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In late August of 2017, the world was alerted to a massive hurricane that was about to make landfall in Texas. Hurricane Harvey, whose name means “battle ready”, struck land on August 25^th and became one of the most destructive storms to ever hit the U.S. In the days that followed, many of us all over the country watched hours and hours of news coverage showing Harvey’s widespread devastation.  Houses and cars were flooded.  Neighborhoods were destroyed.  Dead bodies were seen floating on the flood waters. ...

Yesterday I was saddened to hear about the death of Senator John McCain.  After a year long battle with brain cancer, his 81 year old body could no longer fight.  As a cancer survivor, his death reminds me how blessed I am to still be alive.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. When the news of his cancer was made public last year, many articles such as this one- What Caused John McCain's Cancer surfaced that suggested his cancer was...

Jamie Nieto is a 2-time Olympian who competed for the U.S. in the high jump.  In April of 2016, he severely injured his neck during training and was paralyzed.  Doctors weren't sure if he'd ever regain more than 30% of his function, but in just over two years Jamie is already defying all expectations. This is an article that came out last summer as Jamie was beginning to take his first steps.  It explains in great detail what happened during the incident and what his initial...

When you're a sports fan, it's natural to watch your favorite athletes and think- how can they be so good?!  Often we chock up the talent to God given genetics and years of practice, but is that all it is? For the 2018 Wimbledon champ, the answer is no. Whether you're a tennis fan or not, I think you'll agree that Novak Djokavic's story is pretty amazing.  Early in his career, Novak often struggled with physical "crashes" during matches where he would get extremely tired and short of breath.  One time it...

Recently I did an interview with one of my clients, Kelsey Abbott, who is a high level competitive triathlete.  Kelsey battled back and shoulder issues for years that kept her from being able to train and compete at her best. She tried every type of therapy she could find, but the issues remained. She says that activating and strengthening her muscles has made a world of difference.  She now trains and competes at a high level again and she even got first place in one...

It was July 4th, 1998.  I was 7 months into chemotherapy for leukemia and I had already had 40 different treatments.  When I wasn't flat on my back in the hospital, nearly all my waking hours were spent at home, sitting in front of the television.  My only "exercise" was getting up to eat or use the restroom. That day some friends of mine offered to pick me up and take me to Siesta Key Beach to watch the fireworks.  We got there around noon and...

Lifting weights might also lift moods, according to an important new review of dozens of studies about strength training and depression. It finds that resistance exercise often substantially reduces people’s gloom, no matter how melancholy they feel at first, or how often — or seldom — they actually get to the gym and lift. There already is considerable evidence that exercise, in general, can help to both stave off and treat depression. A large-scale 2016 review that involved more than a million people, for instance, concluded...

Ever have one of those days where you get so busy and caught up with things that something you intended to do doesn't get done?  That's what happened to me yesterday. After Sunday School, I went home, ate lunch and then did a multi-hour home session with a woman who was in too much pain to make it into the office.  I had about an hour when I got home to compile my list of things I wanted to write about and then I had a...

Recently I made it back onto the golf course after a pretty long layoff and naturally this made golf a topic of conversation with a few of my clients this past week.  One of my clients, Carol, and I were talking about golf, and I happened to mention to her that in the fall I had worked with a local golfer who had won the All-Area Player of the Year Award despite having an abnormal curvature of his spine known as scoliosis. Carol said, "that reminds...