At Remedy our goal is to create a community of people sharing their remedy stories as they learn to nourish, and heal their bodies through proper nutrition and restorative movement.
From a physical therapy and health coaching perspective, we will educate you by combining the importance of proper nutrition and exercise on the human body. We want to inspire you to think differently about food. I believe it is time to view proper eating more like an eating plan for life as opposed to a diet. Eating to avoid inflammation promotes better health and may ward off chronic diseases.
Inflammation, is generally viewed as something that occurs with a specific injury, like a swollen ankle. This is acute inflammation and is the body’s normal response to injury. Chronic inflammation is when the body’s systems have been overloaded by trying to fix it’s imbalances, thus staying in a chronic inflammatory state.
For example, let’s say patient “A” is 45 and hurt his ankle playing pickup basketball three months ago. He finds himself in PT for a chronic ankle sprain and he states he is stressed due to not being able to exercise for the past 3 months and having gained 10 pounds. Patient A is taking NSAID’s for the pain and inflammation in his ankle. He also has less then stellar diet habits, and has recently started other medication for newly developed acid reflux.
Our fictitious person is now stuck in a chronic inflammatory state not just in his ankle, but also his gut. It is not uncommon to hear complaints about weight gain since having an injury or undergoing surgery. Nor is it an uncommon scenario for people to take NSAID’s for their injury. NSAID’s are anti-inflammatory meds, but the chronic use of them can end up causing more of an inflammatory state in the gut.
According to one NY Times article, NSAIDs are linked to causing peptic ulcers and GERD and they increase the severity in people who already have GERD. Besides acid reflux, chronic pain sufferers usually deal with other health maladies that can complicate their healing process. I recently read in this article, that 70% of fibromyalgia patients are diagnosed with IBS.
Humans are complex beings and to think that the gut and the rest of the body are not interconnected, is foolishness. Hippocrates, a greek physician who lived around 400 B.C. said, “All disease begins in the gut.” What happens in the gut, doesn’t stay in the gut. Instead, it affects the rest of the body’s hormonal responses and inflammatory responses.
Health Coaching has allowed me to be able to add a lifestyle based education to inspire my clients to think outside the box when it comes to their health and to empower positive choices in nutrition. In June 2015, the APTA House of Delegates passed the bylaw, RC 12-15 which says,
“Diet and nutrition are key components of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of many conditions managed by physical therapists. It is the role of the physical therapist to screen for and provide information on diet and nutritional issues to patients, clients, and the community within the scope of physical therapist practice. This includes appropriate referrals to nutrition and dietary medical professionals when the required advice and education lie outside the education level of the physical therapist. “
The chronic health crisis in America and how it affects PT patients has led to the need for more and more education in proper nutrition. As health professionals, it is of vital importance to understand the differential diagnoses our clients have and how they affect one another when we are trying to help people regain their health, function, and quality of life.
Introducing the proper diet to those who suffer from chronic pain and inflammation is a powerful and effective means to be able to promote healing in the gut which will in turn calm the inflammatory levels in the rest of the body and promote a quicker and smoother healing process.
Proper nutrition is how you break the vicious cycle of chronic pain and chronic inflammation!
If you have questions about how you may benefit from balancing your diet with proper nutrition, or if you are a PT and want more information on how you may address nutrition with your clientele then feel free to join our community here.
At Remedy, we eat real food and grow healthier as a community, one story at a time.
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Our Mission: Remedy Health and Wellness exists to help people with chronic pain and inflammation create their own remedy stories through educating, inspiring, and empowering them toward a vibrant healthy future.
Our Vision: Remedy Health and Wellness offers health coaching through whole food nutrition and restorative movement so our clients can live healthy, whole lives.
Sources: 1. http://www.ptaonly.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/PostHousePacket2015.pdf
2.http://www.belmarrahealth.com/fibromyalgia-and-irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs-connection-with-chronic-pain/ 3. http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/gastroesophageal-reflux-disease/causes.html