Back pain has adverse effects on your work and other duties, mood, day-to-day activities, sleep, and overall enjoyment of life. Discover ways to fix it through diet and supplements.
Back pain is a common and often costly complaint that afflicts millions of Americans. It is also one that is notoriously hard to diagnose, let alone fix with medicine and surgery. Often surgery doesn’t alleviate the pain, is expensive, and negatively impacts quality of life more than the original backache did. Many but not all causes of back pain are due to inflammation of tissues, and anti-inflammatory food can help relieve some of the pain.
In this excerpt from the book The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods by James A. Duke, PHD and Bill Gottlieb, CHC the author’s discuss what foods are good for back pain, why they can help, and how they are best taken.
As a person who has long had back problems, I’m astounded by the number of Americans who share my affliction. The most recent estimates show that a whopping 61 million Americans have had lower-back pain within the past three months! Nineteen million have had neck pain within that time period. All in all, an astounding 80 percent of Americans deal with back pain at some point—with distress that can dramatically affect their quality of life and at worst be totally incapacitating.
According to researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine, who conducted a nationwide survey of 1,200 adults, 25 percent of respondents cited the back as their most common source of pain. They said it had adverse effects on their work and other duties, mood, day-to-day activities, sleep, and overall enjoyment of life.
Unfortunately, good pain relief is hard to come by. Although respondents relied most on prescription drugs and prayer, only 50 percent of them said these methods were effective. About 1 in 10 took daily over-the-counter painkillers, while 2 in 10 relied on daily prescription painkillers. That means a sizable number of Americans are gobbling mounds of drugs each day but more often than not are getting little benefit.
Not so long ago, doctors treated back pain with rest, long-term medication, and surgery. Fortunately, surgery is no longer as commonly recommended, yet Americans are still about 20 times more likely than Canadians and Europeans to “go under the knife” for back pain.
If your doctor recommends surgery, I strongly suggest getting several other medical opinions. I regret not having done that when I underwent cervical fusion at the behest of my HMO. That operation was a waste of blood, sutures, and recovery time. It didn’t make me feel any better. Only later did I learn that 80 percent of patients with the same diagnosis—those who had the wisdom to forgo surgery—gradually rid themselves of pain in just four months.
That said, I don’t have the same negative opinion about the short-term use of medications—prescription and nonprescription—to treat a nasty flare-up of back pain. Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs—and, in severe cases, codeine or slow-release morphine (both of which come from an herbal source: the opium poppy)— can provide temporary relief.
To help prevent backache—or manage lingering or lessening pain—a number of food remedies can prove useful.
Chili peppers. Hot peppers contain a resinous, pungent substance known as capsaicin, which is number one among my painkillers. When applied topically, capsaicin temporarily depletes substance P, a chemical in nerves that transmits pain sensations. Without substance P, pain signals can no longer be sent. Dozens of studies show that capsaicin can temporarily relieve many painful conditions, including back pain.
A Triple Whammy for Back Pain
If I had a killer backache and needed to attack it with my entire arsenal, I’d start by eating some stinging nettle greens, an excellent painkilling food that unfortunately must be either grown or foraged; I’ve yet to find it in any supermarket (when you cook the leaves, they lose their sting). Then I’d mix up a salve made of mashed chili pepper, ground mustard seed, and vinegar, possibly with a little wintergreen oil (which contains painkilling methylsalicylate), clove oil (which contains painkilling eugenol), and one of the mint oils listed on page 58. After rubbing this pungent concoction on my sore back, I’d take a bite of red pepper (which, in addition to capsaicin, contains painkilling salicylates) or a spoonful of horseradish or mustard (both of which contain painkilling isothiocyanate). I think this whammy of a remedy has great potential for treating out-of-whack backs.
You can buy a commercial topical cream containing 0.025 to 0.075 percent capsaicin and apply it to your aching back three or four times a day. Or you can do what people outside the United States often do: buy a chili pepper, mash it, and apply it directly. You can also mix mashed chili with a skin cream such as cold cream. Either way, you’ll save money. A fresh hot pepper costs a few pennies, whereas a commercial capsaicin product such as Zostrix can cost up to $16.
