TOP 4 Ways to Defy Poor Health

How to defy poor health & limiting ideas.

     Some of the best healing stories I've ever heard come from defiant patients. In a scenario where defiance was an asset, I enjoyed reading an article written by a practicing physician, Dr. Annie Brewster, who defied her doctor's orders when she was diagnosed with 'probable MS' and was recommended to start 'disease modifying therapy' immediately. She took both paths of managing the 'probable' and ultimately ended up rejecting the medication path altogether because it simply took too much out of her. (1) What I appreciate most from her experience, is that she learned a lot from being on the patient side of things. That the 'right' thing to do is based on a multitude of factors that only the patient can fully assess from the whole context of their lives.

     Whether educated in a facet in the medical field or not, our understanding of healing and managing illness is minuscule until we have to fight our way through it. Our assumptions of trust can easily follow the most elaborate architecture of hospital buildings, pharmaceutical 'cutting-edge' developments and those associated within. But for an independent mind willing to leverage the digital age of informational access, you will end up at a common thread understanding as I did, the money it takes to buy that prestige, doesn't come from effectively healing people. Beyond weighing the "potential side-effects" along side the "potential benefits" here is a life-preserver of healing philosophies that won't let you drown.

TOP 4 ways to defy poor health:

1.) KNOW YOUR DOCTOR'S LIMITS. Maybe all they can do is recommend drugs (even when they prefer homeopathic remedies) because the scope of their license and malpractice insurance forbids anything else. And naturally an ego can't help but desire to do something rather than nothing.

2.) ACCEPTING SYMPTOMS, NOT MINIMIZING. Perhaps your doctor, friends or partner has never been a patient with the debilitating side of losing autonomy, and therefore it can seem like those on your side minimize the experience. You are the only one with the power to do that, advocate your needs and they will too.

3.) CARING FOR THE EMOTIONAL BURDEN. Because treatments are specific to the physical side of the injury, your doctor has no access whatever to the whole context of the emotional trauma you face or how you shoulder the emotional burden of managing pain. Increase your own psychological tool set with tools such as Goalistics.com.

4.) INCREASE YOUR WORKING KNOWLEDGE. The process of increasing your personal working knowledge on healing alternatives is therapeutic in itself. It creates hope by giving you new answers to how your body works.

(1) Brewster, A. (2012, August 31). Patient Angst: When You Just Have To Say ‘No’ To The Doctor. CommonHealth RSS. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2012/08/patient-angst-when-you-just-have-to-say-no-to-the-doctor

How the Quatum Era is Shifting The Way We View Healing

Emerging research is shifting the way we view healing.

Because much of our systems are guided by dualism, herd-mentality, and corporate interests emerging discoveries can take forever to surface and gain acceptance. BUT, what if were standard practice to teach healing processes as a part of grade school studies? What if you were 10 and learned concepts like:

A.) You are energy. The frequency you operate at is very specific. The combination of your pH+ level, the quality of your thoughts, your functionality, energy level, stress level, etc. all combine to make up your unique frequency.

B.) The era of Newtonian physics (which began in the late 1600's) would have us believe that the body is merely mechanical and that parts can be discarded or replaced. But the last eight decades of emerging quantum era science shows us that everything is interconnected at the quantum level.

C.) What this means for healing: The physical, energetic and emotional inter-workings of the body are far more intertwined than we've previously imagined. This is why a soldier can return home unharmed physically, but sustained psychological damages results in a cascade of post battle depression, PTSD symptoms, and exhausted adrenals resulting in inflammatory issues and pain.


The study of emotional injuries, psychology and neuroscience are relatively new. We barely have a centuries' worth of research and we've learned more in the last three decades than we have in the preceding seventy years due to technology. A few well proven discoveries worth noting:

1.) Socioeconomic levels correlate to intellectual capacity: Poverty can reduce your working IQ by 13 points from the various emotion burdens of not being able to participate in one's community or be able to contribute.
2.) Adult relationship capacity correlates to early childhood learned attachment style: The early childhood interaction between parent and child forms the foundation of the adult's subconscious view towards how one can depend upon and trust others. 
3.) Intrinsic motivation trumps all: People who are motivated by personal factors generally find life, work and relationships more fulfilling, hence a movement within the workplace to engage and inspire employees as a new form of increasing productivity and overall satisfaction.


