Dealing with Arthritis & Body Pain - Naturally
One of the most common issues we see at the moon haven cottage is our gorgeous moonies dealing with various chronic pain issues.
Arthritic and body pain is debilitating.
The experience of chronic pain can control your life.
So many sufferers of chronic pain have found that gathering together a personal " toolbox' of pain managing techniques helps them take back a little of that control.
In fact, it was the chronic pain of fibromyalgia that motivated Leonie to develop our now famous St John’s Wort & Calendula Rub (SJWAC).
And it was from this wonderful salve that moon haven was born.
Arthritis:
Did you know that arthritis affects 1 in 7 Australians? (ref https://arthritisaustralia.com.au/). While there are over 100 different types of arthritis.
The most common forms are"
Osteoarthritis,
Rheumatoid Arthritis and
-
Gout are the most common forms
Pain from Arthritis can be caused by:
Inflammation
Damage to the joints
Muscle tension and spasms from the body trying to protect the joint form injury
Also , how we experience pain is influenced by a number of factors. Stress, anxiety, fatigue and depression each play a part in your sensitivity to pain episodes.
So it makes sense to find ways to mange these factors to help diminish pain.
Managing Arthritis Pain
Managing and minimising the pain from arthritis requires a multi-faceted approach. There are a number of practical, medical and lifestyle changes that if adopted can radically improve your experience.
Importantly- follow your chosen health practitioner's advice:
At moon haven we believe in an integrated medicine approach to managing our health. This approach combines the best of modern medicine alongside the most suitable complimentary health practices for each person and situation.
It is so important to follow the advice of your chosen health practitioner- especially when it comes to using prescribed, recommended medicines, lifestyle and activity suggestions etc..
Naturally reducing your pain:
There are a number of ways to reduce your pain levels and increase mobility these include:
Exercise
Adopting an anti-inflammatory diet
Add Turmeric and Curcumin to your diet
Use heat and cold
Massage regularly
Adopt stress reduction techniques
Use Moon Haven's St John's Wort Rub + Achy Breaky Essential Oil Blend Booster
Exercise:
It has been found the simple, regular, low impact exercise can be very helpful in managing arthritic pain. Everything from gentle stretching, low impact pilates, yoga, walking and swimming can all be beneficial.
Not only does exercise help to stretch and strengthen muscles that support your joints but it also helps to reduce stress and improves sleep.
Adopt the Anti-inflammatory Mediterranean Diet:
Choose a balanced diet that cuts out processed products and boosts your intake of whole, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant-rich foods.
Food to avoid or minimise include sugary foods and beverages, processed meat, alcohol, and foods high in refined carbs and unhealthy fats.
To help reduce inflammation in the body it is important to mainly eat unprocessed, high fibre, antioxidant and nutrient rich foods like vegetables and fruits, fish, high fat natural oils like avocado and olive, seeds and nuts etc.
In fact one of the best anti-inflammatory diets to follow is the Mediterranean diet (download this very helpful Mediterranean diet fact sheet and guide from the Queensland Dept of Health website).
Add Turmeric (with black pepper) to your diet:
I can personally attest to the benefits of adding turmeric to your diet to help combat the pain of arthritis.
You see Turmeric contains the anti-inflammatory compound curcumin which helps to reduce inflammation in the body. I add black peppercorns to help the curcumin be better absorbed into my body. (it's the piperine in the black pepper that increases the bioavailability of the curcumin 2000 times!)
There are many ways to include turmeric into your diet. Perhaps the easiest is to make a turmeric rich drink. Turmeric lattes, turmeric rich juices and smoothies.
When going through a pain relapse I make a turmeric-black pepper enhanced smoothie each morning... usually with banana, apple, linseed and lots of ice!
You see Turmeric contains the anti-inflammatory compound curcumin which helps to reduce inflammation in the body. I add black peppercorns to help the curcumin be better absorbed into my body. (it's the piperine in the black pepper that increases the bioavailability of the curcumin 2000 times!)
My morning anti-inflammatory smoothie recipe is as follows -
In a blender combine
1 banana
1 chopped apple
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
5 black peppercorns
1 tablespoon linseeds
200ml juice of choice ( i often use apple) - or milk if you prefer
Ice blocks to suit you taste (this is wonderful served icy cold).
Heat & Cold:
I use heat to help soothe painful joints and muscles and cold to help reduce inflammation.
Heat assists with relaxing muscles and assists with increasing circulation. I find hot showers, warm baths, wheat bags and hot water bottles fantastic to help soothe and reduce arthritic pain.
With inflamed joints while I can't make myself have an ice bath :) - but an ice pack applied to a painful joint can be very effective in helping to numb the area and reduce swelling.
Massage:
Regular massage can hep with reducing pain and increase the mobility of painful joints as well as being relaxing and helpful in reduce in stress.
Whole body massage with a qualified massage therapist is wonderful but daily self massage of inflamed joints can be very helpful.
(Of course we recommend you massage sore joints and muscles with our St John's Wort & Calendula Rub)
Relaxation, Meditation, Reducing Stress:
Learning and using relaxation, meditation and stress reducing techniques can help you manage your pain.
Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, guided imagery, and sequential muscle relaxation are wonderful tools to use when dealing with chronic pain.
One of my preferred techniques it to listen to a simple guided meditation to help me slow my breathing and progressively relax my muscles and in turn my muscles.
St John's Wort & Calendula Rub:
Of course Moon Haven makes a wonderful natural herbal salve that we use to help with arthritis, joint and muscle pain.
Our founder, Leonie, first made our very popular St John's Wort & Calendula Rub to help her with her own muscle and joint pain caused by Fibromyalgia.
Gently massaging in a small amount to the affected areas as well as the area of the spine that 'control' that area can be very helpful in temporarily reducing your pain .
Combined with our Achy Breaky Essential Oil Blend you can boost the relief for nasty stubborn pain too!
Choose what works for you
So please do look through this list and find the techniques and approaches that work for you.
Most importantly - Use them!
I hope this information is helpful and wish you well on your journey.
Warmest regards,
Leonie - moonhaven's aromatherapist, founder & creator of good things
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Always seek qualified medical advice regarding your own individual situation
Please note: Information in this article and on the moonhaven.com.au website represents the opinion of the author and as such is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.
Always seek the guidance of your doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition.