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August 25, 2025 • 57 mins
Your neck is the highway from your brain to your body, and one small instability (even if you don't feel it) can create a whirlwind of issues in your body below it: from low energy to gut issues, hip or knee pain, a weakened immune system, poor sleep, bad moods and so much more.
But what no one talks about is how you're likely dealing with this silent neck problem and how one simple movement or adjustment can correct this whole cascade of events that's slowly strangling the health and viltality out of your body.
TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
- The role of neck and nerve function in gut health, stomach acid and enzyme production, gut motility and leaky gut
- How neck misalignment (C1 instability) creates pain down below
- How to make treatments and adjustments last
- Genetic factors weakening your connective tissues
- Complimentary therapies to stiffen ligaments so your adjustments and joints hold
- Practical steps to give to your own health care providers
More from Dr. Ryan Emmons:
Instagram: @drryanemmons
Clinic Website: atlaspaicentre.com
C1 Course for Professionals: clinicalupgrade.ca
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Josh Dech - CHN (00:00.199)Dr. Ryan Emmons welcome to reversible.
(00:01):
Dr. Ryan Emmons (00:12.13)Yeah, let's do this.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (00:18.67)Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Josh Dech - CHN (00:21.282)Thanks, that's it. I that was where I was going to stop.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (00:24.43)The phone glitched I was like, are you still there you froze?
Josh Dech - CHN (00:28.865)Yeah, that's all right. We're still here and we're looking forward to the conversation because you know chiropractic isn't actually something that I think anybody including myself till I met you what six seven years ago or something now actually had any real understanding that it actually connected to my gut health. My understanding of chiropractic was I got some issues snap, crack and pop me and put me back into place. But you have changed my mind in every way shape or form.
about how this all comes together and connects. can you quickly, just before we introduce you officially, can you just give us an idea of what sort of an overview, I know we'll get to detail, but an overview as to what the role of chiropractic is in gut health.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (01:14.872)For me and how I often have to explain it to patients, it's about the nerves. Nerves precede most other things. That's why I always tell people there's a systematic order in the way you do things. So for me, anytime I want to impact gut health, it's through neurological feed or innervation. Because you want to influence it in a negative way. And so many of us, we have something that has impacted nerve structures.
on the way to feeding the gut, which has created an impairment, can be pain, various symptoms occur. We could talk about even just the vagus nerve itself. But in talking about it's releasing nerve entrapments, it's not a matter of, know, we know that the vagus nerve is important. Okay, great. How do we fix that? And that is where alignment comes in and corrections come in.
Josh Dech - CHN (02:14.388)Got it. And just as a sidebar here for you, we'll just edit this part out. If it ever pauses, freezes, anything, you just keep talking. It records to the device and then it uploads. So nothing actually gets missed even if it does freeze. Beautiful. So when you're talking about...
nerves and alignment. We're talking about the ability for the nerve to make its connection to do its job to send the signals of motility or whatever we're looking for in any nerve not just muscles down the back but also the nerves attaching to the rest of the digestive system which I think is an interesting topic to explore but you have this very unique experience and thread and expertise in what you do as a chiropractor. Can you just lay it out? I know this
I've been working with you for seven years now on all my issues and your goal is actually to get me out. Most chiropractors aren't. What is it that you do that's so unique and so effective and why does it work so well?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (03:12.666)Well for me the goal is sustainability right that is to stabilize correction because I have a lot of sayings that I use with my patients and The one that I love Almost most is it only heals if it holds Doesn't that make sense though if a treatment holds isn't that when we're truly going to heal so for example if you are going to untrap a nerve
right at its compression or entrapment site. What happens if that compression comes back on that? Is that nerve going to heal? The answer is no. So it is about sustaining that adjustment and creating sustainable stability of that joint.
Josh Dech - CHN (03:59.399)Hmm. Gotcha. So let's say for example, I'm someone who's got we know we're talking about this is chronic inhibition. So I want to lay this down really quick. When you have strength, your nerves are firing at full function. They're moving their groove and they're doing they're supposed to do. Now something that you've taught me is that if the body you have entrapments, you have compression, you have impingement, not necessarily even something you feel like, I got a pinched nerve, it hurts. You may just have inhibition.
because the muscles are tightening or the joint is compressed or there's something going on, I'll have you elaborate on. But this effectively, it's kind of like pinching off the flow of the hose. So instead of having a full strength of water to wash down the driveway, you only have a little bit coming out to whatever degree of the compression. And so this ends up leading to muscles over tightening or overcompensating in some way because they're not strong. So they have to become tight to create support. So if we see this inhibition,
say in the digestive system. Number one, let's start with where could this inhibition be coming from inside your nerves, let's talk brain, spinal cord, somewhere. Where can inhibition come from? And two, what can it do to your digestive system?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (05:13.065)Yeah, so the very first place I always look is brain down because that's where signals are sent from, that's right, the control center. So the very first place we have to look is vagus nerve at the C1 because a C1 misalignment even very minutely can impact the vagus nerve to a varying degree. And what that does is diminishes that signal and that is a parasympathetic signal.
Now we need a parasympathetic signal for gut operation. So what happens if that is impaired is that will diminish function. Because say, stomach acid, Motility, digestive enzymes, various things that we need to function, if we are not having those complete signals, we are not operating very well.
Right? And so this is where I have been through so many gut issues personally, you know, and I've gone through my order of things, trying to get stomach acid back, being on the digestive enzymes, the betaine HCL, trying to cinch the permeability in my gut, like all those things, right? And through testing, I have found what worked for me. And first and foremost, in order for all
Josh Dech - CHN (06:31.142)Mm-hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (06:38.451)those solutions to work, I needed neurological function because neurological function for me is how I believe that the body becomes responsive. Because the question is, if we're applying a treatment or we are doing something, we are making an assumption that the body is ready and willing to change. And I don't believe it is. That responsiveness for me comes from function, which is...
(00:22):
Josh Dech - CHN (07:00.765)Hmm. Alright.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (07:07.205)neurological function Is the motility of the gut good for whatever you're trying to do, right? Is the permeability dealt with? Right, so that's where like for me I believe and I have tested these on myself especially for food reactivities and sensitivities Seen at first hand where if I had neurological function restored
Josh Dech - CHN (07:15.581)Mm-hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (07:20.7)Interesting.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (07:37.211)I managed and I was able to recover and change the environment versus, you know, just work around it. Because for you and I, when we are trying to do corrective things, because you and I try to do corrective things, right, we have to get to that place.
Josh Dech - CHN (07:45.137)Right. So.
Josh Dech - CHN (07:54.342)Yeah.
Well, how would somebody know they're listening right now to this thing? Okay, Ryan makes sense. I understand my nerves have to be tuned up and have to be functioning fully to even have my basic motility function. If you don't have good motility, you're going to get hyper fermentation over absorption. You're going to get hyper toxification. You're going to get all kinds of digestive issues. It messes with your gut microbiome and the cascade starts all over. So if someone's listening to this, what are some very obvious signs they can go? I must have some inhibition not on or off.
or even impingement but some kind of inhibition in my nerves that I should be addressing for my general health or my gut health.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (08:33.533)Yes, for me, honestly, any symptom, really. It's just because I, for me, whenever I see one, and it's not the only spinal segment that can impair the digestive system, it is just the first and typically the most prominent that has, what's that?
Josh Dech - CHN (08:49.955)What is a C1? Explain this. You say a C1. You and I know this language. What is a C1? Alright.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (08:53.891)Yes, sorry. So C1 is the first cervical vertebrae right underneath the skull. C1 on C2 of those vertebrae, that joint is the most unstable in the body. So all your nerves pass through C1 that are gonna go down and go through the gut or in front in the case of the vagus nerve.
Yeah.
Josh Dech - CHN (09:21.939)Okay, now this is just unstable because of how much mobility range of motion the head is supposed to have. Is this why it's unstable?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (09:28.481)Okay, well that's where we get into instability. So not everybody is unstable there, so you can have a misalignment, which means you have stability, you just don't have alignment. Because ligaments dictate stability. So I can adjust somebody, see one, restore it, restore all nerve function, and they could hold forever. There are cases of instability that have varying reasons that have caused ligament laxity.
And then that's where we get into a lack of sustainability of the adjustment. So that's where there's two causes. So at the very top of the flow that it's going to go is a C1 syndrome. So we know C1, the top cervical vertebrae, is a C1 syndrome because you and I are discussing what would tell somebody if C1 is causing their symptoms. Well, it can be any symptom because it is a C1 syndrome.
it is easier to list the symptoms that it doesn't cause versus what it does because basically even down to say something like plantar fasciitis or even gut health is impacted by C1 misalignment through varying nerves. So any symptom, if you are trying to get better, I always say get a functional assessment, right? Internal, external, neurological, all those things.
to be completely thorough because for me, a neurological system that is well makes the body responsive. If you're not dealing with a responsive body, the question is the treatment not working or did you just not make the body responsive because I believe when you do the right treatment, it always works.
Josh Dech - CHN (11:04.691)Got it.
Josh Dech - CHN (11:16.336)Right. So a symptom you're saying can be anything. I mean, now we're talking skin issues, plantar fasciitis. Are we talking muscular skeletal symptoms? Are we talking bloating and digestion? Are we talking sleeplessness, irritability? Can you give me some of the most common examples? I mean, any symptom really is there's 13,000 things we can see. What are the most common ones you can tell me?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (11:32.394)Yes, I know. Yes. So definitely when I see a C1 syndrome, again branches off into either just a C1 dysfunction or misalignment or a C1 instability of which has to be handled in different ways. But when we're talking about symptoms, the top two for me are excessive fatigue and excessive irritability. Those are the top two. But keep in mind when those are there, even though those are the symptoms, it's still a C1 misalignment. So other things,
(00:43):
can be asymptomatic such as the impact on the vagus nerve. Right? Just because it's not symptomatic, that impairment can still be there. Just because, like for me, so if somebody comes to me with a C1 issue, I take them to my chart back here and I show them what the vagus nerve and I say, if you have a C1 misalignment, your vagus nerve is gonna be affected. How's your mood? How's your sympathetic system? So then we get into say,
Josh Dech - CHN (12:08.025)Got it.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (12:32.007)They have mood issues and oftentimes they will have something like a reflux, yes, bloating or an alteration in say constipation and diarrhea.
Josh Dech - CHN (12:47.407)Gotcha. You know, it's interesting, you and I, because we worked together back in 2019, I got a really nasty concussion and a really nasty whiplash. of grade three, it was a grade two whiplash. You have your one, two, threes, you graded me a WOD two. And so it was just getting kicked in the head and it really messed me up for years. And there's still issues. I literally saw you at the time of recording yesterday just to go in and try to clean up some tissue. So it's been ongoing for years now at this stage.
And for me, my symptoms are really obvious. The back of my neck aches, I'm prone to headaches, I get some stiffness, and I know, muscularly speaking, I've got other issues that I can tell. If we're talking about this C1, this vertebra right under the skull, the base of the skull, right at the top of the spine, being compromised in some way.
