Build Resilient Immunity in 2023
Last month, Dr. Ryan and I had the pleasure of attending a seminar taught by Dr. Dan Murphy, DC. Dr. Murphy is one of the foremost experts on nutrition and functional medicine in the chiropractic profession. He lectured on topics such as brain injury and concussion, nutrition for cognitive and immune system health, the beneficial effects of red laser therapy, and the prevention of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease using nutrition and lifestyle modification.
Perhaps the most impactful topic for me was Dr. Murphy’s lecture on ‘host immunity.’ Host immunity refers to the strength, resiliency, and adaptability of a given patient’s immune system. The better the patient’s immune system, the more effectively that patient can combat all forms of disease and illness affecting the body. Dietary and lifestyle modifications such as exercise, proper sun exposure, and evolutionarily consistent eating are examples of techniques patients can use to improve their host immunity.
In my opinion, mainstream media does not focus enough on host immunity. Instead, we are told strategies such as staying up to date with the latest vaccine or booster, avoiding close contact with sick individuals, wearing masks in public, or taking medication for any physical or mental stress your body is subjected to. When did we become so weak we had to start relying on all of these external, synthetic inputs to keep us healthy? Since when did being around other people endanger us, rather than strengthen our immune system by presenting our immune system with a wide array of pathogens and creating a more robust immune system? I recall when ‘chicken-pox’ parties were the norm. Each individual has the opportunity to have an extremely strong, smart, and resilient immune system.
Dr. Murphy suggests a number of vital supplements for optimizing host immunity. First and foremost are omega-3’s and vitamin D. Aim for around three grams of omega 3’s each day. For many, this means supplementing with a high quality fish oil supplement. Omega 3’s help with the inflammatory balance in the body and foster an environment where immune cells can combat external infections and diseases. Next up is vitamin D. Your goal should be around 5,000 mg per day. Getting vitamin D from natural sunlight is the best option, however, during the winter months supplementation is often necessary. Nearly every cell in the body, including our immune cells, possess a vitamin D receptor and is positively activated when this hormone is at proper levels. Vitamin D is also great for bone mineral density, memory, and mental health.
No lecture on immune health is complete without mentioning vitamin C. Did you know the benefits of vitamin C were first discovered among sailors with scurvy? Scurvy is a connective tissue disease causing gum disease, hair loss, excessive bleeding, and poor healing from wounds and infection. When the sailors were given oranges, which are high in vitamin C, the symptoms of scurvy all but disappeared. Alas, the immune benefits of vitamin C were front page news! Vitamin C has a host of health benefits including reducing the duration of the common cold, helping with the synthesis of collagen so you can have healthy skin, hair, and nails, and acts as a strong antioxidant with some research suggesting anti-cancer and anti-Alzheimer’s benefits. Vitamin C is found in the highest quantity in citrus fruits. If supplementation is deemed necessary, liposomal vitamin C is your best option. Liposomal vitamin C is encapsulated with a fat or lipid coating improving absorption and decreasing gastrointestinal distress.
The final three nutrients are magnesium, zinc, and vitamin A. Magnesium is a mineral acting as a cofactor in over 600 reactions in the body, and is important for normal immune function, energy production, blood pressure regulation, and blood sugar control. Magnesium deficiency is common in developed countries. Aim for about 300-600 mg per day of magnesium from a whole food source or supplement. If supplementing, I recommend taking either magnesium threonate or magnesium glycinate, since these have the best absorption in the body and brain. Zinc is an essential mineral associated with proper wound healing and immune system function. It is an antioxidant and important for maintaining proper testosterone levels. I recommend 15-30 mg of zinc daily. Vitamin A refers to a group of chemical compounds composed of retinol and its metabolites. Vitamin A is essential for optimal immune function, and is also important for our skin and vision. Take around 5,000 IU of vitamin A each day.
Coming up soon, I will take a deep dive into the importance of exercise and sleep for healthy host immunity. At the surface level, a balanced combination of aerobic (endurance) and anaerobic (strength) training will help develop a robust individual with a strong immune system. Consistent, quality sleep each night is essential for immune health because melatonin benefits the immune system by decreasing inflammatory reactions in the body, notably the ‘cytokine storm’ seen with covid-19. Supplementing with 3-10 mg of melatonin while symptomatic may provide some benefit, however, I do not recommend long term supplementation of melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the body, and long term supplementation may decrease our body’s capacity for producing the hormone on its own.
