pain relief

April 11, 2012 Pain Relief

How Can I Keep My Diagnosis From Creeping Into My Belief System?

Reader question…

“My energy levels are not what they used to be and I have physical limitations. I’m curious how much those physical limitations are simply ‘labels I’ve accepted from a doctor’ or if I can overcome them? We’re talking weak heart and poor lung function due to years ago childhood heart surgery. I think I’ve done extremely well but am afraid of a mindset that may gel into rigidity! How does one deal with doctors ‘who see a statistic’ and how do I avoid the resultant ‘statistic diagnosis’ from creeping into my belief system?”

This is such a thorny question. On the one hand, a medical diagnosis can provide relief, peace of mind and the sure knowledge of what is actually going on in your body. But, it also has a dark side. Once you have a medical diagnosis for the symptoms you are experiencing, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of letting your condition define the scope of what’s possible.

First, it’s important to know that most diagnoses, especially for pain-related conditions, are simply names for a group of symptoms. Tendonitis, for example, simply refers to inflammation in a tendon. It does not explain why the tendon became inflamed in the first place, or what is causing continued inflammation. It’s simply the process that’s happening in your body. Scoliosis just refers to a sideways S-curvature of the spine. The diagnosis does not explain how it happened, only that it is present in your body.

Second, most doctors – certainly not all, but far too many – have only two tools with which to treat you: pharmaceutical drugs or surgery. Lifestyle recommendations, dietary changes and targeted exercises or stretches that go beyond the very basic recommendations are outside of most doctors’ knowledge base, unless they choose to specialize in such things. I have seen many people with movement aberrations, pain, stiffness, inflexibility, limited range of motion and physical instability regain a healthy, flexible, strong body that is pain-free by seeking alternative methods of healing.

Physical limitations are real, I’m not doubting that, but you honestly have two choices. On the one hand, you can accept the label and all the limitations that go with it. On the other, you can look at the label, accept that this may be your current state for now and then commit to finding a solution, keeping an open mind about what might possibly make you feel better. There really is no in between. You’re either working to feel better or staying the same, and attitude is really the key.

Your body is your own laboratory and you –only you – know what’s best for it. Diagnosis isn’t a label, it’s a question, an opportunity to discover how good you can really feel.

January 4, 2012 Pain Relief

What To Do For Pain in the Neck and Mid Back

Your neck is so stiff you can barely look over your shoulder. The space between your shoulder blades feels like someone’s got your spine in a vice grip. Your shoulders are so close to your ears it looks like you’re trying to start a new fashion in earrings. This is not a pleasant situation.

And yet, despite all the neck and shoulder stretches you do, in spite of all the neck massages you receive, the pain continues to persist. You may even have had an MRI or x-ray that showed “nothing is wrong” with your back. But if nothing’s wrong, why the heck does it hurt so bad it wakes you up in the middle of the night?

Here’s the secret…there really is nothing wrong with your neck and mid back. The pain is coming from somewhere else – your hips.

This makes absolutely no sense when we look at the body from the western medical perspective which divides the body into parts and pieces. If your neck hurts, they look at your neck, from C1 (the first vertebra in your spine) to C7 (the last “neck” vertebra). But this is kind of short sighted when you consider that C7 connects to T1 – the first thoracic vertebra – and T1 to T2, so on and so forth, all the way down to your sacrum, the triangular shaped bone at the bottom of your spine.

Lo and behold, your sacrum lies between your (drum roll, please) hip bones! So, if your pelvis is restricted, tilted, shifted or imbalanced, it’s going to travel upward, right into your neck and mid back.

Now it’s all starting to come together, right? The body is a system where each piece and part is dependent on every other piece for function and balance. So, neck and back pain sufferer, how do you address the restrictions in your hips?

First, stretch your quads. Hip flexors – the muscles the bend your knee to your chest – get really tight when you sit a lot, which pretty much everyone in western society does more than they should (yes, even if you go to the gym every day). These guys drag your pelvis forward and cause a “swayback” appearance in your lower back. Lacking support from below, your neck and mid back get really tight to keep you upright.

