Podcast episode “181 – A Unifying Theory of Disease” (Evidence Based Chiropractor) hosted by Dr. Jeff Langmaid. The episode reviews Harvard Health material and argues that chronic inflammation underlies many chronic diseases (heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, Alzheimer’s). Langmaid explains innate and adaptive immune mechanisms, lists modifiable contributors to chronic inflammation (diet, lack of exercise, physical/psychological stress, chemical exposures), cites prevalence estimates, and offers practical steps chiropractors can take—education, exercise promotion, nutrition tips (e.g., turmeric, ginger), clinic-gym hybrids, and stress reduction—to help break the cycle and reduce long-term disease risk. Sponsor mentions (Rock Tape, Rock Stock) and show notes/links to Harvard Health are included.
Questions this episode answers
Over 60%.
Approximately 10–15%.
About 15%.
89%.
Welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor, providing you with elegant and efficient research based content to help your practice prosper and succeed. Now get ready for a variety of dynamic communication tools designed for immediate growth, courtesy of your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid.
Hello and welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor. I AM your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid. Today we are talking all about chronic inflammation. We're gonna look at some Harvard health publishing research articles and studies which showcase how chronic inflammation is really an underlying cause of chronic diseases as varied as cancer, heart disease, obesity, Alzheimer's and more. We're also gonna talk about action steps that you can take in your practice to proactively address this with your patients. Because a lot of it comes down to lifestyle and a lot of it comes down to conversations you can and should be having with your patients. Before we get started, I will say a few words about Rock Tape. Rock Tape is proud to be a sponsor of the Evidence Based Chiropractor and they have revolutionized the soft tissue world again with Rock Blades. Mohawk. 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But as I said at the top, we are talking inflammation today and we're going to talk about Harvard Health, we're going to talk about how it impacts your patients and your practice and as I said, also some proactive steps that you can take to really address this. Some things that I was surprised to learn as I started to look into this was, you know, chronic inflammation is really deemed by the World Health Organization as one of the greatest health challenges of today and it has been for nearly 100 years. And the reason is because over 60% of people are thought to have at least one condition caused by a chronic state of inflammation. Think about that. Like over half the world right now is dealing with at least one condition that's pretty much directly attributable to chronic inflammation. As I said at the top, this could be varied from coronary artery disease, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, Alzheimer's. All of these disease processes, all of these chronic degenerative type diseases have their roots in chronic inflammation, which is really, really wild. Because if you asked people, is what you're eating contributing? They might think a little bit, but probably not a direct linear association. Additionally, when we start to look at, okay, well how does chronic inflammation come about? It's not only the foods you eat, but it's the exercise you do or don't do. It's the stressors that you have in your life. I think back to my days at Palmer and we looked at chemical, physical and emotional stress that really holds true in this case. If you are having chronic injuries, chronic physical stress, you're gonna have acute inflammation all the time, which basically becomes chronic inflammation. If you have, you know, psychological stress, this can impact your hormones, this can impact ultimately how hormones are released in your body and ultimately lead to a chronic state of inflammation. To a certain degree. And certainly from a chemical perspective, if what you're putting in your body, diet is one of the biggest things with this. You know, if you are putting in junk into your body, if you're putting in sugars all the time, if you're putting in, you know, foods that are pro inflammatory, not anti inflammatory, you're not using any anti inflammatory spices, well of course that's going to lead to a chronic state of inflammation. So it's really, really important. And I believe that the research has also found, if I'm not mistaken, it was something like 10 to 15% of the population has at least two of the conditions associated with this. So this is something that is really, really, really big time. And it's something we all need to take a look at on the technical side of things. I'm going to read a couple quotes from Harvard directly. We'll talk about some of the physiology behind chronic inflammation and then we, we'll kind of circle back around and talk about the conversations you can be having in your practice. So Harvard says, quote, for simplicity's sake, immunologists still describe inflammation as dependent on two basic processes. The innate immunity relies on granulocytes and complement. Granulocytes are short lived white blood cells containing enzyme filled granules that dissolve foreign substances. Complement is an array of circulating proteins produced in a cascade of enzymatic activity in the presence of microbes. Wow, that got technical quick. Furthermore, they said, quote, the second process is adaptive immunity is directly specified at the microbes that have invaded the body previously. Whew. It's largely the responsibility of white blood cells called lymphocytes. T lymphocytes, or T cells, are the master strategist of the process, Directing cells and chemicals to eradicate the invader. B lymphocytes, or b cells, produce antibodies which attach to the specific pathogens and call in compliment to help dispatch the invader. Macrophages are the scavengers, Swooping in to eliminate the remains