Saturated Fat

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Back in March there was a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine about saturated fat in your diet. Scientists looked at 72 previous studies of more than 600,000 people in 18 countries.

This review looked at the amount of saturated fat people consumed in their diets and found it really doesn’t have any effect on your risk for heart disease.

If saturated fats really don’t harm your heart as mainstream medicine has pushed for all these years, the question then becomes: Why did they push this idea for so many years?

Back Pain Overdiagnosed

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

A few weeks ago an article by Daniel DeNoon of the Harvard Health Blog ran in our local paper. It was titled, “Back pain overdiagnosed, overtreated.” He quotes Dr. Bruce E Landon, a professor at Harvard Medical School, saying, “Most routine back pain will improve on its own WITH conservative therapy in three months, often shorter than that. Even more importantly, when we do more aggressive things – such as injections, [high tech] imaging, and surgery- the long term outcomes don’t change at all. These things have very little impact on what is going on, and they have the potential to make things worse.”

Wow! What a complete indictment of how most people are treated when they present to their medical doctors for back pain. There is so much new evidence coming in every year that shows conservative care for back pain is the first treatment of choice for the best results.

Fitness Level Test, Parts 1 & 2

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

March has come and gone, and spring is soon to follow. Where have those New Year’s resolutions to exercise more and lose weight gone? If you’ve fallen off the wagon, it’s time to get back at it. Maybe the warmer weather will help us want to go out and exercise. I know it’s easier for me to do when I can get off the treadmill and into fresh air.

Assessing where you are in your level of fitness will help you determine what and how much exercise you should start to do. Dr. Mercola has identified several different assessment tools that can realistically be measured, and have good correlation to your current level of fitness and your future risks if you do nothing.

The most common measure of body composition is the BMI. Health insurance, life insurance and most medical services rely on this to help determine if you’re normal, obese or morbidly obese. BMI is actually a very poor measure of your body composition. It does not differentiate between muscle mass and fat tissue.

Homocysteine Levels

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

There has been a dramatic rise in cardiovascular disease in this country. Arterial hardening or the loss of elasticity of the artery wall is a leading cause of heart attack deaths, coronary artery disease, and stroke.

Dr. Kilmer McCully originally reported in 1969 that elevated homocysteine levels were associated with advanced atherosclerosis (plaquing) of the arteries and premature death. He based the findings on a study of children born with a genetic disorder called homocystinuria. These patients had genetically induced super high levels of homocysteine, and they often died at very young ages with advanced hardening of the arteries.

Homocysteine is an inflammatory amino acid that is produced as a byproduct of metabolism of the protein methionine. During metabolism of methionine, significant levels of B₆, B₁₂, folate, B₂ and magnesium must be present in order to be synthesized properly into glutathione. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant that protects against oxidative stress.

Germaphobe

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Are you a germaphobe?  Must you have antibacterial soaps, wipes and hand sanitizers available at all times?  Do you really believe that if you touch a germ you will get some cold, virus or disease?  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you don’t live in a germ free bubble.  These bugs are around you at all times.  In order for a particular germ to invade your defenses, there needs to be a weakness to exploit.  In other words, the ground(your body) needs to be fertile(weak) before you can ‘catch’ anything.

The use and abuse of antibiotic wipes, sanitizers, creams and soaps are a hazard to your health.  Triclosan and Triclocarban are the most common chemicals added to cutting boards, lunch boxes, mattresses, and hand sanitizers.  The attempt to control microbial spread has been a categoric failure. 

A growing body of evidence now suggests that the over application of triclosan is a leading cause of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.  It is bioaccumulatory in fish and other organic organisms.  Animal studies show that triclosan may alter the way hormones work in the body.  Triclosan is very good at killing off weak bacteria, which allows the virulent bacteria to thrive in their absence. 

Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

One of the most common surgeries performed by orthopedic surgeons is a meniscectomy – or trimming of the torn meniscus and smoothing the jagged edges of what remains. Most times, it is just assumed that this tear is what is causing the pain.

This arthroscopic surgery is performed some 700,000 times a year costing $4 billion. Several studies over the last 10 years have given rise to the question of necessity of this surgery for the most common cause, wear and tear.  80% of meniscal tears develop over time from simple wear and tear.

The latest study out of Finland, examined 146 people with degenerative meniscal tears (caused by wear and tear, not acute injury). One group received standard surgery and the other a “sham” or fake surgery. After one year, both groups reported equally favorable outcomes, which was primarily less knee pain. In the end, the researchers concluded that the real arthroscopic surgeries had no better outcome than the fake ones.

Discs

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written on a chiropractic specific topic. There is a lot of misinformation about intervertebral discs from many sources. Most doctors believe that once a spinal disc or nerve is damaged, you need surgery or are forced to live with pain, weakness and organ malfunction for the rest of your life.

The truth is that while the spine can and does easily degenerate, it can also regenerate. Conditions once thought to be permanent can many times be stopped, and sometimes reversed. Chiropractic, like medicine, is becoming more specialized all the time. The special training necessary to physically change your condition by fixing your postural problems is not to be found at every office, nor is every patient a candidate to be fixed. The process of rehabilitating a degenerated spine is time consuming and requires significant active participation from the patient. Not everyone is willing to put in the time and effort necessary to achieve a better spine.