Listen or Read Dr. Matthew Phinney’s Monthly Podcast Interview!
TOPIC – EASE ARTHRITIS PAIN
Below you will find an easy to read transcript of Dr. Matthew Phinney’s interview on the razorcast™ monthly podcast. You can click the video to listen to the podcast or simply read the easy to follow transcripts below. Enjoy!
Podcast Interview:
RC: Hello everyone, this is Liz Harvey coming to you from our razorcast™ studios in New York City where we are dedicated to bringing you cutting edge interviews from many of the leading industry professionals across the United States.
In today’s episode, we are speaking with Dr. Matthew Phinney. Dr. Phinney is the founder of The Chiropractor Doctors in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he is committed to improving the health and vitality of his community through chiropractic and wellness care. He is originally from Toronto Canada and he graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport Iowa. Dr. Matthew Phinney is widely considered to be one of the top Chiropractors specializing in holistic and alternative health in the country and he is also a contributing member of our national network of industry professionals.
Today we are going to talk about a very important topic: Arthritis
RC: Hi Dr. Phinney, how are you today?
Dr. Matthew Phinney: Hey Liz. I’m doing fantastic, thanks for having me on.
RC: Great, thanks for being here.
Question 1: When does someone realize they have arthritis?
RC: So, when does someone realized that they have arthritis?
Dr. Matthew Phinney: You know arthritis is very very common nowadays but it’s not very well understood. When we talk about arthritis ‘arthro’ refers to joint ‘itis’ is inflammation. So it’s inflammation of a joint and it typically refers to some kind of joint pain or joint disease. So that’s typically when someone first realizes that they have arthritis is when they’re dealing with some sort of pain, some sort of discomfort. It’s like saying, you know, when does someone realize they have a cavity in their tooth? You don’t necessarily know that you have a cavity right away. It’s not until you actually go into a dentist and he does his x-rays and he starts poking around that they say, “Hey we have the beginning stages of a cavity.” Well the same thing is true with people and arthritis.
If you knew you had a cavity when would you want to know? You’d want to know now so the sooner you know, the sooner you can fix it. Same thing is true with arthritis. The sooner you find out about it, the sooner you can get it corrected so that it doesn’t get worse. But that’s typically when people will first realize they have it is when there’s some sort of joint pain, some sort of joint discomfort or stiffness.
Question 2: What are the names of the different types of arthritis?
RC: Okay and what are the names of the different types of arthritis?
Dr. Matthew Phinney: So there’s three main types. Most common type would be like a degenerative arthritis like an osteoarthritis. That’s when the cartilage or the cushioning or the disc starts to wear away and the bones of that joint can continue to rub and get closer and closer together causing pain, causing swelling, causing stiffness. Over time, it may become like a chronic condition. So that would be like osteoarthritis or degenerative arthritis.
The other kind would be like an inflammatory arthritis and that’s when the immune system actually will start to attack a joint. And so like a rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, those are examples of an inflammatory arthritis.
Then the third part would be like an infection or infectious type arthritis. A bacteria, a virus, a fungus can enter the joint, trigger inflammation and cause an infectious type arthritis. So a couple of the organisms that we’ll typically see with that type of pain would be like salmonella, shigella, you know, food poisoning or contamination through that type of way.
Those are the three main and then I guess the forth would be like a metabolic. That would be like uric acid formed in the body due to protein breakdown so like a gouty or gout arthritis. A lot of times linked to people that have high protein intake, don’t exercise regularly. Typically results in like a foot type pain, gout attack.
Question 3: How does chiropractic care help with arthritis pain relief?
RC: Okay so how does chiropractic care help with arthritis pain relief?
Dr. Matthew Phinney: Well that’s what when we talk about arthritis, again ‘artho’ joint ‘itis’ inflammation. We’re dealing with something in the body (the joints of the body) not working properly and that’s really what we specialize in is alignment and function of the joints of the body. Whether it be a shoulder, whether it be a hip, whether it be a knee, whether it be the disc in the joints of the spine. Really what we want to do is yeah we want to get in there and figure out why that joint is irritated, why it’s inflamed and then once we’ve determined that then we want to actually get in there and restore proper structure, proper function in that so that the pain that you’re dealing with decreases. Because anytime a joint gets stiff, it gets tight, it gets sore… it becomes more painful. The less movement that there is (the proper movement in a joint), the more pain there is going to be and that gets back to again Melzack and Wall’s gate theory of pain 1965: Increase in mechanoreception or movement will decrease nociception or pain. And so that’s why by restoring proper joint function, joint motion, joint movement, arthritis and the pain associated/involved with it decreases as well as the degeneration and the breakdown of that joint as a result. When it starts to work properly that will also decrease as well.
Question 4: What type of exercise is recommended for patients with arthritis?
RC: Okay so what type of exercise is recommended for patients with arthritis?
Dr. Matthew Phinney: So one of the things we always want to focus on with patients with arthritis we want to focus on mobility so flexibility. The more flexible you are, the more limber you are, the less stress and strain that it actually puts on the joints. So we have a specific spinal hygiene protocol that focuses on that as well as stability or stabilizing that joint. So we have a mobility and stability protocol that we actually focus on specific to that individual depending on where that arthritis is and what’s causing that arthritis.
The other thing you want to look at is like the low impact stuff. A pool is great for people with arthritis, bike, a rowing machine. The stuff where you’re not constantly pounding pounding pounding and irritating and aggravating a process that’s already started. So those are the couple of things, the mobility, the stability, spinal hygiene protocol, to maintain proper joint structure and function and then also the lower impact exercises. Those are the things that are great for people that are suffering from joint pain and arthritis.
Question 5: What nutritional advice do you have for people that are suffering from arthritis?
RC: Alright and what nutritional advice do you have for people that are suffering from arthritis?
Dr. Matthew Phinney: Again when we talk about arthritis, we talk about inflammation, ‘arthro’ joint ‘itis’ inflammation, inflammation of that joint. We want to focus on foods that are going to help decrease inflammation. Fresh raw fruits and vegetables, fantastic with that. A high dose omega 3 fatty acid. We recommend a product through a company called Nutri-West, that’s one that we actually make available here. It’s got an optimal ratio of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) to DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) so it’s 2,000 milligrams EPA to 1,000 DHA and then it’s also molecularly distilled. So they get all of the heavy metals out of that so it’s not going to damage or harm the body. The other one we would recommend would be like a high dose vitamin D3. Again all help decrease inflammation systemically in the body which decreases pain because inflammation is what causes pain.
So those are a couple of things and then limiting like the omega 6, the vegetable type oils, any of that processed food they are all typically a high dose omega 6 and those omega 6’s cause pain. So getting that 3-6 balance in check and these are all things that we actually teach, we have a workshop where we go through and specifically teach people how to decrease inflammation in the body and decrease pain.
RC: Alright! Well thank you so much Dr. Phinney. We know you’re extremely busy so I just want to thank you for your time and help today.
Dr. Matthew Phinney: Yeah fantastic! I really appreciate you having us on, always fun and I look forward to the next time.
RC: Thank you so much and for our listeners across the country, if you are interested in speaking with Dr. Matthew Phinney, you can either go online at www.thechirodocs.com or call (616) 432-3103 to schedule an appointment.
On behalf of our entire team at razorcast™, we want to thank you for listening and we look forward to bringing you more top quality content from our country’s leading industry professionals.
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