BodySense Blog

Aching Joints?

Most active adults have experienced the results of wear and tear from daily activity, especially in their joints. Several studies have suggested that glucosamine sulfate can help maintain joint health by providing the building blocks needed for repair. These compounds are used by the body to manufacture the complex molecules that are essential for the normal structure and function of cartilage.

In addition, herbs and spices with anti-inflammatory activity - such as ginger, holy basil, turmeric, green tea, rosemary, scutlellaria and huzhang - may all help support healthy joint function.

DrWeil.com

Pet therapy may be the greatest therapy of all

Today, I thought we might take a break from ourselves and take a moment to enjoy the remarkable world of pet therapy. They answer to many names such as service dogs, therapy dogs and guide dogs. In my digging around through books, periodicals and the Internet, I find that pets are indeed, more than poor dumb beasts. They’re not dumb at all. I’ve always known it, especially when I’m hauling in a load of groceries into my front door. There are my two critters greeting me, jumping, barking and generally beside themselves over the simple fact that I’m home.  I usually look at them and say in a short-of breath way, “So, why don’t you two pick up a bag and help me?” Poor dumb beasts that sleep in a warm bed, eat home-cooked pet food they didn’t have to prepare and certainly didn’t have to pay for. Dumb indeed!

All of us who have pets and live compromised lives, due to illness, are already on the receiving end of pet therapy. They give us physical therapy by making us walk down a flight of stairs to let them out or take them for a walk. They provide us with much needed stretching by watering and feeding them, forcing us to clean out a cat box or cajoling us to play with them by standing in front of us with a toy in their mouths while wagging their tails. The challenge is easily read and we usually pick it up and throw it, tug on it or toss it down the hall. I’m convinced our little Jake would chase a ball or a toy until he dropped. You can’t even wipe the rain off the little guy because he’s busy trying to grab the towel. Annie is different. She doesn’t go in for communal sports. She’d rather take the ball and hide it somewhere, only for her. She seems above the “juvenile” behavior of ball chasing and acting like a dog. She stands like she’s playing statues to have every drop of rain wiped from her brown spotted Jack Russell whiteness.

Our pets teach us, constantly, about the importance of love and affection. They teach us as adults and children about the joy of giving, the merits of responsibility and the pleasure of a warm, unsolicited lick in the face. Fortunately, for many years they have used dogs for the blind, to guide the blind person safely through daily life. I’m certain we’ve all seen documentaries or movies about the training that goes into these very special, very responsible dogs.  They also offer love and companionship, I guess, that should go without saying. Dogs for the deaf are trained to respond to door bells, telephones, a knock on the door, fire alarms and even to respond to the sound of a human voice calling a name or to respond to the cry of an infant. They even respond to alarm clocks.

Some of these dogs are rescued from shelters if they display certain attributes and intelligence. Others are bred and grown to be service dogs. Other dogs are therapy dogs and offer emotional support to lonely or depressed humans. Some service dogs are trained to help individuals with mobility issues and perform very practical services. They open and close doors; pick up items on the floor, pull off a sock or a shoe, carry a bag, or pick up a telephone for their human. They are trained to pull wheelchairs and can be trained to help their person into and out of the chair, the bed or the toilet.

Many of us became aware of the search and rescue dogs during our national tragedy of 9/11 and many brave canines were recognized for their amazing service and talent in sniffing out survivors as well as cadavers, under debris and even under water. Many of these brave animals are affiliated with fire departments and rescue teams. The FBI has its own set of canine heroes in the form of chemical explosive dogs and narcotics detection dogs. The chemical explosive dogs are trained extensively to the scents of every type of explosive which could add up to as many as 19,000 combinations of explosives. The drug sniffing dogs are also known for their sense of smell and are used to find hidden drugs in cars, airplanes, luggage and houses. They are good at what they do and perform an invaluable service in the constant drug war in this country and many others.

In recent years there has been an amazing breakthrough in the use of autism service dogs. For instance, in 2002, a special education teacher, Priscilla Taylor incorporated her skills in her profession along with her love of dogs. Some of the testimonials and the results on whole families, of these autism service dogs, are amazing. The companionship, orientation to the world and the affection of dogs for these special children has proven to be remarkable. Autistic children often respond to a dog when they are not able to respond or interact to other members of their families. Whole families have been affected because of the quieting affect of the dog on the child. Many children, who never spoke more than a few words previously, after adopting one of these special dogs, show a remarkable increase in their communication skills.

Who knows what the future will hold for millions of individuals with special needs as they are united with these very special animals? I’m now looking at these two somewhat lazy “individuals” lying on the bed beside me and I’m thinking, “Hey you two. How about getting a job?” How could I forget? They already have one. Just think of all the exercise I get every night putting Jakes tooth treatment in his mouth; cleaning Annie’s eyes and performing the other miscellaneous chores on their behalf like fetching Milkbones and rawhide chews for them. Wait a minute, did I say fetch?