No matter which route you choose, you may experience a burning sensation the first few times you use capsaicin, but it usually subsides with repeated use. Just be sure to thoroughly wash your hands after using it. If you get any in your eyes, nose, or mouth, it may be almost as painful as your aching back.
Although capsaicin is best used topically, it may be helpful to add more peppers, pepper-derived hot sauce, and cayenne powder to your diet. Another option is taking a cayenne tincture (0.3 to one milliliter) three times a day. You can also make an infusion by stirring 1 ⁄2 to one teaspoon (2.5 to five grams) of cayenne powder into one cup of boiling water, letting it stand for 10 minutes, and taking one teaspoon mixed with water three or four times daily. See the curried celery recipe detailed in Diet for Osteoarthritis.
Besides being potent COX-2 inhibitors, peppers are a pretty good source of natural analgesic salicylates (aspirin-like compounds). You can bet I add some to my curried celery dietary analgesic.
Ginger. Ginger contains high amounts of a powerful anti-inflammatory substance called zingibain. According to some experts, it’s even more potent than the bromelain in pineapple or the papain in papaya. Ginger reportedly contains 180 times more proteolytic enzymes than the papaya plant and may be even more effective at relieving inflammation-related conditions, including backache. It also contains at least four natural COX-2 inhibitors, and, unlike prescription COX-2 inhibitors such as celecoxib (Celebrex), it’s not associated with any serious side effects.
It’s easy to get enough ginger in your diet to help reduce pain. You can take it as an herb in tea by steeping three or four slices of fresh ginger in a cup of boiling water, or, if you prefer, you can get medicinal doses in tinctures or capsules. I, however, prefer ginger as a liberal and tasty addition to my daily diet. Sprinkling 1 ⁄2 teaspoon of powdered ginger into your foods or eating about an ounce (two tablespoons) of fresh ginger provides a medicinal dose every day. Even ginger ale helps and is easy it to take—but be sure it’s the real thing, made with ginger.
Thinking about ginger reminds me of an exotic pain remedy I encountered during my travels down the Amazon River. I dubbed it Soccorro’s Secret, after Soccorro Guerrero, who brewed it in her kitchen. Her salve is made of ginger, honey, rum, and other ingredients, including the herb dragon’s blood. Of course, you could always try drinking a tea made with a tablespoon of dried ginger and sweetened to taste with honey or—if you’re feeling adventurous—just a splash of rum.
FOODS TO WATCH
Although no specific foods will increase your risk of backache, eating too much food on a regular basis can. Being overweight or obese places a lot of strain on your lower back. So does a lack of exercise. Although it sounds counterintuitive, one of the worst things you can do for an aching back is to stop exercising. The YMCA has an excellent program for people with back pain, which combines stretching, strength training, and relaxation.
Mint. Peppermint, spearmint, Chinese mint, and other mint oils contain high amounts of menthol, which when applied topically can help relieve the pain and muscle tightness associated with backache. Although you can buy commercial products containing menthol, it may be a better (and cheaper) bet to apply mint oils directly to your back k— but beware that such oils are toxic when consumed internally. Another option is to drink peppermint tea two or three times a day. Although many commercial mint teas are available, I’d recommend making your own by pouring one cup of boiling water over one heaping teaspoon (five grams) of dried peppermint leaves and steeping for 5 to 10 minutes; drink three to four cups daily. For extra benefits, consider stirring a delicious peppermint/chamomile tea with a licorice stick, which will give you a host of analgesic and anti-inflammatory compounds. Another option is taking three to six grams of peppermint leaf tablets or capsules a day. In the Green Farmacy Garden and the Amazon medicinal plant gardens I visit, we have many weedy mints, and I often just pick a handful of leaves, mash them with my hands, and apply locally to achy areas.
