I Think I'm Getting Arthritis In My Back

Good Evening Everyone!


            "I think I'm getting arthritis in by back, because it's starting to hurt occationally."  That's what one of my patients said to me this morning.  I first assured him it was ok and that with some very simple steps, we could minimize the effect/advancement of the arthritis.
            The arthritis that he was talking about is osteoarthritis, which basically is wear and tear to a joint.  Wear and tear on anything is best dealt with by using maintenance as a tool.  A car does better with regular maintenance and so  does your body.  That car also does better when you use better products to support it and again, so does your body.  So, the advice that this patient and every patient of mine gets is to make sure that they do a few simple things to minimize osteoarthritis:

• Keep your spine and extremity joints moving properly and in the best possible position... using Chiropractic adjustments of course!!  For this I recommend that most people get adjusted at least once every 4-6 weeks ( some more.... some less).  
• Exercise for 30-40 minutes a few times a week.... include 1/2 cardio work and 1/2 muscle training
• Try and keep to an anti-inflammatory diet.... limit sugars, flour and salt (reduce all by 80%).  Also include fish oil supplementation for help with naturally reducing inflammation.  

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Yours in Health,

Dr. Jeff

P.S.:   It's kind of ironic, but being a chiropractor is hard on the body.  So, I try and make sure that I am practicing what I preach above to prevent arthritis (wear and tear) from advancing.

Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.

Some VERY BAD Advice!

Good Evening Everyone,


            Recently, one of my patients was diagnosed with non-insulin dependant type 2 diabetes.  So in a nutshell, cells are becoming resistant to insulin and therefor are requiring more and more to have the effect of lowering blood glucose levels.  The result of this is the pancreas beginning to wear out due to the increase in demand for insulin.
           The first step for this is usually adjusting the diet and monitoring the daily blood glucose levels.  One would think that the advice/goal for diet would be to reduce the need for higher levels of insulin.  This would begin to give the pancreas a rest (allow for repair), and also reduce the effect of insulin resistance in the cells.  Hopefully the diet is followed, exercise is added and possibly the type 2 diabetes is reversed (or drastically reduced).
           So, this patient did receive dietary advice with the same intent that I described above, but the content was lacking.  The advice included the substitution of sugar with artificial sweeteners (spenda, aspartame) and natural sweeteners (truvia, stevia).  This advice will drive this patient into full blown insulin dependant diabetes even sooner than if the patient just kept on eating real sugar!

Explanation.....  The pancreas responds to sugar, but it mostly responds to how sweet something is.  The substitutes for real sugar are in some cases 1000x sweeter!!  For example, consumption of a diet soda will cause a more massive insulin release a regular soda.  Doing this over and over again will drastically speed up insulin resistance in the cells and the eventual death of the pancreas!  

Take Home Advice:  Diabetic or Not.... DON'T follow that bad advice.  Reduce the about of sweet you have in your diet.  Drink water (or unsweetened beverages), reduce desserts by 80%,  don't overcook pasta, eat sprouted grain breads/products/cereals, reduce refined flour by 80%, limit/avoid orange/yellow fruit and vegetables, and finally.... exercise 20-30 min a few times a week.

Yours in Health!

Dr. Jeff

P.S.  That same advice will help anyone loose considerable weight and keep it off!



Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.

Got Foot Problems?... We Can Help!

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Hopefully everyone had a great holiday weekend!

      This week we're talking about the health of your feet and how poor foot mechanics can cause other problems throughout the body.  When having the opportunity to evaluate some of my patients' feet, I can report that most are wearing the wrong shoes (possibly wrong size) and have poor mechanics in the bones/joints of the foot & ankle.  Incorrect foot mechanics and foot wear will lead to improper mechanics when walking.   This in turn will negatively affect the health of the knees, hips and spine (especially the low back and pelvic/sciatic joints).
      So make sure to bring any pains in the feet, ankles, knees or hips to our attention.  Don't have any pain in those areas?  That's OK, because you can still ask us to have the feet/ankles checked to prevent future problems from arising.  If we find issues that we can help, we'll recommend proper foot wear and use chiropractic adjusting to make sure the foot/ankle is functioning properly.

If you have any questions about this or any other topic, please feel free to email me:  drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com

Enjoy this beautiful day!


Yours in Health,

Dr. Jeff
Bruce Chiropractic Center
856-547-6587  



Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.