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A leading chiropractor says your earrings and necklaces could pose a health risk...
Pieces of metal that pierce or even just touch the skin could be setting off a massive chain reaction in the body, sending hundreds of muscles out of alignment.
With back pain affecting 80% of us at some point in our lives, any breakthroughs should be welcomes. However, chiropractor Simon King has a new, if slightly surprising, therory, that earings, necklaces and even dental fillings could be causing serious muscle problems, which in turn, can cause more long-term back pain.
"Metal seems to irritate human skin", he explains.
"So when people wear metal jewellery next to their skin, their muscle naturally flinch and try to move that body part away. As soon one set of muscles tightens, the opposite set relaxes, and this can causes an imbalance."
This can then lead to back and neck pain, and any number of other ailments, from tennis elbow to slipped discs.
But if pearls, beads and plastic jewellery aren't for you, there are ways around the problem. "It'simportant to isolate the metal from the skin", says Simon. "Try painting your earrings with clear nail varnis so there's no direct contact. And the good news is that something as simple as removing jewellery or having a metal filling replaced with an acrylic one could be all that is needed to end years of agony. Always take off jewellery at night and choose fine necklaces over chunky chains, which seem to cayse the most irritation".
King, aged 46 years, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, has now trained 250 fellow chiropractors in his techniques — as well as a number of doctors. | 
