DR. V Q&A (CONTINUED)

CHIROPRACTOR: ELMHURST, IL

What do you do? How can it help me?

As a Functional Medicine Doctor and Chiropractor, I seek to help people get to the root cause of any health issue. Most of my patients have spent years working through their issues in a more conventional healthcare model. They come to me after not receiving answers, and I feel for them. Fortunately, through a combination of tools including chiropractic, extensive functional medicine blood work analysis, manual muscle testing (which assesses underlying dysfunctions), as well as thorough history and physical exam, we can get to the root cause of their health issues. We use supplements and herbs, along with customized lifestyle approach, to shift the health picture from sick to healing and thriving. Frequently, many seemingly unrelated health concerns have a common variable which, when addressed, changes the whole health picture. I see women and men who have been to other natural, holistic and functional doctors and have been bounced around for years without many answers. I am grateful to have developed a reputation of being able to help them and get them answers very quickly—providing long-term relief from their symptoms.

Why do I have neck pain?

Neck pain along with back pain generally involves several factors. The first and the primary one is improper alignment of the joints of the neck. Improper alignment of the joints causes tension in the muscles. Inflammation in the joints can cause irritation, swelling and pain. The next issue could be simply dehydration. If you aren’t hydrated, then your joint spaces, which hold a lot of fluid, do not get lubricated and aren’t able to move properly. This causes irritation and pain. Neck pain can also come from an unexpected source: the gut.  (This is why we treat the body holistically.) If you are eating foods which are inflammatory or irritating to the gut, or your digestion isn’t working properly, then you will have increased inflammation (pain and swelling) all over your body. This can cause pain not just in the joints of your neck, but in your back, your knees, your hips, your shoulders, your fingers/toes, your ankles, your jaw and everywhere else in between.

Why Do I get headaches? How can they be fixed?

There are a lot of different reasons you could be having headaches, but I’ll mention the most common. The first is structural; your joints are not in place causing your muscles to tighten and tense. The second is dehydration. We chronically drink coffee and other drinks, which often contribute to dehydration. Dehydration can cause a number of different health issues including joint pain, headaches/migraines, elevated blood pressure, constipation, hormone imbalance, digestion issues and many others. Stress is also huge. I do a number of different stress reduction techniques, which help our bodies not be in constant fight or flight mode, which is also a contributing factor to headaches. The last and another important factor is blood sugar dysregulation. This does not necessarily mean diabetes or pre-diabetes, but blood sugar handling issues. It’s a lot more common than you probably realize. While it might seem that blood sugar dysregulation only happens in diabetes that’s not true; a lot of my patients who struggle with other issues often struggle with blood sugar concerns as well. You don’t have to be a diabetic for your body to have too high or low sugar on a regular basis. This fluctuation can result in increased inflammation in the body which can often trigger headaches. Another factor which is also over looked is toxicity. If your body isn’t getting rid of toxins from your environment (from your personal body products, the environmental toxins we’re surrounded by, etc.), it can trigger the onset of headaches and or migraines by holding onto toxins for far too long.

I have gallstones or have had my gallbladder removed but continue to have symptoms. Can you help with that?

Yes! Often times gallbladder disease and gallstones are related to improper fat utilization in the body. More often than not gallbladder symptoms (nausea, side pain, difficulty eating red meat/fatty food) continues even after the gallbladder is removed. This is because the true cause was never addressed. Was the gallbladder issue due to hormone imbalance, dehydration, lack of movement, improper diet, elevated stress levels or something else? Through chiropractic care and acupuncture we can reset the circuit so it works properly, allowing for proper digestion and absorption to occur, which typically helps with symptoms. Chiropractic care and adjustments help because your nervous system, which is housed by the joints of your spine, helps to coordinate all of the functions in your body. This is similar to a computer that helps to coordinate all of the programs. If the nerves are stressed out by improper movement, the signals to the joints of your neck, back and extremities will be out of synch and the nerves suppling information to your vital organs will send improper signaling. For example, your vagus nerve, which is your longest cranial nerve in the body, helps to bring parasympathetic information (that helps you to digest well) to the gut. If your vagus nerve is pinched or isn’t sending proper signal because your neck or back is off, your digestion will suffer.

I suffer from chronic sciatica, what can you do to help me?