Make 2023 the year for improving host immunity. With covid-19 in the rearview mirror, prepare yourself now for any future health crises that may affect our society. If we all commit to focusing more on healthy host immunity, the need for societal wide shutdowns and vaccination may not be necessary!
Post written by Dr. Riley Kulm, DC. Check out his bio here:
People are often told in order to meet their weight loss goals they need to eat clean, work out consistently, and limit the number of calories in versus calories out. Unfortunately, despite working these modifications into their daily lives, they still find their weight loss goals unachieved. I’ve worked with numerous frustrated patients who work out strenuously 5 to 6 times per week, yet are not seeing the results they would like. The overlooked missing piece to weight loss is hormonal imbalances. These imbalances may be preventing you from reaching your weight loss goals.
The two hormones I will focus on for weight loss are cortisol and melatonin. Please note, hormones such as grehlin and leptin (hunger and satiety), testosterone and estrogen (male and female sex hormones), and insulin and glucagon (energy storage and utilization hormones), are all intimately involved in weight loss, but cortisol and melatonin are a simple and effective place to start.
Cortisol often gets a bad rep as our body’s ‘stress hormone’. Cortisol is a primary hormone involved in the body’s stress response, however, cortisol is more appropriately defined as our ‘awake’ hormone. Cortisol is released in the morning and helps us get out of bed, use the bathroom, and provide us with the stimulation to start our day. In a normal functioning endocrine system, cortisol release is high in the morning and then tapers off in the afternoon to allow our sleep hormone, melatonin, the chance to take over.
Melatonin is our ‘sleep’ or ‘darkness’ hormone and it’s release is inhibited with exposure to light. Melatonin helps us wind down in the evening and prepare the mind and body for sleep. Melatonin and cortisol work in opposition to each other. Having one with high levels means the other is not fully expressed. With this in mind, if cortisol levels are abnormally elevated in the afternoon and evening, the normal release of melatonin around lunch time is inhibited, therefore impairing our ability to fall asleep. The entire system is regulated by our circadian rhythm which responds directly to light exposure on the eyeballs. Bright light in the morning stimulates cortisol release, the dimming of light in the evening stimulates melatonin release.
Cortisol becomes a stress hormone when levels remain elevated in the afternoon and early evening. When cortisol release is improperly timed and is still high in the afternoon, we feel anxious and crave sugary, fried, and fatty foods. If our ‘awake’ hormone is elevated in the evening when we are trying to prepare for sleep, we will feel uneasy and distressed. The combination of excess calories from sugary, fried, fatty foods and poor sleep due to excess cortisol and deficient melatonin is what leads to weight gain and the inability to lose weight. Even if you eat a clean diet excess cortisol in the evening will create a stress response causing systemic inflammation. Systemic inflammation and insulin resistance each make weight loss more difficult to achieve and maintain.
The best way to normalize your cortisol/melatonin system is with direct sunlight exposure within 30 minutes of waking. Dr. Andrew Huberman, neurobiologist from Stanford, was recently interviewed on The Tim Ferriss Show Podcast where he suggests everyone get 2-10 minutes of direct sunlight exposure on their eyes first thing in the morning. By stimulating photoreceptors in the eyes, cortisol release is amplified. Going outside for an additional 2-10 minutes in the evening, when the sun is at a low angle, will help to stimulate melatonin and prepare us for sleep. Start your weight loss journey by normalizing your circadian rhythm using direct sunlight exposure in the morning and again in the evening.
Post written by Dr. Riley Kulm, DC. Check out his bio here.
Despite the chaos of 2020, the coming holiday season brings with it a time for self reflection, family bonding, and solidarity within the community. For many, personal health initiatives such as dietary, lifestyle, or exercise improvements go on pause during the holiday season, only to be resurrected come the new year. To avoid taking steps backwards during the holidays, I’d like to offer some suggestions to make the end of 2020 your healthiest yet.
Gym Alternatives
Many people still feel uncomfortable going to the gym. However, not having access to a gym is not an excuse to let your fitness goals go unaccomplished. There are numerous ways to get an excellent workout from the safety and comfort of your own home with no equipment at all. One option is to perform a 15 to 30 minute guided yoga, tai chi, or qi gong class. Each practice combines controlled movements with deep breathing and can help with stress and anxiety, as well as improve blood flow throughout the body. There are hundreds of free classes you can take on YouTube, turning your home into your own yoga studio. I personally enjoy the Yoga With Adrienne YouTube Channel which has classes for all different skill levels and even has sports specific classes that cater to what you love most.
