Chiropractic Is Effective & Natural for Arthritis

Chiropractic has proven to be an effective treatment method for those suffering with arthritis. This is especially true with osteoarthritis, which is the most common type by far. The term arthritis comes from the greek word ‘arthro’ which means joint and ‘itis’ which means inflammation. Putting it together, arthritis simply means joint inflammation which may

Three Major Factors To Quality Arthritis Home Remedies

Determining the Quality

Have you tried to sort through the masses of alleged arthritis home remedies on the internet? Have you ever wondered what makes a remedy effective and how we can distinguish the good ones from the bad? Well, it all boils down to a few key factors that we can apply to any new remedy we would like to try.

Why don’t we go on with this post. At first glance, there are a few questions we need to ask ourselves when trying out any new arthritis home remedies. Does it reduce inflammation? And if so, how does it? Does it provide nutrients to aid in the rebuilding process of lost connective tissue due to arthritis? Does it prevent arthritis from occurring in other joints of my body? Or could it help me lose weight to prevent the extra strain on weight barring joints affected by arthritis (if that’s a factor)?

There are a few ways your arthritis home remedies can reduce inflammation in your body. Creating alkalinity to reduce inflammation is a good start. Alkaline remedies can also have a number of other amazing health benefits.

Alkalizing Arthritis Home Remedies

When we consume alkaline foods, drinks or other remedies, we create an alkaline pH balance within our body. When our body is in an alkaline state, it’s much harder for it to create inflammation, thus we can reduce our joint pain and the progression of the disease simply by consuming foods or drinks on the high side of the pH scale. Alkaline arthritis home remedies must have a pH higher than seven, or contain substances that create a pH higher than seven.

The majority of easy to make arthritis home remedies are drink concoctions made up of a combination of alkalizing anti-oxidants. The most common remedies I see recommended are simple drinks with added alkaline vitamins such as a glass of plain water with a slice of lemon or lime.

You may be thinking… Are not lemons and limes acidic? Yes, they’re acidic by nature, but they contain vitamins such as vitamin C that has the ability to create an alkalizing effect on the body once absorbed. The same thing can be said for the majority of citrus fruits.

These 2 simple remedies serve as a triple threat to arthritis. They alkaline, hydrate and detoxify, which brings me to another key factor to creating your own arthritis home remedies.

Anti-oxidants for Arthritis Home Remedies

There is a growing theory that low amounts of dietary anti-oxidants can cause and contribute to the development and progression of arthritis. It makes sense when you understand the oxidative damage that can be caused by a low intake of anti-oxidants. Luckily, incorporating anti-oxidant rich foods can drastically reduce oxidative damage on our body and be easy and delicious.

There are many drinks and snacks we can whip up at home that can provide us with a hefty dose of anti-oxidants. The majority of vitamins are detoxifying on the body; as long as you’re intaking naturally sourced vitamins and not synthetic vitamins.

This isn’t to say that all vitamin supplements are synthetic. Some are natural and some are synthetic. If you cannot tell the difference, just make sure to buy your vitamins from a health food store and not a drug store.

Berry or vegetable mixes are amongst my favorite arthritis home remedies. I know that right off the bat these do not sounds overly interesting, but as I said, a good arthritis home remedy can be as simple as a glass of water with lemon or lime.

Berries can provide a strong dose of anti-oxidants with little effort. You can whip up a berry smoothie with only a handful of blueberries, 3 or so strawberries and maybe even a half a banana for a bit more flavor.

This one berry smoothie can provide 3 out of the 5 keys factors to great arthritis home remedies.

Want to learn more about arthritis home remedies or natural arthritis cures? Just click the links and check them out.

Embracing the Aging Process

With each day that passes, we not only become wiser but our bodies change and we inevitably will begin to show the signs of aging. Then again, instead of turning towards cosmetic enhancements let’s look at what the generation ahead of us does to embrace the aging process.

