Short-Term Pain Relief
A number of back-pain sufferers I work with tell me
they’re in way too much pain to take the steps needed for
long-term relief. While they’re looking forward to solving
their back pain problem once and for all, they can barely
move right now.
While the remaining chapters in this section discuss
various types of long-term solutions, let me now address the
topic of short-term pain relief. Sometimes it’s necessary—so
long as it doesn’t become an excuse to avoid a long-term
solution.
For most people, short-term pain relief involves taking
some type of anti-inflammatory medication—Advil and
Motrin being the most popular over-the-counter versions.
These medications were originally designed to be used only
once in a while, but many people now rely on them on a daily
basis. Considering the dangers—heavy use increases the
probability of stomach ulcers and intestinal bleeding and also
places enormous stress on the liver and kidneys—I tell people
to avoid them because there are much safer and effective
alternatives. Personally, I haven’t taken an over-the-counter or
prescription pain reliever in nearly a decade! Pain is a sign that
something is wrong in the body, so the first task is to find out
exactly what the problem is and to set about fixing it. To
handle the pain in the meantime, there are numerous things
you can do. Here are just a few proven methods.
One of the most powerful, all-natural pain relievers is
called proteolytic enzyme therapy, and it’s been used in
numerous countries since the 1960s. Proteolytic enzymes
occur naturally in your body and are responsible for a number
of functions. Overall, they help drive various reactions,
including digestion, immune response, and toxic cleansing. If
your body were a corporation, these enzymes would be
“middle management”—heavily involved in all the everyday
tasks that make your body work.
These are the same enzymes I mentioned in earlier
chapters. They are the ones that tell the immune system when
to shut down inflammation—acting as the body’s natural
anti-inflammatories, so to speak. They also help “clean up”
excess scar tissue (fibrin) that occurs when your body repairs
damaged tissues, essentially breaking it down so it can be
carried away with the rest of the body’s waste.
According to numerous studies, these enzymes help reduce
inflammation, promote healing, and alleviate arthritis. Sounds
similar to your current anti-inflammatory drug, right? Except
these enzymes occur naturally in your body and don’t have
the side effects that medications can have. Since they also help
break down stiffening scar tissue, they can help improve
flexibility and mobility—a benefit you won’t find with overthe-
counter drugs.
Your body produces these enzymes naturally—especially if
you’re still fairly young, say, in your 20s. However, as you get
into your 40s, 50s, 60s, or older, your body produces less and
less of them. If you’re in the latter category, you’ll be happy to
know that enzyme supplements exist that can add to your
body’s own natural, but diminishing, supply
Anti-Inflammation Enzyme Supplements
Obviously not all enzyme supplements are alike, so here
are a few guidelines. First, you want to find a combination of
enzymes and herbs specifically created to reduce inflammation
and pain.
Your best bet is not one, but a blend of enzymes,
combined with natural extracts that have a demonstrated
ability to reduce inflammation, ease pain and swelling, and
increase joint mobility and flexibility without harsh side
effects. You don’t want a standard “digestive” enzyme
formula.
Second, you want to check how much of each of the
ingredients is in a serving. Some supplements list them on the
ingredient list so you know they’re in there, but either they
don’t tell you how much is present or they have used such
small amounts that they’re not going to do you any good.
Next, you want to look at the “fillers” in the product.
Those are the “other ingredients” listed below the supplement
facts. Many manufacturers use them to help the ingredients
“stick together,” making the pill easier to package and ship,
while others use them to fill their capsules or tablets and
minimize their costs by reducing the amount of active
ingredients used. They may add animal derivatives,
preservatives, or artificial substances like titanium dioxide,
magnesium stearate, and the like. Products with minimal
fillers are best—even better would be if any extra ingredients
are only natural ones.
Finally, you want to look at how the supplement is
delivered. Hard tablets typically don’t absorb as well as
capsules, gel tabs, liquids and creams.
Finding a proteolytic enzyme product that is effective at
relieving pain and promoting mobility isn’t easy. Some seem
to have the right ingredients but don’t have enough of these
ingredients in a daily dosage to do any good. Others have
high quantities of some helpful ingredients but none of the
others that work in concert for a better overall effect. Some
don’t even list the amounts of the ingredients, claiming a
“proprietary blend.”
After years of looking and not being satisfied with any of
the formulations available, I finally gave up and decided to
work with a major nutrition laboratory to create the
formulation that my research showed to be most effective. It
combined the best parts of the various supplements available,
without their shortcomings. Plus, my team and I have spent
several years testing and refining the formula to continue to
improve its effectiveness.
