end up spending the holidays overwhelmed, sick, and in pain when it really should be one of the most cherished times of the year.

So, how do you not only survive, but actually thrive this holiday season? There is a simple formula to help you to make it happen.

The first step is to acknowledge and accept that there WILL be greater stresses on you. When I talk about stresses, I am referring to not only mental/emotional stress, but also chemical stress (food and drink), and physical stress (shoveling, lack of sleep).

We know going in that we are going to have some late nights, eat some cookies, drink some bubbly and have to deal with dear aunt Karen’s passive aggressive insults. We know we will have the ‘normal’ time and money stress inherent of the season. Acknowledging this will allow us to create a plan to mitigate this stress. By doing this we can enjoy the fun without losing our health or our minds.

The common denominator amongst these stresses is that they consume our energy and leave us depleted. If we become too depleted, we move into what is called an ‘energy poor’ state and that is when we get sick, have our back ‘go out,’ develop headaches and experience complete overwhelm.

The solution to an energy poor state is very simple – add energy to the system! How do we do that? We do things to build up our energy reserves before we reach a crisis. Because we know that we are heading into a season of energy depleting stress, we can actually plan practices in advance that will keep us out of an energy poor state.

Here are some ideas to build your energy reserves both leading up to and during the holidays.

Knowing you will be eating some not-so-good for you food – make sure you continue to eat plenty of healthy food too. If you are going to eat those butter tarts, make sure you are loading up on high quality meats and produce as well. During the holidays I really focus on eating a healthy breakfast as a way to build up energy.
Supplements can also be an advantage at this time of year. Vitamin D, high quality fish oil, magnesium, zinc, and a greens supplement are a great idea.

Daily exercise is an excellent shield against stress. It is easy to fall out of a routine – especially while traveling – but it doesn’t take much to get massive benefit. Some push-ups, burpees, and air squats can get you what you need in less than 15 minutes. Even a brisk walk (bonus points for getting fresh air) can keep you on the right track.

Meditation or even just some quiet time set aside each day is crucial for dealing with the mental stress and chaos of the season.

Those familiar with the Neurospinal Optimization care we provide at Nexus Chiropractic know that what we do works by allowing the nervous system (and thus the spine and body) to move from a fight or flight state to a normal relaxed state that is required for healing and restoration. Staying on track with your visits and at the very least doing your SRI exercises is a great weapon to have in your arsenal against the stress of the season.

The take home message is to make sure you continue to do the things that fill up your fuel reserves so that you can get the absolute most out of what can be a magical time.

Because we understand this, Nexus will have office hours over the holidays. We will be open on Monday the 22nd and Tuesday the 23rd, as well as Monday the 29th and Tuesday the 30th.

Also be advised that Dr. Gault will be out of the office the week of Dec. 1st. The incredible Dr. Amanda Chan from Ottawa will be here to look after you on Dec. 2nd and 4th.

Happy Holidays!

Send a message to learn more

11/24/2025

Will you finish the year strong?

Most people start to let things slip at this time of year, even though there is still 10% of 2025 to go.

Don't fall into this trap. Finish strong at hit the ground running in 2026.

Our final special presentation at Nexus Chiropractic is tomorrow night at 7pm.

Join us to learn how to use pain as a stepping stone to greater health and increased performance in all areas of life.

Still some spots available - phone to reserve your seats.

11/23/2025

Nexus Chiropractic held its Night to Light intensive evening on Friday night.

We have done approximately 25 of these events over the years and is the pinnacle of the work we do at Nexus.

Huge thank you to the participants who put their energy and time into taking their health, lives, and ability to contribute to others at the highest level.

Big thanks to the staff for doing all the work that allows me to just show up and do what I do best!

11/20/2025

The most impactful shift many people can make in regards to their health and life is in their relationship with pain.

The human experience of pain is not a design flaw. Pain is there to be a valuable teacher and guide. It is to be paid attention to, not destroyed.

Mindless attempts to annihilate pain makes is no more effective than shooting the mailman every time he tries to deliver a bill.

Pain is not a deficiency of Advil, or A535, or massage, or even chiropractic care.

When we can learn to use pain as it was designed, we have the potential to improve our health and quality of life with each and every challenge.

Our final special workshop of 2025 teaches you how to do just that.

Join us to learn how.

11/18/2025

Your Nervous System IS your Computer

Your nervous system is the most powerful computer you have ever owned. Much greater than any machine you have ever purchased at Best Buy or the Apple Store. The sensory part of your nervous system takes in information from both the external and internal environments 24/7. The motor part of the nervous system controls and coordinates the appropriate muscular responses. The autonomic nervous system – or aOS – is in charge of your organs, glands and immune systems and balances our fight or flight responses with our rest and restore functions.

