FALL 2021 EDITION
In
Conversation DR. LAURA SWAIM, D.C. AND DR. LOGAN W. SWAIM, MS, DC, BCN. THE ROOTS HEALTH CENTERS, PLLC 8209 NATURES WAY, UNIT 115 | LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL 34202 941.877.1507 | THEROOTSNEUROPATHY.COM
LET’S HEAR MORE ABOUT THE ADVANCES YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO OUR REGION AND YOUR PATIENTS IN TREATING PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY. HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE NATURAL HEALTH FIELD? DR. LAURA SWAIM: It starts with our careers as athletes. We met in undergrad, and we both decided that natural health was the field that we wanted to pursue our careers in. We ended up going to natural health school together. Logan was a year ahead of me, and so he pursued his master’s in sports health science as well. He’s an overachiever. We started our practice to help people overcome back pain, knee pain, headaches/ migraines, joint pain, and neck pain, even adjustments, by evaluating the nerves throughout your entire body. At first, we expected to see a lot of athletes and
pregnant mamas, but we found that there was a tremendous need among neuropathy patients. Dr. Logan also then became board certified in neuropathy. DR. LOGAN SWAIM: I love taking care of our patients. Adding an advanced certification in pediatrics allows us to see the entire family. I joke all the time that I think our moms are some of the best athletes that we have in the office; being pregnant is far more strenuous than anyone could ever imagine. I love taking care of them. Along the way, we found that neuropathy patients really could not get answers for their conditions from the traditional model. The antiquated model of drugs and surgery was simply masking the symptoms, not addressing the underlying issue. Quality of life begins to go down, especially in the older
IN CONVERSATION WITH LAKEWOOD RANCH HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROFESSIONALS. INTERVIEW BY WES ROBERTS
generation--the baby boomers. Peripheral neuropathy has over 100 different causes, and solutions can be found in everything from nutrition to home care. With our patients, we spend time, we sit down and actually figure out what’s going on--not just how it’s affecting their life today, but how it’s affecting their life in the future. A lot of the time, people just need that conversation. They don’t feel like they’re being heard. Then we can give them a plan of action and the comfort that they have somebody to walk with in their journey. When you come in, we’re taking care of you as if you’re one of our relatives; we want the best for you. What do we need to address? You don’t want to be on this medication? You want to regain mobility? We develop steps that we can work on with your medical doctor or prescribing physician.
Sometimes, people come in and they’ve been to their medical doctor and they’ve described the numbness in their hands or pain in their feet and they feel like it got dismissed. Well, that is peripheral neuropathy, and there are underlying causes. WHAT IS PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY AND WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR TRADITIONAL MEDICINE TO MANAGE IT? DR. LOGAN SWAIM: Peripheral neuropathy is a condition of nerve damage, typically to the hands and feet. We actually look at it as a sign of decreased blood flow, or nerve flow, or other causes. People often think these symptoms are simply diabetes, and that’s possible, but so often we find it’s something else--something we can treat. It can be an infection, inherited diseases, toxins, cancer chemo-
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ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS DR. LOGAN W. SWAIM is a board-certified neuropathy specialist who, together with his wife, Dr. Laura S. Swaim, own a family ran practice that is commi ed to delivering results for people to reverse their neuropathy naturally. Dr. Logan brings a tremendous amount of compassion and dedication to every patient he treats and provides care for all ages. He is proud of his knowledge and focus on natural health, wellness and prevention. Dr. Logan completed his training at Gardner-Webb University (B.S. in Biology), Life University (Doctor of Chiropractic and Master’s degree in Sport Health Science) and American College of Physical Medicine (Board Certification in Neuropathy). He is a member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, ICPA and is Advanced Certified Proficient in Torque Release Technique (TRT). Dr. Logan W. Swaim is currently in the process of becoming an Author and will soon be releasing his book on how to reverse neuropathy naturally. DR. LAURA S. SWAIM is a Doctor of Chiropractic and is Certified in Webster’s Technique, through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, ICPA, which she is also a member of. From a young age, care and compassion, and a love of serving was ingrained in her. She enjoys working with children, adults, and families. Dr. Laura earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry at Gardner-Webb University. She received her Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Life University, and graduated Cum Laude. She has extensive clinical post-graduate training in pediatrics and pregnant women. Her knowledge and experience working with pregnant women and children allow her to provide the highest quality care. Dr. Laura is also Certified Advanced Proficient in Torque Release Technique and Auriculotherapy.
