Aloe Vera - A Natural Remedy for Arthritis

Arthiritis is a condition which causes inflammation of the joints of the body. It comes in over 100 different forms and affects millions of people. Arthritis can have a multitude of causes, such as trauma to the joint, infection of the joint, age, weight, and genetics, to name a few. The most common forms of arthirits are osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease), rheumatoid arthritis, gout, psoriatic arthritis, and septic arthritis.

Those suffering from arthritis typically suffer from joint pain. The pain may be constant and it is caused by the inflammation around the joint, daily wear and tear of the joint, damage to the joint from the disease, muscle strains caused by forceful movements against the stiff joint, and fatigue.

Conventional treatment for arthritis includes anti inflammatory drugs and steroids to reduce the swelling of the joints and ease the pain that accompanies it. While these medicines do work, they may come with undesirable side effects, such as thinning of the skin and osteoporosis.

Fortunately, Aloe Vera is a natural and effective method for treating arthritis. In fact, the plant extracts serve as a potent anti-inflammatory and have been used for ages for just this purpose. Research has shown that regular use of aloe vera, either by capsule, concentrated juice, cream or gel, can help reduce the painful swelling of arthritis, without any unwanted side effects. In addition to reducing inflammation, aloe vera's unique make up enables it to successfully repair damaged tissue by regenerating cells.

To use aloe vera topically as a treatment for arthritis, you can apply the gel or cream to the affected area and gently massage it into the skin. Repeat as needed, even up to every 4 hours for severely inflamed joints. You may also take aloe vera orally, in capsule or juice form.

Amazing Arthritis Relief With Antioxidants

Antioxidants are an amazing arthritis relief treatment, since they are readily available, low in cost, and quite effective. They are in all fruits and vegetables. Most people are always looking for that magic bullet to cure arthritis and over look the amazing antioxidants. Antioxidants are effective in many inflammatory conditions such as bursitis, sprains, and rheumatoid arthritis. Since most diseases arise from inflammation, antioxidants can be there to stop the start of disease. But you must used them consistently, whether as a supplement or as a food

In his book, Pain Free, 1995, Luke Bucci, Ph.D. recounts,

"After taking four grams of vitamin C daily for several months, Dr. J. Greenwood reported that he had 'cured his lower-back pain.' He started recommending that his patients with degenerative-joint disease take daily oral does of one-to-four grams of vitamin C. Most patients got relief from their symptoms."

Vitamin C is in a class of well known antioxidants. The basic class of these antioxidants is vitamin A, C, E, and selenium. Vitamin C has also been found effective in many other conditions. You can take 4000 mg or more without side effects. If your stools become watery, then you have take to much vitamin C, so just back off a little to find the right dose for yourself. Take vitamin C daily with your other antioxidants.

You may also be familiar with these other antioxidants, glutathione, glutathione, coenzyme Q10, SOD, catalase, methionine, lipoic acid, and flavoniods. All of these antioxidants are powerful agents and you should be using them in your diet even though you may not have arthritis, since they will help stop other diseases.

So what makes these antioxidants so amazing for arthritis relief? Arthritis is a painful inflammatory disease that is difficult to treat. It is a disease that doctors have no cure for. This is why people use Anacin, Buffrin, and Ibuprofen and even more powerful drug pain killers to block this pain. But, antioxidants are not pain killers, yet they work as a treatment for arthritis. They stop the progression of arthritis and will help to lessen the pain gradually.

When your cells burn oxygen, oxidation, they create a by product called "free radicals." These free radicals are super reactive and look for tissue and other body surfaces to combine with and destroy. Free radicals are also created when you develop arthritis, since inflammation creates free radicals. When one free radical is created, it sets off a chain reaction, creating other free radicals, which go randomly damaging surrounding tissue molecules causing more pain and inflammation.

Free radicals cause cells to corrode and malfunction. They damage cell membrane, DNA, cartilage, and protein. By using antioxidants for an amazing arthritis relief, you can lessen the arthritic effects of pain and inflammation. Antioxidants grab up the free radicals as they are created. They neutralize them and preventing them from doing excess molecular damage. For this reason, antioxidants are a treatment for arthritis, provided that they are used in quantities higher than for normal maintenance.

Use of basic antioxidants - vitamin A, C, E - with one of the power antioxidants like SOD, flavoniods found in fruits, or glutathione precursors can provide you with a powerful and amazing arthritis relief and treatment.