For me, I know because certain muscles start shutting down. If you have compromised nerve, so that flow like a hose is compressed, then the power supply to the muscles underneath it, which is everything below your neck, will get shut down in some way. There's a chain there. If they get shut down or inhibited, something else has to compensate and take over the load as well. So this is where I'll find for me, maybe my glutes, my butt, the muscles there aren't firing very well. So all the muscles in my hip flexors tighten up, so do my quads.
Now I got pain in my knees, pain in my hips, it hurts to sit. Then the lower back pain starts, the sciatica can come on. And I dealt with this years ago when I started seeing you the first time because of the shutdown that kept happening. And so if you're listening right now and you have any muscular issues, that can be connected to neck. We're talking the gut connection to the neck. But there's more. You mentioned there's some key inhibitory points. I believe you said there's really five major impingement points.
that need to be addressed. Can you walk me through what those five main impingement points are, particularly the neck and the lower back and their innervations to the gut as well?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (14:44.474)Absolutely. So for me, so what we have in the body is what I term five inhibitory change, inhibitory chains. Okay. So those things influence as a domino effect, the nerve system. Now, if we're to talk about the gut, there are two prominent nerve entrapment sites or nerve compression sites to the spine that I think are just the most relevant. The other ones do come in and around the pelvis.
which are relevant, but they would be much more minor. So the two that I would always just look at because not only are they extremely impactful, but those are also areas where we have significant instability and therefore they are often not treated, nor do people hold those treatments. And that is the C1, which is the C1 on the C2, but that C1 alignment and the mid back at the TL junction, which is the T12,
L1 segment.
Josh Dech - CHN (15:41.401)So it's kind of a cross in the belly button, like straight through the spine there.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (15:44.288)It is, well because that's an irritation point. And I'm always very just careful on my wording just because I'm not gonna say it's a pinch, but I'm gonna tell you it's a congestion site, a compression site. It is going to irritate the structures at that segment and below. And we have to keep in mind, even at a compression site, it can affect a couple segments above, a couple segments below, but it can really affect anything down below.
So this, even the mid-back, can affect everything in the lumbopelvic region, even the insides. Because nerves around that region affect different viscera and even down below, if we're talking about various nerves at the sacral region, which are below it are impaired, which is nerves that feed the hindgut.
Josh Dech - CHN (16:36.493)Hmm, interesting.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (16:38.11)So we have to see any section of the spine that is affected can affect the nerves below and it's not just muscles. Nerves just don't feed muscles. They feed everything. So it plays a role.
Josh Dech - CHN (16:52.589)Yeah, so basically your impingement, whether you know it or not, again, you say it doesn't necessarily be pinched. I think we associate pinched nerve with pain, with a sharp tweak, with a twinge. It hurts to bend and move that way. Or I need acupuncture, massage, or an adjustment to open that nerve. You're not talking about a pinched nerve. You're talking about a congestion point that may be compressive. It may be a flow issue. It might be muscular. There's a lot of different factors here. Is that correct?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (17:19.834)That is correct because you gotta keep in mind what is the pinch from, right? If something is pinched, typically if say somebody says, it's a pinched nerve, I don't know many things that actually can actually pinch a nerve, right? The things that can overtly hurt a nerve are most often a disc where if you have say an overt disc herniation, that is a lot of compression even to say you could term it a pinch. But I don't love that term because that sounds like damage and injury and these things are all treatable and they are not.
damaged. So we often think, I have a pinched nerve, but then that's saying, I have a torn muscle. No, you may have muscle pain, but it's not torn. You may have nerve irritation or an entrapment, but you do not have a pinch, right? But it still does create interference and pain and symptoms.
Josh Dech - CHN (17:51.096)Mm.
Josh Dech - CHN (18:09.935)Hmm. Okay, so here's, guess, my ultimate question. Ultimate at, you know, 18 minutes into the episode is, what do we do about this? You know, most people go to the chiropractor, they get snapped, cracked, popped like a rice krispie. They're turned in like a pretzel. It's all food here with me. I'm clearly a fat kid. But you have all these snaps and twists and changes they do. And then come back and see me every week until you die. Obviously, this is not what you do.
(01:04):
of all the years having seen you, mentored under you, worked with you, used your teachings for clients when I was personal training, even I've used your assessments, neurological impingements, pain points and other things for clients in my gut programs because it's relevant. I've used that. What is it that you don't like about what most chiropractors are doing and what do you do differently when it comes to adjustments?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (18:59.438)major thing is assessing. So there has to be a flow of what we do, right? We have to have awareness of conditions, right? We need to be able to assess, we need to diagnose, and then we need to be able to treat the condition that's ahead of us. So one of my biggest challenges is, as a lot of carers don't know how to treat C1. And because of these challenges, not only C1 and a lot of this nerve function, so I have created
to teach it because of course I can't sit here and just be like you should know better. I don't fault people for not knowing but I can fault people for not learning or expanding their knowledge. Right? So people then, the challenge that I have is that yes, not all chiropractors treat C1 but also they don't understand stability so what happens if C1 cannot hold? What is the symptomatic
Josh Dech - CHN (19:41.764)Hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (19:58.282)Influence of what's going on. I can give you an example. had a new patient last week And she came to me and she was in really rough shape with neck pain for me neck pain is very straightforward Okay, I had found out that she had told me we went very thorough into her history because the history is extremely important it really gives me most of my answers and I found out she has a genetic condition that you and I have discussed
She has a variety of other things going on. It was completely lost. So I had to kind of take all that information and figure, okay, this is a person with symptoms. We need to correct this issue, right? So that permitted me because the understanding was there. Okay, yes, we need to correct the C1, but we also have to correct it sustainably. And this is why when she comes in, she puts in her intake form. I think that
chiropractic made me worse because I was getting adjusted two to three times a week.
Josh Dech - CHN (21:01.315)Hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (21:01.841)But really the question for me comes down to was this neurological state, even this genetic background and this genetic history for her evaluated and considered because she has instability. It means there's no amount of adjustments that she could hold. So we are talking about the MTHFR gene polymorphism.
Josh Dech - CHN (21:22.772)So what's this genetic condition you're referring to?
Josh Dech - CHN (21:31.946)Can you explain that a bit? Because we haven't talked about it in great detail. I mean we have. I think it was episode 89 with Sage Workinger if I'm not mistaken. We talked about that a fair bit in the methylation processes but can you dive into this MTHFR and what you're talking about its relation to connective tissue?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (21:37.381)Yes.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (21:42.737)Okay, absolutely.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (21:48.539)for connective tissue for sure because it is a huge topic. Like we could probably have an hour on this one. really it impairs an ability for your body to convert say dietary folate or folic acid and enriched foods into the usable form. So rarely do what we consume is do we consume it in the form that our body uses it. I don't even know if at all. But what happens is,
Josh Dech - CHN (21:52.296)Mm-hmm. Easily.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (22:18.085)This is an impaired metabolism of folate. So you will take that folate or folic acid and you cannot convert it. So the problem is and way through just all these biochemical mechanisms, it causes impaired structure integrity of ligaments. Ligaments require folate to function. Now it's not the only reason and this is what I go into my course because my course teaches how to
correct C1TL, what happens if they're unstable, because it's not the only way. Then we get into the conversation of, how do we differentiate MTHFR and EDS, and there's all these ebbs and flows of things. But this specifically, when it's determined, is a very easy way to rectify one form of ligament instability, or sorry, ligament laxity, which leads to joint instability.
Josh Dech - CHN (23:10.771)Hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (23:15.112)Gotcha. So by getting some really nice high quality methylfolate or an L5 methylfolate, this right away just by itself can already help with supporting loose connective tissue that leads to instability in the neck or other joint areas which lead to issues in the gut. And so theoretically simply taking a proper form of L5 methylfolate even without a chiropractic adjustment may actually help digestion.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (23:34.277)Yes.
Josh Dech - CHN (23:44.711)by a myriad of different ways. Is that what you're saying?
(01:25):
Dr. Ryan Emmons (23:46.993)I wouldn't even say may I've seen it. I've seen it when I have had somebody and we've eliminated all the other versions of instability. Keep that in mind that there's a flow and there's a way. it's not the only answer, but there are some people where absolutely it was their only cause of instability. Yes, by taking that, it did correct the majority of what we were dealing with and aid in many of their symptoms. I'm not saying may, because I test it.
Josh Dech - CHN (24:14.249)Mm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (24:16.864)You know, I'm not somebody that's like, it might, it might do this, and me do that. I test every day. You know me. It's like, I ask everybody, would you like to test this? Do you want to test this? Just because I keep stats and some pages on my desk of the past three years of all the testing, all the stuff that we do. And I can tell you, I've just seen some remarkable things. No, it's not everybody. And this is why guidance is so important. It's why I created my course for.
Josh Dech - CHN (24:25.691)Yeah, non-stop.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (24:42.358)health practitioners because I don't want people to get lost. There is a structured way that a health professional can guide people to getting this solved and managed to the best that they can be, right?
Josh Dech - CHN (24:54.344)Well, how do I know if I've got this MTHFR? I we know at least 44 % of the population has this gene mutation, this MTHFR. It's become very popularized and I think a lot of people are assuming, but given how frequent it actually comes up with 44 % or more of the population, it sounds like you're probably safe to assume you have it. How would you know besides getting a DNA test? What do you do to test?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (25:17.129)Well, in the office, what I do is because if somebody has an impairment, for example, a neurological impairment from C1, now remember, these are select cases and other things have been ruled out, but for this alone, really, it's actually very simple and you might be surprised and think, it's just crazy stuff, but I do crazy stuff here all the time because people just think what I do is unbelievable, that it's magic, and I just tell them, no, it's just working with your body.
say giving it the essentials that it needs or figuring out the root of the problem and when you do, crazy things happen. You know, when I correct a C1 and muscles go instantly strong, people are like, you didn't push as hard. I'm like, no, I just opened up the channels. It's actually that simple. So in the office, if somebody has a neurological impairment related only to the MTHFR caused ligament laxity,
One week, as you've experienced, one week they will come in. That neurological impairment will be gone. One week. Okay, now think about what that can do over months and various things. Now I speak on this because overall there's generally three large types of ligament laxity and I had all three. So I had to discover this and figure out how to order it and do all it, but I can tell you.
Josh Dech - CHN (26:26.471)Yeah.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (26:43.707)Adding the MTHF, well, sorry, the methylfolate to my diet and the diet of my daughter's has been dramatic. And I don't embellish. I don't make a big deal of things, but I will tell you, when it's made a big deal and I'm keeping statistics of it, it's very helpful.
Josh Dech - CHN (27:01.21)Yeah, so mean, MTHFR is interesting because again, anything that's social media and sort of popularized really starts to lose its potency, I think, in the public eye because it becomes sensationalized. But some of the symptoms of MTHFR mutation, that's your methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase gene. I memorized that one so I sound smart. But basically what it's going to do is like you said, changes how your body will use this folate or this
Dr. Ryan Emmons (27:11.634)Yes.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (27:20.392)You know.
