Helping Client Go Off The Pill

Here is are some recs that I would follow:

1. Of course use your NLC assessments and prioritize what you need to teach her from there
2. I would run a gut test (as there is most likely Dysbiosis, leaky gut, as well as possible fungus), as well as an adrenal test and hormone profile. I have helped lots of women balance their hormones with nutrition, lifestyle principles, bio-identicals and herbs after going off the pill. You will mostly likely find a gut issue, adrenal issue and estrogen dominance. As Jeff Bland states, according to the HPTATGG axis, they are all connected.
3. Here is a post as well from James Williams from a while ago. Hope this helps!

 Contraceptive pills such as microgynon contain two synthetic derivatives of naturally occuring sex hormones found in the female body, oestrogen and progesterone. Ethinylestradiol (previously spelt ethinyloestradiol in the UK) is a synthetic version of oestrogen and levonorgestrel is a synthetic form of progesterone.   These trick the female body by over-riding the menstrual cycle and natural hormonal rhythms. The Ethinylestradiol prevents the ripening and release of an egg from the ovary. Levonorgestrel confuses the body into thinking that ovulation has already occurred. Therefore the client’s body has been unable to function as was intended for the past six years. It is as if her body is stuck in a confused state, not knowing what to do. It is thinking “I must’t release the egg.oh, but I already have.” The pill manufacturers have somehow forgotten about the effects of artificial hormones on natural hormone production levels, and how artificial hormones interact with other hormones and organs within the body – or don’t as the case may also be. Your client is expressing classical signs of having side effects of taking the pill. Here are some of the reactions described by the Microgynon manufacturer: Mild reactions feeling sick, being sick and stomach upsets, sore breasts, depressive moods, loss of interest in sex, – THESE WERE BOTH MENTIONED IN YOUR EMAIL.changes in weight,  HAS YOUR CLIENT HAD A REDUCTION IN LEAN MASS AND A CHANGE IN FAT MASS?chloasma (yellow brown patches on the skin).poor tolerance to contact lenses. Migrane was also mentioned on the pamphlet as a side-effect.  So the client must be congratulated, and supported for making the decision to allow her body to function naturally again. It will take many months for her hormonal system to regain its natural pattern and produce its own supply of hormones again in the right amounts for her. When young women come off of the pill, menstruation can stop or become infrequent because the body is trying to find it’s own natural cycles. Her body is striving towards homeostatis every single second, and it takes time to regain balance again. Every woman is different and the amouont of stress in her life will affect her recovery also. High stress == very slow recovery, if it can be called a recovery. Low stress == a better recovery rate. Menstruation will return naturally, providing she decides to remain off of the pill and addresses some of the things mentioned later in this reply.  Sadly, it is common for oral contraceptives to increase the risk of a woman having candida overgrowth, of which the thrush and fungal infection are one sign. Depression, also triggered or worsened by the pills, can lead to an altered body image in some people. It seems that her moods may be changing as a result of her rebalancing hormone levels and possibly because of depleted brain chemistry.  The acne may be caused by excessive toxins in her body from various sources. Hormones have to be detoxified in the liver and if her body is trying to clear all the synthetic hormones and create its own, her liver may be unable to detoxify everything that is sent its way. Since her body is trying to find balance, it may be over-producing some hormones at this time and such as testosterone, which has been linked with acne.  As a result, all these toxins are pushed out towards the skin and acne may sometimes result if they can’t be cleared quickly enough out through the pore. Make-up doesn’t help when it blocks the skin pores. Acne in women can be often caused by hormone levels that are out of balance, and, (as with men) because of toxin thoughts about how a person feels they look, which may also be the case because your client has an altered body image. The toxins released by the fungi will also add to the load on her liver and contribute to more toxins being directed to the skin if the liver is over-worked. The pill itself is also a toxin because it is not found in nature! If the thrush has reduced as a result of stopping the pills then this is a BIG sign that the pills may have contributed to candida overgrowth. My tip is for her to not return to the pill. It will throw her hormonal system into confusion and becoming pregnant in the future, if that is her goal, will be very difficult because her hormonal system will take longer to sort itself out. She is better to leave it to recover now while she is young and when the recovery time will be faster.  Starting oral contraceptives may also bring on thrush again. If she goes back to the pill her depression may deepen, her sex drive may plummet, the migraines may return and she will be back to square one. The long term outlook is that she will gain weight, fight fungal infections on and off for the next 20-25 years, battle with depression, migraines and low self-esteem and rely on more medications to mask the side effects of the pill. Consider whether her metabolism has been damaged (I would say it may well have been) and that she needs a special diet plan to achieve this.  Some action points to consider: 1] Have a female hormonal panel test done, if not an adrenal test in the very least. 2] Cut out all sugars and junk that is feeding the candida and other fungi. 3] Have her assessed for food intolerances or sensitivities. Consider the need for a 4-day simple rotation diet to increase the variety of foods she eats and whether she would benefit from an anti-fungal diet.  These requires A LOT of commitment, maybe she needs to be guided towards it, step-by-step over time. Nystatin or a pharmaceutical may be needed to assist with reducing the candida levels, colon hydrotherapy may help, as will repopulating the colon with more friendly bacteria.  4] Ensure she is drinking enough clean water for her weight. 5] Get her to read The Schwartzbein Principle 2 (read it too!) I would recommend you also    read Healing Depression by Catherine Carrigan – available from Amazon Marketplace. (www.amazon.co.uk / www.amazon.com)     6] Regular far infra-red sauna session will help with the detoxification process and with her acne and skin. 7] Ensure she consumes enough quality protein. Specific amino acids may benefit her to help    rebalance her brain chemistry, along with the protein.   8] Regular exercise of a lower-intensity may benefit her (not high intensity cardio – too       much cortisol may be released, and possibly not good if her adrenals are fatigued. It also    means there are more hormones to be detoxified than need be.) 9] Get enough rest. Eight hours sleep and at least 90 minutes relaxing at home doing nothing – such as lying on the sofa (preferably TV off, play some relaxing music, reading for pleasure etc. 10] Have fun and enjoy life, her partner and her job. If she is not happy with any of these, when she feels ready and has the necessary support, they need to change. It is of no benefit remaining in circumstances that add to depression. However, this is easier said than done, and it may take time. A lot of support, compassion and understanding may be needed to help her take the steps she needs to move towards a new job or partner if these will help, so be patient. And last but not least – no more oral contraceptives!! Joshua Rubinwww.eastwesthealing.com 

