Natural Health Remedies

Natural Health Remedies

For Your Body and Mind

Margie Garrison

"The Arthritis Lady"

The information contained on this site is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read.

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Articles For November 2008

November 20, 2008

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November 6, 2008

"Amazing Secrets To Fantastic Health"

Alternative Health Newsletter

Healing Words

by Galina Pembroke

Not a writer? You can still use a journal to create your own masterpiece, and the words will be yours. Finding your own words is important in life. Sometimes, if you trust someone deeply, you will let them hear the most private of these utterances. At other times you can’t express these feelings to anyone because the right words aren’t there. Keeping a journal helps you identify and work with your feelings. Through this you can communicate with greater clarity. Yet the benefits of keeping a journal don’t end with effective communicating. In fact, that’s just the beginning.

The physical effects of journalling

I’ve always intuitively known that writing was good for me. I started keeping a diary at age nine. I would write about what happened on the playground, who was hogging the slide and how unfair it was that my mother wouldn’t make us pancakes for dinner. Writing down these troubles made them feel erasable. My nine-year-old problems seem silly in retrospect and in 10 years time the trivialities I journal that loom large now will diminish. This isn’t the point. What bothers us matters and, since even our closest friends are sometimes deaf to our concerns, it’s important to have an alternative source to disclose to.

Why bother? Modern science has given us ways to measure everything. In 1988, a pioneering study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found that writing about what bothers us can improve our health. Researchers for the study profiled 50 American undergraduate students and assigned them randomly to two groups. One group spent 20 minutes on each of four consecutive days writing about traumas, while the other group wrote about trivialities. The researchers found that those who wrote about their traumas, which were as minor as family quarrels, were significantly healthier afterwards. Despite making no other changes to their lifestyle, their immunity, blood pressure and lung function had improved. In addition, at a three-month follow-up it was found that subjects who wrote about their traumas were significantly happier than those whose writing was non-emotional.(1)

Journalling can ease the stress of upcoming events. Stephen Lepore, Associate Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, found that students who wrote expressively about their emotions before an exam experienced less mental distress. This was despite having the same number of disruptive thoughts as those who wrote about superficial things.(2) Why is this? The simple act of writing dulled the power of their problems to cause them upset. (This ease under stress can also be developed through a meditative practice known as vipassana meditation, or insight meditation, whereby you observe all thoughts without emotional reaction.)

Considering the connection between stress and immunity is clearer every day, this isn’t surprising. But can the stress-reducing impact of journalling reduce pain? Can it heal your lungs? A study published in 1999 in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that "patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis who wrote about the most stressful experiences in their lives experienced a reduction in symptoms ... these gains were beyond those attributable to the standard medical care that all participants were receiving."

In this study completed by 107 patients with either asthma or rheumatoid arthritis, 70 of them wrote about the most stressful events in their lives; the writing was undertaken for 20 minutes straight over three consecutive days. The other 37 patients (the control group) wrote about their plans for the day. Four months later, 47 per cent of the group that wrote about past traumas showed clinically relevant improvement. The patients with arthritis showed a 28 per cent reduction in symptoms, including less pain, and greater range of motion. Those with asthma also fared well, increasing their lung capacity by 19 per cent. Even writing about trivialities was healing, as 24 per cent of the control group who wrote about emotionally neutral topics also showed improved symptoms.(3)

What makes it work?

Jornalling works on the link between stress and disease. It’s less direct than, say, a red-faced temper tantrum ending in a heart attack. The negative effects of stress are cumulative. Imagine your body is a piggy bank. If you feed this bank with the currency of stress, eventually it will overload it and cause it to burst. But before it bursts it will crack. In people, these "cracks" can take the form of emotional, mental and physical problems. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), symptoms of stress overload include sleeplessness, indigestion, diarrhoea, nausea, unexplained aches and pains, skin problems, sense of humour failure, moodiness, difficulty making decisions and disorganisation.(4) By identifying these "cracks" you can patch them up before your health shatters.

Journalling helps you see stress through new eyes. Whether stress is imagined or real, your body reacts by triggering the fight-or-flight response. This is your body’s attempt to prepare you for either option. Stress hormones are triggered and extra glucose is pumped through the bloodstream. This is an energy-draining reaction that’s meant to help you respond to genuine danger. Since this physical reaction depends on how you emotionally process things, it’s essential to keep things in perspective.

Say you have a crippling fear of spiders, a common phobia known as arachnophobia. Seeing a spider will likely trigger the fight-or-flight reaction regardless of its actual threat. The flight part of you will want to run away while the fight aspect is challenged to kill the spider or usher it outdoors. Journalling about this upset helps ease its emotional power. As with the students who improved their health by writing about emotions and trauma, writing about your fears will help you work through them. This will reduce them and their ill effects.

Physical expression and health

The body and the mind work together. While it’s wonderful to work with emotions, it’s important to release physical toxins manufactured by our psychological stresses. Journalling is more effective when integrated with other natural healing methods. Exercise is an essential tool in the war against disease. The fight-or-flight reaction needs physical expression or the chemicals it creates will produce toxic byproducts. You can stop this. When these feelings arise, you can sweat the toxins out through physical exertion. Interpretive dance is an especially powerful method, as it combines emotional outpouring and bodily release.

The emotional effects of expression

Appearances can be deceiving. To the untrained eye a journal looks like a bunch of papers full of thoughts and dates. We who’ve worked with it see it differently. We are able to understand that those thoughts do more than sit on paper; they initiate sedation and reflection.

Sometimes you can be surprised by what you write. You can discover facets of yourself that you hide from other people. Your journal allows you to transfer these thoughts from mind to page. No longer are they subconscious, sneaking around the corners of your mind. They bloom into reality.

For example, a few months ago I slowed down on my household chores and hobbies so I could concentrate on my inner development. It wasn’t long before dishes piled up and my paints were drying beside my spotless canvas. I started to feel like I was lazy and became quite impatient with myself. A few days later, I was reading through my journal. In almost entry I mentioned some type of exercise and I realised some of the things I did that didn’t seem physical at the time — like cleaning the bathroom — took quite a lot of energy. Reading this helped me see how busy I’d been. I recognised I was not lazy at all. Sure, a good friend would explain this to me, too, but at the time my closest human confidants were unavailable. This happens to all of us sometimes. Keeping a journal allows you to rely on yourself for insight, which is empowering.

Journalling provides new insights into the true you. Although the subjects you start writing about tend to be what has bothered you most throughout the day, these will segue into other similar problems or experiences. This helps you identify what’s at the core of your problems. At times, a theme will emerge. My journal has helped me realise when I’m doing the same thing but expecting different results or reacting in a way that doesn’t work. Having your actions in print helps you see them and the situations they’re rooted in more clearly. Sometimes this self-awareness is uncomfortable. However, as with the painful strides that precede a second wind when running, the results are well worth it.

Writing down your private thoughts takes courage. This pushes hidden issues into the spotlight. If you don’t keep a journal you may think this makes them loom larger. Actually, it reduces them. Once they’re in the light, you see the shadow they cast is larger than they are. If there’s something you hate to think about, simply write it down and its effect on you will fade. If you write down a memory of something you feel bad about, along with what you were thinking and what was going on in your life at the time, usually you see that you did the best you could at the time. We all make mistakes. Keeping a journal helps us move forward by resolving deep guilt.

Creative journalling

We’re all different. The conventional date/event "dear diary" style isn’t for everyone. You can alter this greatly or with subtlety. Robert Chris Martin, Professor of Psychology at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, suggests keeping journals for different facets of life — school, job, emotional, relationship, family.(5) This style allows you to isolate where major changes have occurred. The method also works with a single journal. All that’s needed is different sections on each page.

Rather than simply reflecting on different life aspects, you can use a journal to improve these. This is the focus of a goal achievement journal. This is essential for personal goals. Identifying a goal and writing about your progress helps you stay objective. Noting both the negative and positive areas of the goal-achievement process allows you to reflect on what you’re doing right and fix where you went wrong without the mocking of your competitors. Putting your strategy in writing lets you clearly evaluate how effective it is at fulfilling your desire. You can keep multiple goals in your journal, or if the goal is significant, you may select a solitary journal to commemorate your path.

Not interested in reflecting on daily events? Perhaps you’d prefer to write down nightly ones. A dream journal gives you access to your subconscious mind. You don’t have to be a dream expert or even knowledgeable about dreams to benefit from this exploration. You just have to be consistent. You need to keep your dream journal by your bed or sleeping area with a pen beside it. Immediately on waking, record every detail and impression. The longer you wait, the more likely the memory will dissolve.

