The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast

Today I want to apply some common sense, straight line thinking to a problem that is plaguing all “health care systems” worldwide, especially here in the United States.  That problem is unnecessary surgeries.   This has been an issue for over a century!  Dr. BJ Palmer, the world’s most pioneering chiropractor wrote about this for years.  Sadly, his warnings about this topic have fallen on deaf ears as the prevalence, cost and damage to patients done by unnecessary surgeries has skyrocketed!  Nevertheless, his words of wisdom are as prescient today as they were back then which is why I would like to share them with you today!

But first, let’s add some context to this discussion. 

This is an excerpt from the International journal of clinical practice in 2014:
“US health care expenditures per capita far exceeds that of ANY other nation in the WORLD.  Indeed, over the last 15 years, the USA has distantly surpassed most countries in the developed world in total healthcare expenditures per capita with the USA now spending over 17.4% of its gross domestic product on health care ($7960 per capita) compared with only 8.5% of GDP in Japan ($2878 per capita) a distant second.  Such spending growth rates are unsustainable, and the system would soon go broke if not corrected.  The drivers of these spending growth rates in US healthcare are several and varied.  In September of 2012, the Institute of Medicine reported that US healthcare squandered over $750 billion in 2009 through UNNEEDED care.” 

Now, with all that spending, surely we have the best outcomes right?….. WRONG, dead wrong in fact.  A 2022 report by The Common Wealth Fund revealed we rank 38th in the world in life expectancy, which is LAST for all major developed nations, there are 3rd world countries with higher life expectancies!  If that was not bad enough, did you know of all countries in 2020, The United States possessed the HIGHEST infant mortality rate which is markedly higher than Norway which was the top country in the world for having the lowest infant mortality rate.  This was reported in The American Journal of Managed Care in January of THIS year, 2023. 

This is from the Journal Patient Safety In Surgery in 2017
Title, “Why do surgeons continue to perform unnecessary surgery?”
Please listen very closely, what you are about to learn will likely be quite shocking..
“This unrecognized problem has escalated so far that medical errors currently rank as THE 3RD leading cause of death in the United States. Strikingly, in the 21st century, we still have to come to terms with the absurd reality that it is significantly safer to board a commercial airplane, a spacecraft, or a nuclear submarine, than to be admitted to a US hospital!”
Let me repeat, medical errors account for the 3RD leading cause of death in the US, over 440,000 people die in the US per year!  Shouldn’t that be a headline on the news??  Keep in mind that data is from 2013, all indications suggest the current number of deaths caused by medical errors are EVEN higher!  Many of those deaths are due directly or are related to complications from unnecessary surgeries. 

What is unnecessary surgery?  They define it as follows: “Any surgical intervention that is either not needed, not indicated, or not in the patient’s best interest when weighted against other available options, including conservative measures.”  That last part is extremely important, they included conservative measures being something that should be done if it can benefit the patient over surgery.  Chiropractic is such a measure, which in many cases should be used first BEFORE resorting to surgery. 

Notice I said in many cases.  Of course, there ARE TRUE surgical emergencies and a number of conditions where surgery IS what SHOULD be done.  In these instances, surgery can be absolutely lifesaving and or life changing.  Thank god we have skilled surgeons & modern techniques for THOSE instances!  However, those true surgical cases are NOT our focus today.  Today’s focus is on unnecessary surgeries.

If you are wondering: Just how many surgeries are performed in the US, each year, the numbers are  staggering:
In the US there are 40-50 MILLION surgeries performed each year! According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, nearly 16% of all surgeries may be unnecessary: that would mean in the US there are between 6.4 and 8 MILLION unnecessary surgeries performed each year!

In 2020 In the US alone over 700,00 arthroscopic partial knee meniscectomies are performed every year.  Recently, a randomized, double-blind, sham controlled trial (highest level of evidence), revealed NO benefit for patients from the surgery at the 12 month follow up vs. those that did not have surgery. This study, The Finnish Degenerative Meniscal Lesion Study” certainly ruffled some feathers amongst the surgical community, however, sadly, meniscus surgery rates do not seem to have changed, at least not yet..”

So now you know how big of a deal unnecessary surgery is, especially in the United States!

Now lets dive into Dr. BJ Palmer’s thoughts on this, perhaps it may shift how you think about things moving forward.  The ideas and thoughts conveyed could have been written today!  Please keep in mind the following:  The writing style is not modern, I will add my own edits as it was written in 1917, in the book, The Science of Chiropractic.  Page 74, heading: “Sensible Suggestions”

“If you should let your watch fall,

To summarize: Our bodies are the most complex, self-regulating, self-monitoring, self-healing machines in the entire world.  We are made up of over 70 trillion cells, each individual cell is capable of 100,000 functions per second!  We cannot even comprehend that!  Call it what you want, Nature, God, Source, did not put anything in our body that it does not need.  And, no matter what a doctor tells you, no matter how often a particular surgery is performed, No surgery is routine.  Ever.  In some ways we ARE like a delicate time piece or classic watch, yet SO much more complex as a watch does not have the ability to self-heal!  So, when it comes to health challenges, make sure that Surgery is ALWAYS the last resort.  Are there times when it IS appropriate, Absolutely, just make sure you have done EVERYTHNIG possible to try and allow the body the time to heal on its own.  This is where Chiropractic comes in.  What most people do not know is this:

In the first 80 or so years after Chiropractic was discovered, it had nothing to do with back pain or neck pain. It was not until the modern insurance industry started covering chiropractic for back pain, neck pain and headaches, that many people began to think that that is what Chiropractic is for.  True Chiropractic focuses on one thing and one thing only.  If you have a health challenge that you are not overcoming, is there any interference to the body’s innate healing response which is limiting your recovery.  And often, that is indeed what is hindering a person’s healing response.  It really is that simple: Chiropractic’s ONLY job is to analyze, detect and correct vertebral subluxations which can directly interfere with the brain’s communication with the body and the body’s communication with the brain.  Virtually all people and ALL doctors recognize that your brain & nervous system control Everything.  Because the brain & nervous system control Everything, that includes ALL Healing.  The brain and body need to be in constant communication to be able to optimally monitor, regulate and repair any tissue, organ or gland.  Therefore, your spinal cord is literally your lifeline, serving as the superhighway connecting brain and body.  Vertebral subluxations, small misalignments of individual vertebral or regional displacements of the spine like forward head carriage increase tension on the spinal cord (TEXT NECK) causing interference between brain and body. Of all the stresses that can be applied to nerves, tension negatively affects nerve health the most!

This is why Chiropractic care should Always be considered for those with ANY health challenge!  It is really quite simple.  Chiropractic care is Not designed to fix or cure ANY single disease, rather it is a NON-invasive way to help the body perform better. Period.  This is why it CAN help with so many types of health challenges.  Now for the best part.  Especially for those that practice Corrective Chiropractic like we do at BTHC,:  Corrective chiropractic care is the most research supported chiropractic technique available and study after study confirms exactly what Dr. BJ Palmer proposed over 100 years ago.  Vertebral subluxations cause nervous system interference which can negatively affect organs, tissues and or glands.  

For you science geeks out there or medical professionals who want to learn more, a breakthrough study, out THIS Week in the Journal of Clinical Medicine is a great start:

Title: Does forward head posture influence Somatosensory Evoked Potentials and Somatorsensory Processing in Asymptomatic Young Adults?  In other words, does subluxation, even in a person without any symptoms, cause interference with their nervous system?  The Answer… YES, IT DOES! In short, this study demonstrates that regional subluxation in the cervical spine, as what occurs when the head is shifted forward, like in TEXT Neck, caused disturbances in key functions of the nervous system!

So, there you have it, a straight-line thinking approach to dealing with the topic of unnecessary surgery.  I hope you find this thought provoking.  Please share this episode especially with those dealing with unresolved health challenges!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5234149/

https://www.ajmc.com/view/us-has-highest-infant-maternal-mortality-rates-despite-the-most-health-care-spending

https://blog.gitnux.com/unnecessary-surgery-statistics/

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/12/9/3217

The post Unnecessary Surgeries and the Watch Analogy: The Green Book Series appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.

Welcome to the Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast

I’m your host Dr. Marc Dupuis on this show we discuss tips, tools and strategies to improve the health & wellness of you and your family!

Today’s topic: BFR training: If you have not heard of it, get ready as this could really shake up your training by literally turbo charging your strength & conditioning plan!  In a nutshell, BFR training is one of the best, if not the #1 way to increase muscle hypertrophy and strength without the risk of joint injury or excessive muscle damage!  

Of course: Please NOTE: There are certain risks associated with this type of training, be SURE to consult with your health care provider prior to beginning any BFR training

Before we dive into the specifics of BFR training, we need to take some time and review the basics of muscle building  and strength building so that you will be able to understand just how BFR training works and Why NOW Is the time to add it to your training plan.

