Elements Naturopathic Pain Management Series

Relaxes the body, calms the mind – Dr. Bill Comiskey

The Naturopathic approach to pain management utilizes trace minerals such as magnesium chloride, MSM and bicarbonate in combination through Transdermal and dietary supplementation to produce not only economical but profound life changing results without side effects. For those of us who have suffered with chronic pain for many years, waking up one day pain free feels like a miracle and for sports teams this could be a game changer.

Trace minerals (magnesium, MSM, potassium and other trace elements) are responsible for over 300 different chemical reactions in the human body including energy, relaxation and blood pressure. Unfortunately, in most of the developed world, trace mineral deficiencies are all too common causing a host of health issues.

Transdermal application of Elements trace minerals is one of the best methods of administering actives quickly and effectively. This method delivers the trace minerals through the skin into the bloodstream. It is applied to the skin’s surface and then diffuses out of its carrier (water) into the stratum corneum. Through massage the blood is brought closer to the surface of the skin allowing faster absorption of trace minerals. Trace minerals help to maintain normal muscle and nerve function keep heart rhythm steady and is important for bone, hair, skin and nail health. Use of Keyano’s Elements – Transdermal Trace Mineral Spray enables the body to chelate and release toxic minerals including aluminum, lead, cadmium and mercury among others. For optimal results, we suggest applying it to your back, forearms, underarms, abdomen or anywhere there is relatively “thin” skin.

Anti-aging
If you would like to maintain your youth the addition of trace minerals, magnesium, MSM and potassium… in proper balance should be on your high priority list. Aging can be viewed as calcification of the body, a process that presents itself when minerals such as magnesium are deficient in the diet. The use of inorganic fertilizers in mass farming with high levels of calcium combined with diminishing levels of magnesium in the soil contributes to a mineral imbalance in the body. The excess calcium in the blood is then deposited in areas of chronic inflammation that leads to calcification of the joints (arthritis), breast tissue (fibrocystic), kidneys as well as organs disturbing hormone production.

Magnesium when applied to the skin increases the production of DHEA (the anti aging hormone). As we age, and this important hormone level decreases 80 – 90% between ages 30 to 90 as a result we are more prone to rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, immune dysfunction and cancer.

Everyone today is concerned with their chronological age. But they should be equally concerned with their “biological” age. The ratio of calcium to magnesium within your cells is your “biochemical age.”

Research at the Lille Pasteur Institute found in a prospective study with over 4,000 men over an 18-year follow up period that high levels of magnesium were associated with a 50 percent decrease in cancer mortality, and a 40 percent decrease in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality.

(“Zinc, Copper and magnesium and Risks for All-Cause Cancer, and Cardiovascular Mortality” Epidemiology, Vol. 17, No. 3, May 2006.

MSM is necessary for collagen production. Sagging skin and wrinkles, as well as dry, cracked skin are all developed through a loss of collagen. MSM works together with Vitamin C to build new, healthy tissues. MSM can normalize collagen formation and radically improve skin health.

One of the most important features of MSM is that it makes your cells more permeable. This means that it allows toxins and metabolic waste products to easily be moved out of the cells, while essential nutrients and hydration can be moved in. It’s a calcium phosphate dissolver, so it has a remarkable ability to break up the bad calcium that’s at the root of degenerative diseases.

Sports & exercise
The use of trace elements through transdermal application can play a pivotal role in enhanced physical performance and reduction of sports injuries. How many times have you seen key athletes leave the field during critical games due to muscle cramps? Is it possible that daily application of trace elements by athletes could be the difference between winning and losing? Most coaches and trainers are aware of the fact that electrolytes are lost during intense exercise and significant trace minerals are lost through sweating setting up the probability of cramping, lower performance and injuries. Keep in mind that excess calcium in the tissues cause excess muscle contraction and tightness setting the stage for injuries. Elevate levels of magnesium and calcium is brought back in balance. Transdermal Elements massage will soothe aches and pains, improve circulation, help remove lactic acid from the tissues and speed recovery from sports related injuries. Oral supplementation of magnesium has limited benefit because it is not well absorbed and easily excreted during strenuous exercise. Transdermal application bypasses the gastric system providing higher levels and quicker tissue saturation.

Dr. Carol Dean states; Of the 325 magnesium-dependent enzymes, the most important enzyme reaction involves the creation of energy by activating adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the fundamental energy storage molecule of the body. ATP may be what the Chinese refer to as qi or life force. Magnesium is required for the body to produce and store energy. Without magnesium there is no energy, no movement, no life. It is that simple.

Michael, a massage therapist woke up in the middle of the night with an intense cramp in his left calf muscle. He had to go the bathroom as well and was not sure that he could make it up the stairs in time without wetting himself. He slowly made it up the stairs into the bathroom and noticed a bottle of Elements Transdermal Spray on the cabinet. He applied a number of sprays and was pleasantly surprised with an almost immediate reduction in pain and noticed that there was no residual pain left in the muscle tissue that often accompanies a cramp that severe.

“Those who exercise strenuously need magnesium because it helps deliver oxygen to the muscles for peak performance,” according to Rita Aero and Stephanie Rick in Vitamin Power.

In the study titled “Effect of methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) supplementation on exercise-induced muscle damage and total antioxidant capacity” by Barmaki et al. (2012) the enzyme creatine kinase (CK) was measured. Elevated CK is indicative of trauma or skeletal muscle damage. These results suggest that MSM may protect the muscles from damage from acute bouts of exercise and the resulting soreness or inflammation that may accompany it.

