I was watching the Olympics the other day and saw a piece where a reporter went and received acupuncture treatments. It was interesting to hear about this particular practitioner who was influential in acupuncture's acceptance into Western culture. After the piece, the reporter mentioned that Nastia Liukin, gold medalist in the women's all-around gymnastics competition, has weekly acupuncture treatments.

She's not alone. Acupuncture is widely used as a method to aid and speed healing from sports-related injuries. Though the thought of multiple metal needles being inserted into your body is daunting, to say the least, proponents of the traditional form of medicine sing its praises. In addition to aiding in healing, acupuncture is said to help athletes by boosting energy, improving circulation, and ensuring the body gets the most out of nutrients. In addition, acupuncture is said to help improve the quality of sleep and boost immunity.

Source

There are certainly a million plus reasons to quit smoking: the smell, the cancer risks, the heart disease, etc ... But now there is a new one! If you want to have plastic surgery on your face (and if you've smoked for a long time ... you probably want to), your doctor may insist that you quit before she'll do the procedure. Smoking interferes with the healing process.

This article tells the tale of a woman who repeatedly tried to quit smoking with no success. Until! That is ... her purpose for quitting was vanity. Hooray for that! I don't honestly care what she does with her face, I'm just grateful to have one less smoker in the world. I'm also thrilled that doctors have found a legitimately convincing way to get people to stop.

Source

Alex Lenkei, a 61-year-old hypnotist, opted against using any traditional anesthetic for his recent surgery, choosing instead to send himself into a hypnotic trance for the duration of the surgery.

He was able to hear the cracking of his bones and the surgeon asking for a saw -- he could even hear the surgeon "hammering away at the bone" with a hammer and chisel. He could feel the doctor "pulling and manipulating" him, but felt no pain.

Much of the medical community is quite interested in this, as studies have shown that using less anesthetic can reduce the time patients spend in the hospital and speed healing. Additionally, many patients are nervous about using an anesthetic, and while they might not opt for using hypnosis only, it might help to calm them and allow a lower dose of anesthetic to be used.

Source

Everyone knows a good bath can do wonders to relax and rejuvenate the body and spirit. Adding scented bath salts helps, too.

Did you know that you can easily make your own healing bath to combat whatever issues you may be having? DIY Life has posted about how to create a blissful bath, using herbs and essential oils targeted at fixing what ails you.

DIY Life links to a Third Age article which lists recipes and blends for muscle pain, colds and flu, insomnia and more. There are also good reasons to use Epsom salts in your bath, such as detoxification and replenishing your magnesium levels.

So learn how to make the perfect bath for you and begin healing.

Source

Well, it depends on the kind of anger we're talking about here. A new study links the healing process with anger. Apparently hotheads who fly off the handle are less likely to heal faster than those people who at least express their anger without getting rowdy.

You can blame cortisol -- this stress hormone makes us more liable to get sick. But depending on how we deal with anger, cortisol can interfere with how our bodies recover. One hundred volunteers were given blisters on their forearm (blame the researchers). By screening their behavior, scientists were able to measure the healing speed based on whether or not they lost their temper or simply expressed their anger in a controlled way.

People who were "hotheads" took longer to heal the blister -- more than 4 days actually. The study suggests that if you want to get well faster, then it is best to chill out and not lose your temper.

Source

If you can, imagine a hot needle going into a sore muscle that's been damaged by athletic stress. Hippocrates used this procedure to treat shoulder pain of discus athletes in the fifth century; it's called prolotherapy. Today, the idea is the same but the methods are slightly different.

Prolotherapy is controversial because modern doctors use needles to inject a sugar solution into damaged muscles. This causes inflammation, much like you'd expect. However, that's exactly its purpose: the body's response to this irritation is to send nutrients to the spot of pain as fast as possible. This literally causes scarring to the already pained muscles and ligaments.

But wait, isn't scarring a bad thing? Not in this case. The scarring causes the body to repair the muscle by laying down new tissue. This procedure theoretically fixes the problem and the pain. But not everyone is convinced. Prolotherapy is still up in the air because not all research backs its effectiveness. You'd think that if the Father of Modern Medicine endorsed it, other practitioners would too! It is, after all, a natural response and healing process -- but hopefully they'll come up with a solid verdict that everyone can agree on.

Source

Swimming with dolphins seems like it would be a really fun experience. If I were on a tropical vacation, for instance, you can bet that's one of the first things I would do. But as far as medical treatment via these aquatic animals is concerned, two Emory researchers say it's just a dangerous money trap.

DAT, or dolphin-assisted therapy, is a way for chronic patients of mental and physical disabilities to get outside the realm of typical treatment. Proponents say dolphins help the healing potential of these individuals. But those against the therapeutic interactions say it's a lose-lose situation for both the dolphins and the patients.

