DAY 82 - Could You Be Stuck and Not Know It?

Even an avid yoga practitioner can have areas of his spine; vertebral joints, that are stuck; and not know it.

The human body is not well designed to assess its own localized, intersegmental spinal mobility/immobility.

The human body is actually poorly designed to monitor many of its functions and conditions. For example, it is not well designed to sense blood pressure, nor a slow loss of vision.

I can guess who’s monitoring your blood pressure, and I imagine you see an optometrist periodically. But, who lets you know if you are stuck?

(photo by Tony George at Flickr)

DAY 63 - Yoga

 photo by Carolyn Coles at Flickr

 

Yoga

my body,
a stiff, dry sponge
waiting for a splash of water
to bring back its soft, resilient nature

yoga is that water
absorbing, penetrating, expanding
my breath, fuller and more relaxed
muscles calmed
connecting tissues no longer taut

each day,
the choice to moisten my sponge
readying it for its role in the day ahead

each day,
the choice to leave it parched

DAY 51 - My Left Knee

Not nearly as popular as the Academy Award winning 1989 film, My Left Foot, Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, the saga of my left knee is the story of a doctor’s struggle to get off his rear-end and take care of himself. It is also a story of redemption and a great detox fast.

I was 54 in November of 2005 when my left knee began to hurt. At times it ached. At times it felt fine. Most of the time it was mildly to moderately painful to walk. I often walked with a limp.

As any chiropractor would know, it was reasonable to assume that my low back was a significant, or THE cause, of my knee pain. Nerves that come from the low back, supply all the muscles of the hips, buttocks, and legs. If these nerves are compromised by associated causes and effects of a stiffening of the joints of the low back, the function of the muscles that support and control the knees can also be compromised, resulting in knee pain.

Given my history since childhood of low back pain that developed into serious degenerative disc disease, and given my poor track record for doing daily stretching exercises, my low back was most probably the cause of my knee pain.

That same November of 2005 I knew that I needed to clean up my act and start stretching 30-60 minutes per day to restore mobility to my low back, regain the function of my knee, and end the pain. And I meant to.

On April 28, 2006 I entered this honest self-appraisal in my health journal:

“And now ..... my own frailty. I have been doing a poor job of caring for myself over the last 3 years. Doing an hour's worth of yoga helped. But I have not done my yoga regularly. Today marks 2 days straight that I have done an hour of yoga each day. I have let my stretching go so long, that now it is both painful and exhausting. But, at least, what is happening makes sense. My current goal is to see if I can do an hour of yoga each day until the knee pain is completely gone for a week. Then I can stop until the pain comes back. :)  I would like to get back to being able to put my palms on the floor when standing, and head to the floor between my legs when seated.”

The years rolled by, and on December 12, 2008 I posted the following:

“The left knee pain continues in a non-debilitating way – but clearly limiting. And I still haven’t changed my life to fix it.”

Without making excuses, it is worth noting that I wasn’t watching soap operas or professional sports when I could have been stretching. I was leading a very full life that included many personal, family, community and global health enhancing activities. Daily I talked with myself about the choices that I was making, and the risks that I was taking. Sometimes I just had to put an election or an issue like nuclear weapons or global warming before my bodily ills. At other times I was just too exhausted to make the time and get myself on the floor for an hour of stretching.

Nonetheless, March 17, 2010 rolled around, and this is what I had to say:

“My left knee continues to be a problem – I limp nearly daily – I am very limited in my ability to walk any distance. My low back has been stiff for the last 5-6 years and I have done little to change it.”

Here comes the redemption part. I started writing this book, Turning 60 Consciously ... With Something to Say, on my 59^th birthday on October 5, 2010. I’m spending 2-4 hours per day writing, and let me tell you, I am more conscious. Though I am not doing a great job, the consciousness seems to be having an affect and I am doing better with my stretching; 3-4 days a week of 30-60 minutes. And guess what, my knee is doing much better!!! The last 2 evenings I have gone on a 45 minute walk, and had very little pain, and just the slightest limp!!!

The question now, as it is for each of us, is can I stay on the wagon.

I promised you a gem of a detox fast:

On January 25, 2006,  3 months into my knee problem I began a 3-day UltraClear-only (a hypoallergenic meal replacement for improved metabolic detoxification) detox diet/fast (not a true fast, but a fast from regular food). I don’t recall if I had knee pain on day one of my UltraClear diet, but on days 2 and 3, I had no knee pain. On the morning of January 28 I began to eat regular food. For breakfast I had a bowl of homemade applesauce with cinnamon (no sweetening); a banana; a bowl of brown rice with avocado, salt, and flax oil. During the first half of the day I experienced a tiny amount of knee pain. For lunch I had a bowl of plain brown rice. When I stood up from eating my rice, I had mild-moderate pain in my left knee.

Food allergies and intolerances can cause pain anywhere in the body; commonly in the knees. Removal of suspected foods from the diet can often result in symptom lessening and functional improvement. Using UltraClear as a food/meal replacement can be an excellent way of continuing nutrient intake while avoiding possible allergic reactions.

DAY 48 - Got Knee Pain? Part II

Most chronic knee pain is a result of a combination of factors. Common factors include, 1) food allergies and food sensitivities that result in inflammation in the joint, or in a reaction in which the body attacks the joint, 2) chronic illness in the digestive tract that may have no other symptoms than joint pain, 3) loss of mobility in the low back which may negatively impact gait, or may alter nerve conduction from the spinal nerves of the low back which control leg muscles that stabilize the knee, 4) insufficient stretching exercise to maintain a full range of motion in the lower extremities, which results in restricted motion, altered gait, and poor nutrient delivery to the joints, and 5) insufficient walking which results in weak supporting muscles and poor nutrient delivery to the joint.