Josh Dech - CHN (27:28.602)Vitamin B9. So I mean you can deal with symptoms like fatigue, mental health issues, elevated blood pressure, blood clots, heart disease, stroke, migraines. It can be attached to hormonal issues, chronic pain, fibromyalgia even. Of course, digestive issues, neurological symptoms. There are so detoxing and you how your body, your liver starts to hold on to these toxins. There's so many things connected to it. But
I think what's really important about this, what you're saying is that sometimes it's a very easy fix. If about 50 % of the population has this or just is a vitamin deficiency, you take it leads to better or less laxity in your connective tissue, which leads to your joints holding in place, which then leads to less nerve compression, which leads to better body muscular and digestive function as a whole. That's sort of our summary up till now. Is that right?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (28:01.415)Mm-hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (28:20.294)That's the summary, yeah. Now keeping in mind that you can have varying severities of the MTHFR gene mutation, right? So I always call it with my patients, I like to just keep it so that they understand it. I call it MTHFR, light, moderate, or heavy, right? Because some can have only a small degree of say ligament laxity or symptoms. Some people are very, very heavy. Those are my true unstable cases that typically have
Josh Dech - CHN (28:22.15)I love it.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (28:49.292)all types of instability and are MTHFR heavy. And I agree with you that it's just so hyped up. It really is like everybody talks about it, I'm gonna be on methafolate and I'm gonna do all these things. But it's interesting because what I've seen is extremely impactful though. It actually for this one is justified. For me, I don't like hypes whether it's in working out or.
knew this, knew that, I don't care. I get lots of emails of everybody was, hey, there's this new product on the market, this, that, and everything else. And I'm like, okay, but I test and I see what these things can do and I commit to it because we've been testing the MTHFR in the clinic and its outcomes for, we're coming up on a year now. And I can tell you, I've kept the statistics. It's statistically relevant, like very.
(01:46):
Josh Dech - CHN (29:15.205)Hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (29:22.992)course.
Josh Dech - CHN (29:42.726)It's a hard word to say.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (29:43.927)I know, I'm like, that's a lot to come out. But I'm telling you, it's impactful. It's like you and I had talked about even the impacts of acupuncture historically. And that was something that, those things impress me. They really blow my mind, because not a lot can impress nowadays. You know what I mean? It takes a lot to be like, have a wow factor. I'm like, well, you know, okay, that's okay, that's cool. But these things, wow, blows my mind. Some things I'm like, I just.
Josh Dech - CHN (29:53.509)Yeah.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (30:13.486)kind of is shocking or unbelievable, but there's certain things that work to that degree. I'm not saying it's a fix all, but when you need it, it is a huge impact.
Josh Dech - CHN (30:23.886)Alright, very interesting. Okay, so let's say someone's listening right now. They're obviously not in the Calgary area to see you specifically, but they know they got a problem. The hearing doctor, Ryan Ammons, is going, okay, I'm going to try some methylfolate, like a really nice available form. I'm going to get some adjustments done.
You, since I've worked with you, I don't know if you've ever cracked my neck in the same sense where you twist, rotate, snap me like a pretzel. I've always hated that. I always hurt after. Never loved that. Never loved the chiropractic guns they use with a, know, the clickers that to push your vertebra around. You've for as long as I've known you, at least from my specific cases of injuries I've sustained through sports or something else, have used a lot of traction.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (30:49.732)Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (31:09.752)or lot of very gentle style movements instead of these really high velocity unless it's been my pelvis on the table or something where you're kind of adjusting my SI joints. So what do you think when someone's listening to this right now, what would you recommend if they're going to the chiropractor? Is there a certain style or type of adjustment they should be looking for? Is there something that you think people should be avoiding that could be dangerous when looking to get their nerves and their muscles and bones back into alignment to help with these issues?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (31:37.376)Yeah. So the biggest challenge, because I have this, because I have people that travel out of town, oftentimes because they're unstable and then what they're doing is not working. But also a lot of practitioners do not treat C1, nor do they treat C1 to complete restoration. So the first thing I would tell people is because I don't believe their practitioner would probably have it in their toolkit.
I would tell them, encourage them, like I would tell them take my course, to be honest, like not to say, everybody should take my course. But the course, yes, totally, but the course equips practitioners to treat C1TL, whether it's stable or unstable, to go through all these versions of instability because most practitioners do not treat C1 and I don't want to look down on...
Josh Dech - CHN (32:11.129)Yeah. Well, you're here because I love what you do. So I mean, let's talk about it.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (32:31.176)on other C1 techniques, but I've tested many of them. I've had people go to their practitioner, come in, and they have not worked to completely resolve nerve techniques. And I say this because I've tested, right? I do neurological testing. I do a variety of things for us to know this is about the patient. This is not about me or the practitioner or anything like that. This is about the patient. So this is why I created my course was because practitioners need to enhance what's going on.
Patients need to be asking for this stuff because if they do have gut health, yes, we have to be asking the practitioner. Okay. Well, how are you gonna Help my vagus nerve Yes, the vagus nerve. Okay, we can do vagal tone exercises you can have vagus nerve stimulators, but I always remind people are you going to heal this if you don't unentrap this site with a simple adjustment because
It is more than just a C1 adjustment. It is a corrective C1 adjustment, and it's also being able to identify what happens if that C1 adjustment doesn't hold, which is actually quite common. And I've estimated instability of the upper cervical spine, which I term upper cervical instability, to be anywhere from 25 to 40 % of my practice. I see it way more than I would like to. It's very heavy some weeks.
Just the people that I see the symptoms that I see you know the incorrective treatment that they've had how Conditions have been prolonged It's it's very difficult, so it gives me very very passionate about it, and it's just because I want better So that's where what can patients do well I don't want every patient to come in and say this but They need to advocate for something better say you know have you taken this course? Do you knew how to treat see one can you treat?
Josh Dech - CHN (34:13.08)Right.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (34:24.529)upper cervical instability, can you treat TL, can you TL instability, lumbar spine instability, SI joint instability, these are all things that need to be common terms that people should be able to go to the practitioner and keep in mind that it's not just about chiropractors because physios can do everything in my course, they can do all the same things. Massage therapists, one of the people that treat me is a massage therapist.
who has worked underneath me, and he is the person that adjusts my C1, knows all about instability because you can mobilize, which is in their scope.
Josh Dech - CHN (35:03.95)Gotcha. So this course is very directed at practitioners. And so if you're a protection or listening right now, definitely something to check out. I can attest to this. I've seen it in my clients. I've had it done with me. I've worked with Ryan for years on many issues, old and new. I'm always hurting myself doing something stupid. I'm so glad you've been around. But someone right now, most of our listeners,
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Dr. Ryan Emmons (35:07.625)practitioners.
Josh Dech - CHN (35:25.7)I'd say are not practitioners, probably 80 plus percent. We do have many doctors and clinicians of all kinds listening. But for those who are not, what are the things that they should look for when they're going to get an adjustment? Is it, like you said, someone who specializes in C1? Is that something that they might advertise on a website? What are some of the key things? Because this is kind of new stuff. I mean, it's old as humans are, but it's new as far as the research and the clinical practice. So what should they be looking for?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (35:45.119)Mm-hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (35:51.519)It is, it's so difficult for me to say this because you know, I don't want to be negative, but looking to somebody that does a C1, truly, I have not seen many C1 techniques work. Now, are there techniques out there that work? Yes, but I don't want to give people that false assumption because even if they do have an effective C1 treatment, the problem is is what happens if they have laxity and instability, which is anywhere from 25 to 40%.
of my practice and then they're just going down another road and getting lost. So because so many of people do have laxity due to the methofolate condition, I would actually just suggest them doing that. And if it doesn't from there, then you can go down the road to exploring more, but it's actually has a huge potential. Why not?
Josh Dech - CHN (36:24.109)Gotcha.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (36:45.631)You know, that's where it doesn't hurt to have a genetic test. It doesn't, right? They are affordable. You only ever have to do them once. It's definitive. You know, you can get severity. that's where like it is a good idea. I believe in it. I think it's important if you don't have somebody like me that can guide you, really determine it in a week in the clinic. There's just so many places to get it. Even if you're just getting the MTHFR tested or various ones.
like comti are very common ones. I think that really if you're going to invest money personally, that's where I would go.
Josh Dech - CHN (37:24.802)I love that. Thank you. It's very, very helpful. So let's talk about some other ways of stabilizing quickly because ultimately this whole conversation is about instability in the neck or the spine somewhere that leads to nerve compression, which leads to gut issues. And so if you go in to get an adjustment, whether it's through massage, who's decompressing, whether it's through physio, maybe doing traction or dry needling, or even a chiropractor or an osteopath who are adjusting the bones and the joints and getting into these areas, they ultimately have to hold.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (37:29.503)Mm-hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (37:54.083)Now something I've probably done 50 plus rounds of over the years to try to stabilize is prolo therapy. That's prolo p r o l o prolo therapy. And it's this dextrose sugar injection that creates an acute inflammatory response of basically sugar in saline water with a bit of lidocaine for the pain, which creates inflammation in the area. And then your body comes in and says, yep, that's new. Let's go heal it.
and it can really strengthen ligaments. had a friend of mine with EDS or Ehlers-Downlow syndrome, well known, who did go in and she held after the first one. It helped immensely. I've gone in for probably 50. I've had my shoulders injected, my knees, my neck, my lower back. I've had my ankles done, which I'm going to probably have to do at some point because I do have laxity. But like you said, I've got this MTHFR issue. I've been taking the folate for a week. I tested well. I actually bought myself a prenatal vitamin.
because it's got something like 1300 micrograms of methylfolate plus a full B spectrum and all kinds of goodies. So I'm gonna be a really, really healthy, able body to create a baby. But outside of that, my tissues are getting what they need. But prolotherapy works for some and not for others. It is not super commonly known, but can you talk a bit about prolotherapy? Where it would work, where it wouldn't, and why it wouldn't like these cases?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (39:14.855)Absolutely. Okay. So my opinion is that it always works. The question is why didn't it work? Because all it does is it kicks up the immune system and causes regrowth of connective tissue, specifically whatever you're bathing with the solution. I have always seen it work. The question came down to if it didn't, why?
And that's because there are some underlying cause systemically that cause laxity of the ligaments. Hence why I always say it all the time. You have to bring it together to see the big picture because there's not just one cause of ligament laxity and therefore joint instability. There's muscle impairments. There's ligament impairments and then it just flows from there. So you have to be able to have a diagnostic flow of it. But that said,
Reason is that for me. I was a look at it like a boat with holes in it Okay, so the water is coming in the boat All right, okay. We better bail out the boat, but so many treatments are bailing out the boat Never plugging the holes So you are in a state of breakdown? While you're trying to build it up, so this is why Right like I would say almost all
Josh Dech - CHN (40:30.241)Gotcha.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (40:40.532)of my patients have had success with Prolo, it's just to varying degrees. Has it helped to stabilize? Yes, but they needed so much more, some of them needed so much more like your case. And that's because you had those holes in the boat were your gene mutation because it was creating as much of the laxity internally and systemically as you were trying to repair externally. Does that make sense?
Josh Dech - CHN (40:51.092)Mm-hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (41:08.54)Right, absolutely. so I'm trying to inject something to fix me but on a genetic level no matter what I put in there my body doesn't have the tools to use the support that it's being given.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (41:09.834)So it's interesting.
