3 Easy Exercises for Back Pain Relief

Stop living with daily back pain and start taking action to relieve your back pain for good

by The Healthy Back Institute - (Get their awesome FREE Back Pain Relief Guide)

Back pain is such an obvious problem in our day-to-day lives that we either let it get the best of us, take way too many over-the-counter pain or anti-inflammatory pills, or run to the doctor for physical therapy or surgery. And you know the pain or spasm is coming (or going to get worse than it already is), because you had a stressful day at work or you lifted too many boxes or pull a weed the wrong way from your beautiful garden.

The good news is that suffering back pain need not be a part of your daily routine. All you need to do is engage in a few easy exercises to loosen up and restore proper posture, and your back will be supple in no time.

You don’t need a personal trainer or a gym membership, or even a lot of space to do them. And these three simple exercises should always be your first line of “therapy” when you feel a twinge of discomfort... and certainly long before you reach for the pain relievers or muscles relaxants. A few relaxed sets of each of these exercises can immediately make you feel better, and prevent a needless trip to the doctor.

These simple exercises are knee bends, waist twists and hip rolls.

They are a great way to get the blood moving, release those feel-good endorphins, stretch the muscles, restore normal range of motion and help you detox those nasty toxins that cause pain and inflammation. These are the secrets to back pain relief — and prevention.

Since these simple exercises contract and extend the major muscle groups, including the core stabilizing muscles, you can do them anytime with varying degrees of difficulty. Simply adjust them as you get more accustomed to doing them.

Done regularly, these beneficial exercises will increase your health and fitness levels by promoting blood circulation and releasing muscle tightness and spasms, thus helping to tone your body. They will make you feel warmer and even help improve your digestive health as they assist the action of your intestines to move the bowels and aid in the detoxification process.

Detoxing is important when considering pain, as toxins (metabolic waste) in the blood and muscles creates inflammation and pain.

Let's now look at how easy it is to do these three simple back pain relief exercises:

Exercise 1 — Hip Rolls:

Stand back away from your support and stand with legs at shoulder-width apart.

Tighten your abdominal muscles and put your hands on your hips.

Imagine you have a hula hoop, or are doing the hula, and rotate your hips clockwise 5 times, then rotate them counter-clockwise 5 times.

Be sure to relax and smile and breathe naturally with this exercise.

Exercise 2 — Waist Twists:

With your hands relaxed at your sides and with feet a shoulder-width apart, simply start swinging your arms right then left, patting both hands on your lower back as they reach around.

This will massage the kidneys. Be sure not to swing or pat too hard, just in a relaxed easy motion! Breathe naturally and relax.

Simply do a count of 10, and then relax. Then move onto the next exercise.

Exercise 3 — Knee Bends:

Do some gentle, relaxed knee bends. If you have knee or back issues it is best to do them with the assistance of a chair, table or desk.

Stand in a relaxed shoulder-width position and place your hands on the support. Tighten your stomach muscles and exhale while bending your knees and going down as far as you can without falling or straining your knees. Inhale while standing up. Do 10 of these to finish this quick exercise circuit.

The complete series of these three simple exercises only takes about two minutes to complete. Initially, try to do the exercises three times each day.

So take an exercise break at work instead of a coffee or cigarette break! You'll be delighted on how good your low back will start to feel over time.

Click here to grab a copy of the FREE Book - The 7-Day Back Pain Cure

Scientists Find Cancer-Destroying Protein

By Amy Coopes (AFP) – Oct 31, 2010

SYDNEY:- Australian and British scientists have uncovered a "death" protein that destroys rogue cells in what could be breakthrough for the fight against cancer, malaria and diabetes, researchers said Monday.

The protein, perforin, targets wayward cells and punches a hole in their membranes to let in killer enzymes, project leader James Whisstock said, adding the discovery "answers a really fundamental mystery of immunity".

"Perforin is our body's weapon of cleansing and death," said Whisstock, from Australia's Monash University.

"It breaks into cells that have been hijacked by viruses or turned into cancer cells and allows toxic enzymes in, to destroy the cell from within," he said. "Without it, our immune system can't destroy these cells."

High-powered microscopes in Australia and at London's Birkbeck College had allowed scientists to examine perforin's structure and function, Whisstock said, revealing a "powerful molecule" that targets malignant or infected cells.

Without perforin -- released by "killer" cells designed to destroy harmful invaders -- the body was unable to fight infections. Studies with mice had linked defective perforin to leukaemia and heightened cell malignancy.

The discovery also had implications for autoimmune diseases such as juvenile type 1 diabetes and for transplant patients, with the protein linked to both the elimination of healthy cells and tissue rejection, added Whisstock.

"Now we know how it works, we can start to fine-tune it to fight cancer, malaria and diabetes," Whisstock said.

Fellow researcher Joe Trapani said the 10-year study found that perforin's structure was similar to bacterial toxins like anthrax and listeria, suggesting that the human body had learned its tactics from diseases themselves.

"Quite remarkably that mechanism is conserved all the way back to bacteria... we've actually pinched it off bacteria at some point (in human evolution) and turned it back against them," said Trapani, from Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

"It's a war conducted between our immune system and bacteria and we're actually fighting using similar weapons," he told AFP, explaining that it was two billion year old blueprint.

Trapani said the discovery had exciting and diverse applications ranging from "stuff in third-world countries with the malaria all the way through to more Western-style medicine with transplantation and so on."

Whisstock said researchers were looking for ways to inhibit and boost perforin and use it to "deliver toxic cargoes into cells by choice", hoping to pave the way for new drugs.

