Wellness Posts by Kenneth Hoffman

How To Heal Yourself From The Inside Out

support@wellness.com — Sun, 18 Feb 2018 08:00:00 Z

Wellness.com - How To Heal Yourself From The Inside Out by Kenneth Hoffman

Let’s set the stage: Pretend that you have chronic low back pain. How would you treat it? - Conventionally, you may take painkillers or an epidural to numb the pain. However, this method will only mask the symptoms. Now, pretend you have a headache. How would you treat that? Commonly, you can pop an Advil and hope it goes away, right? - Unfortunately, all too often, lower back pain or headache will come back full swing once the epidural and painkillers wear off. With that said, there must be a more effective way to heal the body… - …But, HOW? - Answer: Look Past The Surface - When it comes down to your health, you have to think outside the box. How do we do this? - We need to look past the surface symptoms and realize that healing comes from within. I know, it sounds tacky, but true. No matter what symptom someone may have, there must be a more comprehensive approach to healing. Treating the symptom ONLY without addressing the underlying issue is not the way – it’s similar to trimming weeds in the garden – the weeds will grow back – maybe not right away, but with time. However, to get rid of the weeds for good, you must pull them out by the root. Find The Root Cause - Whether it’s low back pain, chronic headaches, anxiety or whatever the case may be, symptoms are often misleading. Look for the solution, not the symptom. Further, understand one concept – the body heals itself. If you treat the root, the body will take care of itself, naturally. With all of those mentioned, I will now reveal a few effective ways to boost your body’s natural ability to heal itself from the inside out… - Balance Your Nervous System - In our world today, it’s safe to say that most people are sympathetic dominant. What is this? Well, in the body, there is an intricate network called the central nervous system (comprised of the brain and spinal cord). There are two moving parts: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Basically, they are opposites. When you are in a relaxed state, you’re engaging the parasympathetic nervous system. In regards to healing, this is exactly what you want. When you’re in this state, the body dilates the blood vessels and releases pain killing endorphins to aid, promote and speed up the healing process. On the flip side, if you’re constantly stressed, the sympathetic nervous system will trigger a cascade of stress responses in the body – not good for healing. So, when the body and mind are calm, it’s similar to stepping on the brake – you are creating space and time to heal. Climb To The Peak Of Your Health - From clinical experience, most patients stop medical intervention once the pain is gone. However, to be honest, this is not the path to recovering fully (only partially). By understanding, patient progress graphs, symptoms begin to subside when the patient reaches a 70% improvement on their chart. But, what about the other 30%? Just because one is in an asymptomatic state (no pain), does not mean the underlying cause is still not scratching the surface. The truth is, if you want to climb to the peak of your health (100%), you need to push yourself to reach the summit. I promise, the view is amazing! - Boost Adrenal Function - The adrenal glands (part of the endocrine system) are located above the Kidneys. These thumb sized organs secrete over fifty different hormones throughout the whole entire matrix of the body. They are truly vital for dealing with life’s day-to-day stressors. In our world, many people have adrenal fatigue and don’t even know it. According to