As a sports chiropractor, my training involves learning how to best treat the body to effect changes in many ways for dysfunctional joints, muscles, ligaments, cartilage, fascia, and more. We know that chiropractic adjustments alter neurological pathways that change joint mechanics and alter muscle tone and tension, allowing for a change in biomechanics at local and more global regions. This is great and it works well, but what about all the ‘holistic’ training we receive? Chiropractors are supposed to take care of the whole body, inside and out, but most of us do not do that when we only treat the body from the outside. This approach is not complete and it does not allow us to fully help our patients. Continue Reading →
01
Jun 2016
1
20
May 2016
Slouching Population Part 2 of 3: Good Posture and Children
Have you recently witnessed a child sitting hunched over with their head down staring at a smartphone, ipad, or tablet on a table or on their lap? I would venture to guess that you see this picture multiple times per day if you have, or are around, children. I would also go as far as to assume that most, if not all, children have been told multiple times to “sit up straight” by teachers, parents, and/or grandparents. However, even with the constant reminders, it seems that kids have been slumping more and more with the passing of each decade. One of the worst postures I have seen to date is a preteen who developed a point in his mid-back where there should be a smooth curve.
What is causing our youth to have worsening poor posture? Are they having an undeclared slouching contest with the previous generation, are they trying to be cool, or are they just a product of their environment with the vast surge in the use of technology? I get it. Even we adults need to be told to sit-up properly, especially when we are working at a computer, texting, or using a tablet. And you know what? Children hate being corrected as much as we do. With that said, it is hard enough to get adults to follow instructions, so how do we get children to change their habits, and understand the lifelong repercussions of sitting and standing in bad posture? Continue Reading →
07
Mar 2016
Why The A1C (Glycated Hemoglobin) Test For Diabetics Does NOT Give Us The Whole Picture
Diabetics are familiar with the A1C test. It is performed to assess roughly a 90 day period of sugar that is attached to your hemoglobin. It is supposed to tell us if we are taking good care of ourselves. The test is performed every 3 months because the average life of a red blood cell is 90 days.
Diabetics are told that the A1C is the ‘holy grail’ of knowing if you are in good health or not. It’s the aim of most every diabetic to get that number lower! I’ve been diabetic for over 35 years and it’s great to learn new things. What have I learned? I now know that the A1C, although a great test to determine the ‘average’ blood sugar reading over 3 months, does really nothing more than that. It does NOT accurately tell us all we need to know about our diabetic health.
The A1C for a non-diabetic person is about 5.7%. A ‘well-controlled’ diabetic will have an A1C at 6.5% or lower. If someone’s A1C is 8.0% or higher, then they are generally in trouble! Long-term high blood sugar levels lead to high levels of oxidative stress (free radical damage). This damage is mostly what is responsible for killing diabetics. Afterall, 65% of diabetics will die from heart disease/stroke and this damage is caused by, you guessed it, poor blood sugar control. Continue Reading →
08
Feb 2016
Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks: My Personal Experience With Caloric Restriction and Intermittent Fasting
INTRODUCTION
I’ve been in the health and fitness business for close to 20 years. I’ve worked with many supplement and nutrition companies but none could fully deliver what I needed for both my patients and me. I’ve always considered myself to be ‘in great shape’, but there is never a time that more cannot be done for a diabetic, like me. I’ve always looked for products or systems that could lower my oxidative stress (high free radical levels) so that there would not be cumulative damage to my body by such stressors. There are options, but they are all allopathic in nature…meaning, they treat an existent problem yet do nothing to reduce/eliminate what is causing the problem. With diabetes and most other health issues, this is too late. I needed to find a system that could get to the cause of the oxidative stress.
My evolution led me to a program that I have now discovered is unmatched by any other in the industry for my health, and for yours. Period. Continue Reading →
06
Jul 2015
Dry Needling Support Models (4 of 4): Central Model and Studies That Prove the Efficacy of Dry Needling
We have covered a lot of information about Dry Needling in our last 3 blogs. We discussed the Radiculopathy Model, the Trigger Point Model, and the Spinal Segemental Sensitization and Pentad Model. Already, we can clearly see how Dry Needling can help to break down myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) and reduce pain. The fourth model will discuss another reason as to why Dry Needling can help you.
Central Model
Our final model, the Central Model, covers information about how Dry Needling and other physical interventions (including manipulation, massage, mobilization, etc…) affect the spinal cord and brain. This is a rather basic but powerful model. The premise is that input stimuli will affect tracks in the spinal cord that will carry that information up to the brain. The deeper the treatment, the more information that will be conveyed. The hypothalamus will then take the stimuli and communicate with the pituitary gland and affect other endocrine functions.
In regards to the hypothalamus, it has three primary functions: 1. It supplies input to the brainstem, thus affecting autonomic regulation, 2. It controls endocrine function, and 3. It exerts influence on posture and locomotion.
With the Central Model, MTrPs along the spine will likely cause more autonomic issues (please click to read more about autonomic issues on the Trigger Point Blog). Dry Needling causes an anti-inflammatory response that emanates from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. This is deep stuff!
