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Pain Relief

Pain Relief

Got Pain? Eat These Top 5 Anti Inflammatory Foods

Guest Post by Lisa Consiglio-Ryan

Whether you have knee pain, back pain, or headaches, a quick response is to reach for the ibuprofen or any drug you can find your hands on. While these drugs may provide quick relief, over time, they can actually weaken our immunity or cause unwanted side effects.

Nature has given us many foods to help ease our pain. These foods are not only tasty, but they will help you boost immunity and heal yourself. The best part is that these foods can prevent chronic pain. Now that is a big bang for your buck!

If you want to feel better, here are the top 5 must-have anti-inflammatory foods:

  • Turmeric: This Asian spice commonly found in pre-mixed curry powder contains a powerful, non-toxic compound called curcumin. Studies found that turmeric’s anti-inflammatory effects are on a par with potent drugs such as Motrin, but yet having none of their side effects. Turmeric is also used to relieve motion sickness and prevent colds.
  • Shitake mushrooms: These mushrooms have been enjoyed by the Chinese and Japanese for centuries and are known for amazing immune-boosting properties plus cancer fighting agents. There’s no better way to enhance your health than to feast on a plate of stir-fried mushrooms. Yum! Try this delicious recipe:

Basmati Rice with Leeks and Shiitakes
Serves 2-4

1 cup brown basmati rice
2 cups water
10-15 shiitake mushrooms (fresh)
1 large leek, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

Cook rice in rice cooker (or use directions on box)
Trim and discard stems from mushrooms. Slice the caps thinly and set aside.

In a sauté pan over medium heat, sauté leek and garlic in oil until soft. Add mushrooms, stir and continue sautéing 10 minutes or until mushrooms are brown. Remove from heat, fluff rice with fork and fold in mushroom mixture.

  • Green tea: The flavonoids in green tea are potent and natural anti-inflammatory compounds that have been shown in many studies to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.
  • Goji berries: These antioxidant powerhouses are high in phytonutrients that provide protection against many chronic diseases such as dementia. So start feasting on these superfoods.
  • Sweet Potato (just in time for fall): The sweet potato is often overshadowed by other exotic vegetables and fruits. But it is also a good source of complex carbohydrate, beta-carotene, manganese, vitamin B6 and C as well as dietary fiber. Working in concert, these nutrients are powerful antioxidants that help to heal inflammation in the body.

As always, if you are allergic to the foods listed, you must avoid them, no matter how nutritious they may be. Consuming foods that you’re sensitive to will only cause more inflammation.

You can read more on incorporating pain busting foods with the following sources:

The Acid Alkaline Balance Diet by Felicia Drury Kliment
Thrive Foods by Brendan Brazier
Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe

Do you consume any of the above anti-inflammatory foods? Which ones will you try?

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Lisa Consiglio Ryan is a Certified Health and Nutrition Coach for busy, active women and their families. Areas of expertise include weight loss, stress management, detox programs, and special diets such as vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free. Services include private consulting and group seminars.

Get your FREE guide to healthy living: 5 Shockingly Simple Steps to Getting Your Hot Body Back for Good.

Contact Lisa at Whole Health Designs for more information on health coaching programs: http://www.wholehealthdesigns.com.

Connect with Lisa on Facebook and Twitter.

Pain Relief

How to Get Rid of Foot Cramps

What Causes Foot Cramps?

Foot cramps are painful and frustrating, and they can strike any time. Foot cramping is caused by a few simple factors that can easily be adjusted to get foot cramp relief.

Dehydration is a common cause of cramps in the legs, arms and feet. If you’ve been out in the sun, exercising more than usual or haven’t been drinking enough water, dehydration could be the source of your foot cramps.

Other foot cramp causes include muscle tension, bad shoes, electrolyte imbalance, poor circulation, low potassium, magnesium or calcium, or chemical sensitivities, such as from taking medication.

What To Do When You Get a Foot Cramp

1. Stretch the affected foot. Pull your toes upward and spread them, lengthening the muscles on the bottom of the foot. Walking – gently – on the cramping foot can also help to stretch the arch.

2. Soak your foot cramp in warm water. Add Epsom salts for extra relief. The magnesium in the Epsom salts is absorbed transdermally and causes the muscles to relax. The water should be warm enough to soothe the foot cramp but not so hot that it scalds your skin.