of the microbes, Dead granulocytes, and cellular debris created in the skirmish. When they clean up, macrophages also process information about individual pathogens and transmit it to the lymphocytes, which store the information for future reference. Wow, there was a lot there. But the bottom line is that's kind of the basic processes, Believe it or not, on how inflammation takes hold, right? You suffer an injury, you have a response to what you put in, Whatever the case may be at first, it's always an acute reaction, so to speak. So in the case of specifically an injury, we're looking again at those t lymphocytes. We're looking at those b lymphocytes by. They're gonna take action, Break down what needs to be broken down, Supply what needs to be supplied to really stimulate that first step of the healing process and then the subsequent steps. But ultimately, in the state of chronic inflammation, you, know, tissue disease becomes a big issue, because chronic inflammation is not supposed to be chronic. You know, inflammation is supposed to do its job. It's a beneficial process in short bursts. But when chronically lymphocytes are, you know, on the prowl, so to speak, that can ultimately lead to tissue challenges and tissue damages. Also, the hormone responses for this become a big, big deal. Hormone response is tied in very close with insulin resistance. Insulin, ultimately, is it being release or not released Based upon the hormones in the body? It's just a really, really, really big deal. They also find about 15% of cancers, including cancers of the cervix, the stomach, and the liver Are closely linked to infectious diseases. This can also tie into cigarette smoke, it can tie into asbestos, et cetera. These, you know, maybe not the asbestos, but the cigarette smoke in the diet. Tying back to what we do within chiropractic. Gosh. These are things that we can and should be talking about with our patients, right? We should be talking about the benefits of turmeric the benefits of ginger and how using spices doesn't create spicy food, but at least is a good first step in the right direction. Not many people want to hear about having or starting a diet, but just adding some simple things into their current nutrition, into their current diet can really make a huge, huge difference as time goes on. The other component to all of this is breaking that vicious cycle. You know, in a chronic state of inflammation, there's a vicious cycle going on and it's, you know, elevated hormones, it's imbalance in the body, and ultimately this can lead to chronic disease. So how do you overcome that? Well, there's a couple steps. We talked about diet just a moment ago and adding things to nutritional components, but also starting exercise, right? If somebody's hurting and somebody's not feeling good, they're not going to exercise. If they're depressed, they're not gonna exercise. So, you know, be positive in your office. Again, I'm all about being educational, engaging and entertaining. You know, get people motivated, get in there with some energy, make sure you're showing up for the people in your office and motivating them. You're probably already doing a great job. Wonderful thing about chiropractic, 89% of the people who come in at a chiropractor's office leave feeling great. If somebody's hurt, they're not gonna get out there, right? Very few people. So at the base, base, base level, get people out of their injured state. We do a great job with that as chiropractors. That's an awesome first step, but don't leave them at the front door. Okay, you're feeling better, you're all done here. I have nothing more to offer you. It doesn't mean that every patient necessarily needs to subscribe to a lifetime of care on visit 1. I don't believe that's a great way to practice personally. But what I do believe is that the skills that you have as a chiropractor, whether it's educating on exercise long term, whether it's having, as Josh Satterley talks about, a clinic gym hybrid, which I think is a great way to substantiate and create revenue in a practice while also helping the people in your community, whether it's guiding people on diet, whether it's guiding people on nutritional components, these are all avenues where you have a tremendous amount of training. And if we take this and look at a 30,000 foot view, getting somebody well from a herniated disc can feel really good. Getting somebody well from tendinopathies and Challenges in the extremities and joints can feel really good. But think about the impact that you can make if small changes and small changes that you inspire today help them avoid chronic disease. Now, these are things we'll never have the answer to, right? You could give an adjustment and a headache goes away. It's instant, instant gratification. We all love that. But don't discount the information, the education and the engagement that you can provide with your community and the impact that that can have long term. When we're talking about breaking the cycle of chronic inflammation, if you engage somebody to start exercising and help them along that path, if you talk to somebody about diet and nutrition, if you reduce stress on their musculoskeletal system through an adjustment, these are all things that can help contribute to breaking the cycle of chronic inflammation. And ultimately, when we see 60% of the population dealing with the conditions and diseases that result from chronic inflammation, you are making a huge, huge difference on the people in your community, their friends, their loved ones and their family. Even if neither of you ever know the alternative. So keep your head up, get in practice, have fun in there, but don't hesitate to have those conversations that you know can change somebody's life. Chronic inflammation is a huge deal. It leads to a massive amount of chronic disease. We just skimmed the surface of it today. Feel free to head over to Harvard Health. I'll leave a couple links in the show notes if you wanna dive a bit deeper. I hope you have a great week in practice and I will talk to you soon.
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