Writing these down can trigger an "aha!" moment. Roger Hiemstra, Professor of Adult Education at Elmira College, New York, says: "I tell a student who is really struggling with some particular concept or subject to consider keeping a dream book or log for a while as a means of obtaining new insights." Dreams can also help us integrate subconscious and conscious. States Hiemstra: "Subsequent analysis of those dreams can lead to interpreting how the subconscious might be directing or impacting on the conscious."(6)

If you don’t like to write, you may prefer to keep an art journal. With this, you can speak through images. Don’t be intimidated by the word "art". Anything visual will do. If the image is meaningful to you, put it in. It can be abstract smatterings of colour, symbols, even a cutting from a newspaper. As time goes by, you’ll be able to see what these images represent in your life. Any book will do, but if you’d like to do collages, choose a large spiral-bound book. This allows for expansion. Rough paper enables you to do watercolour. If you’re blending art with writing and doodles, make sure you use a waterproof marker or artist’s quality pen. Alternatively, paint on a separate piece of paper, wait until it dries and then cut and paste it in.

You can also use art to enhance your regular journal. Placing small symbols beside entries or highlighting words in the colour that seems appropriate allows for greater self-expression.

Poetry therapy

A journal holds more than details of your day. It is a sacred vessel in which to pour deep feelings. This can be done in many forms. Artwork, doodling and cutouts from magazines can also help you express your emotions. For those who’d like to explore other ways of working with a journal through words, poetry therapy is available. This talent for wordplay has been studied as a method of self-healing since the 1960s. Today, a degree in this field takes two years. If you can’t work with a certified poetry therapist, you can find a person who has equivalent experience but isn’t certified. Or, if you prefer, you can work more privately. There are books that deal in depth with poetry and writing therapy. In the meantime, try the following.

Consider "Laughing Song" by English poet William Blake (1757-1827):

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,

And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;

When the air does laugh with our merry wit,

And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

When the meadows laugh with lively green,

And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,

When Mary and Susan and Emily

With their sweet round mouths sing "Ha, Ha, He!"

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,

Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread,

Come live & be merry, and join with me,

To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, Ha, He!"(7)

Write about laughter. What kind of things do you find funny? What kind of things do others find funny that you don’t?

What comedian do you find funniest? Which one bores you, irritates you or makes you uncomfortable?

Write a poem using these lines from Blake’s poem as a format:

When the green woods...

When Mary and Susan and Emily...

Where our table...

Come live and...

Keeping it personal

Like a diary, the more intense and emotion-packed your journal is, the more you’ll want to protect your privacy. This can be done through different ways. The lock-and-key tradition is time-honoured or you can store it in a box with a code word on it, like "old clothes". The code word method is also effective if you keep an online journal.

Galina Pembroke is an internationally published writer living in Nanaimo, British Columbia, the most westerly Canadian province.

Zinc vs the Common Cold

By John C Fitzherbert

Stay well through winter with some simple supplementation

As the season of colds and influenza-like illnesses approaches, you may be interested to know that zinc sulphate supplements can help to avert these illnesses, or at least reduce symptoms or shorten the period of discomfort associated with them.

Some 40 years ago, Dr Ananda S Prasad of Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, a distinguished professor of medicine and renowned zinc expert, discovered quite accidentally that a severe zinc deficiency in Iranian boys was preventing normal growth and the development of secondary sex characteristics. He reversed these changes by administering zinc. His findings on the importance of zinc in body functioning is still having a resounding effect today and Professor Prasad has persisted with the message that zinc deficiency, in both the developed and undeveloped world, is a neglected problem.

Put simply, zinc is the critical metal at the active centre of many body enzymes. Only recently, it was demonstrated that many body hormones such as cortico-steroids, oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone, thyroid hormones and others cannot be replicated by the DNA of cells without the cooperation of zinc ions. Nobel Prize winner Professor Aaron Klug and, later, Professor Rhodes of Cambridge University demonstrated the importance of special zinc structures essential for the replication of literally hundreds of body proteins. These findings followed the work of Professor Vallee of the Harvard Medical School showing zinc ions are essential for genetic expression of protein by the DNA of the cell nucleus.

The reasons for the potential effectiveness of zinc ions derived from zinc sulphate supplementation together with vitamin C in the prevention of the common cold, influenza-like illnesses and cold sores can be discussed in several contexts:

Intake of zinc from diet.
The role of zinc in the genetic expression of DNA.
The essential role of zinc in maintaining at peak level our capacity to cope with infections by bacteria and viruses, referred to as immunological competence.
The capacity of zinc ions in solution at non-toxic concentrations to prevent replication of many viruses including the cold virus (human rhinovirus, HRV) and the herpes simplex virus (HSV), or cold sore virus.
The continual secretion of zinc into saliva from the paratid gland and nasal secretions if there is no zinc deficiency.
Zinc loss and exercise.
General principles underlying the taking of zinc supplements to prevent colds, influenza-like illnesses and cold sores for maximum effect.

Zinc in the diet

A deficient intake of zinc from diet has little to do with social or economic status. The United Nations University recently pointed out the devastating effects of zinc deficiency on world health. From their analysis, nearly 50 per cent of the worlds population is at risk from inadequate zinc intake.

A study of the diets of Australian men and women suggests that 67 per cent and 85 per cent respectively have a dietetic intake of zinc below the recommended daily allowance (RDA).

Zinc requirements rise dramatically (50 per cent) during the last 10-12 weeks of pregnancy. Zinc deficiency in pregnant women can cause abnormal labour, retarded foetal growth and foetal abnormalities. The John Hopkins School of Public Health estimates that approximately 80 per cent of pregnant woman have a zinc intake thats inadequate to meet normal requirements of pregnancy. (Note: the British Medical Association advises that zinc sulphate be avoided or used with caution during pregnancy as safety is not established and it crosses the placenta.)

Common causes of zinc deficiency include:

Self-selected and institutional diets
Pregnancy
High-fibre diets
Alcohol consumption, even at social levels
Advancing age
Diuretic consumption
Various drugs (particularly the contraceptive pill)
Multiple injuries, fractures
Diabetes mellitus
Gastrointestinal causes, associated particularly with special diets, pancreatic disease, colitis and diverticulitis

Zinc and genetic expressions

In 1981 Professor Vallee of the Harvard Medical School reported that zinc had been found to be an indispensable component of 120 enzymes. In addition, it was indispensable to normal growth of cells, the development of cell structure and tissue differentiation of all species. He proposed that, considering the widespread dissemination of its function, zinc must be regarded as having a decisive role in DNA genetic material.

In the past 10 years, following the research work of Aaron Klug, together with that of Daniela Rhodes of Cambridge University, a much more sophisticated understanding of the role of zinc has emerged. Work at the Molecular Biology Unit in Cambridge isolated a specific structure called a zinc finger. The domain has enlarged to also include zinc rings, zinc twists and clusters.

The DNA that makes up the human genome can be subdivided into information bytes called genes. Each gene encodes a unique protein that performs a specialised function in the cell. Cells use the two-step process of transcription and translation to read each gene and produce the string of amino acids that makes up a protein. For this to happen, the DNA must be turned on by a type of promoter switch. It is now recognised that the promoter switch contains a zinc structure, say a zinc finger, which seeks out the appropriate segment of DNA. This area is then activated to start the process that produces the necessary protein or hormone. Therefore zinc, as Vallee predicted 20 years ago, has a decisive role in the activation of DNA to produce essential protein structures.

Immunological competence

As zinc has such a critical role in the formation of essential proteins, enzymes and hormones, a deficiency can have a dramatic effect. Prasad refers to a zinc deficiency as including the basic change of biological activity which can disrupt our immunological competence.

Jean-Francois Bach, a famous immunologist, stated in 1981: Zinc is an essential element in the development and function of the immune system (Immunology Today). At a recent zinc symposium, Pamela Fraker indicated that all the data available clearly demonstrates immune integrity is tightly linked to zinc status. She goes further to suggest that zinc supplementation may well reduce the effect of many diseases associated with zinc deficiency by preventing the dismantling of the immune systems.

Dr Lucille S Hurley of the University of California, following investigation of immunological competence and its genetic expression in animal models, noted that zinc deficiency during pregnancy may alter the basic mechanism of development of immunological competence.

Importantly, the ageing process is not infrequently associated with a progressive, cumulative decrease in zinc intake, with a progressive diminution of immunological competence. A concomitant decrease in the capacity to cope with colds and influenza-like illnesses follows. Prevention is obviously advisable in this instance.

Zinc and viruses

Zinc ions have been shown to be able to prevent the replication and multiplication of viruses, including the human common cold virus (HRV) and the herpes simplex virus (HSV) that causes cold sores. This characteristic was first reported in the scientific journal Nature in 1973. BD Korant and his colleagues, authors of Zinc ions inhibit replication of rhinoviruses, published in Nature 248 (12 April 1974): 588-590, studied the capability of 10 different metals to prevent the replication of 12 different viruses.

