Understanding the Natural Management of Pain, Inflammation and Associated Diseases

Understanding Pain and Inflammation:

Pain:
A sensation of discomfort, distress, or agony, resulting from the stimulation of specialized nerve endings.  It serves as a protective mechanism insofar as it induces the sufferer to remove or withdraw from the source.

Inflammation:
(L. inflammatio, inflammare to set on fire)
A localized protective response elicited by injury or destruction of tissues, which serves to destroy, dilute, or wall off both the injurious agent and the injured tissue.

The primary reason why people seek the advice of health professionals is that they have some sort of pain.  As you can see by its very definition, pain of all types is purposeful in its design.  It is the primary warning signal of your miraculous nervous system.  If ignored or suppressed, without addressing its underlying cause or causes, tissue breakdown and degeneration become the consequence.  When pain is understood and responded to appropriately, tissue healing and regeneration become the result.

So what is pain symptomatic of?  In the most general of terms, pain is symptomatic of some form of dysfunction and resultant inflammatory process in your body.  In more specific terms, it is the result of unresolved trauma, toxicity and/or insufficiency.

Trauma refers to those circumstances where the tissue dysfunction and inflammation is secondary to excessive physical or mechanical stress.  This can result from very subtle but repetitious physical stressors (known as microtrauma) or from more dramatic physical injury (known as macrotrauma).  Some of the primary factors to be considered here are your posture, rest and exercise habits and the mechanics and function of your various joints (from your feet to your cranium).

Toxicity refers to the presence of an organism or chemical substance which has poisonous and detrimental effects on body functions.  Toxic chemical stress results in tissue dysfunction, inflammation, disease and eventually pain.

The majority of toxins which we humans are exposed to are either found in the foods which we eat or produced in our intestinal tract as the result of maldigestion and associated microbial decay of food stuffs.  Fortunately, a healthy body has elaborate protective mechanisms in place to help to protect us against the harmful effects of many toxins.  When these protective detoxification mechanisms become compromised, usually due to insufficient rest, exercise and essential nutrients, pain, inflammation and disease result.

Insufficiency refers to the condition where insufficient or inadequate levels of rest, exercise, natural light and/or key nutrients are available to provide for the healthy performance of body functions.  These body functions include: tissue repair following traumatic injury, the detoxification of potentially damaging toxins and proper regulation of the inflammatory processes which lead to pain.

Nutrition plays a primary role in the effective management of pain, inflammation and disease.                                                                                                                                    27
 

Inflammation, Muscle Spasm, and Nutritional Support:

Injury to tissue, whether from physical trauma, toxicity and/or key nutrient insufficiency, initiate inflammatory processes and eventually pain.  While there is a tendency to consider the inflammatory response as a reaction that is harmful to the body, a more balanced view is that it is actually a protective and restorative response in which the body attempts to either rid itself of chemical toxins and foreign invaders, or to repair itself following an injury.  It is when inflammation becomes excessive or uncontrolled that we may begin to see delayed healing or chronic inflammatory conditions.

The healing process is very complex and involves more than just an inflammatory response.  Tissue that has been injured must be repaired.  It is well established that nutrients can be rate-limiting factors for tissue repair and wound healing.  For example, vitamin C and zinc insufficiencies have been directly linked to slow wound healing.

Many drugs are available that help to reduce inflammation and relieve pain.  They work by interfering with the body’s natural inflammatory response mechanisms, however, they are not without side effects, particularly when chronically used.  As we become more aware of the potential dangers of pharmaceutical drugs, natural approaches to healing become more appealing and seem more logical.  There has never been as great a world wide interest in alternative medicine as there is right now.  Coinciding with this interest is an impressive and expanding body of research supporting a clear role for more natural and safer alternatives for the management of pain and inflammation and the promotion of healing.  Some areas of research include:  the hormonal influence of foods and essential fatty acids, herbs such as ginger and tumeric, proteolytic enzymes, and bioflavonoids.

1. Ensure proper rest and relaxation to maximize your potential for recovery.

2. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of pure water daily and only consume beverages that assist in detoxification.  (See Beverage Sheet)

3. Wean yourself off of coffee, alcohol, black tea, pop, chocolate, or any other drinks or foods that contain caffeine, stimulants, or sugar.

4. Begin the Modified Elimination Diet to minimize the possibilities of food intolerances interfering with healing.  This is far more common than most realize.

5. Choose to eat more of the whole, natural, plan based foods which support detoxification, acid alkaline mineral balance and the repair of inflamed and damaged tissues.  At the same time, minimize or better still, avoid altogether those over processed, additive containing foods which generally increase the toxic burden, upset acid/alkaline balance, and interfere with tissue repair.

6. Improve your digestion by following these tips.

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