When was the last time you updated your PC or cell phone? You probably don’t even know because they are programmed to do it automatically. When was the last time you upgraded your human computer called your nervous system?

If we don’t update our computers and phones, within a short period of time things start to go wrong. First, functionality becomes slow. If we continue to wait our machines will no longer be able to run the programs we purchased them to run. In essence, the machine breaks down and becomes useless without regular upgrades.

A similar thing happens in our bodies. The world we live in is not the same as it was 5,10, 50 or 100 years ago. There are different programs running now that require more bandwidth. Whether we are aware of it or not, our nervous systems are constantly bombarded with stressors that will cause all kinds of problems if our software does not have the capacity to handle them.

When we don’t have adequate capacity in the software of our nervous system, it becomes obstructed and does not work properly. Obstructions can then lead to many of the things we see at Nexus – distorted structure or posture, muscle tension or weakness, too much fight or flight in the aOS, anxiety, depression, poor physical performance, and obviously secondary conditions like pain and headaches.

When we start working with people, there is often a period where we just need to ‘defrag’ your nervous system in order to clean up those obstructions. This is what we call our ‘Initial Phase of Care,’ or IPC.

It is after the IPC that the real opportunity arises. At this point people can choose less frequent, regular options that provide upgrades to your human computer – just like the regular updates to your iphone. Not only do these upgrades prevent further obstructions from accumulating over time, they actually have the ability to provide you with an ever improving human computer with a greater capacity to go out into the world and thrive in spite of what it is throwing at you.

We have probably all had the experience of getting a new computer or phone and marveling at how much faster, cooler and more functional it is than our old worn out version. You can have that in your life with regular upgrades.

11/14/2025

HOW WILL YOU END 2025....AND ENTER 2026?

When you have been in practice for over 25 years, you are able to observe patterns that would not otherwise be obvious. It has become clear that this time of year is often a make or break period for many people.

Halloween has come and gone and the spectre of Christmas has entered people’s awareness. While the holidays can certainly be the ‘most wonderful time of the year,’ they also carry a certain amount of stress. Time stress, money stress, family stress. It is also a time of increased illness that I am sure has nothing to do with higher sugar consumption, a time change, less fresh air and sunlight, and lower levels of activity (wink, wink).

The pattern I have observed over the years is that it is this time of year (over the next several weeks) that many people start to drop the routine things they do throughout the rest of the year in order to be healthy and successful.

People use the impending stress of the holiday season as an excuse to eat less healthy food, stop or skip workouts, and slack off on other health promoting practices. At Nexus, this is a time of a higher percentage of missed visits AND a higher percentage of emergency visits to the office (it is NOT a coincidence that these things go hand in hand).

Often, people fail to recognize that slacking off for 6-7 weeks to end the year is a hefty percentage of time. Instead of coming out of the holidays feeling refreshed and ready to take on the new year, they end up sick, tired and stressed.

It doesn’t have to be this way. I have learned to focus even more on doing the things that make me healthy and effective at this time of year. I lock in my physical training. I clean up my diet. I commit to creating more at work. As a result of this, when the holidays do come I have the energy to, and have earned to right to truly celebrate.

What can you commit do doing (or not doing) over the next 6 weeks that will make this the best holiday season ever and send you rocking into 2026?

At Nexus, we have a variety of events to help people finish 2025 strong. We will be presenting two ‘Head to Toe Neurospinal Show’ workshops (Nov. 18 and Dec. 9th). Our ‘Night to Light,’ intensive evening will be on Nov. 21 (which is now full). I will also be presenting the ‘Pain to Progress,’ workshop on Nov. 28th, which if probably the most important information I deliver all year. Finally, don’t forget about Cindy’s retirement celebration on Dec. 10th at the office.

11/11/2025

Embrace Discomfort

I spent the weekend in Brampton where both of my sons were competing in the Baggataway Cup – the national championship for the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association. My younger son plays for Queen’s University and the elder plays for the University of Guelph.

The weather was awful. On Friday night it was cold and rainy, on Saturday it was just cold, and on Sunday – for the championship game – there was a blizzard with driving winds that left icicles hanging from my beard.

THEN, the drive home from Brampton took over seven and a half hours as we dealt with highway closures, accidents and icy conditions.

Terrible weekend, right? Wrong. It was amazing! A weekend our family will remember for the rest of our lives. While Queen’s was eliminated in the quarterfinals on Friday night, they played really well and established themselves as a future force with so many rookies contributing.