Sue Falkner-Wood

Life with Chronic Pain: A How-to Guide

Stressed? Shrug It Off

The aches are all too familiar — you're sitting at your desk, standing in line, or maybe driving in traffic when that tightness in your shoulders and nagging pain in your neck come calling. Your body is sending another of its not-so-friendly reminders: You're stressed out. Relaxation exercises can help you feel less tense in as little as 60 seconds, and you can do them almost anywhere, anytime you need a quick dose of physical and emotional relief. Try one of these exercises:

• Shoulder shrugs and head rolls: Raise your shoulders up to your ears and hold them there for four seconds. Drop your shoulders back down. Rotate your head and neck. Mix it up by slowly alternating rotating your shoulders up and down with turning your head and neck
• Whole-body tension: Try to tighten every muscle in your body and hold that tension as long as you can without feeling pain. Very slowly release your muscles and breathe, feeling the pressure leaving your body. Repeat three times.
• Deep breathing: Inhale, then slowly exhale. Focus on relaxing your muscles. Try an affirmation like, "I feel the tension flowing out of my body." Repeat several times.

Everyday Health - Healthy Living

Stress and Pain Age the Body and Brain

Chronic stress ages the body and can make cells appear up to 17 years older than they really are, according to a recent study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While researchers and healthcare practitioners have long thought as much, this study reveals exactly how stress takes its biological toll on the body.

The researchers compared 39 healthy mothers who were raising chronically ill children to 19 mothers of the same age whose children were healthy. The mothers' ages ranged from 20 to 50. Through blood and urine samples, researchers found that women with the highest stress levels had weaker immune cell function, higher oxidative stress, and a shorter life span of cells, significantly increasing risk of age-related diseases. This was the case even after adjusting for lifestyle factors such as obesity, smoking, and age.

Researchers note it is the perceived stress that matters. When two people are given the same stressor and one discerns it as manageable while the other is overwhelmed, it is the latter who suffers more on a biological level. Consequently, stress management techniques such as massage, yoga, meditation, breath work, exercise, and counseling are key to health.

By Lara Evans Bracciante
Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals

Facing Chronic Pain at Work

Chronic pain, defined as physical discomfort that lasts more than six months, can affect every aspect of your life. And when the pain persists on the job, it can have an especially detrimental effect, not only on your own productivity but also on that of your co-workers and supervisors.

"Chronic pain is more than just 'I don't feel good,' " says Wayne Hochwarter, Ph.D., an associate professor of management at Florida State University's College of Business. "It becomes as much a psychological problem as it does a physical one."

Hochwarter, who suffers from chronic back pain, has conducted several studies examining the ways in which chronic pain affects job stress, employee performance and business profitability. He has found that workers who experience chronic pain — which can come in the form of arthritis, migraine headaches or other regular aches and pains — suffer in more ways than one.

In one study, Hochwarter asked more than 2,000 employees to report the number of hours per week that pain caused them to be ineffective. He found that chronic pain accounts for more than five hours of lost productivity per employee per week.

Chronic pain "really taps into hopelessness, helplessness and self-worth, but from a company's perspective, it can be really costly," Hochwarter says.

Higher levels of chronic pain are associated with more conflict on the job, less-effective communication, an inability to focus on tasks, more job tension and fewer favorable interactions with co-workers and supervisors, Hochwarter found.

"A lot of folks keep it hidden because they're afraid their employer will hear about it," he says. "We've got to break this stigma that pain is a weakness and [an excuse] that is used to get out of things."

Manage the pain

Chronic pain sufferers don't have to take their situation sitting down. There are ways to manage the pain and lead a productive life, says occupational therapist Jill Page, an industrial rehabilitation consultant for ErgoScience in Birmingham, Ala.

The most important step, Page says, is for the person in pain to make sure that her supervisor and co-workers understand the situation.

"A lot of people think, 'If I call this to their attention, they're going to weed me out somehow,' " Hochwarter says. But in many cases, that's not the reality.

Once everyone else on the job understands the sufferer's situation, the best approach, Hochwarter and Page say, is to find a way to manage the pain.

"The goal is not always pain resolution, but to understand that the pain may never go away and to learn how to be functional with it," Page says.

First and foremost, the pain sufferer should examine her work situation and try to identify aspects that may exacerbate the pain, such as heavy lifting or standing for long periods of time.

"Oftentimes, there are alternative job tasks that the worker can do," Page says.

Chronic pain sufferers also should work with their doctors and therapists to develop an interdisciplinary treatment program, Page says, in which a team of medical professionals works together to address the physical, behavioral and psychosocial effects of the pain.

Pain sufferers also may want to wear supportive braces or wraps while at work, take over-the-counter pain medications, and rest when the painful area becomes inflamed.

Management tactics include allowing the employee to work from home when the pain reaches unbearable levels and even shifting certain jobs or tasks toward those that don't exacerbate the pain. This will help prevent treating the afflicted employee with "kid gloves," Page says, especially if she is able to keep up her own workload while at home or resting.

Take control

If you're one of the 50 million Americans who suffer from chronic pain, experts agree it's best to take control of your situation rather than letting it control you.

"For some people, chronic pain becomes their identity. That's not a real healthy way to live," Page says. "You can let your life revolve around the pain or you can continue your life, and pain becomes just something else in your baggage of stuff that we all have."

Revolution Health Group