The Berman Method
The Berman Method
Episode #201: How Blood Sugar Affects Joint Pain
Welcome to Episode 201 of the Berman Method Podcast! Dr. Jake and Jenni Berman are back, and this time, they're diving into one of the most important—and often overlooked—factors affecting your health: blood sugar. They’re here to break through the noise of the corporate medical system and share how YOU can take control of your wellness.
In this episode, the Bermans explain why blood sugar stability isn’t just for people with diabetes—it’s something everyone needs to keep an eye on. They dive into how unstable blood sugar is at the root of common issues like back pain, joint inflammation, fatigue, and even gut problems. Spoiler alert: it’s more connected than you think!
Get ready for some real talk, personal stories, and surprising insights as they discuss the game-changing power of Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs). You’ll learn how tracking your blood sugar in real-time can help you sleep better, boost energy, reduce inflammation, and even improve your golf game.
If you’re ready to see the numbers that could change your health, you won’t want to miss this one. Tune in to learn how stabilizing blood sugar might just be the key to feeling your best, now and in the long run.
Like, subscribe, and reach out with your thoughts or questions—we love hearing from you!
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This is the Berman Method podcast, featuring Dr Jake Berman and physician assistant Jenny Berman. We are here to treat problems and not symptoms. Disclaimer this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and not to treat anyone or to give medical advice. If you are interested in any information that we are giving and would like to use this for yourself, we recommend that you contact your primary care physician or reach out to us and ask us questions about yourself specifically. Enjoy.
Speaker 2:It's game time, baby, with the Berman Method Podcast, treating problems and not symptoms. David, going against Goliath, goliath being the corporate medical system, big pharmaceutical companies, health insurance companies. They do not have your best interests in mind. They will choose profits over patient outcomes. Every single time you do have to be your own advocate. You have to ask your own questions. You got to become an ask hole Ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, like our two-year-old Can I have a cookie? No, can I have a cookie? No, can I have a cookie? No, I'm going to die if I don't have a cookie. Okay, here's a damn cookie. How's that for an intro?
Speaker 1:Yes, well, I mean, you just summed it all up.
Speaker 2:Yes, dr Jake Berman here.
Speaker 1:With With Jenny Berman, physician assistant. I was waiting for the rest of it.
Speaker 2:And we're rolling baby. We're 200 episodes into this thing. I still can't believe that we're 200 episodes into this.
Speaker 1:Well over 200 now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 201 today. Yes, let's keep track every single one.
Speaker 1:No, no. People can see it on their app. They don't need us to count for them.
Speaker 2:Yes, make sure you leave us some comments, email comments. We want to hear what your questions are. What are we not being clear enough on this podcast? What questions do you have that you want us to answer on this podcast? So email us, text us snail mail. Carrier pigeon smoke signal.
Speaker 1:Facebook message.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dm us.
Speaker 1:DM. That would be the most, the most, uh, normal one these days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we were Jenny and I met this past Friday and we spent the whole entire day meeting talking about where is this business going to, how are we going to make things better? What's the next step for Berman physical therapy, Berman health, Berman golf and there's some exciting things on the horizon. One thing that came up, though, as we were talking about how do we integrate products, for example, how do we've known for years now that people that have back pain could benefit significantly from healing their gut? We know that people that are trying to improve their golf swing could benefit significantly from going to the PT room. We know that people that are coming in for gut issues could benefit significantly from these regenerative therapy modalities that we purchased. That was part of the reason why I spent $50,000 last month was to help augment these services. But what was the one thing that we found in common amongst all three? The one thing that could significantly help how much progress you are getting in whatever program you signed up for?
Speaker 1:And what we decided upon and what we know, based on fact not just our opinion on what we decided, but based on facts is stabilizing blood sugar and really evaluating blood sugar over a 24-hour period for two weeks. Utilizing a continuous glucose monitor can prove the most effects across the board between wellness, pt and golf.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when you think about it that way, it's such a simple thing and easy it is.
