Saturday, September 1, 2012

Nutrition for sprains, strains, fractures

Nutrition is necessary for healing sprains, strains and fractures.  Pain is the first sign that there is something wrong in your body.
By definition, pain means something is weak or injured, assuming a musculoskeletal cause for the pain. A typical sprain requires simply rest and time to heal. However, your body requires several different nutrients to help maintain the health of your bones and ligaments both of which can be damaged depending on the type of sprain. Keep in mind, though, that severe sprains may require surgery to repair, so you should follow your doctor’s advice for treatment. Some problems, like muscle pain may react positively to vitamin and nutritional therapy and for this reason one would suggest that some nutrients are necessary in healing ligaments. The body has tremendous regenerative capabilities but one must never forget the fact that many different factors affect connective tissue healing.

Nutrition for healing sprains:
Most people think that muscles were like tendons and that tendons were like ligaments, the main difference between muscles and ligaments is that muscles are massively strong structures with a tremendous blood supply, both outside and inside the muscle. (this is why steak is red). Ligaments, on the other hand, are small tissues that have a poor blood supply both inside and outside of the ligament (why they appear white). Muscles, because of their good circulation, heal quickly and rarely cause a long-term problem, whereas ligaments, due to their poor blood supply, often heal incompletely and are the cause of most chronic sports injuries and pain. Within joints, ligaments connect one bone to another bone and provide overall stability for the joint. Dense connective tissue comprised of collagen a protein forms ligaments. Within the ligament, three types of collagen reside, after an injury, nutrition and time help the collagen within the ligament rebuild itself. Collagen formation depends on the synthesis of vitamin C, the body uses vitamin C combined with two important amino acids (lysine and proline) to form collagen, and in so doing, uses up the vitamin C up.
Swelling in the muscle causes decreased circulation which leads to still greater swelling and more tissue damage.
Eating right in healing ligament pain:
A person with chronic pain must decide to eat right, too many carbohydrates is the number one reason people are overweight. The more weight you have the stronger your joints and ligaments have to be to support the weight. So weight loss is a part of curing chronic pain. You must note one sugar load hampers immune function for four hours. So the person that has a soda every few hours is suppressing their immune system all day. This is the same immune system that heals your connective tissues. If you want to heal, cut out the sugar and take control of your diet.

Factors to consider in healing such injuries:
Vitamins and minerals are important in fighting ligament and muscle pain, for instance, bromelain, the enzyme from pineapple is well-known for reducing pain and inflammation, and helps heal wounds. Vitamin C is also critical to heal wounds or bruises.  If you're deficient in vitamin C, your body's healing process slows down dramatically. Trace minerals can be easily be absorbed by the body. Vitamins B6 and B12 are essential for keeping your tendons and ligaments functioning well, but they need to be in the active form to work quickly and effectively.
processing
Vitamin B6 is an important building block for the body’s functions, it plays a role in the processing of carbohydrates and proteins and the production of red blood cells. A lack of B6 can lead to anemia, skin and neurological disorders, and insomnia. Food sources include; beef, turkey, chicken, pork, tuna and are excellent sources of vitamin B6.
Most breakfast cereals are fortified with vitamins to provide nutrition and energy,  the exact vitamin content depends on the brand and variety of cereal, but many offer more than enough for an entire day.
Chickpeas are an excellent source of B6 in chickpeas. Brown rice contains enough vitamin B6 for anyone avoiding meat. Other whole grain products such as wheat bread and oatmeal offer similar high nutrient content.The fruit highest in B6 is the banana, with about a third of the daily requirement in each serving. Garlic also contains vitamin B6, Vitamin B12 is essential for nerve signaling to the muscles, many people have a difficult time absorbing B-vitamins especially as they get older and this can account for a lot of muscle stiffness. This is due to the fact that vitamin B12 deficiency interferes with your tendons' ability to respond to signals, and dampens their reflex. Shellfish are a great source of vitamin B12 and can be eaten raw, baked, steamed or fried. Mussels and oysters are also good sources of B12. The liver of most any animal is packed with vitamin B-12, the highest on the list are: Lamb, beef, veal, moose, turkey, duck, and goose respectively.
 shoulder
The amount of vitamin B-12 in beef depends on the cut, lean fat-trimmed chuck contains the most vitamin B12.
Lamb is a high cholesterol food so be sure to look for lean cuts which are higher in B12 anyway. The shoulder is the cut of lamb with the most vitamin B-12.
 Despite being a high cholesterol food, cheese is a good source of vitamin B12 however this depends on type and variety, for instance, Swiss cheese provides the most. When it comes to chicken eggs the raw yellow has most of the vitamin B-12.
Magnesium helps relax muscles, so you don't get that "tightness" from activity or more recurring concerns. Deficiencies of magnesium can cause muscle cramps and numbness. Food sources include; mackerel, boiled spinach, bran breakfast cereal and almonds
Zinc is a required trace mineral for protein synthesis, cell division, and proper DNA synthesis. It helps ensure that any tendon and ligament repair proceeds along the right track to help you get active again, sooner, or to help you stay active. Yogurt, nuts, legumes, soybeans, rice and seeds (pumpkin and sunflower) are non-meat sources of zinc. Vegetables in this group include spinach, corn, mushrooms and canned tomato products
tendons
Manganese may be the most important mineral you will ever take for your ligaments and tendons, weakened ligaments and tendons is actually one of the signs of manganese deficiency. Manganese is essential for building collagen, the major component in ligaments and tendons, without manganese, the body cannot make any collagen or repair any connective tissue.
Some of the highest food sources in this category are nuts, tea, clams, noodles, and whole grain bread. Vegetables include parsnips, turnip greens, lettuce, kale, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and tomato products. Fruits include blueberries and strawberries.



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