On A Plane To France

It begins… or it continues. All hinges on perspective.

As of this week, I have been in practice as a chiropractor in Los Gatos for a decade. It has been a privilege to have the opportunity to help so many people “get healthy and feel better.” I have witnessed the miraculous healing powers of the body, been humbled by cases I could not solve, and awoken many a night with insight into how I might help a patient… impatient for the patients next visit so I could continue my life’s work.

Coming in for landing in Paris, France.

This morning I left my house at 4:30AM on a trip to Paris to study with one of the world’s leading experts on posture, Noelle Perez-Christiaens. She has devoted her life to helping western society not crumble into somatic chaos. I say western society, because in many parts of the developing world people utilize their body daily for physical labor. And in these cultures excellent posture is common, effortless, and the human body resilient.

In our modernized world we have every convenience. We utilize our brain much more than our physical body. Many of us sleep in comfortable beds, sit for our meals, drive to and from work, labor at our desks, and collapse on the couch in the evening. And almost everyone has chronically tight muscles, discomfort with prolonged sitting and standing postures, and bouts of neck, low back, and/or hip pain.

I believe that it is a human being’s birth right to live in a body that feels amazing. When I look at my boys running around, squatting effortlessly, bounding with energy, I see physical ease. No restricted movement. Muscles supple and relaxed. A physical body transporting their ever-learning brain and their soul.

Some would say that is a luxury of youth. Then I see a picture of a sixty-year-old woman carrying water in a bucket on her head from the river to her home. Her spine is straight, she has a look of resilience in her step, and her face has peace and joy as she easily converses with her friends during her daily trek.

 Life in a balanced body at the beach and "stop taking pics dad"

What would life be like in a body that was perfectly balanced? What would it feel like to sit for three hours, unaware of any sensations from our body, able to fully immerse in our mental and spiritual faculties? I had a few hours of this experience a month ago enjoying the production of Wicked. I’ll blog about my experience, but it was mental and emotional euphoria because I was able to completely focus on the musical. Unlike anything I had previously experienced, because my body was utterly silent. No sense of discomfort or tension or strain. Silence.

I think that might be what my boys are experiencing throughout their days and nights. Maybe it is the reason children learn so rapidly. The reason they are full of bliss and wonder. The reason they “sleep like a baby.” Maybe a large part of it has to do with silence from their 650 skeletal muscles. As we age does the constant, nagging static signal from our imbalanced physical body compete with our vibrant experience of the world around us and our true mental capacity?

I’m in search of that still point of physical being. And I want to learn how to help those around me on their journey towards body awareness and balanced posture. My journey has me traveling to the other side of the world currently. I’m excited to share what I learn.

I want to finish this post with gratitude. I have so much to be thankful for in my first ten years of practice:

• Thank you to God for giving me a passion and purpose to help others. I value every day on earth, even the challenging ones. I love being in service to my patients. And I humbly appreciate the wonder which is the human body.
• To my wife, Aryn: you inspire me, push me, comfort me, and I have so much fun with you. I am the man I am because of you. And I become a better man, day-by-day, because of your influence. Thank you for being such a wonderful mother to our children and for encouraging me to take this journey to France to continue my education.
• To the Positive Motion team: Laura and Dr. Nordin - I feel so comforted with you both at the helm of the ship while I’m traveling abroad. Together we help so many people each week and have so much fun doing it. Who could ask for more from our professional lives?
• Jean Couch and Jenn Sherer from the Balance Center / Spinefullness in Palo Alto, CA. A patient seven years ago told me that Jean had ended his chronic back pain with a seventy-five minute “sitting class.” That got my attention and I signed up for the class that day. Thank you for being my teachers.
• To my patients: I love being your chiropractor. I have a dear mentor who once told me that “God will send you patients that you will fail on so that you will learn.” I show up every day at practice with the intention of fixing everything that ails each patient. I don’t always succeed, but when I can’t figure something out, that patient doesn’t ever leave my mind. When reading a journal article, sitting at a medical conference, or consulting with a colleague I am thinking of that patient and if “now” is the moment I am going to learn the secret to help them. Hopefully, my travels in Paris will include some of those moments.

