If you frequently eat exotic dishes like chicken tandoori, or spicy curries, you may be doing your body a favor.
Turmeric, a favored spice in Indian cuisine is what adds the wonderful rich, golden color to curries as well as the bright yellow to traditional mustard. It is an herb that has been used for centuries in both Indian and Chinese traditional medicine.
But for those of you who frequently turn to your chiropractor for help, this pungent herb may offer surprising ways to reduce joint pain.
When your joints are stiff and sore, inflammation is almost always a factor. Reducing inflammation will make it easier for your chiropractor to provide effective chiropractic treatment to correct spinal and joint misalignments. These misalignments (called vertebral subluxations in the chiropractic world), can hamper the brain from communicating effectively with the body. It is believed that spinal subluxations can be a factor in everything from headaches and high blood pressure, to stomach problems and poor leg circulation.
Eating Spices can be effective ways to reduce joint pain
This is where turmeric can play an important role. Curcumin is the most active pharmacological agent in turmeric, and it is known to have powerful anti-inflammatory effects. Curcumin is so effective in reducing inflammation that it has been compared to Ibuprofen, and to prescription medications such as hydrocortisone and phenylbutazone.
Fortunately, like many other herbal remedies, turmeric has no toxicity. Compare this to the pharmaceutical drugs mentioned above which have been linked to stomach ulcers, increased risk of stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding. Curcumin can also increase the liver’s ability to detoxify our bodies of unwanted substances.
The curcumin in turmeric has been used to treat other conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis successfully, and shows promise for many other troubling diseases like Alzheimers.
Curcumin as an antioxidant
Within everyone’s bodies, there are certain chemicals that move through our systems creating problems by damaging healthy cells and cell membranes. These chemicals are called free radicals. Free radicals are responsible for inflammation and damage that occurs in joints from diseases like arthritis. But many people have been able to find relief from the pain and discomfort of arthritis by drawing upon the combined antioxidant and anti-inflammatory power of curcumin. Some of the improvements cited were less joint swelling and stiffness and more comfort when walking.
Promising protection against a variety of diseases
Curcumin has also been used to prevent and to inhibit the growth of cancer. This is accomplished mainly through its antioxidant properties. It is also likely that curcumin can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and lower cholesterol
Don’t like the flavor of turmeric?
Even if you don’t like turmeric’s warm, peppery flavor, or don’t want to eat it every day, you can still get all the advantages of turmeric and the vital compound, curcumin, through nutritional supplements. One of our favorite products is Inflavonoid by Metagenics. This professional grade supplement is available through our website and our office. It contains curcumin, bioflavonoids, ginger and vitamin C.
About our office
At Texas Spine and Wellness we offer advanced treatment for neck, back and joint pain, through chiropractic treatment, massage therapy and physical rehab. We also offer lab-based nutritional medicine and counseling. If you would like to discuss how Dr. Mixon and his staff of health care professionals can offer ways to reduce joint pain while improving your range of motion, please call contact our Garland chiropractic office at (972) 840-2520.