Cherry Juice for Pain

Adding cherry juice to your diet could reduce soreness after exercise. Research from Oregon Health & Science University found that people who drank 2 cups of tart cherry juice two times a day for a week felt less muscle pain and soreness after a race than those who didn’t. Cherries have a natural anti-inflammatory antioxidant, known as anthocyanin. It can be used to reduce the pain and inflammation from gout, arthritis, muscle pain and back pain. They may also offer some protection from colon cancer, heart attack and stroke. Everyone is different, so the amount you need to consume and the time it takes to see benefits may vary. To receive benefits you should drink at least one ounce of tart cherry juice concentrate, a quarter cup of dried tart cherries or 1 ½ cups of frozen tart cherries. All cherries contain anthocyanins, but tart cherries have twice the amount as sweet cherries. It could take a few days to several weeks to see results.

photo credit: dongga BS

Skip This: Au Bon Pain Caprese Sandwich

Fresh mozzarella, tomato, romaine, and basil pesto may sound harmless, but this sandwich have more fat than BK's Whopper Jr. or a McDonald's Quarter Pounder. It's got 680 calories, 32 g fat (15 g saturated fat) and a whopping 1,200 mg sodium.

To use Heat or Ice

A question I get often is should I be using ice or heat.  Here are a few general guidelines to help you be able to tell which form you should be using to rehabilitate an injury or sore muscle.  If you have speicific questions webmd.com or mayoclinic.com goes into much more detail about specific conditions as my goal is to educate for general purposes not diagnose or treat.  In general if the problem is acute (or coming on suddenly) ice is appropriate or whenever there is pain, swelling, and inflammation.  It's also used for conditions such as arthritis.  Ice can be used from 10-20 minutes and may be used several times a day.  Ice can be used in the form of ice massage and ice or cold packs.  Heat is used to help muscles relax and speed up healing of soft tissue through increased circulation. Heat is also useful in treating joints with osteoarthritis and to relax the muscles before exercise.  As helpful as heat can be, if used too early on an injury it can create excess swelling (which can increase pain).  Waiting at least 48 hours seems to be a general recomendation by most experts.  Never use heat on an area that has been recently bruised.  A bruise is caused by ruptured underlying blood vessels and heat may cause the bruise to get worse.  Heat can be used in various forms: hot tub, heat packs(dry or wet), or methods like parafin wax just to name a few.  If you are wanting to use a damp heat but do not have any type of pack a cheap way is to take a hand towel dampen put in the microwave and heat for approximately 2 minutes.  Be sure to test before applying to an area.  Often it is wise to cover hot damp hand towel in a regular towel before applying to the skin.  Its important not to burn the skin!

The Ups & Downs of High Heels,

We all love that feeling of walking into a room knowing we look tall thin and are exhibiting sleek toned looking legs.  Heels seem to be an easy fix and they are just so much fun to shop for!  But at what cost?  We all deep down know they are not good for our feet and back. But it doesn't end there: research done by Harvard linked high heels and knee osteoarthritis, a painful, degenerative joint disease characterized by the breakdown of the cartilage surrounding the knee. Ouch! Now I am not suggesting that we give up heels all together(although if you can more power to you!), but we need to come up with some good compromises that allow us to keep our sence of style without putting our health at risk.  One of the ways that I have decreased my heel time is by using stylish sandals(I live in hot weather so this works for most of the year).  The key is finding attractive sandals that have good support.  I keep a pair in the car and when I am done wearing my hot little heels to church or to a special dinner date I will switch them out.  Sure I want to make a good first impression whether it be a date or a place I am speaking but I don't want it to wear on my body.  How do you cut down on your heel time?
photo credit: [lauren nelson]

BioFreeze and Sore Muscles

This past week I have really kicked up my workout to another level.  And ofcourse I was sore from lactic acid build up and even more so from small micro tares that are normal in the breaking down and then rebuilding of muscle.  BioFreeze has been my buddy this week.  While usually I just try to increase the amount of stretching I do, this was a great topical pain reliever that offered me some short term relief.  Basicly it allowed me to concentrate on other things than my sore muscles.  BioFreeze is basiclly a more intense version of Icy Hot(if you have sensitive skin you may want to try just a little bit on one section of your skin to make sure you wont react to it).  It is a little sticky and you will have that lovely menthol smell for a little while but over all its a really nice product.  I just order the small individual packets while maybe not as environmentally friendly as getting it in a bottle it is so convinent for in you purse, pocket, or desk at work.

Do you have "Cell phone Elbow" ?

For real? Yup! It is medically known as cubital tunnel syndrome, cell phone elbow is numbness, tingling and pain in the forearm and hand caused by compression of the ulnar nerve, which passes along the bony bump on the inside of the elbow.

As symptoms progress, they can include a loss of muscle strength, coordination and mobility that can make writing and typing difficult. In chronic, untreated cases, the ring finger and pinky can become clawed, Evans and colleagues note in a report in the May issue of the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. Solution? Go easy on your unlimited minutes and get a bluetooth headset and start talking to yourself! photo credit: ydhsu