Below are five habits of successful anti-agers:

1. Avoid smoking and second hand smoke – Smoking is hazardous to your health, but did you know that tobacco smoke can double or even quadruple your risk of heart disease, stroke and not to mention raising the odds of lung cancer. Inhaling second hand smoke will also increase the risk of heart disease by thirty percent and lung cancer by twenty-five percent. And if that weren’t enough, as you age your skin will become more fragile and smoking will contribute to the damaging of the skin and appearance of wrinkles will be enhanced.

Remember to examine this content extremely carefully, the problem and the answers have numerous differences. b 

2. Make time for fun – Studies have shown that people who work long hours are more likely to develop high blood pressure. In one study, the risk of a fatal heart attack was nearly three times higher for those who did not take a break from work-related fatigue. Do not allow this to occur, instead be sure to leave your work at work. Enjoy your time at home with family and friends and most importantly learn to relax and simply enjoy life.

3. Avoid fast food – The successful anti-agers stay away from fried foods and soft drinks. They’re aware that consuming fast foods not only raises the odds for gaining weight but may also lead to chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is not only uncomfortable but can also age your body, inside and out. Moderation is important but if you can avoid fast foods, your body will thank you.

4. Sunglasses and hats – Have you noticed how often the older generation go outside without head covering or sunglasses? The answer is almost never! They wear sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun’s ultra-violet rays and reduce the risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration which can lead to blindness. They also wear protective clothing to avoid skin damage and stay cooler during the warmer months. Very rarely will you see them without hats, shades, long sleeves, or umbrellas to shade the sun.

5. Health Screenings – Perhaps one of the most important tips is this one. Checking their cholesterol levels, blood pressure as well as blood sugar and testing for cancers of the breast, cervix and colon are all precautions that every successful anti-ager is aware of. Not only will it keep them safe, but getting testing regularly will help catch conditions in the earliest most treatable stages.

We all know that we’ll age and that’s inevitable. However learning from the successful anti-agers that are truly enjoying life is something we should not avoid. After all, isn’t our goal to live our life to the fullest? Implementing the above tips early on will help you embrace the aging process gracefully.

Dr. Daisy Sutherland, aka Dr. Mommy is a doctor, mom, wife, author and speaker. Her love of helping others has branched to blog talk radio and syndicated radio shows.

Dr. Mommy’s Mission: To help you find the balance necessary to achieve success in your life, your health and your family…To learn more visit:http://wholisticfitliving.com/

Do not Reinvent The Wheel | How to Quit Smoking

So often when we want to make big changes in our life and ask the big questions such as how can I quit smoking, we either try to go our own way or we attempt to reinvent the wheel and find a new solution.

There is very little in this world that hasn’t already been sorted out by someone else. There are possibly no human problems that have not already been faced and solved by hundreds of thousands or possibly millions of people already.

When it comes to quitting smoking you have many options. You can try to solve it yourself by biting the bullet and trying to push through the difficulties. You could try some new method that you think may just work for you, but it is mostly you’ll fail.

Why don’t we proceed with this story. Apart from trying to reinvent the quit smoking wheel the other thing that humans aren’t good at is asking for help. Some see it as a failure; some believe they should stand on their own 2 feet and solve all their own problems.

Asking for help is actually being more human. It is about recognizing that we’ren’t the experts in all fields and that others expertise can be tapped into.

Finding someone you can trust to help you quit smoking is not difficult. Finding the most successful method isn’t difficult either. A simple search will determine that hypnosis is the most successful long term quit smoking method.

My belief is that If I work with someone for my health I want a specialist and not a jack of all trades. If a practitioner advertises that they do hypnosis or NLP for a long list of problems then I look elsewhere.

The reason is simple. It can take a few years to refine a treatment strategy to the point where it’s successful most of the time. It takes a certain amount of early trial and error in developing quality, successful hypnosis scrips.

It takes time to learn how to gain good rapport with clients and instill in them the confidence that they’ll be successful. It can take years to pick up the subtle messages and change the session to accommodate them.

E.g. A smoker who smokes to manage their stress is different from one who smokes in social situations and is very different to one who smokes in order to exert some degree of control over their lives when they feel that many aspects of their lives are being controlled or out of control.

