Chronic Pain

Living With Pain

Chronic disease is a major problem in U.S. health care. More than one-third of Americans have one or more chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. The personal costs to patients and families are often severe, daily, and ongoing. The economic costs to society are almost $1 trillion annually.1

Heart disease includes high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, coronary artery obstruction, angina, and heart attacks. Most of these conditions represent a chain of events. Left untreated, of course, high blood pressure is a leading cause of heart attack and stroke.

Most cases of diabetes develop from a pre-diabetic state which is also known as insulin resistance. Insulin - a hormone produced by the pancreas is necessary for cells to be able to absorb glucose from the bloodstream and use the glucose for energy. If cells become insulin resistant, glucose stays in the bloodstream, leading to a pre-diabetic condition.

Left untreated, pre-diabetes likely advances to diabetes, in which insulin resistance is combined with insulin depletion, as the pancreas loses its ability to produce this important hormone. Diabetes may lead to many severe problems, including kidney failure, and is a leading cause of death from heart failure.2

Cancer is now being recognized as a chronic disease.3 Rather than being a mysterious disorder that occurs randomly, many cancers are now understood to have many elements in common with other chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

Pain is a common element to chronic disease. Affected persons often take daily pain medications. Most people become tolerant to their medication and require increasingly stronger doses. The pain of chronic disease is notoriously difficult to treat.

In recent years a holistic approach has been successfully applied in the treatment of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Chiropractic care is an important component of the holistic approach.

Chiropractic care helps restore more normal biomechanical function to the spine, which in turn improves the ability of the nerve system to effectively communicate with the rest of the body. Important benefits of this restored function may be an improvement in the body's ability to repair damaged tissues, a strengthened immune system, and reduced levels of musculoskeletal pain. Such improvements may help lead to improved daily functioning. As levels of pain decrease, a person may be able to engage in more physical activity. Multiple benefits follow.

Chiropractic care is a key part of an integrative approach to the management of the pain of chronic disease. Your local chiropractor will be glad to help you determine whether chiropractic care is right for you.

1“An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease”. Santa Monica, CA, Milken Institute, 2007
2Eddy DM, et al: The metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk: implications for clinical practice. Int J Obes 32(Suppl 2):S5-S10, 2008
3"Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer". Washington, DC, American Institute for Cancer Research, 2007


Physical Activity and Chronic Disease



In recent years, study after study has shown that physical activity is one of the top factors in lowering the risk of developing chronic disease. Risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer are lowered by consistent, moderate exercise.

These remarkable findings have profound implications. Exercise now becomes much more than a quick fix to get yourself ready for the summer and summer clothes. Exercise is now known to be a critically important life-prolonging activity.

If you're concerned about diabetes - exercise. If you're concerned about heart disease - exercise. If you're concerned about cancer - exercise. Exercise is not all there is to do, of course, but if you're not exercising, you're missing a key factor in maintaining good health.

Of course, no one is going to start exercising because they think they "should". Exercise is always a choice. Federal guidelines recommend 30 minutes of exercise five times a week. These 30 minutes may be spread out over the course of the day, if needed. If we choose to be healthy, we can do

Vitamin D - The Superstar Supplement

You may remember the public health slogan, "Vitamin D helps build strong bones". This message could be seen on colorful school posters and heard on radio and television programs as early as the1950s. Getting enough Vitamin D was a major health issue, primarily for its role in preventing childhood rickets - "softening of the bones".1

More recently, and quite dramatically, vitamin D has been strongly associated with reduced cancer risks, preventing autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, preventing cardiovascular disease, and even helping to prevent diabetes.2 Vitamin D seems to be a one-stop shop for helping combat many serious chronic diseases, and yet vitamin D deficiency is common in the United States.3 Very few foods are natural sources of vitamin D. The primary source of vitamin D for humans is sunlight - sunlight causes cells in the skin to produce vitamin D.

But most of us don't spend enough time outside to get sufficient sunlight to provide us with our normal daily requirement of vitamin D. Supplementation is needed, in the form of fortified foods such as milk and in vitamin/mineral tablets. Interestingly, meeting our vitamin D and calcium daily requirements is only one step on the road to healthy, strong bones. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium from the intestinal tract. Also, vitamin D helps bone cells utilize calcium to build new bone. But - in adults, new bone will only be built if there's a need for it. Mechanical stress causes the body to produce new bone - and the best source for this kind of bone-building mechanical stress is exercise.

Yes, the E word. It's not enough to passively swallow a bunch of supplements every day. We need to exercise regularly to get the most out of the nutrition we're providing our bodies. When we exercise - particularly when we do strength training and other gravity-resisting activities such as running, walking, and bicycling - our bodies react not only by building new muscle but by building new bone as well. This response follows a physiologic principle known as Wolff's Law - bone remodels along lines of physiologic stress.

In other words, bone responds to mechanical challenges by building more bone. The result is more dense, stronger bones. Such bones are significantly less likely to fracture. And. logically, exercise helps prevent loss of bone mass, a primary cause of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and older adults. Chiropractic health care helps provide assistance to these metabolic processes. All of our metabolic activities are directed by signals from the nerve system. Our nerve impulses tell our cells when to start and when to stop these complicated biochemical processes. Chiropractic care helps ensure proper flow of information throughout the nervous system, helping us maintain optimal physical health and well-being.
Your chiropractor is an expert in nutritional health and will be able to recommend a program and plan that will be right for you.

1Lins P: Vitamin D physiology. Prog Biophys Mol Biol 92)1:4-8, 2006
2Cavalier E, et al:Vitamin D: current status and perspectives.Clin Chem Lab Med 47:1, 2009
3Holick Me, Chen TC: Vitamin D deficiency: a worldwide problem with health consequences. Am J Clin Nutr 87(4):10805-10865, 2008


Osteoporosis

Developing osteoporosis is a frightening prospect for many older people. If a person with osteoporosis falls and fractures a hip, the recovery may be slow and prolonged and the person may never be the same. Also, hip fractures in the older population may often be fatal, the person dying from a blood clot that made its way to the lungs or a major blood vessel in the brain.

So, there are many very important reasons for treating osteoporosis. And of course, preventing osteoporosis in the first place is even more important.

The very good news is that prevention is easy. It just requires some work, attention, and discipline.

Osteoporosis - loss of bone mass - is prevented in large part by daily vitamin D and calcium supplementation and by regular exercise. When is the right time to begin such a program? Right now. It's never too early in life to begin regular exercise and begin regular vitamin and mineral supplementation.

Even if you're an older person who hasn't exercised in many years, today is the right time to begin. Make sure to check with your chiropractor to learn about the types of exercise that are best for you.