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Dr. Ryan Emmons (41:16.064)Mmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (41:19.446)Correct. So what I did was as soon as I pieced all this together this year and I have my flow of instability, everything was working. I brought back all my most unstable cases, top five, top 10.
Made them all go stable this year. I have yet and a couple other variables. Keep that in mind. It's not the only one. It's just a prominent one. There's a couple precursors to that and various things and I don't want to complicate it too much. But yes, with the system, especially MTHFR, especially that, I've been able to stabilize every single patient. Now, there is still a need for prolo because what we've done is we plugged the holes there.
Josh Dech - CHN (41:38.474)by dealing with the MTHFR.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (42:06.39)is still laxity of those ligaments from 20, 30, 40, 50 years of having that gene mutation. So they have a lot of breakdown and laxity, but we are absolutely able to build that back up and require significantly less prolotherapy with significant more benefits. And I can say that all confidently because of course we always test and all those things are constantly in work. I just never understand like,
Josh Dech - CHN (42:27.348)Right.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (42:35.008)For me, I'm always outside of the box. I'm like, test, test, test. Why is this not working? How can we make this better? And that's where we need to go so that I can help other practitioners and patients that advocate for themselves because so many patients come to me and advocate for themselves and say, I need this, I want this. Can you explore this and help me with this? At least they have an avenue.
Josh Dech - CHN (42:54.079)Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. It's all about being equipped with the tools and this is stuff that I think, especially in the gut space, it's something that I've never seen discussed as the role of something like chiropractic. Now I think in one end, it's a small part of the puzzle, but also a big one. The question is what came first, the chicken or the egg? Did you have an instability, a car accident for example, that
There's two scenarios where you get somebody who comes in with a bacterial issue, maybe it's antibiotic use or a lifetime of abuse of poor food, whatever it might be. And it's disrupted the gut, which led to toxicities, which led to an over expression of this gene mutation of MTHFR you maybe had, which then created this breakdown cascade of connective tissue and the nervous system and other things, which ended up leaving to heightened stress responses, which then continued to cascade your gut issues. Or you have to somebody
who is relatively healthy in the gut, they get into a car accident and they get whiplash and that C1 vertebrae right at the top gets all malaligned. And now they've got a bunch of anxiety, stress issues, because the nervous system is not firing properly, which leads to elevated stress or in-fight and flight, which shuts down the rest and digest. They're not making stomach acid digestive enzymes on top of this already unstable MTHFR connective tissue.
which they didn't know they had, because it was never really a problem until the straw that broke the camel's back, which was, say, a car accident. So really have two ways where the gut can cause issues up top or up top can cause issues below. And so we have to figure out which one happened to you first. But along the way, going through and doing chiropractic treatment to keep the nervous system in check, to give your body the basic bioavailable nutrients like methylfolate or other methylated B vitamins and
Josh Dech - CHN (44:48.297)these nutrients, trace minerals, we'll all wax on, well at least give your body the bare minimum tools to do what it needs to do. Whether your neck or instability is a big problem or kind of a little problem, it's somewhere along the way that should be addressed at some point. If you can get it addressed now, it's better than later. I think that's a really fine point I just wanted to make sure I put on top of this episode as we're kind of winding it down.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (45:14.945)It's true, like we don't know chicken or egg. Like for me, I've seen it both ways, right? I've seen it where the neck will just cause significant digestive issues. had a gentleman, I'm pretty sure he was late 30s, early 40s. He could not eat. Every time he ate, he vomited. He was constantly nauseous, constantly bloated. I treated his C1 misalignment.
and I'm not kidding, in six treatments, because it typically takes four adjustments of a C1 to correct it, in six treatments, all gone. Never seen them since. Never seen them since, and that was it. So I can say that, but I can also say the flip side of it that I have seen where, the MTHFR and the gut stuff was creating more of the structural impact. So it's really good. This is why everything has a systematic order, right? Where we go through things and you do have an order.
Josh Dech - CHN (46:05.789)Mm-hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (46:09.215)And for me, I always say function first. Right, why not? Because say if somebody's gonna go work out, I say function first. If you're gonna work out for the first time, get your muscles uninhibited. Right, if you're gonna do a gut protocol, well my opinion, because this is my loss, I say function first. Neurologically, get the gut neurologically going because what I always say is if the neurological system is well, you are responsive.
you are more responsive to what you're gonna do. But this is why working alongside somebody like yourself that's dealing with those other stuff that can at least coincide because we won't always know chicken or egg, right? It's that this is why so many people, they need a team. They do need a team, right? Some people will be sent to me from this profession, that profession. They're just like, can you just make sure that the neurological side is good so I can deal with my side and just make sure they are?
most responsive, boom, handful of treatments, they're not back to me. They're not back to me because the thing is, is my job, if I'm being corrective, should not be long term. Yes, they may need to see me once in a while and clients learn when they need to be here, but it is not a reliance. You should not be adjusted in my way on a regular basis or they are unstable.
Josh Dech - CHN (47:11.985)Amazing.
Josh Dech - CHN (47:31.355)Right, and you're not actually fixing it, you're just sort of mitigating, it's like a medication. You're just taking on an as needed basis to manage symptoms, but you're not fixing the root of the problem.
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Dr. Ryan Emmons (47:38.527)Yes, totally. Again, it only heals if it holds. And I reinforce these things all the time that I love sustainability because I'm not trying to hold on to this small batch of patients to treat them all the time. I think we could get a greater utilization of proper care and treat way more people and do such justice to people by treating the right things in the right way for the right reasons and helping people with their...
Josh Dech - CHN (48:02.78)Yeah.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (48:08.584)symptoms.
Josh Dech - CHN (48:10.075)I love it. Tell me Ryan about this course of yours. that those listening, if they're a practitioner or if it's something that somebody wants to recommend to a practitioner or if they're becoming one or have a family or friend who might be a practitioner, they can benefit from this. Where can they find this course and some of this information about it? Because obviously I can speak to its efficacy, having been working with you through all kinds of injuries as they come and go, learning this process, using what you've taught me and my own clients, which is...
just to give you an idea, I had some personal training clients like a decade ago or so that I worked online with some PT clients. I've had digestive clients, again, working in the gut space for half a decade.
I've had them go into their chiropractor and say, Hey, cause I'll do these video assessments with them. Take a look at this, try this, do this, record yourself and report back, answer these questions while you do it. They'll do pressure tests and this and that, and I'll watch them bend and hinge and move. I can see what muscles are firing properly, what aren't. And just from what you've taught me, said, Hey, I want you to go to your chiropractor, tell them you have this, this, and this thing wrong and that these muscles aren't working. And here's the adjustments you want. I've gotten emails back from these chiropractors going, how did you get all of that information from a
video. Unbelievable. I'm not even a chiropractor. So what you're teaching is pretty good stuff. So if someone listening wants to find it for themselves or on the benefit of someone else, where can they find this course?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (49:33.129)Absolutely, so it's online. It's called clinicalupgrade.ca clinicalupgrade.ca And I am expanding the courses so right now. It's the complete course. It's one day. It teaches everybody all The Corrections how to deal with instability all the ins and outs like I said earlier mthfr versus eds I can't tell you how many people have come to me, and so I said I have eds. I'm like Really, do you understand that?
not all kinds of ADS have a genetic route, how are you gonna treat this? let's do a flip. See where I'm going with this? Is you have to determine and treat the treatables. So this is where I teach all of this in my course so that everybody can have a complete top-down understanding of how to do the corrections and keep them sustainable.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:14.278)Right.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:26.138)I love that. I think it's great. Clinicalupgrade.ca.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (50:26.854)Yeah, and like I said earlier, it's also not just for chiropractors. Yes, there is some adjusting, but it is things that other health professionals can do like physios, massage therapists. don't want it just to be for chiropractors. We need to be health professionals that can help people just be better and just correct what's going on. You know, because most adjustments are through mobilization, which is just a joint stretch. There is no risk to those.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:50.159)Yeah.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:57.19)Right.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (50:57.403)but a lot of benefit.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:59.844)Yeah, I love it. Ryan, this is brilliant. So we got clinicalupgrade.ca as your first place. If someone wants to learn more about you, find information from you, of course, working in person with you, where can they find all that information?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (51:12.879)Okay, so, you know, if people are curious about what I do, my Instagram goes over some of the little things that I talk about. But my office is called Atlas Pain and Performance Center, and it's atlaspaincenter.com. C-E-N-T-R-E, atlaspaincenter.com. And yeah, and they can always just reach out, email, check out what I'm about, but really what they find is a lot of logic. And I really...
What I look, when I tell people, I know these are foreign concepts, but when I tell people, everything sounds logical, right? Do you, you know, if somebody has a strain of their shoulder, right? It's, okay, so are you exercising a strain, or is that strain? Do we need to repair the strain? Yes, that makes more sense, right? So a lot of what needs to happen is we have to move forward with a lot more understanding and using a lot of logic.
Josh Dech - CHN (51:50.639)Yes.
Josh Dech - CHN (52:13.189)I like logic.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (52:13.987)Yeah, people find a lot of reassurance when I talk to them because I make sense of things very simply and they're like, yeah, that makes sense and I like to demonstrate things and test things and it gives people a lot of confidence and I just want to expand that. would just, if I had one wish and that would be to just let so many practitioners know and just open up their toolkit in their wheelhouse. They don't even have to change anything. Just expand and place this in it and
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let patient care be a little bit better, right, with less risk to people, and so that they could learn to trust chiropractic and all those things that they have kind of steered away from, you know, I'd say that's it.
Josh Dech - CHN (52:59.012)Yeah, I love that. And so I know it's sort of a fancy last word, but I do want to ask if there's anything we haven't talked about, anything we haven't mentioned, you want to make sure we put in here or mention as a last words of wisdom before we wrap this up.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (53:14.626)Yeah, it's really what I say is the body responsive. Ask yourself that. Because I feel like everything else hinges on that, right? Whether you're gonna go neurological first or gut first, and we know that this is truly based on gut health because it is essential to our mental well-being. And really, like I've seen it so many times, if somebody's gut is not good, do you think they're gonna be achy through their joints and their muscles? Absolutely.
But the question going into anything, am I responsive? What do I need to do to get the most out of it? So when people come to me at the beginning, I am honest and I'm transparent and I say, your responsiveness is very low until I get things somewhat corrected in about a handful of treatments. I say, so what you're gonna do is a lot of work for a little gain. And what I wanna do is change that. I wanna do a lot of work for a lot of gain.
Because what's happening is that's just simply about the responsiveness, whether it's about an adjustment, rolling, gut, all those things is are they ready mentally and physically, and how do we get them there?
Josh Dech - CHN (54:30.338)I love it. Very wise words, Ryan, and I appreciate you being here sharing all this expertise and it's interesting. I speak to lot of clinicians and a of doctors on this show from all over the world. Some just absolutely brilliant, famous, but very rarely do I have someone on here who I have direct personal experience with being in their clinic and I just can't recommend what you do enough. It's been an absolute game changer. I've felt days where my neck has been off.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (54:43.523)Hmm
Josh Dech - CHN (54:57.688)because of my injury to my head and my neck where I'm not holding, I'm not sleeping, I'm grinding my teeth, I'm irritable, I'm not functioning well, and every time I come in to see you there's a fix and I feel better and what you're teaching is legit and I can speak from that from experience. So if you're listening right now, make sure you check out that course for yourself or for the benefit of someone else at clinicalupgrade.ca and Dr. Ryan Emmons, thank you so much for being here.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (55:24.259)Thanks for having me.