Do not reinvent the feel, do seek expert help and above all do make a 100% decision to quit smoking now.

And now for more free info on quitting cigarettes go to http://www.60minutestoquitsmoking.com/

Your FREE membership to the Wellness Center Community go to http://www.60minutestoquitsmoking.com/thewellnesscentre

Wishing you the best of health Ian Newton

Ginger Oil & Its Pain-Relieving Properties for Arthritis

Ginger has been used in Asian medicine for thousands of years. It was written about in Chinese as well as Sanskrit texts, and the Romans and the Greeks had a lot to say about this versatile herb as well. Europeans started to use it as a spice and condiment around the 10th century.

There are over one hundred different forms of arthritis. The most common form, osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease) is a result of trauma to the joint, infection of the joint, or age. Other arthritis forms are rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and related autoimmune diseases. Septic arthritis is caused by joint infection. People with arthritis have pain

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder that’s chronic in nature, and affects not only tissues and joints, but also other organs at later stages of the disease. The exact cause of the disease is yet to be found out, and unfortunately, there is no complete cure for the disease. Medicine and certain lifestyle changes can Arthritis is a condition which is related with the inflammation of joint. Though there are different types of arthritis but all types of arthritis is related with the inflammation of joints. People suffering from this problem have common complaints which include joint pain, swelling and stiffness. The problem of arthritis can be described as the Before we delve into the remedies for arthritis, it’s important to understand the 2 main types of arthritis. There are over one hundred types of arthritis but they all go under the heading of these 2 main branches: This is my burden in life, the main type and the one most often suffered. Osteoarthritis mean

How To Treat It? Foot Arthritis

Foot arthritis could be described as one of the more common forms of arthritis. The problem with the foot is that it consists of twenty-eight bones and thirty joints, of which any are susceptible to arthritis. If arthritis develops in any of these joints, its going to affect the way you walk, run and move in general. The joints in the foot which are more commonly affected are: the big toe, the ankle, the mid foot and the hind foot joint.

The most common form of arthritis which develops in the foot is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is the result of getting older, and essentially wear and tear on the joints and cartilage. The cartilage wears down, and the bones rub together resulting in pain and swelling.

Please understand the next few paragraphs with care, the situation and the options have a lot of different versions. Traumatic arthritis is a common form of osteoarthritis that develops in the foot of a patient following some form of severe injury. This can develop in the foot even when the injury was treated correctly, and given time to recover fully. The most common forms of traumatic foot arthritis are a torn ligament, broken bone or severe sprain.

There are various symptoms and indications of foot arthritis, which should alert the sufferer to the condition immediately. These symptoms include swelling, tenderness, pain, stiffness and reduced mobility of the affected joint. All these symptoms will eventually lead to a difficulty in walking.

For a doctor to properly diagnose foot arthritis, a serious of tests and physical examinations will need to be performed. The doctor will also require information about your health and lifestyle to give clues on the complexity of the condition. The next step is to perform a walking analysis. In performing this walking analysis, the doctor will measure your stride and test your ankle and foot strength. Certain diagnostic imaging tests may also be required to further diagnose your condition- theses may include and X-Ray, CT or MRI scan.

After fully evaluating your foot arthritis, your doctor/physician will devise the most suitable treatment plan. There are many non-surgical treatments available, these include:

Taking anti-inflammatory medication

Steroid injection

Foot brace or cane usage

Ankle and foot support usage

Physical therapy

The final treatment option is surgery, and is generally reserved as a ‘last resort’ when all other treatment methods have failed. The key to effectively treating arthritis is early diagnosis. Do not ignore those sensations of stiffness and soreness; see a doctor as soon as possible, so that you have the best chance of treating your foot arthritis.