Let’s call this muscle hypertrophy 101

There are TWO basic Ways to increase muscle size or technically muscle hypertrophy
1. BY Applying Mechanic stress (which ultimately creates muscle damage): traditional strength training: lifting increasingly heavy weights to create damage.  Then when the body is at rest, if given enough time and adequate nutrition,it will rebuild the muscles bigger and stronger than they were before, this is known as the principle of super compensation.
2. By creating Metabolic stress accumulation (this involves building up lactate, while simultaneously failing to clear it from the muscles as well as the accumulation of hydrogen ions in the working muscles which are the by-products of ATP hydrolysis). Most people that exercise regularly are aware this happens, as this is what you feel when your muscles are burning at the end of a set or sprint  etc, but not that many people know this accumulation of metabolites is also a direct trigger of muscle hypertrophy.  

Now let’s move on the some basic Principles of Exercise Physiology
We will start with Muscle fiber.  There are 2 primary types of muscle fibers:
Type 1: slow twitch /more aerobic and
Type 2: fast twitch  /  more anaerobic
This is important because there is a Size Principle of Motor Unit Recruitment
Type 1 fibers are recruited first, these fibers as I said are more aerobic, meaning they primarily utilize oxygen, now as demand increases during a particular exercise the body will then recruit Type 2 fibers which as I noted are more anaerobic. 

here is a Key Point: Hypertrophy does NOT always = greater strength.  A bigger muscle is not always a stronger muscle.
Hypertrophy plays a role in building strength, but it is the Central Nervous System’s involvement in learning to recruit more motor units and also synchronize these additional motor units, which allows them  to fire together> that COMBINED with a larger or hypertrophied muscle, equals greater strength.  

Now for muscle hypertrophy 202: There are Hormones needed for muscle hypertrophy; such as:
Growth Hormone is the major player here, keep in mind GH is only optimized with adequate: sleep, nutrition, exercise)

mTOR major pathway activating muscle protein synthesis and skeletal muscle hypertrophy; Think of mTOR as the Body’s on/off switch for muscle growth
Then there is IGF-1, which is an upstream trigger via the Akt pathway which activates mTOR.
    You may have heard of mTOR, it’s been a suddenly hot topic of discussion especially from many so called online health experts and by many in the biohacking space, often it is seen as the enemy because excessive mTOR activation has been linked with degenerative changes and CA, however, like most things in life, it is all about BALANCE.  we MUST have mTOR activated for certain portions of time if we want muscle hypertrophy and increased strength!!

Now, mTOR > yes stimulates protein synthesis, AND it also stimulates VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) > this promotes Angiogenesis which is the formation of new blood vessels. Why is this important?

Simple: While Building muscle is good, you need more than just that to be stronger, since the more muscle you have, the more blood vessels are needed in order to deliver greater amounts of  nutrition into the muscle and also meet the greater demand for waste products removal! – in other words, increasing muscle mass requires an increased vascular network in order to get the most work out of that muscle!

Up until now, MECHANICAL STRESS VIA lifting heavy has been the main method for increasing muscle mass and stimulating CNS involvement in building strength, simply because no other methods were shown to be as effective.  theoretically we’ve known about METABOLIC STRESS ACCUMULATION but did not have any practical methods to achieve it that did NOT also involve MECHANICAL STRESS OR LIFTING HEAVY

Here are some of the Leading Authorities on Muscle Hypertrophy:
ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) Guidelines for Muscular Hypertrophy
To build muscle you need a Load or amount of weight to lift that equals:
    70-85% 1RM for novice to intermediate athletes
    70 – 100% 1RM for advanced athletes

Volume
    1-3 sets of 8-12 reps for novice to intermediate
    3-6 sets of 1-12 reps for advanced

Rest period
    2-3 min for higher intense exercises that use heavier loads
    1-2 min between lower intense exercises with light loads

NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association)Guidelines for muscular hypertrophy is similar

This is THE Challenge: Science says we need to push the athlete or patient to lift heavy enough to achieve some degree of muscle breakdown, but for many they cannot do the amount of work that the science says is needed due to a number of different factors such as fear of injury, fear of re-injury in the athlete or patient that is trying to come back from an injury or surgery, lack of experience with this type of training, or fear due to being in pain, etc

The Solution:  Enter BFR training!

Basically, BFR Training: tricks the body into thinking it is doing 70-100% of 1RM type work while using much lighter loads that do not carry nearly the same risk for injury!
How it works:
Constrictive Bands are placed onto the arms or legs that limit the venous return.  This allows metabolites to be “trapped” into the muscle and local tissues.  The bands while tight enough to limit or occlude venous return, they DO allow some arterial blood flow into the muscle/limb.  BFR training utilizes much lower weights, but allows one to do much higher reps, often until failure.  As the reps continue the trapped blood begins running out of nutrients, this stimulates the CNS to require more muscle fibers to lift the same small weight, this achieves the same type of fiber requirement that would have been needed to move a much higher weight say 85% of a 1 RM!  

Not only does this type of workout create a build up of exercise metabolites or by-products such as lactate and Hydrogen ions that cause more muscle fibers to be recruited, it also triggers a cascade of events!

This cascade of events triggers an anabolic or muscle building environment similar to doing high percentage 1RM work without any of the joint stress or actual muscle damage that typically accompanies that type of workout!   BFR training takes advantage of the 2nd method of increasing muscle hypertrophy: metabolic stress accumulation!

BFR training, Really is a Game Changer for patients that are at risk of injury, have pain or other limitations and for high performing athletes that want the benefits of high intensity training without the RISK of injury that could force them OUT of competition!

SIDE note: This is NOT Occlusion training, BFR training uses bands that reduce but not block all blood flow!!

Results of BFR training in the literature:
increased muscle hypertrophy and increased strength
Training to fatigue with BFR has shown Non-traditional recruitment patters, (Type 2 fibers before type 1)
Increased hormone changes enhancing protein synthesis, involving GH and IGF-1
Increased cell signaling for mTOR
Building of non-contractile tissue (may lead to increased strength over time while decreasing future injury risk by improving  the individual’s connective tissue, talk about a win-win)
Less fatigue compared to traditional strength training; this can allow for more training sessions per week with less accumulating soreness & fatigue!

BFR Systems:

They utilized Pneumatic Cuff Systems: Two basic types
Automatic systems: very effective, very expensive!! often only makes sense for health care providers and trainers
Manual Systems: more portable, ease of use, much more cost effective: better for the individual athlete or patient, if properly trained.

**(Doppler Ultrasound: allows one to find min occlusion pressure (mop): min amount of pressure needed to fully occlude limb:  We want to be BELOW that!  (certain % based off of literature)
Helpful with patients with comorbidities
    needs 8 mHz probe
    Audio output/headphone jack**

There are Only TWO places to put bands: (Remember: Many effects are SYSTEMIC! Therefore, there is no need to put them anywhere else! (See Results slide)
    1. Proximal UE, as high into axilla fold as possible
    2. Proximal LE, as close to gluteal fold as possible

The Radial artery pulse is assessed when using UE bands (occluding cephalic & basilic veins)
The Posterior Tibial artery pulse is assessed when using LE bands (occluding Deep and Femoral veins)

Exercise Prescription with BFR training IS Different
You will fatigue sooner!!
Heed the modifications!!
In most cases body weight exercises are MORE Than adequate!!
Cuffs stay inflated through the entire workout, do not inflate/deflate between sets/exercises
Begin around 8 min per total workout
Building  to 15 minutes,
    longer if the person using them is a more trained athlete
Load: Most Bodyweight
    IF you add weight: no more than 20% of 1-RM
3-5 min of rest post BFR training for recovery and perfusion
  ***   Higher the pressure you trained at, more time needed for perfusion
Instead of adding weight, alter tempo: Longer eccentric 4 sec, 2 sec hold, 2 sec concentric**
Basically utilize 2-4 Total Exercises Per Arms and 2-4 exercises per Legs
Max 4 sets (3 most common)
For reps, you target a Max 30 reps during the 1st set
30-60 sec between sets***  STICK to this NO PHONE USE etc
Maintain pressure throughout
Remaining sets should be reps until failure, rarely should you be able to get to another 30 reps, as fatigue should be setting in if cuffs are set appropriately.
**Common reps per sets 1-3
    20-10-10 or 15-8-8 common early
    30-15-15 later rehab**

Safety of BFR Training??
Compared to High Intensity Resistance Training
Decreased Stroke Volume
Less Muscle Damage (none!)
Decreased Oxidative Stress
Not as severe BP systolic spike
Many people ask about clot risks?  Research shows, No change in coagulation activity.  In fact, when using bands increasing pressure on limbs, the body actually increases its production TPA, which is the body’s own clot busting chemical!

Signs and Symptoms to STOP: If these occur, the cuffs often need to be adjusted
Sensation of numbness
Pins and needles
Uncomfortable tingling
Severe discomfort
Lightheadedness/dizziness

Contraindications: Conditions where one should NOT do BFR training
Acute Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
Acute Sickness or Fever
Blood Pressure Greater than 180/100 mmHg
Early Postoperative period: check with your surgeon, this can vary greatly
Higher class arrhythmia or coronary ischemia
Pregnancy
Varicose Veins
A-Fib or Heart Failure
BP: Systolic >160 mmHg; Diastolic 95 mmHg

Athletes: There is still value in lifting heavy!  So BFR is not to permanently replace high intensity resistance training, rather ADD this INTO your current training plan to be a more well-rounded, strong athlete! And especially during peak season so you can still improve your strength yet minimize the risk of injury during competition season!