Ways to Help TMJ

Do you have frequent pain in the jaw or facial area? You may have heard of the disorder called TMJ. This pain can be healed by a specialist for TMJ.

TMJ is the abbreviation for temporomandibular joint disorder and is a blanket term for a variety of joint disorders that can cause pain in the jaw and face, as well as difficulty chewing, earaches, and a popping sound when moving the jaw. Causes are numerous but the most common are grinding of the teeth at night, often without being aware of doing so, and trauma caused by something like a car accident. Because of the location that this disorder occurs it is in the domain of several forms and branches of the medical practice such as dentistry, neurology, and orthopedics. Because of this overlap there are many treatment approaches to TMJ and this makes choosing a specialist for TMJ difficult at times.

Specialists for TMJ use a variety of methods for repairing the damage done by TMJ as well as fixing the TMJ itself. Some cases can be cured with the fixing of destruction or natural defects on the face of the occlusal parts of the teeth. Occlusion of the teeth is about how your teeth in your jaw come together with the teeth attached to your skull. If the fit is not right it can cause a lot of stress on your TMJ which could lead to a TMJ disorder. To correct the occlusal fit of the teeth the doctor either carefully grinds your teeth to remove some of the surface area or uses a filling type of application to add to the face of any tooth that is not making contact.

Another method of treatment specialists for TMJ use is called a splint. These are more commonly referred to as mouth guards, or more specifically night guards. These are like mouth pieces used in sports but shaped specifically to be worn comfortably in the user's sleep. Like the occlusal surface treatment this is intended to correct teeth grinding at night. Both the occlusal surface treatment and the mouth guards can be furthered with the use of typical pain killers. Pain killers are commonly used in correlation with almost all of the other treatments used by specialists for TMJ.

Often the use of treatments that stop the grinding can correct the symptoms of TMJ for a time, but after a while the effects of the treatment can wear off or the treatment can begin to become less effective. One of the numerous long term treatments used by specialists for TMJ is a surgery that is similar to the surgery used for comparable disk related injuries in the spine. This is always used by specialists for TMJ as an absolute last resort because it is still roughly experimental and does not always have success.

Another of the long term treatments is to try and correct bad oral habits like the grinding of the teeth instead of using the physical barrier like the night guard. This method could also be applies to bad posture in the head and neck. Specialists for TMJ go about changing people's bad habits by using a something called a biofeedback device. This device gives verbal or negative feedback whenever it detects that the user is repeating his or her bad habit.

You should also know that if your condition is caused by grinding your teeth in your sleep because of stress you will need to find a therapeutic treatment for your stress. Otherwise you will be destroying any gains you make with your TMJ treatments every night in your sleep.

Hopefully this information has clarified for you the symptoms, causes, and treatments of TMJ disorder and liberated you to choose your specialist for TMJ wisely.

Arthritis - Signs and Symptoms

Arthritis is a group of conditions involving damage to the joints of the body. The most common form is the osteoarthritis also referred to as the degenerative joint disease. Osteoarthritis is caused by a trauma or an infection to the joint. Sometimes it could be as a result of age.

Other forms of this condition are rheumatoid, psoriatic and autoimmune diseases in which the body attacks itself. Septic is another form that is caused by a joint infection while gouty is caused by deposition of uric acid crystals in the joint causing inflammation. Pseudo gout is a rare form of gout that is normally caused by the formation of rhomboid crystals of calcium pyrophosphate.

Some of the symptoms of arthritis include pain and swelling in the joint, stiffness especially in the morning and feeling of warmth around the affected joint. Redness of the skin around the joint as well as inability to easily move the joint are other signs.

Pain patterns may differ depending on the type and the location of the affected area. Rheumatoid is normally worse in the morning and it leads to stiffness especially in the early stages. The stiffness normally disappears after a morning shower. Radiographs are normally used to asses the severity of the condition while blood tests and x-rays of the affected joints are used to make the diagnosis.

The type of arthritis you have determines the type of treatment to be administered. Available treatments include physical therapy and lifestyle changes such as exercise and weight control. Medications and dietary supplements are the other treatment options.

The Things You Should Know About Sacroiliac Joint Inflammation

Have you been suffering from piercing pains in your lower back lately? Do you have trouble turning around, bending down, or rolling over in your sleep? If this is the case, you might have a sacroiliac joint inflammation - not exactly when you are waiting for right before the holiday season.