the book, Adrenal Fatigue: 21st Century Stress Syndrome, it has been estimated that about 80% of the total population on Earth has adrenal insufficiency. So, to boost healing, you need to heal these two tiny glands. As long as one is under constant stress, the adrenal glands won’t stand a chance. Overtaxing the adrenals will secrete excess regulatory hormones and cause havoc on other body systems. For this reason, stay away from anything that overstimulates the adrenals, such as, too much caffeine, sugars, hydrogenated oils, chronic stress, etc. Harmonize Your Internal Organs - From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), an imbalance of one or more organs may cause disharmony of the whole body. In TCM, the five main organs are also known as the five friends (Heart, Spleen, Lung, Kidney, and the Liver). In many ways, these organs are not only vital for healing, but they also share an intrinsic relationship with each other. Think of it like this. Imagine that you have four annoying college roommates. At times, you will all bump heads and argue – this is unavoidable. But, to stay friends, all five of you need to learn to get along and share. Comparably so, if one organ is off, the others will follow suit. Therefore, maintaining a healthy friendship between the five internal organs is a must when promoting balance. When the organs are all in harmony, healing is cranked up a notch. Promote Circulation - Let’s put our thinking caps on for this one. Imagine that our internal vascular system is nothing but a flowing river. What do rivers do? … They are constantly on the move. Similar to our blood supply, it’s always on the go. When we promote systemic circulation, the body has a greater chance at healing itself. This principle holds true in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Increasing circulation will send nutrient rich blood to heal the injured area in the body. Here are some easy tips to promote circulation at home: Light to moderate exercise, eat cooked foods, hot tea’s, and avoid too much ice usage for injuries (shunts blood flow). Use heat to heal injuries (promotes blood flow locally to heal the injured site) - The Bottom Line - All roads lead to Rome – by focusing on one or two of these essential tips, you may improve the whole entire health of the body, in one shot. Rome wasn’t built in a day – be patient with healing. Further, don’t take symptoms, so seriously. Remember that the body heals itself – all you need to do is to bring the body back into balance. Thus, once homeostasis returns, the body will naturally heal itself, from the inside out. Dr. Chris, L.Ac. INM Resident Practioner Our newest Resident at SOPHIA NATURAL HEALTH CENTER. Chris comes to us from Hamilton, New Jersey where he ran a private practice in acupuncture and oriental medicine. He is a graduate from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York CIty. Christopher is also a Board Certified Herbalist and a Registered Yoga Teacher. Chris is well trained in all the ancient techniques such as classical acupuncture (TCM), tui-na (manual therapy), herbal medicine & cupping therapy in order to help you achieve optimized recovery. He is an author of a informational book on acupuncture and chinese medicine called 108 Healing Secrets. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, martial arts, and spending time with his wife and son. References - Kaptchuk, Ted. The Web That Has No Weaver. New York: Congton and Weed,
1983.
-Porth Mattson Carol. Pathophysiology: Concepts of Altered Health States. 8th Edition.
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009.
-Wilson, James. Adrenal Fatigue: 21st Century Stress Syndrome. Petaluma, Calif., Smart
Publications, 2001.

