1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,840 Prepare to have your health questions answered here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions 2 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:12,200 with Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center in downtown Ventura. 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,680 Now, here's Dr. Todd. 4 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:15,680 Good afternoon. 5 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:20,000 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board certified doctor of non-force chiropractic and practitioner 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:21,960 of functional medicine. 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,920 Functional medicine means identifying earlier signs of stress on all of your organs and 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:32,000 tissues early enough that you can usually correct them with natural options instead 9 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:38,640 of waiting until you might need surgery or very likely ending up dependent on pharmaceuticals 10 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,280 for the rest of your life. 11 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:45,800 Do you know what the two most important things you and anyone you love can do to enhance 12 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:47,680 their health are? 13 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:48,960 Anybody? 14 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:55,460 The quality and quantity of the food you eat and the level of physical activity you incorporate 15 00:00:55,460 --> 00:00:57,840 into your daily life. 16 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:02,760 These are almost always the two most important things anyone can do to enhance their health 17 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:09,640 and prevent and reverse chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, reduce your risk 18 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:14,760 of most of the things people end up sick and debilitated with as they get older. 19 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:21,560 And this is simply because most disease conditions are caused by things like stress, identifiable 20 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:27,600 nutrient deficiencies, lousy food, lack of exercise and general neglect. 21 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:33,160 So if you want to be truly healthy, you have to take responsibility for your own health. 22 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:34,160 But you don't have to do it alone. 23 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:35,480 You don't have to do it on your own. 24 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:37,600 I'm here to help. 25 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:42,320 And the functional medicine part, often the focus is on the results of when you go, when 26 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:48,000 we get your tests back, very often I will recommend some supplements because most people 27 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:54,560 have nutrient deficiencies, significant nutrient deficiencies that they just don't, they don't 28 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,160 know about it. 29 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,840 Most doctors don't test for these things. 30 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:04,240 And identifying specific nutrient deficiencies, deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals 31 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:09,720 and fatty acids and enzymes, things that your body is dependent upon, not to survive. 32 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:15,840 You can survive, a lot of millions of people survive without them, but they don't necessarily 33 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:16,840 thrive. 34 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:22,760 If you want to thrive, if you want to live long and live well, then getting tested, identifying 35 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:29,160 nutrient deficiencies and repleting them, correcting them, restoring them is really 36 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,120 the best way to do that for most people. 37 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:34,480 Today we're going to talk about a little bit more about blood pressure. 38 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,460 That was the focus of the last couple of shows, but I've got just a few more things to talk 39 00:02:37,460 --> 00:02:38,460 about that. 40 00:02:38,460 --> 00:02:42,320 But I had a question come in from a listener about menstrual cramps. 41 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:47,080 Somebody I called and asked if I could, or emailed me and asked if I could help someone 42 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:48,600 with menstrual cramps. 43 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:50,480 And the answer is yes. 44 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:56,560 I've helped, I don't know, I don't have a count, probably off the top of my head, probably, 45 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:01,160 I don't know, two or three dozen at least patients over the years with menstrual cramps. 46 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:05,640 I see a lot of, well, people of all ages, I treat newborn infants because a lot of times 47 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:10,960 infants who are colicky or crying or for no reason or who can't sleep or not eating properly 48 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:14,000 have tension in their neck, so that's one end of the spectrum. 49 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:18,680 And I have patients that are 100 years old or even older, especially people who have 50 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:19,680 people surprised. 