So there you have it, BFR training is a groundbreaking method of increasing muscle hypertrophy and strength with minimal risks and faster recovery times! 

Case Study: Early Post-Op ACL
15-8-8
Body wt.
tempo 2020
30s rest between sets
45s rest between exercises
3-5 min post BFR

exercises:
1. Supine isometric quad sets with NMES
2. Supine Isometric HS curls
3. Side Lying hip abd
4. Standing calf raises

Mid Post-Op ACL Late
15-8-8-8 20-10-10-10
BW BW
tempo 2020 4120
30s 45
45s 60
3-5 3-5

1. Stationary bike 1. SL squat
2. Mini (partial) squats 2. Lateral lunges
3. Step-ups 3. Bridging with roll in
4. Bridging 4. RDL

This concludes today’s episode of The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast, where we discuss tips, tools & strategies to improve the health and wellness of you & your family!  Please SUBSCRIBE to this podcast so that you never miss a future episode, also PLEASE SHARE this podcast with ANYONE you feel may benefit from what we covered today.

Finally, Thank you very much for listening and until next time, have a Fantastic Day!

The post Supercharging Muscle Strength & Mass With Blood Flow Restriction Training appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.

I’m your host Dr. Marc Dupuis on this show we discuss tips, tools and strategies to improve the health & wellness of you and your family!

New forward head posture study, just came out this past July 2022

Journal of Sport Rehabilitation: high level journal
Comparison of Sensorimotor Integration and Skill-Related Physical Fitness Components Between College Athletes With and Without Forward Head Posture
authored by Ibrahim Moustafa, Meeyoung Kim, Deed Harrison.

Case control study.  What is a case control study?
This is pretty neat.  First you identify a condition you want to investigate.  Then you design a study to try and determine, if the condition in question, has any effect on a particular function/task/performance or on health.
Then you must come up with two groups of people to study.
The first group has the condition you want to study
The 2nd group does not have the condition in question.
Next you match the groups in terms of certain factors like age/sex/work/ etc to try to ensure equality in the groups you are comparing minus the key condition being studied

Then determine what types of tests to perform on each group to see if there is a difference between the people with and without the condition

This study looked at the condition of:
Forward head posture

100 Young athletes
College Level athletes high performing athletes
NO symptoms

Q: Was there a Difference in athletic performance skills tests between those with FHP and those without?
How did they determine if someone had FHP?
They used a postural measurement called the CVA (cranial vertebral angle) ear (tragus) relative to C7 spinous relative to horizontal.  This measurement can be confusing to clinicians not familiar with it because a bigger angle, means the head is being held in a more neutral position; while a lower angle means they have more FHP.  Here the CVA cut point was 50° 

The Cut point was based of other well-established studies in the literature
cranial vertebral angle (on 4 view posture screen)

What do these values mean in terms of x-rays

55° or more = Less than 20mm FHP.  That is consistent with what research has shown, most people can get away with about 20mm of FHP and not have any negative consequences.  MC neck p, Has, cervical degeneration & disability

Their cut point of 50° = ~ 25mm or more FHP 1’’

They measured Sensory motor integration: which is how a
stimulus at either the wrist/hand/finger – is processed in the higher centers of the brain

If there is a difference in Sensory motor integration, does it affect athletic skills tests: 

They used 4 key tests, which highlight skills useful in ALL Sports: Basically: Do you have speed/power/strength?
T-test
Time sprint T test:
    Sprint 10m straight
    Sprint left 5m
    Sprint right 10m makes “T”
    Sprint back to center 5m
    Sprint back to start

Vertical Leap

Static Single Leg Balance Test – stork

Dynamic Stretch Balance Test – 3 plane dynamic stretch test for agility

Findings: They DID Find a Difference between the 2 groups in amplitude in regions of the brain that process sensory motor integration as it goes into the motor cortex.  Problems in this region would in theory create down going / descending motor cortex issues. As we have known for some time, abnormal sensory inputs create abnormal motor output. 

The athletes with FHP and differences in sensory motor integration, DID in fact score worse on all 4 of the athletic skills tests, and YES, the differences were statistically significant?

On the T-test: They were 10% slower, 1 full second.  For College level athletes, that is huge! 

They scored 9 cm lower on the vertical jump!

They were Several seconds longer on static balance test!

AND the were Less agile!

As if those findings were not enough the researchers took it one step further.  They wanted to know: Is this difference linearly related: Is the magnitude of the FHP linearly correlated with the actual dysfunction. In other words, did athletes with greater amounts of FHP have worse skills tests? The answer was> YES!

Implications:

Athletes: if you want to have optimal performance you have to correct FHP if you have it!  This is HUGE, the amount of athletes I see everyday with severe FHP has gone up exponentially in just the last few years!  Two big reasons come to mind, the .1st is obvious = Text neck, all of us are looking down at our phones WAY too much and for some it is literally HOURS per day.  You cannot have poor posture for hours at a time and expect to snap out of it for practice or competition!!

2nd, COVID, I cannot tell you have many kids have developed the bad habit of doing their schoolwork while sitting on their bed.  Sadly, many spent countless hours on zoom classes over the last two years which grossly exaggerated their FHP!

All elite professional, college athletes and of course HS & grade school athletes!!! Addressing this NOW can cause significant improvements in your athletic performance

Journal of sport rehabilitation
July 22, 2022,

Weekend athletes, you are physically weaker when you have FHP.   

Older patients, non-athletes, you are less agile when you have FHP, which can easily lead to a greater risk of falls!  Falls in the elderly can be deadly and as mentioned above, you are weaker with FHP.  Also, FHP increases the functional weight of the head, altering loads in the cervical spine which is a major cause of degenerative joint and degenerative disc disease, which often cause neck stiffness, neck pain, headaches, and disability!

This can be one major factor in developing sarcopenia – loss of skeletal muscle which is correlated with increased insulin resistance and even increased mortality! 

Overall conclusions:

First and foremost, this is extremely important and exciting that this study:
    1. This study Validates that chiropractic subluxation (spinal misalignment/deformity/displacement) causes nerve interference, with real health consequences.  Sadly, too many health providers and even some chiropractors think the adjustment is for just spinal pain.  No, nerve interference can manifest itself in a variety of ways in each individual, many will have loss of function, balance, agility and more!
    2. FHP is linearly correlated with brain body/body brain dysfunction with real word decreases in strength, agility and balance!  The greater the forward head posture, the greater the dysfunction!
    3. FHP over 20mm is enough to cause significant performance impairments.  That is only about 1 inch! Look around, next time you are out in public, you will see many, many people with well over 1 inch of FHP, this is truly another epidemic!
    4.  Athletes of all levels, grade school, high school, college athletes and pros, if you want to perform optimally, you have to keep an eye on your posture.  If you have FHP, text neck, you are likely underperforming and correcting this condition is a must if want to perform at your highest capacity!  Now, let’s talk about correcting forward head posture.  Can you correct forward head posture?  Absolutely, at Back to Health Chiropractic, we utilize Chiropractic BioPhysics methods and strategies to do so.  These are, hands down, the most research supported methods on the planet for forward head posture reduction.  Its it easy? NO.  It takes time and it takes work.  The longer you have had FHP the more time it will take.  We use a mulit-modal program that includes, traditional adjustments, mirror image exercises, mirror image traction in-house and home care exercises.  

So there you have it!

This is another high-quality research study that shows that subluxations can cause significant problems, much more than just pain.  Remember, the people in this study where high-level athletes without pain, yet those with FHP subluxation had measurable decreases in function, decreases that can lead to real health challenges!  So, take some time to look at your posture, check the posture of your family, friends and loved ones and if you spot FHP make sure they see a corrective care chiropractor to get to work ASAP on correcting it.  You can find a corrective care chiropractor near you by going to ideal.com. 

LINKS

The Study:

https://donorview.blob.core.windows.net/docstorage555/7469a1a6-ea33-488b-9e65-f763a8eee1cf/FHP_Athletic.pdf?sv=2018-03-28&sr=b&sig=v4KIP40ie83%2FjFNnA7wh%2FHjWRB%2BW9nJjngd7NvlqzMM%3D&st=2022-10-10T16%3A13%3A49Z&se=2022-10-10T16%3A43%3A49Z&sp=r

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35894888/

www.idealspine.com

This concludes today’s episode of The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast, where we discuss tips, tools & strategies to improve the health and wellness of you & your family!  Please SUBSCRIBE to this podcast so that you never miss a future episode, also PLEASE SHARE this podcast with ANYONE you feel may benefit from what we covered today.

Finally, Thank you very much for listening and until next time, have a Fantastic Day!

The post The Negative Effects of Forward Head Posture on Health & Performance! appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.