Sciatica is typically related to several factors. You may or may not experience these, or it could be from other causes besides these. The most common cause is a bulge or a herniation of the disc of the low back. Every single joint of the low back is pancaked by a disc which helps to disperse the force during movement of the spine. However, if the disc moves out of place it will put the pressure on the nerve roots. These are the same nerves that supply information to your glut areas as well as your legs. This pressure often causes the characteristic pain, numbness and tingling sensations.

A second cause can be attributed to misalignment of the sacroiliac joints of the pelvis, putting pressure on the muscles of the back and the front, which can cause imbalance, putting stress on the sciatic nerve causing that numbness, tingling and pain into the butt and the legs. Often times patients have struggled with sciatica for many years. If the first two causes are not there, we often look deeper at what else could be inflaming the tissues and the nerves. The answer is often quite simple: food allergies and gut inflammation. If you are eating foods which your body is allergic/sensitive to you will have overall low-grade inflammation, which may not always register as digestive pain but can wreak havoc on your joints, muscles and nerves. So, if you’ve struggled with sciatica for a long time this could be an underlying issue.

Can chiropractic help with knee pain?

Absolutely! Often times knee pain is caused by something else going on in the body. The knee is often stuck between the hip and the foot. If there is dysfunction in either (and often times both are not moving and aren’t balanced properly either due to misalignment of the joints or the muscles), the knee will take all of the brunt in order to keep the alignment of your legs to allow you to move. However, over time this wear and tear can put pressure and undue stress on the joints of the knee, the ligaments, the meniscus and cause inflammation and even pain. Therefore, in order to deal with knee disorders, you often have to look at the hip and the foot to ensure the full extremity balance. Along with looking at the knee and the foot you have to consider the muscles. Every single muscle of the body, according to acupuncture systems, is correlated to a different organ system. If there is a dysfunction or lack of proper function of the organ, we often see the correlation in muscle issues. With my patients, I frequently find digestion issues correlated to knee pain. When digestion is fixed, it helps to resolve and foster long term healing of the knee.

Can chiropractic help with hormone balance?

The simple answer is, yes, of course! I help my patients with hormone issues all the time. Your body is not just a sum of individual parts but functions as a whole. If there is an imbalance in one area of the body, other areas will take a beating and compensate. Often times with my patients who struggle with hormone imbalance, whether that’s thyroid disease, diabetes, sugar imbalance, PCOS, dysmenorrhea (painful periods), endometriosis, or any reproductive infertility issues there are a number of various systems which aren’t functioning well that all need to be switched back on. Often times in order to help hormone imbalance you have to address issues related to the digestion because hormone balance is largely impacted by the way that the gut works. So, if you’re struggling with gas, bloating, nausea after eating, diarrhea, chronic constipation or painful digestion you might also be stressing out the hormone system in the process. The digestive system is supported by evaluating the diet to ensure that you have all of the nutrients in your body to support proper function and healing. If you are lacking any specific minerals your body will not be able to replenish and rebuild its cells. Therefore, along with evaluating the diet we also look at foods that might be stressing out your system and support your body through good whole foods supplements, herbs and homeopathy. The next system we also address is the nervous system. The nervous system functions as a computer for your body; it coordinates all of the “programs” (organ systems) to function in synergy. If your nervous system, which is housed by the joints of your spine, isn’t firing properly not only will your musculoskeletal system (joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons) struggle but also your internal organs won’t function to their optimal capacity. Therefore, adjustments and acupuncture techniques are utilized to identify and remove any barriers to healing that are stressing the nervous system. The other system which we address when looking at hormone balance is the mental/emotional system. Through various stress reduction techniques utilizing homeopathy and acupuncture we are able to remove the stress component which often times HIGHLY impacts the way the hormone system functions. If you are under chronic stress, and most of us are, we are constantly pumping out inflammatory stress hormones, which ultimately throw off the hormone balance for the whole body..

Can natural medicine help with anxiety and depression?

Yes. Often times anxiety and depression develop gradually as a result of depletion and exhaustion. When our adrenal glands, which help support our hormones, stress response, digestion, reproduction, and moods are worn out from high intensity of daily demands, we start to see gradual physical, mental and emotional manifestations. Often times doing chiropractic adjustments to balance out the way the nervous system is firing (therefore relaying proper signals to musculoskeletal as well as vital organs), and doing a combination of acupuncture and emotional stress techniques, really addresses the underlying issue of what’s causing the depletion. In many cases, good whole food supplements, herbs or homeopathy go a long way in supporting patients with emotional stress. A big component to addressing anxiety and depression is also addressing the gut. Our digestive system produces 90% of serotonin (the chemical your brain uses to make you happy). Consequently, if you struggle with chronic digestive issues you will often see more anxiety and depression-like symptoms. Although this is usually a multi-factorial approach, identifying the basic elements which restore health goes a long way to restoring balance and a happier mind.

