The "digestive system" or "digestive tract" is contained in a long tube called the alimentary canal that runs from our mouth to our anus. The mouth, the esophagus, the stomach, and the intestines are all components of the digestive system - and though each has a special function, they all have the same purpose: to convert food into energy and eliminate what's not needed. Let's investigate some of the digestive problems that people suffer from when certain parts of the digestive system malfunction and what the chiropractic position is regarding these conditions.

Dysphagia

After we chew our food, mixing with digestive enzymes, we swallow it - that is, unless we have a swallowing problem, or dysphagia one of the most common problems of the digestive tract. (People with dysphagia feel the food "going down slowly" or "sticking')

Esophagus

Next, the food travels to the stomach down the tube called the esophagus (Latin for "I swallow"). Most people think of the stomach as a simple pouch or container where food is stored and dissolved before being absorbed by the intestines. Well, it's that and much more than that. In fact, the stomach is one of the busiest and most interesting organs in the body. Inside the stomach are billions of gland cells that manufacture, by a process that is still not fully understood, one of the most powerful acids found in nature: hydrochloric acid (HCL). HCL dissolves the stomach contents so they can be absorbed by the intestines. This acid is so powerful that if it were ever to escape from the stomach, it could eat away our heart, lungs. Liver, veins, arteries, and every other organ in our body.

What Keeps the Acid In?

 

Hydrochloric acid stays safely in the stomach because the stomach's inner walls are covered by a thick layer of mucous, which is made by hundreds of millions of mucous-secreting cells These cells live only two to four days - in fact, they are shed at the rate of half a million cells per day.

Heartburn

At the top end of the stomach is the cardiac orifice, a muscular area that is usually closed to prevent food from backing up into the esophagus. But when people have "heartburn' the food may reflux (flow back) a little through the cardiac orifice from the stomach to the esophagus. This condibon is usually felt as a burning sensation behind the sternum or breastbone. (During vomiting this orifice opens up). At the bottom of the stomach is a valve (the pyloric sphincter) that lets food into our intestines a little at a time.

Stomach Troubles

 

Many things can go wrong with the stomach. The problem perhaps most commonly seen in both children and adults is chronic stomachache, also called nervous stomach or dyspepsia. Another common condition is stomach or duodenal ulcer, which occurs when the mucous lining becomes thin and the powerful acids and digestive juices start to eat through the stomach and intestines - causing a very painful condition.

Pyloric Stenosis / Gastritis

 

The stomach can also suffer valve problems, such as pylonc stenosis - a tightening or shrinking of the opening between the esophagus and the stomach: gastritis - an inflammation of the stomach walls: and both benign and malignant tumors.

The Standard Medical Approach

Digestive troubles are often poorly understood and many medical treatments are therefore directed only at treating the symptoms. As one medical text has stated: Further, treating symptoms alone, apart from the risk of the side effects and adverse reactions that are common with drug usage, can lead a person into the false belief that the problem is gone merely because the symptoms are gone. It's not unusual to hear of a person "living on" antacids, Di-Gel, Tums, Rolaids, or some other over-the-counter remedy, as well as prescription drugs, without any sign of improvement. As a general rule, then, when there's any kind of health problem, it is always best to avoid medical drug therapy and surgery, which are often dangerous forms of treatment, and investigate first and foremost more natural forms of health care.

The Chiropractic Approach

 

It may confuse a patient who has experienced relief from a digestive problem after chiropractic care to hear that chiropractic does not attempt to treat or cure digestive conditions. The chiropractors purpose is to analyze a person's spinal column for a very common yet very dangerous condition: vertebral subluxation, or spinal nerve stress. Vertebral subluxations damage nerves and interfere with the proper communication between the brain and the body.