Today we are going to discuss a 2011 Case Series titled, Improvement in Autistic Behaviors Following Chiropractic Care.  This case series was published in the Journal Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health, in December of 2011.

As many of you are all too well aware, the rate of Autism is rising at an extremely alarming rate.  In the United States, as of 2021, 1 in 44 children are being diagnosed with Autism!  In the 1990’s the rate was 2 out of 1000 children and in the 1980’s it was 10x’s less than that, just .1 – .4 children per 1000 were being  diagnosed with autism!  

We need all hands on deck to tackle this massive health issue.  Today’s discussion is NOT focused on the likely causes of this massive increase, rather I want to focus on a case series that showed improvement in autistic behaviors following chiropractic care.

As noted in the introduction in this paper, Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by abnormal social interactions and communication concurrent with repetitive behaviors and mannerisms.

From the paper’s Abstract, Methods & Outcomes sections:

Clinical Features: This case series involves two case studies.  Case one involves a 20-year old autistic male who displays aggressive behavior towards others.  Case two is a 17-year old autistic female who abuses herself. 

  Intervention and outcome: Both patients received a trial of chiropractic care for 5 and 4 months respectively with visit frequency of once per week.  Both patients responded favorably to chiropractic care with the male patient decreasing in aggressive behavior and the female patient decreasing in self-abuse and improved socialization. 

For the case involving the male, he attended a total of 20 chiropractic visits and was adjusted using a low force Activator adjusting tool.  He began showing signs of improvement after his 4th adjustment that involved being more co-operative, having a longer attention span and he even began to watch tv which he had not previously done.

For the case involving the female, she attended a total of 16 office visits and was adjusted using a combination of low force Activator tool adjustments and drop table adjustments.  She began to show signs of improvement after her third visit in the form of sleeping through the night, which was unusual and she demonstrated less self-abuse.   

Conclusions: Each had favorable results after undergoing chiropractic care.  This case series provides supporting evidence that individuals with autism may benefit from chiropractic care.  More research is warranted in this area. 

Now let’s talk about the likely mechanisms behind chiropractic care and the results from this case series.  As we discussed recently in another neurodevelopmental disorder and chiropractic paper summary, the MAIN goal of chiropractic care is to improve brain-body, body-brain communication.  We do that by analyzing the spine for abnormally positioned or abnormally moving spinal segments, known as vertebral subluxations.  Vertebral subluxations are corrected by specific chiropractic adjustments. Because vertebral subluxations, by the stress caused to the surrounding spinal cord and nerve roots, cause nervous system interference, it should make sense that correcting vertebral subluxations reduces nervous system interference and therefore could help those suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders.  I will cover the more technical aspects of exactly how this works but first;

It is very important to note: people alway ask, does chiropractic cure this or can chiropractic fix so and so conditions?  The answer is no, chiropractic is designed to do one thing and one thing only: correct vertebral subluxations which enables the body to better do what it was designed to do!  Of course, by helping the body to better do what it is designed to do, this results in improved health & healing which explains why so many health challenges and perhaps why the two individuals with autism as described in this case series responded well to chiropractic care!  

Now, to get technical about how chiropractic care improves brain-body, body-brain communication.  The authors describe one likely mechanisms of action:

Recent research has demonstrated that spinal adjustments to vertebral subluxations can lead to neural plastic changes in the central nervous system (As demonstrated in the 2010 paper Haavik, Taylor, Holt, Murphy, Exploring the neuromodulatory effects of the vertebral subluxation and chiropractic care in the Chiropractic Journal of Australia).  Plastic changes in the brain can alter the way the brain synthesizes and releases neurotransmitters.  This may be significant as abnormal levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin have been found in individuals with ASD.  Serotonin has been shown to play a role in social and emotional behavior.  If chiropractic adjustments alter serotonin levels this may in turn cause changes in autistic behaviors.  

I will add one more paragraph that discusses another possible mechanism behind chiropractic care helping these two individuals.  This comes from the conclusion of the 2015 paper, Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Chiropractic: A Systematic Review of the Literature:

If we consider the new research that shows chiropractic adjustments having a direct effect on neural plasticity of the central nervous system (as demonstrated by the breakthrough research paper by Haavik-Taylor published in the journal Clinical Neurophysiology in February of 2007) and other research linking abnormal stimuli to plastic changes within the central nervous system along with the case studies herein which show associated benefits from chiropractic treatment with regards to neurodevelopmental disorders.  The mechanisms by which this could happen appears plausible. Further advances in neural plasticity research may yet reveal stronger connections to chiropractic treatment.

So as you can see, there are multiple mechanisms that may explain the positive results these two individuals with autism had following chiropractic care.  

Therefore, I want to wrap up today’s discussion with the following key takeaway.  

Chiropractic is a safe, drug-free approach to helping the body function better and should be considered for those individuals that have autism as part of a multidisciplinary approach to care. I hope you found this information helpful, please share this episode with anyone you feel may benefit from hearing it.

This concludes today’s episode of The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast, where we discuss tips, tools & strategies to improve the health and wellness of you & your family!  Please SUBSCRIBE to this podcast so that you never miss a future episode, also PLEASE SHARE this podcast with ANYONE you feel may benefit from what we covered today.

Finally, Thank you very much for listening and until next time, have a Fantastic Day!

 Links

Improvement in Autistic Behaviors Following Chiropractic Care: A Case Series

Exploring the neuromodulatory effects of the vertebral subluxation and chiropractic care

The post Improvement in Autistic Behaviors Following Chiropractic Care: A Case Series appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.

Welcome to the Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast

I’m your host Dr. Marc Dupuis on this show we discuss tips, tools and strategies to improve the health & wellness of you and your family!

Today we are going to discuss a 2015 literature review, titled Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Chiropractic: A Systematic Review of the Literature.  This research review was published in the Journal Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health, in March of 2015.

This topic is so important and timely since Neurodevelopmental disorders include some of the most challenging health issues facing children today, namely, ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). 

The rates of ADD, ADHD and ASD are rising within the global population at an alarming rate, while treatments seem to be sadly lagging behind.  Therefore, any intervention, especially those that are non-invasive & safe that shows promise should be looked at closely.  Despite there being numerous pharmaceutical drugs on the market for these conditions, their results are mixed and side effects are often just as troubling as the conditions they are supposed to be addressing.  

The Summary or Abstract of the review is as follows:
The objective: To provide a comprehensive analysis of the current body of scientific literature regarding the chiropractic management of a wide variety of neurodevelopmental disorders.

The Methods of the Review: A literature search was performed using PubMed, MANTIS, the Index to Chiropractic Literature, McCoy Press, Galileo, and ScienceDirect. Inclusion criteria consisted of full-text peer-reviewed articles written in English as they related to the efficacy of chiropractic management of neurodevelopmental disorders.

The Results: 50 articles were selected.  The results were: 3 Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT), 7 Reviews of Literature, 3 Case Series, 34 Case Studies and 3 Survey/Commentaries.

The Conclusions: The majority of articles dealt specifically with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD)/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and were predominantly case studies. While we believe there is enough evidence to support the use of chiropractic with children who have been previously diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially ASD and ADD/ADHD, the chiropractic community should see this as a call to action to provide more research regarding neurodevelopmental disorders.

Given that RCTs (Randomized Controlled Trials) are the gold standard of research, the authors acknowledged that although 3 RCTs supporting Chiropractic care for neurodevelopmental disorders is a great start, we need to fund additional research projects to build upon these initial studies.  

Lets dive deeper into this research review.  Now, what does Chiropractic care have to do with neurodevelopmental disorders?  For those of you not familiar with HOW chiropractic actually works, the answer is quite simple.  The MAIN goal of chiropractic care is to improve brain-body, body-brain communication.  We do that by analyzing the spine for abnormally positioned or abnormally moving spinal segments, known as vertebral subluxations.  Vertebral subluxations are corrected by specific chiropractic adjustments. Because vertebral subluxations, by the stress caused to the surrounding spinal cord and nerve roots, cause nervous system interference, it should make sense that correcting vertebral subluxations reduces nervous system interference and therefore could help those suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders.   

It is important to note: people alway ask, does chiropractic cure this or fix so and so conditions?  The answer is no, chiropractic’s purpose is Not to treat specific diseases, rather chiropractic’s purpose is to do one thing and one thing only: correct vertebral subluxations which enables the body to better do what it was designed to do!  Of course, by helping the body to better do what it is designed to do, this results in improved health & healing which explains why so many health challenges have responded to chiropractic care!  Getting back to this literature review the authors point out;

“With rising incidences of various neurodevelopmental disorders, the likelihood of healthcare professionals encountering them as a presenting complaint in their clinics is just as likely to rise.  With chiropractors serving as portal of entry providers, it is also therefore likely that the practicing chiropractor will encounter such patients.   It is therefore important to understand the possible relationship between chiropractic care and neurodevelopmental disorders.

