Health Benefits Ginger

Have you ever looked in to the health benefits ginger? It really has some fantastic benefits. Ginger can come in many forms

Fresh
Dried
Powder
Juice or as an
Essential Oil.

Health Benefits Ginger – Chinese Medicine

The health benefits of ginger can be linked right back to Chinese medicine and over 3,000 years ago. This plant was used for a multitude of reasons:

A range of digestive disorders

Muscular conditions
Life longevity

Health Benefits Ginger – Essential Oil

As an essential oil ginger can be used in many ways but must only be applied topically.

When diluted in a base oil or
Inhaled in very small amounts – ideally via a diffuser

As an ingredient ginger is quite harmless. If you are thinking about taking ginger supplements internally you should consult your doctor.

In certain circumstances, with certain some conditions, taken orally could cause more harm than help.

Mostly the essential oil of ginger is non-toxic and non-irritant. Despite root ginger’s rather strong smell in its natural state, the essential oil smells rather warm and spicy, sweet and moody.

Health benefits Ginger – Sore Tummy

In The Complete Book of Essential Oils & Aromatherapy Valerie Ann Worwood, ensures that she always includes ginger in her Basic Travel Kit.

For travel sickness the book recommends applying two drops of oil to a handkerchief, to be inhaled during the journey.

Alternatively one drop diluted in a little vegetable oil can be rubbed gently on the tummy, which. This would work equally well for indigestion.

Health Benefits Ginger – Motivation

In aromatherapy, essential oil of ginger is believed to suit people who are full of the ideas and plans but find it difficult to motivate themselves. It promotes a sense of well being and encourages the joy of achievement – amazing!

Health Benefits Ginger – Back Pain

Ginger is thought to be particularly beneficial for the lower back because of its association with the kidneys.

Chinese medicine has used ginger for years to warm and strengthen ‘yang’ energy of the kidneys, It is considered to be ‘hot & dry’ therefore helpful in treating ‘cold, damp’ conditions.

Blend a few drops of essential oil of ginger with the same quantities of lavender and eucalyptus oils in a carrier oil. This is great for massaging the lower back.

“It’s excellent for cold, debilitated individuals who have a pale swollen tongue”, Gabriel Mojay, Aromatherapy for the Healing Spirit

For more information about the therapy treatments we offer please feel free to contact us.

No, nothing to do with guns and aiming, although Trigger Point Therapy – as anyone who has experienced it will testify – is far from painless!

A Trigger Point is defined as

‘A hyper-irritable spot in skeletal muscle that is associated with a hypersensitive palpable nodule in a taut band’.

In essence, it is an especially tender spot similar to a muscle knot. Like a normal knot, it prevents the muscle from fully extending, and generally weakens its performance, but on top of this, a Trigger Point has the potential to send referred pain to other areas of the body.

The referred pains caused by a Trigger Point can be extremely acute, sometimes bad enough to send the sufferer to the doctor. The problem this causes is that while the pain might be in the upper arm, the Trigger Point, its source, might be at the base of the shoulder blade, and so the painful area itself would not be presenting any obvious lesions or tensions that could be causing the pain, and so the pain can either be misdiagnosed as other conditions such as Angina or a Migraine, or they might be simply told they are imagining it, or given pain killers and told it will no doubt stop at some point…

Again, much like a muscle knot, a Trigger Point can develop through repetitive stresses on a muscle, such as the position, poor posture or a particular job puts it into. There can also be predisposing factors such as recent over-exercise, or an injury to the muscle.

The Signs
Sufferers from an active Trigger Point can experience a range of symptoms such as poor sleep, weakness in the affected muscle, numbness or even a noticeable feeling of depression.

The Treatment
A Massage Therapist will use a combination of palpation to find the exact point, pressurisation (the painful part) for up to 7 seconds at a time, followed by strokes to the surrounding area to encourage a ‘flow and flush’ reaction within the muscle. Used together, these can dispel the point and thus relieve the pain in the affected area. This can often take more than one treatment, but once identified, the point can be pursued until it is smoothed. Treatment is more effective if the patient is motivated to self help as well – by exercising and stretching regularly and keeping to a good nutritional plan.