Pain Management
How many times have you gotten out of bed in the morning and started your day with nagging neck or low back pain. This form of pain is all too common and is one of the most prevalent causes of lost time at work. Remember aging is increased calcification of the body. Excess calcium causes the body to become rigid causing stiffness in the muscle tissue, deposits in the joints, inflammation, with the end result, pain. Back pain is one of the common conditions where people seek doctor’s visits. Transdermal application of Elements delivers relief directly to the site of the pain. MSM has the ability to significantly reduce inflammation reducing pain.

There are many studies correlating low magnesium levels to migraine and cluster headaches. Magnesium relaxes blood vessels allowing them to dilate, reduce muscle tension and relieve headaches.

Perhaps the most remarkable discovery regarding MSM is that it is an effective pain killer. MSM works for many types of chronic pain. In March 1999, Stanley W. Jacob, M.D., and Ronald M. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D., published “The Miracle of MSM: The Natural Solution for Pain”. Their book was based on their experience as medical doctors and MSM researchers. Dr. Jacob is the head of the DMSO Pain Clinic in Portland, OR, and a Professor at the Oregon Health Sciences University, and Dr. Lawrence was the founder of the International Association for the Study of Pain and the American Association for the Study of Headaches. Combined, they have over 20 years of experience with fighting pain with MSM. They concluded that of more than 18,000 patients that suffered from chronic pain, about 70% experienced benefits from the use of MSM, finding that pain either diminished or disappeared altogether.

Magnesium calms the mind
Magnesium has a calming effect on the nervous system and the mind. Insomnia or restless sleep is so common in our society due to lack of magnesium in our diets. An application of Elements Transdermal Spray in the evening will allow the muscles to relax and reduce frequent night time awakenings and promote deeper sleep.

Anxiety is another indication of a magnesium deficiency. Over 40% of our population in the US is on some form of psychotic drug. Magnesium helps keep adrenal stress hormones under control. Nervous fatigue, tics and twitches, tremors, irritability, hypersensitivity, muscle spasms, restlessness, anxiety, confusion, disorientation and irregular heartbeat all respond to increased magnesium levels.

Many of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can be overcome with high magnesium supplementation. Shaking can be prevented and rigidity eased. Even the number of suicides is linked to magnesium deficiency. The lower the magnesium content in soil and water in a given region, the higher the rate of suicides. An epileptic attack can be suppressed with magnesium. Epilepsy is marked by abnormally low magnesium levels in the blood, spinal fluid and brain, causing hyperexcitability in regions of the brain.

Over 10 million children are on antidepressants and another 5 million on stimulants such as Ritalin. Hyperactive children need additional Magnesium due to there higher than normal adrenaline levels which we all know excess adrenaline depletes magnesium. Transdermal application offers an effective means of delivering additional magnesium without disturbing their digestive tract.

Studies

In the book Holy Water, Sacred Oil Dr. Norman Shealy conducted a study on the application of magnesium chloride through foot baths and Transdermal application to determine whether or not magnesium was absorbed through the skin. 16 subjects sprayed a solution of magnesium chloride over the entire body each day along with a 20 minute foot soak in the solution. Subjects had a baseline intercellular magnesium test documenting their deficiency and another post intercellular magnesium test after 1 month. The results were impressive with 75% of participants showing significant increase in intercellular levels of magnesium.1.

New experimental and clinical data on the relationship between magnesium and sport

Summary: Exercise under certain conditions appears to lead to Mg depletion and may worsen a state of deficiency when Mg intake is inadequate. Whereas hypermagnesaemia occurs following short term high intensity exercise as the consequence of a decrease in plasma volume and a shift of cellular magnesium resulting from acidosis, prolonged sub maximal exercise is accompanied by hypomagnesaemia. Discordant findings on the effect of physical exercise on erythrocyte concentrations have been reported. A mechanism for the observed decrease in plasma magnesium concentration after long term physical exercise could be a shift of Mg into the erythrocyte. However, in several studies the decrease in plasma Mg was not accompanied by an increase in RBC Mg, but a decrease in cellular Mg was observed. Urinary Mg losses during an endurance event could play a role in this depletion but are often reduced, reflecting renal compensation. Loss of Mg by sweating takes place only when there is a failure in sweat homeostasis, a situation which arises when exercise is made in conditions of damp atmosphere and high temperature. Stress caused by physical exercise is capable of inducing Mg deficit by various mechanisms. A possible explanation for decreased plasma Mg concentration during long endurance events is the effect of lipolysis. Since fatty acids are mobilized for muscle energy, lipolysis would cause a decrease in plasma Mg. In developed countries Mg intake is often marginal and sport is a factor which is particularly likely to expose athletes to Mg deficit through metabolic depletion linked to exercise itself, which can only aggravate the consequences of a frequent marginal deficiency. Mg depletion and deficiency therefore play a role in the pathophysiology of physical exercise.2

Contraindications to magnesium therapy

1. Kidney failure – the kidneys lose ability to remove excess magnesium.
2. Slow heart rate – magnesium relaxes the heart rate and reduces heart rate even lower.
3. Low blood pressure.

Endnotes

1. Shealy, Norman C. M.D., PhD, Holy Water, Sacred Oil; Biogenics Books, Fair Grove, Missouri; 2000
2. Y. Rayssiguier¹, C. Y. Guezennec², and J. Durlach³

¹INRA, Laboratoire des Maladies Métaboliques, Theix 63122 Ceyrat, France; ²CERMA, Bretigny, France; ³SDRM, 64 rue de Longchamp, Neuilly, France

http://www.mgwater.com