Body Works Clinic

Body Works Clinic Celebrating 30 years of helping people achieve healthy lifestyles. Open M, T, W, F 8:30am - 6:00pm

We specialize in helping patients achieve long term pain management and general wellness using an individual approach combining chiropractic care, acupuncture therapy, nutritional intervention, and massage therapy.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STANDARD AND CUSTOM INSOLESAs the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Customs o...
08/06/2025

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STANDARD AND CUSTOM INSOLES

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Customs orthotics are sometimes recommended as part of treatment plan. Not always because of foot, ankle or knee pain, but also in some lumbar and sacroiliac pain patterns that are aggravated by ligament laxity of the ankle leading to pronation.

Some patients will do really well with standard appliances: patients with low normal stable arches in particular. There are several good over the counter brand that we can direct patients to buy on their own. But in some patients, the anatomy and shape of their particular foot is just not going to be met with a standard appliance and they will need a custom orthotics to get results. This is often the case with patients who have a normally high tented arch and a short foot.

Below is a picture of two orthotics for the same patient. The bronze colored orthotics is a standard over the counter insole, the black custom made.

AUGUST GREETINGS AND VACATION SCHEDULE ANNOUNCEMENT. Dr. Demel will be out of the office from Friday, Aug 15th through M...
08/05/2025

AUGUST GREETINGS AND VACATION SCHEDULE ANNOUNCEMENT. Dr. Demel will be out of the office from Friday, Aug 15th through Monday, Aug 25th. Please plan any needed appointments prior to her Aug 13th departure date. Additional Saturday Aug 9th morning hours have been added to the online schedule. Limited front desk hours will be available most days to return messages and handle administrative needs.

In addition, limited emergency care hours will be provided by our practice relief provider Dr. Steve Beilby on Tuesday Aug 19th and Fri Aug 22nd, from noon to 4 pm. Please be aware that some health plans have limitations of coverage for practice relief providers and those office visits may be noninsurance self-pay.

Massage by Harmon and acupuncture by Rob Hoffman will continue on a regular schedule

EAGLE Versus PIGEON STRETCHThe pigeon stretch is getting the lion’s share of the attention when it comes to hip and glut...
08/05/2025

EAGLE Versus PIGEON STRETCH

The pigeon stretch is getting the lion’s share of the attention when it comes to hip and gluteal stretches, Both the pigeon and the very similar and lesser known eagle stretches have great value and target slightly different structures. The eagle stretch affects the sacroiliac and surrounding ligaments and muscular origins. It is more central and often overlooked. The pigeon stretch ( supine version instead of the traditional prone yoga version) affects muscles closer to the lateral and inferior part of the buttock muscles.

IN DEPTH LEG STRETCH FOR TIGHT LEGS, CALVES AND PLANTAR FASCIAThere are couple of exercise handouts frequently coming to...
08/04/2025

IN DEPTH LEG STRETCH FOR TIGHT LEGS, CALVES AND PLANTAR FASCIA

There are couple of exercise handouts frequently coming to my office that I wish I could add to the burn pile - a very big burn pile. 1 of those is the simple calf stretch that most people do for heel heel pain and diagnosed plantar fasciitis. Not that it's never appropriate, but that its very often inadequate to address the problem.

The posterior leg muscles, whether hamstrings, calves, are connected via an overarching fascia layers that starts in the lumbar spine (technically the fascia layers connect all the way to the skull, but for the lower extremity sake, you can do a very effective stretch from the waist down), extends through the buttock muscles, hamstrings, deep and superficial calf muscles, to the plantar fascia layers of the foot all the way to the under surface of the toes. In some people, myofascial tightness will be limited to one muscle group and doing a calf stretch will be effective, but in my experience of chronic leg tightness, recurrent injuries, chronic foot pain, the dysfunction spreads along the fascial chain. And as such, you cannot effectively release a local muscular area without doing a stretch that involves all of the parts of that chain together.

The "leg up the wall" stretch aims to do just that. It requires to wiggle your buttocks all the way to a wall, try to straighten out the knees as much as possible, and apply some gentle downward pressure on the toes using a strap or a long towel. It's incredibly intense. It's also incredibly effective. The connective tissue of the fascia does not release in 30 seconds, it needs at least a minute of slow steady hold without bouncing, with some deep breathing, in order for those connective tissues to start to lengthen. I tell people to have patience. Often it will feel intense, and not releasing for a couple of weeks before the patient can get in that position and feel some normal flexibility. The rewards are worth it.

