Flame Adjusters
George L. Redmon
Put Out the Inflammation Fires of Joint InjuryPage 1
Inflammation is defined as redness, swelling, pain, heat and disturbed function of an area of the body or as a reaction of tissues to injurious agents.
Inflammation is a normal response to tissue that has been injured and/or damaged. It’s much like the sirens and horns on a speeding fire engine. The inflammatory response is actually a good thing, an alarm to let you know that a fire has started and that you need to do something to assist the body in removing damaged cells, soothing inflamed tissues and eliminating harmful toxins. The body’s goal is to accelerate the repair process.
New Ways, New Thinking
Researchers now know that the once common battle cry No pain, no gain is an oversimplification. You need to pay attention to your body’s response to inflammation. If left unchecked, it could cause further destruction and permanent damage to muscle tissue. When tissue, joints or any area in the body becomes inflamed due to injury, overexertion or harmful by-products or destructive compounds, internal firefighters spring into action to neutralize the invaders, and healing begins.
One of your chief goals as a bodybuilder is to build strong, lean muscle tissue and control or minimize the destructive nature of cortisol, ammonia and lactic acid. There are, however, other insidious muscle-wasting agents you may not be familiar with: prostaglandins, cytokines, leukotrienes, histamine, C-reactive protein and COX-2, to name a few.
While you shouldn’t abandon the programs that help you preserve the lean muscular look you have or are trying to attain, you should take seriously the concept of inflammation and its link to reduced muscle output, loss of workout time and muscle wasting. According to current data and emerging thought, the worst enemy to our internal system and the cause of a host of pathological diseases is our inability to control the body’s response to inflammation.
The key here is how and what we do to control the inflammation responses so that the healing process is accelerated at the initial site of injury and the flame doesn’t turn into a full-fledged fire.
Hot and Cold Therapy
At the first sign of the inflammatory response (pain and swelling), most of us seek relief and protection by using hot or cold compresses. For acute inflammation, characterized by redness, swelling and pain, cold therapy is the best immediate treatment, according to Elizabeth Quinn, an exercise physiologist and health information writer for About Health and Fitness/Sports Medicine. As Quinn explains, cold applications cause vasoconstriction (narrowing of blood vessels), which limits bleeding at the injury site.
On the other hand, heat is systematically used on chronic injuries that come and go and that exhibit no signs of inflammation. Soreness, stiffness and nagging muscle and joint pain are ideal for heat applications. Heat can also relax tight muscles but should never be used after your workout. Heat increases circulation and elevates surface skin temperature, and during signs of inflammation should not be used.
NSAIDs, COX-2s and Leaky Guts
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used to combat the pain and inflammation of tissue and other structures that have become inflamed and or damaged. Vioxx, Celebrex, Bextra, as well as naproxen (Aleve), ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), fenoprofen (Nalfon) and indomethacin (Indocin), are classified as NSAIDs. While those drugs have the ability to reduce pain, swelling and inflammation, their long-term use can have serious side effects and even fatal consequences. The FDA removed Vioxx, Celebrex and Bextra from the marketplace, citing results from clinical trials that linked them to increased heart attack and associated cardiovascular risk.
The massive recall of Vioxx alone cost the giant drug manufacturer Merck more than $30 billion. NSAIDs were to be the future of a class of drugs that had COX-2-inhibiting capabilities. Thomas M. Newmark and Paul Schulick, authors of the highly acclaimed book
