Zed Command

Chronic back pain is one of the most universal medical problems today. Low back pain is such a common nuisance it affects up to 90% of Americans at some point in their life. Half will have more than one episode. Chronic back pain is not a specific disease. Rather, it is a symptom that may occur from a variety of different processes. These include degenerated discs and joints in the spine, spinal stenosis, and chronic muscle strain.
 
·   Chronic muscular strain: Chronic muscular strain is perhaps the most common cause of back pain. There may or may not be an initial event or accident. The result is a back ache that may come and go or be present all the time. The pain is not explained by another cause, such as those discussed below.
·   Degenerative disc disease and sciatica: Degenerative or traumatic processes in the discs of the back can lead to rupture or disc herniation.

The disc protrudes and places pressure on the adjacent spinal nerves. When this condition occurs in the low back, it is called sciatica, and classically presents as leg pain and difficulty walking. Frequently, pain is felt radiating into the buttock, leg and/or foot.
·   Spinal stenosis: Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal cord causing nerve compression in the back. When this condition occurs in the low back, it leads to persistent pain in the buttocks, limping, a lack of feeling in the lower extremities, and inhibited physical activity.
·   Arthritis/Degenerative joint disease: Arthritis pain in the back is the result of degenerative processes in the spine, and has been described as aching, stabbing, sharp, radiating, or hot. Degenerative processes in the spine can lead to slippage of one vertebrate on another or even fracture. Vertebral displacement can pinch nerves and create muscle tension.
 
To achieve relief from chronic back pain and sciatica one must understand:
·   Back pain is not prevented by the strengthening of the muscles of the back.
·   The stability of the back rather than the strength of the back prevents your back from harm.
·   Therapy for stability is quite different from strength training. 
 
Any approach to back pain treatment and sciatica should begin with a thorough evaluation of your spinal core and understands:
 
·   The stability of the back is dependent on a properly functioning spinal core
·   The spinal core is a complicated series of discs and vertebra, each with a slightly different function
·   Faulty interactions between vertebrae create excessive strain in the back
·   Optimizing interactions between vertebrae stabilizes the back, providing back pain relief and alleviating the pain of sciatica.
 
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a therapy method that could relieve your back and sciatic pain completely and stabilize your back in anywhere from one hour to one week? The Feldenkrais Method can show you how to rid yourself of back pain for good, without drugs, surgery or machines. Feldenkrais has been used to treat hundreds of people suffering from back pain, the goal of therapy being to relieve pain and prevent your back from being injured again. The Feldenkrais Method uses simple, gentle movements to reorganize posture, flexibility, strength and coordination.

There have been some interesting clinical studies about food for healthy skin.  Some had to do with acne, but many of them had to do with delaying or reversing the signs of age.  Things change, but one thing remains the same, we are what we eat. 

The healthfulness of our bodies, inside and out, is closely related to what we choose to put in our mouths every day.  It turns out that the foods for healthy skin are the ones that healthcare professionals, fitness experts and even body builders have been suggesting for years, because they are full of nutrients; protein, fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.  But, they are relatively low in calories and saturated fat. 

Fish, particularly salmon, is rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids, which are polyunsaturated and good for the heart, the joints, the brain, the immune system and the skin.  Of course, you have to be careful about how often you eat some types of salmon, because of mercury and PCB contamination.  The best choice is Wild Alaskan Salmon.  The water is cleaner and there have been no incidences of mercury contamination. 

Fruits and vegetables, green tea and dark chocolate, ginger and other spices contain lots of different antioxidants.  Studies have shown that antioxidants help to prevent something that the scientists call photo-aging.  It’s just a fancy way of saying damage done by the sun. 

During exposure to sunlight, the level of free radicals within our skin’s layers rise, depleting our level of naturally occurring antioxidants.  In addition, older people have fewer naturally occurring antioxidants and larger amounts of free radicals.  So, your goal should be to increase your skin’s “antioxidant status”.  You can do that by eating antioxidant-rich food for healthy skin and by applying antioxidants directly. 

Several studies have revealed that an antioxidant called coenzyme Q10 is particularly beneficial for repairing damage done by the sun.  In clinical trials, using real-life human volunteers, researchers measured a 29% decrease in lines and wrinkles, a 33% overall reduction of sun damage and a 37% increase in hydration.  The treated skin was less rough and those things were seen after only six weeks of topical application.  If you started eating the best foods for healthy skin, it could take quite a bit longer before you started to see a difference. 

I say that because several studies have looked at the benefit of oral supplements, such as fish oil, soy protein and antioxidants.  The supplements were beneficial to the skin’s structure and firmness, at least by a small amount.  For example, volunteers that took a daily fish oil supplement saw a 10% improvement in their skin’s firmness.  But, that was after three months of supplementation. 

There’s nothing wrong with being patient, but any natural health expert will tell you that you should treat skin problems from the inside out and form the outside in.  Eating food for healthy skin treats the problem from the inside out.  Nourishing moisturizers treat it from the outside in.  Why not do both?