“Three doctors have four opinions” – says the folk wisdom, and when it comes to such a disease as osteochondrosis of the spine, the count goes on dozens. Any doctor, when asked by a patient about the cause of osteochondrosis, will name a dozen, but, unfortunately, it is unlikely that you will be able to get a clear and specific answer as to why it is you, and it is in this area of the spine developed the aforementioned disease.
There is even a view of osteochondrosis as a disease that is “polyethiologic but monopathogenetic”. Beautiful, but it simply means: “the same process is caused by different causes”. It should be noted that the disease osteochondrosis in principle occurs among the animal species of our planet only in the species Homo sapiens sapiens. In the literature, however, there is a statement that such dubious happiness was endowed even saber-toothed tigers. I do not know — I have not checked, but in the population of the human race the spread of osteochondrosis is truly global – 99, (9) %.
Osteochondrosis is the most common disease of the musculoskeletal system, affecting people of all ages. The term osteochondrosis is derived from two Greek words meaning “bone” and “cartilage”. It is a disease of the cartilaginous surfaces of the bones of the musculoskeletal system, mainly the spine, but also the hip and knee joints. The main causes of osteochondrosis are sludge in the body and chronic spasm of intervertebral muscles, as a result of immobility. These two factors change the structure of the intervertebral disc.
Due to the uneven axial vertical load, the ligamentous apparatus of the vertebrae (especially in the lumbar region) is maximally stretched from one side to the other – because the person standing is constantly “changing legs”. As a result, there is a displacement of vertebrae, called spondylolisthesis of the spine, and gradually develops degeneration of intervertebral discs with loss of elasticity of the nucleus pulposus. The disc loses the ability to perform the function of a hydraulic shock absorber, the axial load is transmitted by them in the direction of the acting force. After some time, the outer shell of the disk cracks, and herniated bulges are formed. They squeeze blood vessels (which leads to swelling and impaired spinal circulation) or the roots of the spinal cord, and in rare cases, the spinal cord itself. In addition, degenerative changes in the cartilaginous surfaces of the vertebrae, accompanied by the formation of a herniated disc, occur and increase in the vertebral body.
At one time, when I was just beginning to practice therapeutic fasting, I thought that fasting was ineffective in the treatment of neurological pathology; massage, manual therapy, hirudotherapy, acupuncture are more effective here. But when I was studying with Prof. Y.S. Nikolayev. Nikolaev Y.S., in the department of therapeutic fasting, I met a man who was being treated with fasting after a serious accident. He had many problems with his spine. He told me, I had already gone through everything and chiropractic, and went to China, and took acupuncture, but the best thing that helped me was fasting. Every year I do 21 days of fasting, and I started to feel like a human being.
We include in the treatment of this pathology, hirudotherapy and a system of exercises – stretching, flexion, rotation of various muscles, alternation of movements with periods of relaxation, which make the recovery of the body on fasting more effective. I consider chiropractic procedures and physical exercises together with fasting to be the most powerful tools inregeneratinga diseased disc!
So why is dry therapeutic fasting so effective in treating these diseases?
The intervertebral discs are 85% water. The spine itself bears 75% of the body’s weight. In our modern life and terrible ecology we drink mostly boiled, poisoned water. This poor quality “dead” water leads to chronic dehydration of the body. That leads to atrophy of the discs and violation of the supporting function of the spine, considered one of the causes of back pain. It takes a very different quality of water to restore the integrity and elasticity of the discs. The discs of the spine are actually small hydraulic shock absorbers, creating a cushion that absorbs shock and supports the weight of the body. The discs are self-hydrating as long as the body maintains adequate fluid levels and proper movement. Movement that compresses and stops the pressure on the disc creates suction that allows water to enter the disc, keeping it hydrated.
When the discs become dehydrated, pain occurs. Passive body positions or sitting at a desk without proper movement causes constant pressure on the discs, slowly squeezing out water, which ends in pain and stiffness. Joint pain and stiffness are the initial result of increased friction and micro-trauma in the joint. Our body uses water to lubricate the joint surfaces. When the body is deficient in quality water, friction between the cartilage surfaces in the joint increases, ending in inflammation, restricted movement and pain.
● During dry fasting in harsh conditions, the strongest, healthiest cells survive and in order to survive in such harsh conditions, they have to activate the production of their own endogenous water of super-high quality. And this endogenous water should be several times more qualitative than exogenous water, again based on the law of biological expediency. After all, the cell expends a lot of energy – hence, the product that is obtained as a result should correspond in quality to the efforts expended. This is not the human mind, which can make mistakes. It is nature itself, which has foreseen any variant of events and does everything to make life continue. During starvation the old, “dead water” isreplacedby super high quality “living water” synthesized by the organism itself. By fasting without water for a not-so-long period of time, we force the body to recycle the “old” water that it was holding, and thus our intervertebral discs receive new, super-high quality water. They are renewed and restored. Combining fasting with proper body movement, chiropractic care, and hirudotherapy is an effective solution to this problem.
● When a hernia forms, a large amount of adjacent tissue is traumatized and severe swelling develops. In addition, until the problem area is cleared of dead cells, there will always be an influx of a large amount of intercellular fluid. The amount of swelling is proportional to the amount of accumulated damaged cells and the rate at which they accumulate. Small edema may not cause obvious discomfort and pain, but impair blood supply to the spinal cord, and as a consequence – disrupt the work of internal organs (constipation, weakened urine flow, decreased potency, arrhythmias, varicose veins and others, depending on the location and nature of the hernia formation). Chronic small edema can lead to the development of internal organ diseases. Severe edema can cause severe pain, stiffness of movement, impaired coordination. With a hernia, there is always a strong swelling. Therefore, it is impossible to allow the development of swelling and congestion around the nerve root, During fasting,swelling and congestiongo away by about 5 – 7 days of dry fasting. This is manifested by the disappearance of pain, and increased mobility in the spine. The use of hirudotherapy at the end of fasting allows you to completely remove these pathological mechanisms.
● During any type of fasting, a person will lose weight, respectively, inobesepeople the load on the intervertebral discs is reduced, which creates conditions for its full nutrition and recovery.
● Ligaments and joints are cleansed of salt deposits, nutrition andrestoration ofspinal discs are improved. I have always been amazed at how the mobility and flexibility of the spine improves during fasting, even in elderly people.
Examples from my practice confirm the high effectiveness of treatment ofosteochondrosis and herniated discs of the spine, this method of treatment.
