I had this young elite hockey player patient that was going to travel overseas for hockey. He was worried about the jet lag and how his performance would be affected. He asked about supplementation and what should he take. As per usual I suggested he take magnesium and melatonin to help regulate his sleep. In a previous newsletter we spoke about how important sleep is for recovery. If you have not read that email or want a refresher on how therapists can help with this then click here to a previous blog post.
As a younger athlete he did not have much experience with supplementation and this lead to a whole conversation of all the things he could be doing nutritionally to help with his performance and overall health.
As it turns out in general he was not taking anything. His nutrition was very good but he was not supplementing. His sleep was also not great even without the jet lag.
This is what lead me to this topic.
How many patients do you see with chronic pain?
How many of them have some underlying conditions... For example, thyroid disease, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, insulin sensitivity, diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
All of these things have been associated with patients with chronic pain and predisposes them to experience chronic pain issues.
The metabolic health of our patients VASTLY effects their relationship with pain. This is very underestimated. In most cases high performing athletes don't have these metabolic conditions and STILL supplement, they also tend to recover much faster and not present with chronic pain issues. Exercise and physical training improve glucose metabolism and utilization which is beneficial for improving insulin sensitivity in non-athletes.
Over half of adults in the US are recommended to take cholesterol medication, and about 40% are recommended to take medication for hypertension. Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome is thought to effect approximately 40% of American adults.
This represents a large population of people that we will be treating, or if not, we can be helping!
Below is an at-home testing kit for 17 biomarkers for overall health. This kit can help you and your patients establish interventions to improve there overall metabolic health, increase performance and improve your clinical results with chronic pain patients.
The amazing thing about this blood testing kit is that for our high performers or patients without any health conditions this gives you a baseline to improve.
Some things I have most of my patients take include Vitamin D, Omega 3 FA (EPA and DHA), Zinc and Magnesium.
If your struggling with a specific patient to achieve results, I suggest taking a thorough history of there metabolic and overall health. It is possible that some underlying issue may be limiting your success.