472 Preserving Muscle [21 May 2018]

A few weeks ago [#470 Nutritional Support for the Elderly] I mentioned several supplements that help preserve or rebuild muscle in the elderly. Let’s take a closer look at these.

The first is protein powder. Whey works best and is fine for nearly everyone even those with dairy issues. A whey protein will increase muscle, improve liver and kidney function, and increase white blood cell and lymphocyte count (reducing colds and flu infections by half).

Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) are special amino acids that do not require processing in the liver so can be used without stressing the liver or kidneys. They are particularly beneficial in preventing muscle loss in elderly or ill people and in enhancing healing of injuries including burns. BCAAs are available in tablet or powder form.

We usually think of creatine as a supplement for athletes and body builders but it is also beneficial for maintaining muscle in the elderly. Dr. Philip Rouchotas believes everyone over 70 should be supplementing with creatine daily. It will even prevent muscle atrophy in a limb that is in a cast from a fracture. Creatine is especially beneficial for neurodegenerative diseases. It will slow the progression and improve survival in ALS, and in Parkinson’s will improve upper body strength, improve mood, and most significantly slow the requirement for increasing doses of dopamine. A low dose of 2.5 g per day is perfectly safe for the kidneys.

Exercise, both aerobic and resistance, is essential in building and maintaining muscle, but without the above nutrients will not be nearly as effective. In one study adding whey protein doubled the amount of muscle gain from resisted exercise. Exercise of course has many other benefits which I have previously discussed including cancer prevention [#361] and increased life expectancy [#420].

But building muscle is only half the equation of strength. The other half is energy, which is produced in the mitochondria of our cells. B vitamins (or a good multi), coenzyme Q10, and Acetyl-L-Carnitine will all improve energy in the elderly; see my articles on mitochondria for more on these.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

409 Choline – an essential nutrient [27 Feb 2017]

Choline is an essential vitamin-like nutrient. Our bodies can synthesize small amounts of choline but we must get most from our diet. It was discovered in 1862 but was only recognized as an essential nutrient in 1998. I have previously written about lecithin [#94 Dec 2010], phosphatidylcholine [#247 Dec 2013], and phosphatidylserine [#248 Dec 2013].

Choline serves many functions in the body:
• Essential for synthesis of cell membranes and DNA
• Plays role in cell communication
• Transports triglycerides out of the liver
• Along with folate is essential for fetal development of the brain and nervous system
• Essential for children’s growth and development
• Precursor to neurotransmitter acetylcholine, necessary for nerve and muscle function
• Assists in reduction of homocysteine which is associated with heart disease
• Component of lecithin, phosphatidylcholine, and betaine

A deficiency of choline can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; muscle damage and pain; neural tube birth defects; brain dysfunctions like learning disabilities, memory loss, and inability to focus or concentrate; lack of energy or fatigue; and increased homocysteine levels (and therefore increased risk of heart disease, cancer, and bone fractures).

The American Institute of Medicine set “adequate daily intake values” for choline at: 425 mg for women, 550 for men, 450-550 for pregnancy, 550 for breastfeeding, and 230 for children. Genetic factors may cause some people to require more. Up to 3,500 mg daily is considered safe.

Food sources include beef liver (470mg per 5oz serving), egg yolks (150mg in 1 large egg), fish, shellfish, beef (especially grass-fed), turkey, chicken breast, dairy products, goat milk, beans and peas (including peanuts), Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach. Soy and sunflower lecithin are also good sources. Choline is available as a supplement, often with inositol, another vitamin-like nutrient. Choline is often included in B complex and multivitamin formulas.

A 2015 study in the USA found 90% of participants had inadequate intakes of choline. Are you getting enough?

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner. Find this article on my website for links to sources and further reading.

373 Tendon Strain Therapy [13 June 2016]

I attended a three day massage workshop last weekend which I expect will change the way I work on soft tissue pain. The instructor, Bob Lidington, PhD (Physiology) of Saskatoon, has been using the Cyriax method of tendon strain and ligament sprain therapy for many years now with amazing results. He can’t keep up with the demand for this therapy and wants to retire sometime, so has agreed to his clients’ requests to educate more massage therapists about this method.