The result is an all-natural formula called Heal-n-
Soothe™
Pain Relief Creams
In addition to a proteolytic enzyme supplement, you may
want to consider a rub-on cream, one that you can apply
directly on the area of pain.
You may already have something like this. Maybe it has a
warming effect, giving you slight relief from muscle tension,
but it also may irritate your skin, work for only a short time,
smell terrible, or lack the power to really do any good.
Fortunately, there are creams out there that are much more
effective.
The nice thing about a quality cream is that it’s fast—it
can deliver almost immediate relief. So while you’re waiting
for the proteolytic enzyme supplement to be digested and go
to work in your body, the right cream can help you start
feeling better right away. You can apply it directly to the area
of your body that hurts and get the muscles and joints moving
again if they’re stiff or locked up
You also can use creams on a daily basis if you need to,
without worrying about unhealthy side effects (provided the
cream you are using is not full of toxic chemicals, which many
are). If you’re having trouble sleeping because of pain, a good
rub-on cream can provide the ease that you need to drift off
comfortably. It’s also the perfect take-along tool for pain that
strikes while you’re traveling, working, or out doing some
other activity.
When looking for a quality product, I’d encourage you to
watch for three things.
First, the cream should be made with natural ingredients.
There are many botanical and organic substances that battle
inflammation and pain. Some creams take advantage of them.
Find one that blends them together in a way that works. Even
better, find one that has scientific studies behind it.
Second, look for a product that does more than just create
heat. Many of the creams on the market do only that,
conveying the idea that if you feel heat, it must be working.
Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily the case.
While heat can help loosen stiff muscles, if that’s all the
product does, it won’t help you much. A quality cream will go
beyond that. The formula should provide powerful
antioxidants that not only neutralize harmful cells at the
injury point, but help reduce inflammation. The right
ingredients will absorb into the skin and into the muscle
tissue to go to work on the injured area, relieving pain
through a number of approaches.
Finally, the product should do something to alleviate
stiffness. I mentioned that heat can do this, but other
ingredients have proven to be more effective at penetrating
the source of the problem, relaxing tight muscle fibers, and
allowing for better movement.
The only pain cream I recommend—which has been
proven in clinical studies
Far Infrared Heat
Now, I know that when you’re feeling pain, many of you
may reach for a heating pad. It’s a natural response, as we all
know heat can soothe and relax tight and painful muscles. But
seriously, have you ever experienced true relief with your
regular heating pad? I mean, it warms the area for a while,
which can make you feel a little better, but typically, the
results don’t last. That’s because a heating pad doesn’t
penetrate very deeply. It warms the skin, but that’s about as
far as it goes, and what you need is heat that reaches deep into
your muscles.
Unfortunately, regular heat won’t do that, but there is a
type of heat that will. Know that delicious, bone-deep warmth
you feel from the sun on a perfect summer day? That feeling
comes from the sun’s infrared rays. These are different types
of waves than the ultraviolet ones that can contribute to
sunburn. Infrared rays don’t harm your skin and they make
your muscles feel great. You can’t see them, because they have
a longer wavelength than visible light, but you can feel them.
Infrared light that is farthest from visible light is called “far
infrared,” and it has been used to promote healing for years.
For example, a study of patients with chronic fatigue
syndrome found considerable relief from symptoms with daily
infrared treatment. Plus, numerous other studies have found
it to help everything from more effective fat burning to killing
cancer cells.
The reason far infrared heat is so effective at soothing pain,
relaxing muscles, improving circulation, and reducing fatigue
is its ability to penetrate. Just like those invisible sunrays that
go deep into your body, far infrared heat has been shown in
scientific studies to actually sink 2–3 inches into muscles and
ligaments. As it goes, it transfers light energy into heat energy,
expanding blood vessels, improving circulation, and
encouraging the healing process. And if you’ve ever lain out in
the sun after a cool swim, you know how good it feels!
There are more benefits to this type of heat. As blood
circulation improves, toxins break down and flush out of the
body. Things like uric acid, sodium, metals, and fat-soluble
toxins are all moved out of muscles and tissues, releasing the
body’s own strength and healing abilities. Blood pressure
comes down, muscle cramps relax, oxygen transport increases,
fatigue melts away, and more. And because the heat goes so
deep into the tissues, the effects last for up to six hours,
depending on how long you soak in the heat.
So how do you take advantage of this deep-penetrating
pain reliever? There are several far infrared devices out there,
from a small pad to four-person saunas. Regular (noninfrared)
heating pads use high-temperature heat to attempt
to deliver heat deep into your muscles, but those near-burning
temperatures cause too much pain for most people. In
comparison, far infrared heating pads use moderatetemperature
heat at a particular wavelength (the far infrared
wavelength) that penetrates deeply into your muscles
naturally
A number of back-pain sufferers I work with tell me
they’re in way too much pain to take the steps needed for
long-term relief. While they’re looking forward to solving
their back pain problem once and for all, they can barely
move right now.
