Natural Restoration of Health
“Manipulation seems to me a good technique to know. I wish I had learned it in medical school. It can be a valuable addition to a doctor’s therapeutic repertory, both because it involves a laying on of hands that can foster productive relationships with patients, and because it may improve the circulation of blood and nervous energy to ailing parts of the body.
”
Andrew Weil, M.D., Harvard Graduate,
leading pioneer of the Integrative Medicine Movement.
Osteopathy is a medical art and science. From its "rebirth" in the western world in the late 1800s, osteopathy knew the ancient and universal truth that the body works as One harmonious system, concept that they stipulated among their main principles of philosophy and practice:
In other words the entire body if adequately nourished, functions to maintain, repair and heal itself to its best advantage if its structure and physiological functioning are in proper order. In this state of inner balance, the body is able to produce all necessary "medications" from its own "pharmacy" (the neuro-endocrine system). When we think and feel tranquility, our body produces our own brand of valium that will bathe all our cells in a sea of peace. This is slightly different from the synthetic valium manufactured by drug companies that will leave you with some side effects, in small print on paper, but with obvious consequences at cellular level. When we are anxious, we produce stress hormones such as adrenalin, noradrenalin and cortisol that put our body in a state of restlessness. When we feel exhilarated, exuberant and happy we produce interleukin and interferon that have been found to effectively treat cancer. So, wouldn't you rather be in a state of happiness and heal yourself using your built-in mechanism?
Our body is the best drug-producing company and laboratory there is. Upon demand, we will create our own anti-depressants, anti-cancer, anti-biotics, pain relief medication etc. with no prescription needed, literally no side effects, in the precise dose and concentration and administered exactly where it is needed for as long as it is needed.
Our body is capable of producing over 700,000.00 known substances. These are the key components of extremely sophisticated processes that allow us to adapt second-by-second to the ever-changing environments inside and outside our bodies. No human can possibly even begin to comprehend and see this whole picture. Therefore an attempt to chronically (over a longer period of time) influence these processes by prescribing outside drugs seems to be at least questionable.
Our perception and interpretation of the environment we live in will direct our body to produce the appropriate biochemical responses. Our intentions, thoughts, feelings and how we choose to act upon them are literally (biochemically) determining the life we are manifesting.
This inner balance (homeostasis) implies that all parts of the body including the components of the skull are in correct relationship to one another and free to move within their normal range of motion and also a normal blood and nerve supply is ensured.
Osteopathic Manual Medicine is dedicated to the treatment and healing of the entire body, rather than approaching a patient's symptoms. Treatments are aimed at establishing and maintaining a state of Health as well as prevention and alleviation of disease.
Osteopathy holds to the common sense principle that the patient's whole life history of illnesses and physical traumas is written into the body's structure. It is the Osteopath's highly developed sense of touch that allows the physician to palpate (feel) the patient's "living anatomy" (i.e. flow of fluids, motion of tissues, and structural make-up). In more clinical terms, an osteopathically trained physician can even detect physical problems that fail to appear on an X-ray.
The Osteopath's job is to "set" the body up to heal itself. In order to restore the normal function, the physician applies a gentle and precise amount of pressure to remove obstructions in the flow of fluids, dysfunctions in the motion of tissues and release compressed bones and joints.
After a thorough evaluation, the patient lies down on the examination table ready for treatment. We treat the dysfunctions in the patient's body taking advantage of the body's natural tendency to continuously strive towards a state of health and homeostasis. During the treatment many patients mention a feeling of deep relaxation, tingling, flow of fluids (energy), inner balance and containment as their pain is relieved.
A chronic condition often takes years to develop. With this in mind, it stands to reason that it will require time to resolve: the ratio is often one month of treatment for every year of illness. (Although every body has its own timetable of healing, this is the average course of treatment).
For a patient with an acute problem (flu, muscle strain, etc.), the course of treatment is shorter because the condition is not as deep as a chronic illness.
