YOGA AND ARTHRITIS: A REVIEWWritten by Dr. Manoj Dash, BHMS, DYT,Ph.D.
Yoga is an ancient Indian science and way of life, which influences functioning of brain and rest of body. Several studies have shown that practice of yoga has a definite role in promotion of positive health, including mental health, characterized by improved cardio-respiratory efficiency, autonomic responses to stressors, sleep, muscular endurance, and `higher’ brain functions. With an increase in incidence of stress-related ailments, related to rapid pace of life today, yoga has been evaluated as a treatment for such disorders in several controlled trials. The disorders, which were most likely to respond to yoga, with reduced symptoms and need for medication, were bronchial asthma, non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, anxiety neurosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. THE CONCEPT OF HEALTH According to World Health Organization (WHO) state of health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental, social and spiritual well being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity. It is clear from this definition that health and ill-health are not two discrete entities as commonly understood but health should be conceived as a continuous function indicating state of well being. The ancient Indian science, Yoga, has its origin in Sankhya philosophy of Indian culture, which is about 8000 years old (Nagarathna, 2001). Yoga includes a wide range of techniques (e.g., physical postures, regulated breathing, cleansing techniques, meditation, philosophical principles, and devotional sessions, surrendering to Supreme). These techniques bring about a calm and balanced state of mind, and are expected to help spiritual evolution of individual. However, yoga has more pragmatic applications in medicine. In order to understand these, it is important to know concepts of ‘health’ and ‘disease’ in Yoga texts. According to yoga, man is in perfect health and homeostasis at his subtle levels of existence. All diseases are classified as (i) stress-related (adhija) and (ii) not stress related, e.g., injuries (anadhija) (Vasudeva, 1937). Yoga has been considered especially useful in management of stress related disorders by getting mastery over excessive speed of mind. The technique to reducing rate of flow of thoughts with deep internal awareness is yoga. This review will describe therapeutic applications of yoga in management of arthritis. Physical activity is an essential part of effective treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to treatment guidelines published by American College of Rheumatology (Hochberg, 1995; Newsome, 2002). In persons with arthritis, exercise is safe and does not exacerbate pain or worsen disease (Ettinger,1997; Minor,1999; O'Grady,2000;Bearne,2002). In fact, exercise may play a key role in promoting joint health (Forrest,1994) , since those who do not exercise often suffer more joint discomfort than those who do (Nordemar,1981). However, regular physical activity is especially important for people with arthritis, who often have decreased muscle strength, physical energy, and endurance (Lyngberg,1988). The psychological benefits of exercise such as stress reduction, fewer depressive symptoms, improved coping and well-being and enhanced immune functioning (Taylor,1985;Scully,1998;Fox,1999 Paluska,2000) also contribute to greater overall health. Scientific studies on yoga Yoga has been used in management of a wide range of diverse ailments. While there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence of benefits of yoga, to date only a handful of scientific studies have been conducted on persons with OA and RA (though several more are currently underway). The study conducted in England demonstrated that hand grip strength significantly improved following yoga in rheumatoid arthritis patients (Haslock,1994). It was subsequently proven that yoga resulted in similar benefits in rheumatoid arthritis patients in an Indian population (Dash, 2001). Studies in osteoarthritis of hands and carpal tunnel syndrome show greater improvement in pain during activity, tenderness and finger range of motion (Garfinkel, 1994). These above studies have shown promising results with some improvement in joint health, physical functioning, and mental/emotional well-being. Perhaps most importantly, yoga has an important positive effect on quality of life. People with arthritis may also enjoy yoga more than traditional forms of exercise, and exercise enjoyment is an important predictor of adherence(Ryan,1997;Trost,2003).This is particularly important considering that, on average, 50% of sedentary individuals will drop out of exercise within 6 months (Dishman,1990). In summary, yoga can be a meaningful and enjoyable alternative to traditional forms of exercise such as aerobics or aquatic exercise with important health benefits. Yoga can play an important role in reducing stress and frustration that results from pain and disability, and increasing positive feelings and wellbeing. Drug treatments for OA and RA have improved markedly in last few years. Despite this, arthritis cannot be cured, and even best medications and medical care can only help a little. There is a great need for additional activities patients can do to reduce pain, disability, and take control of overall impact arthritis may have on their lives. Thus, evidence suggests that, when combined with a program of good medical care, yoga may provide important additional physical and psychological health benefits for arthritis patients.