Can natural medicine and chiropractic care help with digestive issues (such as Crohn’s Disease, ulcerative colitis, etc.)?

The simple answer is yes. The digestive system is a combination of different organs working together. So, if one of those organs isn’t working well the whole system can struggle. In order to help resolve the issues, you need to identify where the issue is stemming from. Is it from the liver and gallbladder, which gives you the characteristic nausea after eating, painful right side and difficulty digesting fats? Or do you struggle with chronic constipation and diarrhea? Or do you have issues with painful digestion an hour after eating? Wherever the issue is coming from we often address it by looking at the whole person. If the issue is coming from mental/emotional stress, the body can be pumping a number of stress chemicals through our body which not only causes pain and inflammation, but can slow down or speed up the digestive track. This leads to malabsorption of nutrients or retention of toxins. By doing simple mental/emotional techniques we’re able to reset the fight and flight system, putting your body into a more parasympathetic mode and allowing you to rest and digest properly. Along the same lines of stress response, we also look at any chemical stressors that are impacting your body. Is it something that you are eating or breathing or drinking that could be messing with the way that your body is breaking down the foods? Or is it the foods themselves that need to be eliminated that are wreaking havoc on your digestive organs? Thirdly, but also crucial, is the physical/structural component. The nervous system, which is housed by the joints of your neck and back, helps to control not only how your muscles and joints work, but also helps to control your digestion through the vagus nerve (the longest nerve of your body). This nerve carries signals for digestive organs all the way from the brain. Getting adjusted goes a long way to help allow a healthy digestive system to function.

How do Applied Kinesiologists approach health issues? Why do you look at mental/emotional, chemical and structural components?

Our bodies are not just the sum of parts. We are comprised of various body systems, from our heart to our hormones to produce a perfect harmony known as health. If any element isn’t functioning, others struggle as well. And while you might have issues in one area of the body, it’s really another one which might be screaming for help. If you don’t diagnose and treat the appropriate area of the body you will forever be treating it without reaching the root cause. For instance, if you struggle with low back pain and have had to do multiple years of physical therapy or exercises without complete resolution, this means that you are NOT getting to the root of the issue and something else might be going on. Or if you are struggling with chronic headaches and are being adjusted over and over and over again only to find out that if you don’t go into your weekly adjustment your headache comes back in full force. Or if you’ve been struggling with sciatica or digestive issues or anything else but aren’t seeing a full resolution, you might not be getting to the root cause. Why is Applied Kinesiology (AK for short) different from any other systems? The reason we’re different is that we do not assume that just because you have a knee issue that the cause is coming from the knee. Or if you are struggling with stress that it’s coming from your environment. We always screen people through three separate lenses, chemical, physical and mental/emotional. By identifying the weak link in the body, we are able to restore synergy to the whole system. Let me explain all three.

a.     Chemical-are you eating, drinking, smelling or touching something that’s irritating your body and causing you to have inflammation and pain? By removing offending foods or by introducing foods that your body needs to restore and heal along with a few supplements, herbs or homeopathy we’re able to achieve long standing healing.

b.     Structural- the nervous system which is housed by the joints of your neck and back helps to control not only how your muscles and joints work but also helps to control the vital organ systems. Therefore, even if you are dealing with an internal issue, simply getting adjusted can help things from asthma to allergies, to hormone balance and even digestion, not to mention physical structures like your neck pain, back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, jaw/TMJ pain, foot/ankle issues such as sprain strain, etc.

c.     Mental/emotional-prolonged stress in our bodies and from our environment can cause our bodies to produce stress hormones which flood our bodies and mess up the function of almost every system. I help patients identify and remove stress and restore the function of the system by doing various mental/emotional techniques which not only allows for a peace of mind but also helps our bodies heal on the physical level.

As you can tell even two people with the same issue could have two separate causes and should be addressed as individuals instead of a protocol-based approach. By doing a whole person individual medicine we are able to quickly identify, remove and restore the body and the person to not only their health but to be able to flourish and live out the calling of their life! This is why we do what we do!