While the remaining chapters in this section discuss
various types of long-term solutions, let me now address the
topic of short-term pain relief. Sometimes it’s necessary—so
long as it doesn’t become an excuse to avoid a long-term
solution.
For most people, short-term pain relief involves taking
some type of anti-inflammatory medication—Advil and
Motrin being the most popular over-the-counter versions.
These medications were originally designed to be used only
once in a while, but many people now rely on them on a daily
basis. Considering the dangers—heavy use increases the
probability of stomach ulcers and intestinal bleeding and also
places enormous stress on the liver and kidneys—I tell people
to avoid them because there are much safer and effective
alternatives. Personally, I haven’t taken an over-the-counter or
prescription pain reliever in nearly a decade! Pain is a sign that
something is wrong in the body, so the first task is to find out
exactly what the problem is and to set about fixing it. To
handle the pain in the meantime, there are numerous things
you can do. Here are just a few proven methods.
One of the most powerful, all-natural pain relievers is
called proteolytic enzyme therapy, and it’s been used in
numerous countries since the 1960s. Proteolytic enzymes
occur naturally in your body and are responsible for a number
of functions. Overall, they help drive various reactions,
including digestion, immune response, and toxic cleansing. If
your body were a corporation, these enzymes would be
“middle management”—heavily involved in all the everyday
tasks that make your body work.
These are the same enzymes I mentioned in earlier
chapters. They are the ones that tell the immune system when
to shut down inflammation—acting as the body’s natural
anti-inflammatories, so to speak. They also help “clean up”
excess scar tissue (fibrin) that occurs when your body repairs
damaged tissues, essentially breaking it down so it can be
carried away with the rest of the body’s waste.
According to numerous studies, these enzymes help reduce
inflammation, promote healing, and alleviate arthritis. Sounds
similar to your current anti-inflammatory drug, right? Except
these enzymes occur naturally in your body and don’t have
the side effects that medications can have. Since they also help
break down stiffening scar tissue, they can help improve
flexibility and mobility—a benefit you won’t find with overthe-
counter drugs.
Your body produces these enzymes naturally—especially if
you’re still fairly young, say, in your 20s. However, as you get
into your 40s, 50s, 60s, or older, your body produces less and
less of them. If you’re in the latter category, you’ll be happy to
know that enzyme supplements exist that can add to your
body’s own natural, but diminishing, supply
Anti-Inflammation Enzyme Supplements
Obviously not all enzyme supplements are alike, so here
are a few guidelines. First, you want to find a combination of
enzymes and herbs specifically created to reduce inflammation
and pain.
Your best bet is not one, but a blend of enzymes,
combined with natural extracts that have a demonstrated
ability to reduce inflammation, ease pain and swelling, and
increase joint mobility and flexibility without harsh side
effects. You don’t want a standard “digestive” enzyme
formula.
Second, you want to check how much of each of the
ingredients is in a serving. Some supplements list them on the
ingredient list so you know they’re in there, but either they
don’t tell you how much is present or they have used such
small amounts that they’re not going to do you any good.
Next, you want to look at the “fillers” in the product.
Those are the “other ingredients” listed below the supplement
facts. Many manufacturers use them to help the ingredients
“stick together,” making the pill easier to package and ship,
while others use them to fill their capsules or tablets and
minimize their costs by reducing the amount of active
ingredients used. They may add animal derivatives,
preservatives, or artificial substances like titanium dioxide,
magnesium stearate, and the like. Products with minimal
fillers are best—even better would be if any extra ingredients
are only natural ones.
Finally, you want to look at how the supplement is
delivered. Hard tablets typically don’t absorb as well as
capsules, gel tabs, liquids and creams.
Finding a proteolytic enzyme product that is effective at
relieving pain and promoting mobility isn’t easy. Some seem
to have the right ingredients but don’t have enough of these
ingredients in a daily dosage to do any good. Others have
high quantities of some helpful ingredients but none of the
others that work in concert for a better overall effect. Some
don’t even list the amounts of the ingredients, claiming a
“proprietary blend.”
After years of looking and not being satisfied with any of
the formulations available, I finally gave up and decided to
work with a major nutrition laboratory to create the
formulation that my research showed to be most effective. It
combined the best parts of the various supplements available,
without their shortcomings. Plus, my team and I have spent
several years testing and refining the formula to continue to
improve its effectiveness.
The result is an all-natural formula called Heal-n-
Soothe™
Pain Relief Creams
In addition to a proteolytic enzyme supplement, you may
want to consider a rub-on cream, one that you can apply
directly on the area of pain.
