Glucosamine to Help Relieve Back Pain
Filed Under Back Pain Relief, Glucosamine for Sciatica | Leave a Comment
Arthritis is the most common form of disability in America and is a significant factor in sciatica and back pain. Natural joint pain remedies like glucosamine, chondroitin can significantly contribute to your well-being. even better they do so without any serious side effects.
Glucosamine sulfate was first used by vets to help dogs with the pain and stiffness from arthritis, because most dogs eventually suffer from arthritis. Later it was tried on people with excellent results and now the use of Glucosamine is supported by the medical establishment.
I personally use glucosamine, initially because of painful knees from playing soccer for too many years. For me the results were excellent and virtually immediate - my knees improved noticeably in about 2 weeks. Has it helped my back - harder to tell.
Certainly my back is holding together pretty well most of the time, so I’m happy to keep on taking one tablet a day that costs almost nothing - probably about 20 cents. I buy a large bottle of regular glucosamine 1000mg or 1500 mg tablets from the supermarket.
Glucosamine is naturally synthesized by the human body and is a basic building block of the connective tissues common in all joints, like the cartilages in your back and knees for example. As part of the aging process we lose glucosamine and thus cartilage through wear and tear, which frequently progresses to the common condition known as osteoarthritis.
Glucosamine sulfate can help slow this process of cartilage loss and when glucosamine is used with its partner chondroitin sulfate it can be even more effective. There have been many studies that have shown that glucosamine and/or chondroitin help to repair damage to the joints caused by osteoarthritis.
For example, in two independent 3-year randomized, placebo-controlled studies, glucosamine sulfate was shown to slow progression of osteoarthritis symptoms. After three years, participants given the glucosamine sulfate showed no joint space narrowing whatsoever. In addition, the glucosamine sulfate group showed a significant improvement in their pain levels, while there was a trend for worsening of pain in the placebo group.
Glucosamine can’t bring cartilage back, but it can prevent further loss plus reduce the symptoms of pain, swelling, and stiffness or noise in the joints and especially back pain relief.
Chondroitin sulfate is another building block of connective tissue. It actually stimulates the cartilage cells (called chondrocytes), and therefore works beautifully when paired with glucosamine to speed the regeneration and recovery of bone tissues. Well-absorbed and associated with only minor side effects, chondroitin sulfate can also decrease pain and slow the rate of cartilage loss in people with osteoarthritis.
You often see glucosamine with chondroitin and it’s worth trying this blend if glucosamine by itself doesn’t help you.
Sciatica Treatment, Back Care and Back Pain News
Filed Under Back Pain Relief, Sciatica Treatments | Leave a Comment
In the Feb. 13 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, it mentioned that medical expenditure for back and neck problems grew 65% over eight years. (The spending increases for spine care are about the same as those faced by the medical system as a whole).
The total annual expenditure for the US is now almost $86 billion nationally. Of this prescription drugs are the fastest-growing component, according to the study quoted.
But the expenditure doesn’t appear to be helping people much (personally I’m not surprised because I find it hard to see how prescription drugs can help a problem that is largely related to lifestyle and mechanical functioning of the spine, but then again I’m not selling drugs . . .).
Pharmaceuticals made up 23% of total expenditures. Incredibly spending on drugs to combat back and neck pain grew 171% between 1997 and 2005, with narcotic painkillers ballooning an astounding 423%.
Question: Ask yourself how filling yourself with toxic chemicals can heal a largely mechanical body function?
If you want a natural sciatica treatment system that uses exercise and diet try the Better Back System
Note: Pharmaceutical companies’ direct-to-consumer advertising likely plays a role in the higher spending on drugs. Surprised?
The study examined data from 23,000 people in an annual federal survey and of these over 3,100 reported spine problems.
Back pain comes from a variety of sources, including:
- natural aging processes, injury,
- excessive or not enough physical activity
- obesity / carrying too much body weight.
Approx. 53% of the patients surveyed in 2005 had so-called “nonspecific back disorders” which includes
- spinal stenosis
- back ache and sciatica.
The next largest category was disk disorders with 16%.
A back injury can be financially devastating to people, Bean said. “There are some cases where you want to be justified in not doing something just as you want to be justified in doing something. It’s not always clear-cut. It’s not just an X-ray or scan. It’s a person with an individual life and personality that either tolerates discomfort or not. You have to take everything into account.”
Doctors suggest that patients with back pain do the following:
- - stay active
- - be careful but don’t be afraid to exesrcise and use trainers, classes, coaches etc
- - manage their weight,
- - stay fit to better handle age-related changes,
- - continue walking around if possible when they’re in pain,
- - undertake physical conditioning - yoga, Pilates, bicycling and swimming can all be helpful.
To this list add:
- try physical therapies before drugs and surgery,
- review your habitual postures and movements and eliminate bad habits e.g. don’t slouch or slump, take regular stretch breaks, lift things properly, dont lift and twist.
Some people get a sore back if they sit on their walllet. Some find sleepin gwith a pillow between their knees is really helpful.
See a doctor if it doesn’t get better.
Sign up for our back health and exercise course