For one, there's no evidence that suggests long-term benefits to swimming with dolphins. Sure, they're social creatures with great intelligence -- but that doesn't make them a doctor. Another reason picks at the fact that it is such a novel experience. Costing upwards of a thousand dollars or more for these private sessions, critics say it may just be an expensive sales pitch. The danger they talk about stems from the claim that children could be put in tanks with 400-pound animals caught in the wild with potential trauma. In all practicality, they don't know for sure if anything comes from swimming with the dolphins. But if it puts a smile on a child's face who would otherwise never get the opportunity, then it should be worth all the costs!

Source

My grandma was a sucker for vinegar. She used it for everything, even had a listing of how to fix just about any ailment with a touch of the stuff.

While modern medicine may not endorse my grandma's practices, vinegar does have a long history of alleged healing. Believed to help cholera, urinary infections, heartburn, brittle nails, and more, vinegar has quite a reputation.
Among its powers, it can potentially reach those stubborn aches and pains. Here's how.

Backaches: A tub full of hot water, two cups of vinegar, and 30 minutes is all you need to relieve a minor backache. It will soothe sore muscles too.
Headaches: Lie down, apply a compress dipped in a mixture of half warm water and half vinegar to the temples, and feel that headache slip away.

Leg Cramps: A soft cloth soaked in full-strength vinegar and used as a compress can ease the pain of a leg cramp.

Muscle Sprain: A paste of white wine, vinegar, and bran can help a recent sprain.

Of course, if any such health issues persist beyond your vinegar treatments, please see your physician. If they do not persist, however, perhaps vinegar is all it's cracked up to be.

For more vinegar cures, click here.

Source

Each week, we'll be offering original recipes and unique ways to use those Super Foods that pack nutritional power. After all, you are what you eat -- make it count!

I have pineapple on my mind because we just happen to have a fresh one in our house. It's been sliced and diced into nice little squares, and it sits in a Tupperware bowl in our fridge right now. My boys and I are happy to have this juicy fruit during a time when all of our favorites -- strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, watermelon -- are disappearing from the grocery store produce aisles. It's a great fruit for many reasons -- it's super for nibbling, super if you're in a pinch and need to grab a quick bite, super for school lunches, and well, it's just plain super.

Pineapple is a Superfood because of its healing power on the joints. A top source of bromelain, an enzyme that helps support joint health, pineapples have anti-inflammatory properties that can alleviate osteoarthritis. Bromelain also cleans up dead cells after injury, helps reduce inflammation related to asthma, and even inhibits the growth of malignant cells in both lung and breast cancer.

Source

Ahhhhhh! The healing power of ice. Almost two years ago I was involved in a really dumb auto accident, and life has been quite weird since. Lots of treatment, lots of shots, and lots of other strange efforts to cure what is simply diagnosed as a chronic muscle spasm in my low back. It's often crippling, but certain treatments seem to help for short periods of time. The last treatment wore off two days ago, and I've been left in pain once again. Today I decided that I had to do something, and apparently freezing my butt off... literally....was worth the try.

I also broke my right foot this past winter (I sound pretty klutzy right?) Putting my bruised and swollen foot in the ice pool at the fitness center I attend helped relieve a lot of pain. Now, this pool isn't just chilly. It's freaking FREEZING! Close to 30 degrees, I've been told. Painfully freaking freezing. It took every ounce of will I had back then to just keep my little foot in the water. Imagine how I felt today when my husband logically coerced me to go give it a try for my big back! He's crazy.

Now, I'm the girl who grabs a jacket when the temperature drops down to 75 degrees. Born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, I simply don't do cold very well. I knew this ice bath deal was going to kill me. Nonetheless, like a crazy person I drove to my health club purposely to become a member of the Polar Bear Club. Terrified yet hopeful, I kept driving in the right direction. Got in the locker room, and threw on the old bikini. Fun. Fun.

Source

What is iridology? I'd never heard of it before now, but it's the study of the iris to determine the overall well-being and health of person. Practitioners of iridology believe that every color, fiber, pattern, and defect in the iris of the eye is a direct reflection of something wrong in the body. At a glance, healers using this method can tell at a glance how well organs and systems are working together by looking at the left eye for the left side of the body, and the right eye for the right side.

Although iridology can be traced back to the days of Hippocrates and is found all over the United States, not all natural and holistic healers believe in it. Do you?

Source

Where's the line between religion and medical science? While there's passionate opinions on both sides of this debate, a recent survey finds that -- at least in some way -- most doctors include their faith in their practice.

For better or for worse, "This is yet more evidence that doctors are not just objective, neutral scientists. Their religious or secular commitments influence the way they respond to patients and the way they interpret data," Dr. Farr Curlin, the study's author, told Reuters.

Very few doctors seem to think religion has any effect on "hard" medical outcomes, like miraculous healing, but those who are most religious are significantly more likely to report patients bringing up issues of religion and spirituality, and many feel it has a positive effect on their patients.

Researchers say this indicates that doctors should keep a close eye of their own views, and how that might bias their decisions.

Source