In positive motion,

Brant Pedersen, DC, CCSP

Heartburn Explained

Heartburn is an interesting issue in natural medicine. 45 million prescriptions for Prilosec (omeprazole) were written last year, making the “Purple Pill” the 11th most popular prescription drug in the United States. My thousands of hours in human physiology, pathology, and nutrition give me a unique perspective from that of western medicine when it comes to heartburn or GERD. Please let me explain.

Your body’s digestive symptom is a complex machine. Similar to the engine in your car, each of the parts of your digestive system has a specific function and a dysfunction in one part can effect other related areas. The process of digestion begins in your mouth with chewing and salivary enzymes. The next part of digestion is gastric digestion in the stomach. The stomach slowly churns your food and mixes the food with stomach acid. The pH (acid level) of the stomach normally is 1.5 to 3.5 (VERY acidic). It is this strong acid that allows the food to be broken down. When your food leaves the stomach it is “squirted” into the small intestine as chyme, a substance resembling a milkshake.

A complex system that should not be short-circuited.

Take a moment to think how much you chew your food. For most people it’s not much. So the large chunks of meat, veggies, bread, etc rely on the stomach’s gentle massage and strong acid to turn your pieces of food into a milkshake. (Note: your stomach doesn’t have any teeth for further breaking up food, so make sure to chew your food thoroughly.)

Let’s contrast someone who has a proper, very acidic stomach to someone who is on antacids. The very acid stomach digests the food from the mouth properly and releases a milkshake consistency of chyme into the small intestine for proper digestion. The 20-25 feet of small and large intestine can them digest the food they ate properly. Proper digestion means you get the nutrients from your food (more about this later), don’t have gas and bloating, no burping, and your bowel movements are regular and of good consistency.

Contrast that to the person on antacid medication who purposefully decreases the pH of their stomach contents with each meal. The food is not properly digested in the stomach, due to lack of stomach acid, and therefore the chyme includes chunks of meat and other food products. These chunks cannot be properly digested in the small and large intestines and therefore they putrefy, giving off gas and being used by “harmful” bacteria as fuel. Additionally, some of the nutrients from that food is “bound up” and unavailable to be assimilated into the blood.

In summary, if you don’t have an acidic stomach you cannot digest your food properly. And each step of digestion after the stomach is short circuited. This includes the normal digestion that should occur in the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and all four parts of your large intestine (colon). So why would western medicine prescribe heartburn medication to 1 out of every 5 patients? Because the patients are complaining of heartburn. Right? Yes.

But what is the cause of the sensation of heartburn? There can be a few very common causes that are rapidly and easily solved by natural medicine. Many times a patient complaining of heartburn AFTER meals has TOO LITTLE stomach acid and the sphincter at the top of the stomach (which is triggered by an acidic pH) that is supposed to close when the stomach is digesting the meal doesn’t close fully. Therefore, when the stomach starts churning some of the stomach contents can go up into the esophagus and cause discomfort. We find that if we give these patients a supplement containing HCl, naturally derived stomach acid, their heartburn symptoms go away immediately. And as a side effect they note that their overall digestion improves. A patient with heartburn symptoms BETWEEN meals or at night when sleeping is a different problem, and this is treated using natural supplements to help heal the stomach lining and remove harmful bacteria. Other causes of heartburn AFTER meals can include too large of meals, drinking too much liquids with meals, hiatal hernia (which can many times be corrected with a simple chiropractic adjustment in our office), and occasionally food sensitivities/allergies.

I hope that you will conclude from the above discussion that digestion is a complex issue, but that covering up the symptom of heartburn with a medication is short sighted and leads to needless complications. Recently two major studies have linked antacid usage with an increased risk of osteoporosis and deadly gastrointestinal infections. While western medicine might have been surprised by these findings we have been telling our patients of these side effects for years. Here’s why: Calcium can only be absorbed in an acid intestinal environment (along with many other minerals) and thus the increase of osteoporosis in patients on antacids. And your stomach acts as a important disinfecting area for food you put into your body. The strong acid of the stomach helps to kill bacteria, parasites, and viruses that we all unknowingly ingest. Without the protective barrier of an acid stomach you have significantly weakened your immune system.

If you are having heartburn, or other digestive issue, we would love the opportunity to diagnose the cause of your symptoms and help you find a sensible natural solution. At Positive Motion in Los Gatos, Dr. Brant Pedersen (DC), routinely works with patients suffering from heartburn to help them get healthy and feel better. Good digestion is fundamental to great health and we can help you improve yours.