Only zinc, in concentrations that were not toxic, showed antivirul activity against nine different types of the common cold virus. A separate enzyme within the cell invaded by the virus, called a protease, is inhibited by zinc ions. The inhibition of this enzyme prevents the initiation of the replication and multiplication process of the virus.

Subsequently, M Friedlander, in an international journel Virology, reported that zinc ions inhibit in experimental situations a specific DNA enzyme that also inhibits replication of the herpes simplex virus. This effect has been demonstrated in patients who have suffered from continual outbreaks of cold sores. Zinc supplementations will prevent an outbreak or effect more rapid resolution of cold sores already present. In this investigation and treatment, zinc sulphate was used to allow rapid separation of the zinc ion and ensure its immediate availability to inhibit enzymes essential in viral replication.

Zinc and saliva

In 1975 Robert Henkin isolated a product in human saliva excreted by the parotid gland which contains concentrations of zinc. He called it gustin. It contributes 75 per cent of the zinc in saliva excreted by the parotid gland. Some of the zinc is bound to protein; some of it remains free.

Its deficiency in saliva was demonstrated in many patients after a common cold or flu-like illness. The concentration of zinc in the saliva of zinc-deficient subjects is considerably reduced, depriving the individual of a continual protective level of zinc. Concentration can be restored rapidly with zinc supplementation.

A zinc deficiency can reduce the secretion of the zinc protein gustin to as little as 20 per cent of the concentration in a normal subject. The decrease of zinc concentration in saliva is relatively much greater than the decrease of zinc levels in blood.

Zinc and exercise

Sweating, during and after exercise, results in zinc loss to a significant degree. This loss is of increasing relevance for teenagers, young adults and pregnant women. In young women it may become more evident, as zinc loss results in amenorrhoea (abnormal absence of menstruation).

Excretion in urine can normally amount to 500-600mcg/24 hours. With exercise, the loss can rise to 950mcg per litre of sweat. Over months, this loss can paradoxically be associated with osteoporosis. Again, the continual drag on zinc reserves over months, sometimes years, can make the athlete more susceptible to influenza and the common cold as immunological competence is reduced.

Zinc supplementation

The capacity of zinc to prevent onset or reduce severity of the common cold and other flu-like illnesses is dependent on the full expression of its varied biological activity. In people who are zinc deficient, using zinc supplementation of zinc sulphate 100mg/day, it could take several weeks before zinc biological products have reached peak value to achieve maximum benefit. Zinc as zinc sulphate does not act like an immediately effective chemotherapeutic agent. Initially, as the blood level increases, so does the relevant physiological activity of the cell and, finally, normal biological activity is restored.

A daily supplement of zinc sulphate 100mg (22mg zinc ion) together with vitamin C should be commenced four to six weeks before the start of the cold season and continue throughout its duration to ensure the best protective effect possible.

John C Fitzherbert has been a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England since 1952 and has practised as a consultant surgeon in Wollongong, NSW, for 30 years. For the past 20 years he has undertaken extensive research into the role of minerals in the prevention of disease.

Back Pain Treatments Reviewed

By Steve Hefferon, CMT, PTA

Back pain affects millions of people every year. Unfortunately, many people suffer unnecessarily & one of the reasons is lack of information. The purpose of this article is to educate everyone about the treatments available for back pain.

Back pain affects millions of people each and every year. For many, they’re lives are never the same.

Unfortunately, many people suffer for weeks, months and even years unnecessarily and one of the reasons is a lack of good information.

Much of the information that is given to people regarding back pain is out-dated, inaccurate and often dangerous!

So the purpose of this article is to educate you about many of the treatments that are available for back pain.

But before we get started, it’s important you know that very rarely is one treatment the answer. Back pain is often times a complex problem and it often requires treatments that address multiple areas simultaneously.

Also, my experience working with tens of thousands of back pain sufferers has shown that, the people who get lasting relief are the ones who are constantly researching and experimenting with as many treatments as possible.

Ok, let’s review some of the many treatments that are available for back pain and sciatica:

Orthopedic Care

One of the first places many people go when they experience back pain is the orthopedic specialist (surgeon) and a visit usually last 5-10 minutes. They will typically look at the problem/symptomatic area and often fail to look at the body as a whole.

If you've been to an orthopedic specialist for your back pain, did they do a full body physical evaluation (takes 30 mins. or more)??? Not likely.

Here are some of the common treatments used / prescribed by orthopedic specialists:

Cortisone Shots

Cortisone is a catabolic steroid which is intended to reduce inflammation by killing off the tissue in the inflamed area… now let me ask you, does that make any sense to you at all?

Not only are these injections quite painful, but they rarely result in any pain relief and if they do it is short lived, usually 1-2 weeks if at all. Plus, it does NOTHING to identify or address the cause of the pain… it is only intended to treat the symptom. It’s for those reasons that we do not recommend them.

Anti-inflammatory Medications

Just the name should scare you away… just like cortisone shots, anti-inflammatory medications do not identify or address the cause of your pain and for many people, they deliver little pain relief. These medications also deliver serious side effects! The main reason they are prescribed is money… and if you don’t believe me, do the research and you’ll see for yourself. The drug industry is huge and unfortunately, they have a huge influence on the whole medical community, including the doctors.

I challenge you to find a drug that will fix your back problem… you’ll be looking forever because there is no way a medication can fix a physical problem so avoid medications at all costs!

Back Surgery

Surgery for back pain is very common and more often than not, the individual still has pain afterwards (or it returns within weeks) and sometimes even new problems! Very rarely is a surgery the answer...

For example, many people have surgery for herniated discs. The logic behind the surgery is if you remove the piece/portion of the disc that is putting pressure on the nerve the problem is solved.

Unfortunately, the same forces that forced that disc to protrude or bulge will likely force more of the disc out, or another disc out.

Surgery should always be the last resort... and even then I'd question it!

Physical Therapy

Physical Therapy is traditionally the next step after seeing an Orthopedic Doctor. That is if surgery is not recommended. So what should you expect?

The process will start with an evaluation and here may be the start of the problem… here is why…. the doctor has to write a prescription with a diagnosis on it.

You give the prescription to the PT and he or she will perform an evaluation... chances are the PT will simply confirm the diagnosis from the doctor, however the hope should be that they take the extra step to look for the root cause of your pain. They may but chances are they have several other clients in the office at the same time and simply do not have the time.

So without a comprehensive evaluation to identify the root cause of you pain they will simply treat your symptoms. We have just identified the second problem.

The health care industry is required to show improvement with each and every session so the push is to reduce your symptoms to show progress in order for them to get paid. The long and short of it is that yes your pain can be reduced but the root cause rarely gets addressed, meaning that the pain and your suffering will return again and again.

So what should you do? When selecting a Physical Therapy office you may want to ask how many patients the office sees in a day and how many PTs they have on staff... then ask how many patients can a PT work with in an hour. Do not be surprised to hear that a PT can see up to three patients in an hour. Do you think you will get the attention and proper treatments you need? I doubt it.

There is a little joke in Physical Therapy when treating patients and it has to do with what course of modalities you will get. The joke is called Shake and Bake and it refers to the fact that everyone gets the same treatment protocol… that way it can be timed so that your PT can see other people simultaneously.

What goes into a shake and bake treatment? It may start with a spin on a stationary bike or a trot a treadmill than you will get a 3 to 5 minute Ultrasound over the effected area followed by Electrical Stimulation to the area with a little Ice strapped to your body and to finish off your session you will get a hand out with exercises you should do at home. Certainly not a recipe for success!

Chiropractic Care

One of the most common treatments for back pain is Chiropractic Care. The approach consists of physical manipulations of bones and joints in an attempt to line things back up and it's recommended typically 2-3 times per week.

The problem with this approach is that the same forces (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) will likely pull the bones and joints right back out of place again. Also, most (not all) chiropractors will spend 15 minutes with you if your lucky.

Ask people who see a chiropractor how long they’ve been going… I hear of people who have been going for 10-15 years and still don’t have a healthy back. Look, the fact is chiropractic care is lacking…

Unless the chiropractor combines the two approaches, it doesn’t make sense…

The ONLY way chiropractic care makes sense is if you are addressing the muscle imbalances that are pulling the bones and joints out of place to begin with and that requires strengthening and stretching exercises that are chosen specifically to correct your muscle imbalances.

