Blog Post

For those dealing with Fibromyalgia, Chiropractic care can help to ease the pain associated with this condition. Fibromyalgia sufferers often experience debilitating pain which keeps them from living a productive and active life. When the spine is misaligned, any number of nerves which originate from the spinal cord can be irritated which can worsen Fibromyalgia pain.

Because those with Fibromyalgia also experience a heightened sense of pain, it’s worthwhile to explore modalities such as gentle chiropractic adjustments, spinal decompression, and massage therapy which can help to manage pain without the side effects associated with taking pain medications.

The Cox™ Technique

Here at Pflugerville Wellness, Dr. Peng is an expert in the Cox™ Technique which is a low impact and extremely gentle method of aligning the spine. This is an ideal therapy for our patients who have Fibromyalgia since it places so little force on the body.

Chiropractic Care Modalities for Fibromyalgia Patients

In addition to chiropractic adjustments to correct subluxations in the spine, we also offer other modalities which will aid in pain relief such as:

• Massage Therapy – we offer massage therapy as a way to decrease tension and soreness and help improve blood flow to the muscles and tissue.
• Intersegmental Traction – this type of modality gently stretches the body, thereby pulling the vertebrae to release tension and to realign the spine.

Functional Medicine Approach to Fibromyalgia

Chiropractic care can greatly assist in pain relief from Fibromyalgia. However, in order to successfully treat Fibromyalgia, a more comprehensive approach may be needed or a functional medicine approach to look for root causes of disease and illness. Root causes of Fibromyalgia are usually multifaceted and can include:

• A compromised or weakened immune system due to physical or emotional stressors (both long and short-term)
• Eating a diet with too few nutrients
• Exposure to toxins, both environmental and through the diet
• Imbalanced hormones to include thyroid
• Untreated, chronic viral or bacterial infections

Chiropractic Care plus Medical Treatment is best for Fibromyalgia

At Pflugerville Wellness, our goal is for you to be healthy and free from pain. We are happy to offer our services to you to provide complimentary care for your Fibromyalgia, but we also understand that in order to treat it correctly, a physician’s care is needed to identify cause.

We recommend Dr. Spurlock at his Renewed Vitality clinic. He has treated thousands of patients over the past 18 years and can help you as well. Though he is located in Dallas, telemedicine services are offered once you are an established patient.

Dr. Marcus Spurlock is a doctor in Dallas, Texas who is an expert in treating Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, and other chronic viral disorders. Dr. Spurlock understands that in order to successfully treat Fibromyalgia, it’s necessary to look past the symptoms and instead identify and treat the root cause. Only then will symptoms subside and allow patients to get their lives back.

For more details regarding his treatment protocols, please click here: https://www.renewedvitalitymd.com/fibromyalgia-treatment/

From the Desk of: Dr. Trent Peng

From the desk of:  Dr. Trent Peng, MS, DC

A new study has recently been published from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS, part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention) showing body weight status and trends of obesity in U.S. adults and youth.

The National Center for Health Statistics, which performs surveillance of disease rates and reports at regular intervals, has had obesity on their radar for years.  There are several important findings (regarding adults) I will point out in this blog, and present them in a “good news, bad news” format.   Which one do you want first?

First, we need to define what we are looking at.  How is one considered overweight or obese?  The objective standard remains the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is your weight relative to your height.  Although there are exceptions to the rule (ie. short but muscular bodybuilders will be incorrectly considered overweight/obese by BMI), height and weight are proportional in most of the population (ie. you are not considered overweight if you are 6’3″, 180 lbs versus 5’4″, 180 lbs), so it is still the most utilized tool to assess obesity.  The most common BMI categories are listed as follows:

• BMI < 18.5 – Underweight
• BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 – Normal weight
• BMI between 25 and 29.9 – Overweight
• BMI 30 or higher – Obese

(To calculate your own BMI, click here and you can plug in your own height and weight to get your BMI).

This study was analyzed by the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survery (NHANES), a large-scale, national survey which performed extensive interviews as well as physical examinations on the sampled and is conducted yearly. Weight and height were objectively measured to arrive at the BMI statistics.  This study looked at most recent data, 2011-2014, and compared to previous data points of 1999-2000 and 2003-2004.  First, the good news:

• The prevalence of obesity has remained “stable” between 2003-2004 and 2011-2014, according to the researchers.

That’s the good news.  There have been no significant increase in obesity (statistically) since 2003-2004.  Now, the bad news:

• Just because there wasn’t significant increase in obesity the past 10 years, it does not mean there was no increase.  The proportion of obesity in US adults has been increasing every year, just rising slower.
• The same authors also did similar analyses in 2007-2008, and 2011-2012 (2, 3), and I will put them side by side to illustrate my point above:

So, just looking from left to right, it’s not hard to see the proportions of obesity has been steadily rising over time.  The trend is similar both in men and in women.   Also, it was already a bad percentage in 2007-08, with more than 1/3 of the population classified as obese.  The number is now approaching 40%.   Epidemic proportion, no?

It is obvious that our US government has been tracking the obesity epidemic (these surveys are US government property), and they have implemented various programs over the years.  One such program is shown below:

Yes, the original Food Pyramid, the ultimate fat-bashing and all-you-can-eat carbs pyramid.  When that didn’t work, we shifted to the “MyPyramid”:

When this 7-pyramid-in-one confusing mess was mostly neglected by the public, the government came up with yet another plan, MyPlate:

While an upgrade over previous versions, MyPlate shares some similar traits to its predecessors, traits that promote weight loss failures:

• The concept that eating “healthy” or “balanced” will help you lose weight.  This is NOT TRUE.
• The abundance of grains, fruits and vegetables.  While there are health benefits with these foods, they all belong to a food group of carbohydrates. Look at MyPlate again, it looks like >75% of MyPlate consists of carbohydrates (one of many problems with the MyPlate diagram)!

My point is, there is a reason the proportions of overweight and obesity continue to rise, and the way to control it is NOT eating a “balanced diet” or “lots of fruits and vegetables”.   The diet needs to be unbalanced in a healthy, controlled manner, in order to achieve effective, consistent weight loss.   In my next post I will talk about the ketogenic diet, a scientifically proven, effective diet that forms the basis of the diet program (Ideal Protein) at our clinic.  And this diet does what I just said: an unbalanced but healthy way of eating that promotes loss of body fat.  Stay tuned.

PS. In the weekly workshop conducted at our clinic, Pflugerville Wellness Center, I go over details of the Ideal Protein program and how it helps people lose weight effectively.  Please call (512) 251-9686 if you are interested in attending the FREE workshop.  

Reference

1. Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., Fryar, C. D., & Flegal, K. M. (2015).  Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults and Youth: United States, 2011-2014.  NCHS Data Brief, No. 219 (November 2015), 1-8.
2. Flegal, K., Carroll, M., Ogden, C., & Curtin, L. (2010). Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999-2008. Jama, 303(3), 235–241.
3. Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA : The Journal of the American Medical Association, 311(8), 806–14.