Aussies’ Investigating the Benefits of Shea Butter for Osteoarthritis Relief

This post could have just as easily been entitled “Nothing like a little fasting to get you in tune…since I am in the middle of a 19-day sunrise to sunset Fast, but perhaps a better title would have been, “Am I psychic or what?”

Last evening—on third shift--I finished writing an article entitled Pure Unrefined Shea Butter: Too Heavy for Some Uses, But 4 Reasons It Might Be the Right Choice for You. This was an article highlighting the reasons I personally used 100% pure shea butter in my skin care regimen.

Well, this evening I get an alert in my email telling me that hundreds of osteoarthritis sufferers were needed for a research project. So I took a look at the full article which noted that:

“Two separate clinical trials will examine the benefits of shea butter and a marine lipid extract in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). The studies represent the largest clinical trials on complementary medicines currently being conducted in Australia.”

Ah…it had to be Australia. I was hoping it was nearer to home so I could get a piece of that action ‘cause they gotta be providing free shea to their guinea pigs, so to speak.

Due to an old 1986 automobile accident I have developed some--how should I say--increased sensitivity in my neck and upper shoulder region. In 2004, my chiropractor said it was osteoarthritis settling in.

Settling in? I’m too young to have any bad things settling in, I told him.

Well, back to the psychic part, as I was saying, I had just written this article and sent it out to my Shea-Skins newsletter mailing list. (By the way, if you are not on that list, you might wanna go to my site to join, or in the alternative you can sign up for updates to this blog above.) One of the four reasons that I mentioned that one might use pure unrefined all natural shea butter was, and I quote from my article:

“Muscle Relaxer--If you suffer from arthritis or osteoarthritis, rubbing pure shea butter on the affected area can lessen the stiffness and provide some relief from pain.”

Well some of you may look at the date of the Aussie article and surmise that I had this news article in my possession prior to writing this shea article, but all I can say to that is you don’t know me very well, and the fact that I love to procrastinate and I would have had to have had that article many moons ago: ) –

Fact is if you take a look at another page on my site, entitled 36 Shea Butter Uses, you will see that Shea has anti inflammatory properties in addition to its role as a healing aid in muscle and tension relaxing…and that page has been up almost as long as my site has (1 January 2005). Yeah, anyone that knows anything about shea already knows it has many healing properties.

But anyway, the point is that people really need to get on the alternative remedies circuit if they want real, non-side effect, relief for their symptoms. Because if the truth be known, those who advocate the natural health and healing lifestyle are centuries ahead of the medical profession. And the fact that the medical profession has managed to keep the nutritional supplements and natural healing advocates under lock down (i.e. we are all required to post ridiculous FDA disclaimers on our products and websites) should not deter people from trying something out for themselves.

Yes, when I learned shea was good as a muscle relaxer which was about the same time I begun researching this awesome product for my informational website, I immediately started using it to rub into my OA areas, my neck, shoulders, left wrist. And now it is good to see that the Australian Centre for Complementary Medicine Education and Research is taking a closer look at the benefits of shea butter.

I wonder what our National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is researching?

Oh…no matter what you’ve read, please know that shea butter is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition, if you need symptom relief, please pull out your wallet and go pay for that Cadillac your MD is trying to support. Or, you might try a pound of the shea butter to see if it helps. It’s on sale now at the Discount Authority Shea Skins Mall through 21 March.

And here’s another tip for arthritis and OA sufferers that I picked up from my Prescription for Nutritional Healing book. Try it if you dare.

“The hot peppers known as cayenne (capsicum) contain a compound called capsaicin that relieves pain, apparently by inhibiting the release of substance P, a neurotransmitter responsible for communicating pain sensations. Capsaicin can be absorbed through the skin; mix cayenne powder with enough wintergreen oil to make a paste and apply it to painful joints, or use cayenne peppers in a poultice. This may cause a stinging sensation at first, but with repeated use, pain should diminish markedly. Cayenne can also be taken in capsule form.”

Also, you might try putting a little bit more of the garlic herb superfood into your body for arthritis relief.

Your comments are always welcomed…