Subscapularis Strengthening

You go what you can do, but my advice would be to refer out to a CHEK 3
before matters get worse. As well if you want to learn more about the
shoulder, Porterfield and DeRossa have one that comes with a DVD as well.
The shoulder is one of the most complex joints in the body and actually has
5. This is where most therapist overlook the issues at hand.

1. You have the AC, SC, GH, Scapulo-humeral and scapulo thoracic
joints. These all have to be assessed to see what is the weakest link.
2. If the subcap is tight, why is it tight? Is NMT going to help right
now?? My guess would be no to both of these. The subscap may be tight (it is
one of the SITS muscles and major stabilizers of the shoulder) because of a
weakness of one of the other SITS muscles, ligamentus systems, bicep and/or
other joints of the shoulder.
3. Does your client have a ant or post capsular issue? One being more
lengthened and the other being shortened?
4. Are there any other upper quarter issues or opposite hip, knee, or
ankle issues that might be driving this shoulder issue? Does you client have
an TMJ issues that is creating a shoulder issue?
5. If the subcap is tight and it produces IR, why would you want to Rx
internal rotation exercises at this time?
6. What is going on with the lats, serratus ant, and ant oblique
system. As the serratus is actually attacked to the scapula and by tendons
to the lats, as well as messing into the ant oblique system.
7. What is this person doing in ADL that might be exacerbating this
shoulder issue?
8. How is their diet/emotional state, as lung, diaphragm and liver
issue reflex to the shoulder?
9. You need to get a full assessment as the shoulder complex is the
foundation for the head and cervical spine. As well, you need to know what
is lengthened and why? My guess is that the supraspinatus, infraspinatous,
teres minor and major all are in a dysfunctional state. As well as the
muscles listed in #5 above.
10. Do they have a SLAP, Bankhart, etc lesion contributing to this
issue?

That is just to give you some info. There is more, but I will leave that to
you and the others. That’s my 2cents!

Joshua Rubin

www.eastwesthealing.com

Training Athletes with Hyperlordosis

I have a client who is hyperlordotic and a dancer. I remember hearing something about hyperlordosis being beneficial to dancers as it can aid their flexibility and ability to obtain and hold certain positions. What are your thoughts on this? Is this also relevant to gymnasts? And lastly are their any other groups where ‘incorrect posture’ is considered an advantage? Many thanks.   