therapy and more. There are so many patients, all with these similar symptoms: numbness and burning in the feet and the hands, a tingling sensation, the feeling of wearing socks or walking on rocks, and, probably the biggest one and the one that impacts them the most, is loss of coordination and balance. We see individuals in their fifties, sixties, seventies and, unfortunately, fall risks are prevalent. And neuropathy is a contributing factor. They don’t have the balance, and that can lead to falls, and falls can lead to broken hips or broken knees that could be the end of somebody’s quality of life. The nerve damage that actually takes place needs to be reversed. And part of the treatment model is to be able to actually reverse that naturally to regrow and retrain those new nerves. Think of a wilting plant—you need to give it water, nutrients and sunlight. And all of that comes into what we do in the office, how do we provide those things that your body needs: the water, and the nutrients to regrow and regenerate. We sometimes get some people in the office where it may have gone too far. And unfortunately, there’s not really much we can do once the nerves are basically dead. We want to get to people in time to reverse the conditions. TELL ME MORE ABOUT REGROWING NERVES. I UNDERSTOOD THAT MOST NERVES ARE UNABLE TO REGROW? DR. LOGAN SWAIM: That’s a misunderstanding. Actually, your brain is one of the only areas where your nerves cannot regrow. That is why brain damage is so detrimental. The term angiogenesis is the actual term for that regrowing. This is a common practice; for example, the Cancer Treatment Centers of America
actually use one of the devices that we use in the office because they know that chemotherapy is phenomenal for attacking cancer, but it also destroys some positive things in the process. They use the device we have to help regrow and reeducate those nerves. It is actually possible to do that—to reverse peripheral neuropathy and some of the small fine nerves and big nerves in the hands and feet. It doesn’t happen overnight (sometimes the nerves are too far gone) but it can. We’ve seen it happen. DR. LAURA SWAIM: I’m not surprised that you didn’t know that that process could occur. Much of the population thinks the same way and that’s why they assume, “I’m going to have to live with this,” but we’re here to tell you you don’t. And, in fact, you need to come in as soon as you’re starting to feel that numbness and tingling sensation so that we can start reversing it as soon as possible. WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS THAT ARE THE EARLY WARNING SIGNS? DR. LAURA SWAIM: Numbness, tingling, burning and the sensation of wearing socks. A lot of our practice members can’t sleep at night because they just feel like their feet are on fire. One that I’ve seen recently is loss of coordination. These individuals want to be independent as long as possible and they can’t feel the bottoms of their feet. DR. LOGAN SWAIM: And it’s so much more than that. When we look at swelling issues, constipation, diarrhea, bladder dysfunction—all of these are warning signs. The body is so complex, it gives us so many different warning signs, but you wouldn’t think how sleep problems or bladder dysfunction would associate with peripheral neuropathy. They all could
be warnings about your body. Depression is probably one of the more difficult ones; it’s one part of your health—your mental, physical, social and spiritual wellbeing. What about the environment that we live in today? Is the depression coming from something external or is it because you hurt 24/7? That can be a depressing thought. I had a gentleman come in yesterday, and what encompasses his whole world right now is that he’s been in pain for too long. It’s affecting his marriage. And you could tell that tension (his wife was with him in the room) in the air was palpable—just that they were at their wit’s end. And they’ve been together for 50 years, but it’s one of those things that, at this point, they don’t really care to be in the same room in the same building together because of what he’s dealing with. And it affects every aspect of his life. WE HEAR MORE AND MORE ABOUT THE ADDITIONAL IMPACTS OF CHRONIC PAIN. THE COST TO THE SUFFERER IS MORE THAN JUST ABOUT THE PAIN ITSELF. DR. LOGAN SWAIM: Chronic pain accounts for more than 20 percent of all doctor’s visits today, and that is significant. It’s heartbreaking to see it--the traditional medical approach can do well in managing some of those symptoms, but too often they are not fixing the underlying causes. Gabapentin is a very commonly prescribed medication currently. The upper limits are 300 to 600 milligrams per day, and that is a lot, but I have (in the last two weeks) seen 900 and even 2,700 milligrams prescribed per day. That medicine was originally designed for seizures as a seizure medication. It dampens the nerves, but when prescribed off