51 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:24,040 I mean, obviously, if you don't know, anybody at any age can do the blood work that I talk 52 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,880 about all the time, and infancy all the way to as old as you live. 53 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:33,480 But I also have, you know, patients 100 years or older that come in for non-force chiropractic 54 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:38,520 because even if they have severe arthritis or severe osteoporosis, I don't do any snapping, 55 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:44,720 cracking or popping, so I can and do literally treat people of any age for physical complaints 56 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:52,040 as well as metabolic issues that show up on blood tests and other diagnostic testing. 57 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:57,520 So I don't have a lot of teenagers, for example, or younger women or just, well, women in general 58 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,960 of any age who are menstruating that come in to me specifically for menstrual cramps 59 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,680 because they just, I'm not the first person they're going to think of if they have that 60 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:07,240 issue, I guess. 61 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,280 But people who, I guess, so probably mostly people who are here for other reasons, other 62 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:16,440 physical complaints, neck pain, back pain, things like that, or perhaps come in for a 63 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:21,800 functional workup if they're, you know, still in their menstruating years, will, I ask them 64 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:26,000 always, it's on the questionnaire, I'll ask them if they have menstrual pain or heavy 65 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:32,400 flow, you know, the details of that and whether or not everything is problematic or smooth 66 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:38,000 sailing or somewhere in between, and so sure, yeah, lots of women, I mean, menstruation 67 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,480 is never going to be painless, rarely is it completely painless. 68 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:48,760 I've never experienced it obviously, but based on a survey of hundreds of menstruating women, 69 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:53,280 it's usually, you know, pretty uncomfortable, at least for the first two or three days, 70 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:57,440 but sometimes much longer, sometimes it's severely painful, that's important to know 71 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:02,680 about and sometimes it's just painful for way too long, much longer than just the first 72 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,840 two or three days of the cycle, and that's not normal. 73 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:08,800 So if you've been told that's normal, it's not. 74 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:13,320 If you think it's normal because that's been your experience for years, that still doesn't 75 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:14,580 make it normal. 76 00:05:14,580 --> 00:05:19,200 If you know 20 people who have the same experience, that doesn't make it normal. 77 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,920 Normal is normal human physiology, the fact that something is common even doesn't make 78 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:24,920 it normal. 79 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,320 Because a lot of common things happen, lots of people are overweight, that doesn't make 80 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:34,000 it normal, lots of people have anxiety and depression, doesn't make it normal. 81 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:39,440 So if you have, or if someone you love has severe menstrual cramps or, you know, just 82 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:46,480 any discomfort with their menstrual cycle that they suspect is worse than it could be, 83 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:48,000 then yes, I often can help them. 84 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:49,920 And how do I do that? 85 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:57,120 Well, menstrual cramps are the result of the sloughing off of the lining of the uterus. 86 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:02,320 So you're literally shedding living cells and the bleeding that goes along with that, 87 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,000 and so that's always going to involve some pain. 88 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:10,360 But sometimes, often, people who have severe menstrual cramps, that's almost always caused 89 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:18,100 by spasm of muscles, spasming of the muscles of the uterus, spasming, spasm of muscles 90 00:06:18,100 --> 00:06:25,120 in the abdomen next to or near the uterus, spasm of the muscles of the abdominal wall, 91 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,280 spasm of the psoas muscle. 92 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:32,960 Most people have never heard of the psoas muscle, and when I show it to them on a model, 93 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:38,520 when I do an exam, the psoas is spelled the Greek, it's a Greek word, so it's spelled 94 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:39,520 P-S-O-A-S. 95 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,480 The P is silent, psoas muscle. 96 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,720 This is a muscle, it's one of your core muscles, it's a hip flexor, it lifts your legs when 97 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:48,680 you're climbing stairs. 98 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,460 It's right next to your spine, so it's really deep inside. 99 00:06:51,460 --> 00:06:55,360 You can't feel it from the back because there's other muscles in the way, but you can feel 100 00:06:55,360 --> 00:07:02,600 it if you gently, deeply stick your fingers into your belly, going kind of a 45 degree 101 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,160 angle towards the spine. 102 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,800 You can palpate or feel whether or not there is tension in that muscle, and a lot of people 103 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:10,800 are surprised. 