"I have worked on this for a long time and it answers a really fundamental mystery of immunity," Whisstock told ABC radio.

"So I think just from a fundamental science perspective, I think it is really, really important and it is actually also a really cool story."

New Hope For Late Stage Cancer Patients

There is a new hope for cancer patients in Malaysia.

A vaccine widely known for treating late-stage cancer - almost all types of cancer, except leukemia - is now available in the country.

The Human Initiated Therapeutic Vaccine (HITV), which was only available in Japan previously, is able to completely destroy microscopic and tiny nests of cancer cells, thus preventing any future recurrences.
Discovered in 2005 by Dr Kenichiro Hasumi, a Japanese physician and researcher, HITV is an autologus (patient derived) active cell-based immunotherapy for metastatic or late-stage cancer patients.It is based on immunology that harnesses human immune system’s innate and adaptive ability to combat diseases.

Dr Hasumi, founder and chairman of Hasumi International Research Foundation in the United States, has dedicated more than 40 years of his life to find a cure to cancer.
Speaking at a media conference today, Dr Hasumi said the therapy was highly effective for patients suffering from late-stage cancer, when used in combination with radiotherapy.
“The use of tomotherapy (a type of radiation therapy) is important in this protocol. It can target the tumors precisely in one sweep, while reducing the radiation exposure to the surrounding tissues,” he said.
The treatment includes harvesting immune cells from the patient, culturing them in the laboratory to become immature dentritic cells, and then re-introducing them into the patient’s body, through injection into the tumor.HITV course takes about three weeks, with 10 days of actual treatment. Patients will have to be examined with PET-CT scan after the treatment periodically, to monitor the tumors for regression.Five out of nine patients show complete response
While the treatment was only available in Japan, nine Malaysians suffering late stage of various types of cancer have decided to give it a try. Five of them have shown complete response.
They include Goh Sai Wah, 58, a non-smoker who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer with extensive spread to the spine and bone in May, last year.
She underwent the HITV therapy in Japan on Oct 30, last year and in her follow-up check, six weeks later, almost all cancer cells had disappeared.

Now, 365 days later, and counting, she is very much alive and well.
Dr Hasumi said since late stage cancer was a very difficult stage to cure, he hoped that in future, there would be innovations to cure cancer in the early stages.

HITV therapy costs about RM200,000, if patients decide to have it in Japan.

In Malaysia, it will cost about RM150,000.
The therapy is now available at the Mahameru International Medical Centre but medical practitioners are trying their very best to introduce HITV to all hospitals in the Klang Valley, in an effort to give late-stage cancer patients a new hope in life.

Read more about it here: Anti-cancer application (thestar.com.my dated 23 October 2011)

Doc: Papaya Leaves Can Cure Dengue

A study done by a team of Malaysian researchers confirms that the "old wife's tale" of drinking papaya leaf juice to cure dengue fever is true after all! Read about it here: Doc: Papaya Leaves Can Cure Dengue

Benefits of Eating Fresh Pineapple

The pineapple is a member of the bromeliad family. It is extremely rare that bromeliads produce edible fruit.
The pineapple is the only available edible bromeliad today. It is a multiple fruit. One pineapple is actually made up of dozens of individual flowerettes that grow together to form the entire fruit.

Each scale on a pineapple is evidence of a separate flower. Pineapples stop ripening the minute they are picked.
No special way of storing them will help ripen them further. Color is relatively unimportant in determining ripeness.

Choose your pineapple by smell. If it smells fresh, tropical and sweet, it will be a good fruit. The more scales on the pineapple, the sweeter and juicier the taste.

After you cut off the top, you can plant it. It should grow much like a sweet potato will. This delicious fruit is not only sweet and tropical; it also offers many benefits to our health.

Pineapple is a remarkable fruit. We find it enjoyable because of its lush, sweet and exotic flavor, but it may also be one of the most healthful foods available today. If we take a more detailed look at it, we will find that pineapple is valuable for easing indigestion, arthritis or sinusitis. The juice has an anthelmintic effect; it helps get rid of intestinal worms.

Let's look at how pineapple affects other conditions.

Pineapple is high in manganese, a mineral that is critical to development of strong bones and connective tissue.
A cup of fresh pineapple will give you nearly 75% of the recommended daily amount. It is particularly helpful to older adults, whose bones tend to become brittle with age.

Bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme, is the key to pineapple's value.

Proteolytic means "breaks down protein", which is why pineapple is known to be a digestive aid. It helps the body digest proteins more efficiently.

Bromelain is also considered an effective anti-inflammatory. Regular ingestion of at least one half cup of fresh pineapple daily is purported to relieve painful joints common to osteoarthritis. It produces mild pain relief. In Germany, bromelain is approved as a post-injury medication because it is thought to reduce inflammation and swelling.

Orange juice is a popular liquid for those suffering from a cold because it is high in Vitamin C.
Fresh pineapple is not only high in this vitamin, but because of the bromelain, it has the ability to reduce mucous in the throat.

If you have a cold with a productive cough, add pineapple to your diet. It is commonly used in Europe as a post-operative measure to cut mucous after certain sinus and throat operations. Those individuals who eat fresh pineapple daily report fewer sinus problems related to allergies. In and of itself, pineapple has a very low risk for allergies.

Pineapple is also known to discourage blood clot development. This makes it a valuable dietary addition for frequent fliers and others who may be at risk for blood clots.

An old folk remedy for morning sickness is fresh pineapple juice. It really works! Fresh juice and some nuts first thing in the morning often make a difference. It's also good for a healthier mouth. The fresh juice discourages plaque growth.