Much is also dependent on a patient's level of vitality (i.e. immune and neuro-endocrine systems, genetic heritage etc.). In other words, a patient in generally good health will respond more quickly to treatment than a patient with lower vitality (i.e. weakened immune system).
In some cases tissues may have been damaged beyond the body's ability to heal itself by trauma such as a fall or car accident. The body will repair itself as best it can, but altered tissue motion, and its subsequent discomfort or pain, will not resolve with osteopathic manipulation or with medication/surgery. In addition to the many forms of hands-on diagnosis and treatment that are offered, we also offer a number of injection therapies to assist in the patients' healing process:
Used specifically to restart the healing process of tendons, ligaments and joints, proliferative therapy (prolo) has been used for centuries to help the body to restart and continue to repair damaged tissues. It can be very useful in chronic pain conditions that have failed to respond to other methods of treatment such as whiplash and low back pain.
"Prolo" is short for proliferation, because the treatment causes the proliferation (growth, formation) of new ligament tissue in areas where it has become weak.
Ligaments are the structural "rubber bands" that hold bones to bones in joints. Ligaments can become injured or weak and may not heal back to their original strength or endurance. This is largely because the blood supply to ligaments is limited, which can cause slow and incomplete healing. Taking anti-inflammatory medications after an injury can add to the damage by stopping the healing process. To further complicate this, ligaments also have many nerve endings that signal the body that there is damage (pain) at the areas where the ligaments are injured or loose.
Tendons are the name given to tissue which connects muscles to bones, and in the same manner tendons may also become injured, and cause pain.
Developed into its current form by George Hackett, M.D., prolotherapy uses a dextrose (sugar water), vitamins, local anesthetic and an arachadonic acid solution, which is injected into the ligament or tendon where it attaches to the bone. These causes a localized inflammation in these weak areas that then increases the blood supply and flow of nutrients and stimulates the tissue to repair itself.
The response to treatment varies from individual to individual, and depends upon one's healing ability. Some people may only need a few treatments while others may need 10 or more. The average number of treatments is 4-6 for an area treated. Once you begin treatment, your doctor can tell better how you are responding and give you an accurate estimate.
The Huneke brothers originally developed neural Therapy in Germany. It involves the injection of Procaine, a common local anesthetic, or homeopathic injectables into various but very specific areas. Neural Therapy is based on the theory that trauma can produce long-standing disturbances in the electrochemical function of tissues (called interference fields). Among the types of tissues affected by trauma include scars, nerves or a cluster of nerves called ganglions. A correctly administered Neural Therapy injection can often instantly and lastingly resolve chronic longstanding illness and chronic pain.
You then may wonder how a scar or infection becomes activated to become an interference field. General stress from illness, malnutrition, emotional stress, food allergies, pregnancy, etc. seems to convert an inactive interference field to one that creates a disturbance. In scientific jargon, the conversion depends on your allostatic load at the time of the injury. When a wound convers into an interference field symptoms begin to occur. Many times we will recognize this. When asked "when did your symptoms begin?", we can give a precise moment or incident.
Sometimes one treatment in the precise area will resolve the problem. More often, only a partial improvement follows each treatment. Three to six treatments are the average number to achieve lasting resolution of a chronic condition. What Neural Therapy does for many of my patients is to open the door to allow the other healing modalities to finish the job.
(Adapted with permission from John Lyftogt, MD — Founder of technique)
Prolotherapy is a very effective treatment for most injuries and ongoing joint, tendon, ligament and muscle pain. The treatment involves a series of injections with a glucose solution, immediately under the skin with a very fine needle, targeting the source of the pain. It can offer a success rate of greater than 75% for most conditions.
Neural Prolotherapy was developed by Dr. John Lyftogt MRNZCGP in New Zealand. He has been in practice since 1978 and has extensive postgraduate training and experience in sports medicine and musculoskeletal medicine. Dr. Lyftogt began practicing Prolotherapy after training with Dr. Margaret Taylor in Adelaide, Australia in 2003. He has been a full time prolotherapist at the world-famous sports center built for the Commonwealth Games.