All that to say, our clinic likes to look ahead at how things may shift, how doctors might collaborate in the future and how the whole person may be assessed and treated emotionally just as much as physically. We hope education can make room in health classes for the reality of facing injury and how to recover. Because unfortunately, its a steep learning curve as an adult.

Why Whiplash is a Sneaky Bastard (The Physics & Damage)

There's a few important things at risk, (like your brain stem, no big deal.)

The research on the physics of how whiplash happens is slightly terrifying. With speeds as low as 8mph the sudden force of being hit may only be 2G, but with appropriate calculations, your neck ultimately absorbs a whip-like force of 5G for .25 of a second. (1) This is called 'magnification of acceleration' and unfortunately most people in a low speed accident will write-off any symptoms as non-related simply because they associate injury with higher speeds. 

Our clinic notices how many cases in which we treat neck pain, and more often than we'd like to admit, there's a low speed rear-ending accident in that patient's past that was never assessed. We hate to see patients spend money out of their own pocket to treat these issues when it should have been covered by PIP under your car insurance. But the longer anyone waits to submit that claim, the higher the risk of it being rejected. 

(1) Shapiro, A.; Teasell, R.; Steenhuis, R.: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Following Whiplash. In: Spine: State of the Art Reviews. Vol. 7, No. 3. September 1993. pp. 455-469 

Pain Relief CBD Cannabis Strains Isolated from THC Psychoactive Strains

Therapeutic satisfaction & effects of pharmaceutical grade CBD strain cannabis.

As the prohibition on cannabis in the US is slowly lifted, researchers are providing more insights into therapeutic grade strains as a new regulated industry emerges. In the forefront of this research, the CBD strain (the therapeutic benefits) are able to be isolated from the THC (the high) and many new products are emerging from this.  Among the top most known benefit of CBD is pain relief, reduced inflammation, its neuro-protective, relieves anxiety, suppresses muscle spasms, and is antibacterial. All this without the pharmaceutical side-effects. (1)

Based upon recent studies in the Netherlands, medicinal use of several different strains are showing a high satisfaction rate of 86% for pain relief, and revealing the difference of which strains have the fewest side effects. (2) Apparently a sense of dejection, anxiety and appetite increase vary between the three strains and are lowest with CBD.

(1) Gevirtz, C. (2009, June 1). CONTROLLING PAIN: Cannabinoids An emerging role in pain management?. CONTROLLING PAIN: Cannabinoids An emerging role in pain management?. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.nursingcenter.com/lnc/journalarticle?Article_ID=863277

(2) Brunt, T., Genugten, M. v., Höner-Snoeken, K., de Velde, M. v., & Niesink, R. (2014, June 1). Therapeutic satisfaction and subjective effects of different strains of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis.. . Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24747979

The Paradox of How MCO's Decrease Quality of Health Care

The Kaiser Building, Portland, Oregon

In the early 70's, the Managed Care Organization model was introduced for the first time to the public as a promise to embody the future of improved care, a truth the public can welcome while covering the reality of managing costs (call a spade a spade: profit maximization.) In 1990, Oregon state adopted this care model but with several decades of using its methods, few health care providers & patients are satisfied with it. Here's why:

1.) Being funneled through a MCO's protocol violates patient ACCESSIBILITY.(1) Labor and Industry MCO's are an extreme example of this. (Up until a year ago, only medical doctors could be certified for overseeing a worker's comp case, and recently chiropractors were added to this.)
     a.) Let's say something fell on your big toe and broke it while you were at work. Past the initial visit to ER to reset the bone, you will spend time in a cast, on crutches and wearing a special boot that ruins your natural gait over the next 90+ days (giving you substantial back pain.)
     b.) Because MCO doctors are under a normalized pressure to minimize costs, this means the likely-hood of the patient getting a full scope of their injury and what it takes for full restoration is NOT the primary goal. The broken toe patient with a new onset of back problems has very low chances of being referred to a chiropractor and a massage therapist, yet L&I will cover those.

