Low Back Pain & Sciatica Mythbusting

What is the root cause of chronic pain? Is it even possible to identify a single root cause of chronic pain or chronic illness? The biopsychosocial model helps explain that pain is multifactorial and that we need to broaden our understanding of pain and health. Rarely is low back pain, knee pain, neck pain, or other chronic pain simply due to a single cause like a disc herniation, or a pinched ner...

In this episode, we discuss flexibility, mobility, and stretching. Does flexibility matter? Do you need to stretch before you exercise? Does stretching prevent injuries? Does being flexible improve your health and wellness in any meaningful way? Find each of us individually here: Dr. Anthony Davis: @shapeshiftwellness Dr. Blake Loxtercamp: @blake.loxtercamp_dc Dr. Dan Brown: @vectorsportandspine

In this episode we discuss all forms of treatment from chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, and other bodyworkers. What kind of treatment is worth getting if you have pain or injury? What does treatment actually DO? Does it do ANYTHING? Should you fix your posture? Can chiropractors put bones back into alignment? Do you need to get any treatment at all? Find each of us individua...

In this episode of Health or Hoax, we discuss chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, and other manual therapy as it relates to how much treatment you really need. How much treatment is too much? Do you even NEED treatment in the first place? Chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, and other bodyworkers can be great, but sometimes they sell patients on excessive a...

In this episode of Health or Hoax, we talk about being new graduates from our Doctor of Chiropractic program, and the job opportunities that await new grads. There are many paths that a new chiropractor may take, including working as an associate doctor, starting their own practice, or buying a practice. Dr. Davis, Dr. Dan, and Dr. Blake discuss what they chose to do and why. Find each of us indiv...

In this episode of Health or Hoax, we talk about being new graduates from our Doctor of Chiropractic program, and the job opportunities that await new grads. There are many paths that a new chiropractor may take, including working as an associate doctor, starting their own practice, or buying a practice. Dr. Davis, Dr. Dan, and Dr. Blake discuss what they chose to do and why.  Find each of us...

Mass Psychogenic Illness is a really interesting phenomenon, where essentially a bunch of people get sick because they THINK they were exposed to a germ or virus or toxin, but in reality they weren't. They get all the same symptoms and sickness as if they had truly caught some nasty virus, but the symptoms being produced are entirely created by their own hyper-reactive nervous system. It's pretty...

We sat down with Dr. Melissa MacDonald (DC ICSC CCSP® NREMT) to speak about when to return to play, when/if people really need to take time away from their sport or favorite activities due to injuries, and how movement and exercise can play a huge role in active rehab from musculoskeletal injuries. We spoke about the psychology that comes into play with injuries, and the importance of offering ass...

🤔 Some people believe you can test for allergies by placing a glass vial with an allergen on/near a person, then testing the strength of a particular muscle for weakness. They believe weakness would indicate an allergy to the substance in the vile. . .  . This study tested whether practitioners of “Health Kinesiology” (a subset of “Applied Kinesiology”) could accurately detect allergies to W...

Dr. Alex Sundin is a sports chiropractor (DC, CCSP, ICSC) in Maple Grove, MN, as well as a fellow in the Human Performance Center at Northwestern Health Sciences University (NWHSU) in Bloomington.    . Find him here : Web: https://www.amplifymotion.com/  IG: https://www.instagram.com/amplifymotion/   . We took time to speak with Dr. Alex about common chiropractic misunderstandi...

The nocebo effect is when a clinician's harmful or scary language makes the patient feel worse, not better. It's often thought of as sort of the opposite of the placebo effect. Our language matters a lot for healthcare. The words we use can heal, or our words can harm.   . 😱Are you accidentally scaring your clients/patients? . .  . 💬From the article: "Many patients with musculoskeletal...

The interface between the skin and fascia is frictionless. In manual therapies like chiropractic spinal adjustments and soft tissue release techniques, often it is thought that a thrust or a force is being applied to a bone or muscle at an oblique angle. It is thought that a clinician can be specific in regards to the specific direction they are pushing the targeted structure. If possible, this wo...

Often times, physical therapy exercises for low back pain are intended to be highly specific to the condition and the patient. This episode highlights a research article on low back rehab which compared specific or corrective exercises for back pain to general exercises, to see if it's worth the extra effort of coaching and performing more targeted exercises.    CITATION : https://www.nc...

Does mindset matter? If you THINK you are healthy, could that possibly make you actually become healthier? How much do positive and affirmative beliefs about your own lifestyle and health actually impact your overall health?   . In this study, women lost weight, body fat, and lowered their blood pressure just from being educated that they were already doing a good job being active. They weren...

In this video we will take a look at whether or not having a positive attitude can ACTUALLY improve your health and reduce pain. We also take a look at the nature of chronic pain to see if it really is all in your head, and if so what can we DO about it? How can we change our attitudes and beliefs about pain? Does mindset matter for improving our health? REFERENCES:  Paper of focus  - Ha...

Research allows us to better understand our world, but even great research has limitations. We love to rely on research to inform our beliefs when we can, sometimes even the power of research can’t be 100% reliable. In our previous video on different types of evidence, we stated that peer reviewed published research is the highest quality evidence available. This is true, but like most things, res...

In this video we will learn about 12 different types of bias which can skew reality, change the results of research, and give us false information about the world. I’ll give examples of each and we will better learn how to spot these sources of error in our daily lives so we can ALL gain skill in separating FACT from FICTION, or as we say here - HEALTH or HOAX JUMP TO A TOPIC:  1:13 - Confirm...

Not all types of evidence are created equal. some types of evidence barely even count as evidence since they cannot reliably tell us objective truths about the world. Other types of evidence like scholarly research articles (especially summary research) can determine cause and effect relationships.   Too often we rely on anecdotal evidence to shape our beliefs. This video teaches us about the...

Welcome to Health or Hoax - The show that empowers people to make informed choices about their own health, by taking a critical look at the research on popular healthcare claims. We are healthcare students on a journey for truth, looking to make it easier for YOU to understand if the fads, diets, and treatments you’ve been sold are HEALTH, or a HOAX.    At the end of each episode we do o...