Speaker 1:It is simple and easy to evaluate.
Speaker 1:It may not be as easy to actually fix the problems that the CGM is showing, but the thing about it is, every time you bring up blood sugar to a PT patient or to somebody that's going through a golf game and doing phenomenal on the front nine, they do pretty good on holes 10, 11, 12, and then they just fall off.
Speaker 1:And the things that we want to talk about and that we try to talk about and so many people shoot it down so immediately is blood sugar control and the reason everybody shoots it down, even my wellness clients that come in for gut health issues. We start talking about blood sugar control to be able to heal the gut and to help with recovery and regenerative medicine. So we start talking about blood sugar and they immediately shoot it down and say I don't have a blood sugar problem, I don't have diabetes, it doesn't even run in my family and it's primarily due to primary care doctors telling you okay, your blood sugar is normal, so you're normal, you don't have any blood sugar issues. When that snapshot of your blood sugar on your fasting blood work in the morning is just that, it is a snapshot at that second of what your blood sugar is doing. It's not evaluating the 24-hour blood sugar over a two-week period or a month-long period or a three-month period, where that's actually what's stimulating so much inflammation internally in our body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's crucial right there, because I'm guilty of this myself where I was a naysayer. Where I'm going, I don't have a problem at all. I can eat 17 cookies and not have a problem at all. I don't have a blood sugar stability issue and it wasn't until I actually wore a CGM continuous glucose monitor, where I was like, oh my gosh, my blood sugar is never dropping below 100. And just to put things into context, that's not okay for somebody in my age range and quote unquote, the shape that I'm in, that's not okay. That's indicative of setting myself up for pre-diabetes over the next 10 to 20 years.
Speaker 2:So seeing the numbers in real time was the biggest thing. And as soon as this episode's over, I'm actually going upstairs and putting another CGM on because it's time. It's something that should be done regularly because it gives you the numbers in real time and you can't deny the numbers. You can sit here and say I don't have a blood sugar stability problem because I feel fine, I'm not crashing, I don't have it in my family. But until you actually see the numbers, the numbers don't lie. They are what they are and that's when you'll actually make changes that positively affect you.
Speaker 1:Right. And so many people don't understand the effects that unstable blood sugar can have. And again they say, oh, my fasting blood sugar in the morning is fine, or I don't have a weight problem, I haven't gained weight, like you said, I'm not crashing, I'm not feeling this woozy-ness like my blood sugar is crashing. They don't realize that there's so many other symptoms that can be associated with elevated or unstable blood sugar levels, meaning the blood sugar is climbing and dropping and climbing and dropping through the day and night, and some of these symptoms can be headaches.
Speaker 1:It could be brain fog. It can be not sleeping through the middle of the night, waking up at 2, 3, or 4 am. It could be waking up in the morning and not feeling hungry. You're like, oh, I'm not hungry in the morning, so I'm going to wait till 10 or 11 am to be able to eat breakfast. Could be energy issues, where in the mid-afternoon it's not that you're crashing in a sense of feeling hypoglycemic, like you're going to pass out, but you feel tired after lunch, an hour or two after lunch, where you feel like you need to take a nap, struggling to fall asleep at night when you're going to bed. All of these can be symptoms of blood sugar levels increasing and falling. Unstable in addition to inflammation. Joint pain specifically in addition to inflammation joint pain specifically.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's the part that we wanted to translate across into my world, the physical therapy world is you're coming in for back pain. Back pain is caused from an inflammatory process. Inflammation gradually builds and builds and builds until it reaches a threshold to where you perceive pain and it hurts. That's a fact. You can't deny that. Pain is when things get inflamed. Things hurt when you have blood sugar instability, it creates inflammation in the gut. So now we have this systemic inflammation that's internal, and now that leads to circulating inflammation. So you're trying to focus on a joint use the knee, for example. That's easier than the back because you can see, the knee is not connected to your gut right.