Cherries. If you have a really bad backache, I doubt that eating cherries will make you feel much better. But if you’re prone to backaches, regular consumption of cherries may help prevent some of the muscle damage to your quadratus lumborum, the muscle most commonly involved in lower-back pain. In a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers studied 14 healthy male college students who drank either a bottle of tart cherry juice (which contained the equivalent of 50 to 60 tart cherries) or a placebo drink before engaging in a muscle-damaging exercise. They found that muscle soreness and pain scores were considerably lower among the students who drank the cherry juice.
Pineapple. This exotic fruit is rich in a number of substances that can help people with conditions such as back pain. Foremost among them is bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme that helps reduce the swelling and inflammation of many painful “-itis” (inflammatory) conditions. Its anti-inflammatory effects are so profound that the German government has approved its use for healing after injuries and surgical procedures. Pineapple also contains high amounts of manganese, which is essential for the formation of collagen, the tough, fibrous protein that builds connective tissues such as bone, skin, and cartilage. You can get 100 percent of the Daily Value for manganese (2.3 milligrams) from just a cup of fresh pineapple chunks or pineapple juice. Pineapple is also a rich source of vitamin C, also necessary for collagen formation: A cup of fresh chunks contains 131 percent of the daily value. To get the maximum antioxidant punch, try “Gold” pineapple, which is imported from Costa Rica and contains four times as much vitamin C as other pineapples.
Unfortunately, research suggests that the levels of both bromelain in fresh pineapple and papain, a related enzyme in fresh papaya, may be too low to relieve a bad episode of back pain. While I would encourage enjoying these fruits—either whole or as juice— you’ll probably need to go the supplement route to get seriously effective levels. Or spice things up with ginger, with its proteolytic enzyme zingibain. Naturopaths suggest taking anywhere between 250 and 750 milligrams of bromelain three times a day. In human studies, a daily dose of up to 2,000 milligrams has not been shown to be harmful.
Turmeric. This yellow curry spice is a rich source of curcumin, a strong antioxidant that protects against free radical damage. Curcumin is also a natural pain-relieving COX-2-inhibitor, which makes it an attractive, side effect–free alternative to prescription COX-2 inhibitors such as Celebrex. It also reduces inflammation by lowering histamine levels and possibly stimulating the adrenal glands to produce more cortisone, the body’s natural painkiller. Lately, I’ve had two students who switched from Celebrex to either curcumin or curried celery and thought it was a good tradeoff.
Human studies of curcumin have found that it can reduce the pain and stiffness associated with rheumatoid arthritis as well as help relieve postsurgical inflammation. I prefer a whole-foods approach whenever possible because I believe you get more healing power from whole foods than from individual components, so I often use liberal amounts of curry in rice and other dishes and would consider adding it to other anti-inflammatory foods such as pineapple and papaya. You also can make tea with turmeric.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to get medicinal doses of curcumin from diet alone. According to naturopaths, that dose is 250 to 500 milligrams of pure curcumin a day between meals, which translates into 5 to 25 teaspoons of dried turmeric daily. That’s a good deal more than even a curry fan like me would want to add to my food. I would recommend adding as much turmeric as possible to your diet to help prevent pain and taking turmeric supplements—standardized to contain 90 to 95 percent curcumin—to help relieve acute pain. And always take it with freshly ground black pepper, which increases its absorption significantly.
From the Herbal Medicine Chest
The results of many studies suggest that devil’s claw may be an effective alternative to conventional drugs for back pain. One study found that a dose of 600 to 1,200 milligrams a day reduced lower-back pain. Another study, which involved 316 patients, found that devil’s claw relieved back pain as well as did a standard dose of rofecoxib (Vioxx), the COX-2 inhibitor that was pulled from the market because it increased the risk of heart attacks. When you feel those twinges coming on, try taking 1,200 milligrams of devil’s claw a day. Just be sure it’s a water-soluble extract product containing 50 milligrams of the compound harpagoside. Because the herb could be dangerous for people with low blood pressure and those taking blood thinners, it’s best to consult your doctor before trying this remedy.
For additional advice on proven natural remedies for common health conditions, purchase The Green Pharmacy from Bottomlineinc.com.