Matters of the Heart

support@wellness.com — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 07:00:00 Z

Wellness.com - Matters of the Heart by Kenneth Hoffman

Matters of the Heart: An Integrative Chinese Medicine Approach to Cardiovascular Health - As a seasoned natural medicine practitioner, I have observed over the years the baby Boomer population and how they age. There is an angst that comes from experiencing our own mortality that grows with each decade of later life. I often hear the reports from my patients about the health assessment done in those milestone years such as the colonoscopy, mammograms, blood tests, stress tests, PSA testing and the list go on and on. The purpose of this testing is purported as early detection of disease and disease prevention, but I have learned some sobering facts about the effectiveness, or lack of effectiveness, should I say of all these screenings. Of particular concern to me are those tests dealing with cardiovascular disease. According to John Hopkins School of Medicine, Cardiovascular disease is the cause of more deaths than cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and accidents combined. It is a myth that heart disease is in men only. In fact, cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer of women, as well. And the latest data tell us that about 1/3 of all cardiovascular deaths could be simply prevented. To make matters worse, conventional testing and treatment includes decade old screening that has been found to be relatively useless. Dr. David Newman, Director of clinical research at Columbia University was quoted “It appears that flipping a coin would be a more sensitive mechanism for detecting coronary artery disease than relying on a stress test.” Also, according to Charles McGee, MD, author of the book Heart Frauds: Uncovering the Biggest Health Scan in Medical History, conventional treatment for heart disease like coronary bypass surgery, balloon angioplasty, and cholesterol-lowering drugs do not work and are completely unnecessary.” And according to Princeton Longevity Center, “The major limitation of all cardiac stress tests is that it requires a high level of blockage in one or more coronary arteries to produce an abnormal result.” The amount of blockage sits around 65-70% before a stress test will be abnormal. As practitioners, we can do better for our patients. We know that early detection of risk and early intervention is the key. We also know that there have been successful natural interventions that will work when the disease is caught early. So what can you do to detect problems before you have a 70% blockage in your heart, find out what the real risk is AND more importantly, what can you do about it? Well, I have uncovered some little known testing tools and procedures and applied our natural treatments and it works. One of the most important first steps in the process of recovering or disease-proofing your heart is to diagnose the problem. This does not mean a conventional textbook diagnosis, but one that addresses the source of any health issues and identifies risk of the published diseases. Here are some risk detection strategies that I have integrated and used with thousands of my patients: - 1. The Chinese medical diagnosis. For centuries, Chinese medicine has used one’s own body to identify areas where oxygen and blood are not properly circulating. This includes observations, palpation and complex identification of abnormalities in one’s pulse. Specifically, the location of the radial pulse on the left hand near the wrist crease. Decreased flow or a “bird beak” type pulse in this location can be an indicator of heart malfunction. Also, observation of the tongue and veins under the tongue can give us great details. Even though, Chinese doctors wrote about these relationships centuries ago, a study in the journal BMC Oral Health, a relationship between hypertension and the blue veins under the tongue was found as well as another study that found a relationship between the observation of the tongue and Coronary Vascular disease. 2. Pulse pressure. Using a simple test of blood pressure and calculation of the upper and lower numbers can tell us if you are at high risk of hardening of the arteries. Typically, if you subtract the top blood pressure number (systolic) from the lower number (diastolic) there should be no more than 40 points difference. Even a 10 point difference was found to increase the risk of heart disease by 20% and may indicate hardening of the arteries. 3. Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) and Digital Pulse Analysis. This is an exciting, non-invasive method of looking at heart physiology that is backed by more than 25 years of advanced research in medical physics. By using something called pulse oxymetry and advances in software, this system can measure the risk of arterial stiffness and blood flow. According to the Framingham Heart Study and published in the medical journal “Circulation”, adding PWV technology to assessment lead to significant reclassification and identification of those at risk and led to better interventions. These are just a few of the tools we use in an advanced integrative medical practice. Some other tests you should know about are the- Boston Heart Diagnostics- which is the best of the best at looking for inflammation and various damaging cholesterol particles that can harm your heart. We also include Medical Infrared Thermography, which looks for inflammation anywhere in the body, especially carotid arteries and breast cancer risk, hormone testing for excess estrogen or deficient hormones and various other tools that will give us far more information than the basic stress or cholesterol test. The best part of all this testing is that when the problem is uncovered, we can develop a specific plan to restore function and reverse risk. One tool that may not be considered, but should is acupuncture. By inserting fine pins into specific points on the body, we can increase flexibility in the vessels (it increases NOS), reduce blood pressure, increase blood flow and stabilizes hormones in the nervous system that damage the heart, such as cortisol and adrenaline. We can strengthen the heart muscle itself and increase output through the entire system. Also, with the use of targeted supplements and herbal formulas, inflammation can be reduced and coronary plaque can be addressed. For example, the herb, Hawthorn or crateagus has been shown to lower blood pressure and increase blood flow in heart failure patients. There are many, many other usual treatment strategies that are safe, non-invasive such as plenty of essential fats, CoQ10 and more. The key is to have an organized assessment and know the tools that can help. Seek out professionals who are skilled in the use of these tools and let them design a program that addresses your needs. Boston Heart Cardiovascular Diagnostics - CardioHealth Protocol - Kenneth Hoffman D.Ac. (RI), L.Ac. (CT), CCH - SOPHIA Natural Health – Integrative Natural Medicine - Medical Director and Founder