Natural Pain and Inflammation Support

Have you ever been told by your doctor or natural healthcare provider that you “have inflammation” or are “inflamed?”

“Inflammation has become an umbrella term encompassing a plethora of metabolic dysregulations, but it doesn’t provide much depth or explanation into what’s actually going on internally.

Inflammation is directly produced by our immune systems and can be caused by various different types of imbalances. The various sources of inflammation include:

• Gut imbalances/dysbiosis¹
• Food sensitivities²
• Low-grade infections³
• Immune imbalances⁴
• Poor dental hygiene⁵
• Nutritional deficiencies⁶
• Sedentary lifestyle⁷
• Poor diet⁸
• Emotional stress⁹
• Physical stress (including oxidative stress and injury)¹⁰
• Autoimmunity¹¹
• Liver stress¹²

Inflammation is not always a bad thing. Our body needs healthy levels of inflammation to initiate healing and repair. However, when inflammation rises to unhealthy levels and/or becomes chronic, it becomes a hindrance to tissue healing and repair.

Harmful inflammation is often the cumulative effect of the cytokine messengers released by immune cells. These messengers perpetuate the inflammatory cascade when the immune system does not respond appropriately, or there is continuous exposure to the insulting agent(s).¹³

Reducing systemic inflammation is analogous to “putting out the fire,” so the clean-up crew can enter, determine what started the fire, and begin repairing the foundation.

Natural Inflammation Support

Turmeric

Turmeric is one of the most well-known anti-inflammatory herbs, and for good reason. It contains a compound called curcumin that offers widespread benefits, improving inflammation both systemically and at its core.

Thousands of human studies have been conducted using turmeric or curcuminoid extracts (a higher concentration of the active constituent), which show that turmeric improves various health outcomes, including:

• Reduces several markers of inflammation¹⁴
• Increase the body's natural antioxidant production¹⁵
• Improves arthritis¹⁶
• Ulcerative colitis¹⁷
• May lower cholesterol¹⁸
• Chelate heavy metals and harmful unbound iron^{19, 20}
• Improves metabolic health markers²¹
• Liver health and fucntion²²
• Rheumatoid arthrits²³

Turmeric offers such vast and far-reaching health support via its ability to reduce cytokine production, quench free radicals that cause inflammation, and modulate immune signaling.²⁴

We use one of the highest concentrations of curcuminoid extracts in Infla IQ at 95% concentration.

American Skullcap

An ancient Native American remedy, skullcap has long been known for its calming an pain reducing properties. This herb has historically been used to support a variety of complaints, some of the more notable include eye pain, nerve pain, fever, and breast tenderness associated with hormonal changes, and other inflammation-related conditions.²⁵

Studies have identified various compounds of skullcap that modulate immune cells and reduce inflammatory mediators as support allergic responses.²⁶ In additional to it’s pain modulating effects, skullcap has also been shown to improve mood and reduce anxiety.^{25, 27}

White willow bark -

Another ancient remedy known for its anti-inflammatory properties. White willow bark contains salicin, which is structurally similar to aspirin; it has been shown to reduce pain signaling.²⁸.

One study found significant improvements in low-back pain with the addition of willow bark compared to the placebo group. 39% of the participants reported no pain after 1 week in the high-dose group.²⁹ Similar results were observed in osteoarthritis patients with with the use of willow bark.³⁰

Other studies have found identified various other compounds in willow bark that also possess anti-inflammatory properties.^{31, 32}

Boswellia Serrata

The same tree that provides frankincense, boswellia has historically been recognized for its anti-inflammatory properties. Several compound have been identified in boswellia that reduce inflammatory mediators, cytokines, and that have antioxidant properties.³³

Studies have shown boswellia to be a safe and effective thereapy for osteoarthritis pain,³⁴ that it repairs nerve damage,³⁵ possesses several anti-inflammatory actions,³⁶ and may improve nerve pain.³⁷

Magnesium

Magnesium plays many significant roles in the body in maintaining healthy metabolic fucntion and enzyme fucntion. One of the less-acclaimed benefits of magensium is it’s role in bone and joint health.³⁸ Without sufficient magnesium, the body struggles to produce the energy need to sustain tissue integrity. One of the first places that this will show up is in slower-growing tissues like collagen.³⁸

On top of this, when your body is under excess stress (such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and/or emotional stress), your body burns thorugh magnesium more quickly, requiring more dietary magnesium in order to function optimally.³⁹ About 50% of Americans are estimated to be magnesium deficient, adding to the need for greater magnesium intake.⁴⁰

Magnesium also plays a direct role in the pain signaling pathways and acts to reduce the sensation of pain by modulating the NMDA receptors of the nervous system.⁴¹ It has shown analgesic effects across various specitrums of pain-causing illness and imbalalnces.⁴¹

Finding Relief to Heal

Everyone knows that maintaining healthy mobility, ohysical acitivity, and leading healthful habits should be the baseline strategy for preventing inflammation and maitainting healthy tissues. However, finding the motivation to engage in activities that promote healing when you don’t feel well can be challenging.

Addressing systemic inflammation and improving the pain and stiffness associated with it is an ideal place to start to initiate healing. When you feel good, you are more inclined to move your body, make healthy food choices, and avoid activities that promote inflammation.

Infla IQ is an excellent tool to support healthy levels of inflammation and promote tissue healing. With potent concentrations of the herbs outlined above, Infla IQ can help you jump start your wellness journey so you can move, think, eat, and live in ease and confortability.