Exercising frequently and playing sports takes a toll on your body. There's always going to be soreness and injury. You really can't avoid it if you're passionate about fitness and like to push yourself hard. It happens to newbies, too. Especially when your body hasn't quite acclimated to routine training.
Over the years, I've learned a lot of tricks and natural healing methods to help my muscles recover faster and get me back into the game. These are just a few...
- Cold & Hot Therapy - Make sure to ice areas of inflammation and swelling followed by soaking in a hot bath to relieve pain/soreness.
- Epsom Salt added to a hot bath is extremely soothing for your muscles. Or, any kind of high magnesium based salt.
- Essential oils (mixed correctly) can relax and calm tense areas.
- Homeopathic biomedicines like arnica, calendula and echinacea can be just as effective as over the counter pain relief pills and narcotic pain killers. And they're better for you!
This fall, I appeared on 2 news shows to talk about pain relief and marathon prep (which always includes post-race recovery). On both shows, I featured Topricin and MyPainAway Sports Cream.
I travel with these creams and keep a bottle of each in my bathroom medicine cabinet because it's formulated for the every day athlete with pure biomedicines like Arnica.
I wish it wasn't a problem of mine, but working out daily gives me chronic neck and shoulder pain. It's pretty common for women to carry tension in these areas but I seem to get it twofold. I used to buy pharmacy favorites like Icy Hot or Tiger's Balm but they often left my skin feeling dry and chafed. The numbing chemicals inside provided only momentary relief and ended up irritating my skin for the worse. So I threw it all out.
I read about Topricin Biomedics in Shape magazine last spring and decided to give the company a try. I was really impressed with their product range as it's totally different than everything I've tried in the past. All the creams go on like a moisturizing lotion, don't have any kind of scent or chemical sensation and seep into your skin very quickly to provide a soothing relief at your joints, muscles and nerves. Each one is all natural without a single harsh chemical inside.
As I started using MyPainAway Sports Cream more and more, it occurred to me, this would feel insanely amazing with a massage! So I've been handing it to my Zeel.com massage therapist everytime I book an in-home treatment. I highly recommend it for deep tissue work. You will thank me. I don't know about you but I like my massages to get all of my knots out, no matter how painful. Using this cream makes the massage (i.e. elbow technique) more bearable but also alleviates any next day soreness you might feel.
More people are buying all natural products to use at home. Even though it takes more effort to read ingredient labels, it's worth it in the long run to avoid damaging your skin. Topricin makes a variety of creams, from their original Pain Relief Cream to Foot Pain Relief Cream, as well as MyPainAway FIBRO and MyPainAway After Burn Cream. My favorite is the MyPainAway Sports Cream (as most of my soreness is indeed fitness related) but if there's someone in your household who gives really great foot massages, you should break out the Foot Pain Relief Cream and flash your big puppy dog eyes at them. Or, take it with you when you get a pedicure or acu-foot massage. And if you've ever been to a Chinatown foot rub place like they have here in New York, definitely bring it!
The more you're treating your tender areas with pure biomedicines, you're allowing the rest of your body to relax. Oftentimes when you have a painful spot on your body, the areas around it will tense up in response, which sets off a chain reaction of stress and discomfort. If you're prone to soreness like I am, I highly recommend trying one of the Topricin creams. They can be used for common pains along the back, neck, chest, abdominals, legs, shoulders and any kind of joint pain. They are available at Vitamin Shoppe retail stores or Topricin.com. Use this promo code FIT30 for 30% OFF my personal go-to, MyPainAway Sports Cream.
Here's a feel-good giveaway! Leave a comment below sharing a chronic pain you'd like to treat OR let me know a race you just completed, to win Topricin's Deluxe Foot Therapy Spa Set (as seen below).
I'm picking 3 winners on November 24th, 2016. Good luck! And congrats to you (and your feet) if you ran the New York marathon last week!