3. Roll your foot on a tennis ball or golf ball to alleviate tight muscles and fascia on the bottom of your foot that can cause cramping. This is best done on a regular basis to prevent future foot cramps.

4. Stretch your hips. Tight muscles in the upper thigh and hip area, particularly the adductors (muscles along the inside of the leg) can draw your foot upward, causing cramps. Increasing hip flexibility can get rid of foot cramps on a more permanent basis.

5. Never wear shoes without a strap on the back. Flip flops and other backless shoes force you to clench your feet to hold the shoe on, causing tight, rigid foot and calf muscles. These tight muscles go into spasm more easily, causing foot cramps. Shoes that have a strap along the back, however, allow your foot to move naturally and freely.

6. Drink more water – If you are prone to foot cramps, make sure you’re drinking plenty of water. If you drink coffee or tea, include extra water to make up for the diuretic effect of the caffeine. To find out how many ounces of water you should be drinking each day, take your body weight in pounds and divide it in half. So, a 150 lb woman would drink 75 ounces of water a day.

7. Supplement with electrolytes – Electrolytes like calcium, potassium and magnesium help keep muscle tissue relaxed. A deficiency or imbalance in any one of these nutrients can stimulate foot cramps. Emergen-C powder is available at any health food store and is easily added to water to help you maintain healthy electrolyte balance. For athletes, a super-charged electrolyte supplement that I recommend is E-lyte.

More Resources to Get Rid of a Foot Cramp:

Video: How to Get Rid of a Foot Cramp

How to Fix Flat Feet

Pain Relief

Why Back Massages Will Never Eliminate Mid Back Pain

Back pain – whether it be mid back pain, lower back pain or shoulder and neck pain – makes life miserable. Even simple activities like sitting at a computer, watching a movie or just hanging out with friends lose their allure when you’re nursing sore, aching muscles. Middle back pain is quickly becoming a common complaint, almost as common as lower back pain.

Unfortunately, as many tension-relieving massages as you get on your mid back and shoulders, they won’t give you lasting relief, and I’ll tell you why. But first, let’s look at some of the causes of mid back pain.

What Causes Mid Back Pain?

Of course, there are several potential causes of mid back pain. Those who have been in any sort of major accident, such as a car accident or skiing incident (think tree meets human, up close and personal), are likely to have structural imbalances that result in mid back pain. But, those aren’t the only potential instigators.

Computers are a prime culprit in causing mid back pain because of the slouched, head-forward posture that most computer users adopt. Your head weighs around 8 pounds. When you shift it forward of the center line, all of the muscles along your upper and mid back contract to support the weight of your head. Try it now…look down at your knees and feet. Feel the strain in your back increase? That’s what happens eight (or ten, or twelve) hours a day when you sit in front of a computer.

Another surprising instigator of mid back pain is the ubiquitous smart phone. Now days, not only are we bent fervently over our computers, we’re also staring down at our iPhones, iPads, Blackberries and who knows what other life-controlling devices. Again, this shifts the head forward of the mid-line of your body, causing mid back tension and pain.

Some sports can also create additional tension and pain in the mid back, such as rowing, which requires heavy use of the large muscles of the upper back and shoulders. Also, those who have limited spinal mobility (i.e. the joints in between their vertebra don’t move very well) in their mid back will often experience mid back stiffness and pain, especially later in life as tissue loses its youthful elasticity. This kind of stiffness can be due to mild scoliosis or simply because you haven’t ever spent time working on mid back mobility.

Middle Back Pain Solutions

As good as they feel, massages on the mid back, shoulders and neck will never completely cure mid back pain. They may temporarily alleviate the discomfort, but as soon as you sit down in front of that computer or earnestly engage with your juicy text message conversation, your head moves forward and the strain comes back.

To understand the root cause of mid back pain, it’s important to know that there are two kinds of muscle tension: those muscles that are locked long and those muscles that are locked short. When it comes to mid back pain, the muscles that are locked long are the ones on the back of your body, where you feel the pain. Stretching these muscles won’t give you any relief because they’re already stretched – that’s why they hurt. To relieve the mid back pain, you have to address the muscles that are locked short – those on the front of your shoulders, like your pectorals and biceps. These muscles pull the shoulders forward, rounding the back and putting strain on your mid back muscles. Once the tension in the front of your body is released, the mid back pain will dissipate.

