Transform Your Patient Outcomes with Nutritional Blood Chemistry Analysis
Transform Your Patient Outcomes with Nutritional Blood Chemistry Analysis
AS A CHIROPRACTOR DEEPLY COMMITTED to finding and correcting the root causes of dysfunction, I’ve spent decades asking one frustrating question repeatedly: Why do so many patients still feel terrible when their bloodwork says everything is “normal”?
The answer lies in how we interpret the data.
Standard blood chemistry panels routinely ordered by physicians and specialists contain a wealth of information about how the body is functioning. However, much of this information goes unnoticed or underutilized, and it’s not because the data is faulty. It’s because the lens through which we view it is limited.
Nutritional blood chemistry analysis offers a new, far more functional way of reading these labs. It gives chiropractors the ability to see what others miss: the early signs of nutritional imbalance, inflammation, hormonal dysregulation, and metabolic stress long before a diagnosis appeals.
In this article, I’ll outline what nutritional blood chemistry analysis is, why it matters in a chiropractic setting, and how it can elevate both clinical outcomes and patient engagement.
At its core, nutritional blood chemistry analysis is the interpretation of routine blood tests through the lens of optimal health, not merely disease detection. It recognizes that a lab value falling within the “normal” reference range does not always indicate true wellness.
Traditional reference ranges are designed to flag pathology. However, as many chiropractors and holistic practitioners have discovered, a patient can be well within those limits and still experience fatigue, brain fog, digestive issues, anxiety, weight gain, and chronic pain.
Nutritional blood chemistry analysis challenges us to ask a different question: What is optimal function?. From there, we analyze lab values based on ideal physiological performance, not just statistical averages, which allows us to identify subtle imbalances and trends that often go unnoticed in standard interpretations.
For example:
• A patient with a fasting glucose of 98 mg/dL may not raise alarms in conventional medicine, but from a functional perspective, they’re trending toward insulin resistance.
• A TSH level of 3.5 mIU/L might be “normal” to an endocrinologist, but for someone with chronic fatigue and hair loss, it may point to a subclinical thyroid issue.
• Inflammation markers like CRP and ferritin might be on the high end of normal but reflect an unresolved, diet-driven inflammatory process.
In every case, the goal is not to label disease; it’s to understand function and create a foundation for correction, often through nutritional, dietary, and lifestyle adjustments.
As chiropractors, we’re in a unique position. We don’t just treat symptoms; we evaluate structure, function, and the body’s ability to self-regulate and heal. Incorporating nutritional blood chemistry analysis into that paradigm simply makes sense.
Here’s why:
Many of the musculoskeletal complaints we see, such as muscle tension, joint pain, and recurring subluxations, have underlying biochemical contributors. Inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, and blood sugar dysregulation can all affect tissue health and nervous system performance.
By evaluating a patient’s blood chemistry, we gain insight into systemic stressors that may be undermining their structural alignment or slowing their healing process.
Conventional labs may not detect dysfunction until it reaches a crisis point. Chiropractors often see patients in the “gray zone” — those with unexplained fatigue, persistent headaches, hormonal issues, or digestive complaints that haven’t yet become diagnosable conditions.
Nutritional blood chemistry analysis allows us to intervene earlier. We can detect trends and imbalances that suggest the body is under duress and act before those issues escalate.
There’s something powerful about showing a patient their own lab results — not just a number, but what that number means in the context of their symptoms and goals.
When you can point to a low-serum magnesium level and link it to muscle cramps or anxiety or show how elevated GOT relates to sluggish detox pathways, you invite the patient into the healing process. They become more engaged, more compliant, and more invested in their results.
At its best, chiropractic care is about restoring balance to the body, allowing it to heal itself. Nutritional blood chemistry analysis follows the same principle. It’s not about chasing symptoms or treating numbers; it’s about understanding the underlying imbalances that interfere with normal function.
You don’t need exotic or expensive testing to start using nutritional blood chemistry analysis. Most of the insights come from panels you likely already have access to — basic metabolic panels, lipid profiles, CBCs, and thyroid panels.
Here are just a few things you can assess:
• Nutrient status - Iron, vitamin B12, folate, magnesium, and protein sufficiency.
• Adrenal and stress response - Through sodium/potassium ratios, glucose patterns, and liver enzymes.
• Inflammation and oxidative stress - CRP, ferritin, GOT, and albumin/globulin ratios.
• Blood sugar balance - Fasting glucose, HbAlc, and insulin resistance patterns.
• Liver and kidney function - Enzymes and waste product levels that reflect detox burden and filtration efficiency.
By learning to interpret these markers through a nutritional and functional lens, you can spot imbalances that lead to chronic illness and correct them using natural strategies, such as diet, supplementation, and stress management.
For too long, bloodwork interpretation has been the domain of physicians focused on diagnosing disease, but chiropractors are uniquely positioned to bring a different perspective — one rooted in prevention, optimization, and the restoration of balance.
Nutritional blood chemistry analysis is not a treatment; it’s a tool and a way of seeing what others miss. It allows you to connect the dots between your patient’s symptoms and their internal biochemistry, offering insights that support the structural and neurological work you’re already doing.
As our profession continues to evolve, so must our diagnostic capabilities. If we want to serve our patients at the highest level, we must be willing to look deeper. Sometimes, that means taking a second look at the labs we thought we already understood.
If you are ready to see what others miss and finally connect the dots for your patients, now is the time to act. Join the movement of chiropractors who are becoming the definitive health experts in their communities.
Dr. Keith Sheehan has practiced chiropractic care and therapeutic nutrition for the past 25 years. Following a series of severe illnesses, he realized that diet and nutritional therapy were the hidden link in most people’s health. He is a lecturer in nutritional and functional blood chemistry for the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association.
For more information about nutritional blood chemistry analysis, visit go.theholistichealthsolutions.com/bloodwork-course