Second, make sure your glutes and hamstrings are working. Do glute and ham exercises, but NOT the ones that require a machine. Machines are for rehab and they don’t really give you functional movement. The best way to train your body is with body weight and free weight exercises that force you to use deep postural muscles to support the movement.

Some good examples of glute and hamstring exercises are deadlifts, squats and kettlebell swings. Body weight squats can be quite effective for anyone who has lazy glute and hamstring muscles, but I like to add in a kettlebell at chest height because it forces you to keep your upper body back over your heels. When you kip forward and point your chest at the ground, you’re just feeding the tight hip flexor pattern.

Third, get good bodywork from a structural practitioner who can help you learn your physical imbalances. It’s pretty hard to change something you’re not aware of, so if you’re blithely going about your day with a crooked pelvis for 23.5 hours, seven days a week, half an hour of glute and hamstring exercises aren’t going to change anything. Repatterning your body is all about changing your habits, and the exercises you do should carry over into every aspect of your daily life.

December 28, 2011 Posture

If You Must Sit at a Computer, At Least Do This…

I hope you’re sitting down for this because I have some news….your office chair is killing you. No, seriously, it is. Sitting is now a proven health risk, as you might have guessed from the chronic aches in your back, neck and shoulders.

Peter A. Levine, an obesity specialist at the Mayo clinic, states, “What fascinates me is that humans evolved over 1.5 million years entirely on the ability to walk and move. And literally 150 years ago, 90% of human endeavor was still agricultural. In a tiny speck of time we’ve become chair-sentenced.”

We already know sitting is bad for the back and neck, but did you know that within a couple of hours of sitting, healthy cholesterol plummets by 20%? There is a physiological change in the body chemistry when you sit. Postural muscles that should be active as you move around during the day are completely relaxed which decreases enzyme activity. These enzymes are responsible for mobilizing fat out of the blood stream, so if they’re not active, you’re likely to wind up with a bad case of obesity.

And what about that posture? Can sitting really be so bad for our spines? “When you’re standing, you’re bearing weight through the hips, knees, and ankles,” says Dr. Andrew C. Hecht, co-chief of spinal surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center. “When you’re sitting, you’re bearing all that weight through the pelvis and spine, and it puts the highest pressure on your back discs. Looking at MRIs, even sitting with perfect posture causes serious pressure on your back.”

And worst of all, simply going to the gym for an hour a few times a week does not offset the negative effects of sitting. You can’t out-exercise a sedentary day-time job.

So, what do you do if you’re stuck at a desk all day?

First, make sure you have a proper ergonomic set up. Don’t waste money on an expensive ergonomic chair, by the way; it’s just as easy to slouch on a fancy $700 seat as it is on a $15 chair from IKEA. Ideally, you should sit on a flat, firm surface (my favorite is a wooden bench). Any contour will affect the alignment of your pelvis, which causes tension and pain in your back.

Make sure your seat is high enough that your hips are higher than your knees. If your hips are below your knees, all the weight of your body sinks into your pelvis, but with your hips elevated, you can use pressure from your feet on the floor to support your spine. In fact, a “perching” set up where you merely lean against a stool that is about bar stool height is ideal because it allows your legs to continue supporting most of your weight.

Your monitor should be at eye level or slightly above so you don’t collapse forward into the ever-popular “computer neck” syndrome where your head is a good six inches in front of your shoulders.

Make sure you’re perched on your sitting bones and not on your tail bone. Rocking back on your tail bone will cause your sacrum to jam up. Since your sacrum is the bottom-most vertebra of your spine, if it can’t move, neither can the rest of your back. That results in a lot of pain. When you are sitting forward on your sitting bones, you should have a slight arch to your lower back – this is normal. You do not want your back to be straight. You need that gentle s-curvature of the spine!

Perhaps most importantly, take lots of breaks. Get up, go get a glass of water. Walk over to the mail room. Visit a coworker instead of sending an email. Take a lap around the office. Go outside and get some fresh air. If you’re going to take a coffee break, maybe head out to the shop that’s a block away instead of stumbling two steps to the cafeteria. The more you can get up and get moving, the better off you’ll be. Remember, just going to the gym doesn’t counteract sitting. You have to reduce your total time in a chair to get any measurable results.