Dis-ease

 

In order for the body to be healthy, the brain must be able to communicate to all the body organs including, of course, the digestive organs. Any interference of the nerves' ability to communicate to any part of the body can cause a state of "dis-ease", an old term meaning that the body is functioning at less than top efficiency This can be a very destructive state, leading to lowered resistance and thus to disease. If vertebral subluxations are found, the chiropractor, by performing the procedure known as "spinal adjustments," will then proceed to correct or relieve them. And, although chiropractic is not a treatment for disorders of the stomach or digestive organs, relieving pressure on the nerves that go to the digestive system has been recognized as essential for good health

 

As early as 1921 research revealed that slight spinal abnormalities could cause stomach and digestive disorders, including disorders of the esophagus, duodenum, and intestines. Henry Winsor, M.D., working on cadavers at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Discovered that diseases of the digestive organs were present when vertebral subluxations affecting nerves traveling to digestive organs were present. Lewit showed in 1985 that 87 percent of a group of adolescents suffering from duodenal and/or gastric ulcer had "pelvic distortion, with increased incidence of blockage in the craniocervical junction. In 1984, Grieve discussed the effectiveness of spinal care with dysphagia and "abdominal nausea.""' Maigne has written that relief of interference with the nervous system has alleviated digestive pains and "pseudo-ulcers,'' among other conditions. Robuck's clinical research led him to state that spinal adjustments could help individuals suffering from "dyspepsia and epigasitric distress." In another study of 100 patients with stomach and duodenal ulcers it was found that 86 had spinal abnormalities of the area that supplied the stomach with nerve fibers.'' The noted researcher N. T. Ussher, M.D., found that spinal misalignment could produce disease by irritating the nerves that supply various organs and that correction of the spinal problem could give relief to stomach ulcers, gastritis, colitis, and spastic constipation."

In Conclusion

 

The digestive system can weaken, begin to work improperly, and fall prey to a multitude of diseases. The job of the chiropractor is to ensure that the stomach and the rest of the digestive system (as well as all the other organs of the body) are receiving an unobstructed nerve supply. This promotes body harmony, enhanced ability to cope with stress, and improved resistance to disease. Remember, if the nerves are impinged upon by vertebral subluxations, no amount of Di-Gel, Rolaids, Pepto-Bismol, Tums, or antacids will relieve the pressure. A chiropractic spinal adjustment is what the body needs.

FMS (fibromyalgia syndrome) is a widespread musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder for which the cause is still unknown. Fibromyalgia means pain in the muscles, ligaments, and tendons - the soft fibrous tissues in the body.

Most patients with FMS say that they ache all over. Their muscles may feel like they have been pulled or overworked. Sometimes the muscles twitch and at other times they burn. More women than men are afflicted with FMS, and it shows up in people of all ages.

To help your family and friends relate to your condition, have them think back to the last time they had a bad flu. Every muscle in their body shouted out in pain. In addition, they felt devoid of energy as though someone had unplugged their power supply. While the severity of symptoms fluctuate from person to person, FMS may resemble a post-viral state. This similarity is the reason experts in the field of FMS and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) believe that these two syndromes may be one and the same. Gulf War syndrome also overlaps with FMS/CFS.

Symptoms And Associated Syndromes

Pain - The pain of FMS has no boundaries. People describe the pain as deep muscular aching, throbbing, shooting, and stabbing. Quite often, the pain and stiffness are worse in the morning and you may hurt more in muscle groups that are used repetitively.

Fatigue - This symptom can be mild in some patients and yet incapacitating in others. The fatigue has been described as "brain fatigue" in which patients feel totally drained of energy.

Sleep disorder - Most FMS patients have an associated sleep disorder called the alpha-EEG anomaly. Patients appeared to spend the night with one foot in sleep and the other one out of it.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome - Constipation, diarrhea, frequent abdominal pain, abdominal gas, and nausea represent symptoms frequently found in roughly 40 to 70% of FMS patients.

Chronic headaches - Recurrent migraine or tension-type headaches are seen in about 50% of FMS patients and can pose a major problem in coping for this patient group.

Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction Syndrome - This syndrome, sometimes referred to as TMJ or TMD, causes tremendous jaw-related face and head pain in one quarter of FMS patients. Typically, the problems are related to the muscles and ligaments surrounding the jaw joint and not necessarily the joint itself.