Treatment for chronic knee pain can be divided into two types; cover-up and functional.

Cover-up treatments include medications to mask pain and block inflammation, and limitation of use. These treatments may be appropriate for short-term use, but are disastrous when used long-term. Masking body-protecting pain signals leaves an individual at risk of causing further damage to the involved body part. Anti-inflammatory drugs are known to damage joint structures, injure the lining of the intestinal tract, and cause 10,000 deaths a year in the US. Limiting knee use means walking less. While some limitation of use may be important, we all know, when you don’t use it, you lose it.

Functional treatment begins with assessment of factors that influence the knee specifically, and the body generally, and then focuses on creating changes that would enable the knee (and the body) to heal itself. (It is worth noting that the body is designed to repair itself.)

Functional self-care is most important. Examples are listed below. Keep in mind that chronic health problems are usually caused by multiple factors, and therefore often require several simultaneously combined therapies and lifestyle changes in order to relieve pain and restore function.

In my experience, elimination of foods that commonly cause arthritis provides the greatest relief from knee pain. Some of the foods that commonly cause joint pain are: dairy products, sugars, tomatoes, chiles, corn, meats, and shellfish.

Full-body stretching, such as yoga, with attention to the legs and low back, is remarkable for its ability to improve knee function and reduce pain. Stretching should be done for 30 or more minutes one to two times per day.

Baths with epsom salts are often very effective in the treatment of a wide variety of musculoskeletal conditions, including knee pain. I recommend using an entire half-gallon of salts in a warm to hot bath. These magnesium salts can be purchased at drug stores and large grocery stores. They have been used with amazing results for generations.

Essential fatty acids (fish oil and flax oil) taken as nutritional supplements can, in many cases, reduce inflammation and knee pain. Recall that fish oil has been used for generations in the treatment of arthritis. When supplementing with these fats, it is important to also take a fat-soluble antioxidant such as vitamin E to protect these oils from oxidizing (turning rancid) in the body.

Aerobic exercise has proven extremely effective at reducing joint pain. Effects appear to be mediated in part through improvements in circulation, detoxification, and elimination of wastes. In more general terms, balance and wellness in the body is improved by an optimization of turnover/cycling of bodily fluids and gases, and their physiologically active compounds. This occurs with regular exercise.

Significant emotional stress must always be considered as a potential cause of pain, and if present, must be dealt with.

-- coming up ... Parts III, IV and V

DAY 14 – Looking for a Cure for Your Anxiety?

First off, more often than not, what is considered a “cure” is that which makes symptoms go away. In American culture, the “cure” infrequently comes with any understanding or information about the “cause”. That means we fix things without knowing what’s broken. A bit like magic. And it sells.

For those of you who are either apprehensive of, or frankly dislike the approach of covering symptoms  with that kind of “cure”, and waiting for the inevitable resurfacing of the problem/illness, let’s take a look at common causes of anxiety and some effective approaches to really fixing it.

Interestingly, the American diet is deficient in the mineral, magnesium, and can be a cause of anxiety. Whole grains and green leafy vegetables are common sources of magnesium, but are uncommon parts of the American diet. Magnesium calms and relaxes the body. Muscle tightness, spasming and twitching can be signs of magnesium deficiency. While deficiency can be corrected in some cases by increasing dietary sources of magnesium, or taking epsom salts baths, many individuals need to take magnesium supplements. In my 27 years of practice experience, I have found magnesium glycinate to be the most effective oral form. Simple, safe, rational, and often effective.

Two other deficiencies that lead to anxiety are that of aerobic exercise and stretching. The lack of either can result in anxiety. Of the two, the greatest lack in America is that of stretching. A few of us walk for aerobic exercise, but real stretching is rare. When quizzed, the occasional few who claim to stretch, report that they stretch for 5 minutes, or “throughout the day”; these are not real stretching. As a part of the treatment of anxiety, 30 minutes of walking and 30 minutes of serious stretching (yoga-like) per day are called for.

Most people who experience anxiety, fear, or worry (and that’s most of us), feel it in our gut, or sometimes in our chest. This is a clue. Everyone with anxiety needs a thorough evaluation of their digestive tract, with particular attention to associated conditions such as constipation, loose stools, intestinal gas, indigestion, reflux, or irritable bowel. Evaluation must include a skilled palpatory examination of the abdomen to rule out focal or generalized tenderness. Food allergies are an extremely common cause of gut irritation, and are therefore a common cause of anxiety.

A critical thing to understand is that anxiety about an event or circumstance can cause gut discomfort or dysfunction, and the reverse is true; gut discomfort or dysfunction can cause anxiety.

My final warning on the gut-anxiety connection is that an absence of gut symptoms does not mean that anxiety is not arising from the gut. The internal organs of our chest, abdomen and pelvis are profoundly insensitive to irritation or damage that occurs gradually. Remember that it is common for large tumors to develop in the abdomen with no early signs. So, don’t trust symptoms. If you experience anxiety, have your digestive tract evaluated by a knowledgeable health care provider.

Note: Q: What kind of health care provider should one see for digestive tract evaluation of anxiety?
         A: A provider that understands the connection between the gut and anxiety. Don’t assume that a gastroenterologist would necessarily be the best. A chiropractor, an MD, a naturopath, or an acupuncturist can be excellent guides if they understand the connection.