Alternative Treatments for Treating Back Pain

Massage Therapy

Massage therapy, if done correctly can work wonders for people with back pain. This is not to say that it is the best choice and that it will work for everyone… however, most people will get great results from it if the massage therapist has a good understanding of muscle imbalances and how to work on them.

NOTE: Not all massage therapists are the same! Just like any profession, there are varying degrees of training and qualifications. When selecting a massage therapist please check to see if they are licensed and insured in the state where you will be seeing them.

You should also ask the massage therapist if they have training in one of the following areas: Orthopedic massage, Medical massage, St. Johns technique and/or has a comprehensive knowledge of muscle imbalances relating to back pain.

With that said the benefits are as follows. The root cause will be identified, your discomfort will be addressed and you root cause will be corrected all in an attempt to make you pain free and give you the tools you need to keep you that way. What to expect when you see a massage therapist.

All massage sessions are one on one allowing you the opportunity to converse with the therapist as well as get the attention you need to get results. You can ask questions about how you compare to other people.

Feel free to ask the therapist what approach they will be taking so that you know what to expect. The massage therapist has many different techniques they can use when to dealing with you back pain and some are better than others.

On the down side sometimes a therapist can get distracted with other problem areas, it is in your best interest to keep them focused on you back and associated problem areas. Like anything else you may need to try several different therapists before finding the one that works best for you and with you.

Post-rehabilitation Fitness Training

Another overlooked form of treatment that is very effective is post-rehabilitation fitness training. This includes targeted strength and flexibility work to correct / improve the individuals muscle imbalances. This is specialized knowledge that very few fitness trainers possess and there are certification programs designed specifically for this.

There are of course, limitations as to what they can do for you. For example, they can not diagnose a condition, prescribe any medications take x-rays, etc… however, if they are well trained they can pinpoint your muscle imbalances quickly and get you started on a fitness program that will restore balance to your body and likely eliminate your back pain.

Often times this can be combined with massage therapy and/or manual physical therapy for a total solution. If you decide to go this route, which I recommend you do, be sure to thoroughly check out the fitness trainer and ask to see their certification, insurance, references, etc.

Manual Physical (muscle) Therapy

Manual Physical Therapy is NOT the same as regular physical therapy… there are some major differences. Here are just a few:

• Manual therapy consists of hands on muscle work primarily whereas traditional physical therapy consists of heat, ice, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, etc

• Manual therapist will typically perform a much more thorough physical evaluation

• Manual therapists will usually be able to spend more time with each patient

• Manual therapy is more holistic in it’s approach and focuses the body as a whole unit… something lacking from nearly all traditional treatments for back pain.

So before you say, “I’ve already tried physical therapy”… did you try manual physical therapy? They are two very different treatment approaches and I highly recommend you consider manual physical therapy.

Conclusion

As you can see traditional treatments are the main stay of modern medicine… not necessarily for the patients benefit, but it’s just how the system works.

The system will not change until the system is confronted with a very powerful competitive force. That force may well be complementary or alternative care from the likes of Personal Trainers, Acupuncturists, Massage Therapists, Manual Physical Therapists, and the like.

So that’s what we’ve tried to do… force change. The traditional treatments that people have been receiving for decades just don’t work, and we have found a combination approach that not only works the best, but it’s safe, natural, and inexpensive.

Check out our “Lose the Back Pain” system now… it will show you how to identify the cause of your back pain and then show you the exact combination of steps to take to eliminate it.

If you have tried other treatments with little or no relief, you owe it to yourself to try this approach… so take charge of your health and get started now working towards not only a pain free back, but a healthy and balanced body! Only you can fix your back… all you need is the right approach!

About the Author

Steve Hefferon, CMT, PTA For more information on our complete healing formula and how to treat back pain effectively, read the latest Back Pain Advisory from The Healthy Back Institute. You can get a free copy of it here: http://www.losethebackpain.com

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Eating and Drinking Don't Mix

By Benjamin Lynch

Drinking while eating dilutes digestive power. Enhance digestion with a few simple suggestions.

While eating your meal, for the most part, do not drink with it.

This dilutes the stomach acids and digestive enzymes. It is best to drink 20 minutes before your meal - this helps uptake of nutrients and move bowels.

If you feel your mouth is just so darn dry while eating, that is likely due to being:

stressed while you eat as stress stops mouth secretions
eating in a rush,
not being aware while you are eating
secretory glands not functioning well due to drinking during meals [conditioned not to secrete as mouth is already moist]

If any of those explain you while eating, try to adjust. Your secretory glands will regain proper function once you train yourself not to drink during meals.

If you absolutely cannot avoid drinking during meals then:

avoid cold drinks
drink warm or hot teas
avoid milk during meals

Drinking cold mucousy milk during a meal is like spraying foam on a fire. It totally kills it. The Chinese call your digestive system the triple burner. It burns from below and that fire works its way up properly digesting your foods. Cold milk and beverages douse that fire.

We had a patient come in to the clinic with chronic constipation for years. She was improving but not rapidly. She happened to stop by my website and read information about avoiding drinks and especially cold drinks during meals. Once she changed this, she now goes 2 times a day and no longer has constant gas and bloating.

Simple.

Give it a shot.

P.S. If you're doctor told you to drink during meals - then by all means, listen to 'em. Also drink plenty of water while you take your fiber supplement. If you don't you'll have a big bunch of fiber sitting like concrete.

About the Author

Benjamin Lynch Graduate of University of Washington, 1997. BS Cell and Molecular Biology. Obtaining doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine at Bastyr University. Graduate 2007. Married with 2 boys and a cat. Live in Seattle, WA. Born in Portland, OR. Planning to specialize in Balneotherapy [spa medicine]. Hobbies include backpacking, camping, traveling abroad, sailing, tennis, rowing, soccer, mountain climbing.

6 Things You Can Do To Get A Better Night Sleep Tonight

By Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS

Today’s harried fast paced lifestyle is taking a toll on one of the most important parts of our life--our sleep. Read in order to achieve the highly coveted “good” night’s sleep & keep yourself in optimal health.

Let’s face it… we live in a “go-go” world! Our lifestyle is harried, our food is fast and statistics now show it’s taking a toll on one of the most important parts of our life--our sleep. The 2002 National Sleep Foundation (NSF) Sleep in America poll found that 74 percent of American adults are experiencing a sleeping problem a few nights a week or more, 39% get less than seven hours of sleep each weeknight, and more than one in three (37%) are so sleepy during the day that it interferes with daily activities. Our fast paced way of life is getting the best of us. What about you?

Answer True or False?

Five hours of sleep at night is good enough.
It's ok to skimp on sleep during the work week as long as you make up the time over the weekends.
The effects of sleep deprivation are short-term (e.g., darkness under the eyes and dull and/or splotchy skin after a bad night's sleep) and has no effect on long-term health.
Drinking caffeine early in the evening does not affect sleep.
Keeping a TV or computer in the bedroom has no effect on sleep.
The amount of sleep I get has nothing to do with my weight.

If you answered “true” to two or more questions you may need to make a few changes in order to achieve the highly coveted “good” night’s sleep and keep yourself in optimal health.

Experts suggest that most people need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night but that doesn’t apply to everyone. Some people only require 6 hours while those who are more active or have an illness may require more.

So how do you know if you are getting enough quality sleep? Those who are sleep deprived often look the part. Dark circles and the “sleepy” look are common, but they also can have unpredictable moods, drowsiness during the day, have difficulty concentrating, weak immune systems, recover poorly from injury and get sick more often. Sounding a little too familiar?

In fact, poor sleep has been found to impair the ability to perform tasks involving memory, learning, and logical reasoning. This may contribute to mistakes or unfulfilled potential at school or on the job as well as strained relationships at home. Even more disturbing, inadequate amounts of sleep have been linked to an increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, weight gain, obesity, heart disease and depression, to name just a few.

But what if you go to bed early, have every intention on logging in your 7-9 hours but only to lie awake watching the clock…eyes wide open? Well, there are several simple adjustments you can make to stack the cards in favor of a better night’s sleep.

Avoid watching TV before bed…especially in bed!- The bed should be reserved for two things…sleep and romance…not Desperate Housewives or football! Research shows that those who experienced the most sleep disturbances had televisions in their bedrooms and used the TV to fall asleep.

Try a different pillow or mattress. It’s scary to think how long some of us have been sleeping on the same pillows and mattresses for years and years. Does your mattress provide the support you like? Do you wake with your back aching? Is there enough room for you and your sleep partner? Do you sleep better, or worse, when you sleep away from home? These are all things to ask yourself to determine if your mattress could be the “sabotager” of your good night’s sleep. Or more simply, just replacing your pillow with a new, fresh, higher quality version could be all that you need.

