Back Pain

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

It is estimated that 80% of Americans will have chronic back pain (BP) at some point in their lives. At any point in time, over 30% of the population of adults will have back pain. Then why is it that only 7 to 10% of the population goes to the chiropractor?

People struggling with BP take many different paths to find relief, many of which have been proven ineffective. Debilitating symptoms cause some to resign themselves to a lifetime of prescription pain killers, steroid shots and even multiple surgeries. All of these have been proven less effective than alternative treatments such as spinal manipulation, exercises and massage.

In days of old, osteopathic doctors actually performed some spinal manipulation with adequate results. Today, there are very few osteopaths who even choose to learn it. Most have chosen the allopathic model of conventional medicine, and couldn’t care less about the roots of their profession. They have been absorbed by medicine.

Organic Sulfur - Part 2

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

In the last article, we started to look at a few of the many benefits of organic sulfur. Today, we will finish this topic with even more benefits of OS, and how and when to take it.

Hesh Goldstein says OS may help with emphysema by providing the body with the material needed to manufacture new healthy cells on the lung walls. There is also good evidence to suggest help with asthmatic cases, even proven to reverse countless cases.

OS makes cell walls more permeable, thereby flushing out toxins more easily and introducing nutrients to the cells more quickly. There are two practical problems this benefit can help overcome, one is hypoglycemia and the other is an alcohol hangover. First, hypoglycemic people can get blood sugar into cells more easily. Less insulin is then necessary for this process, resulting in less overuse of the pancreas. Within several months of using OS, hypoglycemia may be eliminated entirely. Secondly, for all you heathens who drink to excess, using OS causes the body to rapidly reduce and release alcohol toxins, removing them as waste: the process quickens recovery time from a ‘hangover’ to as little as twenty minutes.

Organic Sulfur - Part 1

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

I am always on the lookout for interesting health information. A few months back, I started reading articles on organic sulfur, aka methylsulfonylmethane or MSM. I’ve used MSM with many patients over the years. It helps with relief of pain from arthritis. What I didn’t know were the details of this crucial compound.

Every day the body needs about 750 mg of sulfur. Small amounts are found in water, fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products. Unless you consume mostly organic, raw foods, you are likely deficient in organic sulfur (OS). Anytime food is cooked, dehydrated, stored during shipping or refrigerated a length of time, it is depleted of most sulfur. This means pasteurized milk and any frozen veggies have no significant supply of sulfur. This is because OS bands with moisture and is carried away when dehydration occurs.

Dynamic Stretching

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

The calendar says spring is here. The weather channel begs to differ. As I write this, more snow is forecast, and spring seems a long way off! Thanks for nothing, Phil.

For now, thinking about spring and outdoor activities is all we can do. We look forward to getting back to our outdoor exercise regimen, whether it’s running, biking, softball or any other physical activity. How we ease into these activities has a big role in how long we will actually perform them before an injury occurs. Preventing injury is much preferred to recovering from an injury.

Warm-up activities are a must if you want to continue to be active, and minimize your risk of injury. You can’t stay healthy if you can’t perform your favorite activities.

Diatomaceous Earth

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

Since we are (hopefully) coming into spring soon, my thoughts are turned to starting the garden. Over the last several years, I’ve tripled the size of my garden to grow a sizeable portion of our fresh produce. One of the challenges of every gardener is pest control. The big pests, like groundhogs, are easy to take care of – just shoot ‘em. It's the little munchers that are the problem. I really don't like using pesticides and chemicals at all, so I don't. I have found one chemical-free, nontoxic, edible product to use in controlling most insects, bugs, and worms. It is called Diatomaceous Earth, or DE.

Aspirin Therapy

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

For many years, doctors have been prescribing aspirin therapy as a cheap, effective way to reduce cardiovascular events and improve survival after a heart attack. Neither of these is true.

Even low dose aspirin therapy has serious side effects that, just like statin drugs for cholesterol, overshadow any supposed benefit. The evidence in support of aspirin has always been weak, and over the last decade it has become even weaker.

The benefit purported by medicine for taking aspirin is that of its antiplatelet activity. They say that it helps save lives by reducing deaths from heart attacks.

Alkalinity, Part 2

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

Last week we learned that there is only one state of pH that our bodies can be in…and that is in the alkaline range of 7.35 to 7.45. There is no such thing as acid/alkaline balance, because acid destroys alkali and vice versa; pH is a number, not a ratio.

Now, we will see why the theory of getting your body more alkaline is one, not possible, and two, even if possible, would not rid you of disease as is claimed.

The body’s own immune system kills pathogens with an oxidation process using hypochlorous acid. Here’s how it works:

When a pathogen enters the body, and all systems respond properly, white blood cells, called neutrophils, attack the invader by engulfing it. Next, it produces an oxidant called hypochlorous acid, which is bioselective of certain organic materials, not all, and kills the pathogen immediately.