7 Natural Remedies for Arthritis

photo credit: dvanhorn

Tens of millions of people in the U.S. suffer from arthritis. This disease comes in two basic categories. Osteoarthritis is a condition described as a simple wearing out of the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis is a condition which affects the immune system.

Osteoarthritis is a good news, bad news condition. While it typically gets worse with time, it does not progress as rapidly or painfully as rheumatoid arthritis. Currently, there are no pharmaceutical treatments. All your doctor can do is prescribe a pain killer. On the other hand, there are medications available for rheumatoid arthritis that can slow progress of the disease, as well as pain killers to ease those painful joints.

In both cases, conventional medicine does not offer much, besides some relief of pain. However, you can make use of time-tested natural remedies for arthritis that can actually improve your condition and reduce the need for pain medications. It’s also easy to integrate these foods and herbs into your daily routine.

Bing cherries are a terrific anti-inflammatory. Fresh cherries in season work best, but canned cherries will still offer significant help.

Capsaicin creams are one of the most useful of the natural remedies for arthritis when used as a topical on the affected areas. During cold and damp weather, you’ll find substantial relief from pain and inflammation. The effect can be enhanced by wearing nylon gloves and socks, which help hold the heat.

Turmeric, taken in capsules or prepared in curry dishes is a marvelous addition to your natural remedies for arthritis, that is found to be as effective as cortisone in alleviating symptoms of both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Additional benefits include improvements in digestion, reduction of cholesterol and lowers blood sugar, a boon for diabetics.

Alfalfa is another inexpensive and time tested of the natural remedies for arthritis. The best form is the dried powdered leaves. You can buy this at health food stores in capsules. Alfalfa is packed with nutrients and is good for respiratory problems too.

Next in our lineup of natural remedies for arthritis is the Omega-3 fatty acids, a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, found in fish. Sardines, salmon, tuna and herring contain high quantities of the Omega-3′s. Alternatively, you can take gel caps from the health food store. As a bonus, taking this supplement reduces your risk of heart problems, reduces bad cholesterol while raising the good cholesterol.

One especially tasty spice in your repertoire of natural remedies for arthritis is ginger. Ginger is anti-inflammatory. Make a habit of drinking ginger tea three times a day. Ginger is also beneficial to your heart health.

You’ve probably heard of Evening Primrose oil, but did you know that this plant oil is one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory agents discovered to date? Several double-blind studies have demonstrated that the pain experienced by arthritis sufferers was typically reduced by 50%!

If you put all of these natural remedies for arthritis to work for you, you’ll be feeling better soon.

For more information on arthritis treatments, contact Dr. Hans Freericks at 510-797-4796 for Fremont residents. For Union City, contact Dr. Hans at 510-324-0100.

TMJ Fremont

“TMJ,” Fremont Chiropractor Dr. Hans Freericks explains, “can absolutely be treated with chiropractic care.” If you are unfamiliar with TMJ or Temporal Mandibular Joint Dysfunction, here is a brief explanation. When the disk in your jaw gets displaced, it causes TMJ. This condition makes opening and closing your mouth difficult. If left untreated, this will lead to severe problems like headaches and pain in the ears.

You can tell if you have TMJ by a grinding or crunching sound when you open or close your mouth. Primarily, TMJ is caused by activities that strain the jaw. Regardless of the cause, though, people who suffer from the pain of this condition want a cure. So they ask how a chiropractor can fix TMJ and relieve me of this pain?

The short answer is yes … TMJ can be fixed as stated by Fremont Chiropractor, Dr. Freericks. In fact, in many cases, patients have observed that chiropractic treatment was more effective than allopathic treatment. A chiropractor will recommend certain pain relieving exercises which will relax the patient’s jaw muscles. The chiropractor will also focus the patient on exercise, nutrition and lifestyle improvements which will not only help you get rid of the pain, but will take care that the pain does not return.

A Natural Arthritis Therapy Includes This Type of Exercise

At last count, some 70 million people in the U.S., or almost 1 in 4 of us, are afflicted with arthritis. Whether you have osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, it’s generally a painful deal. It’s no wonder many sufferers look for arthritis therapy. Most people with arthritis find that the cold months are most painful. Stiff, painful and swollen joints are the norm, which isn’t conducive to most forms of exercise. While exercise can actually improve the patient’s condition, it’s somewhat of a catch-22. Most exercise programs are simply too painful, resulting in – you guessed it – the patient dropping out of the program. There are medications available for people with rheumatoid arthritis which can slow down the progression of the disease. Osteoarthritis sufferers may be prescribed anti-inflammatory meds or pain killers, but that’s about the extent of what can be done in treating arthritis medically.