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October 30, 2011 Pain Relief

Interview with Mike Mahler: Addressing Systemic Inflammation for Pain Relief and Longevity

About Mike Mahler

Today I’m honored to bring you an interview with internationally recognized strength trainer, kettlebell instructor and nutrition expert, Mike Mahler. Mike has always been an inspiration to me. He is deeply knowledgeable about all facets of fitness and is a superb teacher, having the ability to synthesize complicated scientific concepts into logical and actionable strategies for health.

Mike Mahler has taught numerous strength and conditioning workshops and seminars around the world, most recently focusing on nutrition and lifestyle strategies for hormone optimization and combating systemic inflammation. Mike has published hundreds of articles on training and nutrition and is the creator of several DVDs including Advanced Kettlebell Training and Hormone Optimization.

I’ve asked Mike to share his knowledge of systemic inflammation, its effects on physical aches and pains and its correlation with aging.

Without further ado…

What is systemic inflammation, what causes it and why should we be concerned about it?

Inflammation is the result of an immune response to irritation, infection, or injury. When we are under stress, eat the wrong foods, workout too much, fail to get enough deep sleep and restoration, we develop a high level of inflammation that the immune system has a hard time keeping at bay. As a result, we develop GI tract issues such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), joint pain, muscle pain, and ultimately serious diseases as the immune system becomes very week after years and years of fighting inflammation and no longer functions adequately. The immune system can even become confused and attack healthy tissue and this is what autoimmune diseases are such as arthritis are.

Many people have high inflammation due to too much Omega 6 consumption and not enough Omega 3. Omega 6 is pro-inflammatory and ramps up levels of AA (arachidonic acid). Omega 3 is anti-inflammatory and ramps of levels of ALA (alpha linolenic acid). According to essential fatty acid expert, Udo Erasmus you want a 2:1 ratio of Omega 3 to 6. This is especially important for people that are already experiencing the negatives of too much inflammation.

Lowering excess inflammation makes you more disease proof to cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, arthritis and IBS. I am not going to say that you will never get these diseases if you address inflammation but it definitely stacks the odds in your favor.

How can you tell if you have systemic inflammation that is out of control?

Some signs of high levels of inflammation include joint pain, muscle pain, GI tract issues, and low energy. You can also do a blood test for HS (highly sensitive) c-reactive protein. C-reactive protein is a measurement of inflammation.

I know you’re a huge proponent of hormone optimization. Is there a connection between hormone levels and systemic inflammation?

When inflammation goes up, the body has an immune response to lower it by increasing cortisol levels, as cortisol is an anti-inflammatory hormone. The hormonal pathway goes from the master sex hormone Pregnenelone to cortisol instead of the ultimate stress management hormone DHEA and you are left with much lower levels of DHEA, androstendione, testosterone, and progesterone. Thus lowering inflammation is critical for hormone optimization. DHEA in particular is a potent anti-inflammation hormone and one that is depleted when we are under long-term stress.

What role does systemic inflammation play in physical aches and pains (back pain, neck pain, stiff, tight muscles, etc) commonly referred to as “aging?”

It plays a big role and generally constant pain in one area is a sign of high levels of systemic inflammation. Lowering high levels of inflammation overall well help with pain that seems isolated such as elbow pain and knee pain. A high level of inflammation is a sign that we are out of balance and need to address it. Stress management or even better stress eradication is a must in addressing high levels of inflammation.

What other physical ailments and diseases are correlated to systemic inflammation?

I think every ailment and disease can be correlated to high levels of inflammation. When we have inflammation that is out of control we are much more disease prone. Heart disease, asthma, arthritis, you name it. Inflammation is definitely a factor.

What foods combat inflammation? Which foods make it worse?

