Natural Supplements For Pain Relief

Is Joint Pain Ruining Your Life?

Many diseases and conditions can cause joint pain, these may include arthritis, bursitis, tendinitis and fibromyalgia. You can help to eliminate or reduce your chronic pain by identifying the type and cause of joint pain you have.

There are various causes of joint pain and the treatment is also various from one patient to another. Like any kind of therapy, your reaction to a given medication is not actually how another individual will respond. Some individuals may not do well with one medication but do excellent with another. The symptoms and the causes also are a deciding factor for what treatment should be used.

Natural remedies for pain relief

Most victims of arthritis and joint pain often turn to the natural herbal remedies for pain relief when other pain relief methods fail. More and more sufferers are trying out natural pain relief methods successfully which is the prior reason why other victims are trying this route as well.

Alfalfa- this herb is loaded with magnesium, calcium and many other important nutrients. It is a great way to acquire the nutrients that your body needs to combat inflammation. It also reduces the acid level in the body.

Angelica Dong Quai - has anti-swelling properties and is also used to lessen pain. It can be consumed as a tea for some weeks. Not suggested for constant usage.

Turmeric- contains a substance that gives this herb yellow color. Studies have shown that it offers relief from difficulty and swelling of the joints without any side effects that cause intestinal distress.

Black Cohosh Viburnum- is a strong herb with properties similar to aspirin and is used to decrease pain and irritation.

Yoga Helps Maintain Good Mental Health

Everyone is trying everything they can to improve their physique these days. From weight lifting to triathlons, it is starting to seem as though people think they need to beat themselves up to be in great shape.

This is not so! As a practicing Yogini for the past twenty years, I can personally testify to the amazing results you can achieve and maintain. Yoga, one of the gentlest of all sports, does give your body great results.

The various postures of yoga target specific areas of your body and every single pose has alternate benefits besides the obvious physical. For example, if you are prone to anxiety, depression or stress a few yoga routines worked into your daily workout will help by increasing the oxygen flow to the brain.

It's important to remember that yoga is a routine. You can't just step off a treadmill and start your yoga. Like any other physical conditioning system, you need to warm up, maintain a state of mind and follow the guidelines for each posture.

With yoga, you are striving for muscle control, graceful movement and maximum stretch. Get to that point, hold for the time indicated and then slowly and in a controlled manner come out of the position.

1. Easy Pose (it is not-that is just the name) Sukhasana

2. Cat Pose (feels great, makes me smile every time I practice) Marjaryasana

3. Standing forward bend (remember, only stretch to your most comfortable limit, no more.)

Popular Diets: Do They Work?

Given the enormous interest in weight loss in our society and the growing waist lines on many of us, a fundamental question has to be asked about popular diets. Do they work? To start with it is important to separate out short term from long term results. There are many well known diets on the market that help with weight loss over the short and medium term.

But that begs another question - when you want to lose weight, shouldn't you look at your overall lifestyle to see if it can be changed to accommodate long term weight management? The reality is that even though you may follow any of the most popular diets for immediate weight loss, if you simply focus just on this aspect, you may succeed in dropping several pounds but the loss will only be temporary. In order to have long term, sustained weight loss you should consider the following when deciding whether or not a specific diet will work for you:

1. Rate of Weight Loss

Diets that claim you can lose 10 pounds in 10 days, while perhaps true statements, are usually not true from a long term weight management perspective. If you need to drop a dress size or two before the 20th high school re-union this type of rapid weight loss may be OK. But for long term, healthy weight management, look for programs that aim for a loss of 2-4 pounds per week.

2. Maintaining Metabolic Change

One of the more effective weight loss methods that has emerged over the past ten years from some of the most popular diets that combine exercise into their overall approach include Fat Burning Furnace or Truth About Abs is a focus on resistance training to build muscle mass. Increasing muscle ups your metabolic rate and that helps to burn calories. This is a healthy approach but you have to embrace the ongoing exercise routines necessary to maintain and build muscle, otherwise the weight will come back over time.

Beauty Is Not in the Eye of the Beholder

I recently got a new client, we'll call her Amy. She has given me permission to share some of her experience here. When I got my first email from her inquiring about coaching she talked about how hard it had been for her to get out there in the world, to date or anything else, since her car accident. She'd suffered extensive

scarring to her face. Amy felt like she'd never been a pretty woman, but after the accident she was so ashamed of the way she looked that she was frozen. She knew her appearance was a big deal because people acted like they just didn't even see her. Amy felt invisible, and frankly she liked it that way.

Fast forward a week to our first session. Amy shows up on Skype and I wondered if I'd gotten my client wires crossed. Where was the scarred car accident victim? The woman in front of me was stunning, and not in a disfigured and scarred kind of way, but in a supermodel way. Amy is 5'8". Toned and fit at 135 pounds. Gorgeous, flowing, long blond hair, and blue eyes the color of a summer sky. I felt awkward for the first ten minutes of our video chat because I was distracted, studying her makeup bare face, trying to find the scar. Finally I had to ask where it was and tears rolled down her cheeks as she turned her head to the left, pulled her beautiful spiraling curls back, and there at the edge of her hairline, was a barely perceptible red line where stitches had once been.

Now one might think this is a beauty obsessed woman, being ridiculous about a scar. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. Amy never, ever saw herself as beautiful and to be honest, it wasn't long before her drawn, shame filled, self-persecuting energy started to affect the way I was seeing her too.

Being gorgeous for a split second to be photo ready in the commercial world, is a very different thing than being the kind of beautiful that weaves in and out of the moments of our days and lives. That kind of beauty has everything to do with how we perceive ourselves, not how others perceive us, because it truly is an inside job. I have coached more than one professional model that had serious self esteem issues.

