Nutrition-Based Treatments for the Chiropractic Clinic
FEATURE
Todd Singleton
More than a hundred years ago, D. D. Palmer identified trauma and toxins as two major causes of subluxation. He taught that the nervous system is the communication network between the brain and body, and that anything that interrupted the flow of communication over this network—whether a traumatic injury or exposure to toxic substances—would result in ill health. Though both toxins and trauma have the same effect, too few chiropractors offer treatments that alleviate the body’s toxic burden to facilitate healing. We’ve become so accustomed to performing adjustment after adjustment that we’ve overlooked one of the most crucial ways that we can help our patients—through nutrition.
When I went to chiropractic school back in the 1980s, I spent a lot of time learning how to perform an effective adjustment. When I graduated and started running my own practice, I realized that some of my patients weren’t progressing as I would hope, despite a series of successful adjustments that made a big difference. Running into this wall, I looked for ways that I could help my patients get even better results. That’s when I started consulting my patients about nutrition.
What I’ve found is that, while patients come to me with different concerns, nutrition always makes a huge difference. I’ve been able to help patients overcome back pain, neuropathy, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and dozens of other chronic health conditions. Because poor nutrition creates a pro-inflammatory state, patients respond better to chiropractic treatments when combined with an anti-inflammatory diet. When your patients are eating a healthy diet, you’ll find that your adjustments last longer and your patients report greater satisfaction with your care. With this in mind, let’s talk about how nutrition can help to alleviate a number of different chronic health conditions.
Nutritional Strategies for Neuropathy
Neuropathy is a condition that affects 20 million Americans, or one in 15 people in the United States. Though it can occur at any age, it’s more common among older adults. Patients with neuropathy may experience damage to the nerves that regulate the internal organs (autonomic neuropathy) or damage to the nerves in the hands and/or feet (peripheral neuropathy). Peripheral neuropathy is easier to diagnose because it produces characteristic numbness, tingling, or prickling sensations in the extremities. Autonomic neuropathy, on the other hand, can cause a wide variety of symptoms ranging from urinary
incontinence to excessive sweating.
When it comes to neuropathy, it may surprise you to learn that nutrition is often a factor in the onset. Though neuropathy can be caused by other conditions (e.g., diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disease, etc.), malnutrition is becoming an increasingly common factor. A poor diet can cause neuropathy all on its own or in conjunction with other conditions (diabetes, for example). To help a patient recover from neuropathy, it’s important to maximize his or her intake of dark leafy greens, brightly colored vegetables, fresh fruits, and omega-3 rich fish (like salmon). It’s also important to reduce the patient’s intake of inflammatory refined grains, refined vegetable oil, and refined sugar. Because B vitamins are necessary for healthy nerves, you should recommend foods rich in this nutrient (mushrooms, lean meats, etc.).
Nutritional Strategies for Diabetes
Like neuropathy, diabetes is prevalent in the United States today. A full 12% of all adults over the age of 20 suffer from this condition, and by the age of 65, that number has ballooned
to a whopping 26%! Even for adults who haven’t developed full-blown diabetes, prediabetic levels of elevated blood sugar are rampant. One recent study estimates that 37% of all American adults are prediabetic.1 So what can you do to help?
If you put a patient with diabetes on a nutritional program, you’ll need to make sure that they monitor their blood glucose levels carefully. When they begin making healthy changes, they’ll probably need to use less insulin throughout the day. It’s also important for patients with diabetes to eat meals at consistent times, have healthy snacks on hand, and maximize their intake of fiber-rich fruits and vegetables. Foods that are high in fiber help to stabilize blood sugar levels and keep patients feeling fuller for longer amounts of time! Like neuropathy patients, individuals with diabetes should focus on eating plenty of healthy fruits, vegetables, and lean meats while also avoiding inflammatory processed foods.
Nutritional Strategies for Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a debilitating condition characterized by chronic pain in the muscles and surrounding structures. In the United States, fibromyalgia affects approximately 5 million
■ ^Because poor nutrition creates a pro-inflammatory state, patients respond better to chiropractic treatments when combined with an anti-inflammatory diet. ^ ?
people, most of whom are women. Though conventional medical doctors will simply prescribe antidepressants or pain-relieving medications, you, as a chiropractor, can go a step further. Beyond basic adjustments, you can also recommend nutritional protocols designed to reduce inflammation and alleviate chronic pain.
Though the same foundational diet that treats neuropathy and diabetes will also work for fibromyalgia patients, there are a few additional things you can do to maximize your patients’ results. For these patients, it’s especially important for them to avoid refined sugar, caffeine, and alcohol because these substances have been shown to aggravate muscle pain and stress the system. Also, fibromyalgia patients may especially benefit from a juice-based cleansing program under your supervision. If you decide to go that route, just make sure that your patients make the juice themselves rather than use artificially flavored, hyperprocessed juices found in most grocery stores.
Nutritional Strategies for Back Pain
Back pain is the leading cause of disability in Americans
under the age of 45.2 Adults suffering from back pain are less mobile than their pain-free counterparts, making them more prone to poor health and more likely to experience psychological distress.2 Those who suffer from chronic pain often suffer from depression (77%), low energy levels (74%), and difficulty sleeping (86%).3 Though your adjustments will make a world of difference for a patient with back pain, you may find that your patients don’t always heal as well as you would like. In these instances, nutrition can help your patients bridge the gap and fully recover from their pain.
As with the other conditions we’ve discussed, you should begin with a foundational diet that prioritizes leafy greens, brightly colored vegetables, fresh fruits, and lean meats while discouraging the consumption of inflammatory processed foods (refined grains, oils, and sugars). To tailor a pain patient’s diet specifically to his or her needs, you should recommend anti-inflammatory botanicals (turmeric and ginger, for example) and omega-3 rich fish (salmon, tuna, etc.).4 5 It is also worth noting that pain patients will especially benefit from the nutrients found in dark leafy greens, namely, calcium, magnesium, folate, and vitamin C.
As a chiropractor, you’re uniquely situated to help your patients resolve their health concerns in a variety of innovative ways. Adjustments may be preeminent in the field of chiropractic, but they’re just a piece of a larger puzzle. To help each patient get the best possible results based on their unique
needs, you have to use every tool in your toolkit, which, in many cases, means that you need to utilize nutrition. When you begin to incorporate each of these nutritional strategies in your office, you’ll find that your patients start to see better, faster results. What could be more rewarding than that?
References
1. Menke A, Casagrande S, GeissL, Cowie C. Prevalence of and tends in diabetes among adults in the United States, 1988-2012. Journal of the American Medical Society. 2015;314(10): 1021-1029.
2. National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2016: With Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans. Hyatsville, MD: 2006. http://www. cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus06.pdf
3. David Michaelson & Co, TLC. Voices of chronic pain survey. American Pain Foundation. 2006: 3-6.
4. Maroon JC, Bost JW. Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) as an antiinflammatory: An alternative to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugsfor dicogenic pain. Surgical Neurology. 2006;65(4):326-31.
5. Simopoulos AP. The importance of the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essential fatty acids. Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy. 2002;56(8):365-79.
a Todd Singleton, DC, is an author, speaker, and consultant who has been a practicing doctor for more than 25 years. He ran the largest MD/DC/PT clinics in Utah before switching to an all-cash nutrition model in 2006. He now runs a very successful practice-management business in Salt Lake City. For additional information, contact him at 801-903-7141, or www.NutritionForChiros. com.
