060 - A Functional Medicine Approach to PAIN

The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick

Let's face it - being in pain sucks. That's kind of part of it, right?? So obviously people with pain, especially chronic pain, want some relief. That's why pain is a leading cause of disability, and pain management is a multi-billion dollar-per-year industry. But WHY WOULD SOMEONE BE IN PAIN IN THE FIRST PLACE??? That's what a functional medicine approach looks at!
Pain has many mechanisms, and as a chiropractor I have seen and successfully treated a lot of pain. In fact, I probably saw more straight-up "pain" in my former practice doing more musculoskeletal work, and chiropractic care is great for pain relief and much more. Nowadays, I see pain from other causes like autoimmune diseases, and see great success by taking a functional medicine approach to pain.
Pain can have many forms - it can be from wear-and-tear and old age, injuries, autoimmune inflammation, it can be exacerbated by overuse, stress, food sensitivities, anything that can drive inflammation - or it may be "unexplained". It can be called shooting pain, burning pain, stabbing pain, growing pains, osteoarthritis, "bone-on-bone", numbness, tingling, neuropathy, bone pain, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, muscle pain, soreness, mixed-connective tissue disease, fibromyalgia.....you may be told you have "degeneration", or "inflammation", a "pinched nerve", or you may be told "everything looks normal". There are a lot of possibilities!
The point is that there are many mechanisms to pain, and a functional medicine approach considers all the possible root causes, then we look deeper to evaluate the mechanisms, then we develop strategies to control the root source of pain.
That's what this podcast is all about - - how you can determine a bit more about your "pain" by evaluating the mechanisms, looking at lab tests, looking for and eliminating triggers, decreasing you inflammation by following different dietary and supplement protocols to not only get you out of pain in the short-term, but also decrease your pain in the LONG-TERM by addressing the real root cause(s).