Other common symptoms - Premenstrual syndrome and painful periods, chest pain, morning stiffness, cognitive or memory impairment, numbness and tingling sensations, muscle twitching, irritable bladder, the feeling of swollen extremities, skin sensitivities, dry eyes and mouth, dizziness, and impaired coordination can occur. Patients are often sensitive to odors, loud noises, bright lights, and sometimes even the medications that they are prescribed.

Aggravating factors - Changes in weather, cold or drafty environments, infections, allergies, hormonal fluctuations (premenstrual and menopausal states), stress, depression, anxiety and over-exertion may all contribute to symptom flare-ups.

Possible Causes

The cause of FMS remains elusive, but there are many triggering events thought to precipitate its onset. A few examples would be an infection (viral or bacterial), an automobile accident or the development of another disorder, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or hypothyroidism. These triggering events probably don't cause FMS, but rather, they may awaken an underlying physiological abnormality that is already present.

What Is The Prognosis?

Long term follow-up studies on FMS have shown that it is chronic, but the symptoms may wax and wane. The impact that FMS has on daily living activities, including the ability to work a full-time job, differs among patients. Overall, studies show that FMS may be equally as disabling as rheumatoid arthritis.

How Is It Diagnosed?

Currently there are no laboratory tests available for diagnosing Fibromyalgia. Doctors must rely on patient histories, self-reported symptoms, a physical examination and an accurate manual tender point examination. Proper implementation of the exam determines the presence of multiple tender points at characteristic locations.

Hope for fibromyalgia.

Over the past several years I have had the opportunity to help several patients with fibromyalgia. It has been my experience that there is not one cause for this condition so individualizing a patient's treatment program is essential. The immune system appears to be the most common weakness with the patients that I have worked with. Through the use of diagnostic testing like Vega testing we have been able to unravel the underlying cause and develop a treatment program on an individual basis. Not all patients respond as quickly to therapy because not all patients have the same underlying cause. From detoxification to specialized nutrients to rebalance the immune system as well as treating individual nutritional deficiencies, patients have responded extremely well to care. Though not all patients show a complete recovery, many do. Our program consists of developing an individual diet that matches a patients genetic makeup, targeting therapy to balance the immune system through chiropractic adjustments and specialized nutritional formulas. Enhancing a patients neurotransmitters with nutritional products that help enhance sleep and educating patients on the importance of following the five laws of natural health (see our pamphlets on the natural laws of health).

Diarrhea and Constipation Explained

When waste material travels through your digestive tract too quickly for sufficient water absorption to occur, your stools will be runny and more frequent than normal.

Three main causes of diarrhea are:

• Undesirable microorganisms
• Food intolerances (like lactose intolerance)
• Stress

In the first two cases listed above, it makes sense that your body would want things to move quickly through your system; your body doesn't want to spend time digesting foods that it can't properly extract nutrients from or that are laced with disease-causing microbes.

Stress can cause transit time to shorten by messing with your enteric nervous system; please recall that your enteric nervous system controls the reflex contractions that mark "haustral churning." Your enteric nervous system is a part of your autonomic nervous system, and your autonomic nervous system regulates your physiological responses to emotional and physical stress.

When waste material travels through your colon more slowly than it should, enough water is extracted from your waste material to cause your stools to become uncomfortably hard.

Five main causes of constipation are:

• Eating sporadically, or eating meals that are too small to elicit mass peristalsis.
• Not going when you feel an urge to go.
• Lack of a healthy intestinal lining that is capable of producing enough mucous to properly lubricate your stools (vitamin A deficiency is a potential cause of this situation).
• Insufficient intake of water, water-rich foods, and/or fiber-rich foods.
• Stress.

Steps You Can Take To Have Healthy Bowel Movements

Eat substantial meals; don't nibble on small amounts throughout the day.

Each time you eat a substantial meal, you stimulate stretch receptors in your stomach that are responsible for triggering normal and mass peristaltic waves throughout your small and large intestines. These natural contractile waves promote regular movement of waste material through your colon and rectum.

Also, eating substantial meals allows significant boluses (roundish masses) of waste materials to travel together through your colon, turn into well formed stools, and get eliminated from your body in an efficient manner.

Don't suppress the desire to go.

If you regularly suppress the urge to have a bowel movement, waste materials spend more time than is optimal in your colon, causing excessive dehydration of these materials and formation of hard stools.