| | Enzymes and Modern StressWritten by Boyd Martin
Modern-day nerve and immune system stresses, environmental pollution, and an obesity pandemic ironically connected to nutritional deficiencies, are just a few of insults our bodies cope with every hour. It is little wonder general state of health in world is deteriorating, and many scientists point to lack of enzyme production as one major cause. Enzymes do everything from breaking down french fries to attacking viruses and bacteria, not to mention attempting to digest whatever we put into our mouths. A leader in this research and development of enzymatic formulas is Dr. DicQie Fuller-Looney, founder of Transformation Enzymes company based in Houston, Texas, USA. Her groundbreaking work in this field reveals a very holistic approach to body health, and offers hope to those suffering effects of a fast-paced, overworked, and stressful modern life. Most of us are so caught up in intensity of economic survival, raising kids, dealing with relationships, and other demands, that often our health takes a back seat. Good health begins with a healthy lifestyle. As obvious as that seems, it requires daily reinforcement, planning and an overall strategy. Instead, faced with prospect of having deal with yet another project, it's sometimes easier to assign blame: government's environmental and agricultural policies, IRS, food industry, on and on ad nauseum. "It’s about control, not blame," says Dr. Fuller-Looney. "If you know what your choices are but you continue to make poor choices, then it is something that you have created and you are not in control. We have to stop doing what doesn’t work for us. We do that by finding out reasons why it doesn’t work for us." So when it comes to health, lifestyle is everything. Understanding how our bodies work, and what we can do to support that work is part of taking responsibility for health. Beyond needing clean air to breathe and pure water to drink, right foods and enzymes to digest them are next most important thing. People in United States, as well as most of Western world increasingly are unable to properly digest food they eat. The $40 billion annual antacid and digestive relief industry in U.S. readily attests to that. In most cases, these items treat symptoms, not cause. Worse, suppression of symptoms usually further exacerbates cause. When food we eat is not properly digested, over time, one thing is virtually guaranteed to happen--we get sick. There is growing evidence that primary cause of most health problems is bad digestion. Good digestion is a direct measure of optimal health. Undigested food creates toxic waste in our body. The toxicity sets into motion onset of disease--arthritis, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, chronic heart burn, and cancer, to name just a few. These maladies are typically misconstrued as inevitable frailty of aging or unexplained action of heredity and genetics. Many of these conditions can be prevented and/or reversed with lifestyle modification combined with digestive enzyme therapy. With proper application of supplementary digestive enzymes, an insulted metabolism can be restored and internal biological systems returned to a healthy normal. PROTEIN DIGESTION Dr. Fuller-Looney names inadequate protein digestion as primary villain to good health. "We need to digest our food, especially protein," she says. "As we age, we have a problem digesting protein. So many in nursing homes are wasting away, just skin on bones. This happens even if they are staying active. The one thing that all elderly people have in common is that they cannot break down protein. They cannot build muscle. And that is because everything is tied to loss of enzymes." Protease, enzyme that converts raw proteins into useable amino acids, is initially manufactured in pancreas. But beyond digesting new protein intake, protease production of your body is also used for rebuilding tissues. If there is a lot of tissue damage of digestive tract because of nutritional abuse, this adds a big demand, often exceeding requirements needed to digest food intake. Additionally, body's immune system uses protease to break down and eliminate dead bacteria, viruses and parasites. Pile on stress and other coping mechanisms to make up for organ dysfunction, and clearly demand for protease exceeds body's ability to produce it. "It is vitally important to digest proteins while they are still in gut," reveals Dr. Fuller-Looney. "What happens to undigested proteins? Partially digested proteins are utilized by microorganisms in your gut, resulting in toxic amines such as cadaverine and putrescine, substances that are characteristically found in cadavers. This starts a chain reaction of inflammatory conditions and immune reactions. The microflora population uses undigested protein, resulting in release of ammonia. The liver is now bombarded with toxins. The liver then forms ammonia (nitrogen) and kidneys release urea, since they have become overloaded. Your lymphatic system, which also works to remove toxins, will likewise suffer."
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