Tendons and ligaments are subject to sudden trauma by falls, sudden pulls, or heavy lifting. In the repair process, which can take up to a year, the collagen in the injured tendons and ligaments is replaced and built up with extra collagen resulting in a thickening of the tissue. The muscle attached to the injured tendon often develops a chronic contracture (muscle “knot”) causing chronic pain and reduced range of motion. Trigger points and headaches are other common effects of tendon strains.

Tension and pain from a lifetime accumulation of injuries become a permanent part of your life. Standard massage and other forms of treatments may provide temporary relief but as long as the sprain or strain is not resolved, the tension and pain keep coming back. Does that sound familiar to you?

With a quick assessment, the injury site can be located and treated. Result – the pain is gone, immediately and permanently. The treatment takes only a few minutes depending on the age and number of the injuries. The technique used is deep transverse (or cross fiber) friction at a precise location and at an appropriate depth. Treatment can be uncomfortable but is always within pain tolerance. Residual tenderness from the treatment may last a day or two. Tendon strain therapy does not require any lubricant (lotion or oils) and can be done through light clothing.

The workshop showed how to apply Tendon Strain Therapy to any part of the body that shows tendon strain or ligament sprain injury – neck, shoulders, arms, back, hips, legs and feet. If you suffer pain or restriction of movement in any of these areas as a result of an old (or recent) injury, tendon strain therapy might be the answer you’ve been looking for.

For a technical description of the technique see Cyriax's Friction Massage: a Review, 1982

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

370 Fibromyalgia [16 May 2016]

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a poorly understood condition. In fact it wasn’t generally accepted as a “real” condition until 2002 when a brain imaging study provided objective evidence that pain was processed differently in the brain of those with FM. Fibromyalgia overlaps the fields of rheumatology, neurology, sleep disorders, and pain, so there is no one medical field dedicated to its research.

Dr. Ginevra Liptan is a medical doctor who developed Fibromyalgia as a medical student and specializes in its treatment. In a May 5 2016 article on MindBodyGreen.com she discusses fibromyalgia from the perspective of both physician and patient.

Fibromyalgia has three groups of symptoms – widespread muscle pain and stiffness, chronic fatigue, and brain fog. Liptan describes the development of FM this way:

“A chronically activated stress response wreaks havoc by preventing deep sleep and keeping muscles tense, leading to pain and tenderness; impairing digestion and energy production; and throwing hormones out of balance…ultimately [causing] the pain sensing nerves to increase the volume of their signals.”

She adds “This deep sleep starvation contributes to the fatigue, muscle pain, and foggy thinking.”

In another MindBodyGreen.com post, Dr. Amy Myers gives 10 possible root causes for fibromyalgia.

There is still no cure for Fibromyalgia but the following will greatly reduce the symptoms:

• Restoring normal deep sleep is the first essential step [see #105, #350]
• Diet changes and supplements to reduce inflammation [see #217, #294, Amy Myers]
• Supplements to support mitochondrial energy production [see #302]
• Support adrenal and thyroid function if required
• A detox cleanse may prove beneficial
• Ensure Vitamin D levels are in the optimum range [see #295]
• Magnesium, especially the L-Threonate form, is important
• 5HTP and SAMe supplements reduce pain, fatigue and muscle stiffness
• Malic acid is a natural anti-inflammatory which is particularly helpful for FM
• Aerobic exercise has been shown to relieve pain and depression
• Massage therapy can reduce muscle pain, improve sleep and reduce stress

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

340 NISA – A Different Kind of Massage [12 Oct 2015]

I just came back from a four day training workshop learning the massage technique called NISA (Neuromuscular Integration and Structural Alignment).

NISA works on the fascia – the layers of connective tissue under the skin and around each muscle. One of the functions of fascia is to allow glide between different muscles, allowing them to function independently. Fascia is often more responsible than tight muscles in causing pain, limited mobility and postural imbalance.

Here is how the course description puts it:

“The NISA process releases fascial adhesions; it stretches, frees, & clears the tissue. The softened layers of fascia, having regained their flexibility and elasticity, permit improved structural alignment and body mechanics. It provides long-lasting changes to chronic postural habits, and most clients feel increased range of motion and less restriction after one or two treatments.”

Fascial massage is different from Swedish or other forms of massage. Most massage techniques are aimed at releasing tight muscle and are ineffective in treating problems in the fascia. The NISA technique uses less lubricant so instead of gliding over the skin we move the skin to address the underlying fascia.

Fascial massage can be incorporated into regular massage treatments on small problem areas but are more effective when applied to large areas. This is due to the interconnectedness of fascia. For example, shoulder pain could be caused by a restriction in the fascia of the opposite hip. A series of 12 one-hour treatments is required to thoroughly treat the entire body but one or two one-hour treatments on the affected area will still accomplish much.

We also learned new techniques of assessment for body structure and balance – to identify where work is needed and to monitor improvements with treatment.

After four days of being worked on from head to toe (during exchanges with the other massage therapists taking the workshop) I feel looser, lighter, and taller (not sure if that’s a good thing?). I stand and sit straighter. My left knee doesn’t bug me when riding my bicycle. And my lower back doesn’t bother me as much as it had been.

Now I’d like to share what I’ve learned to help your body feel and function better than you believed it ever could.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner. See this article on my website for links to sources and further reading.

299 Statins, Muscle Pain & Vit. D [22 December 2014]

A commonly reported side effect of statin (cholesterol-lowering) drug therapy is musculoskeletal pain, called statin-induced myalgia (SIM), affecting 10-20% of patients. Another side effect is the blockage of the metabolic pathway that produces coenzyme Q10, necessary for the production of energy in the form of ATP in the mitochondria of our cells. It is generally believed that this reduction in Q10 is responsible for the muscle pain and fatigue experienced by many statin users. And indeed, taking coenzyme Q10 does reduce or eliminate the pain in most people.

Muscle pain is also a symptom of vitamin D deficiency. So it’s not too surprising to learn that studies have found a correlation with vitamin D status and muscle pain in people using statins. Two studies in 2014 examined this relationship.

The first, published in the journal PLOS ONE in March, followed 5,526 adults for 7 years and measured the vitamin D status when they began statin drug therapy. The risk of developing muscle pain was strongly correlated with vitamin D status; 21% higher for those with the lowest levels compared to the highest. The D level at which the greatest change occurred was 15 ng/ml (37.5 nmol/L). Note that this is about half the minimum vitamin D level recommended by some for optimum health – see my post #295 last month. Significantly, some of the participants with low D levels did not experience muscle pain until starting statin therapy, suggesting that it is the SIM that the D prevented, not general muscle pain.

The more recent study, published in the journal Atherosclerosis in December, compared the rate of pain reported in 1,057 statin users and 4,850 non-statin users, for which vitamin D blood levels were available. The researchers found the risk of developing muscle pain was 90% higher (nearly double) for those with D levels below 15 ng/ml. Interestingly there was no significant difference in pain reported between the statin users and non-users for those with D levels higher than 15 ng/ml.

More research is being done but I wouldn’t wait. If I was taking a statin drug, in addition to supplementing with Q10, I would make sure my D levels were adequate.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner. See this article on my website for links to sources and further reading.

262 Massage Therapy for Neck Pain [7 April 2014]

There have been few good scientific studies of massage therapy but that is changing. A recent study published in the Annals of Family Medicine is a good example.

Karen Sherman at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle looked at the effectiveness of massage therapy for neck pain. A previous study had found that benefits of massage were evident after 4 weeks. This time Sherman wanted to determine the optimum length and frequency of massage treatments.

228 adults, age 20 to 64, were randomly assigned to six treatment groups: 30 minutes 2 or 3 times weekly, 60 minutes 1, 2 or 3 times weekly, and an untreated control group. Neck pain was assessed a week after the 4 week treatment period. The researchers determined that those getting one hour of massage three times a week experienced the greatest benefit. Compared to the control group, Sherman reported “people getting massage three times a week were almost five times as likely to have a clinically meaningful improvement in function and over twice as likely to report a clinically meaningful decrease in pain.”

The author cautioned about applying this study to other age groups – since the youngest person in the study group was 20 and the oldest 64, she couldn’t say if younger or older people would respond in the same way. And Sherman didn’t say anything about other types of soft tissue pain (back, arm, leg, foot, etc.) but in my experience massage is equally effective for treating these – it just wasn’t addressed in this study.