Speaker 2:So your knee is inflamed, it's hurting, it's painful. Why would it matter what's happening in my gut? How is that going to negatively or positively affect my knee pain?
Speaker 1:the inflammation of the knee and this is. You know, we can go into a part two and a part three on this podcast regarding this, but basically the unstable blood sugar, meaning the blood sugar rising and falling, or eating very inflammatory foods or foods that are high in carbohydrate and sugar content without having the protein to stabilize the blood sugar, can lead to a blood sugar spike, can lead to a cortisol stimulation. So, cortisol being that stress hormone, and we have to think about cortisol acting like a steroid. When we take a steroid, yes, I understand it decreases inflammation, but, if you follow me here, when we take a steroid such as prednisone, we feel jittery, we feel hyped, we feel like we can't sleep at night.
Speaker 1:We oftentimes will hold on to water and feel more bloated, even though it's bringing the inflammation of the joint down. We feel more bloated Affects our sleep, we're hungrier, we crave more food and especially sugar when we have this steroid that we're taking. When we have this steroid that we're taking and cortisol has a very similar effect, where it actually can stimulate similar responses but also break down the gut lining. This is where this inflammatory cycle from the gut is coming from, where it actually creates inflammatory markers, antibodies, cytokines, which, again, this is getting more detailed than we need to be, but the blood sugar and cortisol are going to be connected when it comes to inflammation throughout our body systemically.
Speaker 2:So think about it this way I'm not trying to say in any way, shape or form that if you have chronic knee pain, that only addressing gut issues or blood sugar instabilities will help you get rid of your knee pain completely, but just it's. We're at a point in functional medicine where you can't deny the obvious meaning that inflammation in your knee and inflammation in your gut, they're not completely compartmentalized. It's not like it's apples and oranges, it's all related. And that statement right there it's all related, it's all connected, it's all one system that's becoming more and more popular in our American functional medicine world.
Speaker 2:But if you think about it, look at the Chinese. I mean, they've got 5,000 years of medicine, natural holistic medicine, right and we've got 200 years, at best, of modern day medicine. You would think that we would take more notes. You would think that us, as Americans, we'd be way more open to what the rest of the world, including China, is doing with medicine. And we talk about this all the time. Yeah, america's got really good acute care medicine and I wouldn't want to try to heal a bullet wound with Chinese holistic medicine. These are extreme examples. But at the same time, they've been doing it for 5,000 years. Who are we to say that we know more than what they do when it comes to healing the body naturally, holistically, without pharmaceuticals, without a drug that was chemically composed in a lab? It's chemicals.
Speaker 2:It's not natural. It's not marijuana. It didn't grow out in the wilderness and plucked. It was added with chemicals. It's made in a chemistry lab.
Speaker 1:Right, right. So coming back, is utilizing the CGM, the continuous glucose monitor, beneficial for anyone and everyone? It doesn't matter if you think you have a blood sugar problem or inflammation or not. Utilizing this monitor can help you actually see. How is your body responding to food, to stress, to activity, to your exercise. How are you doing during your sleep? Is your body actually resting and recovering with a stable blood sugar? This information is just priceless. It's vital for everybody who wants to live a longer, healthier life. It's so important for longevity. The best part about it is it's non-invasive. It doesn't hurt to wear it. It's not like you're going and having a procedure done. You can stick it on yourself by any means. You can put it on yourself on the back of your arm, or some people wear them on their leg or on the abdomen different places that you can wear them. They're tiny. Nowadays, where they used to be much bigger monitors, now they're super tiny and non-invasive.
Speaker 2:Non-invasive in real time. So we are recording this in September right now, so mid September, and we went on four trips to the Keys this summer and on these trips to the Keys the diet's out the window, like it is just pretty much non-existent.
Speaker 1:Speak for yourself.
Speaker 2:Like it is just pretty much non-existent.
Speaker 1:Speak for yourself.
Speaker 2:Well, for our normal diet, right, that's true. So for our normal diet.
