Pain relief and diet

There was a moment, a few years back, when we all stopped noticing overweight people. They used to stand out in the crowd. Now the percentage of the population considered obese is rising to 30%. Put another way, it’s soon going to be the thin folk that stand out in the crowd. The point here is not to repeat the routine warnings about diabetes and heart disease, but to talk to the 50 million people who are affected by long-term pain. This can be due to injury. A slip or fall can damage an arm, hip or leg. Once you change your movements, this forces the muscles in your body to work in a different way. The more weight you are carrying, the more strain you are putting on the muscles to compensate for the injury. It’s the same with diseases like arthritis. Knee joints are under pressure because of the excess weight. If inflammation affects the joints, walking becomes more difficult more quickly.

There’s a terrible temptation to reach for comfort food. You feel down. Eating can help you feel better and, in some cases, distract you from the pain. Unfortunately, if you are eating food that adds to your body weight, you are also adding to the problem. Muscles and joints already under strain can end up causing more pain and suffering. Take rheumatoid arthritis as an example. There’s increasingly clear research evidence showing a link between a high level of blood fats and the onset of the disease. If you have high total levels of cholesterol and lower levels of high density lipoprotein (that’s the supposedly good cholesterol), you are more likely to get an inflammatory disease if unfavorable levels continue for ten years.

So the moral of this story is to change your diet. Ignoring the longer term risks of heart disease, you may already have joint pain. You could simply add painkillers to your existing diet and hope this will keep you moving. But the real answer is eating more a more Mediterranean diet with fresh fish, lean white meats like chicken and pork, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grain foods, and nuts. Although most nuts are high in calories and so should only be eaten in small amounts, they are also rich in Omega-3 fats which make them very good for relieving inflammation.

There’s no one-size fits all diet. You have to find a menu you are comfortable with and that works to reduce the pressure on muscles and joints. Good nutrition combined with a moderate exercise routine is the best way to relieve pain from stressed muscles and inflamed joints. At first, you may benefit from taking Tramadol. This is an excellent painkiller and will block the messages from the affected parts of your body. But the aim should be to improve mobility by reducing weight and increasing your activity levels. Once you have this program underway, start tapering the Tramadol. It’s essential you should be able to feel your body and judge how easily you are able to move without pain. In this, set realistic goals. You are aiming for an improvement in your quality of life, not major weight loss.

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