So what can we learn from this study? If you are suffering from neck pain, give massage therapy a try. There are 5 or 6 massage therapists in Rosetown (last count) ready and willing to help you. Get at least two hour-long treatments a week. And don’t quit too soon.

My neck is sore from typing this article – I think I need a massage!

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

216 Magnesium Bisglycinate [13 May 2013]

Since I wrote about magnesium a month or so ago (#209 Magnesium – A Crucial Mineral; and #210 Magnesium – Getting Enough) I have learned about a new form of this critically important mineral.

Magnesium bisglycinate – magnesium attached to two glycine molecules – has several advantages over other forms of magnesium. It is absorbed faster and more efficiently than other forms. It is better utilized by the body and hence more effective in filling magnesium’s many roles. And it avoids the laxative effect of magnesium, especially at high doses. It is available in powder or capsule form.

To review, you should consider supplementing with magnesium if you:

• are pregnant or breastfeeding to prevent pre-eclampsia, reduce risk of gestational diabetes, and prevent muscle cramps
• suffer from Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue
• have ADD or ADHD – to reduce symptoms
• have Type 2 diabetes – to improve insulin response
• want to increase bone strength – to convert calcium to hydroxyapatite, the form found in bones and teeth
• want to reduce cholesterol (without side effects)
• have high blood pressure, heart disease or abnormal heart rhythms
• suffer from headaches or migraines
• are stressed out and need to relax
• have trouble sleeping
• suffer from PMS – to reduce cramping and other symptoms
• have loss of appetite or nausea
• have muscle spasms and cramping
• are taking more calcium than magnesium (check your cal:mag ratio)
• are taking vitamin D – Mg is required for proper metabolism of D

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

168 L-Carnitine – the Energy Booster [4 June 2012]

Continuing the series on amino acids, this week we will look at carnitine. Carnitine is synthesized in our livers from two other amino acids, lysine and methionine. It occurs in two forms, D- and L-, with L-carnitine being the biologically active form.

An important function of L-carnitine is to facilitate the breakdown and transport of long-chain fatty acids from the cell plasma into the mitochondria where they can be burned for fuel, creating energy in the form of ATP. Studies have also found that carnitine:

·           reduces fat mass and increases muscle mass

·           increases energy & endurance

·           reduces fatigue, including those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

·           reduces triglycerides and cholesterol levels

·           increases osteocalcin, the hormone responsible for building new bone

·           acts as a strong antioxidant protecting the brain and spinal cord

·           improves mental alertness, memory, and mood

·           improves insulin resistance

·           improves male fertility by increasing sperm count & motility

·           is often deficient in vegetarians

·           may need to be supplemented in pregnancy.

Carnitine is found in most muscle meats, but is particularly high in lamb and beef. It is a popular supplement for weight loss and body building. Carnitine has only recently (December 2011) been approved by Health Canada for sale in Canada without prescription. Caution: people on prescription blood thinners should only take carnitine under medical supervision.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner. 

166 Branched Chain Amino Acids [21 May 2012]

Last week we looked at amino acids as the building blocks (think Lego) of protein, and learned that nine are considered “essential”. Three of these form a special class – the branched chain amino acids (BCAA): leucine, isoleucine and valine. Their name comes from the shape of the molecule having a branched rather than linear form.

The BCAAs are the only amino acids that can be metabolized directly in muscle tissue; all the others require processing by the liver. This gives the BCAAs special nutritional properties in two rather different areas. For athletes, BCAA supplementation:
• increases muscle growth
• improves endurance
• speeds recovery from muscle damage due to intense training.

For the ill or elderly, BCAA supplementation can be used to:
• prevent muscle loss in elderly or ill (cancer, ALS) people with loss of appetite, without stressing the liver or kidneys
• maintain and rebuild muscle in people recovering from anorexia nervosa
• enhance healing of injuries including burns
• prevent muscle loss from prolonged fasting (e.g. the Master Cleanse).

Branched chain amino acids are available as a supplement in powder or capsule form. Research shows that L-Leucine is the most important of the three for protein synthesis and muscle building. Consumerlab.com reports no toxicity with BCAA supplementation.

Source: www.exrx.net/Nutrition/Supplements/BCAA.html

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.