Patient Results First
INTERVIEW
Integrating Nutrition into the Practice for Quick Results with Broad Impact
Interview with Mark A. Pederson, DC
The American Chiropractor
Dr. Pederson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Genetics from Illinois State University in 1991. He then went on to receive his Doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa in 1995. Since completing his doctorate Dr. Pederson has done extensive post-doctoral training in nutritional therapies and functional medicine. He has studied Functional Blood Chemistry under Dr. Datis Kharrazian, DHSc., MS, DABCN, Functional Neurology with Drs. Michael Johnson DC, DABCN and Andy Barlow DC, DABCN and is a graduate of the American Functional Neurology Institute. Since 1996 he has been in full time clinical practice and is the owner operator of the Family Chiropractic Clinic and Optimal Health Nutritional Center. Health and wellness are his passion and his clinic specializes in the latest treatment and therapies for Leaky Gut Syndrome and Auto-Immune conditions. Dr. Pederson resides in Warren, Minnesota, with his wife, four daughters, two sons, three cats and dog, Bella. In an interview Math The American Chiropractor (TAC), Dr.Mark Pederson (MP) shares some of his passion Math you.
TAC: What inspired you to become a chiropractor?
MP: I am the youngest of five. My two oldest brothers both developed scoliosis, and I vividly remember traveling along with them and my mom to their orthopedic visits. I remember my brothers wearing their “Milwaukee brace” to try to correct the scoliosis. To me, it looked like modern-day torture, and to them, it felt like it. And the treatment was unsuccessful. So, when I developed scoliosis, my parents decided to try a different avenue— chiropractic. We lived in rural Minnesota and traveled an hour and a half one direction for chiropractic treatment, making the trip two or three times per week. What I remember most is seeing the correction of curvature in my spine on the X-rays. That experience eventually brought me to decide on chiropractic for a career.
TAC: Who have been your mentors along the way?
MP: To some degree, we all “stand on the shoulders” of those who have gone before us. I feel blessed to have met so many individuals in the field. Those who have influenced me the most include Dr. David Martinson, who was my chiropractor when I was growing up—the doc who both helped me with my scoliosis and turned me on to chiropractic. Drs. Maxine McMullen and Virgil Strang at Palmer College, who instilled deeply the philosophy of chiropractic. Without that strong philosophy, I might have quit and walked away in the beginning of business when things were really, really difficult. Drs. Ted Carrick, Michael Johnson, and Andy Barlow from whom I learned functional neurology. Drs. Freddy Ulan and Robert Rakowski with their teachings and methods of applied kinesiology (AK). AK changed my life forever. Dr. Steve Biermaier, my personal chiropractor and the absolute best adjuster I have ever been treated by.
TAC: What adjusting procedures do you use in your office?
MP: Ours is a pretty diversified practice. I use manual adjusting in conjunction with instrument adjusting. Instrument adjusting equipment includes the ProAdjuster, SIGMA Instrument, and Arthrostim units. Manually, I tend to blend in a lot of drop table adjustments. Most patients receive a combination of both instrument and manual adjustments.
TAC: Do you use modalities in your clinic, and if so, what do you use?
MP: The chiropractic adjustment is the foundation of the patient treatment plan, and along with that, we incorporate various modalities. I’ve always described myself as “interested” (unfortunately not interesting), and this has led us into learning about numerous modalities, such as PEMF, Hako-Med horizontal nerve therapy, NeuroMed, ultrasound therapy, decompression therapy, microcurrent, acoustic wave therapy, Graston deep tissue work, Cryofos cold shock therapy, Aquaroll therapy, and Rife frequency medicine, to name a few. We mix and match and utilize whatever therapy or therapies we feel will augment the adjustment for the patient and speed the healing process.
TAC: Of all the modalities that you use in your clinic, which one(s) do you consider to be the most important?
MP: Well, I would say that each has its place and time in a patient’s care plan. However, my personal favorite is PEMF. We use both high-voltage and low-voltage PEMF units. Our in-office units are the Pulse XL Pro for high-voltage and BEMER for low voltage. We have seen tremendous changes in shoulder, knee, and prostate conditions with the high-voltage machine. The low-voltage PEMF has been amazing for eye conditions, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration. It’s kind of funny when patients come back from their eye doctor and he or she tells them, “I really don’t know what you are doing, but we are seeing good changes; keep doing it.”
TAC: You said that you utilize nutrition in your office. How did that come about?