…..AND, Guelph won the national championship on Sunday, some calling them the best team in the 40-year history of the league. What a moment.

As I was driving home, still shivering with frozen toes and a thawing beard, I started thinking about DISCOMFORT. I ended up spending over 15 very uncomfortable hours over the course of the weekend AND it was one of the best weekends of my life.

Had I chosen comfort over LIVING, I would have sat in my living room in Cornwall and watched the live streams. No icicles, no hairy driving. BUT the experience would certainly not have been the same. In some ways, discomfort and perseverance made the experience even sweeter.

The Guelph team was interesting because their expectation for the entire season was to win the Cup. Anything less would have been considered a failure. While other teams would celebrate after every win of the season (particularly the team they beat in the final after they upset Guelph early in the season), the Gryphons kept things even keel all year. After a win, they would pat their goalie on the head and then shake hands – like it was just one more step towards their goal.

When the final whistle went on the championship, the floodgates opened. All of the emotion and joy they had been saving up finally came out. All of the work they had done, stress encountered, struggles endured and uncertainty faced finally erupted into celebration. It was beautiful!

It doesn’t and shouldn’t require a national championship to experience joy and celebration. What I did realize while I was thinking in my car is that seeking out COMFORT will never bring us those things.

Comfort cannot produce joy. Comfort cannot produce bliss. Comfort cannot produce fulfillment.

Sadly, comfort has become the number one and most destructive addiction of our time. Even more sadly, comfort cannot produce what it is people actually want.

What I believe is that the biggest problem is that people have been led to think (through massive and effective marketing plans), that once they are comfortable, they will be happy and fulfilled. After 25 years of practice, I can tell you that isn’t true – at all. It is the opposite.

Happiness, health, and joy come from living life more, not less. The pursuit of comfort leads to living a smaller and smaller life.

What if, instead of prioritizing comfort we focused on increasing our CAPACITY for discomfort? What if we had the ability to do more uncomfortable things safely, to get more of the life and result we want?

We don’t get strong by being comfortable. We don’t get healthy by focusing on comfort. We don’t learn new things and new skills by being comfortable. We don’t deepen relationships by being comfortable. We don’t win championships by seeking comfort.

We get those things by strategically embracing discomfort and increasing our ability to safely endure it.

Neurospinal Optimization – the care we provide at Nexus Chiropractic – works by increasing the capacity of the nervous system to deal with stress, challenge and discomfort. By removing OBSTRUCTIONS to the nervous system, your internal computer gets and upgrade that will allow you to take on more and more, so that you can live your life more, not be forced to live it less.

Embrace discomfort.

Send a message to learn more

11/10/2025

We have a very sad, big, and exciting (for her) announcement.

After over 21 years at Nexus Chiropractic, Cindy will be retiring by the end of the year.

This will truly be the end of an era.

Please join us on the evening of December 10th to honour Cindy. She has touched so many lives - no more than mine - over the last 21 years.

It will be an evening of stories, thank-you's, well wishes and likely some tears.

If you cannot make it, we will be collecting well-wishes and messages in the office to pass on to Cindy.

11/05/2025

Yesterday, I had the privilege to present to a group of around 40 people as a part of the Encore Seniors organization.

One of the things we talked about were the types of benefit they could get from the material I was presenting.

They could use the material to seek relief from problems. They could use it to prevent future injuries and issues. They could use it to improve their performance in life. Finally, they could use it to increase their ability to help and impact others.

As we get older, our focus is naturally inclined to move to the latter motivations. Using our wisdom and gifts to serve others.

Unfortunately, many of our elderly become hijacked by the constant focus on health 'problems.'

I would like to acknowledge the group from Encore for truly being a part of the solution. What a fantastic bunch of people still looking to find ways to get better and BE better.

If you are of the right vintage, you should check them out and participate.

11/03/2025

It is that time of year again!

Most of you know that every year, Nexus Chiropractic does a food drive - spearheaded by Cindy - to help those in need in our community.

Unfortunately, that need has grown over the years.

When you bring in food its you will receive ballots to enter the draws for our Gift Baskets in December.

Please ensure the items you bring are NOT expired.

We also accept cash donations that we pass on directly to the Saint Vincent DePaul Society.

11/02/2025

We are excited to be offering our Night to Light program on Friday, November 21st at Nexus!

This is an intensive event designed to help committed individuals TRANSFORM their lives. To move from where they are to where they are called to be. To move from the night....into the light.

This program begins at 5:30pm and incorporates 2 Advanced table sessions with integrated workshops and facilitated SRI sessions.

This is open to patients and practice members only.

Feel free to ask questions this week. This workshop WILL fill so act soon.