The evidence presented within this literature review aims to demonstrate the plausibility of chiropractic care as an appropriate healthcare service utilized for neurodevelopmental disorders.  Services provided include spinal adjustments focused on the correction of vertebral subluxation, improvement in joint function, reduction of pain, increased quality of life and levels of independence, as well as management of dizziness, proprioceptive and/or vestibular complaints, and possibly more.”

Some of the key takeaways from the expanded conclusion section of this review are as follows:
If we consider the new research that shows chiropractic adjustments having a direct effect on neural plasticity of the central nervous system (as demonstrated by the breakthrough research paper by Haavik-Taylor published in the journal Clinical Neurophysiology in February of 2007) and other research linking abnormal stimuli to plastic changes within the central nervous system along with the case studies herein which show associated benefits from chiropractic treatment with regards to neurodevelopmental disorders.  The mechanisms by which this could happen appears plausible. Further advances in neural plasticity research may yet reveal stronger connections to chiropractic treatment.

Considering the goal of a subluxation based chiropractor to treat the vertebral subluxation complex, its safety with regards to children based on the Council on Chiropractic Practice Guidelines, and not treating neurodevelopmental disorders specifically, along with the results shown herein regards to the available case files, we believe there is enough evidence to support the use of chiropractic treatments on children who have been previously diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially ASD and ADD/ADHD.  We suggest a conservative treatment approach that would focus specifically on diagnosed subluxations within the vertebral column and co-management with other medical professionals to better objectively quantify any changes that may manifest in the presentation of the patient’s neurodevelopmental disorders, which would then add additional strength to the case for future considerations into publication as a case file.”

So there you have it, my summary of the paper, “Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Chiropractic: A Systematic Review of the Literature”

I hope this explains how chiropractic care may help those that are dealing with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially ADD, ADHD and ASD. 

My final point today: Chiropractic care should be considered for those individuals that are dealing with neurodevelopmental disorders.  Research supports co-management of these complex cases including other medical providers.

I hope you found this information helpful, please share this episode with anyone you feel may benefit from hearing it.

This concludes today’s episode of The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast, where we discuss tips, tools & strategies to improve the health and wellness of you & your family!  Please SUBSCRIBE to this podcast so that you never miss a future episode, also PLEASE SHARE this podcast with ANYONE you feel may benefit from what we covered today.

Finally, Thank you very much for listening and until next time, have a Fantastic Day!

 Links

Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Chiropractic: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Cervical spine manipulation alters sensorimotor integration: a somatosensory evoked potential study

The post Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder & Chiropractic: Literature Review appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.

Welcome to the Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast

I’m your host, Dr. Marc Dupuis

On Today’s episode we bring back our very own Dr. Nikki Holt to discuss an issue that many pregnant women have to deal with, Morning Sickness. We discuss natural methods & strategies that may help!

links:

Real food for pregnancy by Lily Nichols

Real food for gestational diabetes by Lily Nichols

If you enjoyed today’s show, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts and hit the subscribe button so that you never miss a future episode!  

Thank you very much for listening & have a great day!

The post Pregnancy Basics: Morning Sickness appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.

Welcome to the Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast

I’m your host, Dr. Marc Dupuis

On Today’s episode we bring in a special guest: Our very own Dr. Nikki Holt to discuss an issue that many pregnant women have to deal with, heartburn, and natural methods & strategies that may help!

links:

Real food for pregnancy by Lily Nichols

Real food for gestational diabetes by Lily Nichols

If you enjoyed today’s show, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts and hit the subscribe button so that you never miss a future episode!  

Thank you very much for listening & have a great day!

The post Pregnancy Basics: Heartburn appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.

I’m your host Dr. Marc Dupuis on this show we discuss tips, tools and strategies to improve the health & wellness of you and your family!

Today’s topic is extremely important and what we are about to discuss may be information that you will want to share with family, friends and loved ones.  In our office we’ve been hearing a number of people report that they are taking much more time than expected to fully recover from COVID-19 infections, long enough for them to be considered long haulers.  Interestingly, more and more of these types of cases are being reported as breakthrough infections.   By definition Long Haulers are people that have symptoms of COVID-19 four or more weeks after being diagnosed with SARS CoV-2 infection, otherwise known as Post-Acute SARS-CoV-2 (PASC).

Because the spike proteins that cause COVID-19, can travel throughout the body, these inflammation producing proteins can cause damage in virtually any organ which is why the symptoms long haulers have can be so varied.  Fatigue, muscle aches, joint pains, anxiety, depression, cardiac problems, bowel issues, autoimmune problems, insomnia and cognitive dysfunction are some of the more common complaints.

Fatigue is often the main complaint, most likely due to this fact: The immune system can take up to 50% of all of your body’s available energy at the cellular level! 

A study in July of 2021 published in the Lancet found that the average long hauler patient has 14 symptoms that involve 9 different organs and 80% still have symptoms over 6 months from the initial infection.  On average it takes almost 9 months for a long hauler to fully recover, some take even longer. 

A study in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience showed that the SARS-CoV-2 S1 spike protein can cross the blood brain barrier and enter the central nervous system, this may explain the many brain related symptoms associated with long haulers. 

Although much still needs to be learned about why long haulers are not recovering as quickly as they should, some things are becoming VERY clear.  Obesity and those with Metabolic Syndrome are at higher risk of becoming long haulers.  Why?  The answer seems to be the following:  Obesity and metabolic syndrome are conditions, which themselves, create inflammation.  The symptoms long haulers complain of are symptoms associated with excessive inflammation.  Let us not forget that the cytokine storm that is responsible for the majority of COVID-19 deaths, is caused by the person’s own hyper-inflamed immune response!  

Here is the connection of obesity & metabolic syndrome with excessive inflammation:  First let’s discuss obesity;  Fat cells are reservoirs for toxins.  When we are exposed to more toxins than we are able to excrete, the body takes action to remove these dangerous chemicals from the general circulation where they could harm vital organs, and locks them away into your fat cells (known as adipose tissue).  The more fat one has the more toxins they can hold onto and unfortunately, most toxins CAUSE inflammation.  The heavier we become, the more inflamed  we are which translates into greater risk of serious complications from acute COVID-19 and the greater the risk of becoming a long hauler.  

Now for metabolic syndrome:  Metabolic syndrome is technically a combination of conditions that result in elevated risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.  What do these three problems have in common?  They are all signs of increased inflammation!  Metabolic syndrome is caused by insulin resistance.  I covered that in detail in a prior podcast episode.  In a nutshell: Sugar is a primary fuel source for the body.  In order to utilize sugar your pancreas needs to secrete insulin.  While both sugar and insulin are necessary in NORMAL amounts, at high levels both sugar and insulin CAUSE inflammation! 

So knowing that excessive inflammation is a root cause of complications from acute COVID-19 and also is a root cause  of complications from long haulers, people that are already in a highly inflamed state are more likely to suffer more serious complications if they do get sick from COVID-19.

 Eye Opening Stats:  The average American gained 29 lbs during the lockdown as a result of decreased exercise and eating more low quality food.  Remember liquor stores were considered essential while many small town local food producers were shut down.  Alcohol with its empty calories and its effect on the liver is itself a driver of both weight gain and increased inflammation! 10% of Americans gained OVER 50lbs!  What those behind the lockdowns did not consider was this:  Every single person who put weight ON over the lockdown increased their risk for complications, including death as a result of lockdowns that were Meant to protect people. Sadly ironic, isn’t it? 

An interesting study in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, looked at Italy where they had one of the most strict 60 day lockdowns, they found the following: Obesity increased 37%, Dyslipidemia increased 20%, Metabolic syndrome increased 13%; all of this in just 2 months!  Hopefully information like this will give those in power pause when considering the quarantining of health people in the future.  

Given that excessive inflammation is the driver behind most long hauler symptoms, many of the nutritional strategies are designed to support a healthy balance between inflammation producing and inflammation reducing molecules.   

However, before we drill down on which specific nutrients, remember if you are overweight and or have insulin resistance you MUST take action to lose weight and to reverse your insulin resistance.  Otherwise any decrease in inflammation that occurs from nutritional support will only be temporary at best!   

Now let’s get into our action plan.  Nutritional support is focused on four major factors. 
1. Gut health.  Over 70% of the immune system is located in your gut, more specifically in Gut Associated Lymphatic Tissue (GALT).  Therefore a healthy gut is absolutely necessary to support a healthy immune response.

2. Mitochondria support.  The mitochondria are the Power Plants in every one of our cells.  Remember the immune system can take up to 50% of all available energy, therefore we must make sure our mitochondria are working optimally to produce the energy our immune system and body as a whole needs!

3. Immune System Support. The goal is to support a proper immune response. 

4. Support & Manage Optimal Inflammation, when needed.  Inflammation by itself is neither good nor bad.  Inflammation is necessary for life, it drives the immune system and tissue repair mechanisms, however, as already discussed, too much of it, can create the life threatening “Cytokine Storm” which damages healthy tissues, therefore supporting proper inflammation responses is key!

