It’s my privilege to introduce you to my friend and colleague Dr. Josh Levitt. He is a Naturopathic Doctor who also holds a degree in physiology from UCLA. He is also the author and creator of several popular books and is a clinical preceptor for the Yale School of Medicine.
Josh & I talk about musculoskeletal health, joint pain, muscle pain, and the frustrations navigating the traditional medical system related to these ailments. We cover:
* Conventional Medicine vs Naturopathy. Are They Mutually Exclusive?
* What Are Some of the Most Common Joint or Muscle Issues?
* What Is the Conventional Medicine Way to Treat Joint and Muscle Pain?
* What Is Inflammation and What’s it’s Role on The Body?
* What Natural Tools Do We Have to Drop Joint and Muscle Inflammation?
* What Else Can Be Done to Avoid Going Through Surgery?
* What About the Psycho-Emotional Part of Pain?
In Naturopathy, the philosophy is to use the lowest amount of force that’s necessary in order to promote healing. That is just one way of looking at medicine and what it means to heal.
The most common complaint in primary care offices across the country is low back pain (also mid back and neck pain). A common diagnosis is a bulging or herniated disc. These kinds of spinal complaints are the things that people might go to an orthopedist for, but also might go to a chiropractor or an acupuncturist or a naturopathic doctor.
There’s a very predictable pattern of prescriptions that happen for people who are in pain. It starts with over-the-counter pain relievers or anti-inflammatory medications. It goes up from there to injectable forms of those drugs, to steroidal medications and corticosteroids, to some kind of surgical intervention.
In naturopathic medicine there are so many options and tools that could prevent the need for medications and even surgery. Why use such an invasive tool when another less powerful, less invasive, less toxic, less forceful intervention would do the trick?
A knee replacement in the appropriate patient and circumstance is a beautiful thing. In fact, it’s almost miraculous, but only when done on the right person in the right situation.
People tend to think of inflammation as a bad thing and want to suppress it, but it is absolutely fundamental to healing. It’s our body’s response to help us heal. But when that inflammation is excessive, it becomes destructive. It can be a major driver of chronic disease and painful syndromes.
Herbal treatments and diet changes are a long run fight. Dietary changes, supplements, herbs, and nutrients are going to make us less likely to have problems in the future. It’s also been proven that when you suppress inflammation aggressively with steroids or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, especially for extended periods, the problem will be worse over the long term.
There are many natural remedies to drop inflammation that can avoid the need for non-steroidal or steroidal drugs that work for joint pain. Some examples are curcumin, boswellia, bromelain and magnesium. Other options are acupuncture with electrical stimulation and CBD/THC from cannabis in topical form.
There are other tools out there for treating joint and muscle issues before you go through surgery. For example, prolotherapy, stem cell injections, PRP (which is platelet rich plasma injections), hyaluronic acid injections are all regenerative therapies that are absolutely resources to try before surgery.
Physical pain can have a psycho-emotional source too. You have to ask yourself what is going on in your life that can be triggering that pain. This becomes very clear when you start taking a closer look at what is going on in your life, what is happening and what emotions are coming up in this process of analyzing it.
Pain is a messenger that tells us that something is wrong and that our behavior needs to change. This change could mean changing something in our posture, physical activity, diet, stress exposure, toxins exposure, nutrient deficiencies, and the psycho-emotional part of our lives.
If we take the time and the space to just be curious and present, and instead of being in fear and running away from pain, stay with it and learn from it, and listen to our body, it can be very liberating and it can show us what we need to do in order to start the healing process.
To understand my approach to helping people recover from inflammation and pain, you may want to start by reading my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health (https://doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/).
If you’re interested in a safe and effective body, mind and spirit detoxification that will help you reduce inflammation, you can check out my 14-Day Detox Program here (https://doctordoni.com/detox-program).
For the most comprehensive support, even with the most difficult health issues (physical or mental), you can set up a one-on-one appointment with me here (https://doctordoni.com/work-with-me/).
We’re here to help you!
source