Excellent comment on the subject:

Arthritis is a degenerative condition that can be caused by normal wear and tear on the joints over a long period of time. Eventually joint cartillage can wear down and then you have bone grating on bone, which is very painful. Think of joint cartillage like a brick wall. Your body is the bricklayer, and time is the enemy firing weapons at your wall. Your bricklayer is pretty good at putting up bricks, but he has a very sporadic supply train (blood) giving him replacement bricks and mortar. If there was a way to increase the supply train, your bricklayer would be able to work faster. He’ll never be faster than the enemy, but he can stall defeat. In my clinic we counsel clients theat treatment of arthritis is a three-pronged approach. 1) control pain and inflammation. This is achieved through the use of drugs such as NSAIDS (Rimadyl, Previcox, Deramaxx) or when these drugs become innefective, you can advance to the cortisone drugs. 2) Give the joints what they need to repair themselves (think back to your bricklayer.) This means fortifying his diet with the building blocks of cartillage- glucosamine and chondroitin. Plus, there is exciing new research that an amino acid (chromium ethylester- sold under the brand name Rejuvinate) has a catalytic effect on the glucosamine and chondroitin, making them work even better. 3) Retain muscle mass and range of motion. Mild exercise (several short walks per day- no more than what is comfortable for your dog) is very beneficial in the treatment of arthritis. There are also veterinary physical therapy centers that have underwater treadmills for dogs also, so that they can walk without thier full weight on the joints. Swimming is great, too! At the end of the day, addressing the problem of arthritis from all 3 angles will give yout the best result and make him comfortable for the longest period of time, but ultimately your dog will reach a point where he’s no longer having a good quality of life. No one knows your dog like you, so no one besides you- not even your vet- can know when he’s ready to give up the fight. Best of luck, and my heart goes out to you. IM me if you want any other info. And apologies for the typos- i'm typing with a broken wrist!

Surviving Glycemic Diets (Ketogenic, Low-Carb or Atkins):

1.The first step to living a Glycemic Diet Lifestyle is knowing what you can have, and have lots of. This includes a large variety of vegetables and fruits. The best you can do is eating five vegetable servings of cup per day and four cups of fruits (Please be selective) per day.

2.Remember that eating refined white flour, white potatoes, white rice to your body, is like eating sugar, making a diet high in “White Stuff”, typically, breads, rolls, bagels, pretzels, and crackers made from white flour – a high sugar diet. Whole grains mean extra fiber, which aids in weight loss. Not only does the fiber fill you us quickly with fewer calories, but is also eliminate some of the calories you eat. Fiber can go through the digestive system so quickly that some of the calories never have a chance to actually digest.

3.Try to eat two or three calcium – rich foods every day. Calcium not only supports your bones and helps prevent osteoporosis, but it also helps prevent colon cancer, high blood pressure, and PMS. Calcium may also lower your body fat.

You should read through the next few paragraphs thoroughly, the matter and the fixes have quite a lot of different versions. 4.Beans are the highest-fiber foods you can find, with the exception of breakfast cereals made with wheat bran. Beans are high in soluble fiber, which lowers cholesterol levels, and foliate, which lowers levels of homocysteine, another risk factor for heart disease.


Diets That Work – ‘Burn’ Fat Faster With This Diet – YouTube: Visit: diets that work

5.People who eat nuts regularly have less heart disease and other illness than people who avoid them do. There are compounds found in most nuts called tocotrienols. You just have to limit the amount of nuts that you eat. The best thing to do is to chop your favorite kind, keep them in your fridge and sprinkle two Tablespoons a day on your food.

6.People who east fish twice a week have fewer fatal heart attacks. Fish is rich in Omega-3 fats, which have the ability to prevent the development of a dangerously irregular heartbeat. Fish is a good source of protein, which promotes satiety – the feeling of fullness you look for in a meal.

7.Drink at least 8 glasses of water every day, plus a cup or more of tea. Water is so important to our body. Water also helps to metabolize the fat. Big water drinkers also appear to get less colon and bladder cancer. Every cup of tea you drink provides a strong infusion of anti-oxidants that help keep blood from clotting too easily and that may help lower you risk of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

8.Try to stay within a healthy fat budget and watch the type of fats you consume. Get most of your fat from Cold Pressed Virgin Olive Oil, Flaxseed Oil, Borage oil or Walnut Oil. You may use Butter and creams for your daily dose of Vitamin E, but remember that you only need a little.