High sugar and processed food consumption are the primary causes of inflammation. I firmly believe that sugar plays the biggest role in all diseases and is highly addictive. Sugar addiction is not much different than hardcore drug addiction as far too many people realize. Tell the average person to cut out sugar for a week and they will have some serious withdrawal symptoms before the week is up. Too much caffeine consumption also causes a lot of inflammation.

Sugar causes inflammation by prompting the hormone insulin to be elevated all the time. Insulin is not something we want high all day long. It constricts the arteries and raises blood pressure. It causes a great deal of inflammation. What we want is insulin sensitivity, which means we only have to produce a small amount to get the job done. Insulin is a critical hormone for life and without it our cells will die and us with it. The key is to keep insulin sensitivity high by eating a good amount of high quality protein, healthy fats, and low glycemic carbs such as legumes, berries and many vegetables at each meal.

Taking longer stretches in between each meal such as 6-8 hours will also play a big role in keeping insulin sensitive and inflammation down. According to Byron Richards, author of The Leptin Diet, Insulin starts going down three hours after we eat. When that occurs, the hormone glucagon is released from the pancreas to pull energy from the liver and then stored body fat to keep our glucose levels stable for optimal functioning. Thus, we are essentially getting a snack on stored body fat in between each meal.

Regarding specific foods that lower inflammation that will vary with each person. This is why food sensitivity testing is important. It tells you exactly which foods are ideal for you. Why every diet ultimately fails without exception is that it cannot take you as an individual into account. Food sensitivities are food allergies in slow motion. I learned about this from my friend Dr Peter Rouse of the AF performance center in Santa Monica.

When we hear about inflammation, we typically think about taking anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen. Are there any natural anti-inflammatory supplements you’d recommend in place of these?

Yes and I have two favorites for lowering inflammation: magnesium oil and systemic enzymes.

Magnesium is critical for overall health and lowering inflammation and magnesium oil is the best source of magnesium as it by passes the GI tract and has much higher absorption. It has also been shown to ramp up the stress management hormone DHEA that I can personally attest to as it took me from low normal to high normal. Here are some key benefits of magnesium from a book called The Magnesium Miracle

Helps lower cortisol levels. Magnesium Oil helps drive up DHEA, which is a potent anti-inflammatory hormone.
Lowers levels of C-reactive protein. Magnesium deficiency equals higher CRP
Inflammatory responses are much higher when magnesium deficiency is present
People with magnesium deficiency have a hard time metabolizing inflammation fighting EFA’s.
Magnesium helps convert the essential fatty acid GLA to anti-inflammatory DGLA.
Magnesium deficiency causes lower activation of systemic enzymes. These enzymes are needed to eat up scar tissue, fibroids.
Magnesium is the ultimate stress management nutrient and supports the adrenal glands that get worn out from stress
Research shows a direct relationship between the amount of magnesium in the diet and the ability to avoid high blood pressure.
Magnesium prevents calcium buildup in cholesterol plaque in arteries, which leads to clogged arteries.
Magnesium is a vasodilator, opening up blood vessels
Magnesium is a natural muscle relaxant
Magnesium is an important part of treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.
Magnesium helps detoxify toxic chemicals
Magnesium deficiency increases insomnia
Magnesium deficiency causes muscle weakness and fatigue

Click here for more information on magnesium oil

Next I love systemic enzymes and have been using them for many years after I learned about them from my friend Dr William Wong N.D. I have tried several good brands but my current favorite is Excylzym. Here is what systemic enzymes do:

Work to lower inflammation by eating up cytokines.
Enzymes eat scar tissue and fibrosis
Act as blood cleansers
Reduce the need for a large cortisol response to inflammation and thus lower cortisol as well.
Modulate the immune system. Helps prevent an over active immune response which can cause auto immune disorders (antibodies acting its own tissues)
Fights viruses

For more info on Excylzym, visit Mike Mahler’s website

Other supplements I like include resveratrol, curcumin, zinc, tocotrienols, and phosphatidylserine. However, Magnesium oil and systemic enzymes are by far the most powerful supplements to fight excess inflammation.

For More Information…

Find out more about Mike Mahler’s workshops, books and DVDs at www.MikeMahler.com

March 26, 2010 Pain Relief

Want Health? Move Your Body!