104 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,760 Well, anytime someone has tension in that muscle, they're always surprised about it 105 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,920 because they didn't even know that muscle existed, and it is a very common place to 106 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:22,280 carry tension, emotional tension, the tension from stress. 107 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:27,960 If you're stressed by anything, including a normal menstrual cycle, then you can have 108 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:34,640 spasm in the psoas muscle, in the uterus, in the abdominal wall muscles, near the surface 109 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:40,400 of the abdomen, all the way around, front to back, and even in the walls of the muscular 110 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,160 linings of the intestines. 111 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:47,840 So your intestines have several layers to them as well, the connective tissue that makes 112 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:53,960 the structure of the pipe itself, then a muscular layer that provides the contractions to move 113 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:59,840 through, move food through the intestines, and then the innermost lining that does all 114 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:05,000 the absorption of the nutrients and where the microbiome that you hear about all the 115 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:06,440 time hangs out. 116 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:12,440 So if you have spasm in any of these muscles, that can be often the overlooked cause of 117 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,800 severe menstrual cramps. 118 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:21,800 People know cramps are muscular, but it's not always just the uterus, and even if it 119 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:28,560 is, there are ways to get the uterus to realize that it's cramping more than necessary. 120 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,560 Sometimes a little cramping is normal when the first part of the cycle starts to help 121 00:08:32,560 --> 00:08:38,840 flush out the endometrium, the lining of the uterus, but sometimes it just gets stuck on 122 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:44,200 or it's cramping too much or because of stress that normal muscle contraction that is there 123 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:50,480 for a reason just gets overdone and your brain is hardwired to that muscle. 124 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:55,200 It's constantly getting feedback in real time, in nanoseconds, feedback going up and down, 125 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,640 up and down between your brain and every muscle in your body. 126 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:04,960 And that means that there is always a way to see if your brain is still fully communicating 127 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:05,960 with that muscle. 128 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:12,120 Well, if the wires are always there, if the communication is always available, then how 129 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,480 could your brain not be communicating with any of your muscles? 130 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:20,680 Well, because your body is constantly switching between one mode and another. 131 00:09:20,680 --> 00:09:26,120 One mode is to contract muscles to do a job, in the case of menstruation to flush out the 132 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:27,720 lining of the intestines. 133 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,480 But your body also wants to protect itself from any perceived threat, anything that seems 134 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:37,160 that it might be a threat to your survival or might be about to tear a muscle. 135 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:42,080 And your body's natural reaction to that is to tighten up a muscle to protect it, to keep 136 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:43,920 it from tearing. 137 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:49,680 And often the result of that is a muscle spasm or, you know, in the medical profession, especially 138 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:55,200 people, doctors who are not chiropractors don't understand that chiropractors and body 139 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:58,400 workers use the word spasm a little bit differently. 140 00:09:58,400 --> 00:09:59,480 It's sort of a continuum. 141 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:01,960 You can have a continuum of muscle spasm. 142 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:07,480 If you go to an orthopedist and they do a physical exam, they think spasm means full-on, 143 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,440 100% contraction of a muscle or nothing. 144 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,840 And there's obviously, you know, that's not how muscles work. 145 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:20,760 There's gradations of spasm, gradations of muscle contractions that are abnormal. 146 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:25,200 So I'm going to use the word spasm to mean any contraction of a muscle that's not normal, 147 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:30,660 that's not necessary for the normal function of that muscle or that part of the body. 148 00:10:30,660 --> 00:10:33,500 So this happens in the uterus and other muscles in the abdomen. 149 00:10:33,500 --> 00:10:39,280 They get stuck on and that's what causes this horrendous pain that's very, very difficult 150 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:40,700 to get rid of. 151 00:10:40,700 --> 00:10:44,680 And there's always a way to get those muscles to relax. 152 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:46,040 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley. 153 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:52,040 You're listening to Safe, Effective Natural Solutions to Almost Any Health Challenge. 154 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:56,000 So how am I going to help someone if you yourself or someone you know, someone you love who 155 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:01,120 has abnormal or severe or just way too much pain during their menstrual cycle, how do 156 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:06,120 I help someone with menstrual cramps or with other problems with their menstrual cycle? 