Why Professional Athletes Use Aloe Vera Gel for Sore Muscles
While sports can be great for both your mind and your body, being active every day can take its toll. From osteoarthritis to sore muscles to scrapes and bruise, there are times when you just feel physically worn out. That is why so many professional athletes use aloe vera gel for sore muscles and other minor sports related injuries.
You probably already know that aloe vera gel is great for sunburns but you may have never realized just how powerful this natural cure can be. In fact, my professional athletes swear by aloe vera gel as a safe, natural, and side effect free way to treat a range of problems that they face every day.
Ready for the ultimate cure from mother nature? Whether you are a weekend warrior or a legendary pro, it is time to read up on why professional athletes use aloe vera gel for sore muscles and discomfort.
Reason #1: Aloe Vera Reduces Aches and Pains
Athletes use aloe vera gel because it is effective in reducing aches and pains thanks to its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Whether you are a pro athlete, going to the gym regularly, or dealing with old injuries, this can have a truly life-changing impact.
Aloe vera gel is often taken orally by athletes, in the form of supplements or simply by drinking aloe vera gel juice. It also provides powerful relief when just applied topically, especially when done in conjunction with heating and icing the affected area. The best choice is all about preference and, when used in the long-term, your doctor can let you know which would be the most effective route for you.
Once you get into a routine of using aloe vera, you won’t believe how effective it! Trust us, just because it is herbal, does not mean that it is not potent. This gooey green stuff can hold its own against any pain fighter. In fact, oral Aloe vera as a treatment for osteoarthritis is believed to be extremely promising.
Aloe vera gel is believed to be very effective in treating osteoarthritis, thanks to its anti-inflammatory effect. As a bonus, aloe vera gel can also be effective in preventing the gastrointestinal irritation that can be caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin and ibuprofen.
And, it’s not just for osteoarthritis! Professional athletes use aloe vera gel to ease the discomfort of sprains, disc hernias, bruising, and a range of other issues.
Reason #2: Aloe Vera Can Reduce the Need for Drugs
You already know about the proven anti-inflammatory effect of aloe vera. You know that it is great for reducing joint pain by alleviating swelling and tension. This is such essential information for professional athletes because it means that they can rely less on other types of manmade drugs.
While it may be no big deal for you or me to reach for a pain reliever after an especially rough day at the gym or when dealing with a pulled muscle, professional athletes needs to think much more carefully about pain management. For a healthy individual, over the counter and prescription pain meds alike are probably a very rare need. For a pro athlete, on the other hand, it is really important to think about when it is actually worth taking more meds. They put their bodies through some serious beatings and it is often just not healthy to take something for every minor discomfort.
While professional athletes use aloe vera gel for similar purposes as hydrocortisone cream, aloe vera gel does not have any of side effects of hydrocortisone including skin redness, burning, itching, and peeling; blistering; thinning of the skin; nausea; heartburn; headache; stretch marks; dizziness; insomnia; and acne.
Aloe vera gel can also reduce the need for drugs so that professional athletes can worry less about dealing with the side effects of taking pain killers like acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Potential issues with ibuprofen include hypersensitivity reactions; kidney damage; skin reactions; anemia; thrombocytopenia; and liver failure. Meanwhile, use of acetaminophen can cause tinnitus; dizziness; drowsiness; diarrhea; abdominal pain; constipation; and heartburn.
Reason #3: Aloe Vera Promotes Healing
Aloe vera has been proven to speed up healing time in cuts, scrapes, burns, and other discomforts. When you are a professional athlete, these issues are incredibly common. Thanks to the analgesic and anti-inflammatory of aloe vera gel’s glycoproteins along with the soothing and hydrating quality of its polysaccharides, this stuff goes a long way in ridding the skin of minor discomforts while speeding up healing time.
In fact, a study published in Surgery Today, showed that aloe vera gel’s anti-inflammatory effects are actually better than the typical 1 percent hydrocortisone cream that you will find in most first aid kits. It also beat out, silver sulfadiazine, another common pharmaceutical that is used for burns. When applied regularly, aloe vera gel worked 15 percent faster in healing skin! How is that for an impressive plant?
Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis and it affects millions of people. Professional athletes are particularly prone to developing this condition, especially in the knee and hip joints, since it is a “wear and tear” type of issue in which the protective cartilage slowly wears away.
What Makes Aloe Vera Gel So Effective?
Aloe vera gel contains an impressive 75 potentially active constituents, which offer incredible potential to professional athletes and the rest of us. It offers 12 essential vitamins like A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C and E, which offer anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It aids in the healing process thanks to its rich content of 20 minerals including essentials like manganese, calcium, iron and zinc that are so essential for joints.
Aloe vera gel offers four plant steroids (which are cholesterol, campesterol, β-sisosterol and lupeol) that are anti-inflammatory; in addition to the antiseptic and analgesic properties of lupeol. Finally, the mannose 6-phosphate that is at the center of the aloe vera plant is what offers such impressive wound healing properties.
And that is just a quick look at the most impressive trait of aloe vera! A list of all the powerful qualities of aloe vera is truly endless. A medical mainstay for more than 2,000 years, this impressive natural cure has an amazing number of potential uses for a wide range of conditions.