Ensure adequate intake of water and/or water-rich foods.

Water helps to move waste materials along, and is absorbed throughout the entire length of your colon. Insufficient water intake can cause stools to form far before waste materials reach your rectal pouch, which can cause constipation.

This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to drink several glasses of water per day. If you eat plenty of water-rich plant foods, then you can rely on your sense of thirst to dictate how much water to drink.

Eat fiber-rich foods regularly.

Fiber adds bulk to the boluses of waste material that travel through your large intestine, and this bulk is essential to your colon's ability to turn waste materials into well formed stools.

A diet that is rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains ensures high fiber intake.

Ensure optimal vitamin D status.

Optimal vitamin D status significantly lowers your risk of developing all types of cancer, including colorectal cancer.

To learn more about how to make sure your body is getting enough vitamin D, have a look at the following:

How to Make Sure that You Are Getting Enough Vitamin D for Your Best Health

Ensure adequate vitamin A status.

As mentioned earlier, glands that line the mucosal lining of your colon are responsible for releasing mucous that is needed to lubricate your feces; vitamin A is needed to maintain the health of these specialized cells that release mucous.

It's best to ensure adequate vitamin A status by eating healthy foods that contain vitamin A.

Ensure adequate intake of healthy fats.

All of your cells, including those of your large intestine and nervous system, require a constant influx of undamaged fatty acids and cholesterol to remain fully functional. If you don't ensure adequate intake of healthy fats, your nervous system and the smooth muscles that surround your digestive passageway - both of which are responsible for creating peristaltic waves throughout your digestive tract - may deteriorate in function.

Also, intake of healthy fats is necessary for optimal absorption of fat-soluble vitamin A, which, as mentioned above, is critical to building and maintaining the mucosal lining of your colon.

Healthy foods that are rich in healthy fats include: avocados, organic eggs, olives, extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil, coconuts, raw nuts, raw seeds, and cold-water fish.

Build and maintain a population of friendly bacteria in your digestive tract.

Large populations of friendly bacteria (kefir, yogurt) can keep your digestive tract clean and healthy by:

• Promoting optimal digestion, thereby preventing build-up of toxic waste materials.
• Taking up space and resources, thereby helping to prevent infection by harmful bacteria, fungi, and parasites.

Work at feeling emotionally balanced.

Stress can interfere with your ability to clean your colon through its effect on your enteric nervous system (your gut is your second brain). I can state with certainty that the majority of people who have come to me over the years with a chronic colon-related health issue have had significant anxiety in their lives.

 

If you have a challenge with colon and rectal health, I encourage you to take a careful look at ways that you can minimize the amount of stress and anxiety you experience.

 

Many books have been written concerning diet. What is a good diet? Is there a perfect diet? Is there a diet everyone should follow?

When I was in school an instructor challenged us; "You can make any statement about diet, even an outrageous one, and I will find an authority who agrees with you and one who disagrees." He defined an authority as anyone who has written a book. Believe me, after over 25 years in practice I know, for the layperson, diet can be very confusing. It can be confusing for a lot of doctors as well. The one law concerning diet that few will disagree with is "all things in moderation."

WE ARE DIFFERENT

Over the years, as the effects that food has on individuals has been studied, we have noticed that certain foods will have a unique effect on a persons moods and physiology. Mothers have seen that sweets might make one of their children hyperactive and another child moody or depressed. Foods do not have a universal affect on individuals, the facts are different foods affect people in different ways. So if individuals have different metabolisms than they have different dietary needs. If we were all exactly the same then one perfect diet might be the answer.

The fact is we are individuals, different types of music affect different people in a unique way. For some people like one type of music, some another. To think one diet will fit all makes as much sense as thinking one type of music will be enjoyed by all. At Keefe Clinic we attempt to understand how each patient is unique. There is absolutely no way one diet can be right for all people. Yet for the last several years a low-fat, high complex carbohydrate diet has been pushed on the general public.

