Try This Out for Sore Knees, Neck, Back and More
You know what’s a pain in the neck?
A pain, in the neck.
Well, pain anywhere in the body is never fun to deal with.
Sadly, most of us know if we want to numb pain it’s generally pretty easy to do with a Motrin or some Tylenol.
But, as I’ve written about before, neither of these over the counter painkillers is suitable for human consumption.
I’m not going to judge you and give you a condescending “doctor stare” if you do take them (I can’t do that since I’m nowhere near you). That being said, I think you should do your best to avoid them as there’s an incredibly powerful natural alternative for occasional pain.
It’s one of the most well-studied natural remedies on the planet.
And the science convincingly demonstrates its power to solve swelling and pain that flares up from time to time.
It’s turmeric.
While my blog is filled with articles on turmeric, this time I wanted to focus specifically on how turmeric can be used for the management of different kinds of pain. The truth is, you don’t have to turn to a drug to deal with a headache, or a knee that hurts because of exercise.
Instead, by taking turmeric you can knock pain out quicker than you’d imagine.
There’s Something about Turmeric You Ought to Know
Have you ever wondered why turmeric is everywhere?
Part of that has to do with how this spice has a long history of both medicinal and culinary use.
Turmeric is easily one of the most pervasive spices in far-Eastern kitchens and apothecaries. Partly because it tastes great and partly because it’s known to help with various aspects of health.
But it’s the science behind it that makes it so well-received.
This is why it’s one of the most commonly recommended forms of alternative medicine in the world.
So much so the New York Times featured turmeric.
They wrote about how many mainstream physicians, people with a traditional background in medicine, recommend turmeric.
Like Dr. Minerva Santos, director of integrative medicine at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York.
Here’s an excerpt from their column:
“Dr. Santos recommends it frequently to patients complaining of sore and achy joints, and uses it herself to relieve pain in her joints from sports and exercise.
“I use a lot of turmeric in my practice,” she said. “It’s an amazing spice. Usually what I do is I make sure nothing else is going on, that it’s just plain old inflammation from wear and tear.”
While many people may encounter turmeric only in curry dishes and South Asian restaurants, Dr. Santos advises her patients to find it in health food stores in pill or capsule form. She recommends a dose of 1,000 milligrams a day. The benefit of buying it in a bottle, she said, is that it’s usually combined with a compound called piperine, which aids in absorption.
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Dr. Santos said she recently suggested to her father that he try turmeric after an operation on his hip. He was undergoing rehab and was experiencing pain and stomach issues, another area in which the use of turmeric has been studied.
“He was skeptical,” she said. “But he called me up a few days later and said he was pain-free.”
Dr. Santos’s story is one of thousands like it.
Physicians worldwide love turmeric to help with occasional pain.
Now, here’s the science supporting it.
Here’s What Makes Turmeric One of Nature’s Most Effective Pain Killers
Turmeric helps to quell pain by reducing localized inflammation resulting from a few moments of damage.
So if you sprain your ankle, the inflammation localized to your ankle can be handled.
That’s how ibuprofen works.
In fact, studies on turmeric show it can be just as effective as ibuprofen at helping reduce swelling and pain.
It was The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine who made this discovery.
They conducted a study where they took 107 people dealing with pain in their knee and split them into two groups to see how turmeric fared against ibuprofen. Over the course of 6 weeks the turmeric group took 2 grams of turmeric while the other group took large doses of ibuprofen daily (800mg).
At the conclusion of the test they asked the subjects to rate how their pain was by assessing how it compared to the beginning of the study. They asked the participants to consider their pain level while walking on level ground, and walking upstairs, tasks known to aggravate knee pain.
In another study, people who’d just had dental work done and were in obvious pain took turmeric at the request of researchers to see how it helped with pain.
The study was published in 2018 inside the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation. They concluded the main compound in turmeric (called curcumin) could help wash away the pain that comes with the removal of molars. In the study researchers split a group of 90 participants in two.
One group received turmeric while the other got mefenamic acid (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug). Surprisingly, at the end of the study the researchers discovered it was the turmeric that won out in pain management. Those taking turmeric reported they experienced far less pain than those who took mefenamic acid.
There’s even research supporting turmeric’s use as a way to combat the pain that comes with PMS.
Ask any woman and they’ll tell you how painful the pain associated with PMS can be. Typical symptoms of PMS include backaches, headaches, pain in the gut/abdomen as well as tenderness of the breasts.
A 2015 study published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine made some remarkable findings about how turmeric affected PMS pain.
Splitting 70 women with PMS down the middle, they asked one group to take turmeric twice a day for at lengths of seven days before their cycle and then following up with three days after.
The other group only received a placebo.
By the study’s end, those given the turmeric compound showed a greater reduction in the severity of PMS symptoms.
What Else Should You Know about Turmeric?
The first thing you should know is there will be more studies on turmeric and pain management forthcoming.
Large organizations with million dollar bank rolls are constantly searching for new ways to treat pain. Seeing as how turmeric has performed well so far, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more studies on turmeric showing how well it manages pain.
The second thing to know?
Not all turmeric supplements are the same.
While I didn’t get into it in this article, the driving force behind turmeric’s power is the compound called curcumin.
Curcumin is in all turmeric, but not all turmeric supplements contain high amounts of curcumin.
The turmeric we carry gives you some of the highest amounts of curcumin available in a supplement, and it's much more affordable than competing brands.
PLUS, it's completely free of any fillers and won't cause problems for anyone with allergies.
If you want turmeric for the pain relieving qualities it delivers click here or on the image below to get your own today!