I have been studying some of my Traditional Chinese Medicine notes about joint stiffness and pain. I am working on getting a list of products to use for each of the Five Element types. Ever since I started looking at the Five Element horse temperaments I have wanted to find the best ways to make this typing system useful. Initially, I want to have specific program suggestions for digestive, musculo-skeletal and emotional support. I will also have some general feeding suggestion but recognize the challenge with having an entirely separate feeding program for each type horse. I feel we have enough low carbohydrate, higher fiber quality feeds to draw from and we can supplement these as needed for each type.

In the process of studying the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory of Bi Syndrome, which breaks musculo-skeletal pain into categories, I found answers for my own pain in my hands. I use my hands so much in my work that even slight discomfort gets my attention. Back when I was still floating teeth on a regular basis my hands got extremely painful to the point of not being able to hold a pencil or even button my shirt. Despite getting palliative support from many natural pain control and joint support products I was not able to heal until I rested my hands from the overwork.

I had to stop floating teeth altogether and basically had stop using my hands at all for several weeks. The pain back then was very severe and sharp. Ice helped with the heat and swelling and careful strengthening exercises helped repair the damage to the connective tissues. Although homeopathy and nutritional support was not enough to stop the pain I did continue these supports to assist the healing process.

Back then I had an excess form of pain with stagnation on the blood and Qi. The extra antioxidant support from the algae products such as Q10 and sprouts and algae supported my Liver in the role of moving the Qi and nourishing the tendons and ligaments. I did not know about Xango juice at that time but I did drink lots of noni juice. Both of these nutritional drinks are high in antioxidants and the xanthoses in the Xango juice help with pain caused by inflammation.

The pain in my hands now is different in that it is more dull and improves when I rub it. I actually have more stiffness and a decrease in range of motion than pain. When I look at my hands they are pale around the sore joints. These symptoms fit deficiency pain and and my approach needs to be very different from the one I did 6 years ago. In both cases my pain is from overuse but now my constitution is not as strong and in addition to resting my hands I need to build my overall energy. This time I am not taking so much in the way of anti oxidant support as I am improving my overall diet and taking some Chinese herbs to build my Qi and Blood. I am also resting more in general which is not an easy thing for me to do. For example, here are just a few projects I want to finish.

cedar chips to spread

pickets on outdoor shower

I am looking forward to seeing how the horses do with the targeted nutritional support based on their Five Element types. Hopefully they will get faster results with less cost on products that are the most appropriate. Madalyn