157 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:11,320 Well, with the pain part at least, the most important thing is to check for tension on 158 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:12,780 the spine. 159 00:11:12,780 --> 00:11:17,680 So these muscles that become tense and then get sort of stuck on for no reason, that account 160 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:23,000 for most of the pain, most of the cramping, cramping anywhere in your body, is a sign 161 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:28,760 that there's a lack of the ability for your brain to normally relax a muscle when it should 162 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:29,760 be relaxed. 163 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:34,080 Instead of, it's fine, all your muscles should be able to contract whenever they need to, 164 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:38,240 but they should also be able to relax whenever they need to. 165 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:43,600 All muscles in your body should be able to relax whenever they need to. 166 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,880 All muscles in your body should completely relax. 167 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:51,600 Ideally, when you're not moving, if you're just, if you're sitting, you need a few muscles 168 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,880 to hold you upright to keep from slumping over, but if you're lying flat on your back 169 00:11:55,880 --> 00:12:01,200 in bed or on the floor, every muscle in your body should be relaxed. 170 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:04,600 Except for your heart, of course, to pump your blood and your diaphragm and some rib 171 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:09,520 muscles to breathe, every other muscle in your body should be, ideally, completely relaxed. 172 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:14,600 So if any muscle in your body is not completely relaxed, if it's cramping, including menstrual 173 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:20,560 cramps, then the first order of business is to see if there's tension on this membrane 174 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:23,920 that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord. 175 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,440 So that's how non-force chiropractic works. 176 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:27,440 People ask me that all the time. 177 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,000 How can you do chiropractic without any force? 178 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,160 I thought chiropractic means cracking your neck and cracking your back. 179 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:34,480 No, chiropractic means done by hand. 180 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:39,920 Anything a trained, licensed doctor of chiropractic does with his hands to release tension from 181 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:46,440 your spine is, by definition, chiropractic, because chiro means hand, practic means done 182 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:47,720 by, chiropractic. 183 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:53,320 So non-force chiropractic, you can actually get tension released throughout your spine 184 00:12:53,320 --> 00:13:00,280 by first identifying tension on the membrane that surrounds your brain and spinal cord. 185 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:07,760 Your brain and spinal cord are about the consistency of overcooked pasta or jello, even. 186 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:09,060 Very delicate. 187 00:13:09,060 --> 00:13:10,400 And so they're very well protected. 188 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:16,280 The brain and the spinal cord are surrounded by a fluid-filled sac called the meninges. 189 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:20,520 It's plural because there's three layers to it, but it's basically like a water balloon 190 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:25,680 up in the skull, filled mostly with the jello brain with a sleeve-like extension that goes 191 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:29,680 all the way down to your tailbone, and it surrounds the brain and the spinal cord. 192 00:13:29,680 --> 00:13:33,840 The fluid inside is the cerebrospinal fluid. 193 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,600 That's what doctors check when they do a spinal tap. 194 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:41,240 That is where the medicine goes for an epidural around that sac. 195 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:44,800 And so tension on that membrane is identifiable on a physical exam. 196 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:50,840 And there are non-force methods of releasing that tension, identifying it and releasing 197 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:51,840 it. 198 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:55,360 And when we do that, it makes it easier for, number one, any other treatment you might 199 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,080 be doing, stretching, exercises that you might be doing. 200 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:02,680 It makes massages work better, last longer, a whole host of things. 201 00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:08,200 But I always start with that because everything else works better when you restore the communication, 202 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:12,560 the ability of your brain to fully communicate with every muscle in your body. 203 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:14,680 And how's the best way to know? 204 00:14:14,680 --> 00:14:17,400 What's the best way to know if that's working or not? 205 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:21,320 All of your muscles stay relaxed when you're not using them. 206 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:26,960 If your shoulders are up or around your ears and your neck and shoulders are hunched forward 207 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:31,000 and tight, if any muscle anywhere in your body is tight when you're not intending it 208 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:36,340 to be, then there's been a loss of communication because your brain always wants to relax your 209 00:14:36,340 --> 00:14:41,920 muscles when you're not using them because keeping them tense is a waste of energy. 