ACHES & PAINS

ACHES & PAINS

Muscles when over used will rebuild given rest and the proper therapeutic exercise. Rest, is the key word here - training should not be done every day of the week. For every day of hard training there are 2 to 3 days of immune suppression following. Further, muscles need nutrition to heal them from the repeated micro injuries incurred while training and not just protein, they need vitamins, minerals and more.

Joints are another matter. The manic over-exercise craze will be the greatest single source of future knee replacement and shoulder reconstruction patients for orthopedic surgeons. Again, low to mid level wear at joints can be dealt with nutritionally (MSM, glucosamine, Grandma's chicken soup). With joint wear the body wants to shield the injured area from further insult so it splints the joint with swelling and pain thus attempting to restrict the range of motion (ROM) of the joint. The system also attempts to feed nutrients to the injured area and speed healing by greatly increasing the blood flow to the joint. This causes the redness and sometimes the throbbing that often times accompanies the swelling.

We need to think of a joint as having two sides - an outside and an inside. Inside of the joint we have the gliding surfaces of the articulation, which are made up of hyaline cartilage. This smooth shiny cartilage is hydrophilic, it loves water. Not only is the hyaline smooth and slick but also it absorbs the mucous-like synovial fluid into its surface creating a virtually frictionless bearing. When compression forces squeeze the joint ends closer this fluid gets forced out from in-between the surfaces and cartilage touches directly on cartilage. Over time and with repeated use the sections of the cartilage that do touch will wear. Improper tibial rotation angles, knock-knees, and bow legs all contribute to knee problems and accelerate wear.

As for the shoulder, can you think of any joints more used than your poor shoulders. What have the years of pounding your knees, grinding your shoulders and pushing all of the other joints of your body done to that smooth sponge like gliding surface?

The hyaline was formed early in life from something called mucopolysaccharides. Your body stops making this around puberty. Now, the inside of the joint has no blood supply. The articulating surfaces are fed directly by the mucous synovial fluid which gets its supply of nutrients through the joint capsule membrane from the blood supply on its outside. If we still made these mucopolysaccharides our joints would hardly ever wear. But we don't so they do. Nutritional science has the answer - and you've likely heard of it by now:

Glucosamine
These mucopolysaccharides are well absorbed and travel through the blood to where they get taken in by the areas that need it.

Systemic Enzymes
As we age, or are under stress, our body's production of enzymes is depleted. Age related changes are directly attributable to depletion of enzymes. Systemic enzymes differ from digestive enzymes in that the tablets are taken in between meals so that the constituents can be absorbed into the blood stream and do their work there instead of expending their action on digesting food. With 40 years of use and over 160 peer reviewed verifying studies behind them, systemic enzymes are the second best selling over the counter preparation in Germany.

When a joint or any soft tissue is injured or infirm the body creates irritants called Circulating Immune Complexes. It's these complexes that cause the inflammation of joint capsules, bursae, tendons, muscles, blood vessels, internal organs etc. These complexes also are responsible for autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus. In those conditions a large build up of the complexes attack the joints or muscles, respectively thinking these to be foreign invaders. Enzymes eat Circulating Immune Complexes. (2).

In eating away at the substances that cause inflammation, the pain, swelling and redness are reduced. As a consequence pain is relieved! But for athletes the other actions of systemic enzymes are just as important. These enzymes are antifibrotic. Too much Fibrin and Fibrinogen create the matrix in the blood vessels for arteriosclerotic plaque. Systemic enzymes control this over expression and eat away slowly at established plaque.

The enzymes are also a great blood cleanser. In eating away at Circulating Immune Complexes, necrotic derbies and fibrin in the blood these actions reduce the viscosity of blood by removing the gunk. This is a different mechanism for reducing blood viscosity than aspirin. (5) To anyone who exercises or plays a sport, thinner blood means improved circulation to working muscles and increased micro circulation. Most folks walk around with blood that's as thick as catsup! (6). Folks who exercise make that worse by the dehydration they suffer. Systemic Enzymes, the best of which is the product Vitalzym, help the body to recover faster from exercise, preventing micro trauma from becoming macro trauma. In cases of injury, Vitalzym is used by pro athletes to reduce the effects of injury and speed healing. European sport physicians have found that recovery times are cut dramatically. (8).

Now we come to something that over-exercisers and endurance athletes are seriously lacking in - an immune system. It is common knowledge in exercise physiology that for each day of heavy training there are two to three days of immune suppression to follow. If you tag too many workout days together, as we manic compulsive boomers tend to do, then in time the immune system becomes completely trashed. There are numerous cases of marathoners coming down with chronic reoccurring infections because they don't have anything in their bodies to fight bugs for them. Vitalzym to the rescue! The front line soldier of the immune system is the white blood cell. These guys have little hands around them called FC receptors. These hands tear apart nasties and then pick up the derbies for deposition. As long as it takes them to get rid of the junk they are holding is as long as it's going to take them out of the fight. Systemic enzymes eat away at the derbies the FC receptors are holding enabling the white blood cells to return to combat earlier and in greater numbers.

Along with daily doses of vitamins, minerals and the like, the mucopolysaccharides and systemic enzymes should be part of our daily maintenance and health programs

Supplements to Help Aches & Pains

Vitalzym Systemic Enzyme: 3 to 5 capsules 3 times a day forever.

Glucosamine (CapraFlex & FYI Ultra):
Preventive - 500-1500 mg (esp. for athletes)
Therapeutic - 500 mg 2-6x per day (1-3 grams) 3 weeks to 3 months are usually needed before results are seen.

MSM: 2 - 1,000 mg capsules with each meal, 6 per day

Living Multi Optimal Formula, 6-9 per day (Whole Food Multi-Vitamin & Mineral supplement)

Living Calcium, 3 per day (Whole Food Calcium Supplement)

References:
Wrba H., Pecher O.: Enzymes A Drug of the Future. Page 13. Pub. By Eco Med. Germany in English 1998.
Ibid. Page 37.
Thrombenbildung und Thrombolyse. Med. Welt 39 (1988), 277.
Ridker PM., et al: Inflammation, aspirin and the risk of cardiovascular disease in apparently healthy men. The New England Journal of Medicine, 1997; 336(14): 973-979, 1014-1016.
Ernst E., Matrai A.: Orale Therapie mit proteolytischen Enzymen modifiziert die Blutrheologie. Klin. Wschr. 65 (1987), 994.
Jager H., Popescu M., Samtleben W.,Stauder G.: Hydrolytic enzymes as biological response modifiers (BRM) in HIV-infection. San Marino Conferences _ Highlights in Medical Virology, Immuneology and Oncology, Volume 1 San Marino, 1988, 44, Pergamon Press, Oxford, New York, Beijing, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto.
Worschhauser S.: Konservative Therapie der Sportverletzungen Enzympraparate fur Therapie und Prophylaxe. Allgemeinmedizin 19 (1990), 173.

Disclaimer:
This site does not provide medical advice. The information on this site is for educational purposes only and should be not be interpreted as a recommendation for a specific treatment plan, nor should this information be used in place of the qualified opinion of a licensed health professional.