Now for specifics:
Gut Health:  Probiotics 2-3 times per day, preferably on an empty stomach, preferably a refrigerated  brand as those tend to have better viability.  Beneficial – friendly bacteria support healthy intestinal epithelial cells which can in turn support Gut Associated Lymphatic Tissue where most of the immune system lives.  Beneficial bacteria can suppress the growth of pathogenic species.  Fighting SARS-CoV-2 is enough, we do not need to be fighting other immune battles. Probiotics have been shown to help reduce inflammation.  Here diversity is key.  More species of good guys the better.  

Next: Digestive enzymes.  When the body is under stress, digestive enzyme production decreases, if you are not fully breaking down your food, you will not be able to properly “feed” the good bacteria.  Poorly broken down food can lead to a breakdown in the gut membrane, known as leaky gut or technically increased intestinal permeability which itself is a cause of increased inflammation.  Not properly breaking down food to feed the good guys will allow more dangerous bacteria and yeast populations to increase.  Digestive enzymes can also reduce stress on the liver and pancreas that may already be overburdened by inflammation from spike proteins.  

Another key step to take is this: incorporate time-restricted eating at least 3-4 days per week, more often if possible.  By going at least 14-16 hours between eating dinner and breakfast the following day, this can give the gut time to heal and regenerate.  Eating this way can also encourage autophagy, which is like  general house cleaning on the cellular level which is extremely important if the body has to repair from damages done as a result of chronic infection.  

Mitochondria Support: Whole food B vitamins since they are the primary vitamins related to energy metabolism.  Why whole food?  Simple.  Most store bought B vitamins only contain B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9 & B12.  Those are the B’s most easily synthesized.  However, research suggests that there are likely over 40 members of the B vitamin family, many we have yet to fully isolate/identify.  Foods that are rich in B’s are likely to contain all of them.  Co-Q10 in the activated form, Ubiquinol, is an antioxidant stored in the mitochondria that supports energy production.  NAC or N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine is a precursor to Glutathione, one of the most powerful antioxidants in the body which can help mitigate the damaging effects of excessive inflammation.   

Immune System Support:  In addition to probiotics as discussed for gut health, medicinal mushrooms have been shown to greatly support the immune response, especially Reishi and Shiitake.  Echinacea, specifically Echinacea Root has long been shown to be anti-viral and supports a proper immune response. Vitamin D3.  There are receptors in every cell in your body for vitamin D3 and that includes your immune system cells.  Vitamin D3 has been shown to support proper immune function.  Recent research has shown many laboratories are still using outdated reference ranges, optimal levels now appear to be between 50 and 80 ng/ml. 

Melatonin.  Research in the 2020 June edition of the journal Life Science, has shown melatonin to be an antioxidant and have antiviral properties while also helping to support normal sleep cycles.  Quercetin.  Research in 2021 in the Journal of General Medicine showed Quercetin binds to spike proteins decreasing their penetration into cells and blocks viral replication.  Zinc.  Zinc plays a role in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the human body, many involving immune system cell activation.  

Support and Manage Proper Inflammation.  Many of the supplements already discussed also serve in this category such as Vitamin D3, Ubiquinol, Melatonin and  probiotics.  The major one to add for this category is Omega 3 fatty acids and particularly EPA.  EPA has been shown for decades to suppress excessive inflammation. 

Those are the main nutrients I wanted to discuss today, yes, there are others but this was intended to be a primer to get one started. 

This wraps up the key points to consider for long haulers.  While we are on this topic let’s add a few additional points to consider for anyone dealing with an initial acute case of COVID-19.  These points also pertain to anyone looking for support strategies for those about to receive a COVID-19 injection, initial or booster.  In both cases, you are dealing with an acute introduction spike proteins, whether they come from outside – in, for those exposed to the actual SARS-CoV-2 virus or SARS-CoV-2 spike protein coated viruses from injections like Johnson & Johnson’s or as the result of your own body beginning to make SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins which is what the Pfizer & Moderna shots program your cells to do. 

Either way there is likely to be much higher active inflammation processes going on in your body compared to what is occurring inside long haulers.  Therefore all supplements already discussed are useful along with:  Additional nutrients to quench the larger scale acute inflammatory response.  Some of the best nutrients to do this are:  Ginger, Bosweillia and Turmeric as well as White Willow Bark which is chemically similar to aspirin but is supposed to have less side effects. Lastly, and perhaps most important, specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs).  These compounds help keep inflammation from getting out of control by breaking down certain molecules produced by the body which drive inflammation levels up!  

So there you have it, nutritional strategies for COVID-19 Long Haulers & for COVID-19 Injections.  Please do not forget the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight and avoiding insulin sensitivity, the root cause behind metabolic syndrome.  For more specific recommendations on which supplements we are using or for any other questions, reach out to us via email, call our office or reach out on any of the major social media platforms!  

This concludes today’s episode of The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast, where we discuss tips, tools & strategies to improve the health and wellness of you & your family!  Please SUBSCRIBE to this podcast so that you never miss a future episode, also PLEASE SHARE this podcast with ANYONE you feel may benefit from what we covered today.

Finally, Thank you very much for listening and until next time, have a Fantastic Day!

 Links

Melatonin as antiviral antioxidant

Quercetin role as therapeutic

Omega 3 Fats Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Special Pro-resolving Mediators (SPMs) to Limit Risk of Cytokine Storm

Vitamin D Reducing Risk of Flu & COVID-19

Characterizing long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and their impact. The Lancet, 15 July 2021

Impact of Lockdown on Metabolic Disease in Italy

Role of Micronutrients in Support of Immune Response Against Viral Infections

The post Nutritional Support for C0VID Long Haulers & Injections appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.

About our featured guest:

Dr. Susan Wadia-Ells is a long-time cultural change agent. During the 1970’s she organized women at Polaroid, creating the first affirmative action program for women within a Fortune 200 corporation, and soon became Polaroid’s corporate affirmative action manager and a mentor to other women’s groups  fighting for equal pay, training, benefits, and career opportunities.

After returning to academia in the early 1980’s for a graduate degree in energy economics and political development at The Fletcher School, Dr. Wadia-Ells worked with community development groups in Zimbabwe as that nation’s long struggle against apartheid ended. Next, she operated as a small town journalist in Brattleboro VT, under the guidance of the legendary UPI International Editor, Norman Runnion. Wadia-Ells then moved on to complete her PhD in women’s studies, before teaching over the next decade in Lesley University’s Adult Baccalaureate Program in Boston—helping women learn to fearlessly write their unspoken ideas and life stories. During this time, while raising her son, she also created national feminist conferences on once-ignored or banned topics including the landmark Women’s Ways of Knowing Study—exploring the personal growth dimensions within motherhood, and understanding the power of women’s menopausal years.

Her 1995 anthology, The Adoption Reader: Birth Mothers, Adoptive Mothers and Adopted Daughters Tell Their Stories (Seal Press, Seattle), helped define adoption as primarily a woman’s issue. Wadia-Ells’ column, “Honest Health”, published by the Gloucester Daily Times (MA), beginning in 2008, her long-time Busting Breast Cancer blog, and her 2013 e-book, Birth Control Drugs and Breast Cancer: Learn the Terrible Truth, all served to introduce many of the topics discussed in her 2019 book, Busting Breast Cancer: Five Simple Steps to Keep Breast Cancer out of Your Body, based on the new metabolic theory of cancer. She currently lives in Manchester by the Sea, MA.

Main Questions Covered

Dr. Susan Wadia-Ells, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for taking time to be with us today.  Your new book, Busting Breast Cancer five simple steps to keep breast cancer out of your body is an absolute MUST read for not just for all women but really all men so that they can support and encourage the women in their lives to be as healthy as they can! 

I want to begin by asking what inspired you to dedicate so much time in the research and development of this book?

As we begin, I just want to mention some pretty scary statistics. In the United States alone, it is estimated that there will be about 280,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer in 2021 and an additional 50,000 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ!  

With so many new cases each and every year the amount of fear these statistics generate in our women is staggering.  This is why your book is needed more now than ever before.  It really should serve as a beacon of HOPE because you present research supported ways for women to REDUCE their risk of break cancer….BUT many of the things they should do, will make them challenge much of what they have been told by mainstream media and the modern medical industry, including many of their doctors.  Can you speak to this challenge for women?

Let’s go right after the Elephant in the room.  All too often, as you clearly report in the book, when women are diagnosed with cancer, rarely, if ever do they get an actual scientifically supported reason WHY they developed cancer.  This bad luck, as some women are told, is one of the drivers of the fear surrounding this epidemic as women are left wondering, since no one seems to know what causes it, will I be next??  

However, what most people don’t know, including many healthcare providers, is the absolute game changing research of Thomas Seyfried and his Metabolic Theory of Cancer, which for the first time in history describes the most likely CAUSE of breast cancer!  Can you summarize what he found and the importance of this discovery?

Here’s the rub, we have groundbreaking scientific research that if applied could dramatically reduce new cancers from developing and possibly save 10’s of 1000’s of lives by helping cancer patients overcome this disease, but it is pitted against a billion dollar cancer treatment industry that is predicated upon highly profitable exam procedures, surgeries, chemotherapy drugs and radiation treatments.  Can you share with our listeners the almost jubilant tone of some of these pharmaceutical companies in their annual reports as they project year over year record increases in sales of their cancer drugs?