Posture: The position from which movement begins and ends. If you begin with poor posture, you end with poor posture. The end result being faulty motor engram patterns, injury, inflammation and pain. So when it comes to posture, we have two types: static and dynamic. Both of these should be assessed, as well as integrated together into a clients program.

 

There are a lot of ways you can assess the body and spine, but let’s keep it simple. All 3 curves have a normal range of 30-35degrees. You can use inclinometers to gather you spinal measurements, as well as using a plumb line. But keep in mind, if you are not measuring a clients spine with inclinometers and you are just judging their lordosis on observation, you are just guessing. Here is why: Let’s say you are working with a large person who has nice overly developed glutes. With static posture, this would show up as a red flag in the lumbar spine, meaning you would think you see an increased lumbar lordosis. This is when you use your other assessments of the lumbar spine to actually find out which way the spine is going. But, if you just look at the person, they would give the appearance of having a lumbar lordosis, when all along all they have is just large glutes. So the bottom line is, if you are not assessing, you are guessing! I would find a skilled Physical Therapist, MAT practitioner, CHEK practitioner or Physiotherapist that you can work along with.

 

Having an increased lumbar lordosis would allow most people to have increased lumbar extension and decrease lumbar flexion, but this is not always the case. Someone might have an increase lumbar lordosis with instability let’s say at L4-L5. Well, the segment above and below will become hypomobile to compensate. As well, it can go the other way around. If L4-L5 is hypomobile, the segment above and below would become hypermobile. You can assess this by measuring all spinal segment flexion and extension movements with an inclinometer. Once again, I would refer out.

 

As well, I would find out what is going on at the other spinal segment levels. As the entire body is connected. Maybe her lumbar lordosis is coming from instability of the SIJ, tightness of the psoas, inflammation in the gut or other organs, limited thoracic extension (required in gymnastics and ballet) so she compensates at her lumbar segments, increased cervical extension and so forth. I have found that typically most people view the one sight of pain or dysfunction, as the dysfunctional sight. But in the end, that is the branch and the root of the dysfunction is coming from somewhere else.

 

The first thing I would do is to assess. This will allow you to know HER body exactly, so you can design an affective stretching and exercise program. As well, I would realign her body, as you don’t want to create poor posture to work from. As I stated above, if you begin with poor posture, you end with poor posture! Secondly, the goal with this client is not to create an increased lumbar lordosis, but to create optimal lumbar and thoracic mechanics. This meaning optimal range of motion in the saggital plane (flexion and extension). This will allow this client to get into her positions that are required for her life and sport. How do you do this? Lets for simplistic sense say she has an increase lumbar lordosis or what is called a lower cross syndrome.

 

ª     Lower Cross Syndrome: (ant tilt >5-7 or 7-10, >35 lumbar curve, hips flexed, hyperext knees, valgus at knees)

ª     Short: psoas, RF, adductors, TFL, sartorious, multifidus, ES, lats, QLO

ª     Long: glutes, hams, lower ab, EO, IO, TVA

ª     Injuries: LBP, SIJ, knees and ankles, hamstring, degeneration

 

For simplistic sense, you want to stretch the short and strengthen the elongated muscles. Once there, you want to use movements, joint mobilizations, soft tissue work and nutrition to ensure optimal joint mechanics in the sagital plane.

 

Off the top of my head, the only dysfunctions that I actually create poor posture with would be a spinal stenosis. With spinal stenosis, going into extension closes down the foramen and puts stress on the cord = pain! The goal with these clients is to actually work them with all exercises on the flexion side of neutral, strengthening their legs and extensor chain to compensate for their weakness. The weakness being that you cannot bring them into neutral, as this will cause pain. By no means do you want to create posture where they are fully flexed, but you might want their lumbar curve around 27-30 degrees, where normal is 30-35. This will ensure function without pain, as well as working on strengthening their legs and back will ensure stability in this position.

 

Hopefully I have answered your question and got you thinking!