2.)  The medical system itself isn't functional yet. According to new research from the Commonwealth Fund, 85% of physicians from the top 10 industrialized nations agree that our health care system doesn't work. (2) And US doctors are the most dissatisfied compared to any other country. Here's an alternative take on why that is:
   a.) Medical costs are tripled in the US compared to most countries. The more you profit, the more corporate self interest drives down quality of care and turns your fellow man into a commodity. Translation: We're sustaining enormous emotional conflict over this, no socioeconomic level is exempt and it hurts all of us.
   b.) Patients desperate for results ultimately end up in independent alternative care clinics, where an unbiased, low overhead chiropractor or naturopath hears a common thread story all the time: My MD did this, referred me to this, that didn't work, now I'm here.
   c.) MD's are limited to a pharmaceutical protocol by their scope of licensing & malpractice insurance, and by default they are often legal scapegoats for side-effects of drugs and pressure to restrict care by insurers. Irony at its worst basically.

Morale of the story: We tried a managed-care-profit-based-health care model, and it didn't work 'Uh-merica. We turned a portion of our own people into medical-malfunction zombies, legal cases and medical bankruptcies soared and we're sorry for it. Let's stop and try the opposite now. Let's advocate a profitless model, close the gap of disconnect between physicians all kinds, and empower patients for their full potential of restoration.


 
(1) Hall, R. (n.d.). Ethical and Legal Implications of Managed Care. Ethical and Legal Implications of Managed Care. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.drrichardhall.com/ethical.htm

(2) Kliff, S. (2012, November 15). Six out of every seven doctors agree: Our health-care system doesn’t work. Washington Post. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/15/six-out-of-every-seven-doctors-agree-our-health-care-system-doesnt-work/

Chiropractic Treatment for Low Back Disc Herniation

(A review of the latest studies by Dr. George Cluen)

This case study reviews a non-surgical treatment path for a 60-year-old-male who was reasonably active and had a previous low back pain case before returning 15 months later with severe LBP and pain radiating from his right glute to his calf.

His presenting symptoms were:

• A 73 out of 100 on the Oswestry Low Back Questionnaire
• Numerical pain scale a 6-10
• Inability to stand up straight
• Altered gait
• Difficulty standing from a sitting position

His treatment path included chiropractic adjustments, traction therapy, and physiotherapy to be followed up by at-home exercises. An MRI and surgical consult showed a lateral L5, S1 disc rupture with L5 nerve impingement, but improvements at this point were enough to avoid surgery. A week later a CT guided nerve root steroid injection was performed. Within three days, the patient reported sleeping better, was able to return to work and drive.

After another 4 weeks of physical therapy the patient reported a 0 of 10 on the numerical pain scale and after another month the patient reported being able to return to light exercising and reported zeros across all pain scales. 

It should be mentioned that this patient is fit for their age, motivated and compliant with treatment. Either way, this study demonstrates the effectiveness of a non-surgical therapy mix from chiropractic to physical therapy and the assistance of a steroid injection.

Erhard RE, Welch WC, Liu B, Vignovi M. Far-lateral disk herniation: case report, review of the literature, and a description of non-surgical management. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2004;27:e3.

Spinal Cord Canal Narrowing During Whiplash

(A review of the latest studies by Dr. George Cluen) 

The upper cervical spine is exposed to tremendous forces during rear end collision, even when speeds are under 10 miles an hour. Research shows that ligaments can be stretched or torn, the muscles can be strained, and a new study from Yale shows that the nerves and spinal canal may also be at risk.

In this study, the author studied the biomechanics of a cadaver's cervical spine during a simulated whiplash motion. The spine was subjected to three types of tests: A crash of 7 mph with no head restraint, an active head restraint, and a modern whiplash protection system (like that of the Mercedes Benz M class models 2005 and newer.) The cervical canal houses the spinal cord, this area and the foraminal space was computed during each impact while researchers looked for evidence of spinal canal narrowing.

The study found that "Average peak canal and foramen narrowing could not be statistically differentiated" between the three types of tests.

The study concludes:

"While lower cervical spine cord compression during a rear crash is unlikely, our results demonstrated foraminal kinematics sufficient to compress spinal ganglia and nerve roots. Future anti-whiplash systems designed to reduce cervical injury may reduce radicular symptoms in whiplash patients."

Non-Scientist Translation: 

7 mph is enough to compromise the space around the spinal cord and the connecting nerves momentarily, damage can be done.