TRADITIONAL VERSUS VERTICAL COMPUTER MOUSE, FOR NECK AND SHOULDER PAINThe original video was posted 3 year ago but I fin...
08/03/2025

TRADITIONAL VERSUS VERTICAL COMPUTER MOUSE, FOR NECK AND SHOULDER PAIN

The original video was posted 3 year ago but I find it highly relevant. I kept having my vertical mouse "permanently borrowed " by all my team members (including my husband at home...) until they all had their own, and I am finally enjoying having my own

We added this explanatory video of the difference between a traditional flat computer mouse and a vertical mouse, and how they affect shoulder positioning and overuse injuries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF-HDkRbTrE

WHIPLASH AS A PUBLIC HEALTH EPIDEMIC: A HARD LOOK AT REAL DATA TO CALL IT WHAT IT ISMore recently I have been back on a ...
08/02/2025

WHIPLASH AS A PUBLIC HEALTH EPIDEMIC: A HARD LOOK AT REAL DATA TO CALL IT WHAT IT IS

More recently I have been back on a nerd Safari listening to research podcasts. The most recent series focuses on the career research work of highlighted individuals who happen to have a chiropractic background but later expanded into other health disciplinary approaches. One of the most fascinating individuals in that series is Michael Freeman, third-generation chiropractor who spent the first 12 years of his worklife is a small town chiropractor on the West Coast, later to get a medical degree, public health degree, and multiple specialty additional degrees and certifications in forensics and epidemiology. His initial focus was to better understand the morbidity and mortality of crashes and accidents, especially motor vehicle accidents. I could certainly relate to his dilemma, facing the reality of these low-speed collision injuries in practice, while being told by the "official" date at that such injuries did not really exist.

The space of motor vehicle accident injuries is fraught with conflicting interest. There is certainly a lot of press given to the idea that patients are financially motivated when reporting persistent.....

https://www.bwclinic.com/blog/2025/7/26/whiplash-as-a-public-health-epidemic-a-hard-look-at-real-data-to-call-it-what-it-is

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32413544/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32413544/

ASPARTAME AND ATHEROSCLEROSISI've come across a lot of really good nutrition research recently that is worth sharing bec...
08/01/2025

ASPARTAME AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS
I've come across a lot of really good nutrition research recently that is worth sharing because of its direct application to what we put in our mouth every day.
I'm still baffled by the number of people who continue to ingest artificial sweeteners on a daily basis, considering that the research has been loud and clear on the adverse health impact for so many years. I know we all have bad habits to kick as some foods are our comfort or survival go to, but I still run into a lot of people who are fully convinced that there is no scientific evidence for the harm of some of these food additives, and they see the benefit from the decreased caloric intake. (Although data has also found to be false over time as artificial sugars keep increasing our brain's desire for more sweetness across the board).
This piece of research pertains in particular to the sweetener aspartame, which is found in a lot of diet sodas. Aspartame is an excitotoxins that can easily cross the blood brain barrier and have widespread repercussions in the central nervous system. It also is known to have adverse effect on lymphoid tissue with some correlation noted over time with blood cancers. This particular piece of research more clearly establishes the direct biochemical link between aspartame and the insulin cascade leading to vascular lining inflammation and increased risk of plaquing. This is especially important when you consider that a lot of people are trying to manage the complications of metabolic syndrome, including diabetes and atherosclerosis, by switching from regular sugar to artificial sweeteners. As always, best to cut out those chemicals, and whenever possible stick to the least amount of naturally occurring sugars in your diet.
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/pdfExtended/S1550-4131(25)00006-3?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%28Email%20-%20Chris%20Kresser%20General%20News%29%20Chris%27s%20Friday%20Favorites&utm_term=disturbing%20new%20study&utm_content=disturbing%20new%20study&_kx=ZpXBDTeEF9QJhwDqQXXrImrT_HpFsBz1ZlYMbsx_Vq0.my75y6

CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENT, COORDINATION AND DEXTERITYI have recently renewed my enthusiasm for digging into chiropractic b...
07/31/2025

CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENT, COORDINATION AND DEXTERITY

I have recently renewed my enthusiasm for digging into chiropractic basic sciences research, especially in the area of neurological efficiency, as my husband discovered the index to chiropractic literature as part of his fellowship in integrative medicine through the Weil Institute in Arizona.