Joshua Rubin

Unexplained Rash in Armpits and on Arms

Here are some of my thoughts in short form, some direction, some things for you to look into, etc, so you can learn along the way.  1. It sounds  to me that all the past people working with her were just treating the symptoms, the rash. They were doing this with single lensed binoculars thinking that skin issues is always fungus, infections, lack of vitamins, etc. Even though some of them were naturopaths, treating with just herbs and trying to match the herb to the symptom, does not work. That is why she has come to you. You need to begin to treat this person as an individual person. I find that A LOT of CHEK NLC’s that consult with me, etc, typically do the assessments, but always treat each person the same. They recommend all the NLC principles that they have learned, in no particular order, adding no other team members or tools. The only way clients will reach potential is if we treat them as them. Enough of my soap box, but I thought I would put that in! 2. If you do all your assessments, totem pole the issues in order of priority, etc, in the end, the route you take will lead to success. 3. I have found with skin rashes that along with my assessments (esp including the Home/Office Toxic Checklist), I add in a 401H (BioHealth) to test for fungus, bacteria, parasites, cdiff, e colli, etc, The Comprehensive Organix Profile from Metametrix (to see the biomarkers of metabolism, b vit, detoxification, etc) and the Heavy Metal Urine Test from Metametrix. I have found over the years that clients with rashes typically have food intolerances, gut dysfunctions, fungus, parasites (giardia, klebsiella), heavy metal or other type of toxicity. I am not saying all do, but this is just to name a few causes. 4. The symptoms that you are describing and were they are, are in relation to the HT meridian. Your client might have heat in the liver (invading the heart) or heat in the heart as well (does she have any anxiety, ADHD, mania issues?). I would recommend teaching her qi gong ex to calm the liver down (if that is the cause) or to calm the shen (primordial soul of the heart- people are typical Type A and manic, trouble sleeping, anxious, etc). This can happen from overworking the liver (foods, anger, etc) or heart. I would recommend as well adding a TCM practitioner to your multidisc team.  5. The other things that I would focus on, at the right time is turning over her all hygiene and cleaning products to organic ones. 6. I would put her on an elimination diet (sugar, gluten, dairy, salt) 7. I would also, when all said and done, put her on the 4R Gut healing program 8. As well, it sounds like she is having detox issues. I would (at the right time) put her on some lung, LI and liver support herbs. Why these and not the other detox organs? I use more of a Chinese philosophy. The lung and LI are paired together, the skin is the flower of the lung, the LI can easily create too much yang (heat)–> is the grandmother of the LV/GB and the when the liver has heat in it, it attacks the heart. The HT meridian is where all her rash is! Joshua Rubinwww.eastwesthealing.com 

Winged Scapula and Hypomobile SIJ

Here are some thoughts for you to look into:

1. Vision issues create FHP, cervical sidebending and rotation (which cause atlas-axis issues), etc. This can put a lengthening tension on the posterior “shoulder” muscles and a shortening tension through the anterior ones. This is just a generalization without getting into specifics.

2. Are you shoulders retracted and depression? This tractions the long thoracic nerve, which innervates the serratus.

3. I don’t think you do, but overall infections can result in palsy of this nerve.

4. The serratus is a key upward rotator, so any antagonists to that, which are short, muscle be stretched OR need to be assessed to find out what weakness is causing them to shorten (which a lot of the time is the cause, since the shoulder is a highly unstable joint).

5. I know you are a smart guy, do some more research and think for yourself in regards to your theories on the rhomboids????

6. Have you had the 5 joints of the shoulder assessed in order to see where the main weakness is coming from, where there is instability, hypomobility, etc?

7. What is your subclavius, pec minor, levator scapula, upper traps, subscap, teres major, etc doing? What are your middle and lower traps, rhomboids, infraspinatous, teres minor, etc doing?

8. As for the SIJ, there are many reasons my friend that your direct treatment to it is not working: atlas issue, you vision dysfunction, instability of the SIJ, faulty deep long system, hypertonic glutes and hams from an instability, faulty inner unit recruitment, inhibited pelvic floor, heart bottom syndrome, sciatic tension, etc.

9. Mobs might help, but if there is an instability, your are hypomobile for a reason. That is why the mobs are not working.

10. Whatever happens at the atlas is going to happen at the SIJ? Have you had your atlas looked at or NMT done to it?

11. If you say you have a Trendelenburg, you have an instability. This may be your main reason for hypomobility. I would work on some sciatic mobs, lumbopelvic rhythm, getting your inner unit to work, strengthening your quads and psoas (depending on what your pelvic tilt is and lumbar curve), creating more stability, getting NMT done to the needed pelvic areas, etc. Then down the line you can do some mobs, etc.

This is just some food for thought with the little info that you have given us. As winged scapula and hypomobility of the SIJ can come from anywhere and more info would be needed in order to find why!

For more information, please visit my website at www.eastwesthealing.com

Joshua Rubin