Avoid caffeine late in the day. Did you know that even a small amount of caffeine even 10-12 hours before bedtime can cause problems falling asleep! Try eliminating the tea, soda and even chocolate and see if sleep improves.

Listen to relaxing music. Establishing a relaxing bedtime routine, such as listening to music, could be just the thing you need to signal your body it is time to sleep. So, dim the lights and throw some slow jazz or purchase a “relaxing sounds” CD to help slow your mind and body down for an evening of peaceful sleep.

Try mind- body techniques. After an action-packed day, your brain and body need to unwind and detox before sleep can occur (a.k.a. you need to chill!) Create a “ritual” for bedtime - take a bath, meditate, do some easy stretches or yoga. Try to do your “ritual” in the same way, in the same place, at the same time each night. The repetition will trigger your mind and body that it is time to relax and sleep.

Try a natural sleep aid. For many people, while the above tips and suggestions may help, it often isn’t enough. if you are one of those people who really have a hard time getting to sleep and staying asleep, you may want to try a natural sleep aid.

While over the counter sleep medications may help you fall asleep, they cannot be taken long-term and have risky side effects. A sleep aid that uses natural ingredients is a better approach to getting a solid night’s sleep.

Article courtesy of fitness expert and best-selling author, Jesse Cannone, CFT. For more great health and fitness articles be sure to visit his website… http://www.losethebackpain.com/sleep.html

Beyond Pain

By Maggie Good

Pain, particularly chronic pain, is much more than a neurological response, a simple cause-and-effect. It is a complex physical, emotional, intellectual, environmental and social response to damage, disease or distress. While most pain becomes evident with nerve or tissue damage, the origins of some pain may be emotional, intellectual or even spiritual.

Pain is a common human experience and yet we don't really know what someone else's pain is like. Pain is personal; we all feel and respond to it differently and our tolerance levels vary. What is painful for one might be dismissed as insignificant by another. Long-term pain, or chronic pain, can be a lonely experience and sufferers can feel isolated and powerless.

Perhaps the most destructive aspect of chronic pain is the way it steadily erodes and fragments the life force of the person in pain. The pain sufferer can lose a sense of being in charge of their life, becoming reactive and increasingly powerless, devitalised and demoralised. By its very nature pain can affect all aspects of the sufferer's life — their relationship with themselves and with others, their finances and, if they are able to work, their work performance.

In the range of help available to the chronic pain sufferer, there is a vast resource that is potentially and consistently the most powerful of all. This is the mind. In combination with appropriate therapies, the healing power of the mind gives us access to enduring, effective pain management.

The bodymind network

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), a science that integrates neuroscience, endocrinology and immunology, establishes that the nervous, endocrine and immune systems are functionally integrated. What all three systems have in common is they each have a number of locations throughout the head and body and they 'speak' to each other in a biochemical language. PNI makes it clear that the mind and body contain interrelated components of the same system that historically has been located only in the head and attributed only to the workings of the brain.

Pain affects more than the nervous system and brain because the mind network extends far beyond this. This mind is a communications network of hormones, chemicals and cells that move throughout the head and body. These biochemical couriers carry and deliver 'mind messages' as they travel through the head and body via the cardiac highway, the circuitry of neuronal synapses and the rivers of the lymph, cerebrospinal fluid and other extracellular fluids.

Beyond the physical body is an energy body called the aura or etheric body. The aura surrounds the body in an oval shape. In the average person it is between two and three metres across at its widest point and comprises several layers. It also includes a number of energy centres called chakras. Emotions, thoughts and states of being, including pain, also exist in the energy field around the body. Bio-energetic changes flow on throughout the entire system, including the etheric.

In good health, this psychosomatic network is in a dynamic state, a series of friendly conversations throughout the bodymind to create a constant flow of information, feedback and response to maintain homeostasis (balance). In the chronic pain sufferer, the communication system is 'down', conversations cease or become distorted, the flow of information is restricted or blocked.

Pain pathways

Pain generally begins with neurological or tissue damage, though this isn't always where pain begins. Depending on the type of pain, messages travel at different speeds and are stored in different parts of the brain. Pain is broadly categorised as acute or chronic, though even these distinctions can become blurred. Acute pain is sharp and insistent, caused, for example, by a heavy blow or fall, an infection or a bite, which eases as the injury heals. It doesn't last more than a few days. The acute pain pathway involves pain receptors reacting to tissue damage. The information is sent along the faster A-delta nerve fibres, through the dorsal horn in the spinal cord. The acute pain message is then passed along the neospinothalamic pathway to parts of the brain called the thalamus and the cortex.

Chronic pain is long-term. It can present after the acute pain of an injury or surgery has healed. In the case of disease, it may increase in intensity as the disease progresses. Chronic pain can be neuropathic (nerve), inflammatory, ischaemic (circulatory blockage causing diminished blood supply), visceral (internal organs), musculoskeletal (muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones) or psychological. In chronic pain, messages are relayed along C nerve fibres, which transmit more slowly along the paleospinothalamic pathway. Its final destination in the brain is different from that of acute pain. Chronic pain is registered in the hypothalamus and limbic parts of the brain.

The brain's response to pain is an area currently under investigation. There is still much to be substantiated. What is known is that the limbic system, sometimes called the primitive brain because it deals with survival and emotions, is part of the pain pathway. When pain messages are received in the brain, the limbic system sends messages to the periaqueductal gray (PAG), a part of the brain stem, which is filled with opiate receptors. The PAG acts as a sort of analgesic dispensary and these 'natural painkillers' are then sent to the site of pain.

Ligands and receptors

Receptors are sensing molecules found on cell walls. The ligand is the chemical partner of the receptor. It binds with the receptor to cause a chemical change that results in a biological response. There are three types of ligand: neurotransmitters, steroids and peptides. Ligands, broadly speaking, are the couriers in the bodymind network; they travel throughout the nervous, endocrine and immune systems to find the particular receptor they 'click' into.

Natural ligands are produced in parts of the brain and at other sites throughout the body. The natural ligands of particular interest to the pain sufferer are epinephrine (also called adrenalin), norepinephrine (noradrenalin), cortisol, serotonin and endorphins. These ligands all play a vital role in alleviating pain, lifting depression, normalising biochemistry and promoting healing. Ligands to help the pain sufferer can also be synthesised in a laboratory. For example, morphine and codeine are some of the synthetic opioids used to treat pain. Another group of drugs produced to help with inflammatory pain are NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS) are terms that describe a number of unpleasant symptoms, psychological and physiological, that can develop after a painful event such as a serious car accident or repeated surgery. If left untreated, symptoms can persist and even escalate long after the trauma. PTSD can add to the pain and suffering of someone who has been injured or badly traumatised, but not everyone develops PTSD.

As well as the physiological trauma suffered at the time of the event, there may be psychological trauma stored within the bodymind. For the person with PTSD, symptoms and sometimes memories of the trauma will keep replaying, sometimes at the slightest provocation. While PTSD isn't fully understood, it is believed that repeated post-trauma arousal may cause damaging changes to the nerve fibres in the limbic brain. The post-traumatic response isn't clear-cut but the following states can be identified and individuals may at times exhibit a combination of these.

Hypervigilance is the result of elevated levels of catecholamines (adrenalin and noradrenalin) and cortisol, the fight/flight hormones. It is a state of full alert, ready to fight or flee. Heart and respiration rates are elevated and there is a release of extra glucose into the bloodstream. When trauma has not been treated, relatively minor events can continue to trigger this arousal in what can seem to be an exaggerated reaction. Dizziness, shakiness and trembling may be felt. The individual is bio-chemically re-traumatised, which results in further emotional arousal, insomnia, irritability and anxiety. Repeated episodes of hypervigilance may lower cortisol levels in the long term.

Freezing or numbing affects the individual by creating tension deep within the body. It affects respiration and fluid movement. In this state the level of neurotransmitters tends to be low. In the frozen state, the individual will have a tight chest with shallow respiration, a rigidity or stiffness to their posture and appear to be emotionally numb. Freezing affects homeostasis by restricting the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, lymph and other extracellular fluids, thus restricting an already depleted supply of neuropeptides throughout the bodymind network.

Dissociation is caused by excess levels of adrenalin and endorphins, neurotransmitters that affect memory, and can result in amnesia of sorts. The person will be forgetful, depressed, disconnected and lacking motivation. These people may not feel very good but can't identify what is wrong and they may not be fully aware of pain. The pain sufferer becomes disconnected from the bodymind network and the ability to manage pain. It dulls the pain but also nullifies personal power and volition.