I would love to briefly touch on some of the simple steps for women to take that you outline in your book.

Can you give a summary on why getting to a healthy body weight is so important?

This next topic was an eye opener.  Progestin containing birth control.  Can you share for our listeners the SIGNIFICANT difference between naturally occurring progesterone and the synthetic progestin?

Can you touch on the significance of, I believe it was in 2010, the study that focused on progestin?

Why was it not picked up by major media outlets?

The next topic will be sure to rattle many feathers.  Virtually all women have been told the importance of getting yearly mammograms, once they turn 40.  If we were to ask any group of women, if there are any downsides to getting this procedure, I would bet most would say there ARE NO downsides.  But like all medical treatments, there are both pro’s and con’s to consider.  Can you share just a few things that women should know about mammograms?

What about Thermography as an alternative?    

Let’s talk about statistics for a moment.  One thing I learned in your book that was really concerning is this: The state cancer boards are required to collect data on newly diagnosed breast cancers as well as recurrent metastatic breast tumors but they are not obligated to share that data with the public.  Why the seemingly secrecy behind this data?         

I would be remiss if I did not ask you a few questions about the industry and some of the major players.  You are not afraid to call out some of the big organizations for actions that do not really seem to support the optimization of womens’ health.  Can you touch on some of the issues regarding the American Cancer Society, the Susan B. Komen Organization?

Can you explain to our listener’s who was behind the pink ribbon and Breast Cancer Awareness Month and how much has this organization actually spent toward PREVENTION?? 

WOW, Well thank you for everything you have shared with us so far.  I highly encourage everyone listening to please pick up a copy of Dr. Susan’s book and read it to learn much much more!

In addition to your book, which we will have a link to in our show notes, are there any other resources that you would recommend to our listeners to learn more about some of the things we talked about today?

As we get ready to wrap up, I have two final questions:

Do you have any final words of wisdom for our listeners and HOW can we CONNECT WITH YOU?

Links

Dr. Susan’s Website
https://www.bustingbreastcancer.com/

Dr. Susan’s email address
[email protected]

Science Daily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/

Dr. Thomas SeyFried’s Book
Cancer as a Metabolic Disease

Other Books
Keto for Cancer

The Metabolic Approach to Cancer

Tripping Over the Truth: How the Metabolic Theory of Cancer Is Overturning One of Medicine’s Most Entrenched Paradigms

The Secret History of the War on Cancer

The Ketogenic Kitchen: Low carb. High fat. Extraordinary Health

This concludes today’s episode of The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast, where we discuss tips, tools & strategies to improve the health and wellness of you & your family!  Please SUBSCRIBE to this podcast so that you never miss a future episode, also PLEASE SHARE this podcast with ANYONE you feel may benefit from what we covered today.

Thank you very much for listening and until next time, have a GREAT Day!

The post Busting Breast Cancer with Dr. Susan Wadia-Ells appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.

Good day everyone!  Today’s topic, Insulin Resistance, a leading cause of Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Diabetes, Obesity, Inflammation & More.  Learn what causes it and what you can do to both prevent & reverse it!  This topic is so important for two major reasons.  #1 Insulin Resistance is responsible for more degenerative conditions than any other single cause.  #2 Insulin Resistance is the leading cause of the Top Three Pre-existing Conditions that put people at risk for COVID-19 complications: Obesity, Diabetes and Heart disease!  So let’s get rolling! 

I want to begin with some basic definitions.  First and foremost.  Glucose.  Glucose is a simple sugar and is one of the main fuel sources of the body.  It is the key component to many carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates or saccharides as they are also known are the sugars, starches and fibers found in fruits, grains, vegetables and milk products.  One thing you must understand is this: Ultimately, all carbohydrates are made up of sugars.  All carbohydrates effect blood sugar with one exception.  Fiber.  Fiber is considered the roughage portion of plant-based foods that cannot be fully broken down by the human digestive system. Digestion is the process of breaking down the larger, macromolecules of food that we consume into their fundamental building blocks for use in the body.  

Insulin resistance occurs when cells in your body do not respond well to insulin.  Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas and its job is to allow glucose from the blood stream, to enter into cells, either for the production of energy now or for the storage of energy later.  Therefore, when someone has insulin resistance and their cells are not responding well to insulin, the cells cannot take in as much glucose as they normally would, given a certain amount of insulin secreted.  This results in higher levels of blood glucose over time.

This is not good.  Although glucose is a main source of fuel, taking in much more than you need is NOT healthy.  Like so many other things in life, while some glucose is good, more is definitely NOT better.  Think of it this way.  Glucose for your body is like gasoline for your car.  Let’s say you have a 10 gallon gas tank and run it close to empty.  If you go to the gas station and put in about 10 gallons of gas, things are good.  You can drive away, you’re happy, the gas station owner is happy.  However, if you try to pump in 20 gallons of gas and spill 10 gallons all over the ground, now you have a problem, it becomes a hazmat situation because that excess gas on the ground Is damaging to the environment.  Well, this is exactly what happens if you take in more glucose than you need.  

The average person can store around 1-2 hours of glucose-based fuel in their bodies, depending on how well they are trained.  Glucose that is to be stored is converted into glycogen where it is kept in our muscles and in our liver.  If you do some exercise and burn off some of your glucose stores, you should be eating some sources of glucose to replenish your reserves.  However, if you go overboard and take in far more than you need, it becomes dangerous.  Normal glucose levels are handled well by the body, but high levels of glucose are inflammatory in nature and what’s worse is this:  The same story applies to Insulin.  High levels of insulin are also inflammatory in nature.  So now you can begin to see the issue.  If you are consuming so much sugar that your body is constantly secreting insulin to try and allow the cells to utilize the sugar, your cells can become less responsive to the insulin which is how one becomes insulin resistant.  Now if you do not change your lifestyle, you can easily have two different substances capable of causing increased inflammation at dangerously high levels!  

If you cannot get your cells to take in glucose, yet you continue eating carbohydrates your blood glucose levels will steadily increase which results in type II diabetes or previously called adult onset diabetes. This is how insulin resistance leads to diabetes.  It is sad that the reason type II diabetes is no longer called adult-onset is because we have so many young children developing it!  It used to take the average person decades of eating above average levels of sugar and carbohydrates to cause IR and eventually become diabetic, well now our food industry is so terrible that young children can get there in just a few years!  Just one energy drink combined with one candy bar can easily provide more than a day’s worth of carbohydrates for the average, sadly, sedentary child. Many of these young children consume more sugar and refined carbohydrates in one year than their grandparents likely consumed over 10-15 years, its an absolute fact.  100 years ago, the average American consumed about 10 lbs of sugar per year.  Today, the average American consumes over 150 lbs of sugar per year.  Now think about this.  If your energy stores are fully topped off, yet you continue to consume sugar and carbs, what does your body do with that extra sugar?  The answer:  It primarily gets converted into triglycerides and is stored as body fat!  Has our population gotten bigger as a whole in the last 100 years, absolutely.   

So excessive sugar intake is by the main cause of IR but there is more to this story.  Not all sugars are equal.  Some sugars are worse than others.  Fructose is potentially the worst one for three major reasons:

1. Fructose converts more readily into body fat, even if your glycogen stores are not yet topped off.

2. Fructose plays a much bigger role in developing Leptin resistance.  Leptin is a hormone produced by our fat cells that is supposed to inhibit hunger.  Leptin should be keeping us from eating more if we do take on more body fat.  So you can see the danger with Fructose, it builds body fat more readily and also can lead to leptin resistance which can ultimately lead us to being more hungry more often even after storing more body fat.

3. Fructose appears to facilitate the conversion of purines into uric acid.  Elevated levels of uric acid can cause a spike in free radicals produced which can damage our mitochondria which leads to reduced energy levels since the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell and is where our cellular energy is made.  When the body’s energy levels are low, the body will generate hunger as it believes you just need to eat more to fulfill the energy demand.  However, that is the least of the body’s problems if there are damaged mitochondria.  Damaged mitochondria are now known to be a major factor in the development of cancer.  That is the essence behind the metabolic theory of cancer.  I strongly urge everyone listening to read “Tripping Over The Truth.  How the Metabolic Theory of Cancer is overturning one of medicine’s most entrenched paradigms” by Travis Christofferson to lean more.  

Now lets pivot and talk about some of the most common sources of fructose.  Table sugar is about 50% glucose and 50% fructose.  Most fruits are also composed of about 50% glucose and 50 fructose.  Now for the biggie.  High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), the cheap, massed produced, by-product of our subsidized corn industry, is added to so many daily, common foods, to make them sweeter so you literally are more likely to become addicted and ultimately but more of those sweetened foods!  HFCS is 55% Fructose, 45% Glucose.  Think of soda, soda alone is a massive source of sugar and particularly fructose for so many people.  Now, what is very important to know is this: The combination of vitamin C along with fiber seem to block fructose’s effects on uric acid production.  This is why eating some fruits, like an orange is okay, but, if you just drink orange juice, you are not getting any fiber and that is why fruit juice is actually damaging to the body.  Yes, I said, damaging to the body.  How many of us start or at least started every day with a large glass of OJ?  I know I did growing up.  The sad reality is the science is clear on this one, drinking juice is not a good move.  However, this does not stop the marketers and their TV commercials, online ads and clever sales displays trying to tell us otherwise.  Remember, folks, in the end, like so many other food industries, they just want you to buy their stuff.  