Speaker 2:It's just out the window where water, the water intake, is the biggest one. When we're on the Keys trips, my water intake for those trips is cutting at least half, probably a quarter, of what I would normally get in on a daily basis and it just throws everything off. So here we are in September, summertime's officially over, and I want to know what's happening, like how much damage did I do this summer or how much damage did I not do? I don't know. Right now. All I know is that I don't know, and the quickest way to know is to get the numbers in real time. Within minutes you'll see what the numbers are and you can't deny it. It's sent right to your phone, you can see it on an app, you can see it spike, you can see it drop, you can see it stay flat and stable, but it gives you immediate feedback. And the thing that I'm looking forward to the most is am I still eating enough protein? Am I still eating enough cooked vegetables? Because I don't know.
Speaker 1:It's been six months minimum since I've worn one, and that's always for you the biggest eye-opener is your blood sugar will trend higher until you increase your protein in your cooked vegetables without even changing your other carbohydrate content, and you'll drop down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so crazy because it's so counterintuitive. Most people who are struggling with weight issues are getting fluffy around the abdomen. You want to eat less. It's just a natural thing. I'm getting fluffier, I'm trying to lose weight. I'm going to eat less Until you see the numbers and it's like wait a minute, my blood sugar dropped down to where it's supposed to be and it's stabilized by eating more Like it just doesn't make sense. By eating more, like it just doesn't make sense. But it's that little psychological component with real data that makes it that much easier to put more protein on your plate, more cooked veggies on your plate and psychologically get over that mental roadblock or that mental hurdle to say this is actually good, you should be eating this much and that's going to help.
Speaker 1:Right, Right For sure. So again, the the information that it gives, outside of just a weight issue or outside of being diagnosed with prediabetes and diabetes, and again coming back to the internal inflammation, just sleeping better, sleeping better through the night, getting past that two to 4 am time without waking up, waking up in the morning with more energy, less brain fog All of these can be very affected by blood sugar.
Speaker 2:Why does somebody wake up at 2 o'clock in the morning if they don't have stable blood sugar?
Speaker 1:Typically their blood sugar is dipping around. It's usually about six hours after going to sleep where the blood sugar will start to dip down and then the body will wake you up because it's not safe to sleep with a low blood sugar. So by waking, that arousal stimulates a cortisol response which is going to stimulate your blood sugar to start trending back up, even if you haven't eaten.
Speaker 2:But I thought it was just because I had to go to the bathroom. Yeah, that's what you think I'm being facetious right now. That's what everybody says. It's not a blood sugar problem. I had to wake up because I'm getting older and I have to pee.
Speaker 1:Right, which is unlikely. Most people will tell me that and then, six weeks in, they're sleeping through the night and not waking up to urinate anymore. I don't think I fixed your bladder problem. Actually, I think you're probably drinking even more water than you were coming in and you're not waking up to pee, but your blood sugar is more stable.
Speaker 2:So you're telling me that it's not because I'm getting older that I have to wake up and pee.
Speaker 1:Negative ghost rider. Wow, Again I'm being facetious right now, we know. So come get your CGM.
Speaker 2:Yeah, next week I'll report back on how bad or good my numbers are. Does that sound like a plan? I can't wait. I can't wait either Like, subscribe, share. Let us know what your comments are, so DM us. That's on the socials, direct message, direct message. So message us on the socials. What would you like us to cover on the next episode?
Speaker 1:ciao, for now thank you for subscribing on your social media and podcast platforms to the Berman method Dr Jake Berman with Berman Physical Therapy and Jenny Berman, physician Assistant, with Berman Health and Wellness. You can find more information on our website wwwbermanptcom for physical therapy, bermanptcom forward slash wellness for the health and wellness. You can also find us on social media Facebook, instagram, and on your podcast platform, so be sure to follow us, like us, subscribe to us and, if you would like any further information, definitely visit our website and reach out to us. You may also find our free reports on the websites as well, where you can download this free information for yourself. Have a great day.