Musculoskeletal therapies and alternatives to x-rays?

I have a lot of lingering skeletal and spinal issues that I've mostly ignored while they have steadily worsened over the years. Basically I've got something going on with my right wrist, right elbow, my right knee, and and all over the place in my spine and back due to various factors, for instance:

- years of bad posture from sitting in chairs and in positions that don't fit my tall and slender frame
- being hunched and curled over musical instruments and computers for hours at a time for most of my life
- carpal tunnel type problems from typing and playing a lot of guitar and mandolin
- mental and physical stress in general for many years stemming from low thyroid and deranged hormonal/metabolic function before discovering Ray Peat's work a year ago and finally beginning to implementing method of encouraging cellular respiration via nutrition, sunlight, bag breathing, etc

On one hand, I'm pretty certain my musculoskeletal system has developed abnormally enough and has been stressed enough that I won't be able to recover fully, and I am inevitably going to have to keep fighting situations where I can't avoid sitting in bad chairs and working in fairly anti-metabolic conditions in general. Regardless, I'd like to begin to focus on and put effort into therapies and methods of healing that can give me as much freedom of movement as possible as I age. So in addition to the ways that I have shifted my diet and lifestyle, I would like to find a medical technology that can help me visually evaluate what exactly is going on so that narrow down how to proceed with things like acupuncture, massage, practicing good posture, etc.

I'm a pretty active person and I really like to move around whether it's climbing trees, doing handstands, playing basketball, swimming in the ocean, or just running around and trying to see the world more like a playful child. Yesterday I pulled some sort of muscle in my neck while goofing around on some monkey bars on the playground. Little injuries like that happen to me all the time, and I usually recover OK as the inflammation subsides, but I'm getting older and I can't expect these things to go away without major consequences on down the line. I want to be able to keep a sense of adventure and play in my life but still do what I can to avoid any major injuries or surgeries.

So this is my question: Obviously x-rays are super harmful and I'm not willing to subject myself to them anymore short of an emergency situation. What kinds of musculoskeletal examination technologies are available that are free of radiation, affordable and relatively safe? I should note that I live in the midwest where there are not many "alternative" resources so I will likely need to tap into the medical community to get this done.

I know ultrasound and MRI are safer than x-rays but they aren't affordable. I don't think anything in medicine is affordable unfortunately. My last ultrasound was $953.00 dollars. Maybe others have some affordable suggestions. Best of luck to you loess.

Thanks Blossom :)

There is a test called an EMG that I had once due to an injured shoulder that wasn't healing well (prior to Peat). I don't know a lot about it but I do know it's similar technology to an EKG and no radiation is used. I'm not sure on the cost but thought I'd mention it as something you could research further.

RP has mentioned how one of his relative , who was a baseball player
cured his very bad bone condition with just egg shell powder.
He probably did not have high PUFA storage and low thyroid function.
Thyroid function, TSH and PTH are closely connected to bone health.
Have you been tracking these numbers? There are two KMUD interview on
"Calcium and Phosphate" and "Hairloss and Osteoporosis" you might find
useful. Vitamin D and K takes care of the calcium metabolism. But, keeping
TSH low and other stress hormones in check is also essential for bone health.
I guess you are aware that RP thinks flouridated water weakens bones.
It takes 4 years to replace PUFA, you might have to wait about 4 years before
you get a full recovery.

I do very well on lots of milk so I get plenty of calcium that way, vitamin D from the sun and supplementary red light from incadescent bulbs and eat liver regularly. Over the last year I have focused on really refining and dialing in the nutrition side of things as well as figuring out supplement protocols that give me good results and have been truly therapeutic. I have not had any bloodwork done since finding Peat. I have never really felt a need for it because as I went deeper into Ray's work, I connected enough of the dots together to know very confidently that my thyroid function and metabolism were pretty wrecked, based on how so much of his research and of the work of others with similar perspectives corroborates and explains so much about the biology behind the major declines in health that I experienced over the last 15 years or so. Anyway, seeing as it has been about a year since I shifted into Peat land, it would be interesting to see where the numbers are at now. I do think I should experiment with taking thyroid at some point, just to see if it helps keep me feeling good more consistently.