Josh Dech - CHN (00:00.199)Dr. Ryan Emmons welcome to reversible.
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Dr. Ryan Emmons (00:12.13)Yeah, let's do this.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (00:18.67)Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Josh Dech - CHN (00:21.282)Thanks, that's it. I that was where I was going to stop.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (00:24.43)The phone glitched I was like, are you still there you froze?
Josh Dech - CHN (00:28.865)Yeah, that's all right. We're still here and we're looking forward to the conversation because you know chiropractic isn't actually something that I think anybody including myself till I met you what six seven years ago or something now actually had any real understanding that it actually connected to my gut health. My understanding of chiropractic was I got some issues snap, crack and pop me and put me back into place. But you have changed my mind in every way shape or form.
about how this all comes together and connects. can you quickly, just before we introduce you officially, can you just give us an idea of what sort of an overview, I know we'll get to detail, but an overview as to what the role of chiropractic is in gut health.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (01:14.872)For me and how I often have to explain it to patients, it's about the nerves. Nerves precede most other things. That's why I always tell people there's a systematic order in the way you do things. So for me, anytime I want to impact gut health, it's through neurological feed or innervation. Because you want to influence it in a negative way. And so many of us, we have something that has impacted nerve structures.
on the way to feeding the gut, which has created an impairment, can be pain, various symptoms occur. We could talk about even just the vagus nerve itself. But in talking about it's releasing nerve entrapments, it's not a matter of, know, we know that the vagus nerve is important. Okay, great. How do we fix that? And that is where alignment comes in and corrections come in.
Josh Dech - CHN (02:14.388)Got it. And just as a sidebar here for you, we'll just edit this part out. If it ever pauses, freezes, anything, you just keep talking. It records to the device and then it uploads. So nothing actually gets missed even if it does freeze. Beautiful. So when you're talking about...
nerves and alignment. We're talking about the ability for the nerve to make its connection to do its job to send the signals of motility or whatever we're looking for in any nerve not just muscles down the back but also the nerves attaching to the rest of the digestive system which I think is an interesting topic to explore but you have this very unique experience and thread and expertise in what you do as a chiropractor. Can you just lay it out? I know this
I've been working with you for seven years now on all my issues and your goal is actually to get me out. Most chiropractors aren't. What is it that you do that's so unique and so effective and why does it work so well?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (03:12.666)Well for me the goal is sustainability right that is to stabilize correction because I have a lot of sayings that I use with my patients and The one that I love Almost most is it only heals if it holds Doesn't that make sense though if a treatment holds isn't that when we're truly going to heal so for example if you are going to untrap a nerve
right at its compression or entrapment site. What happens if that compression comes back on that? Is that nerve going to heal? The answer is no. So it is about sustaining that adjustment and creating sustainable stability of that joint.
Josh Dech - CHN (03:59.399)Hmm. Gotcha. So let's say for example, I'm someone who's got we know we're talking about this is chronic inhibition. So I want to lay this down really quick. When you have strength, your nerves are firing at full function. They're moving their groove and they're doing they're supposed to do. Now something that you've taught me is that if the body you have entrapments, you have compression, you have impingement, not necessarily even something you feel like, I got a pinched nerve, it hurts. You may just have inhibition.
because the muscles are tightening or the joint is compressed or there's something going on, I'll have you elaborate on. But this effectively, it's kind of like pinching off the flow of the hose. So instead of having a full strength of water to wash down the driveway, you only have a little bit coming out to whatever degree of the compression. And so this ends up leading to muscles over tightening or overcompensating in some way because they're not strong. So they have to become tight to create support. So if we see this inhibition,
say in the digestive system. Number one, let's start with where could this inhibition be coming from inside your nerves, let's talk brain, spinal cord, somewhere. Where can inhibition come from? And two, what can it do to your digestive system?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (05:13.065)Yeah, so the very first place I always look is brain down because that's where signals are sent from, that's right, the control center. So the very first place we have to look is vagus nerve at the C1 because a C1 misalignment even very minutely can impact the vagus nerve to a varying degree. And what that does is diminishes that signal and that is a parasympathetic signal.
Now we need a parasympathetic signal for gut operation. So what happens if that is impaired is that will diminish function. Because say, stomach acid, Motility, digestive enzymes, various things that we need to function, if we are not having those complete signals, we are not operating very well.
Right? And so this is where I have been through so many gut issues personally, you know, and I've gone through my order of things, trying to get stomach acid back, being on the digestive enzymes, the betaine HCL, trying to cinch the permeability in my gut, like all those things, right? And through testing, I have found what worked for me. And first and foremost, in order for all
Josh Dech - CHN (06:31.142)Mm-hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (06:38.451)those solutions to work, I needed neurological function because neurological function for me is how I believe that the body becomes responsive. Because the question is, if we're applying a treatment or we are doing something, we are making an assumption that the body is ready and willing to change. And I don't believe it is. That responsiveness for me comes from function, which is...
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Josh Dech - CHN (07:00.765)Hmm. Alright.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (07:07.205)neurological function Is the motility of the gut good for whatever you're trying to do, right? Is the permeability dealt with? Right, so that's where like for me I believe and I have tested these on myself especially for food reactivities and sensitivities Seen at first hand where if I had neurological function restored
Josh Dech - CHN (07:15.581)Mm-hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (07:20.7)Interesting.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (07:37.211)I managed and I was able to recover and change the environment versus, you know, just work around it. Because for you and I, when we are trying to do corrective things, because you and I try to do corrective things, right, we have to get to that place.
Josh Dech - CHN (07:45.137)Right. So.
Josh Dech - CHN (07:54.342)Yeah.
Well, how would somebody know they're listening right now to this thing? Okay, Ryan makes sense. I understand my nerves have to be tuned up and have to be functioning fully to even have my basic motility function. If you don't have good motility, you're going to get hyper fermentation over absorption. You're going to get hyper toxification. You're going to get all kinds of digestive issues. It messes with your gut microbiome and the cascade starts all over. So if someone's listening to this, what are some very obvious signs they can go? I must have some inhibition not on or off.
or even impingement but some kind of inhibition in my nerves that I should be addressing for my general health or my gut health.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (08:33.533)Yes, for me, honestly, any symptom, really. It's just because I, for me, whenever I see one, and it's not the only spinal segment that can impair the digestive system, it is just the first and typically the most prominent that has, what's that?
Josh Dech - CHN (08:49.955)What is a C1? Explain this. You say a C1. You and I know this language. What is a C1? Alright.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (08:53.891)Yes, sorry. So C1 is the first cervical vertebrae right underneath the skull. C1 on C2 of those vertebrae, that joint is the most unstable in the body. So all your nerves pass through C1 that are gonna go down and go through the gut or in front in the case of the vagus nerve.
Yeah.
Josh Dech - CHN (09:21.939)Okay, now this is just unstable because of how much mobility range of motion the head is supposed to have. Is this why it's unstable?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (09:28.481)Okay, well that's where we get into instability. So not everybody is unstable there, so you can have a misalignment, which means you have stability, you just don't have alignment. Because ligaments dictate stability. So I can adjust somebody, see one, restore it, restore all nerve function, and they could hold forever. There are cases of instability that have varying reasons that have caused ligament laxity.
And then that's where we get into a lack of sustainability of the adjustment. So that's where there's two causes. So at the very top of the flow that it's going to go is a C1 syndrome. So we know C1, the top cervical vertebrae, is a C1 syndrome because you and I are discussing what would tell somebody if C1 is causing their symptoms. Well, it can be any symptom because it is a C1 syndrome.
it is easier to list the symptoms that it doesn't cause versus what it does because basically even down to say something like plantar fasciitis or even gut health is impacted by C1 misalignment through varying nerves. So any symptom, if you are trying to get better, I always say get a functional assessment, right? Internal, external, neurological, all those things.
to be completely thorough because for me, a neurological system that is well makes the body responsive. If you're not dealing with a responsive body, the question is the treatment not working or did you just not make the body responsive because I believe when you do the right treatment, it always works.
Josh Dech - CHN (11:04.691)Got it.
Josh Dech - CHN (11:16.336)Right. So a symptom you're saying can be anything. I mean, now we're talking skin issues, plantar fasciitis. Are we talking muscular skeletal symptoms? Are we talking bloating and digestion? Are we talking sleeplessness, irritability? Can you give me some of the most common examples? I mean, any symptom really is there's 13,000 things we can see. What are the most common ones you can tell me?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (11:32.394)Yes, I know. Yes. So definitely when I see a C1 syndrome, again branches off into either just a C1 dysfunction or misalignment or a C1 instability of which has to be handled in different ways. But when we're talking about symptoms, the top two for me are excessive fatigue and excessive irritability. Those are the top two. But keep in mind when those are there, even though those are the symptoms, it's still a C1 misalignment. So other things,
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can be asymptomatic such as the impact on the vagus nerve. Right? Just because it's not symptomatic, that impairment can still be there. Just because, like for me, so if somebody comes to me with a C1 issue, I take them to my chart back here and I show them what the vagus nerve and I say, if you have a C1 misalignment, your vagus nerve is gonna be affected. How's your mood? How's your sympathetic system? So then we get into say,
Josh Dech - CHN (12:08.025)Got it.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (12:32.007)They have mood issues and oftentimes they will have something like a reflux, yes, bloating or an alteration in say constipation and diarrhea.
Josh Dech - CHN (12:47.407)Gotcha. You know, it's interesting, you and I, because we worked together back in 2019, I got a really nasty concussion and a really nasty whiplash. of grade three, it was a grade two whiplash. You have your one, two, threes, you graded me a WOD two. And so it was just getting kicked in the head and it really messed me up for years. And there's still issues. I literally saw you at the time of recording yesterday just to go in and try to clean up some tissue. So it's been ongoing for years now at this stage.
And for me, my symptoms are really obvious. The back of my neck aches, I'm prone to headaches, I get some stiffness, and I know, muscularly speaking, I've got other issues that I can tell. If we're talking about this C1, this vertebra right under the skull, the base of the skull, right at the top of the spine, being compromised in some way.
For me, I know because certain muscles start shutting down. If you have compromised nerve, so that flow like a hose is compressed, then the power supply to the muscles underneath it, which is everything below your neck, will get shut down in some way. There's a chain there. If they get shut down or inhibited, something else has to compensate and take over the load as well. So this is where I'll find for me, maybe my glutes, my butt, the muscles there aren't firing very well. So all the muscles in my hip flexors tighten up, so do my quads.
