Chronic Neck and Low Back Pain Due to Faulty Occlusal Cranial Balance

Unfortunately traditional institutions of higher learning have compartmentalized their curriculums to such an extent that the student does not get a global view of how the body really works. This myopic view applies to all the healthcare professions and in many cases the establishment frowns upon interdisciplinary communication. In the end, the patient is the one who gets short changed.

This was the exact situation that Toni Siwek experienced. She had been going to a chiropractor on a regular basis for upper neck and low back pain, but the adjustments would not hold. When chiropractic adjustments do not hold, invariably there is a dental cranial component to the instability equation. In addition, one must evaluate other organ systems that potentially contribute to the on going problem. Hypothyroidism is one primary factor that is often over looked by most healthcare practitioners. The reason is simple. Most blood tests do not reveal the true function of this organ. The best diagnosis is made from objective clinical signs, patient symptoms, and underarm temperature readings. Broda Barnes, MD, PhD did twenty years of research and discovered that a normal armpit temperature range is between 98.2 0F to 97.8 0F. Blood tests only reveal the blood level of the thyroid hormones but does not reveal if the hormones are inside the cell working. When the temperature is within the normal range, it documents that the hormones are inside the cell generating heat.

The importance of a normal thyroid is clearly appreciated when one reviews the list of its functions: regulates muscle and ligaments, regulates digestion, helps the cells expel toxic wastes, maintains peristalsis (regular bowel movements through muscle tone), helps maintain hormone balance, weight control, enhances memory, and clear thinking, enables one to sleep soundly, maintains regular heart rhythm, keeps the immune system strong, insures fertility in females, prevents acne, and insures a full head of hair. Also of importance is adrenal weakness. Again the body works as a whole. When thyroid function is low, the adrenals get overworked. When weak both help maintain instability of many bodily functions and the reason why many chronic pain symptoms linger.

A low thyroid causes weight gain specially in the mid section. Low thyroxin elevates estrogen levels and patients plump up. Also stiff joints, constipation, insomnia, mental fog, tinnitus, dizziness, increased tooth decay are other common symptoms.

Hypothyroidism causes an excess of mucopolysaccrides to be produced; in turn the tongue swells and presses on the teeth creating a scalloped appearance. This is one of the major signs of an underactive thyroid.