Oh, My Aching Back...

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Taking a look through New England’s longest-running weather forecaster, the Old Farmer’s Almanac, I noticed recently that we may be in for a slightly colder winter than we had last year - and more snow than last year, too. We’ve already had some snow, and some pretty cold weather, so the folks who keep the spirit of Ben Franklin alive might be right.

Are you ready for skiing and boarding, tubing with the kids, cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing, and lots of shoveling of walks and driveways? Are you also ready for the extra stress all that activity will put on your muscles and joints, and that might elicit the occasional groaning, "Oh, my aching back…"?

You’re in luck, because I love to write about things that have a great track record, and there are four products I recommend - and use myself - that I and my customers have consistently found do the job of keeping our bodies strong and healthy through all sorts of activities, not just in winter, but all year ‘round.

The first of them is collagen, the most abundant protein in our bodies, and I have written about it several times. That’s because I just cannot say enough good about it. And I am not alone… Not a week has gone by in more than a year that at least one person has come into Medicine World to tell me how well the collagen supplement I recommend is working for them. One in particular, a man in his early 60s had cut back his hiking and cycling due to knee pain, but is now regularly back on his bike and the trails. Collagen is my first choice for building and repairing joint and muscle tissue.

Next on my list are EFAs - Essential Fatty Acids - also known as Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Notice that “essential” is part of the name. That’s because these fatty acids are essential for the normal functioning of all tissues in your body, and do a great job of keeping joints lubricated and maintaining muscle elasticity. Taken on a regular basis, the effects build, and as we age this helps our bodies to keep moving in a positive direction. When you start EFAs, it takes about 3 months to get the feeling that they are doing something fantastic to your joints. Their anti-inflammatory properties are noticed daily once you start the build.

If you need faster relief of joint inflammation, and then repair, glucosamine can make a difference in as little as three days. It reduces inflammation as you begin taking it, and over the long term you actually get repair to the joint. When I start people on glucosamine, I usually start them higher than the recommended dosage for a couple of weeks, then decrease the dosage to directions. This tends to reduce inflammation faster and jump-start the healing/repair process.

The final items on my list of supplements for joint and muscle support are proteolytic enzymes, the enzymes that break down complex proteins into your body’s building blocks – amino acids. Among other things, proteolytic enzymes help your body reduce the inflammation that causes joint pain and, taken on a regular basis, they will keep inflammation at bay. Taken while pain persists, they work to keep you comfortable and heal the injury during an acute dosage pattern. Proteolytic enzymes are hungry for inflammation and actually break it up and flush it away. Backache watch out! These guys are gonna getcha!

Remember supplements are not all created equal, and quality is always going to give you better results - the results you desire. At Medicine World, we have the quality supplements you need to help your body work the way you expect it to.