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label for things like neuropathy, you have to keep taking more and more to deaden the nerves to just deal with the pain. That’s not the best course of action in adjusting that because we know it also destroys internal organs. What is the trade-off ? DR. LAURA SWAIM: We have had dads who, after treatment, were able to walk their daughters down the aisle and they never thought it was possible. It’s the sweetest thing. For whatever reason, when people are diagnosed with neuropathy, they think it’s the end of the road for them. To know that there is something natural for them where we can reverse it—they just have no idea. There is another option. There is hope. DR. LOGAN SWAIM: We judge our success rate at 95 percent. The treatments have proven their worth time and time again. It takes a real partnership between us and the patient. This is an active participation in their health that they need to be a part of. They need to be committed 100 percent. And a bit of that process is making sure that they understand what that commitment looks like on our end and on their end. That way, our relationship moves forward the best that it possibly can. WHAT WOULD PEOPLE EXPECT TO EXPERIENCE IN TERMS OF THE PROCESS FOR TREATMENT? DR. LOGAN SWAIM: Unfortunately, there is no one answer. We have to look for root causes in the body structurally, neurologically and metabolically. What can we do in the office to benefit the patient? What do they need to do as far as home care? Is there a metabolic or nutritional component? We have a low-level light therapy to encourage nerve reeducation. We know how important nitric oxide production
is for the angiogenesis or that regrowing of nerves and blood vessels because, as nerves die off, the reason is they don’t have proper nerve flow or proper blood flow. That’s all extremely important. And blood flow is ultimately the name of the game; we want to address those issues. Because of nerves and blood vessels dying off, we lose that circulation. If there is a structural issue, well, again, 60 percent of people with the signs and symptoms have low back pain, so I’m going to look at the spine and say, “Okay, are there some components there?” Because, if all we do is address one of those, well, the other contributing factor is just going to lead back in. But then, obviously, each piece is going to be unique to that individual coming in and as they progress through care. DR. LAURA SWAIM: We try to educate people, and so a lot of people find us from seminars that we host. We need to meet the potential clients. This has to be a good fit for them and to be a good fit for us. We actually put out many different avenues as far as being able to meet the community where they’re at. When we look at community events, things that we do in the office, our community givebacks . . . .all that stuff ties in because we want to be able to meet the community. Partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters or Mothers Helping Mothers is a huge part of what we do. There are so many people that we can help out there; we just need to find each other. I want to be an anchor for the community to rely on, to be a source of knowledge and understanding. If we do that in multiple different ways, then we can really take them and meet them, whether it’s a $49 deal, whether it’s a free seminar to come in and learn about what’s going on, whether it’s just coming into the office and just
meeting us, getting a tour of the office . . . we want to be that resource in the community. I actually think that there’s a lack of knowledge and understanding of people’s health and what they’re dealing with. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE FOUND QUITE A HOME IN LAKEWOOD RANCH. DR. LAURA SWAIM: I’m excited to talk about Lakewood Ranch. I’m very passionate about where we live. We traveled the country, started narrowing down cities and states, and Florida was on the short list. It’s beautiful here. Why not? But we didn’t know exactly where and got off the interstate at University Parkway, Exit 213. And when you go east, it isn’t that far where you see a cow pasture. And we’re like, how cool is this? We’re already in the country. But also, our grocery store was right there. Everything was just right there— that feeling you got of a small town (vibrant people were walking, running, biking, and there were events happening). It was just a thriving community. A lot of people think you go to Florida to retire. We saw these young families. We just knew that this was the place. For us, our five values are ICCCF: you have Integrity, Communication, Community, Commitment and Faith. It speaks to our ability to meet the community where they need us. We’ve done food drives. The military care package was awesome. I don’t know how many care packages we shipped overseas; it had to be close to 200. That was amazing. We’ve done clothing drives. We all want what’s best for our community, and hope our peers see these opportunities too. You really need to know the people that work, live and play here, be involved in your community and see what this community
is about. As we have evolved in this community, everyone is like a family. Lakewood Ranch is just like a big family, wherever you go. If it’s a local Publix, you always run into someone, ‘cause it’s that small-town feel. People think Florida and think retirement, but Lakewood Ranch is different. I just see young families thriving in health and happiness here. DR. LOGAN SWAIM: I love that aspect of the focus on health and happiness. I wake up every day just excited to help people. There’s,a lot of need in the community and people are looking for answers, and Dr. Google is not always the best place to do that. And so, we want to be that anchor—to truly be a place that wants and needs health. We’re already one of the fastest-growing communities in the country. People are moving here and, to be that resource, to be that anchor for their health just means the world to me. It’s why I wake up every day excited for that potential—to know that we can raise a healthier generation naturally, that we can fix problems that we’ve been dealing with for a long time. LL
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