Nutritional Tips for Injuries Without Selling Supplements

G. Douglas Andersen, DC, DACBSP, CCN

In these difficult economical times, selling supplements to patients who can barely afford co-payments is unrealistic. For the average chiropractor with a typical injury-based practice, selling nutritional supplements can be unrealistic for a variety of reasons ranging from conflict-of-interest* to confusion about brands and ingredients, local scope of practice rules and/or discomfort in a topic that is not their area of expertise.
This is not to say these doctors don’t want to help their patients nutritionally, because they do. The good news is that it can be done without selling anything and, in some cases, may even be reimbursable using a self-care/home-management code on the day you give them the advice which follows:

1. Don’t stop your multi-vitamins if you take them (Whenever we are injured the requirements for nutrients increase and for some strange reason many patients stop their vitamins when they need them most. The most common reasoning goes like this: “Since I am in too much pain to work out, I figured I didn’t need them.’)
2. If they don’t use them but do own a product (and it hasn’t expired) now is the time to take them every day as directed while you are recovering.
3. If they don’t have a multi vitamin at home, I advise them to eat fortified foods like cereal, protein drinks, smoothies or a sports bar’s at least once a day.
4. Take extra vitamin C. (Most people have vitamin C around the house and use it when they get colds or infections. Nine out of ten patients are surprised when you tell them vitamin C is also good for injuries.) Depending on what you read, dosing can vary widely. For most patients with basic sprain-strain-contusion-inflammatory type trauma we commonly encounter, I start with ~10 mg per pound of body weight in divided doses with meals. For example, I would tell a person who weighs 140 – 160 pounds to take 500 mg 3 times a day while they recover. (For injured children my rule of thumb is 5 mg per pound.) If they don’t own vitamin C, I advise them to pick some up and, if possible, purchase one that also has bioflavonoids (at least 50 mg in each 500 mg vitamin C pill) which helps the C work better.
5. Drink two extra glasses of water over what is normally consumed when you aren’t injured. If a patient asks when and/or how much, I tell them one glass in the morning and another in the afternoon at a minimum of 1 ounce for every 10 pounds of bodyweight.
6. Eat protein 3 times a day. Most people get more than the RDA which is .38 grams per pound of body weight (normally written as .8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight.) However, they may not get .75 grams per pound of body weight (1.6 gm/kg/bw) which satisfies the extra requirements during times of injury. This is also what is needed for persons who are heavy exercisers in competitive athletics.
7. When a person on a weight loss diet gets injured, I have them freeze their diet at an amount of food that will maintain their current bodyweight. I make sure they understand it is not an excuse to over-eat but that a negative calorie balance that leads to weight loss can also prolong healing.

Dr. Andersen on selling supplements:
* I do sell supplements to those patients who need specific micronutrient(s) and/or combinations that are either unavailable over the counter or are more expensive when purchased individually. I do not play either the up-sell game or the ‘only my vitamins work’ approach – both of which are done for doctor wealth instead of patient health. In other words, if I can save the patient money or replace 3 bottles of their pills with 1 bottle of mine, or sell them a professional product that works if the OTC brand(s) they purchased fail and even when all dosing errors [right amount(s)/number(s) at proper time(s)] have been corrected.

 

916 E. Imperial Hwy.
Brea, CA. 92821

(714) 990-0824
Fax: (714) 990-1917

gdandersen@earthlink.net
www.andersenchiro.com

 

Copyright 2004, G. Douglas Andersen, DC, DACBSP, CCN, 916 E. Imperial Hwy, Brea, CA 92821, (714) 990-0824