December 8, 2013

 
Osteoarthritis is one of the most commonly diagnosed ailments and also the most untreated of ailments.  Conventional medicine simply has nothing to offer for remediation of arthritic joints, other than painkillers, that unfortunately are toxic to our intestines, liver, and kidneys.  We are told we simply have to live with the pain and limitation.

Is this true?  No it is not, but the remedy is in our hands, not the doctor's.  There are no magic pills, no vaccines, no special therapies for arthritis.  There are drugs to mask the problem by blocking the pain signals from the damaged joints, and lately doctors are actually replacing joints with artificial ones.  But actually healing arthritic joints can only be done by our own body when given the right opportunities.

In my last article I focused on moving joints through their full range of motion by moving into the resistance and stretching pain, but stopping just before you hit any pinching pain.  The body is constantly breaking down muscle, joint, and nerve tissues we are not demanding full use from.  If we want to be able to fully use our joints in the future, we have to fully use them all the time.  As I reported last time, as little as two weeks of bed rest can permanently limit normal joint function without any injury at all.  So "use it or lose it" is the rule for your joints.

Osteoarthritis essentially starts from abnormal motion in a joint due to lack of proper functioning of the stabilizer muscles that should keep the joint perfectly balanced and tracking smoothly.  Dietary factors that promote inflammation complicate matters by adding to the fire started by the micro-injuries that occur as unbalanced joints get used.  Diets that avoid foods that trigger inflammation are a big help in solving osteoarthritis as well as every other inflammatory condition in your body.  The super simple version of this is to avoid vegetable oils, grains, sweets, dairy, legumes, chemicals, synthetic foods, and anything you might be allergic to such as soy, eggs, peanuts, nightshade vegetables, etc. 

So how do we balance and strengthen our stabilizer muscles?

The first thing to understand is that these muscles do just what their name says - they stabilize.  That means that if you are moving the area you are trying to work on, you are not working the stabilizers in that area.  Stabilizers hold things steady, so that means no movement.  Abdominal crunches, back extensions, spinal twists, and so on do not stabilize your spine.  Most Yoga does not stabilize your spine.  Stabilization builds by contracting and holding an area steady, not by movement or stretching.  The spine in particular needs to be tightened and strengthened, not loosened and stretched. 

The first stage of rebuilding your stabilizer muscles involves contracting them as tightly as possible for eight to ten seconds, several times repeatedly throughout the day.  These muscles do much better being worked out for a few seconds at a time a hundred times a day, rather than 30 minutes of workout 2-3 times a week.  Stabilizer exercises have to be a part of your every day life, not something you go to a gym to do.  The most basic spinal stabilizer exercise is bracing in which you simply tighten up your abdominal "girdle" muscles as tight as you can for 8-10 seconds a hundred times a day.  I tell patients to link this exercise to other activities, such as every time they go to either raise out of a chair or go to sit down to pause and brace for 10 seconds before doing either.

The second stage of stabilizer exercises involves adding a balance challenge to the exercise.  For instance, in building the stabilizers of the feet, ankles, and knees we begin with simply balancing on one foot.  Start training with your eyes open until you can balance on one foot for at least 15 to 20 seconds. Then switch  up the training by closing your eyes while balancing on one foot.  Healthy balance is balancing on one foot for at least 30 seconds with eyes open and 20 seconds with eyes closed.  Balance in a squat position.  Balance on your hands and feet all at once like a cat, then advance to balancing on one hand and opposite foot in that position.

The third stage is to do the second stage exercises, but to add the challenge of moving other parts of your body while holding your stabilizer area steady.  For instance, if you are balancing on one foot, add in moving your arms around in a big circle - first just one side then both sides.  A special neurological enhancement for the spinal stabilizers is to do your bracing while also walking in a figure eight pattern on the floor.  Each half loop of the walk forces the opposite side of the brain to have to engage in the nerve signals to do the bracing.  Getting both sides of your brain to engage your activities is a big key to good stability and injury prevention.