Pain Relief

What Every Plantar Fasciitis Sufferer Must Know

What is Plantar Fasciitis?

Plantar fasciitis is a painful foot condition where the plantar fascia – a thick band of connective tissue extending from the heel to the ball of the foot – becomes inflamed due to overuse or too much tension. Plantar fasciitis causes a lot of pain to those who suffer from it, and it makes it difficult to perform normal daily activities like grocery shopping, walking and carrying purses or briefcases. Athletes who suffer from plantar fasciitis have to limit their workouts, making it difficult to stick to an effective training schedule.

You know you have plantar fasciitis if you have a sharp pain in your heel or just in front of the heel that is usually worse first thing in the morning but gradually lessens as your foot warms up throughout the day. Stretching the plantar fascia along the bottom of your foot will be painful, and increased activity may make the foot pain worse.

But what causes this painful foot condition?

There are a number of potential causes of plantar fasciitis, but in general, the inflammation and degeneration of the tissue is caused by excessive strain on the bottom of your foot. Of course, “excessive strain” can be anything from being overweight to pregnancy, high level athletics (especially running) or poor body mechanics due to old injuries or surgeries.

Those who stand and walk for long periods of time, especially on concrete, are more likely to develop pain in the bottoms of their feet. Tight calf muscles, illiotibial band tension and imbalances in the hips can all contribute to imbalanced body mechanics that place excess strain on the plantar fascia over time.

People who pronate (roll their feet inward) chronically overstretch the plantar fascia and may develop plantar fasciitis, especially if they are active in dancing, running, or other sports that put a lot of strain on the feet.

Plantar Fasciitis Treatment

While most practitioners recommend supportive shoes to eliminate symptoms of plantar fasciitis, I disagree. While arch supports and rigid shoes can be helpful when the symptoms are acute, the human foot is a marvel of engineering that is brilliantly designed to support the weight of your body and facilitate walking and running.

With the advent of athletic shoes, we’ve become addicted to cushion and support, believing that our feet cannot function properly without a lot of extraneous material holding us up; however, the world-record for a 26 mile marathon was set by Ethiopian Abebe Bikila who ran the entire race BAREFOOT.

When you add too much support to your feet, you inhibit their natural function, causing them to be lazy and flaccid. Here are a couple of exercises you can start to perform now to eliminate the symptoms of plantar fasciitis and prevent future foot pain:

  1. Practice picking up objects, such as pens or marbles, with your toes.
  2. Lay a towel on a hard surface, like a hardwood floor. With your bare foot, scrunch the towel up using your toes, then spread it out and repeat.
  3. Roll the bottom of your foot on a tennis ball to alleviate tension in the plantar fascia.

No matter how long you’ve suffered with plantar fasciitis, you can get relief. Do these simple exercises daily and you’ll be back on your feet in no time.

Pain Relief

Arnica: The Pain Reliever No Household Should Be Without

Aches and pains happen, especially when you’re training at the gym or exerting yourself in any heavy lifting activity, like moving. And as we age, we’re prone to other painful conditions like osteoarthritis.

But you don’t have to suffer with muscle soreness and stiffness. You can get relief without risking some of the frightening side effects of NSAIDs (non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs) such as nausea, upset stomach, shortness of breath, heartburn or skin rashes.

There is a natural solution that I highly recommend instead: Arnica Montana. Arnica is a plant native to mountainous regions of Europe and North America that has been used for centuries as a topical pain relieving agent.

A controlled randomized study from 2007 found that daily applications of arnica gel were just as effective as ibuprofen for relieving pain from osteoarthritis.

There is a slight risk of allergic reaction to a compound called hellanin found in arnica, so test on a small bit of skin before rubbing it all over. If you do experience a slight rash, simply stop using the gel.

While arnica gels abound in health food and supplement stores, the brand that I most recommend is Traumeel. It’s widely available and extremely effective with a synergistic blend of arnica and other anti inflammatory homeopathic agents.

So, the next time you find yourself stiff, sore and achy, get yourself some arnica gel, rub it on, and breathe a sigh of relief as the pain melts away!