The first thing you want to know about this problem is what the sacroiliac joints actually are. The sacroiliac joints are two 'L-shaped' joints that are located at the bottom of the back, one on either side of the spine. They lie between the wedge-shaped bone at the bottom of your spine (known as the sacrum) and the pelvic ilium, and are held in place by various muscles and ligaments. When you move your lower body, the sacroiliac joints get twisted and stretched along the pelvic girdle, so they help facilitate pelvic movement.

When either of these joints gets inflamed, it can create a sharp pain in the lower back, upper thighs, and sometimes the buttocks. This is either caused by the fact that the joints get stuck, or that one half the pelvis continually glides backwards and forwards, irritating and inflaming the iliolumbar ligament.

Mild inflammations of the sacroiliac joints and the surrounding regions are not uncommon, but the more severe forms of sacroiliitis tend to crop up with old age. The most significant causes of sacroiliitis include pregnancy (because the pelvis is forced to expand during labour); trauma or sudden impact injury to the spine or pelvis; and degenerative arthritis, or osteoarthritis of the spine (which deteriorates the sacroiliac joints). But do not fret: it is possible to treat sacroiliitis, just as long as you visit your osteopath and keep an eye out for any early symptoms of the disease.

The most noticeable symptoms of sacroiliac joint inflammation include: - Restricted hip movement (having difficulty turning around or rolling over in bed) - Stiffness in the lower back after long periods of immobility (such after long car journeys) or when waking up in the morning - Difficulty bending down - Pain during sexual intercourse - Sharp pain the thighs when swinging your legs out of bed or out of the car

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, it is important that you visit someone who understands the sacroiliac joint well, such as an osteopath. In the meantime, you can try to reduce the pain by doing the following: - When sitting or lying down, place a pillow in between your knees to take some of the pressure of the pelvis - Wrap a damp tea towel around an icepack and place it on the inflamed area for 10-minute intervals for a half hour. You can do this up to three times a day. - At night, sleep on your side instead of your back

Sacroiliac joint inflammation can be a right pain in the back. Osteopaths can help you cope with this pain effectively through a combination of anti-inflammatory medication treatments and physical therapy. So as long as you are patient with yourself and visit an osteopath regularly, there is no reason why you cannot have an enjoyable holiday season.

Treating a Degenerative Knee Condition - The Problem That Can Make You Want to Give Up

Are your knee(s) painful?

While osteoarthritis or degenerative knee conditions are not always an emergency condition, it is a severe condition that can cause debilitating pain and gets progressively worse over a period of time. In a worse case scenario, the joint can get severely deformed as alignment problems advance and can eventually cause someone to lose the ability to walk.

A.) Symptoms of A Degenerative Knee Condition

The symptoms of degenerative knee condition include:

1.) Pain in the knee when moving or standing still

2.) Stiffness in the knee joint

3.) Swelling around the knee

These symptoms usually bring the person who is suffering from osteoarthritis to the doctor as the pain worsens and their mobility gets increasingly more restricted.

B.) Diagnosing A Degenerative Knee Condition

Your doctor will confirm that you have osteoarthritis only after examining an X-Ray of the knees. A doctor will rarely make a clinical diagnosis of this condition as the symptoms can also mirror other conditions. Once the diagnosis is complete, you can then discuss treatment options with your physician.

C.) Treatment for A Degenerative Knee Condition

Treatment for this disease can range from over the counter pain medication to wearing a knee brace during flare-ups to getting actual knee replacement. The treatment depends upon the health of the individual, their age and the progression of the condition.

• Cortisone Injections: While cortisone shots are effective for relieving the pain, their effects are not long lasting. With these shots, you can expect to get relief from pain for anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. These shots can also be expensive and will require regular visits to the doctor administering the shots.

• Knee Surgery: Knee surgery is usually considered the last resort and is only recommended for those who have a severe case and for whom the success rate is potentially high. Surgery, which entails rebuilding the knee joint, is an invasive procedure. It can be very expensive and also takes months from which to recover. Rehabilitation will be a large part of recovery and can be indefinite, causing another dent in your finances. You should discuss this option thoroughly with your doctor and weight the risks as well as the benefits before opting to undergo full knee surgery to treat your degenerative knee condition.

• Knee Braces: Using a knee brace is the least invasive way to treat the condition. Let's face it, sometimes you need surgery, but these braces can be the one thing that helps take away your pain like no other! When you take your knee stability to the next level, you can feel relief as soon as the brace wraps snugly around the knee. Many people find this the preferred treatment option as it offers them relief from pain without hampering their mobility as they go about their daily tasks.