If we assume that the hypothalamus is directly or indirectly adversely affected by MTrPs, then we can conclude that such MTrPs create autonomic and endocrine problems in addition to postural and movement issues (this means it affects the way you work inside and outside). Certainly, we would want to rid our bodies of such noxious stimuli, and since Dry Needling can eliminate such MTrPs, then this makes it a great option for restoring proper function of not only the musculoskeletal system, but also the autonomic and endocrine functions that are affected by an improperly functioning musculoskeletal system.
Any way you slice it, Dry Needling can help you to function better. From simple pain and dysfunction to autonomic concomitants, Dry Needling offers a viable option for the treatment of trigger points and pain due to musculoskeletal causes.
Let’s take a look at some studies supporting the application of Dry Needling…there are a few here but many more in print:
We will start with the grand-daddy of them all…the landmark study performed by Karl Lewit, MD published in 1979. This study broke down the effects of trigger point injections to determine if the analgesic/steroid that was the agent that helped the patient, or was it the needle alone that contained all the magic! Please read study, and if you would like the full study (versus just the abstract), please let us know.
The Needle Effect In The Relief of Myofascial Pain
And the other studies…
Dry Needling Having Anti-Nociceptive (anti-pain) Effects
Probable Mechanisms of Needling Therapies for Myofascial Pain Control
The Influence of Dry Needling of The Trapezius Muscle on Muscle Blood Flow and Oxygenation
Dry Needling and Exercise for Chronic Whiplash – A Randomized Controlled Trial
Management of Shoulder Injuries Using Dry Needling in Elite Volleyball Players
04
Jun 2015
Dry Needling Support Models (3 of 4): Spinal Segmental Sensitization (SSS) and Pentad Model
In our last two blogs, we went over models that help explain how Dry Needling works. These two were the Radiculopathy and the Trigger Point Models. The topic of this blog will involve the third model, or the Spinal Segmental Sensitization and Pentad Model. As we have with the last two discussions, we will try to explain any difficult terminology or ideas.
Spinal Segmental Sensitization and Pentad Model
The Spinal Segmental Sensitization (SSS) and Pentad Model was proposed by the late Andrew Fischer, M.D. (Physiatrist…pain management and rehabilitation medical doctor). This is a good time to discuss this model as it really incorporates both of the first two models. Dr. Fischer proposed that the SSS is a ‘hyperactive’ state of the dorsal horn of the spinal cord that is caused by damaged tissue sending nociceptive (pain) input into the spinal cord. This information then causes the over-sensitivity of the associated spinal level dermatome (skin), pain sensitivity of the associated spinal level sclerotome (bone, ligaments, joints), and Myofascial Trigger Points (MTrPs) in the associated spinal level muscles. All this occurs because the nerve coming from the spine is over sensitized, and by being in this pathological state, it stimulates these changes listed above. In effect, we have a pretty vicious cycle of pain and dysfunction. Continue Reading →
14
May 2015
Dry Needling Support Models (2 of 4): The Trigger Point Model
In the last blog, we discussed the first model (The Radiculopathy Model) that helps explain why Dry Needling works. Now we will continue with the second of four models. This one is probably the most well-known one and there is a plethora of medical literature supporting it. Again, we will try to explain any concepts that are a little difficult to understand. These models really shed light into how our bodies work and they are great to learn about.
The Trigger Point Model
Myofascial Trigger Points (MTrPs, or TrPs for Trigger Points) are defined as ‘hyper-irritable spots in skeletal muscle that are associated with a hypersensitive palpable nodule in a taut band’ (Travell and Simons). The resultant pain/discomfort that one gets due to such points is referred to as myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). Simply put, MPS is defined as ‘sensory, motor, and autonomic symptoms caused by myofascial trigger points’ (Travell and Simons). Sensory symptoms refer to what you feel, motor symptoms refer to how the muscles work, and autonomic symptoms refer to the things that you do not realize. This seems a little odd, but consider what happens when you bang your arm really hard. You will feel the pain (sensory), the muscle might be painful and not contract properly (motor), and your heart rate goes up as does your respiration due to the ‘adrenaline rush’ (autonomic) of the injury. Continue Reading →
15
Dec 2014
Oxidative Stress and Low Back Pain
A new study in the high impact orthopedic journal Spine discusses what we have seen for some time with patient care but have not been able to validate in the literature: oxidative stress contributes to low back pain.
This is a topic of huge importance. As our patients know, we use a Raman Spectrometer (Biophotonic Scanner), not unlike the one Yale uses in their studies, to determine the oxidative stress of our patients through means of a dermal carotenoid scan. The Raman Spectrometer (RS) has been determined in many studies to offer clinicians the optimal way to analyze oxidative stress as the test is not costly to perform, is not invasive, and it makes it easy to track changes in diet/nutrition/supplementation. This is important for all healthcare providers. Being a sports chiropractor, I find the RS to be an absolute necessity for all of us who work in the neuromusculoskeletal fields. Simply put, if we cannot assess oxidative stress, we have no idea if our patients are healthy and this directly affects clinical outcomes. This is not only limited to low back pain. We are not what we eat, but what we absorb. Working with unhealthy patients reduces the effectiveness of our treatments and we should know this before we commence treatment. This is only fair to the patient. They need to know if they have hindered healing ability or not.
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