Chronic Pain and Vitamin D

Vitamin D is an important nutrient to overall health.  Low vitamin D levels have been associated with persistant, nonspecific, musculoskeletal pain.(fibromyalgia) and depression.

A recent study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings tested 150 patients with chronic pain.  93% or 140 of them had low vitamin D levels.  An interesting finding was that 100% of all African American, East African, Hispanic and American Indians were deficient in Vitamin D.  The study concluded that “All patients with persistant, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain are at high risk for the consequences of unrecognized and untreated severe hypovitaminosis D.”

I talk about vitamin D a lot in my practice.  Too little vitamin D is common, especially in the Wisconsin climate.  Typically the symptoms of hypovitaminosis D are treated with drugs that don’t do anything to fix the problem and in fact can deplete the body even more.

This year, I have partnered with a professional co-op so that I can order vitamin D tests at a cost of about $40.00.  Already I have found patients that have severe vitamin D issues and it has been a pleasure to help them with a simple course of supplementation.

To schedule a free consultation with me, contact Jennifer at 262-251-8306 or log on to www.stopyourfibronow.com or www.newbackpainreliefinfo.com.

Back Pain? You Need to Treat the Whole Body.

Yesterday, I had a patient say to me “wow, its amazing that everything in the body is connected.”  She said this after I had adjusted her low back and her neck pain went away.

I get this type of comment often and its sort of strange when you think about it.  The fact that everything in your body is connected is self-evident.  One part of the body cannot be damaged without all the other parts being affected.

Think about it.  When you get a sinus infection, what happens ?  You get a fever and chills from your body temperature elevating.  You heart rate goes up.  Your respiration changes.  Your appetite goes down.  Your head aches, the neck can get stiff, and on and on.  All caused by an infection in your nose.

American medicine tends to look at the body as a collection of a bunch of parts.  If the appendix gets infected, take it out.  If the blood pressure rises, take a pill to make the heartbeat weaker.  If the low back hurts, inject the area with numbing medication.

American medicine never seems to stop and consider that maybe the appendix is infected because of an intestinal problem.  Or the blood pressure is high because of dehydration.  Or the low back is hurting because of poor posture.

Now, I’m not saying that you don’t need to treat things medically.  For example, an appendix operation could save your life.  What I am saying is, that people need to focus on the issues that caused the condition to occur in the first place.  If you don’t, you are simply masking over issues that will come back to haunt you later.

When it comes to the spine, this is especially true.  John Bland MD author of Disorders of the Cervical Spine says:

“ We tend to divide the examination of the spine into regions: cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine clinical studies.  This is a mistake.  The three units are closely interrelated structurally and functionally-a whole person with a whole spine.  The cervical spine may be symptomatic because of a thoracic or lumbar spine abnormality and vice versa ! Sometimes treating a lumbar spine will relieve a cervical spine syndrome, or proper management of a cervical spine will relieve low backache.”

The spine needs to be treated as a whole unit.  To be even more accurate, the body needs to be treated as a whole.

To find out more about how I treat low back pain, log on to www.newbackpainreliefinfo.com.

Chronic Headaches and the Pill Industry

The advertisements are everywhere, at the supermarket, gas station, billboards, or TV, compelling us to ingest another pill for an ill. Nowhere is this more prominent than in the pain pill industry. We are told that simple pain relievers really do the trick to make that nasty headache go away. But have you ever thought about how you the consumer are being manipulated? These over-the-counter drugs are a booming industry and make huge profits for the companies that push them.

Have you wondered why you don’t see an advertisement suggesting that you should see a doctor to get a proper diagnosis, to determine the cause of your headache? Instead, we self-diagnose and self-medicate all while finding no long-term solution for a chronic and long-term problem.

The first question a consumer needs to ask is, “why do I have a headache?”

Why is my body signaling pain? Humans and other animals have a nervous system that warns us of problems by making us experience pain. The pain is a like a fire alarm. What would life be like if the fire department responded to a house fire by cutting the fire alarm? We’d still be in a raging inferno. But when pain is temporarily silenced with medicine, the cause of the pain continues. No one could seriously think that headaches are caused by a lack of ibuprofen in the diet? That’s CRAZY! But these pain pills are consumed by so many Americans, they have almost become part of the national diet. And of course the dirty little secret is that many people double and triple the dosages recommended on the bottle.

The warnings on the bottle don’t seem to help much either. Stomach bleeding, liver and kidney problems are all serious unintended consequences of taking these pills over a long duration. The side effects are even more dangerous if we drink alcohol regularly.

So what’s a person to do? First, get examined by a doctor of chiropractic to determine if there an underlying spinal cause for your headache. The doctor can also rule out rare things that can be causing the headache, such as high blood pressure or a brain tumor (very rare causes). Next, it’s important to realize that pain is a signal and should be embraced rather than ignored or suppressed.

Through natural chiropractic care your headaches can go away without pain pills. Clinical research in the form of randomized clinical trials, have documented the effectiveness of chiropractic care in patients with headaches. The safety profile of chiropractic is far superior to pain medications, including the over-the counter variety.

YOU MAYBE A CANDIDATE FOR DRUG FREE RELIEF!

FOR A FREE NO-OBLIGATION CONSULTATION CALL 262-251-8306

Or Log on to: www.painfree-greatposture.com for more information.