Accelerating the Healing of Injuries with Nutrients
Recovery from injuries due to outdoor activities can often be hastened
with the aid of nutritional supplements. Take vitamin C and the healing
of fractures as an example. Compared to controls, rats with tibial
fractures given a single high dose of vitamin C went through the stages
of fracture healing faster.1 Moreover, a double-blind study reported
in the Lancet randomly gave 123 adults who had sustained wrist fractures
either 500 mg ascorbic acid or placebo daily for 50 days. While 22%
of patients in the placebo group developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy
(persistent pain along with skin and other changes near the site of
the injury) over the next year, it developed in only 7% of the supplemented
group.2
Several nutrients can aid in the recovery from traumatic brain injuries. The
worse the brain damage, the lower the serum ionized magnesium,3 and animal
studies have found supplemental magnesium to improve outcome.4 In one study,
half of a group of 68 victims of severe closed head injuries randomly received
supplemental zinc in addition to standard treatment. Twenty-eight days later
after injury, 26% of the controls had died compared to only 12% of the supplemented
patients, and a measure of coma was significantly better in the supplemented
group.5
Citicoline, an essential intermediate in the synthesis of the structural phospholipids
of cell membranes, has been extensively studied for its neuroprotective effects.
In regard to head trauma, its administration accelerated the recovery from
post-traumatic coma and the recuperation of walking ability, achieved a better
final functional result and reduced hospital stays, in addition to improving
the cognitive and memory disturbances.6 Also, animal work has shown that creatine
supplementation prior to brain7 or spinal cord8 injury is strongly neuroprotective,
suggesting that the supplement could help to minimize acute and delayed neurodegenerative
processes.7
Because of their free-radical-quenching, iron-chelating, and anti-inflammatory
properties, flavonoids such as quercetin may reduce the effects of brain and
spinal cord injuries.9 Moreover, a series of controlled trials from the 1960s
found that supplementation with citrus bioflavonoids to athletes prior to injury
greatly reduced recovery time as well as protected against sprains.10 Sports
may cause damage to the cartilage of the kneecap (chondropathia patellae),
and glucosamine sulfate 500 mg 3 times daily appears to speed the healing process.11
Finally, many studies, most of them double-blind, have demonstrated the benefits
of administering hydrolytic enzymes following injuries. For example, 43 injured
athletes received either a mixture of proteolytic enzymes containing trypsin
and chymotrypsin or placebo. Treated patients had statistically significant
benefits including less bruising, a more rapid return of function in the injured
area, and a more rapid return to play.12 In another study, when players sustained
blunt wounds to the soft tissue with distortion of the ankle joint, ice and
tape was applied and one group received hydrolytic enzymes while the other
received placebo. Based on objective measurements of swelling and joint motility
as well as on subjective measurements of pain during rest and with motion,
recovery was better in the enzyme-treated group. The time during which the
players were unable to work or train was found to be reduced by about 50%,
a statistically significant difference, by enzyme therapy.13
Doctor Werbach cautions that the nutritional treatment of illness
should be supervised by physicians or practitioners whose training
prepares them to recognize serious illness and to integrate nutritional
interventions safely into the treatment plan.
References
1. Yilmaz C et al. The contribution of vitamin C to healing of experimental
fractures. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg 2001 Jul;121(7):426-8
2. Zollinger PE et al. Effect of vitamin C on frequency of reflex sympathetic
dystrophy in wrist fractures: a randomised trial. Lancet 354:2025-8,
1999
3. Memon ZI et al. Predictive value of serum ionized but not total
magnesium levels in head injuries. Scand J Clin Lab Invest 55(8):671-7,
1995
4. Vink R et al. Magnesium attenuates persistent functional deficits
following diffuse traumatic brain injury in rats. Neurosci Lett 2003
Jan 9;336(1):41-4
5. Young B et al. Zinc supplementation is associated with improved
neurologic recovery rate and visceral protein levels of patients with
severe closed head injury. J Neurotrauma 13:25-34, 1996
6. Secades JJ, Frontera G. CDP-choline: pharmacological and clinical
review. Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol 17 Suppl B:2-54, 1995
7. Sullivan PG et al. Dietary supplement creatine protects against
traumatic brain injury. Ann Neurol 2000;48(5):723-9
8. Hausmann ON et al. Protective effects of oral creatine supplementation
on spinal cord injury in rats. Spinal Cord 2002 Sep;40(9):449-56
9. Juurlink BH, Paterson PG. Review of oxidative stress in brain and
spinal cord injury: suggestions for pharmacological and nutritional
management strategies. J Spinal Cord Med 21(4):309-34, 1998
10. Broussard MU. Evaluation of citrus bioflavonoids in contact sports.
Citrus in Medicine 2(2), October, 1963
11. Böhmer D et al. Treatment of chondropathia patellae in young
athletes with glucosamine sulfate, in N Bachl et al, Eds. Current Topics
in Sports Medicine. Proc World Congress of Sports Med, Vienna, 1982.
Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1984
12. Rathgeber WF. The use of proteolytic enzymes (Chymoral) in sporting
injuries. S Afr Med J 45(7):181-3, 1971
13. Baumuller M. [Therapy of ankle joint distortions with hydrolytic
enzymes: results of double-blind clinical trials.] Allegemeinmedizin
19:178-82, 1990) (in German)
In his latest book, Dr. Werbach has assembled a unique library of
case reports concerning nutritional and herbal treatments for 155 different
illnesses. It is available in print or on diskette from Third Line
Press Inc., 4751 Viviana Drive, Tarzana, California 91356 USA; 818-996-0076;
Fax: 818-774-1575; internet: http://www.third-line.com; e-mail: tlp@third-line.com.
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