The fourth stage of stabilizer training is doing the second stage on unstable or compliant surfaces.  This means balancing on soft squishy cushions, balance training balls, rocker and wobble boards.  This is what I did a lot of to rehabilitate my weak ankles 30 years after I had torn the ligaments in them in a biking accident.  For 30 years I would twist my ankles all the time because the ankle stabilizers were weak from the injury, and then subsequently I was on crutches for three months.  I put my rocker board in my hallway and would jump on it and balance with my eyes closed dozens of times a day for several months.  Since then I have not twisted my ankle once.

The fifth stage of training involves balancing on unstable surfaces in various positions while moving arms or legs in different patterns to vary the balance challenge.  In this stage we also include using various light weights in various movements with the arms or legs to challenge the stability of the areas we are holding steady.

The last stage of stabilizer training involves being able to handle unexpected balance challenges while staying stable on an unstable surface.  This might look like balancing on a rocker board or balance disc and having someone toss you a ball to catch.  Another interesting challenge is balancing on a wobbly surface while holding a long tube partially filled with water.  As the water sloshes around in the tube it takes serious balance and stability to stay up on the wobble board.

As you can see there are lots of variations and levels of difficulty in training to keep your balance and stability nerves and muscles in good shape.  In the "old days" all these challenges would have been naturally encountered on a daily basis by just working around on the family farm.  Back a few more years and as a hunter-gatherer, your survival would depend on having the balance and stability to run down game, balance in trees to gather fruit, and move heavy objects to build shelter.  Modern conveniences and lifestyle have taken away all our need to have good strong stabilizer muscles.  The result is a nation full of arthritic cripples.  I am seeing patients in their 30's already showing up with arthritis visible on x-ray.  I see teenagers already having back problems that I used to see only in 40 - 50 year olds.  Computers and video games are destroying our balance and stability by taking away the all-day-long activities that kept those systems up and running. 

To regain our joint health we have to take matters into our own hands.  We have to create a lifestyle that generates the activities that keep us healthy.  No one can do this for us.  There are no shortcuts.  We can make the activities enjoyable as most of the stabilizer exercises I have mentioned are naturally fun and playful.  Dance, hiking, sports, climbing, and so on gives our balance system a good workout.  Find ways to challenge your system in your normal workday just for fun.  Balance on one foot while drinking your coffee.  Every 20 minutes you are stuck at a computer, get up and do a few squats to reengage your back stabilizer muscles.  There are countless ways to incorporate this into your daily routine.  Doing this helps build you a stronger and more pain free tomorrow.

Take care,

David    

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Daily aspirin risky for health

 

In the largest review of risks versus benefits of taking aspirin as a preventative for heart disease the ultimate conclusion is that for otherwise healthy people the risks outweigh the benefits.  So unless you currently have a clotting problem with your blood the popular low dose aspirin therapy should be discontinued.  The other major group of users for daily aspirin are those with chronic arthritic pain.  Like other non-steroidal pain killers aspirin is toxic to the liver, kidneys, and intestine - causing tens of thousands of deaths every year.

 

Aspirin

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Number of elderly needing care expected to triple by 2050

Health care is not getting better in this country despite the vast amounts of money being shoved in that direction.  This is especially true in the area of dementia and Alzheimer's.  The health care system in all countries is going to be overwhelmed in the coming years as the number of new cases of these and other aging diseases grows massively.  I see the poor quality of care now and I shudder to think what it will be like in another 30 years.  That is why I am so hot on self care to make sure we are not left stuck in the system that can not care for what it has now.

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Father builds a hand for his son

 

Our address is  9725 Fair Oaks Blvd.

Finding the new location is very easy.  Coming from highway 50 up Sunrise Blvd, you turn left and go up a block.  We are on the right hand side - the building just past the Subway Sandwich shop.  If you are coming down Sunrise from the Mall area then just turn right on Fair Oaks Blvd and up a block on the right.

 

If you are coming from the Roseville area you could come down Sunrise Blvd, but that is a long trek.  It is probably shorter time wise to come down Auburn Blvd - San Juan Ave like you have been for the Sunset office, but instead of turning left at Sunset, keep going straight 3 more lights to Fair Oaks Blvd and turn left.  Go down 2 lights to New York Ave, go through the intersection, and immediately turn into the turn lane once the center divider ends.  We are on the left.

 

About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
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