A Description of Gym Equipment

Looking at buying or hiring some new gym equipment? Wondering what on Earth all of these dangerous looking contraptions do? When you start getting into shape it's understandable that you would find it somewhat daunting choosing which equipment to get, especially when it all looks so much like torture devices, and when it costs a fair whack. Here then is a guide to a few of the common machines you might end up looking at.

Bench Press: Your bench press is your very standard bench for pressing weights on. Generally this will be a soft rubber covered bench for you to lie back on and it will probably also come with a stand for your barbell to be place on and lifted off of. While bench press is the 'main' exercise you use a bench for, it can double up in many other scenarios and be used for curling weights while seated, or for pullovers so is a highly useful item to have and possibly one of the most important.

Dumbbells and Barbells: These are the two main kinds of weights that you will lift, press and curl. The dumbbells are the smaller weights that you hold in one hand, while the barbells are the longer weights that you will use with two hands. The best kinds to get are adjustable weights that allow you to add or remove more weights to the middle handle as that way you can build up as you increase in strength.

Resistance Machines: Resistance machines are any machines that allow you to train your muscles through a set range of motion. Once you have your weights you will be able to train most parts of the body from the arms to the pecs to the legs, but it is going to be something you do free form and at your own leisure, whereas a resistance machine has you sitting in a specific position and pressing or pulling a pad or a handle. This then will work out specific muscles and 'isolate' them for more focussed growth while at the same time keeping you safe from injury.

Arthritis of the Knee - Types and Treatment

Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves symptoms like pain, inflammation, and swelling in is the area where two bones meet.

The knee joint, for example, is where the ends of lower leg bones (the tibia and the fibula) and the thighbone (the femur) meet. Likewise, the hip joint is formed between the thighbone (femoral head) and a concave portion of the pelvis (the acetabulum).

Medically known as the tibiofemoral joint, knee joint is the largest joint in the body and is most frequently affected by arthritis.

This joint disease affects more than 46 million American adults and this number is expected to increase to 67 million by the year 2030. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), about 580,000 knee replacement surgeries are performed every year in the U.S. and the number is growing.

Types
There are three major types of arthritis that may affect the knee joint- Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Post-Traumatic Arthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA): Also referred to as the "wear and tear" arthritis, Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, affecting 33 million people in the United States.

It is a condition that is caused by the combination of several factors, including overuse of joints, obesity, or aging. Also called 'degenerative arthritis', osteoarthritis is usually a slowly progressive degenerative disease in which the cartilage covering the bone ends gradually wears away.

It usually causes pain and limited motion, and often occurs in joints that bear weight, such as the knees, hips, feet, and spine. It is most prevalent among middle-aged and older people with active lifestyles.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA): It is an inflammatory type of arthritis that can destroy the joint cartilage. It is a systemic, autoimmune condition that causes the body's immune system to produce substances that attack the body's soft-tissues and joints.

Rheumatoid arthritis can occur at any age and generally affects both large and small joints in the body as well as the spine. Swelling, pain, and stiffness are often quite pronounced in rheumatoid arthritis, even when the joint is not used. The condition affects approximately 1.3 million Americans, and about 75% of them are women, according to the American College of Rheumatology.

Post-traumatic Arthritis: This form of joint arthritis can develop after any kind of physical injury to the knee in which the bone and cartilage were deteriorated. After the injury, the cartilage separates from the joint and bone and shatter into several fragments which float around freely and cause severe pain and joint stiffness.

A military injury, injury from sports, an accident, a fall, or any other source of physical trauma can damage the joint surface cartilage (osteoarthritis), destructing the mechanism of the joint and making it wear out. This disease may not surface until several years after a fracture, ligament injury, or meniscus tear.

The post-traumatic arthritis symptoms include severe joint pain, swelling, fluid accumulation in the joint, tenderness, and decreased tolerance for walking, sports, climbing stairs and other physical activities which stress the joint. It affects about 5.6 million people in the United States. The risk may be minimized by preventing injuries.

How Does Universal Healthcare Work?

Universal healthcare is something provided by the state in many countries around the world. It is defined as healthcare that is free at the point of service to citizens meaning patients do not have to pay to see a doctor or visit a hospital for essential care. What is included within state healthcare systems varies from country to country.

Which Countries Provide Universal Healthcare?

Almost all of the so-called developed world offer universal healthcare, with the United States being the only exception. In America, the US's Northern neighbour Canada does as do South American and Central American countries such as Venezuela, Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina and Cuba. The majority of American countries, however, do not. Very few African countries have universal healthcare systems, with Tunisia and Botswana the only two exceptions. This is likely due to many of these being poor countries and it therefore not being affordable or not being a priority for the state. Within Asia and Australasia Australia and New Zealand both have such healthcare systems but the majority of Asian countries do not. Mongolia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand do though, as do the Middle Eastern nations of the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Europe is where national health services originated and is offered to citizens in most European countries, including all of Western Europe. Poland, Lithuania and Russia are amongst the few exceptions in Eastern Europe.

The Origination of Universal Healthcare

Germany has the world's oldest healthcare system, which dates back to the late nineteenth century. The United Kingdom followed in 1911. At the time only employed citizens and their families, and those who had contributed financially for five years or more, were offered free healthcare. The National Health Service, or NHS, was established in 1948 when all citizens were included. During these early post-war years the number of nations offering universal healthcare increase as the Declaration of Human Rights was established. Only a few countries didn't sign the agreement, which included rights to healthcare and a quality standard of living for citizens, while only two countries, the United States and South Africa, signed it but did not ratify it.