I have been practicing chiropractic in the San Francisco Financial District for around 18 years now, and I have discovered something very interesting about many chronic back pain patients... They don' t connect what they are eating to their back pain.
Sure, most chronic back pain sufferers that are overweight or obese recognize that the extra weight is putting stress on their spine...but some even ignore this obvious food-bodyweight-back pain connection.
A lesser known primary cause of back pain is inflammation which can occur in people with a normal body-weight. And a primary cause of inflammation is the typical American Diet, which is loaded with animal proteins and refined carbohydrates. This is inflammation fuel.
Inflammation is also a primary cause is just about every other chronic disease process...including heart disease, strokes, diabetes and cancer. In fact...this is widely accepted in the medical community.
What' s not widely accepted is what to do about it.
Well...in my opinion the best medicine is a plant-based diet, which is anti-inflammatory and promotes spontaneous healing.
In fact...there is so much research out there that supports nutritional therapy for chronic diseases, that the state of California is hopefully going to pass AB1478 which will require physicians to provide their patients with (non-emergency) heart disease and type 2 diabetes the option of pursuing intense dietary/lifestyle therapy vs. mostly ineffective drugs and surgeries.
So does food matter when it comes to back pain? YES...and it matters for everything else too.
If you are a health care provider and you do not understand nutrition...especially plant-based nutrition...you should become familiar with Dr. John McDougall and Dr. Dean Ornish...they are the world leaders in plant based nutrition. In fact...Dr. McDougall is the co-author of AB1478.
If you suffer from chronic back pain and nothing seems to be helping, do yourself a favor and subscribe to Dr. McDougall' s free monthly newsletter at www.drmcdougall.com. Try getting your inflammation down with plant-based nutrition and get ready for less back pain...really.
San Francisco Chiropractor Comments:
Sure, most chronic back pain sufferers that are overweight or obese recognize that the extra weight is putting stress on their spine...but some even ignore this obvious food-bodyweight-back pain connection.
A lesser known primary cause of back pain is inflammation which can occur in people with a normal body-weight. And a primary cause of inflammation is the typical American Diet, which is loaded with animal proteins and refined carbohydrates. This is inflammation fuel.
Inflammation is also a primary cause is just about every other chronic disease process...including heart disease, strokes, diabetes and cancer. In fact...this is widely accepted in the medical community.
What' s not widely accepted is what to do about it.
Well...in my opinion the best medicine is a plant-based diet, which is anti-inflammatory and promotes spontaneous healing.
In fact...there is so much research out there that supports nutritional therapy for chronic diseases, that the state of California is hopefully going to pass AB1478 which will require physicians to provide their patients with (non-emergency) heart disease and type 2 diabetes the option of pursuing intense dietary/lifestyle therapy vs. mostly ineffective drugs and surgeries.
So does food matter when it comes to back pain? YES...and it matters for everything else too.
If you are a health care provider and you do not understand nutrition...especially plant-based nutrition...you should become familiar with Dr. John McDougall and Dr. Dean Ornish...they are the world leaders in plant based nutrition. In fact...Dr. McDougall is the co-author of AB1478.
If you suffer from chronic back pain and nothing seems to be helping, do yourself a favor and subscribe to Dr. McDougall' s free monthly newsletter at www.drmcdougall.com. Try getting your inflammation down with plant-based nutrition and get ready for less back pain...really.
Then come back here and tell me about it.
Dr. Eben Davis is clinic director ofExecutive Express Chiropracticin downtown San Francisco.