Psychological trauma in many cases accompanies physiological trauma. Someone who has been injured in a car accident will have possibly experienced fear, confusion and feeling out of control at the time of injury. Emotional states can become stored with the physical pain. Just as the nervous system responds to injury by setting off a chain of chemical reactions, so too the emotions that accompany a traumatic event produce an energetic pattern and a chemical response when injury occurs. Candace B. Pert, author of Molecules of Emotion, provides an explanation for the interrelatedness of energy, emotions and body states. She describes some ligands and their receptors as the biochemical substrate of emotion. For those with PTSD, emotional reactions become part of a cellular and etheric memory, locked in until there is a conscious release. The cortex, the conscious, thinking part of the brain, and limbic system, in part responsible for survival instincts and emotions, are both involved in the experience of trauma and pain.

Stored trauma, hurt and shock and the emotions that go with them remain subconscious until we do something to release the 'charge'. Does this awful stockpiling contribute to insidious diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's disease, MS, fibro-myalgia, chronic fatigue and chronic myofacial pain syndrome? The bodymind reaches a state of dysfunction and is unable to revive itself. Energetic patterns are distorted, bio-feedback is blocked, nerve pathways are broken, receptors wait in vain for ligands to 'fire-up' the cell into healing and pain-alleviating action and the pain state gets worse.

Emotional repercussions

Pain is rarely confined to aching, stabbing, burning or gnawing felt in the body. It often blurs into feelings of anguish, despair, anger and futility. Mind and body, thoughts and feelings mesh together in a series of unhappy reciprocal interactions. Exhaustion following a poor night's sleep can lower tolerance to pain. Lowered tolerance can make interaction with others and maintaining daily activities seem too difficult. Depressive withdrawal and inactivity may appear to be the only way to cope. This will, in turn, affect biochemistry, mood and pain levels.

The psychology of pain explains, in part, the factors that influence our experience of pain and recovery. The Olympic athlete with a painful chronic injury who is very likely to win an event has greater motivation and purpose to heal their pain than an injured worker who hates a job where they feel undervalued and underpaid. The athlete is motivated, feels important and, with a support team behind them, has much to gain by winning the event. The worker sees nothing to be gained by getting well and getting back to work. The emotions felt by the athlete and the worker will influence the pain state, which will have repercussions throughout their bodymind network.

The body can be the repository for repressed or denied emotions and thoughts. The body speaks a language all of its own. Learning to interpret this language gives us insight and a means to help heal disease and injury. Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, makes a connection between disease and belief systems. The pain of the psyche can present ultimately in the physical body. Hay speaks of how she healed her vaginal cancer by mentally and physically cleansing deep resentment she had harboured in her body, mind and heart since being sexually abused as a child.

Healing

Pain is a warning signal that something is wrong, so it is important that you establish as clearly as possible the causes of your pain, both physical and metaphysical, in order to treat it most effectively. It may take time to change your pain. If you have had pain for a number of months or even years, you will have developed a pain habit. The pain will have become part of your life. There will be a certain degree of psychological dependence, as well as possible drug dependence, so taking charge of your pain needs to be a slow and steady process.

A combination of therapies -- meditation, clinical nutrition, movement and body therapy, psychology, subtle energy therapies and medicine -- will support, empower and encourage you to get your life back. Self-awareness is the key. It turns the tide on the wave of powerlessness that threatens to engulf the chronic pain sufferer. Taking charge of your pain empowers you to take charge of your life again.

Acute pain tends to be a more obvious cause and effect. Chronic pain is more complex and a lack of information or a wrong self-diagnosis can result in the wrong treatment. At best this may be a waste of time, effort and money; at worst it may delay proper treatment and this could be fatal. For example, pain felt in the chest that is thought to be indigestion could be cardiac dysfunction.

Ask your doctor or specialist to explain X-rays, test results and procedures. Identify where your pain is coming from and, where possible, what is causing it. Understand how your drug therapy works and be aware of any contra-indications. Many synthetic opiates block the body's natural response, so you may be able to plan to reduce or even eliminate pain medication under the supervision of your doctor. Many of these drugs are addictive and can have side effects. Morphine, for example, inhibits the production of the brain's own natural pain-killing ligands — enkephalins and endorphins.

Seek other opinions and enlist other health practitioners, such as a naturopath, herbalist or homoeopath. If they too prescribe remedies, be sure that all your health practitioners know what you are taking and doing. Herbal remedies, nutritional supplements, homoeopathics and allopathic medicine don't always combine well. For example, if you are taking pharmaceutical medication for depression and the herb St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum), you will be running the risk of a serotonin storm. An overdose of serotonin may increase dissociative states. Some drug and herbal medicine combinations can be fatal.

Counselling and psychotherapy

Disease and injury are not simply bad luck. Thoughts and feelings are energy, which causes biochemical reactions in the psychosomatic network. There is no such thing as a bad or negative emotion. Love, anger, joy and grief all have a place in our emotional repertoire. An emotion that is repressed or denied could be considered unhealthy rather than bad. This pent-up energy has an effect on respiration, cardiac efficiency, bodymind chemistry and the etheric field. Repressed or denied emotions cause breakdowns in the communications network of the nervous system, endocrine system, immune system and etheric body.

A less obvious but still significant emotional trauma can emerge from the circumstances around chronic pain. Anger, bitterness and resentment may be part of the pain of someone who has been disabled by pain and can no longer earn enough money to support themselves. Raymond B. Flannery, author of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, suggests that some chronic pain is psychological in nature. He calls it a somatoform disorder. Somatoform disorders are those disorders in which a person's psychological distress is expressed in bodily symptoms rather than in words, feelings, or recurring thoughts. This pain may have no apparent cause, but it is nonetheless real.

Psychotherapy can help you identify and release such health-damaging energy by changing belief systems, behaviour and emotional responses. The counselling process provides you with a trained listener with whom you can share your thoughts without censorship. Self-discovery and solutions emerge. Counselling, art therapy, psychotherapy, psychology, or psychiatry will encourage you to release submerged emotions. Discussion and processing will bring to your conscious awareness the beliefs that affect your pain levels and recovery rate.

Meditation and breathing

Meditation is perhaps one of the greatest analgesics available. The particular benefits of meditation for the pain sufferer are:

It changes brain waves. It is believed that 'natural pain killers' serotonin and endorphins are produced by the body while in alpha and theta states
It helps integrate all your therapies. Meditation communicates with all levels and aspects of who you are. It unifies body, mind, heart and spirit and provides you with a powerful synergy.
It brings you into the moment. Time can become blurred for the chronic pain sufferer in remembering past pain and preparing for future pain. Meditation can do much to stem this energy-depleting behaviour by focusing attention on the moment, the here and now.
Meditation potentiates change. Meditation is a time-out zone, a space in which anything is possible. It provides a gateway into a space and time separate and different from what you know. It is a place where things can be re-ordered, regenerated.
Conscious breathing. This does more than oxygenate the body and boost the production of opiates. It restores life force — known as chi or prana, among others — that sustains all aspects of who we are - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
It encourages you to face yourself and live consciously. In the stillness of meditation you have an opportunity to be more aware of your inner self. Just as a cloudy glass of water will settle and clear if left undisturbed, meditation will bring recognition and clarity.
You don't have to make this journey alone. As you heal your pain, you can draw on Universal Life Energy (Source, God/Goddess) with every breath you take. There can be much comfort, solace and inspiration in connecting with this energy.

Physical therapies

Some aspects of these therapies can be part of your self-management plan. It is recommended that you consult with qualified professionals in these areas before you take up any of the suggestions.

Bodywork: Massage, Bowen therapy, reflexology, osteopathy and chiropractic will help restore your health and vitality by adjusting, stimulating and balancing visceral, circulatory, lymphatic and musculoskeletal systems. Aromatherapy massage, Bowen therapy, cranio-sacral therapy, reiki, acupuncture, kinesiology and ortho-bionomy, to name a few, will release the charge that locks pain and trauma memory into your system, counter the effects of dissociation, re-balance the subtle energy body and restore the physio-emotional field.

Movement, posture and exercise: Tai chi, yoga, qi gong, hydrotherapy, Pilates, Feldenkrais, Alexander technique and walking will improve circulation, help release distressing emotions, encourage mindfulness, encourage you to breathe better, improve strength and flexibility and, in some cases, promote the production of endorphins.

Restore the subtle energy body with vibrational medicine: Homoeopathy, reiki and flower essences correct patterns of imbalance. They heal and restore the auric layers, release traumatic cellular memories and provide a template for healing.

Clinical nutrition

Help your body produce its own opioids and anti-inflammatories. See a naturopath or herbalist. Clinical nutrition can, at the very least, improve your nutritional state. Nutritional deficiencies will affect healing and mood. Some pain states can be exacerbated by a deficiency of macro- and/or micro-nutrients. A deficiency of magnesium, for example, may cause muscle cramps and spasms.