There have been a series of research conducted using very sophisticated tools to measure the efficiency of intracranial signaling speed in patients receiving spinal manipulation. I am extremely grateful for a pioneer Canadian researcher who spent quite a bit of her research career in New Zealand and inspired a whole generation of younger researchers to expand on her earlier work using transcranial magnetic stimulation. To boil it down, the technology has allowed the use of an external magnetic device applied to the skull to modulate speed of transmission between incoming sensory output and outgoing muscular signaling. The technology also allows the researcher to very accurately measure the speed of transmission and the brain. As a general rule, faster transmission results in much more efficient human motor activities such as decreased response time (think athletic performance but also daily activities such as slamming on the brakes to avoid an oncoming vehicle), and overall improved speed and dexterity. This particular study was quite interesting in that it looked at how neck pain affected the speed at which an affected patient could type a series of letters (patients with neck pain were much lower than their counterparts without neck pain), and how a chiropractic adjustment ...
https://www.bwclinic.com/blog/2024/6/2/chiropractic-adjustment-coordination-and-dexterity

NECK, MENINGES, SPINAL CORD AND HEADACHEShttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8610241/I am reading through a backlog of resea...
07/30/2025

NECK, MENINGES, SPINAL CORD AND HEADACHES

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8610241/

I am reading through a backlog of research articles in the very few minutes available (in my “free time"). I still remember the anatomical breakthrough research that was coming out as I was finishing chiropractic training, because it was a bit of a vindication for what our colleagues had been reporting from the longstanding clinical observations of many decades: there is a unique anatomical relationship between the upper cervical spine, especially some of the deepest and smallest posterior muscles at the base of the skull, the meninges ( AKA outer connective tissue layer of the spinal cord and brain), and a host of poorly explained neurological symptoms: headaches, sensation of pressure and tingling in the head etc. Chiropractors were reporting the ability to resolve some of those mysterious problems with specific adjustments and muscle work to the upper cervical area, but the camp of traditional neurologists were saying this was not possible since there was no anatomical basis for it. Until the newer dissection methods, tissue fixation techniques and higher resolution MRIs proved them wrong.

The so-called myodural bridge is a band of connective tissue that connects two very small suboccipital muscles to the dura mater at the lower brainstem. It is relaxed under normal conditions. It can be subject to increased tension after upper cervical injuries such as sports concussions, whiplash, and often from birth straining to the delicate upper cervical spine of a newborn. The resulting symptoms of increased meningeal tension are difficult to describe, but most commonly involve poorly localized headaches, a sensation of head pain when the neck is flexed, sharp pain at the base of the skull when looking up, a sensation of increased pressure in the head, eyes, sinuses and ears, a sensation of pressure and tingling in the face, a sensation of the head being too heave for the neck etc. Specific chiropractic intervention and muscle work can be helpful and worth exploring.

Vertigo from the neck or inner ear ? The swivel testDizziness and vertigo is one of those problems like fatigue that can...
07/29/2025

Vertigo from the neck or inner ear ? The swivel test

Dizziness and vertigo is one of those problems like fatigue that can make you cringe when it shows up in the office because there are so many possibilities as to what's causing it. Anything from cardiovascular to inner ear to medication to blood pressure to mild head injury etc. However when it comes to positional vertigo that is often triggered by change in position of the head and neck, the two main culprits are going to be the cervical spine in the inner ear and sometimes a combination of both. Most of the time the testing can be a little bit elusive because the testing itself will activate both the cervical spine and the inner ear at the same time. (For example Dixie Hall Pike test). The swivel test can be a useful add-on to other testing because it will hold the head stationary while deeply activating cervical rotation, thus eliminating stimulus to the inner year and vestibular system while deeply stimulating the cervical spine. All you need is a good old-fashioned swivel stool or chair and a good pair of steady hands to hold the head.

Address

424 Mill Street West
Cannon Falls, MN
55009

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 6:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 6:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 6:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+15072632393

Website

https://www.bwclinic.com/schedule-an-appointment

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