210 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:46,240 When you have tight muscles anywhere in your body, it wastes a lot of energy. 211 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:51,240 It can contribute significantly to fatigue, to tiredness, to a sensation of just having 212 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:56,920 a lack of energy because you're wasting all this energy unconsciously, unintentionally, 213 00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:58,920 maintaining these tight muscles throughout your body. 214 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,220 So that is almost always reversible. 215 00:15:01,220 --> 00:15:06,280 It's always reversible to a certain extent and often completely reversible by identifying 216 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:10,440 the tension, which muscles are tight, sending signals to the brain. 217 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:14,960 It's kind of hard to describe, but it's very easy to demonstrate, sending signals to the 218 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,680 brain that enable it to figure out that this muscle is tight and doesn't need to be. 219 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:19,680 So that also works. 220 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:25,840 We've been talking about menstrual cramps today and identifying tension. 221 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:29,160 It's not so easy to relax the uterus itself, but you usually don't need to. 222 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:37,720 Oftentimes the persistent cramps are in muscles nearby the uterus, in the psoas muscles that 223 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:45,000 are on either side of the spine, right next to the uterus, in the abdominal wall muscles 224 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:51,080 on the surface of the abdomen, and even in the muscular layer of the intestines. 225 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:55,640 So these are all muscles in the abdomen around the uterus that can hurt. 226 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:59,480 A lot of people experience the muscles when they're having really bad menstrual cramps, 227 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:00,480 they feel it in their back. 228 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:07,120 So the back muscles that can refer spasming in the uterus can refer pain and cause the 229 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:09,560 muscles in the back to spasm as well. 230 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,320 And this is also partly to do with the way the nerves work. 231 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,520 So all the nerves in your body start out in your brain. 232 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:20,880 There are 12 pairs that stay up in your head called the cranial nerves that go to your 233 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,120 eyes, ears, nose, and throat. 234 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:27,640 All the rest of them come down through the hole in the base of your skull and the brain 235 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,600 stem then becomes your spinal cord. 236 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:35,240 Spinal cord goes all the way down to the tailbone and nerves branch off from both sides of the 237 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:40,680 spinal cord in your neck, in your back, in your low back, in your tailbone area to travel 238 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:42,540 to all the other parts of your body. 239 00:16:42,540 --> 00:16:47,240 So if there's tension on any of those nerves, again, interfere with your brain's ability 240 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,620 to relax those muscles that would otherwise stay relaxed. 241 00:16:51,620 --> 00:16:56,520 So identifying tension in these muscles I'm talking about, identifying tension in the 242 00:16:56,520 --> 00:17:02,360 psoas muscle, in the back muscles, in the walls of the, in the linings of the intestines, 243 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:07,320 and in the abdominal wall near the surface tension can be identifiable. 244 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:10,720 You can feel it, technically called palpation on a physical exam. 245 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:14,560 It's very easy to identify whether or not there is tension there, either there is or 246 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:15,560 there isn't. 247 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:21,720 And if there is, then relaxing those muscles will often alleviate the menstrual cramps. 248 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:22,900 So that's what I do in the office. 249 00:17:22,900 --> 00:17:24,240 That's very effective. 250 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:29,480 I can't think of any patient I've had that had really bad muscle cramps that we weren't 251 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:35,120 able to completely reverse it, to completely change their experience, to reduce their, 252 00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:39,480 if they're having, if their menstrual cramp pain is more than the first couple of days 253 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:45,120 or if it's a 10 out of 10 as opposed to a five or a six, almost every time, I can't 254 00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:51,800 think of a time basically that we can't, nearly every time, I can't think of an exception, 255 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,900 can almost always find some pattern of tension that's different for everyone, but some pattern 256 00:17:55,900 --> 00:18:01,640 of tension in these muscles around the area of the abdomen in the back that are tight, 257 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:07,240 that are effects of a menstrual cycle that's triggered spasms and tightness in muscles 258 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:08,880 that doesn't need to be there. 259 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:09,880 There's nothing to protect. 