Now we have to dive deeper into the causes of IR.  While the overconsumption of sugar, carbs and particularly fructose, is the major driver, there are other causes.
1. Having a poor Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio.  This creates increased inflammation which can interfere with insulin receptors on your cells.  In general, Omega 3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory in nature, while Omega 6 fatty acids are PRO-inflammatory in nature.  Now inflammation itself is neither good nor bad.  Inflammation is a key component in both our Immune system and our body’s healing & repair systems.  However, just like glucose, while some inflammation is necessary, too much can be damaging.  Excessive inflammation can result in healthy tissues being damaged which is why excessive inflammation is a main factor in all chronic diseases! 

In a perfect world our bodies would have an Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio of around 2:1. However, the average American has an Omega 6:3 ratio of around 25:1!  How did it get this bad?  By Overeating grains and especially vegetable oils such as corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil and safflower oils.  Grains and vegetable oils are rich in Omega 6 fatty acids.  Omega 3 fatty acids, the best sources are wild caught cold water fatty fish and coconut oil.  But wait, weren’t vegetable oils supposed to be good for us?  Wrong.  In the US we subsidize the growing of grains, including wheat, corn, soy, canola etc. therefore the advice to consume those industry’s oils is purely economical, sadly, no real science supports consuming those highly inflammatory oils. 

The next cause of IR I want to mention is:
2. Consuming Trans Fatty Acids.  Anytime you read a label and see “partially hydrogenated”, that product contain trans fats and those toxic fats greatly interfere with insulin receptors.  Once again, think of how many people listened to the terrible advice of so many experts and bought margarine thinking they were doing something healthy.  Now most people know that margarine is toxic!  The so-called experts that promoted it for years, were paid off by the fake spread manufactures and sadly, the number of people sickened and even killed by this terrible lie is almost too many to count.  In fact, a report by Dr. Walter Willett, of Harvard University estimates that trans fats could be responsible for 30,000 of the annual heart disease related deaths in the US alone!

The last cause of IR I want to talk about are Ceramindes.
3. Ceraminde exposure.  Ceramides are fats that cause insulin resistance in the brain.  The two most common sources of ceramides are alcohol and nitrosamines (nitrites and nitrates frequently found in white flour, processed cheese, most bacon and lunch meats)

Okay, so now you know the main causes of IR. 
Overconsumption of sugars and carbohydrates
Having a Poor Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio
Trans Fats and
Ceramides.

So: With causes of IR now known, Its time to make an Action plan of steps one can take to both prevent and reverse it!

#1 Is the most important.  Reduce your sugar intake, reduce all carbohydrates!  As a general rule, the average person, who is not regularly exercising, often does well with around 100 grams of carbohydrates per day.  Again, this is just an average, it can vary widely from person to person, but it can serve as a starting point for many.  Because excessive sugar/carb intake is the number one driver of IR, you cannot ignore this step.  Now there will always be companies out there trying to pitch the next miracle drug, promising a fix, but at what cost, save yourself from needless side effects and address the underlying cause! 

For those that are ready to make a change now and are ready to do whatever it takes I highly recommend looking into the Whole 30 Food Plan.  The Whole 30 way of eating, eliminates all grains, added sugars and dairy.  Yes, that can be very difficult to do over the long term, however, those that do it see great results, not only in terms of improved insulin sensitivity, most people report weight loss, decreases sugar cravings and increased energy.  Now for those that just can’t handle all of the rules and strict nature of following the plan word for word, here is a much more tolerable way.  Start by making 2-3 Whole 30 dinners per week.  Over time try to advance to following the plan 2 or 3 entire days per week and go from there.  Another great option is looking into the Paleo diet.  The Paleo diet eliminates grains, refined sugars and dairy products.  It is less stringent than the whole 30 and is a preferred plan for a lot of the world’s top athletes.  For additional information I highly suggest the books, “It Starts with Food. Discover the Whole 30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways” by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig,  “The Primal Blueprint” By Mark Sisson and for athletes, “The Paleo Diet for Athletes: The Ancient Nutrition Formula for Peak Athletic Performance” by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel. 

Another simple step to take is by incorporating intermittent fasting into your routine, either daily or even just a few times per week.  This can be done by simply extending the time between when you eat dinner and when you eat breakfast the following day.   Research suggests that health benefits, including improved insulin resistance can begin to be seen with a break of eating of just 14 hours.  So if you have dinner at 7pm, try not to have breakfast until 9am the next morning.  If you can go longer before eating breakfast, great!  If not, no worries! 

Intermittent fasting has suddenly become very trendy and there are so called intermittent experts popping up everywhere you turn and most are convinced that their way of doing it is best.  As always, there will likely never be a hard set, perfect amount of time for intermittent fasting because we are all unique individuals, with subtle variations in biochemistry, genetics, thoughts, emotions and more.  There will never be another YOU and therefore in the end, we you just need to find what works best for YOU.  

#2 Balance your Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio.  How do you know what your ratio is?  You must get the tested.  The good news is testing is easy, there are many labs that offer an in-home test kit which only requires a drop of blood from a finger stick, similar to what a diabetic does to check their blood sugar.  For those in my area, reach out to us at the office and we can get you set up with a test kit.  If your ratio is off, you must reduce your consumption of vegetable oils and grains and increase your Omega 3 consumption, often Omega 3 supplements can be helpful in these cases.

#3 Eliminate consumption of Trans Fats, there is no shortcut on this one either folks, these are toxic, damaging oils.  Read your food labels and toss out anything with the words, “partially hydrogenated”.

#4 Exercise: Both strength training and cardiovascular exercise have been shown to increase insulin sensitivity. The good news here is that you do not need to go overboard.  Strength training 2 times per week and aerobic exercise 3-5 times per week can be very effective.  As mentioned at the start of this conversation, for those that love endurance events, as I do, just be mindful of how much carbohydrate you are consuming.

#5 Reduce Ceraminde consumption by limiting alcohol, limiting processed meats and processed white flour.

#6 Consider training your body to thrive off of Ketones which are an alternative fuel source for the body.  This can be achieved by following a ketogenic diet.  Supplementing directly with ketones and or Medium Chain Triglycerides, known as MCTs (which break down into ketones in our muscles) at specific times can help your body use this alternative fuel source. 

Fueling off of ketones reduces the need and often reduces the craving for carbs which can lead to less intake which leads to less insulin secretion which can help to improve a cells response to insulin over time.
Please note, there can be significant side effects when trying to convert to a ketogenic diet, particularly in those with pre-existing medical conditions so please do so only under the close supervision of a qualified health professional

So there you have it, today we covered what insulin resistance is.  What causes it and what we can do to both prevent and reverse it.  I want to close with a few moments about why I chose to record this episode today which is December 12th 2020.  As I mentioned at the onset of today’s talk, Insulin Resistance is the leading cause behind the Top Three Pre-existing Conditions that put people at risk for COVID-19 complications.  We know that over 99% of all people infected with COVID-19 will fully recover.  So, what happens to those that don’t survive?  It is not like they get a different virus than the 99+% of people that survive.  

What is it that people who are obese, diabetic and have heart disease have in common that puts them at most risk from dying from COVID-19?  They all have a condition driven by excessive inflammation!  If a person has higher levels of inflammation in their body and the get COVID-19, often their body’s immune system can go over board and that results in the “Cytokine Storm” which ultimately results in death. Cytokines are substances secreted by certain immune system cells.  Sadly, their immune system over-reacts and this results in damage to their own lung tissues! 

The medical world has known about the cytokine storm very early into the pandemic!  Yet time and time again you hear, stay home, social distance, wear masks, but where is the talk about simple steps we can all do to improve our health now!  Where is the talk about simple steps to improve our immune system function now!  Well, all of the action steps discussed here have research behind them to support improvements in health and reducing excessive inflammation!  Just think, where we would be as a nation, as a world if we all focused on what we can do to improve not only our immune systems but our overall health!  So with that said, if you found this information to be helpful please share it with anyone you think may benefit from it!  

Until next time.  Have a great day!

Links:

Tripping Over the Truth:  How the Metabolic Theory of Cancer Is Overturning One of Medicine’s Most Entrenched Paradigms

It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways

The Primal Blueprint 

The Paleo Diet for Athletes: The Ancient Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance

The post Insulin Resistance (IR), a leading cause of Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Diabetes, Obesity, Inflammation & More. Learn what causes IR and what you can do to both prevent & reverse it! appeared first on The Back to Health Chiropractic Podcast.