It is known that some nutritional or herbal supplements decrease the side effects of drugs. In some cases, supplements will help the body produce its own opiates and moderate inflammatory pain. Tryptophan (a precursor to serotonin) will decrease the perception of pain and DL Phenylalanine will potentiate the effect of opiates. Zinc, GLA/EPA and Vitamin C are nutritional modulators of the inflammatory pain cycle.

Holistic Kinesiology

By David Corby

He looks into my eyes, wondering if it worked. I hand him a book and he slowly opens it. He stares for just a moment then looks me straight in the eye with a startled expression. "I can see the page," he says, amazed. He then proceeds to read a paragraph out loud at about twice the speed and with four times the clarity of his reading just two hours before. His mother just looks on with astonishment. Robert had been diagnosed with scotopic vision. This meant that when he looked at a page he saw swirls and lines running down the page. Very little was clear, which made it very difficult to read. Now that has all changed with the help of holistic kinesiology.

It's difficult for me not to be passionate about holistic kinesiology. A few years ago my wife had a severe and potentially life-threatening illness that left her unable to speak or hear well. After nine months she seemed to be getting worse. Looking for answers, I read a book on kinesiology and thought it might help her. In the first session with the holistic kinesiologist, one of the questions he asked her was what was her favourite flower and she replied "yellow". She had been thinking of a "white daisy" but this was the best she was able to articulate. Within five one-hour sessions she was significantly better. Her fits had stopped and she could speak more fluently. Today she has fully recovered. For us it was a miracle. It gave us our life back.

After this experience I became so interested in holistic kinesiology that I went from my career as a chief economist to embark on one in holistic kinesiology. In my practice now, clients come in and start crying because they cannot believe they are free of pain. Others laugh as they feel like they are finally getting their life together; others write and say how grateful they are to be free of their chronic fatigue or depression or whatever condition they had.

These results come because of the effectiveness of holistic kinesiology. Anyone with the proper training and dedication can achieve the same results. I'm not claiming it's the answer for everyone and every condition. No one type of natural or Western medicine can claim that. In many cases, particularly with chronic illnesses, a combination of different therapies serves the client best. However, holistic kinesiology in my experience is very effective for a wide range of conditions, particularly chronic pain, headaches, migraines, depression, learning difficulties (including attention deficit syndrome), back pain, chronic fatigue, bed wetting, sleep difficulties, asthma, and blood sugar disturbances. It can also help with relationship difficulties, stress, anxiety, fears, phobias, allergic reactions, and setting and achieving goals.

Origins

Kinetics is the study of movement, and 'kinesiology' was originally used as a term to describe the study of movement dynamics of the human body. In the early 1960s a chiropractor named George Goodheart formed the science of applied kinesiology, now practised by many chiropractors around the world. This was a marriage of Eastern energy principles, muscle feedback and Western developments in structural and reflex sciences to monitor the body's response to various stimuli.

Dr. John Thie, an American chiropractor, created Touch For Health, a kinesiology system for laypeople based on applied kinesiology research. This system was soon taught throughout the world to improve health and wellbeing in the community. Many forms of kinesiology have developed from there, so kinesiology became the generic term for this natural therapy.

Holistic kinesiology has evolved from the integration of specialised forms of kinesiology with anatomy and physiology, nutrition, communication studies, counselling skills, energetic sciences, business and practice management training. Holistic kinesiology is a modality with great breadth and depth that uses feedback from your own body to gain greater understanding of your problem/s and to guide the practitioner to the best solution for you.

The limits

As with all natural therapies, holistic kinesiology is limited by the body's own ability to self heal. Holistic kinesiology addresses the causes of the issue and prepares the body-mind to begin the healing process. When a person is truly ready to heal, the results can be astounding. Thirty years of back pain gone in two to three hours of treatment is not uncommon. For some people improvements can come more slowly. They need to understand what generated their problem in order to resolve the outstanding issues and progress more rapidly towards healing.

This is where holistic kinesiology has a great advantage because it can provide a wealth of information about what is causing their problem, dramatically speeding up the process of real healing. Clients often have subconscious beliefs that limit their ability to heal, such as a fear of change. A great many of these beliefs are set from an early age when they seemed an appropriate response to what was happening at the time.

An example is a four-year-old boy who thinks "I don't want things to change" when his dad leaves his family. That thought at such a crucial moment in his life can set a pattern that he may follow for most of his life. He may subconsciously avoid change wherever possible, fearing the hurt that comes with change. For this client to embrace change in his life, the stress from this initial incident will need to be identified and cleared first. In the process he will gain important insights into his life story and why he has made the choices he has. This process is very empowering and can often be far more important to the client than the initial issue.

This new understanding of his life story, together with the application of specific stimuli, stress reduction and integration techniques, culminates in the often astounding results achieved with the use of holistic kinesiology.

The therapy

Like all natural therapies, holistic kinesiology aims to improve your health and wellbeing by stimulating your body's own healing potential. Holistic kinesiology is a very broad form of complementary medicine, encompassing many aspects of both Western and traditional medicine. Holistic kinesiologists are trained in the structural, emotional, nutritional, electromagnetic, energetic, metaphysical, physiological and psycho-spiritual areas of natural holographic healthcare.

In holistic kinesiology, virtually every area of complementary medicine is used, including acupressure, nutrition, chiropractic, blood and lymph reflexes, various forms of counselling, homoeopathy, traditional Tibetan and Indian medicine, reflexology, and aromatherapy. What is unique to kinesiology is the use of manual

muscle-monitoring feedback to provide understanding and an appropriate solution to the client's issue.

How does it work?

If you have used a mouse on a computer you'll know it allows you to access a great deal of information about that computer. With two buttons and the use of menus you can find out a lot about the computer. Muscle feedback is similar. Holistic kinesiologists monitor muscles to access the body's computer — the brain. Muscles are wired to the brain via the nervous system. The muscles act somewhat like the mouse on a computer. Certain muscles have been found to relate to specific acupuncture channels, organ and gland systems. For example, imbalances in certain muscles may indicate stress in liver function, others indicating stress in the digestive system.

It was discovered, for example, that clients who repeatedly had problems with the subscapularis, a muscle under the scapula in the back, often had a heart-related stress, such as heart disease or a heart channel-related stress. In the case of a heart channel stress, an acupoint on the heart channel may need to be stabilised or a heart-related emotion or issue may need to be addressed.

Muscle feedback is also used to find the cause of imbalances. For example, the therapist may monitor muscle feedback with your arm in a particular position by applying a small amount of pressure and find that it holds without effort. The practitioner then seeks to find the possible stressor, such as a particular emotion, food, chemical, toxin, etc, by seeing what stressor changes the muscle function.

The body even has its own menu systems, just like a computer. Acupressure, blood and lymph reflex points are particularly useful. So, for example, in the case of chronic fatigue, you may check if acupoints relating to specific parts of the liver, digestive and immune systems are active for your condition. Homoeopathic vials, aromatherapy oils, and flower essences may also be checked with muscle feedback to see if they are relevant for your particular condition. This natural feedback process allows a holistic kinesiologist to go underneath the conscious symptoms to isolate the causal factors. Muscle feedback is then used to guide the practitioner to the priority correction. There are hundreds of correction techniques from all areas of complementary medicine. Reflex zones or acupoints may be stimulated to correct an imbalance. For example, neuro-lymphatic reflexes may be rubbed to encourage the body's natural garbage disposal system (lymphatic system) and vascular reflexes held to improve blood flow to specific regions, organs or glands.

Emotional stress

The vascular reflexes are based on research by Terrance Bennett DC at the Neurological Research Foundation in California between 1936 and 1950. Dr Bennett found that when certain points on the head, known as emotional release stress (ESR) points, are held, they stimulate vascular activity (blood flow) in certain organs. A number of these points also affect activity and blood flow in the brain. Some of them stimulate the front reasoning centres of the brain and reduce activity in the back emotion centres. This makes them particularly useful for resolving emotional stress. Just holding these points will eventually bring enough activity to the reasoning centres to bring some resolution to the stress.

For example, a young woman came to my clinic complaining of difficulty in feeling comfortable around men. We found these difficulties stemmed from an assault during her childhood. The memories of this incident were very vivid for this woman and she felt a lot of anger and resentment towards the perpetrator. I had her run through the memory while I held the ESR points. After 20 minutes we had covered all aspects of the memory and she felt completely different. The memory was no longer as vivid; it seemed much more like other memories, as if her mind had had the opportunity to process and integrate the event. Over the next week she found she began to see the situation differently, gaining power to move on. She no longer needed to hold onto her resentment and began the process of forgiving the perpetrator. Within two weeks she was comfortable enough with men to begin a relationship.

