Back Pain
“Oh, my aching back.” How many nurses have uttered that line or something very similar? Back pain is one of the most common pains in North America, and being a nurse doesn’t help. With the bending, lifting and sudden movements we make, our backs are just primed for injury if we’re not careful. But can we help it by taking a supplement? Perhaps, say the results of a study published in the April 2006 issue of Surgical Neurology.
The authors of the study followed 250 patients who had nonsurgical neck or back pain. The patients were given omega-3 EFAs (eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] and decosahexaenoic acid [DHA])—found in fish oil. The researchers found that after one month of taking the fish oil every day, two-thirds of the patients reported relief from pain. Many stopped taking their NSAIDs as a result.
Omega-3 capsules can be found in just about every drug store and many supermarkets. Just be sure that the doses are adequate. The typical accepted dose is 1,000 to 3,000 mg per day. It seems the higher-quality brands have a higher per-capsule dose than the less expensive ones. If you end up taking 10 less expensive ones rather than one or two more expensive ones, you could end up spending more money in the long run.
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