The Final Push for Opening

The posts of the construction progress waned over the last few weeks as every moment was being spent getting ready our Grand Opening on Monday, November 8, 2010. Here are some photos of the final few weeks as family members and friends showed up to help us reach our goal. We will have the final, final pictures after we have the artwork all framed and up on the walls. 


I have to give my most heartfelt thanks to the following people for helping make the new Positive Motion office a reality. Here's to helping thousands of people "Get Healthy and Feel Better" at our new location.

• Amy Kelly - The most amazing interior designer (www.stylecomfortlife.com) I have had the pleasure to work with. Amy worked tirelessly for months to bring together the colors, textures, concepts, and integration of all the finishes and subcontractors to make our office unique, functional, and a healing space. Thank you Amy!
• Aryn Pedersen - There is no way I could have even conceived of creating an office like this without the neverending support of my wife. She is always there for me. She is extremely talented as a graphic designer, planner, with a hammer, and is the hardest worker I know. Her smiles, hugs, and council got me through this process. Thank you baby!
• Paul & Peggy Pedersen - My parents showed up for the final push the last five days before our opening. There were so many details that needed to be sewn up and they brought every imaginable tool and skill to get the job done. Working from 7A until some nights at 10P, we couldn't have done this without you both. Thanks!
• Nicole Henke - Our new office manager, Nicole has been working behind the scenes to make our new office a reality for over six months. She helped to find the right commercial space, change our address with all our suppliers, hook-up all the utilities, get supplies for our new office, etc. It is wonderful to have her on the team. And special thanks for working crazy hours with us the weekend before opening. You rock Nicole!
• Jack Kelly - Ikea furniture builder extraordinaire. Professional frame hanger. General unstoppable workhorse. Thank you Jack for always being there to help, no matter what the project. You are an invaluable member of the team.
• Maren Brajkovich - My awesome sister came up to the Bay Area a few months ago to do a nature photography shoot for some of the pictures on our office walls. I had the dream of having some amazing pictures of our beautiful natural locales. Maren, Aveah (her daughter), and I (as her photography gopher/assistant) had a great day driving around to amazing vistas, towering forests, and silky mountain streams. It was great to have a professional photographer (www.applemoonphotography.com) who is also my sister help me out. Thanks sis!
• Dr. Greg Barsten, Susan Pease, and Louise Pinto. Dr. Barsten of HealthQuest gave me my start when I first graduated from chiropractor college. Over the six years that I built up my practice by subletting space from Dr. Barsten I grew as a doctor and a business owner. I owe much of that to Greg. Additionally, the team at my first office, Louise Pinto and Susan Pease, gave me incredible help over the years and especially in the transition to my new office. I owe a lot to you guys and I won't forget our fun times together.
• Jason Cathy of On-Site Construction was our contractor. We had change orders and revisions throughout the process as the project progressed. Jason always helped us find a solution and didn't let it slow down the project. Thank you to Jason and his amazing team of craftsman. I can't more highly recommend his company.
• April Piercey - Real estate agent extraordinaire with Intero Real Estate. April spent months and months helping us find the right commercial space. She searched through hundreds of Los Gatos properties and worked tirelessly through all the details to make sure that our new location fit us perfectly. Thank you April. You were with us when we had nothing tangible, just a dream. Thank you for all your help.
• Marilynn Krause and Yuko Nagahasi-Lee of Wilbur Properties. They are the property managers at our new location and they were always prompt and helpful with our plethora of questions. Thank you both.
• Young Han of Niviya for being such an amazing craftsman and making a functional work-of-art which is our front desk. His bid was competitive, he accelerated the schedule to help us open, and he and his team were always organized and pleasant. We cannot more highly recommend Niviya and Young Han for your household and/or commercial cabinetry needs.

One of the treatment rooms coming together.

Where we will teach exercise and health classes.

Can anyone say "trash pile?"

The walls coming together.

Jack smiling through 10+ hours of Ikea building.

Working into the night.

Working through the communications wiring.

Paul putting some finishing touches up.

The front treatment room nearing completion.

"Where did we file that piece of paper?"

My mom, Peggy. Always with a smile and style!

Construction Continues...

The progress continues. We have passed our rough-in inspections and the sheet rock is currently on all the walls, the taping and texturing has been completed, and they are starting to paint! Flooring and installation of the front desk cabinetry is happening next week. ** Fingers crossed ** we will get our final inspection next Friday right before Halloween. Here are some pictures of all the fun we are having.