Another excellent alternative to going to the gym is to perform an at home bodyweight exercise circuit. You can create a challenging workout with no equipment necessary. Make sure to include movements such as the body weight squat, body weight forward and reverse lunge, wall sits, planks, side planks, and push-ups. Here is a sample home exercise routine that is a great alternative to going to the gym:
Perform 3 rounds of:
10 body weight squats
20 reverse lunges (10 each leg)
15 push-ups
30 second wall sit
30 second front plank
30 second side plank (each side)
(Rest for 2 minutes between each round)
Once this circuit becomes easy, you can add additional rounds, increase repetitions, extend the time for the planks and wall-sits, and decrease rest time between each round. You can also add more explosive movements such as jump squats, speed skaters, jumping lunges, clap push-ups, and burpees. If you have someone to join you for a home workout, have them provide manual resistance to make exercises such as the push-up and planks more difficult.
You’ll be amazed at the quality of workout you can get once you start being creative and learn how to use your own body weight to your advantage!
Holiday Sweets Alternatives
Make this holiday season your healthiest yet by choosing these delicious alternatives to the sugar laden treats of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Each of these options is low in refined sugar and absent of harmful vegetable oils. These ‘desserts’ will leave you feeling energized instead of fatigued and mentally sluggish.
- Dark chocolate and nut butter
- Opt for a dark chocolate that is 85% cocoa content or higher to limit the amount of sugar.
- Cocoa is an excellent source of nutritional antioxidants, bioflavonoids, and arginine which helps improve blood flow. It is also a great source of healthy saturated fat.
- For the nut butter, do your best to choose a freshly ground, organic option. Make sure the sugar content is 3 grams or less per serving or more ideally, none.
- Nut butters are an exceptional source of healthy fats and also are protective against heart disease and type 2 diabetes due to their high fiber and magnesium contents.
- Opt for a dark chocolate that is 85% cocoa content or higher to limit the amount of sugar.
- Sliced apples fried in coconut oil with cinnamon
- Over medium heat, sauté your thinly sliced apples in coconut oil until golden brown on each side. Sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy by themselves or with unsweetened greek yogurt or whipped heavy cream from an unpasteurized milk source.
- Apples are a great source of vitamin C, fiber, and potassium. Regular apple consumption is consistently associated with lower rates of heart disease, cancer, asthma, and type 2 diabetes.
- Cinnamon’s health benefits, which come from the oils in its barks, include reduced risk of heart disease, improved insulin sensitivity and decreased risk of type 2 diabetes. It also acts as a nutritional antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
- Coconut oil is a top choice for healthy saturated fats and also has a high smoke point which makes it ideal for cooking.
- Over medium heat, sauté your thinly sliced apples in coconut oil until golden brown on each side. Sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy by themselves or with unsweetened greek yogurt or whipped heavy cream from an unpasteurized milk source.
- Paleo nut energy bars
Connect with your family and community
Staying connected socially is very important not only to the health of the body, but also the mind. Human beings crave connection, social interaction, and a sense of community. Consequently, the health of our bodies will suffer if we cannot maintain these connections. Having a positive interaction with your community is vitally important for your health. Steps you can take to improve your personal relationships, as well as with your community include sending a handwritten letter to a relative you haven’t spoken to for awhile, volunteering at a local food or clothing drive, helping an elderly neighbor with landscaping or other small maintenance job at their house, or preparing one of the desserts above to surprise your neighbors with a healthy treat!
This holiday season could not come at a more vital time in our society. I encourage you to use these next couple months to treat your body and mind with care and to create a greater sense of unity in your family and communities.
Post written by Dr. Riley Kulm, DC. Check out his bio here.
The recent snowstorms in Denver are a reminder ski season is right around the corner. Skiing is an incredibly demanding sport requiring high levels of fitness and athleticism. As with any athletic endeavor, it is important to prepare your body for the forces and demands of the sport. A skier must have strong legs and hips so they can turn sharply on their edges, brace for impacts, and hike at high altitudes to reach the best terrain. Off season preparation drastically decreases your risk of injury and subsequent time away from the mountain, and is an integral part of every successful athlete’s program. I will provide 5 simple exercises you can do from home which will prepare your body to hit the slopes come winter.
The SAID Principle
Well accepted in the strength and conditioning world, the SAID Principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands) states training should be specific to the type of sport the athlete is preparing for. The intensity, volume, and duration of training should be tailored to the specific sport. Skiing requires a diverse mix of strength, balance, and endurance that is unparalleled in other sports. The athlete must be strong enough to dig their edges into the snow at high speeds, have the endurance to hike at altitudes above 10,000 feet, and have the balance and stability to correct body position when uneven surfaces are encountered or landing from a jump. The skier must build strong quads, hamstrings, and glutes to effectively and safely navigate the mountain. The program I outline below addresses each of these muscle groups with functional exercises specific to skiing.