Now I got pain in my knees, pain in my hips, it hurts to sit. Then the lower back pain starts, the sciatica can come on. And I dealt with this years ago when I started seeing you the first time because of the shutdown that kept happening. And so if you're listening right now and you have any muscular issues, that can be connected to neck. We're talking the gut connection to the neck. But there's more. You mentioned there's some key inhibitory points. I believe you said there's really five major impingement points.
that need to be addressed. Can you walk me through what those five main impingement points are, particularly the neck and the lower back and their innervations to the gut as well?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (14:44.474)Absolutely. So for me, so what we have in the body is what I term five inhibitory change, inhibitory chains. Okay. So those things influence as a domino effect, the nerve system. Now, if we're to talk about the gut, there are two prominent nerve entrapment sites or nerve compression sites to the spine that I think are just the most relevant. The other ones do come in and around the pelvis.
which are relevant, but they would be much more minor. So the two that I would always just look at because not only are they extremely impactful, but those are also areas where we have significant instability and therefore they are often not treated, nor do people hold those treatments. And that is the C1, which is the C1 on the C2, but that C1 alignment and the mid back at the TL junction, which is the T12,
L1 segment.
Josh Dech - CHN (15:41.401)So it's kind of a cross in the belly button, like straight through the spine there.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (15:44.288)It is, well because that's an irritation point. And I'm always very just careful on my wording just because I'm not gonna say it's a pinch, but I'm gonna tell you it's a congestion site, a compression site. It is going to irritate the structures at that segment and below. And we have to keep in mind, even at a compression site, it can affect a couple segments above, a couple segments below, but it can really affect anything down below.
So this, even the mid-back, can affect everything in the lumbopelvic region, even the insides. Because nerves around that region affect different viscera and even down below, if we're talking about various nerves at the sacral region, which are below it are impaired, which is nerves that feed the hindgut.
Josh Dech - CHN (16:36.493)Hmm, interesting.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (16:38.11)So we have to see any section of the spine that is affected can affect the nerves below and it's not just muscles. Nerves just don't feed muscles. They feed everything. So it plays a role.
Josh Dech - CHN (16:52.589)Yeah, so basically your impingement, whether you know it or not, again, you say it doesn't necessarily be pinched. I think we associate pinched nerve with pain, with a sharp tweak, with a twinge. It hurts to bend and move that way. Or I need acupuncture, massage, or an adjustment to open that nerve. You're not talking about a pinched nerve. You're talking about a congestion point that may be compressive. It may be a flow issue. It might be muscular. There's a lot of different factors here. Is that correct?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (17:19.834)That is correct because you gotta keep in mind what is the pinch from, right? If something is pinched, typically if say somebody says, it's a pinched nerve, I don't know many things that actually can actually pinch a nerve, right? The things that can overtly hurt a nerve are most often a disc where if you have say an overt disc herniation, that is a lot of compression even to say you could term it a pinch. But I don't love that term because that sounds like damage and injury and these things are all treatable and they are not.
damaged. So we often think, I have a pinched nerve, but then that's saying, I have a torn muscle. No, you may have muscle pain, but it's not torn. You may have nerve irritation or an entrapment, but you do not have a pinch, right? But it still does create interference and pain and symptoms.
Josh Dech - CHN (17:51.096)Mm.
Josh Dech - CHN (18:09.935)Hmm. Okay, so here's, guess, my ultimate question. Ultimate at, you know, 18 minutes into the episode is, what do we do about this? You know, most people go to the chiropractor, they get snapped, cracked, popped like a rice krispie. They're turned in like a pretzel. It's all food here with me. I'm clearly a fat kid. But you have all these snaps and twists and changes they do. And then come back and see me every week until you die. Obviously, this is not what you do.
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of all the years having seen you, mentored under you, worked with you, used your teachings for clients when I was personal training, even I've used your assessments, neurological impingements, pain points and other things for clients in my gut programs because it's relevant. I've used that. What is it that you don't like about what most chiropractors are doing and what do you do differently when it comes to adjustments?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (18:59.438)major thing is assessing. So there has to be a flow of what we do, right? We have to have awareness of conditions, right? We need to be able to assess, we need to diagnose, and then we need to be able to treat the condition that's ahead of us. So one of my biggest challenges is, as a lot of carers don't know how to treat C1. And because of these challenges, not only C1 and a lot of this nerve function, so I have created
to teach it because of course I can't sit here and just be like you should know better. I don't fault people for not knowing but I can fault people for not learning or expanding their knowledge. Right? So people then, the challenge that I have is that yes, not all chiropractors treat C1 but also they don't understand stability so what happens if C1 cannot hold? What is the symptomatic
Josh Dech - CHN (19:41.764)Hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (19:58.282)Influence of what's going on. I can give you an example. had a new patient last week And she came to me and she was in really rough shape with neck pain for me neck pain is very straightforward Okay, I had found out that she had told me we went very thorough into her history because the history is extremely important it really gives me most of my answers and I found out she has a genetic condition that you and I have discussed
She has a variety of other things going on. It was completely lost. So I had to kind of take all that information and figure, okay, this is a person with symptoms. We need to correct this issue, right? So that permitted me because the understanding was there. Okay, yes, we need to correct the C1, but we also have to correct it sustainably. And this is why when she comes in, she puts in her intake form. I think that
chiropractic made me worse because I was getting adjusted two to three times a week.
Josh Dech - CHN (21:01.315)Hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (21:01.841)But really the question for me comes down to was this neurological state, even this genetic background and this genetic history for her evaluated and considered because she has instability. It means there's no amount of adjustments that she could hold. So we are talking about the MTHFR gene polymorphism.
Josh Dech - CHN (21:22.772)So what's this genetic condition you're referring to?
Josh Dech - CHN (21:31.946)Can you explain that a bit? Because we haven't talked about it in great detail. I mean we have. I think it was episode 89 with Sage Workinger if I'm not mistaken. We talked about that a fair bit in the methylation processes but can you dive into this MTHFR and what you're talking about its relation to connective tissue?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (21:37.381)Yes.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (21:42.737)Okay, absolutely.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (21:48.539)for connective tissue for sure because it is a huge topic. Like we could probably have an hour on this one. really it impairs an ability for your body to convert say dietary folate or folic acid and enriched foods into the usable form. So rarely do what we consume is do we consume it in the form that our body uses it. I don't even know if at all. But what happens is,
Josh Dech - CHN (21:52.296)Mm-hmm. Easily.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (22:18.085)This is an impaired metabolism of folate. So you will take that folate or folic acid and you cannot convert it. So the problem is and way through just all these biochemical mechanisms, it causes impaired structure integrity of ligaments. Ligaments require folate to function. Now it's not the only reason and this is what I go into my course because my course teaches how to
correct C1TL, what happens if they're unstable, because it's not the only way. Then we get into the conversation of, how do we differentiate MTHFR and EDS, and there's all these ebbs and flows of things. But this specifically, when it's determined, is a very easy way to rectify one form of ligament instability, or sorry, ligament laxity, which leads to joint instability.
Josh Dech - CHN (23:10.771)Hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (23:15.112)Gotcha. So by getting some really nice high quality methylfolate or an L5 methylfolate, this right away just by itself can already help with supporting loose connective tissue that leads to instability in the neck or other joint areas which lead to issues in the gut. And so theoretically simply taking a proper form of L5 methylfolate even without a chiropractic adjustment may actually help digestion.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (23:34.277)Yes.
Josh Dech - CHN (23:44.711)by a myriad of different ways. Is that what you're saying?
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Dr. Ryan Emmons (23:46.993)I wouldn't even say may I've seen it. I've seen it when I have had somebody and we've eliminated all the other versions of instability. Keep that in mind that there's a flow and there's a way. it's not the only answer, but there are some people where absolutely it was their only cause of instability. Yes, by taking that, it did correct the majority of what we were dealing with and aid in many of their symptoms. I'm not saying may, because I test it.
Josh Dech - CHN (24:14.249)Mm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (24:16.864)You know, I'm not somebody that's like, it might, it might do this, and me do that. I test every day. You know me. It's like, I ask everybody, would you like to test this? Do you want to test this? Just because I keep stats and some pages on my desk of the past three years of all the testing, all the stuff that we do. And I can tell you, I've just seen some remarkable things. No, it's not everybody. And this is why guidance is so important. It's why I created my course for.
Josh Dech - CHN (24:25.691)Yeah, non-stop.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (24:42.358)health practitioners because I don't want people to get lost. There is a structured way that a health professional can guide people to getting this solved and managed to the best that they can be, right?
Josh Dech - CHN (24:54.344)Well, how do I know if I've got this MTHFR? I we know at least 44 % of the population has this gene mutation, this MTHFR. It's become very popularized and I think a lot of people are assuming, but given how frequent it actually comes up with 44 % or more of the population, it sounds like you're probably safe to assume you have it. How would you know besides getting a DNA test? What do you do to test?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (25:17.129)Well, in the office, what I do is because if somebody has an impairment, for example, a neurological impairment from C1, now remember, these are select cases and other things have been ruled out, but for this alone, really, it's actually very simple and you might be surprised and think, it's just crazy stuff, but I do crazy stuff here all the time because people just think what I do is unbelievable, that it's magic, and I just tell them, no, it's just working with your body.
say giving it the essentials that it needs or figuring out the root of the problem and when you do, crazy things happen. You know, when I correct a C1 and muscles go instantly strong, people are like, you didn't push as hard. I'm like, no, I just opened up the channels. It's actually that simple. So in the office, if somebody has a neurological impairment related only to the MTHFR caused ligament laxity,
One week, as you've experienced, one week they will come in. That neurological impairment will be gone. One week. Okay, now think about what that can do over months and various things. Now I speak on this because overall there's generally three large types of ligament laxity and I had all three. So I had to discover this and figure out how to order it and do all it, but I can tell you.
Josh Dech - CHN (26:26.471)Yeah.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (26:43.707)Adding the MTHF, well, sorry, the methylfolate to my diet and the diet of my daughter's has been dramatic. And I don't embellish. I don't make a big deal of things, but I will tell you, when it's made a big deal and I'm keeping statistics of it, it's very helpful.
Josh Dech - CHN (27:01.21)Yeah, so mean, MTHFR is interesting because again, anything that's social media and sort of popularized really starts to lose its potency, I think, in the public eye because it becomes sensationalized. But some of the symptoms of MTHFR mutation, that's your methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase gene. I memorized that one so I sound smart. But basically what it's going to do is like you said, changes how your body will use this folate or this
Dr. Ryan Emmons (27:11.634)Yes.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (27:20.392)You know.