If you suffer from either osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, consider taking a yoga class for your exercise regimen. As many arthritis patients can attest, you’ll realize effective, long term benefits. Using yoga as an arthritis therapy can help prevent and treat some of the accompanying conditions, such as fibromyalgia and loss of muscle tone and strength, while increasing your energy level.

Formal investigations of the benefits of using yoga exercises to treat arthritis are fairly recent, but the studies which have been conducted are most promising. Patients report significant improvement in joint structure and mobility, as well as feeling more vigorous with an improved sense of well being in general.

Unlike more traditional forms of exercise, such as walking, jogging or a simple workout, yoga does not place stress on the joints, doesn’t tax your strength, or result in more pain. In fact, yoga does just the opposite. In addition, yoga offers psychological benefits, as a stress management tool, which perhaps explains the reports of an improved sense of general well being. Stress management is an especially important bonus. When you use yoga therapy in treating arthritis, you reduce stress in a number of ways which serve to reduce pain. In the case of rheumatoid arthritis, yoga alone can slow progression of your condition. So it’s no wonder that arthritis patients find this a fun and enjoyable activity they want to continue.

Yoga classes typically begin in a seated position, with slow breathing exercises designed to bring your body to a relaxed state. These exercises are followed up with slow, easy stretching movements, which improves circulation. Your yoga instructor will probably include some balancing exercises, as well as standing or lying poses, all of which improves mobility and muscle tone. Mantras, or short chants of certain sounds, are additional techniques of yoga, which are employed throughout the session, helping you to fully relax and focus. Short periods of meditation are also interspersed during each class period. By the time class ends, you’ll have tossed your worries aside and have a newly acquired calm, all without pain!

Weight management is important in treating arthritis, and yoga can help. Within three months of starting a yoga class, meeting just a few times each week, you’ll feel like a new person, shedding a few pounds along the way. You’ll have markedly better muscle tone and suppleness, in terms of joint mobility, while enjoying a significant reduction in pain.

Choosing yoga for the exercise portion of treating arthritis is perhaps the perfect solution. With the evidence mounting in its favor, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

If you would like more information on natural arthritis therapy and even how chiropractic can help, please contact our Fremont chiropractic health office.

Type 2 Diabetes Risk Factors

Knowing the type 2 diabetes risk factors may prevent you from ever developing this devastating disease!

Type 2 diabetes is now so common in this country, that you probably know several people with this condition. The type 2 diabetes risk factors come down to two basic categories: genetic disposition and diet. Knowing what these risk factors are can prevent you or other family members from ever developing this disease. Once diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, it’s far more difficult to manage and avoid the many complications of this progressive and painful disease.

It’s irrefutable that there is a genetic factor involved. Native Americans, Eskimos and African Americans have the highest rate of type 2 diabetes. This is probably due to the fact that both these ethnic groups have adopted a Westernized diet in a relatively short period of time. Their native diets did not include the highly refined and sugar laden diets most Americans eat today. While other ethnic groups may have a genetic advantage of centuries of the Western diet, gradually adapting over hundreds of years, no one is exempt. It may just take longer to develop.

Obesity is no longer confined to older folks. Due to poor dietary habits, we now find children who are both obese and afflicted with diabetes. This makes the connection to the effects of poor food choices and diabetes clear. It’s the food you eat, as well as the amount, that made you overweight in the first place. No matter what your age, if you’re overweight, lose it!

Genetics and obesity are clearly two important type 2 diabetes risk factors.

With poor dietary habits, you’re a sitting duck! It’s time to change your diet to more healthful foods. Knowledge is power. Knowing the specific type 2 diabetes risk factors in food choices can literally save your life.

Insulin resistance develops when you overload your pancreas with large meals of refined, high carb foods and lots of sugar, leading to compromised pancreatic function, reducing your body’s ability to metabolize sugar. Pancreatic exhaustion is unequivocally, a type 2 diabetes risk factor. If, instead of eating the traditional three squares a day, you divide your food intake into several smaller meals a day, reduces the load on your pancreas, keeping it in good shape.