260 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,760 There's nothing that your body needs to use a tight muscle for. 261 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:16,320 They just get stuck that way. 262 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,560 And when we find those and release them, then the pain goes. 263 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,200 And I can then show you some, usually some stretches or some things that you can do at 264 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,080 home to keep them relaxed. 265 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:27,560 So let's talk about that. 266 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:34,640 Anything, anyone can relax the muscles of the abdomen, the lower abdomen, especially 267 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:38,120 if they're having severe muscle cramps by simply using moist heat. 268 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:44,880 So my favorite way of using a form of moist heat is called a hot cherry pillow. 269 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:46,400 I carry those in my office. 270 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,360 You can look them up online, hot cherry pillows. 271 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:50,640 They're the best. 272 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:56,800 They have their denim bags, red denim cloth bags, handmade by a woman owned business in 273 00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:57,800 Santa Barbara. 274 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,320 I love supporting her. 275 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:05,440 And they're filled with washed cherry pits from the cherry industry. 276 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:08,960 And when you put them in the microwave, this little bag in the microwave for about three 277 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:13,040 or four minutes, they heat up and they actually absorb moisture from the air. 278 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,040 So they always come out moist. 279 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:19,320 Even I have some of them that are 10 years more older or more, and they always come out 280 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:21,460 of the microwave moist. 281 00:19:21,460 --> 00:19:25,100 And for those of you who don't have a microwave, you can also heat it up on low heat in an 282 00:19:25,100 --> 00:19:29,120 oven or even a toaster oven on 160, 200 degrees. 283 00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:31,840 Low heat takes a little bit longer. 284 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:33,560 So yeah, that's a great form of moist heat. 285 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:37,520 But if you have an electric heating pad, that's fine too, or a hot water bottle or any kind 286 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:39,840 of thing that you heat up. 287 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:40,840 That's fine. 288 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:42,040 They don't work quite as well. 289 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:47,600 If you're going to use an electric heating pad repeatedly, I strongly recommend heating 290 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:54,600 the electric heating pad up full blast till it's fully heated, then turning it off and 291 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:59,400 putting it on your body and covering it with some thick towels or blankets to retain the 292 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:05,080 heat if you're going to use it repeatedly so that you're not getting the EMFs, the electromagnetic 293 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:10,000 frequencies unnecessarily from an electric heating pad repeatedly. 294 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,740 So heating, moist heat, any kind of heat directly on the abdomen is a great way to relax cramps 295 00:20:15,740 --> 00:20:21,520 in any part of the abdomen for menstrual cramps, for the cramps in the muscles of the abdominal 296 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:27,400 wall near the surface where you can feel near the outside of your stomach hurts, relaxing 297 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:29,640 your back muscles. 298 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,440 If you have a sharp pain in your back, that's when you want to use ice instead. 299 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,700 I'll even have people do both. 300 00:20:35,700 --> 00:20:40,680 So if you have severe back pain and pain in your stomach at the same time, lie on your 301 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:48,040 back, put an ice pack underneath your back to calm the inflammation that inevitably accompanies 302 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:53,720 pinched nerves and pain in your back, and then put the heat on your abdomen on top. 303 00:20:53,720 --> 00:21:00,440 So you're relaxing the muscles, the abdominal muscles and the psoas muscle that I was describing 304 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,160 earlier, and even the uterus itself. 305 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,320 Even the gallbladder, people who are having gallbladder attacks can relax the spasm of 306 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:13,040 the muscular walls of the gallbladder by putting a warm heating pad on their abdomen. 307 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:17,000 And then if you have back pain at the same time, put an ice pack, a soft ice pack underneath 308 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,440 your back. 309 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:20,880 And if that doesn't work, then obviously you come in to see me. 310 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,000 I've helped lots of people with severe menstrual cramps. 311 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,840 I'm thinking of a particular of a teenage girl who came in one time whose cramps were 312 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:35,240 so severe that she was expressing wanting suicidal ideation is the technical term. 313 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:39,440 She was, I don't know, her mother found out about it from a friend of hers or a sibling 314 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:40,440 or something. 