MP: I graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1995, sat the Minnesota and Wisconsin state boards, and began practicing in 1996. Early in practice, I had a patient who came into the office for neck and back pain but really had “top to bottom” pain. She had fibromyalgia, and although the adjustments would provide relief, we were not seeing lasting or sustainable results. That was frustrating, and the frustration led me to dig deeper and into utilizing nutrition.
TAC: What nutritional approach do you use in your office?
MP: An explanation that I often give to my patients is that we blend Eastern and Western medicine in our office. Western medicine is what you and I are most used to. It’s using lab testing and diagnostics to gain information about how the body is functioning. We look at those lab and diagnostic results, but we view them with more of a functional medicine approach rather than a disease approach. Say, for example, if a lab value is out of range, I am not necessarily thinking of a specific disease but rather what nutrients might help the body function better and thus return that lab value to the proper level. On the Eastern medicine side of things, or what we commonly think of as Chinese medicine or Oriental medicine, energy meridians and acupressure points are utilized. These acupressure points correlate with the organs and systems of the body, and through the technique applied kinesiology (AK), we can gather information as to what nutrient or nutrients might be beneficial. In our office, we blend the information from both and develop a nutritional support protocol that is specific for each patient. As far as nutritional techniques go, I have studied numerous functional medicine and kinesiology-based courses. On the functional medicine side, I would highly recommend Functional Medicine University, as well as courses offered by Apex Energetics. For applied kinesiology, I have found that the framework developed by Dr. Freddie Ulan’s Nutritional Response Testing provides a wonderful and efficient flow for incorporating AK into the practice.
TAC: What supplements have you found to be most beneficial for your patients? How do you base your decisions?
MP: When looking for treatment options for patients I try to always ask two questions:
1. What will have the greatest impact?
2. What will give the fastest results?
For most patients, I find that the answer to both questions is linked to the reduction of inflammation—both in the area of trauma and in the body as a whole. I’ve tried a number of natural approaches—herbs like turmeric, ginger and rosemary, omega-3 fish oils, green tea capsules, antioxidants like the resveratrol, vitamins A, D, E and K, bovine colostrum, and blue-green algae, such as Spirulina. By far, the best results I’ve seen with patients is through supplementation with liposomal bovine colostrum. We use it with both our nutrition and chiropractic patients. Knocking down the inflammation at the local site and systemically has definitely brought faster results and better outcomes. Interestingly, for localized areas of problems and pain, such as a sprained ankle, for example, we have used it as a therapy pack. The bovine colostrum we use from Sovereign Laboratories has a specialized liposomal coating on it that will actually penetrate the skin and deliver the colostrum’s anti-inflammatory and healing effects directly at the site.
TAC: Where do you see your clinic heading in the future?
MP: Over the past four to five years, I have become very interested in the growing epidemic of autoimmunity. A large percentage of the nutritional patients we work with have one or more autoimmune conditions. The same is true on the chiropractic side. Many have a comorbidity of autoimmunity, whether it’s Hashimoto’s thyroid, Crohn’s disease, type 2 diabetes, etc. The current pharmaceutical approach of biologies that suppress the immune system is, in my opinion, shortsighted as it comes with a long list of side effects. It’s interesting when a patient begins to actually understand a bit of what is happening with their autoimmune disease. We try to educate them about the current literature showing three main things necessary for autoimmunity to both occur and progress: a genetic predisposition, a trigger, and some degree of intestinal hyperpermeability. Yes, you have the gene. However, there must be a trigger that turns on that gene and causes it to “express” itself. The gene expression is what gives the autoimmune symptoms. The second thing is there must be a “trigger” that causes the gene to turn on and ramp up. Probably the best-known example of this is gluten protein with the celiac patient with the HLA-DQ2 gene. The third thing is there must be some degree of intestinal hyperpermeability, or leaky gut. When explained to them like this, patients “get it.” They understand they are not the victim of their genetics, and they can actually do something about their autoimmunity. This is exciting for me and has led me to go deep into understanding and working with leaky gut syndrome. Basically, if we can repair and heal the gut lining, it will help tremendously in reducing the triggers that “leak” across into the bloodstream and continually ramp up the autoimmune condition and symptoms for the patient.
In these times when clinicians are flooded with information and have limited time to review it, the Colostrum Therapy Certification Course was comprehensive yet wonderfully concise and applicable to daily
practice.* *
-Dr. Mark A. Pederson D.C.
TAC: What approach do you utilize when working with patients who have autoimmune conditions and leaky gut syndrome?