In addition to eating several small meals, make sure they are low in refined sugar, high in fiber and include complex carbohydrates, which slowly break down into sugars your pancreas can deal with at a moderate pace. A can of soda provides an instant rush of sugar into your bloodstream, whereas a plate of fruits or veggies is broken down over time.

Most fruits and veggies are also high in fiber, which flushes toxins from your body and keeps your digestive system healthy. People with type 2 diabetes are always told to include plenty of fiber in their diet, as one way to manage their condition and avoid complications. It stands to reason that a lack of fiber is another type 2 diabetes risk factor.

You’ve heard it said that drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day is essential to a healthy diet. Water flushes a variety of toxins from your kidneys, keeping them fit and healthy. Patients with type 2 diabetes usually suffer a deterioration of the kidneys, so help yours stay healthy with a daily intake of as much water as possible.

To top off your healthy eating program, stay active and get sufficient exercise. Your heart will thank you. A lack of exercise is also a type 2 diabetes risk factor, as cardiovascular problems go hand in hand with diabetes.

Understanding these risk factors and implementing a good anti-diabetic lifestyle puts you ahead of the curve!

Effective Osteoarthritis Treatments That Go Beyond Pain Medications

Effective osteoarthritis treatments that go beyond pain medications

There are millions of people who suffer from osteoarthritis. This condition is painful, most commonly affecting the joints. Unlike rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis is described as a simple case of wearing out of the joints over time. While rheumatoid arthritis patients may be treated with medications, there are no conventional pharmaceutical medications which can alleviate or halt the progression of osteoarthritis. While rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic and progressive disease, with severe and lifelong complications, there are pharmaceutical drugs that can halt the progress of this disease.

Osteoarthritis is perhaps as debilitating, over the long term. The bad news for the osteoarthritic patient is that medical science has no cure. The current osteoarthritis treatments are limited to the alleviation of pain. If you are diagnosed with osteoarthritis, the standard osteoarthritis treatment is to prescribe a pain medication. Who wants to live under such a standard?

If you have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis and prescribed a pain pill as your only recourse, think again. With a good nutritional strategy, you can reap huge benefits, reducing pain within the space of a single week, eventually reversing your osteoarthritis, and improving your overall health for good.

Before we look at osteoarthritis treatment in terms of nutrition, it should be noted that, if you’re overweight, try to lose those unwanted pounds! The excess weight just puts additional and unnecessary stress on vulnerable joints. Drinking plenty of water, those 6-8 glasses a day we all know about, is also important. The water helps flush accumulated toxins from your body.

One of the most effective osteoarthritis treatments, among nutritional considerations, relates to the proper balance of calcium to magnesium. The ratio of calcium to magnesium intake for healthy bones and joints is roughly 2:3. Americans have one of the highest rates of osteoarthritis in the world, with the average calcium to magnesium ratio an unhealthy 10:1! In these ratios, a certain hormone is triggered to remove old dead bone tissue, while its counterpart hormone, which is supposed to channel new nutrients to bones and joints, is suppressed. This results in a net loss of bone, leading to osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.

Given these facts, it’s not unreasonable to conclude that perhaps an underlying cause of these conditions is not, in fact, due to ‘wear and tear’ joint degeneration, but rather an overload of calcium and a deficiency of magnesium.

One way to address this condition is to reduce your calcium intake and take a magnesium supplement of 600mg per day. Several clinical studies have shown that magnesium supplementation at this dosage has resulted in increased bone density and significant reduction of pain in as little as nine months, even in quite elderly patients! You may experience reduced pain in just a week! Now that’s an osteoarthritis treatment we can all applaud!

Other supplemental nutrients of value as osteoarthritis treatments include the B-complex vitamins as well as vitamins A, C and E and the trace mineral zinc.

There are many conditions which reflect years of nutritional deficiencies. As we age, many nutrients are not as readily absorbed, so it’s important to monitor any deficiencies to see if supplementation is advisable. Speak to your doctor about having lab tests which can determine nutritional deficiencies.

The importance of a good diet cannot be stressed enough. Young people can get away with poor dietary habits – for a while. However, over a lifetime, the body ultimately suffers the effects. Who knows how many chronic illnesses are preventable?