How to restore healthy joints and cut inflammation 4 of 5

Copyright 2006 Rick Rakauskas This article covers the following points: .. How to restore healthy joints and cut inflammation. In the last article, one of the key points was: When muscles along our spine are injured, in many cases the nerve paths to those muscles are NOT restored rapidly. A necessary long-term solution for back pain is to switch the muscles back on so they are in balance on both sides of the spine. .. How to restore healthy joints and cut inflammation What Causes Inflammation and Joint Pain? There are many causes of inflammation. Among these, the common causes are undoubtedly related to what you eat (or don't eat, but should eat), your living and working environment, and the alignment of your joints. Let's start with alignment: When bones are out of alignment, be it knee joints, or vertebrae, inflammation can occur due to rubbing of bone on bone. In particular, if your spine has vertebrae not sitting squarely on top of each other, chances are high that inflammation will occur, and with it, back pain. Your vertebrae may have been moved out of alignment by accidental damage caused by a fall, motor vehicle injury or other mishap, or it may now be happening because of muscle imbalance constantly pulling your spine out of alignment. That's why the Better Back system is so heavily focused on re-alignment of the spine and re-balancing of muscles. Foods can cause allergic or intolerant reactions, often leading to inflammation of joints. The most common foods which can cause inflammatory reactions include dairy products, wheat, peanuts, and salicylate foods such as tomatoes, capsicums, peppers, olives, berries etc. It can be quite a complex process to sort out which foods may be causing swelling in joints. Common allergy tests are not yet very accurate and you may need to use a process of elimination and re-introduction to find out for yourself. For me, when I cut dairy products out of my life many years ago, all my joint pains disappeared within four weeks and have never returned. This may not be useful for you, but I believe it is a good starting point if you are serious about your health. Common environmental causes are petrochemical reactions from detergents, paints, perfumes, hair sprays, deodorants, pest sprays, etc. Foam mattresses can cause inflammatory reactions in sensitive people. Some other causes of inflammation can be microbial, viral, fungal or parasitical infections, excessive levels of C-reactive protein (linked to poor diet), and depression which can increase TNF-alpha levels. As a general statement, a strong immune system is the best barrier to inflammation from infectious sources. A strong immune system is very largely dependent on good nutrition, suitable exercise, and activities such as meditation or relaxation to lower stress levels. Much of this is outside the scope of the Better Back system and will be dealt with at higher levels of the Better Health system