If you are concerned that you may have degenerative knee condition, you should seek a firm diagnosis from your doctor. While this is an incurable condition, there are millions of people who suffer from this type of chronic inflammation and who treat it with the use of over the counter pain pills and by wearing a knee brace.

TMJ Symptoms And What You Can Do About It

TMJ symptoms are quite pronounced and noticeable to the sufferer. There is hope, though. Before we talk about the cure for TMJ or some simple and inexpensive strategies to solve your TMJ problems, let's talk about some of the specific symptoms you need to be aware of.

TMJ symptoms affect are focused everywhere the joint that connects the lower jaw. Temporomandibular joint syndrome affects people differently, TMJ symptoms like popping and clicking are not healthy jaw sounds. Other symptoms include headaches, which the sufferer usually considers non related to the TMJ problem.

Indeed, TMJ symptoms are not easy to diagnose, because they are often similar to other disorders. Headaches, for example, are "referential pain." This is called a temporal headache and is often misdiagnosed as a migraine headache.

Another symptom includes the characteristic clicking or popping sound coming from the jaw area -- this is an obvious impairment in your jaw's normal function. But there are more.

The most common TMJ symptoms are essentially the following: pain in the jaw joint, a locked jaw, ear aches, swelling in the jaw joint, ringing in the ears, pain in the neck and/or shoulders, and teeth grinding.. These TMJ symptoms vary simply a little bit depending on the person and the severity of the condition.

Don't Confuse TMJ Symptoms with Other Health Issues

Don't confuse temporary jaw clicking or jaw popping with a TMJ problem. Sometimes it's temporary. A friend of mine was hurt in an athletic game (softball) suffering an inadvertent blow to the head. This caused his jaw to have some swelling. A result was that he started experiencing a clicking in his jaw. He thought it was something more serious. It wasn't. It went away with the edema or swelling. Some TMJ-like symptoms also can be precipitated by oral habits like chewing too much gum or grinding the teeth. Some experience TMJ-like symptoms with fingernail biting.

Conditions in the body like arthritis or pinworm infestation can also emulate TMJ-like symptoms. Pinworms? Yes, it's true. One of the symptoms of TMJ is grinding of teeth at night, which is one of the reasons why a TMJ night guard is so popular. What many don't know, though, is that a pinworm infestation in the intestinal tract can cause grinding of the teeth at night. A night guard would work in such an instant to prevent the teeth grinding, but it wouldn't cure the root cause. For those who don't believe in parasite infestation, consider this: A full 80 percent of the human population has a parasite within them, according to Dr. Oz.

Getting back to our core point, don't confuse TMJ-like symptoms for having TMJ. See a dentist.

Continuing, the first step for relieving your jaw pain is to determine the root cause, and the cure lies in finding out if the TMJ symptoms stem from muscular or skeletal damage. You should see a dentist. You should also look for a dentist recommendation as to the cure. Believe it or not, modern day clinical or allopathic research has not yet completely defined all the causes of the various TMJ disorders. It should also be noted that not all TMJ symptoms are physical based. Believe it or not, depression or melancholy is also a common symptom.

Another common symptom in the panoply of specific TMJ symptoms is spasms in the jaw muscles. This can result in limited mouth opening, or deviation of the jaw to one side when it opens. These spasms can cause pain, which can be truly severe. TMJ headaches are also commonplace as well. The most common TMJ-type of headache is located on the side of the head over the area of the temple. Many confuse these type of headaches for migraines and thus their TMJ symptoms worsen without the needed help.
A few particular noticeable TMJ symptoms is a particular soreness in your facial muscles or jaws upon waking (this could be exacerbated by teeth grinding or bruxism). At times during the day, you may discover that you have a challenging and painful time opening and closing your mouth. Also, proper or normal biting may be difficult for you as well.

One very obvious symptom is when the jaw protrudes outward slightly. One good guideline is this: If you have to move your jaw back manually, while you might not be a redneck or a Star Trek alien type creature, you just may have TMJ.

Lastly, one very obvious and unfortunate sign of TMJ is when the areas around the mouth become swollen. Sometimes, due to the influx of blood, you may see much more or a ruddy look to the face in the jaw area as well.

What Can I Do? Here's The Solution
There are things you can do. First, see a TMJ dentist specialist if you legitimately suspect you have TMJ. He/she may recommend simple exercises. The doctor may also recommend a TMJ mouth guard specifically designed to relieve your TMJ issue.

Before buying a TMJ night guard, though, make sure you have a bona fide dentist recommend one to you. That's the safest bet.