Josh Dech - CHN (27:28.602)Vitamin B9. So I mean you can deal with symptoms like fatigue, mental health issues, elevated blood pressure, blood clots, heart disease, stroke, migraines. It can be attached to hormonal issues, chronic pain, fibromyalgia even. Of course, digestive issues, neurological symptoms. There are so detoxing and you how your body, your liver starts to hold on to these toxins. There's so many things connected to it. But
I think what's really important about this, what you're saying is that sometimes it's a very easy fix. If about 50 % of the population has this or just is a vitamin deficiency, you take it leads to better or less laxity in your connective tissue, which leads to your joints holding in place, which then leads to less nerve compression, which leads to better body muscular and digestive function as a whole. That's sort of our summary up till now. Is that right?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (28:01.415)Mm-hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (28:20.294)That's the summary, yeah. Now keeping in mind that you can have varying severities of the MTHFR gene mutation, right? So I always call it with my patients, I like to just keep it so that they understand it. I call it MTHFR, light, moderate, or heavy, right? Because some can have only a small degree of say ligament laxity or symptoms. Some people are very, very heavy. Those are my true unstable cases that typically have
Josh Dech - CHN (28:22.15)I love it.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (28:49.292)all types of instability and are MTHFR heavy. And I agree with you that it's just so hyped up. It really is like everybody talks about it, I'm gonna be on methafolate and I'm gonna do all these things. But it's interesting because what I've seen is extremely impactful though. It actually for this one is justified. For me, I don't like hypes whether it's in working out or.
knew this, knew that, I don't care. I get lots of emails of everybody was, hey, there's this new product on the market, this, that, and everything else. And I'm like, okay, but I test and I see what these things can do and I commit to it because we've been testing the MTHFR in the clinic and its outcomes for, we're coming up on a year now. And I can tell you, I've kept the statistics. It's statistically relevant, like very.
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Josh Dech - CHN (29:15.205)Hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (29:22.992)course.
Josh Dech - CHN (29:42.726)It's a hard word to say.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (29:43.927)I know, I'm like, that's a lot to come out. But I'm telling you, it's impactful. It's like you and I had talked about even the impacts of acupuncture historically. And that was something that, those things impress me. They really blow my mind, because not a lot can impress nowadays. You know what I mean? It takes a lot to be like, have a wow factor. I'm like, well, you know, okay, that's okay, that's cool. But these things, wow, blows my mind. Some things I'm like, I just.
Josh Dech - CHN (29:53.509)Yeah.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (30:13.486)kind of is shocking or unbelievable, but there's certain things that work to that degree. I'm not saying it's a fix all, but when you need it, it is a huge impact.
Josh Dech - CHN (30:23.886)Alright, very interesting. Okay, so let's say someone's listening right now. They're obviously not in the Calgary area to see you specifically, but they know they got a problem. The hearing doctor, Ryan Ammons, is going, okay, I'm going to try some methylfolate, like a really nice available form. I'm going to get some adjustments done.
You, since I've worked with you, I don't know if you've ever cracked my neck in the same sense where you twist, rotate, snap me like a pretzel. I've always hated that. I always hurt after. Never loved that. Never loved the chiropractic guns they use with a, know, the clickers that to push your vertebra around. You've for as long as I've known you, at least from my specific cases of injuries I've sustained through sports or something else, have used a lot of traction.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (30:49.732)Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (31:09.752)or lot of very gentle style movements instead of these really high velocity unless it's been my pelvis on the table or something where you're kind of adjusting my SI joints. So what do you think when someone's listening to this right now, what would you recommend if they're going to the chiropractor? Is there a certain style or type of adjustment they should be looking for? Is there something that you think people should be avoiding that could be dangerous when looking to get their nerves and their muscles and bones back into alignment to help with these issues?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (31:37.376)Yeah. So the biggest challenge, because I have this, because I have people that travel out of town, oftentimes because they're unstable and then what they're doing is not working. But also a lot of practitioners do not treat C1, nor do they treat C1 to complete restoration. So the first thing I would tell people is because I don't believe their practitioner would probably have it in their toolkit.
I would tell them, encourage them, like I would tell them take my course, to be honest, like not to say, everybody should take my course. But the course, yes, totally, but the course equips practitioners to treat C1TL, whether it's stable or unstable, to go through all these versions of instability because most practitioners do not treat C1 and I don't want to look down on...
Josh Dech - CHN (32:11.129)Yeah. Well, you're here because I love what you do. So I mean, let's talk about it.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (32:31.176)on other C1 techniques, but I've tested many of them. I've had people go to their practitioner, come in, and they have not worked to completely resolve nerve techniques. And I say this because I've tested, right? I do neurological testing. I do a variety of things for us to know this is about the patient. This is not about me or the practitioner or anything like that. This is about the patient. So this is why I created my course was because practitioners need to enhance what's going on.
Patients need to be asking for this stuff because if they do have gut health, yes, we have to be asking the practitioner. Okay. Well, how are you gonna Help my vagus nerve Yes, the vagus nerve. Okay, we can do vagal tone exercises you can have vagus nerve stimulators, but I always remind people are you going to heal this if you don't unentrap this site with a simple adjustment because
It is more than just a C1 adjustment. It is a corrective C1 adjustment, and it's also being able to identify what happens if that C1 adjustment doesn't hold, which is actually quite common. And I've estimated instability of the upper cervical spine, which I term upper cervical instability, to be anywhere from 25 to 40 % of my practice. I see it way more than I would like to. It's very heavy some weeks.
Just the people that I see the symptoms that I see you know the incorrective treatment that they've had how Conditions have been prolonged It's it's very difficult, so it gives me very very passionate about it, and it's just because I want better So that's where what can patients do well I don't want every patient to come in and say this but They need to advocate for something better say you know have you taken this course? Do you knew how to treat see one can you treat?
Josh Dech - CHN (34:13.08)Right.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (34:24.529)upper cervical instability, can you treat TL, can you TL instability, lumbar spine instability, SI joint instability, these are all things that need to be common terms that people should be able to go to the practitioner and keep in mind that it's not just about chiropractors because physios can do everything in my course, they can do all the same things. Massage therapists, one of the people that treat me is a massage therapist.
who has worked underneath me, and he is the person that adjusts my C1, knows all about instability because you can mobilize, which is in their scope.
Josh Dech - CHN (35:03.95)Gotcha. So this course is very directed at practitioners. And so if you're a protection or listening right now, definitely something to check out. I can attest to this. I've seen it in my clients. I've had it done with me. I've worked with Ryan for years on many issues, old and new. I'm always hurting myself doing something stupid. I'm so glad you've been around. But someone right now, most of our listeners,
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Dr. Ryan Emmons (35:07.625)practitioners.
Josh Dech - CHN (35:25.7)I'd say are not practitioners, probably 80 plus percent. We do have many doctors and clinicians of all kinds listening. But for those who are not, what are the things that they should look for when they're going to get an adjustment? Is it, like you said, someone who specializes in C1? Is that something that they might advertise on a website? What are some of the key things? Because this is kind of new stuff. I mean, it's old as humans are, but it's new as far as the research and the clinical practice. So what should they be looking for?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (35:45.119)Mm-hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (35:51.519)It is, it's so difficult for me to say this because you know, I don't want to be negative, but looking to somebody that does a C1, truly, I have not seen many C1 techniques work. Now, are there techniques out there that work? Yes, but I don't want to give people that false assumption because even if they do have an effective C1 treatment, the problem is is what happens if they have laxity and instability, which is anywhere from 25 to 40%.
of my practice and then they're just going down another road and getting lost. So because so many of people do have laxity due to the methofolate condition, I would actually just suggest them doing that. And if it doesn't from there, then you can go down the road to exploring more, but it's actually has a huge potential. Why not?
Josh Dech - CHN (36:24.109)Gotcha.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (36:45.631)You know, that's where it doesn't hurt to have a genetic test. It doesn't, right? They are affordable. You only ever have to do them once. It's definitive. You know, you can get severity. that's where like it is a good idea. I believe in it. I think it's important if you don't have somebody like me that can guide you, really determine it in a week in the clinic. There's just so many places to get it. Even if you're just getting the MTHFR tested or various ones.
like comti are very common ones. I think that really if you're going to invest money personally, that's where I would go.
Josh Dech - CHN (37:24.802)I love that. Thank you. It's very, very helpful. So let's talk about some other ways of stabilizing quickly because ultimately this whole conversation is about instability in the neck or the spine somewhere that leads to nerve compression, which leads to gut issues. And so if you go in to get an adjustment, whether it's through massage, who's decompressing, whether it's through physio, maybe doing traction or dry needling, or even a chiropractor or an osteopath who are adjusting the bones and the joints and getting into these areas, they ultimately have to hold.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (37:29.503)Mm-hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (37:54.083)Now something I've probably done 50 plus rounds of over the years to try to stabilize is prolo therapy. That's prolo p r o l o prolo therapy. And it's this dextrose sugar injection that creates an acute inflammatory response of basically sugar in saline water with a bit of lidocaine for the pain, which creates inflammation in the area. And then your body comes in and says, yep, that's new. Let's go heal it.
and it can really strengthen ligaments. had a friend of mine with EDS or Ehlers-Downlow syndrome, well known, who did go in and she held after the first one. It helped immensely. I've gone in for probably 50. I've had my shoulders injected, my knees, my neck, my lower back. I've had my ankles done, which I'm going to probably have to do at some point because I do have laxity. But like you said, I've got this MTHFR issue. I've been taking the folate for a week. I tested well. I actually bought myself a prenatal vitamin.
because it's got something like 1300 micrograms of methylfolate plus a full B spectrum and all kinds of goodies. So I'm gonna be a really, really healthy, able body to create a baby. But outside of that, my tissues are getting what they need. But prolotherapy works for some and not for others. It is not super commonly known, but can you talk a bit about prolotherapy? Where it would work, where it wouldn't, and why it wouldn't like these cases?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (39:14.855)Absolutely. Okay. So my opinion is that it always works. The question is why didn't it work? Because all it does is it kicks up the immune system and causes regrowth of connective tissue, specifically whatever you're bathing with the solution. I have always seen it work. The question came down to if it didn't, why?
And that's because there are some underlying cause systemically that cause laxity of the ligaments. Hence why I always say it all the time. You have to bring it together to see the big picture because there's not just one cause of ligament laxity and therefore joint instability. There's muscle impairments. There's ligament impairments and then it just flows from there. So you have to be able to have a diagnostic flow of it. But that said,
Reason is that for me. I was a look at it like a boat with holes in it Okay, so the water is coming in the boat All right, okay. We better bail out the boat, but so many treatments are bailing out the boat Never plugging the holes So you are in a state of breakdown? While you're trying to build it up, so this is why Right like I would say almost all
Josh Dech - CHN (40:30.241)Gotcha.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (40:40.532)of my patients have had success with Prolo, it's just to varying degrees. Has it helped to stabilize? Yes, but they needed so much more, some of them needed so much more like your case. And that's because you had those holes in the boat were your gene mutation because it was creating as much of the laxity internally and systemically as you were trying to repair externally. Does that make sense?
Josh Dech - CHN (40:51.092)Mm-hmm.
Josh Dech - CHN (41:08.54)Right, absolutely. so I'm trying to inject something to fix me but on a genetic level no matter what I put in there my body doesn't have the tools to use the support that it's being given.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (41:09.834)So it's interesting.
(02:28):
Dr. Ryan Emmons (41:16.064)Mmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (41:19.446)Correct. So what I did was as soon as I pieced all this together this year and I have my flow of instability, everything was working. I brought back all my most unstable cases, top five, top 10.
Made them all go stable this year. I have yet and a couple other variables. Keep that in mind. It's not the only one. It's just a prominent one. There's a couple precursors to that and various things and I don't want to complicate it too much. But yes, with the system, especially MTHFR, especially that, I've been able to stabilize every single patient. Now, there is still a need for prolo because what we've done is we plugged the holes there.
