a person experiencing shouder pain

Movements for healthy shoulders

Proper breathing mechanics and exercise help keep the upper spine loose

Farmers often come to me complaining of pain and fatigue between the shoulder blades. This is an especially important area for humans as the shoulders are the core of our arms, in a sense. It’s not surprising that they are a common area of complaint, just as the low back is a common area of […] Read more


In rare instances people are born with the sciatic nerve travelling through the piriformis muscle, meaning a greater likelihood of sciatica symptoms.

Sciatica, the proverbial pain in the butt

Overcoming it means paying attention to how you move and how you face stress

A common complaint I see in my clinic is sciatica. Sciatica can be a blanket diagnosis for pain in the hip, buttocks and down the leg. It’s labelled “sciatica” because often the sciatic nerve — a nerve that exits at the base of your spine and travels down the back of your legs, can be […] Read more

Would you be able to sit with your thoughts and feelings just a while to consider how you are aging and managing in place on your farm?

Being an emotionally strong farm parent

Strong-willed and independent people might consider a self-coaching approach

Tis the season of farm meetings, where the speakers will talk about business and “keeping the emotion” out of business using data to make concrete decisions. I don’t debate this approach for grain marketing, but I highly doubt stuffing emotions on the farm creates clarity of expectations or happy outcomes. Recently I met Carolyn Stern, […] Read more


The temperature in a warm-to-hot shower or bath can help support a healthy vagal tone in the body.

Support the nervous system for whole health

Fit to Farm: Stimulating the vagus nerve can help you deal with stress-related conditions

If you’ve read my articles before, you may know I am a total nervous system nerd. The nervous system is the mechanism of direction and feedback for our soft tissue which, in turn, moves our skeleton and connective tissues. The nervous system has sensory and motor pathways throughout the entire body, including our musculature, organs, […] Read more

Any kind of dance gets the whole body moving and engages the senses, and it can also be done alone, with a partner or in a group. It truly is a remedy that works on multiple levels for multiple reasons.

An ancient remedy for better health

Fit to Farm: Dancing is fun, but it can also enhance your mental and physical well-being

The oldest remedy in the world? It’s amazing think of how much we humans have evolved to handle. Our biology never ceases to come up with ways to move us forward. Many of the life-threatening diseases we face today are relatively new to human history. Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and obesity are considered […] Read more


Knee and joint pain

Nourish your joints through movement

There’s truth to the adage “use it or lose it”

Regardless of age, health history or lifestyle, maintaining healthy joints can be a deciding factor in long-term quality of life and well-being. Normal levels of joint degeneration occur as people age. Certain diseases or genetic conditions can also affect the quality of joint health. That said, disease and age are not necessarily reasons for limited […] Read more

Take a breath

Take a breath

How 'coherent breathing' can help people with chronic digestive complaints

It may sound wild, but how we breathe can have a big effect on chronic digestive complaints. Our digestive system is largely controlled by a portion of our nervous system known as the enteric nervous system and a cranial nerve called the vagus nerve. These parts of our neurology are what receive and give information […] Read more


Regulate your nervous system

Regulate your nervous system

Fit to Farm: Turns out “shaking it off” can really help if you’re feeling stressed out

Nervous system regulation is becoming a common term nowadays when discussing emotional and physical well-being. To best understand what nervous system regulation means, we first need a basic understanding of how our nervous system works. The nervous system as a whole is essentially our biological operating system. It controls our biological functions, movements, sensations and […] Read more

File photo of a provincial border marker in Lloydminster. (Michele Gervais/iStock/Getty Images)

Borderline city hosts interprovincial food trade pilot

Trade barrier on pause for two years for food businesses serving Lloydminster

The idea of loosening interprovincial trade in certain foods made by provincially-inspected processors will get a major test in one of Canada’s very few province-crossing municipalities. The Saskatchewan, Alberta and federal governments on Jan. 19 announced the start of a two-year pilot project within the limits of Lloydminster, a city of over 31,000 people straddling […] Read more