I always wonder where he got the "4 years" thing from. Did he extrapolate that based on some sort of quantified average rate of PUFA disposal by the liver through glucuronidation?

loess said:

I always wonder where he got the "4 years" thing from. Did he extrapolate that based on some sort of quantified average rate of PUFA disposal by the liver through glucuronidation?

Click to expand...

This four year number came from a review of several papers. I believe i
posted that in an old thread. These studies measure how long does it take
for fat storage to reflect dietary fat intake. If someone loses weight/fat,
they will be able to change the ratio in a shorter period of time.
But, RP does not recommend that when someone has lots of PUFA stored.
He likes the slow process of replacing PUFA with dietary changes.
He thinks 2:1 ratio of saturated to PUFA improves metabolism and thyroid
function, it should take about 3 years to achieve with PUFA restriction.

RP recommends several blood and urine test to get a good idea about health.
I have tested PTH regularly and noticed milk and sunlight did not help.
I thought i was getting enough calcium from milk and vitamin D from sunlight.
I was deficient in vitamin D and started feeling great after adding vitamin D
supplement and now i can suppress PTH with lower amount of calcium.
My PTH came to lower level only after i added some supplemental calcium.
I think the ratio of calcium and phosphorus in milk was not enough for me.
What i learn from all these is that i can not be sure about anything without
measuring PTH. PTH changes very quickly within days, so it would be
reasonable to test PTH when calcium and vitamin intake is regular and stable.

Thanks Mittir.

I'm going to go ahead and order some blood work. I have a family member who is an MD and should be able to order whatever I want. I've compiled the following list of tests that have been mentioned in one place or another here on the forum as well as from the recommended blood work section in Danny Roddy's Hair Like A Fox. I realize that the usefulness of particular set of labwork is somewhat dependent on the individual, but basically I'm trying to cast a wide net to gather a fairly comprehensive set of Peat-related measurements. With that in mind, is there anything essential that I'm missing in this list?

• TSH
• Total T3
• Total T4
• Reverse T3
• PTH

• CBC (Complete Blood Count)
• Lipid Panel

• Liver ALT
• Liver AST
• Total Triglyceride
• Total Cholesterol

• CO2
• Lactic Acid
• Free Fatty Acids (NEFA)
• Albumin

• Whole Blood Serotonin
• Prolactin
• Ultra-Sensitive Estradiol
• Aldosterone
• Estrogen
• Cortisol

• TIBC (Total Iron Binding Capacity)
• Serum Iron
• Transferrin saturation Index
• Ferritin

• Calcium
• Phosphorus

• Homocysteine
• Interleukin-18
• Vitamin D 25-Hydroxy
• Histamine
• C-Reactive Protein
• Glucose/Insulin

@loess

How about a Chemistry Panel

http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cmp

It should include Serum Calcium, CO2, ALT, AST, BUN, creatinine and stuff like that.

Since, your main health issue is bone related PTH with serum calcium and phosphorus
would be more helpful. I do not see any benefit in testing Free T3 and Free T4 if you
are doing total T4 and T3. I have not seen him mentioning microalbumin, he recommend
serum albumin. It is a very important test, i use it to make sure my protein intake is
adequate. Excess estrogen also inhibit albumin production.

He mentioned IL-18 as an indicator of inflammation. You can also add homocysteine.
Cortisol can help to interpret high reverse T3. Adrenal can be helpful too.
Some form of insulin or glucose test can be added.

Right, I meant to put albumin, not microalbumin (copy+pasted the wrong one). Updated list with additions.

Mittir, when you say adrenal are you referring to 21-Hydroxylase test?

Sorry, he mentioned cortisol and adrenaline,not adrenal.
ACTH activates adrenal glands . Cortisol, aldosterone, adrenaline etc.
are released from adrenal. You are already testing for aldosterone, cortisol.
You can add adrenaline if your like. RP talks a lot about nitric oxide.
I do not know if blood test for nitric oxide are useful or not.
Creatinine and BUN test can be helpful too. RP does not talk about these
tests. I think lipid panel covers both cholesterol and triglyceride.