35,000 YouTube Views for Positive Motion Videos

In September 2009 I got the wild idea to put some of the exercises that we teach patients in the office on YouTube so that patients could go over the exercises at their convenience. I had never put any videos on YouTube and I wasn't sure how it would go. I also wasn't sure if patients would like learning exercises from the video.

The current videos are:

• Psoas stretch: Shows an excellent stretch for this oft forgotten low back muscle that is really important for those of us that spend most of our lives sitting.
• Rotator cuff exercises: Shoulder problems are a common complaint. This video teaches you how to strengthen and regain control of the stabilizer muscles in your shoulder.
• Golfer's elbow exercises: This video discusses what causes pain at the inside of your elbow and some simple strategies to get rid of the discomfort.
• Tennis elbow exercises: Similar to golfer's elbow, but on the outside of the arm, this video goes over ways to stretch and strengthen this area of your body.

Well in the past year I have fantastic news to report. First off, patients are loving the videos. It allows patients to learn at their own pace and in the comfort of their home or office. They can even watch them on the go with their phone in many cases. And I have seen the compliance with patients doing their exercises increase. That means that patients get better results with less visits. Sounds like a positive addition to our office. Look for more videos on a number of topics coming in the near future. If you have a suggestion on a video you would like to see regarding a specific exercise or topic please email us at info@positivemotionchiropractic.com.

Look for upcoming videos at our YouTube Channel: PositiveMotionChiro or follow us on Twitter and Facebook for real-time updates when new videos are posted.

The Start of Construction

I walked into our new office space on Saturday evening and almost started crying. It was the tangible physical start to construction of the place I have dreamed about since I started chiropractic college in 2000 and it made me incredibly happy.

Here are some pictures of the progress so far. I really appreciate Jason Cathy of On-Site Construction working over the weekend to avoid disrupting the nearby businesses with demolition noise and to get the construction started. I excited to see what this week brings.

The New Positive Motion Chiropractic - Places and Permits

Exciting things are happening at Positive Motion Chiropractic. For the past six years I have learned a lot about patient care, office procedures, and how to enjoy every day at my job while sharing office space with Dr. Greg Barsten. He is an exceptional doctor and a wizard with metabolic and nutritional medicine. For his help in getting my own practice started, directly out of school, I will always be grateful.

I have been saving a small amount of money each month in an ING bank account named "The Future." This money was set aside so that someday I could realize my dream and open a space of my own in Los Gatos. That day has come! The search for the right commercial space was long (we started in December 2009) and had its moments of frustration. But I trusted that there was a building and location out there that would fulfill all my desires and requirements. The short list of those items is:

• Professional looking space
• Easy access and patient parking
• Lots of windows (some that open for fresh air)
• Convenient Los Gatos location
• A good amount of space for treatment rooms, patient exercise, in-office seminars, and possible associates in the future

We finally found our location at 15951 Los Gatos Blvd, Suite 3, Los Gatos, CA. It is just one more stoplight down Los Gatos Boulevard from our present location on the opposite side of the street (across the street from Whole Foods). 

View Larger Map

We received the keys to the building at the end of July 2010. Our agent, April Piercey at Intero Real Estate Services was fantastic in helping us find the perfect space. I can't recommend her more highly for your real estate needs. Thank you for everything April! Likewise, the owner's representative and agent, Marilynn Krause with Wilbur Properties of Palo Alto was always prompt and very helpful throughout the whole process. Indeed, many of the other owner's representatives we dealt with over that past nine months were anything but helpful. I look forward to continuing to work with Marilynn as a new tenant.

We are on the first floor of a two story building and have roughly 1,300 square feet. We have a contractor for the build-out, Jason Cathy from On-Site Construction, Inc. He has been a wealth of knowledge and a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend him if you are looking for a good general contractor. We also are working with Amy Kelly from Living Designs for all the interior decorating and design concepts. She has a broad scope of professional design work and her help will make our office have style like no other. Thank you Amy!

We are currently in the permit process with the Town of Los Gatos. We are hoping to have permits within the next few days and look forward to starting construction soon. We will keep you updated on the progress through the blog with more info and pictures. Needless to say, we are very excited about the coming months and our new location. And we are very excited to share it with you!