Dr Nate Archives - Dr Nate Chiropractor

Painkillers

The risk of dangerous side effects of prescription drugs has become more a part of society’s conscience. As painkillers decreased pain perception the body becomes vulnerable to further injury or damage. The body depends on pain signals to alert you to injuries. When these pain signals are silenced patients are put in danger of further complications. Not only that, since pain medication is merely a silencer, the root of the problem is never solved. Chronic pain is a result of merely masking the problem as opposed to treating it. Pain medication side effects also include dependency, depression, constipation, hormonal imbalances, and weakened immune systems. Now more than ever, exploring natural options for pain management is a necessary pursuit. Chiropractic care and techniques have been proven to help individuals decrease their pain. In numerous studies, individuals who received chiropractic treatments for 12 weeks or longer experienced greater reductions in pain those who did not. Those who suffer from conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome, shoulder pain, back pain, neck pain, headaches, arthritis, and fibromyalgia can benefit from chiropractic care promoting the body’s self-healing process.

Functional Medicine

Instead of looking at and treating health problems as isolated diseases/illnesses, functional medicine treats individuals who may have multiple bodily symptoms, imbalances, and dysfunctions caused by altered physiology (function). It’s a science-based, logical and natural way to become healthy again.

Visualize an iceberg. Named diseases such as diabetes, cancer, or fibromyalgia might be visible above the surface, and according to functional medicine, the cause lies in the altered physiology below the surface. Almost always, the cause of the disease and its symptoms is an underlying dysfunction and/or an imbalance of bodily systems.

Named diseases are just the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface, according to functional medicine, are the real causes of a patient’s health problems. Underlying causes include hormonal imbalances; inflammatory imbalances; detoxification imbalances; structural imbalances; immune imbalances; mitochondrial dysfunction; digestive, absorptive and microbiological imbalances; toxic chemical exposure; toxic emotions (anger, fear, resentment, etc.).

If healthcare treats just the tip of the iceberg, it rarely leads to long-term relief and vibrancy. Identifying and treating the underlying root cause or causes, as functional medicine does, has a much better chance to successfully resolve a patient’s health challenge.

Overview

Laser therapy, it almost sounds like something out of science fiction, calling to mind brightly colored lasers that cut through anything and everything. How on earth can it work as medicinal treatment? High Power Laser Therapy (HPLT) can be applied to the surface of the body to relieve pain and even enhance cell function. It must be administered by a trained health practitioner. While not the most common treatment, it can relieve pain, soreness, and discomfort. When applied, the light emitted by the laser pass through the skin’s layers. This focused beam of light has the ability to penetrate two to five centimeters. Once it passes through the skin, it is absorbed by the cells of the targeted area, initiating a series of events that stimulates healing by increasing cellular metabolism. There have been over 2,500 clinical studies published worldwide since 1967 on the use of laser therapy.

Chiropractic adjustment treatments

Chiropractic is a complementary health approach or form of medicinal treatment mostly concerned with the diagnosis and repair of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially in the spine. Spinal manipulation, which chiropractors call “spinal adjustment” or “chiropractic adjustment”, is the most common treatment used in chiropractic care, and back and neck pain, in particular, has been proven to be effectively treated by chiropractic manipulation. These manipulations are specifically applied to the spine or other parts of the body with the goal of correcting alignment problems, alleviating pain, improving function, and supporting the body’s natural ability to heal itself. It requires an in-depth education in anatomy and physiology and tends to overlap with other manual-therapy professions such as massage therapy, osteopathy, and physical therapy. According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which included a comprehensive survey of the use of complementary health approaches by Americans, about 8 percent of adults (more than 18 million) and nearly 3 percent of children (more than 2 million) had received chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation in the past 12 months. Additionally, an analysis of NHIS cost data found that adults in the United States spent approximately $11.9 billion out-of-pocket on visits to complementary health practitioners—$3.9 billion of which was spent on visits to practitioners for chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation. Chiropractors may combine the use of spinal adjustments and other manual therapies with several other treatments and approaches such as heat and ice, electrical stimulation, muscular relaxation techniques, rehabilitative and general exercise, fitness counseling about diet, weight loss, and other lifestyle factors, and dietary supplements. Though considered by some to be an alternative medicine, the World Health Organization found chiropractic care to be safe when employed skillfully and appropriately.

Pain and Inflammation (NSAID Use)

No one wants to be in pain! We will do practically anything to not be in pain. Most people turn to prescription and non-prescription Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS) for relief. Why? People are very familiar with these drugs from the massive amount of advertising by the pharmaceutical companies. Some of the many brand names available to consumers include Salicylates (Aspirin), Acetaminophen (Tylenol), Ibuprofen (Nuprin, Advil, Motrin), Naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), Oxycodone and Acetaminophen (Percocet, Tylox), and Celecoxib (Celebrex).

Disturbing facts concerning NSAID use include:

Each year over 100,000 people are hospitalized with serious side effects from taking NSAIDS
Each year over 16,000 people die from the serious side effects from taking NSAIDs
More people die from NSAID side effects than from AIDS each year
More than 4 times as many people die from NSAID side effects as from Cervical cancer each year
Only 1 in 5 people who have serious problems from taking NSAIDs have warning symptoms
20% of all chronic NSAID users will develop a peptic ulcer. NSAID users have a greater risk, 3 to 4 times higher, to having upper gastrointestinal bleeding, perforation, or both
81% of patients hospitalized with serious NSAID induced complications had no previous gastrointestinal symptoms
21% of all adverse drug reactions in the United States are due to NSAID use
People over 60 years of age have a significantly higher probability to experience complications associated with NSAID use
In the United States, there are over 13 million regular users of NSAIDS, 70 million NSAID prescriptions written every year, and 30 billion over-the-counter NSAID tablets sold annually

In future blogs, we will explore some of the specific adverse side effects caused by NSAID use and consider natural alternatives (diet and nutritional supplementation) in order to control pain and inflammation.

Pain and Inflammation (NSAID Use)

Disturbing facts concerning NSAID use include:

Each year over 100,000 people are hospitalized with serious side effects from taking NSAIDS
Each year over 16,000 people die from the serious side effects from taking NSAIDs
More people die from NSAID side effects than from AIDS each year
More than 4 times as many people die from NSAID side effects as from Cervical cancer each year
Only 1 in 5 people who have serious problems from taking NSAIDs have warning symptoms
20% of all chronic NSAID users will develop a peptic ulcer. NSAID users have a greater risk, 3 to 4 times higher, to having upper gastrointestinal bleeding, perforation, or both
81% of patients hospitalized with serious NSAID induced complications had no previous gastrointestinal symptoms
21% of all adverse drug reactions in the United States are due to NSAID use
People over 60 years of age have a significantly higher probability to experience complications associated with NSAID use
In the United States, there are over 13 million regular users of NSAIDS, 70 million NSAID prescriptions written every year, and 30 billion over-the-counter NSAID tablets sold annually