Off-Season Ski Workout – perform the following sequence of exercises for 3 rounds.
Body Weight Reverse Lunge – 3 sets x 20 reps (10 each leg)
Body Weight Squat – 3 sets x 10 reps
Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat – 3 sets x 10 reps
Wall-Sit – 3 sets x 45 second hold
DNS 7 Month Side Lying Hip Get Up – 3 sets x 10 reps
I recommend performing this exercise routine 3-4 times per week. You can increase the number of rounds as you gain strength and endurance and as ski season gets closer.
Post written by Dr. Riley Kulm, DC. Check out his bio here.
Patients often ask what the ideal treatment frequency is for getting adjusted. However, if you asked ten different chiropractors this question, you might get ten different answers. Within chiropractic, many different technique systems and schools of thought exist. Chiropractic treatments and treatment plans are not standardized within the profession and there is a high level of variability from doctor to doctor. With this in mind, the answer to how often you should get adjusted is it depends on your situation. Factors such as your age, health status, activity level, and diagnosis all factor into how often you need to be adjusted. For this post, I will address the question for someone who has mild or no symptoms and is looking to chiropractic for maintenance care and promoting overall health. To begin, I’ll describe the typical treatment plan for a new patient at our clinic.
Typical Treatment Plan
When a new patient comes to our clinic with a common complaint such as low back, neck, knee, shoulder, or elbow pain, we typically see them twice a week for 1-2 weeks, once a week for 3-4 weeks, and then reassess after 6-8 visits over 4-5 weeks. Adjustments will be performed at each visit. If the patient is markedly improved, we will push visits out 2-3 weeks and start seeing them on a less regular basis. Most patients feel substantial relief in just 2-3 visits, however, the underlying functional issues (posture, movement, breathing) causing the injury in the first place, take longer to reverse. Once the pain is gone and the patient is passing all of the functional tests relating to the original injury, we place the patient on a maintenance care plan where they come in once a month. The purpose of the maintenance care visit is to make sure the patient has not re-injured themselves or sustained any new injuries. We will also review exercises they have been prescribed in the past and check their spines to see if an adjustment is needed. At our clinic we use a mixture of chiropractic adjustments, physical therapy exercises, nutrition and supplements, and soft tissue therapies such as instrument assisted technique, active release technique, dry needling, laser, and acupuncture. By combining multiple therapies, we decrease healing times, allowing for a shorter and less costly treatment plan.
Maintenance Care
How often should a patient get adjusted for maintenance care and promotion of overall health? As stated previously, one chiropractor’s answer may differ from another’s, and our answer is based on the combined clinical experience of nearly a decade from the two doctors at Mile High Spine and Sport, Dr. Ryan Dunn and Dr. Riley Kulm. For maintenance care and promotion of overall health, we suggest patients come in for a full spine assessment and adjustment once per month. Maintenance care visits also include a functional movement exam to see if any limitations in muscle strength, stability, and range of motion exist predisposing the patient to future injuries. The purpose of the full spine assessment and functional movement exam is to identify issues before they surface to help prevent pain or injury. Similar to how it is necessary to go to the dentist every 6 months for a cleaning and exam, you should go to the chiropractor once per month to have your spine assessed for restricted joints and muscle imbalances to help prevent issues down the road. For quality preventative maintenance care, chiropractic is one of your best, and most cost effective treatment plan options.
Can I get adjusted more than once a month?
As a result of the numerous health benefits of getting adjusted, many of our patients decide to come in for adjustments more than once per month. Patients report improvements in breathing, energy, digestion, and sleep following their treatments. If you’d like to learn more about how the chiropractic adjustment can positively affect multiple areas of your health, please check out my post, Beyond Biomechanics: Exploring the Hormonal Benefits of the Chiropractic Adjustment.
From a safety perspective, it is entirely fine to get adjusted on a regular basis. However, I would not suggest getting adjusted more than three times per week as you run the risk of causing hypermobility in the joints. Hypermobility means the joints are moving too much and lack the muscular stability for normal motion and can lead to a variety of orthopedic issues. In general, we rarely see maintenance care patients more than once per week. We encourage patients to come in more than once per month if they find the benefits of regularly getting adjusted enhances their lifestyle and well-being.
Post written by Dr. Riley Kulm, DC. Check out his bio here.