Josh Dech - CHN (41:38.474)by dealing with the MTHFR.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (42:06.39)is still laxity of those ligaments from 20, 30, 40, 50 years of having that gene mutation. So they have a lot of breakdown and laxity, but we are absolutely able to build that back up and require significantly less prolotherapy with significant more benefits. And I can say that all confidently because of course we always test and all those things are constantly in work. I just never understand like,
Josh Dech - CHN (42:27.348)Right.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (42:35.008)For me, I'm always outside of the box. I'm like, test, test, test. Why is this not working? How can we make this better? And that's where we need to go so that I can help other practitioners and patients that advocate for themselves because so many patients come to me and advocate for themselves and say, I need this, I want this. Can you explore this and help me with this? At least they have an avenue.
Josh Dech - CHN (42:54.079)Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. It's all about being equipped with the tools and this is stuff that I think, especially in the gut space, it's something that I've never seen discussed as the role of something like chiropractic. Now I think in one end, it's a small part of the puzzle, but also a big one. The question is what came first, the chicken or the egg? Did you have an instability, a car accident for example, that
There's two scenarios where you get somebody who comes in with a bacterial issue, maybe it's antibiotic use or a lifetime of abuse of poor food, whatever it might be. And it's disrupted the gut, which led to toxicities, which led to an over expression of this gene mutation of MTHFR you maybe had, which then created this breakdown cascade of connective tissue and the nervous system and other things, which ended up leaving to heightened stress responses, which then continued to cascade your gut issues. Or you have to somebody
who is relatively healthy in the gut, they get into a car accident and they get whiplash and that C1 vertebrae right at the top gets all malaligned. And now they've got a bunch of anxiety, stress issues, because the nervous system is not firing properly, which leads to elevated stress or in-fight and flight, which shuts down the rest and digest. They're not making stomach acid digestive enzymes on top of this already unstable MTHFR connective tissue.
which they didn't know they had, because it was never really a problem until the straw that broke the camel's back, which was, say, a car accident. So really have two ways where the gut can cause issues up top or up top can cause issues below. And so we have to figure out which one happened to you first. But along the way, going through and doing chiropractic treatment to keep the nervous system in check, to give your body the basic bioavailable nutrients like methylfolate or other methylated B vitamins and
Josh Dech - CHN (44:48.297)these nutrients, trace minerals, we'll all wax on, well at least give your body the bare minimum tools to do what it needs to do. Whether your neck or instability is a big problem or kind of a little problem, it's somewhere along the way that should be addressed at some point. If you can get it addressed now, it's better than later. I think that's a really fine point I just wanted to make sure I put on top of this episode as we're kind of winding it down.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (45:14.945)It's true, like we don't know chicken or egg. Like for me, I've seen it both ways, right? I've seen it where the neck will just cause significant digestive issues. had a gentleman, I'm pretty sure he was late 30s, early 40s. He could not eat. Every time he ate, he vomited. He was constantly nauseous, constantly bloated. I treated his C1 misalignment.
and I'm not kidding, in six treatments, because it typically takes four adjustments of a C1 to correct it, in six treatments, all gone. Never seen them since. Never seen them since, and that was it. So I can say that, but I can also say the flip side of it that I have seen where, the MTHFR and the gut stuff was creating more of the structural impact. So it's really good. This is why everything has a systematic order, right? Where we go through things and you do have an order.
Josh Dech - CHN (46:05.789)Mm-hmm.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (46:09.215)And for me, I always say function first. Right, why not? Because say if somebody's gonna go work out, I say function first. If you're gonna work out for the first time, get your muscles uninhibited. Right, if you're gonna do a gut protocol, well my opinion, because this is my loss, I say function first. Neurologically, get the gut neurologically going because what I always say is if the neurological system is well, you are responsive.
you are more responsive to what you're gonna do. But this is why working alongside somebody like yourself that's dealing with those other stuff that can at least coincide because we won't always know chicken or egg, right? It's that this is why so many people, they need a team. They do need a team, right? Some people will be sent to me from this profession, that profession. They're just like, can you just make sure that the neurological side is good so I can deal with my side and just make sure they are?
most responsive, boom, handful of treatments, they're not back to me. They're not back to me because the thing is, is my job, if I'm being corrective, should not be long term. Yes, they may need to see me once in a while and clients learn when they need to be here, but it is not a reliance. You should not be adjusted in my way on a regular basis or they are unstable.
Josh Dech - CHN (47:11.985)Amazing.
Josh Dech - CHN (47:31.355)Right, and you're not actually fixing it, you're just sort of mitigating, it's like a medication. You're just taking on an as needed basis to manage symptoms, but you're not fixing the root of the problem.
(02:49):
Dr. Ryan Emmons (47:38.527)Yes, totally. Again, it only heals if it holds. And I reinforce these things all the time that I love sustainability because I'm not trying to hold on to this small batch of patients to treat them all the time. I think we could get a greater utilization of proper care and treat way more people and do such justice to people by treating the right things in the right way for the right reasons and helping people with their...
Josh Dech - CHN (48:02.78)Yeah.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (48:08.584)symptoms.
Josh Dech - CHN (48:10.075)I love it. Tell me Ryan about this course of yours. that those listening, if they're a practitioner or if it's something that somebody wants to recommend to a practitioner or if they're becoming one or have a family or friend who might be a practitioner, they can benefit from this. Where can they find this course and some of this information about it? Because obviously I can speak to its efficacy, having been working with you through all kinds of injuries as they come and go, learning this process, using what you've taught me and my own clients, which is...
just to give you an idea, I had some personal training clients like a decade ago or so that I worked online with some PT clients. I've had digestive clients, again, working in the gut space for half a decade.
I've had them go into their chiropractor and say, Hey, cause I'll do these video assessments with them. Take a look at this, try this, do this, record yourself and report back, answer these questions while you do it. They'll do pressure tests and this and that, and I'll watch them bend and hinge and move. I can see what muscles are firing properly, what aren't. And just from what you've taught me, said, Hey, I want you to go to your chiropractor, tell them you have this, this, and this thing wrong and that these muscles aren't working. And here's the adjustments you want. I've gotten emails back from these chiropractors going, how did you get all of that information from a
video. Unbelievable. I'm not even a chiropractor. So what you're teaching is pretty good stuff. So if someone listening wants to find it for themselves or on the benefit of someone else, where can they find this course?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (49:33.129)Absolutely, so it's online. It's called clinicalupgrade.ca clinicalupgrade.ca And I am expanding the courses so right now. It's the complete course. It's one day. It teaches everybody all The Corrections how to deal with instability all the ins and outs like I said earlier mthfr versus eds I can't tell you how many people have come to me, and so I said I have eds. I'm like Really, do you understand that?
not all kinds of ADS have a genetic route, how are you gonna treat this? let's do a flip. See where I'm going with this? Is you have to determine and treat the treatables. So this is where I teach all of this in my course so that everybody can have a complete top-down understanding of how to do the corrections and keep them sustainable.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:14.278)Right.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:26.138)I love that. I think it's great. Clinicalupgrade.ca.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (50:26.854)Yeah, and like I said earlier, it's also not just for chiropractors. Yes, there is some adjusting, but it is things that other health professionals can do like physios, massage therapists. don't want it just to be for chiropractors. We need to be health professionals that can help people just be better and just correct what's going on. You know, because most adjustments are through mobilization, which is just a joint stretch. There is no risk to those.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:50.159)Yeah.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:57.19)Right.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (50:57.403)but a lot of benefit.
Josh Dech - CHN (50:59.844)Yeah, I love it. Ryan, this is brilliant. So we got clinicalupgrade.ca as your first place. If someone wants to learn more about you, find information from you, of course, working in person with you, where can they find all that information?
Dr. Ryan Emmons (51:12.879)Okay, so, you know, if people are curious about what I do, my Instagram goes over some of the little things that I talk about. But my office is called Atlas Pain and Performance Center, and it's atlaspaincenter.com. C-E-N-T-R-E, atlaspaincenter.com. And yeah, and they can always just reach out, email, check out what I'm about, but really what they find is a lot of logic. And I really...
What I look, when I tell people, I know these are foreign concepts, but when I tell people, everything sounds logical, right? Do you, you know, if somebody has a strain of their shoulder, right? It's, okay, so are you exercising a strain, or is that strain? Do we need to repair the strain? Yes, that makes more sense, right? So a lot of what needs to happen is we have to move forward with a lot more understanding and using a lot of logic.
Josh Dech - CHN (51:50.639)Yes.
Josh Dech - CHN (52:13.189)I like logic.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (52:13.987)Yeah, people find a lot of reassurance when I talk to them because I make sense of things very simply and they're like, yeah, that makes sense and I like to demonstrate things and test things and it gives people a lot of confidence and I just want to expand that. would just, if I had one wish and that would be to just let so many practitioners know and just open up their toolkit in their wheelhouse. They don't even have to change anything. Just expand and place this in it and
(03:10):
let patient care be a little bit better, right, with less risk to people, and so that they could learn to trust chiropractic and all those things that they have kind of steered away from, you know, I'd say that's it.
Josh Dech - CHN (52:59.012)Yeah, I love that. And so I know it's sort of a fancy last word, but I do want to ask if there's anything we haven't talked about, anything we haven't mentioned, you want to make sure we put in here or mention as a last words of wisdom before we wrap this up.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (53:14.626)Yeah, it's really what I say is the body responsive. Ask yourself that. Because I feel like everything else hinges on that, right? Whether you're gonna go neurological first or gut first, and we know that this is truly based on gut health because it is essential to our mental well-being. And really, like I've seen it so many times, if somebody's gut is not good, do you think they're gonna be achy through their joints and their muscles? Absolutely.
But the question going into anything, am I responsive? What do I need to do to get the most out of it? So when people come to me at the beginning, I am honest and I'm transparent and I say, your responsiveness is very low until I get things somewhat corrected in about a handful of treatments. I say, so what you're gonna do is a lot of work for a little gain. And what I wanna do is change that. I wanna do a lot of work for a lot of gain.
Because what's happening is that's just simply about the responsiveness, whether it's about an adjustment, rolling, gut, all those things is are they ready mentally and physically, and how do we get them there?
Josh Dech - CHN (54:30.338)I love it. Very wise words, Ryan, and I appreciate you being here sharing all this expertise and it's interesting. I speak to lot of clinicians and a of doctors on this show from all over the world. Some just absolutely brilliant, famous, but very rarely do I have someone on here who I have direct personal experience with being in their clinic and I just can't recommend what you do enough. It's been an absolute game changer. I've felt days where my neck has been off.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (54:43.523)Hmm
Josh Dech - CHN (54:57.688)because of my injury to my head and my neck where I'm not holding, I'm not sleeping, I'm grinding my teeth, I'm irritable, I'm not functioning well, and every time I come in to see you there's a fix and I feel better and what you're teaching is legit and I can speak from that from experience. So if you're listening right now, make sure you check out that course for yourself or for the benefit of someone else at clinicalupgrade.ca and Dr. Ryan Emmons, thank you so much for being here.
Dr. Ryan Emmons (55:24.259)Thanks for having me.
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