This study shows that further seat design developments are needed and even with advanced head restraint technology, injury from rear end collisions is still possible.



Ivanic PC. Cervical neural space narrowing during simulated rear crashes with anti-whiplash systems. European Spine Journal 2012; January 24; Epub before print.

Physical Therapy VS. Self Care for Whiplash

(A review of the latest studies from Dr. George Cluen.)

Up to half of all whiplash patients are plagued with chronic symptoms, and ongoing research seeks to identify affordable, effective methods of preventing chronic pain. The standard treatment for whiplash often includes comprenhensive, long term physical therapy. While these treatments have been shown to be beneficial, researchers from the University of Australia wondered if patients could get some of the same benefits with more minimal visits and an at-home exercise program.

What they discovered was, patient education coupled with at-home exercise programs, can be equally as effective as longer, more intensive physical therapy treatments are needed. The results showed that healthcare costs could potentially be reduced and those in chronic pain could reduce their appointment load.

The study included 172 patients suffering from whiplash after an auto accident who were randomly assigned to either a physiotherapy or an advice-only group. The patients in a professional treatment path were given 20 one-hour physical therapy sessions over the course of 12 weeks. The second group received a single 30 minute session of patient education and physiotherapy, along with the at-home exercise program. After 14 weeks of care, there were no clinically significant differences between the two groups. (Note that emotional burden or any other adaptive benefits were not measured. Let's not completely discount in person physical therapy.)

What we see a lot of within our industry that patients reflect back to us within initial appointments, is that a path of drugging and physical therapy typically sums up the corrective steps before a surgery is recommended. At Auto and Work Injury Center, we educate patients about the full spectrum of alternatives and how they compliment each other. Research shows that when you combine chiropractic with physiotherapy, recovery takes on a new momentum. Chiropractic can reduce symptoms for 93% of whiplash patients, and research also shows that patients receiving chiropractic adjustments for neck pain have lower medical costs and speedier recovery compared to patients seeing only a physician or physiotherapist alone. 



References

MichaleffZA, et al. Comprehensive physiotherapy exercise programme or advice for chronic whiplash (PROMISE): a pragmatic randomized controlled trial. The Lancet 2014; pii S0140-6736(14)60457-8. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60457-8.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24703832

Woodward MN, Cook JCH, Gargan MF, Bannister GC, Chiropractic Treatment of chronic 'whiplash' injuries. Injury: International Journal of Care of the Injured 1996;27(9):643-645

Korthals-de Bos IB, et al. Cost Effectiveness of physiotherapy, manual therapy, and general practitioner. British Medical Journal 2003. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7395.911. 

PTSD Tied to Chronic Pain After Auto Injury

 (A review of the latest studies from Dr. George Cluen)

Post traumatic stress disorder, although typically conjuring images of soldiers in shell shock, is becoming an increasingly documented concern after auto accidents. Unfortunately, it doesn't take a major car crash to forever alter a patient's psychological health. Research shows that even patients with mild injuries can show signs of PTSD. Now, a new study from the journal of Rheumatology indicates that PTSD is the biggest predictor of poor quality of life after an auto collision.

Prior to adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics, these results showed that 56% of whiplash patients reported non-recovery one year after the accident, compared to 43% of patients with other mild injuries. Whiplash patients were also more likely to report their symptoms negatively impacted their occupation status (31% versus 23%). These differences were not considered significant however after adjusting for socio-demographics such as gender, family, age, and education level.

What did hold true after adjusting for other stress factors, was the effect PTSD has on chronic pain. Patients with PTSD reported a two-fold increase in residual pain 12 months after the accident and a subsequent reduced quality of life.

These findings demonstrate that identifying and treating PTSD in auto injury patients is vital for preventing persistent pain. Finding healthcare providers that are both sensitive to the emotional needs as much as the physical needs is imperative for relief. At Auto & Work Injury Center we strive to educate our patients about approaching healing in way that addresses all three planes of the injury (the physical, emotional and energetic plane) and we offer supportive programs for this.



Reference

Hours M, et al. One Year After Mild Injury: Comparison of Health Status and Quality of Life between Patients with Whiplash Versus Other Injuries. Journal of Rheumatology 2013.10.3899/jrheum.130406