12 Things for Chronic Back Pain Relief
Chronic pain is pain that you have suffered for some time, unlike acute pain which is something you have just suffered from maybe due to a recent injury. Chronic back pain can be frustrating and tiring to deal with, often disturbing sleep and making everything worse. It can certainly stop you enjoying life to the full. Though I can’t make any guarantees I can say that if you take some or all the measure below you will get relief from your pain to some degree. Some have had much more relief that they expected while others have had less depending on how bad their case was and how much they incorporated.
1) Acupuncture has been known to help treat back pain for many generations. Many people have managed their chronic back pain without medication. However, the treatment would be far more effective if while you are undergoing acupuncture you took a few more measures listed here. Acupuncture is believed to calm the nervous system while releasing chemicals (hormones) that will help heal the body.
Read MoreYour liver, help it help you reduce pain.
Our liver is underrated, over worked and taken for granted. Yet this organ serves several very important functions, not least detoxification. However, there’s a limit to what the liver can take on a daily basis year after year. Especially these days of ever increasing demands from foods and drinks that contains unnatural substances in ever increasing quantities. This continual bombardment eventually causes the organ to struggle. A struggling liver can contribute to all sorts of conditions like arthritis and over the longer period you might end up with conditions like cirrhosis or hepatitis to varying degrees.
Give your liver a break, take the load off by reducing the amount of artificial substances that give your liver an extra work load, as these substances are difficult to break down and take up extra resources.
Important elements to consider -
Read MoreSerotonin, our natural prozac help stabilize moods and reduce pain
Foods that will elevate your levels naturally
The B vitamins and zinc are important as they help the brain to manufacture neuro-chemicals out of amino acids (protein foods). B3 is very important and is found in a B complex supplement. Do not take B3 on its own, however you can take a B complex and add an extra B3 supplement if you wanted to. The reason to do this is that all the vitamin Bs work together in harmony, having a synergistic affect on each other. So why is B3 so important for elevating moods? If you are short of B3 your body will have to make it from tryptophan. You want to reserve your store of tryptophan for the production serotonin and not for making B3.
Eating foods that contain a good amount of tryptophan will ensure better levels of serotonin.
Seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, sesame
Nuts – hazelnuts and almonds
Wild game
Chicken
Turkey
Bananas
Prawns
Yogurts
Foods rich in B vitamins
Whole-grains like brown rice and oats
Egg yolks
Green leafy vegetables
Legumes like such as lentils
Fish
The body will use up a lot of its resources and reserves like vitamins – if you smoke, drink alcohol on a regular basis, regularly eat junk, sugary things, and white flour products.
Read More6 simple things – improve your circulation, help your arthritis
Anything that improves the circulation will encourage more oxygen to the muscles and joints, improving detoxification, reducing acidity, encouraging healing, reducing inflammation and pain.
1) Cinnamon spice into your diet every day – it is a warming spice, known to increase the blood circulation especially to the joints. This will encourage nutrients and waste to be moved in and out the joints more efficiently. Use the powder – for instance in oatmeal.
2) Essential Oils Take a teaspoon of carrier oil like olive oil and mix in 2 drops of rosemary pure essential oil and 2 drops of basil pure essential oil. Take the mixture and rub into your feet and then put on a pair of socks, probably best done at night. The feet are highly absorbent and within 20 to 30 minutes the essentials oils will be in the blood stream.
3) Dry Skin Brushing helps to improve the lymph and the circulation, helping to detox the body in general. Take a dry brush and lightly brush your dry skin in long strokes in the direction of the heart for about 5 minutes every most days before you have a shower or bath.
4) Ginger Tea is excellent for increasing the circulation in general. The other benefit to taking ginger is it has anti-inflammatory properties, helping to quell aches and pains. Finely chop two teaspoons of fresh ginger and place in a cup, add boiled water and cover and steep for 5 to 10 minutes. Drink 1 cup a day.
5) Rosemary Oil Rosemary herb is an excellent herb for increasing the circulation and cleansing. How to make rosemary oil for salad dressings – fill a large jar (with a lid) ¾ full with fresh rosemary, then pour olive oil over the leaves making sure the rosemary is completely covered, them secure the lid. Leave in a warm place (but out of sun light) for 14 days. Shake the jar every day. After 14 days remove the rosemary and store the oil in a dark glass bottle.
6) Hot and Cold Showers also known as hydrotherapy, improves your circulation. Stay under the hot water until your skin turns pink then turn on the cold water encouraging the blood to rush to the internal organs. Stay a short while or as long as you can stand it, then once again turn on the hot water. Repeat the process a couple more times.
Read MoreArthritis eases up when you’re not dehydrated, a common problem
Water is good for you, everyone knows it and would agree. You are probably thinking to yourself this is rather obvious and doesn’t need stating. However, research is revealing a different picture, I might be stating the obvious but most people are ignoring this simple fact. You seriously need to think about your fluid intake, if you want to feel better and help with those aches and pains of arthritis. I come across a lot of tired people that certainly look older than they are and tell me they feel older than they are. There are many reasons for fatigue, aches and pains but one of the reasons is dehydration. Dehydration is common.
