Back, head, joints: pain away forever

2013

Back, head, joints: how to prevent pain and treat yourself.
Photo: @ rollover - iStockphoto.com

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Even cure extra

New findings from research show how to get active and effectively alleviate the most common problems.

Pain is good, say doctors. But how can that be good? Nature has arranged it that way. Already as a child we make necessary experiences with pain. Children are adventurous. They have a natural thirst for research that drives them to constantly try everything out and explore new things. That they can not always assess the risks or recognize where danger lurks is quite normal - but dangerous.

Therefore, they have to become more acquainted with pain more often. This is then a warning signal for them and of course a teacher for life: A child who has once touched a hot stove, a candle flame or the thorns of a rose will not do this a second time through the pain experience. Pain is therefore in its original meaning a warning signal.

There are special nerve sites throughout the body called receptors, which detect dangerous stimuli such as heat, cuts, pressure, friction or inflammation in milliseconds and send clear signals to the brain: "Ouch, something harmful happens here!

Caution, pain memory

The symptom pain shows that something is wrong in the body . That you have to take care of it. So far so good. But pain should not take too long. Otherwise they will become chronic. According to experts, it is chronic pain when the symptoms last more than three months. That is, if they are constantly felt or so often return during this time. Then the pain has lost its original pure warning and protective function and become independent.

How does that happen?

These are processes that take place in the sensitive nervous system and in the brain. Nerve cells for pain transmission seem to be capable of learning: if they are repeatedly exposed to pain impulses, they become more active. Then they take even the smallest stimuli such. B. slight pressure, true as pain and ignite a signal fireworks. And the brain learns to be sensitive to it as well. It remembers the signals exactly - and forms the so-called pain memory.

Intervene in time

So that it does not come so far, advise pain medicine: Any kind of pain should be treated as soon as possible. This is especially true for the most common problems that everyone knows: back, head and body aches. The good thing about the problem: You can do a lot against it yourself. How you can treat pain effectively with simple means and also to prevent the onset of pain, we have put together in our extra for you.

It is always important: sleep enough

WIN ENERGY is the magic word. Sleep doctors found out: If you're in pain, you should always sleep enough . Because with many muscle, tendon and joint problems, even with frequent headaches, much is achieved when the body can rest and recharge its batteries. According to US researchers, eight hours of sleep drastically reduce sensitivity to pain - both in pain patients and in healthy people. This works after some time better than the analgesic codeine.

What to do if pain disturbs sleep?

One should the painful place, z. B. the knee, store firmly and stably. Plant remedies from the pharmacy with valerian and hops relax and soothe. Even a warm bath (in the evening, at most 15 minutes) is often effective. And you should not drink coffee or black tea after 4pm.