Movement is absolutely essential to health. It stimulates your central nervous system, increases oxygen flow to the brain, improves circulation, and flushes fluids into and out of cells, among other benefits. In fact, the flexibility of your body is directly correlated to the flexibility of your mind; after all, the body is an expression of your mental state. As Mary Ann Foster states in her book, Somatic Patterning,

“Mental constructs and cultural conditioning create physical fixations that support and maintain rigid beliefs and ideas about who and what we really are.”

In short, if you want to change your life, move your body!

Studies have shown that increased circulation (resulting from movement) contributes to the health of the mitochondria of a cell. Mitochondria are the power-houses of the cellular world; it’s where all your energy is generated in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). They are also active in other cellular processes, such as the control of the cell cycle and cell growth. They have been implicated as playing a role in the human aging process as well (hint: healthy mitochondria = healthy aging!).

Movement also enhances our sense of self and the space around us.

Physical movements are determined by proprioception – the perception of our bodies in space and gravity. There are tiny proprioceptors in the muscle cells of our bodies that gauge tension levels and make constant adjustments to keep us upright.

These mechanoreceptors are actually what determines the flexibility of a muscle, not the physical length of the fibers. When you stretch muscles, the proprioceptors initiate what’s called the “stretch reflex,” causing the muscle to contract once it reaches a certain length, preventing the fibers from tearing and injury. Consistently moving in new, innovative ways generates new neurological patterns through stimulation of the mind-body connection. A shift in self perception results in a change in movement patterns. The best way to shift perception is through playful, non- threatening activities that engage on both the mental and physical levels.

As far as your joints are concerned, motion is like adding oil to a creaking hinge. Repeated movement of the joint warms up the synovial fluid and lubricates the joint capsule. It also creates awareness at the level of your proprioceptors, so moving each joint fully and completely reduces muscle guarding, which translates into increased range of motion, reduced pain, and greater adaptability for your entire body. You will notice, as you begin to explore joint mobility, that your balance and coordination improve, and your reflexes may quicken.

So often, movement in our society is mechanical, industrial, and constrictive.

Rarely do we allow our bodies to truly open up and move in new and creative ways. We try to control the functions, measuring angles, range of motion in joints, and studying form to determine function. We look at a hinge joint, state how it “should” work, and then design exercise machines around this supposed function, specified to an “average” range of motion. We try to define proper function, try to dictate what’s normal for a body, and then we standardize exercises around these principles.

You have a map in your brain, called a Body Map, which determines your body’s potential for movement. Different areas of the body take up greater or lesser amounts of space on this map depending on how much sensory input the brain receives from any given area. The hands and feet, for example, take up a huge portion of your Body Map because so much information is received from them. This mapping system is plastic in nature; sensory input from manual therapy as well as movement serve to change and enlarge this map, giving you increased capacity for movement. The Body Map in your brain is not only limited to the space inside your body; it actually includes the space around you as well.

The potential within us is so great, and yet we imprison it with orderly, regimented movements. Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum Movement Therapy, posits that the redundancy of our lives – endless repetition of tasks and activities with zero outlet for creativity – could be a contributing factor in neurological degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s due to the complete lack of neurological stimulation. Additionally, regimented movement creates compression, or muscle density, within the bodily tissues. Compression creates an environment of dissonance where fluid is not able to flow into and out of the cells; this kind of situation does not cause disease, but it creates a state in which disease can thrive.

For example, cells that do not have sufficient fluid flow to wash away waste products may become increasingly acidic, and cancer cells thrive in an acidic environment. Additionally, areas of the body experiencing extreme compression are functionally isolated from the whole organism, meaning the flow of movement in the body is blocked.

The surest way to create dis-ease – both mental and physical – is isolation.

With these thoughts in mind, it is imperative to our continued health and well-being to continually develop new ways of moving our bodies and stimulating our minds.

Want a little help figuring out how to get your shimmy-shake on? My Posture Rehab video course will give you step by step instructions for wiggling your way out of pain and restriction into a new, more flexible you.