MP: The traditional approach to leaky gut syndrome is the 4-R or 5-R program. The “R” steps are remove, replace, reinoculate, repair, and, for those who need number five, rebalance. Remove gut stressors like allergenic foods and bad bugs, such as parasites, Candida, etc. Replace digestive secretions. Add digestive enzymes, HC1, and bile acids to aid in digestion. Reinoculate the intestinal tract with beneficial bacteria, such as bifidobacteria and lactobacillus species. Repair the gut lining with nutrients, such as zinc, antioxidants like vitamin A, C and E, antiinflammatory omega-3 fish oils, and the often utilized amino acid glutamine. Lastly, for those who employ the fifth “R,” rebalance by evaluating lifestyle choices, such as exercise, stress levels, and sleep patterns. For me, using the 4-R/5-R programs did not give my patients lasting results. Symptoms waxed and waned. We utilized various low antigen diets, herbal supplements to help the immune system rid the body of parasites, Candida, etc. I’ve used numerous strains of probiotics in capsule or powder; refrigerated or not refrigerated, spore form etc., and all forms with various levels of CFU. With patients, we’ve used many different digestive enzymes. With the 4-R/5-R programs, often we would see wonderful initial changes in symptoms and function. Even preand post-stool analysis testing for pathogens, and preor post-food-sensitivity testing would show wonderful improvement. However, as we had patients reintroduce foods and bring down the enzyme and probiotic support levels, we found that the patient’s symptoms would increase. The autoimmunity seemed to be ramping up again. I believe the 4-R/5-R approach was providing relief but was not actually healing the gut lining. As long as the aggravating triggers were down and the digestive enzyme and probiotic support were up, the leaky gut irritation was less, and thus the autoimmune symptoms were better. This was frustrating, and that frustration motivated us to dig deeper. The next year to year and a half, my spare moments were spent reading and researching all I could about leaky gut syndrome and connections to auto-immunity. I came across the book Peptide Immunotherapy written by Andrew Keech, PhD. Dr. Keech went step by step through all the bioactive factors found in bovine colostrum and physiologically how they work together to repair intestinal hyperpermeability, or leaky gut. The book listed university-level studies showing examples of how, at the microscopic level, bovine colostrum was able to help the villi in the intestinal lining regrow. I was blown away by this book!
TAC: Is bovine colostrum the only supplement you use with leaky gut patients?
MP: No, please don’t get me wrong. I do think that the 4-R/5-R approaches are beneficial for leaky gut syndrome, and we do employ them. However, in my opinion, bovine colostrum is the foundation to repair the “holes” in the gut lining. Colostrum is the only supplement that has natural growth hormones, such as transforming growth factors alpha and beta (TgF-a and TgF-|3), insulin-like growth factors I and II (IgF-1 and IgF-2), fibroblast growth factor (FgF), and epithelial growth factors (EgF and EpgF). The light bulb really came on for me when I realized that no vitamin, mineral, or herb has these growth factors. Interestingly, though, when we started utilizing colostrum with patients, I tried a number of different companies and the results were inconsistent. Fooking closer into this and comparing the bioactives of the various bovine colostrum products, I realized that we were having the best patient outcomes with a bovine colostrum product from Sovereign Faboratories called Pro Colostram-FD. Their colostrum is my personal preference for use with patients and because their liposomal coating increases bioavailability by up to 1,500%. The liposomal coating dramatically increases its absorption into the tissues, and I feel that is the biggest factor giving consistent and steady improvements in patients with autoimmune conditions and leaky gut. Sovereign Faboratories is the only company utilizing the liposomal coating, as far as I know. Really, I can’t stop talking about leaky gut syndrome. I believe that correcting it is so foundational to good health, and I probably talk about it a bit too much. Patients and friends have started to jokingly refer to me as the “leaky gut guy.” So I “went with it” and created theleakygutguy. com. It’s a good site to send patients to so they can get more information on what leaky gut is and how they can help themselves correct it.
TAC: Any unexpected results or stories of success for our readers?
MP: The great thing about our chiropractic profession is our philosophical basis that the body is always working to heal and repair itself. We are just there trying to assist the process, whether it is through the chiropractic adjustment, modalities, nutrition, etc. When you take this approach, you can see miraculous things happen. Just last week a patient was in for a follow-up, and at the end of the visit, she said to me, “Dr. Mark, I have to share this with you. I visited my daughter out in Virginia last week, and she related to me that her interstitial cystitis pain is still gone since you treated her. And that was four years ago now! ”
Learn more about Dr. Pederson at theleakygutguy.com
