Tag Archive for: Functional Foods

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Functional Foods and Inflammation

What are functional foods and how can they help reduce pain? Functional foods are not clearly defined as the qualities they posses and their role in health are constantly evolving. In general a Functional Food is a food that you consume for its bioactive components for health related purposes. These bioactive components are best consumed raw as heat alters the properties of food and may in some cases make the bioactive components, well, less active.

What is Inflammation? Our job as Physical Therapists and Wellness Providers is to help you feel better and move pain free as quickly as possible. When you have an injury your body becomes inflamed at the injury site. Inflammation is a natural immune response designed to promote blood flow to injured areas in an effort to heal the injury site. Imagine you fall and bump your head (injury site). The response of your body is for that area to swell, become warm and hurt (a result of blood flow to the area). This is called the inflammatory response; Pain is a result of this response and as you heal pain should be reduced.

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