Give Patients the Complete Care They Need: Immediate, Corrective, and Long-Term “Chemical” Strategies
NUTRITION
Todd Singleton
As a chiropractor, you probably feel most at ease when adjusting patients. You know that you can make a difference in your patients’ lives using hands-on manipulation, so you spend most of your time doing exactly that. However, there are additional ways that you can improve your patients’ health. There’s a strong argument to be made that focusing on all three areas of health (physical, chemical, and emotional) can give patients the resources they need to achieve the best possible results. So why don’t more doctors offer treatments in chemical or emotional areas?
Though most doctors feel very comfortable working in their core area, which most often addresses the “physical” piece of the triad, they start to feel uncomfortable when it comes to the “chemical” and “emotional” aspects of health. However, D. D. Palmer, the father of the chiropractic profession, actually emphasized the importance of this “triad of health” (he called it “thoughts,” “trauma,” and “toxins”) in the classic 1910 text, The Chiropractor ’s Adjuster. Given the origin of this triad, it’s clear that the “emotional” and “chemical” aspects of the triad fall well within the scope of chiropractic care.
In this article, I’d like to pay particular attention to the “chemical” aspect of health and discuss a few strategies that chiropractors can use to integrate a chemical approach into their existing practices. Focusing on the three stages of care—immediate relief, collective care, and long-term wellness—I’ll address how you can reduce your patients’ inflammation and accelerate the body’s natural healing process.
Immediate Relief
For immediate relief, an anti-inflammatory diet is essential. This means that your patient will need to cut out foods that cause inflammation (especially refined sugar, refined flour, and refined vegetable oils) while introducing foods that help quell the body’s inflammatory process (omega-3 fatty acids, fibrous vegetables, etc.). On top of this, it can be especially helpful for patients to limit their intake of heavy foods such as red meat and potatoes. If you can convince a patient to go on a brief cleanse, their results will be even better!
At this stage, supplementation is key. For patients suffer-
‘ ^Though most doctors feel very comfortable working in their core area, which most often addresses the “physical” piece of the triad, they start to feel uncomfortable when it comes to the “chemical” and “emotional” aspects of health. JJ
ing from acute pain conditions, I recommend a high-quality omega-3 supplement, a variety of anti-inflammatory botanicals (turmeric, ginger, garlic, etc.), and vitamin D. If a patient is suffering from back, neck, or knee pain, you may also want to recommend cartilage-builders such as MSM, glucosamine, and/or chondroitin. Combined with the anti-inflammatory
nutrients, these supplements will work together to accelerate the body’s natural healing process.1
^ ^For immediate relief, an anti-inflammatory diet is essential
Corrective Care
To help conect a patient’s problem, I would recommend the same anti-inflammatory diet previously discussed. At this stage, you may grant your patients a little more freedom (e.g., taking them off a cleanse) while still ensuring that they’re eating a healthy diet. For supplementation, I recommend herbal products designed to reduce inflammation in muscles and joints (alfalfa, yucca, licorice root, burdock root, devil’s claw root, prickly ash, etc.). I also recommend a high-quality omega-3 supplement, vitamin D supplement, and vitamin B12 supplement. At this stage, lifestyle changes can also make a big difference, even on a chemical level. Implementing a regular exercise routine, stress-management practice, or sleep schedule can make an immense difference in a patient’s long-term health and wellness.2
Long-Term Wellness
Ultimately, you want all of your patients to maintain their results for the rest of their lives. As doctors, we sometimes lose sight of this and focus on improving our patients’ health in the short-term alone. To promote long-term success, you’ll want your patients to transition into a “maintenance” diet that is less restrictive but still prohibits the most inflammatory foods (refined sugars, flours, and oils) and encourages the consumption of antiinflammatory foods (fruits, vegetables, lean meats, etc.). You’ll also want them to transition onto a “maintenance” dosage of the most important supplements—omega-3 fatty acids, a multivitamin/mineral, and vitamin D.
Working as a chiropractor, it’s easy
to become caught up in providing immediate relief, while forgetting about corrective or long-term care. It isn’t always easy to see below the surface of an issue and ask questions about diet, even though this is essential when treating someone holistically. Personally, I’m willing to admit that, during my first years as a chiropractor, the “physical” aspect of the triad received all of my attention. Operating this way, I eventually came to realize that some of my patients weren’t progressing as I would hope. Unless I addressed the “chemical” aspect of their health, their bodies would never fully heal. Once I’d realized this, I started incorporating nutrition into my treatment protocols, and it made all the difference!
Ultimately, focusing on the physical, chemical, and emotional aspects of care will not only help your patients, but will also boost your bottom line. Adding new treatment options will help you build a steady stream of recurring income that you can use to build the practice of your dreams. You may have to venture outside of your comfort zone, but I promise that it will be worth the effort.
References
1. Maroon JC, Bost JW. Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) as an anti-inflammatory: an alternative to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for dicogenic pain. Surgical Neurology 2006; 65(4): 326-31.
2. Zeidan, F, Gordon, NS, Merchant, J, Goolkasian, P. The Effects of Brief Mindfulness Meditation Training on Experimentally Induced Pain. The Journal of Pain, Vol -, No - (-), 2009: pp 1-11
Dr. Todd Singleton, D.C., is an iuthor speaker, and consultant ho has been a practicing loctor for more than 20 years. Ue ran the largest MD/DC/PT
clinics in Utah before switching to an all-cash nutrition model in 2006. He created a very successful cash practice in Salt Lake City and now spends his time consulting and visiting other offices all over the United States. Today, he ’s helped over 900 doctors implement a wide variety of nutritional systems, rangingfrom simple plug & play protocols to full-fledged nutritional programs.
