Pain

Our Pain is Insane With 20% of Australians suffering from chronic pain, and pain being the most common reason someone will visit a healthcare Practitioner in Australia,[¹] there is no question that we’re a nation in pain and inflamed! To understand how to reduce pain, we need to look at its main cause, inflammation.

Inflammation is the body’s initial response to cell damage and is designed to protect it from infection or further injury. Like day and night, the inflammatory process is a cycle defined by two halves – initiation and resolution.

HELP, I’m Inflamed!

Everyone has experienced the phenomenon of acute inflammation – a sprained ankle, a splinter, or a cut – resulting in the affected area becoming red, swollen, hot, and painful. This is your immune system rushing to protect your body from any bacteria or viruses that may try to infect the area, and is also the first step in repairing tissue damage. This is part of a normal, healthy inflammatory response and should die down, or resolve, once the injury heals.[¹] In some cases, however, inflammation sticks around and becomes chronic.

More than half of the Australian population suffers from chronic inflammation and pain.[²] Ongoing inflammation may be a response to repetitive damage that does not heal (e.g. arthritis), but it can also occur in response to other triggers such as toxins, allergens, or oxidative stress, also causing tissue damage. Chronic inflammation has been associated with the development of many types of disease such as type 2 diabetes, fibromyalgia, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), inflammatory bowel disease and obesity.[³]

Whilst the burden of pain can feel isolating, it is a road travelled by many. In fact, 3.24 million Australians suffered from persistent pain in 2018,[¹] making it a commonly shared experience. For some, it’s a headache that feels like a thousand ice picks; for others, it’s shooting, surging and pulsing lower back pain.

Did you know that magnesium is required by the trillions of cells in your body to carry out hundreds of different processes every day? Magnesium is involved with the metabolism of your foods, hormone production, stress modulation, muscle relaxation, bone health and sleep regulation. So you can see why magnesium is a vital nutrient!

Which nutrient helps alleviate the pain of inflammatory conditions such as arthritis,[¹] supports brain and skin health and also reduces the risk of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease?[²] Not sure? Here’s a hint: it’s found in seafood and is particularly abundant in fish. If you answered omega-3, you are correct! This essential nutrient provides a