Dr Lyftogt's early research focused on the treatment of Achilles tendon problems and he has now treated more than 300 Achilles tendons with a success rate of more than 90%. He has published two level 4 articles on Achilles tendons.
The technique developed for the treatment of Achilles tendons differs from Classical Prolotherapy in that the injections are given immediately under the skin while taking great care avoiding contact with the exquisitely sensitive tendon.
This 'neural Prolotherapy' protocol was successfully extended to the treatment of tennis elbow, painful knees, shoulders, neck, hips, ankles, muscle injuries and low back. Results are consistent and two year follow up studies have shown success rates between 80-100%. The treatment is also less invasive than Classical Prolotherapy.
Because neural Prolotherapy does not target tendons, ligaments or joints the question had to be asked what causes the sometimes dramatic decline in pain levels after even a few treatments. A working hypothesis was developed that glucose assists in the repair of connective tissue in the nerve trunks under the skin in a similar way as repairing connective tissue in ligaments and tendons with Classical Prolotherapy. These skin nerves are now known to be responsible for painful conditions generally identified as 'neuralgias' or 'peripheral neuropathic pain'. They consist for up to 80% of connective tissue and are structurally quite similar to tendons and ligaments.
There is now also compelling scientific evidence that the very small nerves innervating the nerve trunk, known as 'nervi nervorum' are responsible for inflammation of the connective tissue of the nerve trunk and surrounding tissues. Interestingly and surprisingly this fact has been known for over 125 years.
It is also known that this 'neurogenic inflammation' differs from conventional inflammation in that it does not respond to anti-inflammatories or cortisone injections. This is one of the reasons why these commonly used drugs are proving to be ineffective in many painful conditions in addition to a growing awareness that their use is not without serious side effects.It is clear from clinical observations on more than three thousand patients and large case series that neural Prolotherapy effectively reverses 'neurogenic inflammation' and resolves neuralgia pain.
Treatment typically involves a 6-8 sessions of microinjections just under the skin with a very small needle. Additional treatment sessions are sometimes needed if a patient has prior surgeries, moderate to severe whiplash injuries with widespread pain, and/or significant underlying medical illnesses (diabetes, autoimmune disorder or history of cancer.) Treatments are completed within 10 minutes. At most the patient may have some brief tenderness at the injection site or a small bruise. Physical activity is not restricted post-injection, with most patients returning to their usual workouts the same day or next day. More than 98% of patients tolerate the minimal discomfort associated with the injections without a problem. The occasional patient however who is needle phobic or quite pain sensitive may not be a good candidate.
Classical Prolotherapy was developed in the 1940s by an American trauma surgeon Dr George Hackett, using injections of Sylnasol, a sclerosing agent commonly used at the time for shrinking varicose veins. He targeted 'lax' or 'weak' ligaments with these injections to make them stronger.Hackett reasoned that if 'weak' ligaments were the cause of most joint and ligament pain, strengthening them would resolve the pain. He was certainly successful, publishing 16 articles and a textbook on this procedure, and claiming an 80% success rate for the treatment of low back pain as well as many other painful conditions.A growing number of Prolotherapy studies over the last 40 years have indicated good to excellent results from this type of treatment, with doctors in the USA, Australia and elsewhere continuing to use glucose injections (now using more advanced glucose solutions) with no side effects for painful conditions affecting joints, ligaments and tendons.
With the advent of evidence-based medicine in the last 20 years, scientific research have become intensely demanding and financially well out of reach of most researchers, unless supported by large grants or the Pharmaceutical industry. As a result, it has been almost impossible to fund good highlevel evidence research on Prolotherapy. But three researchers, Professor Michael Yelland from Australia and Professors David Rabago and K. Dean Reeves from the USA have bucked the trend with some excellent studies published recently, including a randomized control trial for treatment of Achilles tendinosis (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2009). Dr John Lyftogt has also published six level 4 studies in the Australasian Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine since 2005.