Drinking enough water relieves pain and joint stiffness of arthritis. If you suffer from headaches, maybe you are not drinking enough hydrating fluids. When you are dehydrated your cells contract and retain waste products. When you are well hydrated your cells expand allowing them to get rid of their waste products, allowing them to maintain the correct pH balance, enabling the cells to take on nutrients, slowing down the aging process. This very important aspect of health is often over looked by practitioners and patients a like. Being hydrated is fundamental to any health and pain relieving program. But surprisingly is easier said than done for some people.
We all know how important water is, no need to explain. Or is there? Survey after survey tells a completely different story. We are not taking water seriously enough. Research has revealed that many people are dehydrated and that some people are very dehydrated. As we get older the situation seems to get worse. Being dehydrated is very aging, a bit like a dried up old prune. Our organs find it extremely stressful trying to function correctly under these circumstances. Over a period of time being in this state will have some very serious health consequences.
However many people including children tell me how they drink plenty during the day.
It is possible to drink yourself into dehydration? The answer is yes it is.
It is estimated that a lot of people are only getting one third of the hydrating fluids they need!
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Did you know? Drinking 5 to 8 glasses of water a day reduces are risk of all sorts of cancer and other diseases. |
Water is -
a) major component of blood
b) prevents constipation
c) flushes out toxins
d) prevents muscle stiffness
e) prevents joints from being painful as in arthritis
f) maintains a normal metabolism
g) temperature control
h) needed for protein digestion
I am often asked ‘how much water should I drink’?
The answer will depend on several things like your activity levels, the climate, how much you sweat, how much alcohol you drink, the amount of stress in your life, how much tea and coffee you drink and what you eat – some food is very dehydrating and some are hydrating.
The average person will need about 6 to 8 glasses a day. This amount would increase if for instance if you are in training and live in a hot country.
What are the symptoms of dehydration? This list of symptoms is not exclusive to dehydration it must be added.
Before you consider taking a medication, (which by the way is also dehydrating) for the symptoms listed below, first make sure your are well hydrated and you are eating well. Many people find these symptoms disappear or at the very least lessen to a large extent, it may take a week or two before you notice a difference.
* frequent headaches
* spots and blemishes
* stiff muscles
* painful joints
* dry skin
* saggy skin
* lack of energy
* hunger
* fluid retention
* fuzzy thinking
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Did you know? Research shows that the brain gets confused between hunger and thirst. People often eat when in fact our bodies are crying out for a hydrating drink. |
Balance It is important to start increasing your consumption of hydrating drinks and decrease your intake of dehydrating drinks.
Hydrating fluids – water, herbal teas, fruity teas, vegetable juices and fruit juices diluted with at least 50% water
Dehydrating fluids – coffee, tea, sodas, milk shakes, alcohol, chocolate drinks etc
Read MoreArthritis improved with 7 things you can do now?
These are important aspects that accelerate the aging process and speed up degeneration in general, contributing to a poor quality of life with more suffering than necessary, especially in most forms of arthritis.
1) Inflammation can be triggered by a number of things, what you eat and drink has a huge impact on your inflammatory responses, encouraging pain and destruction. It is very important to improve your diet in every way you can. This will have a huge impact on your condition.
2) Free-radicals – encourage degeneration such as in arthritis conditions. Take some anti-oxidants.
3) Poor detoxification – organs need certain nutrients to produce specific enzymes that neutralize and remove toxins from the body this is especially true of the liver and arthritis.
4) A negative outlook on life in general will impact on every cell in the body producing destructive chemicals that speed up degeneration. Of-course there are times when you will feel a little down that is natural but to always see the tank as half empty as opposed to half full is a problem. The tank may still measure half way up but they are two completely different ways of looking at the same thing.
5) Poor posture puts a strain on joints. Muscles tighten, which in turn restricts blood flow and this reduces movement of oxygen and nutrients in the joints. Also reducing the amount of toxins that can be removed from the joints, encouraging more degeneration and/or inflammation. A practitioner of the Alexandra Technique can help you in this area, showing you the correct posture in everyday life – reading, sitting at the computer, standing, walking etc.
6) Lack of activity, this does not mean you have to join a gym. It does mean you have to move around move, as the lack of activity does mean you could seize up. Just like the rusty gate.
7) Poor bio-mechanics some people due to their build have extra wear and tear on – the hips, knees and/or ankles. For instance – due to knock-knees, or bow-legged or collapsed arches will change the total alignment of the legs which can cause ankle, knee or hip problems. See a foot/posture specialist, or as a osteopath or chiropractor. They can arrange for inserts to be made especially for your particular set of circumstances for your shoes that help re-align your legs removing some of the pressure. This could mean all the difference to you being more active.
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