You may already have something like this. Maybe it has a
warming effect, giving you slight relief from muscle tension,
but it also may irritate your skin, work for only a short time,
smell terrible, or lack the power to really do any good.
Fortunately, there are creams out there that are much more
effective.
The nice thing about a quality cream is that it’s fast—it
can deliver almost immediate relief. So while you’re waiting
for the proteolytic enzyme supplement to be digested and go
to work in your body, the right cream can help you start
feeling better right away. You can apply it directly to the area
of your body that hurts and get the muscles and joints moving
again if they’re stiff or locked up
You also can use creams on a daily basis if you need to,
without worrying about unhealthy side effects (provided the
cream you are using is not full of toxic chemicals, which many
are). If you’re having trouble sleeping because of pain, a good
rub-on cream can provide the ease that you need to drift off
comfortably. It’s also the perfect take-along tool for pain that
strikes while you’re traveling, working, or out doing some
other activity.
When looking for a quality product, I’d encourage you to
watch for three things.
First, the cream should be made with natural ingredients.
There are many botanical and organic substances that battle
inflammation and pain. Some creams take advantage of them.
Find one that blends them together in a way that works. Even
better, find one that has scientific studies behind it.
Second, look for a product that does more than just create
heat. Many of the creams on the market do only that,
conveying the idea that if you feel heat, it must be working.
Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily the case.
While heat can help loosen stiff muscles, if that’s all the
product does, it won’t help you much. A quality cream will go
beyond that. The formula should provide powerful
antioxidants that not only neutralize harmful cells at the
injury point, but help reduce inflammation. The right
ingredients will absorb into the skin and into the muscle
tissue to go to work on the injured area, relieving pain
through a number of approaches.
Finally, the product should do something to alleviate
stiffness. I mentioned that heat can do this, but other
ingredients have proven to be more effective at penetrating
the source of the problem, relaxing tight muscle fibers, and
allowing for better movement.
The only pain cream I recommend—which has been
proven in clinical studies
Far Infrared Heat
Now, I know that when you’re feeling pain, many of you
may reach for a heating pad. It’s a natural response, as we all
know heat can soothe and relax tight and painful muscles. But
seriously, have you ever experienced true relief with your
regular heating pad? I mean, it warms the area for a while,
which can make you feel a little better, but typically, the
results don’t last. That’s because a heating pad doesn’t
penetrate very deeply. It warms the skin, but that’s about as
far as it goes, and what you need is heat that reaches deep into
your muscles.
Unfortunately, regular heat won’t do that, but there is a
type of heat that will. Know that delicious, bone-deep warmth
you feel from the sun on a perfect summer day? That feeling
comes from the sun’s infrared rays. These are different types
of waves than the ultraviolet ones that can contribute to
sunburn. Infrared rays don’t harm your skin and they make
your muscles feel great. You can’t see them, because they have
a longer wavelength than visible light, but you can feel them.
Infrared light that is farthest from visible light is called “far
infrared,” and it has been used to promote healing for years.
For example, a study of patients with chronic fatigue
syndrome found considerable relief from symptoms with daily
infrared treatment. Plus, numerous other studies have found
it to help everything from more effective fat burning to killing
cancer cells.
The reason far infrared heat is so effective at soothing pain,
relaxing muscles, improving circulation, and reducing fatigue
is its ability to penetrate. Just like those invisible sunrays that
go deep into your body, far infrared heat has been shown in
scientific studies to actually sink 2–3 inches into muscles and
ligaments. As it goes, it transfers light energy into heat energy,
expanding blood vessels, improving circulation, and
encouraging the healing process. And if you’ve ever lain out in
the sun after a cool swim, you know how good it feels!
There are more benefits to this type of heat. As blood
circulation improves, toxins break down and flush out of the
body. Things like uric acid, sodium, metals, and fat-soluble
toxins are all moved out of muscles and tissues, releasing the
body’s own strength and healing abilities. Blood pressure
comes down, muscle cramps relax, oxygen transport increases,
fatigue melts away, and more. And because the heat goes so
deep into the tissues, the effects last for up to six hours,
depending on how long you soak in the heat.
So how do you take advantage of this deep-penetrating
pain reliever? There are several far infrared devices out there,
from a small pad to four-person saunas. Regular (noninfrared)
heating pads use high-temperature heat to attempt
to deliver heat deep into your muscles, but those near-burning
temperatures cause too much pain for most people. In
comparison, far infrared heating pads use moderatetemperature
heat at a particular wavelength (the far infrared
wavelength) that penetrates deeply into your muscles
naturally