Myers Cocktail is named after Dr. John Myers, M.D., a Baltimore, Maryland physician, who used intravenous vitamins as treatment for fatigue, upper respiratory infections, acute asthma attacks, chronic sinusitis, seasonal allergies, migraines, and other disorders. His actual “recipes” differ only slightly from what is given to patients today. His successor, Dr. Alan Gaby, M.D., developed the formulation commonly known as Myers’ Cocktail today and named it Myers to honor the pioneering Practitioner (Alan R. Gaby, 2002).
We use Myers’ Cocktail to help our patients overcome a health obstacle or as part of a wellness regimen that infuses vital nutrients and vitamins directly into the body. Intravenous delivery is the very best way to receive vitamins since most people have a compromised digestive system. If your digestive tract is functioning at a fraction of its optimal state (and whose isn’t), then only a fraction of the vitamins you ingest from food and supplements are absorbed into the body. With Myers’, the full cocktail is delivered right into your bloodstream and available for cellular use.
A classical cocktail might contain: B-complex 1ml, B5 250mg, B6 100mg, B12 1.5ml, , Vitamin C 5g, Magnesium 2g, Selenium 200mcg, Calcium 100mg, however they are tailored to the patient’s individual needs.
The typical frequency for Myers’ Cocktail is 1x per week for a month, then 1-2x per month. The infusion takes about 1/2 half hour and you can combine Myers’ with IV Glutathione Therapy (GSH) for added detox support. Myers’ helps prevent illness, provides increased energy, and overall better sleep.
Myers’ Cocktail with Immune System Boost is specially formulated with more vitamin C to fight infections and deliver optimum health. Vitamin C is one of the most popular alternative medicine treatments. Alternative Health Practitioners use IV vitamin C to treat infections, autoimmune disease, and illnesses of uncertain origin. A 2006 survey of these practitioners reported that of the 199 surveyed, 172 used IV vitamin C for treating patients (Padayatty et al., 2010). Vitamin C, as part of a Myers’ Cocktail, provides increased support to naturally fight viral infections.
The Immune System Boost contains zinc to avoid or reduce the length of viruses. Zinc prevents the rhinovirus from multiplying. A case study done by Dr. Alan Gaby, M.D. reported that over half the patients who received a Myers’ Cocktail reported their symptoms were either nonexistent after one treatment or greatly improved by the next morning (Gaby M.D., 2002).The combination of vitamin C and zinc is the protection form viruses your body needs to stay healthy.
For best results follow Dr. Tudor’s Cocktail dosing instructions to prevent colds and flu. Try it 1x a week for 4 weeks, then 1-2x a month throughout the season.
Alan R. Gaby, M. D. (2002). Intravenous Nutrient Therapy: the “Myers’ Cocktail”. Alternative Medicine Review, 7(5), 389-403.
Glutathione (GSH) plays a major role in many different cellular functions. It protects cells from oxidative damage thereby helping to maintain cellular homeostasis. Oxidants make their way into our bodies along multiple pathways. GSH studies typically involve the liver, the lungs, and viral diseases but the benefits of Glutathione branch out beyond that (Forman, Zhang, & Rinna, 2009).
Maintaining proper levels of Glutathione can contribute to:
High stress levels, certain medications, and a poor diet can all deplete the body’s glutathione reservoirs. The average American consumes only 35 milligrams of glutathione per day. This is far short of the optimal daily intake of 250 milligrams. We also make less Glutathione as we age (Gutherie, 2011).
Forman, H. J., Zhang, H., & Rinna, A. (2009). Glutathione: Overview of its protective roles, measurement, and biosynthesis. Molecular Aspects of Medicine, 30(1–2), 1-12. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mam.2008.08.006
Gutherie, C. (2011). Glutathione: The Great Protector. Experience LIfe, April 2011.