The Low-Fat Diet Can Kill

In April 1996 the Second International Symposium on Dietary Fats and Oil Consumption in health and disease was hosted by the Southwestern University Medical School in Dallas, Texas. Nutritional researchers from around the world presented their findings on the effects of fat in the human diet. After the presentations showing the subjects following the low-fat, high complex carbohydrate diet hadn't got rid of their obesity, had not lowered their cholesterol levels, had lowered their HDL levels (the good cholesterol), and had increased their blood levels of triglycerides (a major risk factor for heart disease), the moderators of the symposium pronounced the low-fat diet a failure.

Now some people who have followed the low-fat diet have benefited. Those individuals have lost weight, lowered their cholesterol and blood sugar, and have extended their lifespan. But when you get a massive study of the population as a whole, the good is far outweigh by the number of individuals that have been hurt. Some metabolisms need a low-fat diet; some metabolisms need a high protein diet. Some metabolisms need to stay away from red meat. Some metabolisms should have red meat on a regular basis. Some people like classical music, some people like rock-and-roll. Just as our auditory needs are different our chemical needs are different.

Before Heart Disease Was So Common

In 1910 we consumed 83% of our fat as animal fat and only 17% as vegetable fat, and practically all of that came from eating the actual vegetables. Now, we get three times the amount of vegetable fat we did then, and a little more than half the animal fat. And we have added a new kind of fat; unnatural, processed fat called Trans fat, to the mix. Trans fat, widely used for baking, turned up in all kinds of processed foods; unfortunately, according to the Second National Health in Nutrition Examination Survey done nearly 20 years ago, the largest contributions of calories in the U.S. diet are white bread, rolls, crackers, doughnuts, cookies, and cakes, so we consume-at least those of us who follow the typical American diet-a hefty dose of these unnatural fats. In order to avoid Trans fats, it's important to look for the words partially hydrogenated and avoid any products that contain them.

There are some universal truths: eat real foods. It's possible today to have a meal that consists of very little real foods. Try to eat something fresh and raw everyday, fiber is an essential element to good health and raw foods are full fiber, as well as, vitamins, minerals and enzymes. Junk food got its name because it's primarily junk. Garbage in-garbage out, a computer law that's true for our bodies as well.

The Water Cure

New research links dehydration with a number of common diseases. Are you dying of thirst? Forty percent of your body weight in ozs. is the minimum of water you should drink everyday, 50 percent is your cleansing dose. If your weight is 100lbs. you need to drink 40-50ozs. of water every day. Your body is 75 percent water; your brain is 85 percent water, you need to replace this with clean water everyday. As we get older our sense of thirst gradually decreases which can lead to our bodies becoming chronically and increasingly dehydrated.

The Nature Cure

How about fresh air and sunlight. Our bodies need these elements as well. Indoor air has concentrated pollutants that can effect our health. Get outside and enjoy God's creation. Today we hear a lot about the dangers of sunlight. We are told that the ozone layer is opening and we are being exposed to more harmful rays of the sun. To that I say, "junk science". The sun has not changed, we have. We do not eat enough foods that have the antioxidants that protect us from the sun. We are exposed to more toxins that deplete us of antioxidants and so we have more skin cancer. Eat your vegetables and enjoy the sunlight, remember all things in moderation.

Knowing Your Body

There are four distinct body types with many subgroups. The different body types have differing chemistry related to which organ is the most dominant. The types include Thyroid, Adrenal, Gonadal (sex glands), and Pituitary. In men the Adrenal and Gonadal are combined in the Adrenal type.

The ratio of proteins, carbohydrates and fats differ for each type. The Thyroid type and Pituitary type require a lot of proteins whereas the Adrenal type and Gonadal type require a lot of complex carbohydrates. Too much fat can cause problems for Adrenal type and Gonadal type. The Thyroid type and Pituitary type can handle fats pretty well but carbohydrates would put their metabolisms under a lot of stress.

Learning what ratio of proteins, carbohydrates and fats that work best in your system will go a long way in balancing your body's chemistry. Each body type has certain foods that pose particular health risks for them. Understanding this information and realizing how your body type is genetically wired can give you a handle on your health for the rest of your life.

Filling out a simple form will help us determine which body type you are. Knowledge is power.

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