315 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,880 They were so bad, she literally wanted to die. 316 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:49,880 And she'd been to doctors, she'd been to her pediatrician, family doctor, nobody, they 317 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:54,400 gave her pain meds that would stop the pain temporarily and muscle relaxers. 318 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:56,520 That's the typical medical therapy. 319 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,980 But muscle relaxers and painkillers have side effects. 320 00:21:59,980 --> 00:22:06,440 Muscle relaxers make you drowsy and just feel sort of woozy and painkillers, you hear it 321 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,320 in the news all the time, painkillers are addictive, most of them. 322 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,400 And so none of those are really long term solutions. 323 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:14,240 And there is a long term solution. 324 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:20,240 So anyway, this teenager, she had, I was talking about this psoas muscle, I'm sorry most people 325 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:21,560 don't know what that is. 326 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:23,360 You can Google it, look up the psoas muscle. 327 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:26,480 It's a Greek word spelled P-S-O-A-S. 328 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,800 She had a severe spasm in her psoas muscles on both sides. 329 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:35,440 And that was making, that was most of the cramps that she was feeling during her menstrual 330 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,280 cycle was from spasm in the psoas muscles. 331 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,320 Because the psoas muscles are right next to the uterus, they're in the lower, they're 332 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:45,640 right next to the spine, they go along the spine and then down through the hip and connect 333 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:49,560 to the inside of the upper thigh bone and lift your leg, they're hip flexors. 334 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:54,780 So when we identified the tension in those muscles, all I had to do was just gently push 335 00:22:54,780 --> 00:22:58,840 into their abdomen and she's lying on her back on what it looks like, she's lying on 336 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:07,240 her back on the table and I'm finding, gently pushing in to find the spot where that muscle 337 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:09,400 is the most sore. 338 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:14,220 So I always show patients how to do this themselves at home as well. 339 00:23:14,220 --> 00:23:18,480 It's difficult to do it on yourself, but it's possible if you practice a little help or 340 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:23,560 you can get somebody else show, your parent, spouse, sibling, anybody else at home can 341 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:24,560 do it with you as well. 342 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:29,840 There's always a way to identify where that spasm muscle is and which specific part of 343 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,600 that muscle is spasming the most. 344 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:32,600 That's the key. 345 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:37,600 When you find that very worst part and identify it and release it, then you can get the muscle 346 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,500 to stay, to relax and stay relaxed. 347 00:23:40,500 --> 00:23:44,480 So this teenage girl, I believe she was about 14 years old, this 14 year old girl with severe 348 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,840 cramps during her cycle got back to having a normal cycle with a pain level of three 349 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:53,440 out of 10 instead of 10 out of 10 and only for the first two or three days of recycle 350 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,040 versus often a week and a half or more. 351 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:57,040 So she was very happy. 352 00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,000 Her mother was very happy. 353 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,040 Both literally had tears of joy at how much of a difference it had made. 354 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:08,080 And this was only after about maybe a half a dozen sessions of non-force chiropractic. 355 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:09,080 Thank you for listening. 356 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:13,880 As always, remember the condition of your body is far more important than any disease 357 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:15,280 you've been diagnosed with. 358 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,520 Do something this weekend to be a little healthier than you were last weekend. 359 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:21,920 Plant a garden, call someone you haven't talked to in years, forgive them if you're still 360 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,720 mad at them so that you can live long. 361 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:26,720 Have a fantastic weekend. 362 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:32,200 You've been listening to Safe Effective Natural Solutions with Dr. Todd Binkley. 363 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:36,720 If you have a health question you want discussed on the show, email your health questions to 364 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:41,320 drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com. 365 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:46,240 Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions for yourself and for your loved 366 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,920 ones, because our health matters. 367 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:56,280 Join him next Friday at 4 p.m. for Safe Effective Natural Solutions, right here on 98.3 The 368 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:23,280 Word, KDAR.