9.What nutrition you cannot get from your foods, you can take in a pill. Just remember to be sensible. Most vitamins won’t dissolve in your stomach, or your intestines. Make sure that your vitamins are food source or they can cause vitamin toxicity in your liver. If you’re eating correctly, non-processed foods being 95% of your diet, then you should be getting all that you need. If you feel you need more nutrition, only take of the amount of vitamins that have been recommended. Remember that your body will store what it does not use, and if it stores too much, you can be asking for trouble.

10.Be careful with the choices you have in your diet. You carry with you a guide for the amount of meat that you should eat in a day. Make of fist and put it down on a piece of paper with the little finger down against the surface. That’s the size of meat that you should be eating in a day. Make sure that your choices in meat are free of other chemicals that can interfere with your health or medication.

D.S. Epperson is the top formulator for Home Blend Gourmet / South Pacific Health, a leader in the functional food industry in the U.S. With twenty years of experience in Nutritional Biochemistry, she has written reference books on botanicals and manufacturing of medicines from botanicals, and published articles on health, fitness and foods. She has formulated over 240 formulas and inventions for health, the environment and agricultural uses, and continues to research and study microbial advantages in nutraceuticals and functional foods. For more information or to view the articles that she has written: http://www.sugarblend.com

What Is Osteoarthritis of the Knee & What Is the Treatment?

Articular cartilage is the gristle that caps the ends of long bones. It consists primarily of a matrix of proteoglycans which are complex arrangements of proteins and glycogen molecules. The proteoglycans exist within a framework of tough collagen fibers. Within the proteoglycan matrix are cells called chondrocytes. These cells are the ones that are responsible for the synthesis of proteoglycans. In fact, the normal maintenance of cartilage integrity is highly dependent on the normal metabolic function of these chondrocytes.

Healthy cartilage can withstand the usual loads that accompany the activities of daily living. Cartilage, when loaded, acts as a shock absorber. It’ll partially deform but springs back to its normal shape under normal circumstances. It also provides a gliding surface which is enhanced by a small amount of synovial fluid, produced by the joint lining, that acts as a lubricant.

This is often really important part of this topic. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease of articular cartilage. It arises as a result of the inability of cartilage to keep up with excessive breakdown. The first step is a disturbance in the matrix. This causes loss of cartilage resiliency. Of course, proteins that promote inflammation (called inflammatory cytokines) are produced by the joint lining. These cytokines activate destructive enzymes, called proteases. The proteases degrade the matrix and cause the chondrocyte to malfunction.

The inflammatory cytokines cause the production of other bad chemicals including nitric oxide and matrix metalloproteinases. These cause further cartilage breakdown.

Over time, cartilage wears away, underlying bone is exposed, and joint deformity occurs. Pain and disability are the end result.

The knee is a particular target of osteoarthritis.

With the aging demographic as well as the increasing incidence of obesity, knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a significant public health problem. Significant disability can result and health care dollars are being spent at an astonishing rate for total knee replacement. The 2003 National Institutes of Health Consensus Statement on Total Knee Replacement estimated that the mean total cost of a knee replacement in the United States was 35,000. That figure is obviously higher now. And the dollar cost doesn’t factor in the potential for complications.

More than half a million knee replacements occur annually and that figure will continue to rise.

Non-surgical treatments by and large are palliative. These include education, weight loss, analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), braces, physical therapy, exercise, and injections of glucocorticoids and viscosupplements (lubricants).

Investigational therapies aimed at either increasing the production of matrix and/or collagen or reducing the amount of inflammatory cytokines are being scrutinized but so far, there is little cause for optimism.

More recently, the use of autologous stem cells, have been shown to have promise for KOA.

(Wei N, et al. Guided mesenchymal layering technique for treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee. J Applied Research. 2011; 11)

Nathan Wei, MD, FACP, FACR is a rheumatologist and Director of the Arthritis Treatment Center http://www.arthritistreatmentcenter.com. He’s a former Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and consultant to the National Institutes of Health. For more info: Arthritis Treatment