This is not an unusual case. These ESR points always work because they stimulate a physiological response that allows us to reason through stresses. There are many other points that are used at times to deal with emotional stress. A holistic kinesiologist will use the muscle feedback to determine which points are best to use. The client guides the session through his or her own muscle response. With the energy imbalances corrected, the 'bodymind' can then begin to repair and balance the system on all levels.

The answer within

Holistic kinesiology aims to provide understanding and solutions to the causes of your issue. The reason for your issue, however, always lies within you. For example, you may suffer from a sore and stiff neck and feel anxious and stressed. Is the stress due to the sore neck or is the sore neck due to stress? It can be either. In one case, muscle feedback may prompt the holistic kinesiologist to work to defuse the stress causing the sore neck. In another case the practitioner may work on the sore muscles that are causing you stress. The holistic kinesiologist would look for factors that are causing the muscles of the neck not to function well.

Holistic kinesiology does not diagnose or treat symptoms or conditions; rather it merely addresses relative underlying stress patterns associated with imbalances in the system. Once the stress has been corrected the indicator muscles will respond accordingly, confirming a positive change. This change in muscle response anchors the changes into the body, giving it conscious positive feedback. This also gives the body more information and better strategies if the same situation occurs again.

Depression and holistic kinesiology

Thomas, a 34-year-old tradesperson, had become depressed and suicidal over a number of months. His condition had become serious by the time I saw him in the clinic for the first time. He was already well into planning how he was going to die. In my experience, I have found depression to be a multifaceted condition with four main contributing factors:

The client feels they have no purpose in life and that they are, or their life is, out of control.
Hormones are out of balance, particularly serotonin and dopamine.
Cranial structures are out of balance, particularly the sphenoid bone (a crucial bone in the centre of the skull).
Blood sugar regulation is out of balance, with the client often suffering wild swings in blood sugar, causing cravings for sweets, sugar, chips, etc, followed by tiredness and depression after they are digested.

In the first hour of our session, muscle feedback suggested Thomas’s condition to be primarily a problem with his cranial structure and blood sugar regulation. We then spent time finding his true life purpose and ways of incorporating more of that purpose into his daily life. After three hours of treatment he felt immensely better and he has not felt depressed since (more than a year ago).

David Corby is the principal of the Australasian College of Complementary Medicine, a holistic kinesiology instructor and practitioner. For more information on holistic kinesiology, courses and/or practitioners, tel: NSW (02) 9482 3603, Vic (03) 9662 2378, WA (08) 9245 6032, or visit our website www.complementary.com.au

Brain Drain

By Natasha Turner, ND

Have you ever gone from one room to another, only to stop and wonder what you were going for in the first place? How many times have you known the word but just couldn’t quite grasp it? How many times has someone’s name been at the tip of your tongue?

Is that what happens to all of us? Or is there something we can do to prevent this nervous system demise?

Your brain is made up of an intricate network of wires (neurons) that connect with each other via chemical messengers. Communication is a complex process. There are many factors involved, such as the integrity of the fatty coating (myelin sheath) around each neuron (this coating insulates the neurons and aids in signal transmission) or the chemical messenger levels in the end of one neuron and the receptor endings on another. Even your mood or emotional state on any given day can affect your concentration and memory. It is well established that chronic anxiety or depression dramatically reduces your short-term memory and ability to focus.

Now, let’s devise a simple plan to keep your brain working optimally.

Your brain is like anything else in the body – if you don’t use it, you may lose it. Studies have proven one of the best ways to keep your mind sharp is to do the daily crossword puzzle. Also, your brain needs oxygen which gives us yet another reason to exercise!

The components of the communication process in the brain are also affected by different vitamins, nutrients and amino acids, and the presence of glucose is also crucial. Your brain needs a lot of fuel to work properly. While studying for my naturopathic licensing exams, 8 to 10 hours per day for 6 weeks, I was always starving. I lost more weight then than I did training for any 5K race because I was using a lot of calories by thinking so much.

You should aim to eat regularly, with a protein at each meal, and never go longer than 4 or 5 hours without eating. This will help maintain your blood sugar levels and prevent symptoms like confusion, weakness, irritability and headaches that may be associated with hypoglycemia.

Vitamin B12 and essential fatty acids (EFAs) are important for the neuron’s myelin sheath so ensure you get enough of each of these. EFAs are found in deep-sea cold-water fish (cod, mackerel, salmon and tuna), hemp oil, flaxseed oil and borage oil. Eat fish three times per week and consider adding a tablespoon of one of the oils to your salad dressings or smoothies. Vitamin B12 should be taken in a form that can be absorbed under the tongue. Next to an intra-muscular injection, the sublingual form is the best utilized by the body.

Memory and mood are dependent on chemical messengers such as serotonin, your “happy hormone” which also affects your sleep and appetite. Your body makes serotonin from protein, particularly from an amino acid called tryptophan. Turkey is very high in tryptophan, which is why everyone gets dopey after Thanksgiving dinner. If you are suffering from low mood, anxiety or depression contributing to your poor concentration, you can try supplementing tryptophan through 5- Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). You can purchase 5-HTP from most health food stores, but prices vary greatly. With this product I have found you get what you pay for, and suggest you opt for a more expensive brand. Take it with food because it may cause nausea on an empty stomach.

Despite its reputation, ginkgo is not always the answer to poor memory or concentration. It is more helpful where the cause is poor circulation and tends to be more effective in the elderly.

Are Mercury Fillings Safe?

By Dr. Jean-Jacques Dugoua, ND

Mercury amalgams (fillings) have been a hot topic of discussion in the past few years. There seems to be two extremely opposite viewpoints: one maintains that mercury amalgams are toxic and lead to an array of health problems, while the other maintains that mercury amalgams are safe and any associated side effects are incidental. The debate on the safety of amalgams has been going on since they were first introduced in the United States in 1833.

In Germany, dentists who installed mercury amalgams were once called “quacks” since amalgams were called “quacksilber”. In 1926, a German physician named Dr. Alfred Stock demonstrated that mercury vapor escaped from fillings and that this vapor could lead to serious health problems. This finding, however, was discounted for decades. The debate raged on into the 20th century, until in 1986 the American Dental Association (ADA) publicly admitted that mercury vapor does escape from amalgams into the patient’s mouth.

Mercury amalgams are used in dentistry to repair cavities before they can deepen and lead to infection or death of the tooth. Amalgams usually contain a mixture of mercury, silver, copper, tin and zinc. When a mercury amalgam is removed from the mouth, it is considered hazardous waste, and strict governmental regulations are applied to its storage, handling and disposal. Dentists and dental technicians must take a number of safety precautions when installing and removing mercury amalgams for their health and safety. It is estimated that the average mercury filling contains approximately 1,000 mg of mercury, while a four-foot fluorescent bulb, which is considered hazardous waste when expired, contains approximately 22 mg of mercury.

Mercury is one of the most toxic metals—more toxic than lead. Historically, the expression “mad as a hatter” referred to mercury poisoning developed by hatters due to their exposure to mercuric chloride when making hats. The hatters would often develop mental illness as a result of high mercury exposure. In October 1998, all over-the-counter products containing mercury in the United States were removed from the shelves because their safety could not be proven.

Based on current scientific literature and manufacturer warnings, mercury amalgams may be far from safe. Studies have shown that mercury from fillings may leach into the gums or saliva due to acidity of the mouth. Amalgams also generate an electromagnetic field which can create currents within the mouth and lead to various health problems; this condition is known as galvanism. One of the world’s largest amalgam manufacturers lists the following potential side effects of mercury amalgams:

Skin, eye, respiratory tract and mucous membrane irritation
Kidney toxicity
Nerve toxicity
Skin and lung sensitization
A temporary increase in blood and urine mercury concentration after installation or removal of amalgams
Galvanic effect (galvanism) if placed near other amalgams

The same manufacturer also listed the following contraindications (any condition or disease where a treatment, drug or product should not be used) for the installation of mercury amalgams:

Pregnant women
Children aged 6 years or younger
Severe kidney disease
Near other amalgams of dissimilar metal composition
Known allergies to amalgams

Studies have shown that the number of mercury amalgams a person has directly correlates to the amount of mercury in the brain. Mercury toxicity has been associated with a number of health concerns, including memory loss, chronic bad breath, gingivitis, irregular heartbeat, allergies, asthma, chronic headaches, kidney damage, anemia, fatigue, joint pain and many others. Prenatal mercury exposure may lead to developmental problems in children, such as motor function disorders, and language and memory difficulties. Mercury is also a concern in breast-feeding mothers, since mercury may cross into the breast milk.

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