IMVA - Transdermal Magnesium Mineral Therapy in Sports Medicine

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Transdermal Magnesium Mineral Therapy in Sports Medicine

International Medical Veritas Association

Magnesium nutrition is an area that no serious athlete can afford to overlook.

Despite magnesium's pivotal role in energy production, many coaches

and athletes remain unaware of its critical importance in maintaining health and

performance.[1] Magnesium deficiency reduces metabolic efficiency, increases

oxygen consumption and heart rate required to perform work, all things that

would take the edge off of performance. The last thing any trainer or sports

doctor wants to see is their athletes lose their competitive edge. Not

performing to full capacity because of the lack of a mineral like magnesium is

simply not an option for winners. Athletic endurance and strength performance

increases significantly when a large amount of magnesium is supplemented

transdermally/topically and orally.

A magnesium shortfall can cause a partial uncoupling

of the respiratory chain, increasing the amount of

oxygen required to maintain ATP production.

Athletes, who might be expected to take greater care with their

diets, are not immune from magnesium deficiency. For example, studies carried

out in 1986/87 revealed that gymnasts, footballers and basketball players were

consuming only around 70% of the RDA,[2] while female runners fared even worse,

with reported intakes as low as 59% of the RDA.[3] There is ample evidence that

a magnesium shortfall boosts the energy cost, and hence oxygen use, of exercise

because it reduces the efficiency during exercise of muscle relaxation, which

accounts for an important fraction of total energy needs during an activity like

cycling.[4] One study of male athletes supplemented with 390mgs of magnesium per

day for 25 days resulted in an increased peak oxygen uptake and total work

output during work capacity tests.[5]

Sub-optimum dietary magnesium

intakes impairs athletic performance.

The regular advice given athletes is to make a conscious effort to

increase the proportion of magnesium-rich foods in his or her diet. Even a

simple change like eating more whole grain products and boosting your intake of

vegetables, nuts and seeds can make an impact. But that is not enough, not for

an athlete who loses magnesium much faster than the average person. It is not

even enough today for a regular person. According to the Massachusetts Institute

of Technology Studies show that as many as half of all Americans do not consume

enough magnesium. The latest government study shows a staggering 68% of

Americans do not consume the recommended daily intake of magnesium.

Even more frightening are data from this study showing that 19% of

Americans do not consume even half of the government's recommended daily intake

of magnesium.[6] The nutrient content of foods can no longer be relied upon. The

effects of stress, intense physical activity, or the use of certain medications

cause magnesium deficiency as do many other factors.[7] If an athlete is not

eating a heavy diet of Pumpkin seeds (roasted), Spirulina, Almonds, Brazil nuts,

Sesame seeds, Peanuts (roasted, salted), Walnuts or Rice (whole grain brown),

the only common foods with over 100 milligrams of magnesium content for every

100 grams, it is not really in the realm of possibility that sufficient

magnesium would be consumed. Add white bread and other junk food and it can

safely be assumed that it is exceedingly impractical for athletes to consume

enough magnesium through dietary sources alone.

It is commonly thought that magnesium intakes above the RDA are

unlikely to boost performance, but this is absurd advice that no athlete or

coach should pay attention to. First, RDAs are almost universally understated

even for the general population. For athletes they are sure guides to failure

for they do not take into account all the extra demands and needs of an

athlete's body. When it comes to magnesium we should be thinking many times the

RDA if we are thinking of maximizing athletic performance.

Studies have shown that supplementing with 30mg of Zinc and 450mg of

magnesium per day can elevate testosterone levels up to 30%. Dr. Lorrie Brilla,

at Western Washington University, recently reported that magnesium and zinc,

when supplemented orally, significantly increase free testosterone levels and

muscle strength in NCAA football players.[8] In another study, young athletes

supplemented with 8mgs of magnesium per kilo of body weight per day experienced

significant increases in endurance performance and decreased oxygen consumption

during standardized, sub-maximal exercise.[9]

Dr. Brilla reported that during an eight-week spring training program

athletes had 2.5 times greater muscle strength gains than a placebo group.[10]

Any athlete looking to gain strength, increase athletic performance, and muscle

mass should consider greatly increasing their magnesium intake, as well as zinc.

And according to a recent study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics

Society, higher intake of magnesium is significantly related to higher bone

mineral density (BMD). According to the paper, there was an approximate 2

percent increase in whole-body BMD for every 100 milligram per day increase in

magnesium. Magnesium is a " lesser-studied " component of bone that may play a

role in calcium metabolism and bone strength.

Muscle endurance and total work capacity,

declines rapidly with nutritional deficiency in the

area of key minerals like zinc and magnesium.

" Magnesium is essential to a diet for people are under a lot of stress

or want to experience the ultimate rush, " says Dr. Thor, National Director

of Extreme Sports Medicine. " Several reasons, one is if you are working out in a

gym, or continual stress excessive amounts of lactic acid in the muscle have

been linked to higher levels of anxiety, " Dr. Thor adds. Large amounts of

magnesium are lost when a person is under stress and when magnesium chloride is

applied to the muscles topically it promotes the release of lactic acid from the

muscle tissue.

The combination of heat and magnesium chloride increases circulation

and waste removal and this principle can be applied during breaks in competition

as well as after the game in deeply relaxing baths similar to Epsom salt baths,

but much stronger. A magnesium chloride bath helps draw inflammation out of the

muscles and joints. Dr. Mark Steckel recommends a hot bath with Epsom salts

(magnesium sufate) after a long run when the muscles are just aching. He also

recommends soaking once a week " as a treat to your legs, just to keep them

happy! " Switching to magnesium chloride takes the experience to an entirely new

level of therapeutics.

Transdermal magnesium chloride mineral therapy

enhances recovery from athletic activity or injuries.

A whole new world of sports medicine is going to explode onto the scene when

athletes and coaches find out that magnesium chloride from natural sources is

available for topical use. In this new and exciting breakthrough in sports

medicine coaches can now treat injuries, prevent them, and increase athletic

performance all at the same time. Magnesium chloride, when applied directly to

the skin is transdermally absorbed.[11] Transdermal magnesium chloride mineral

therapy is ideal for athletes who need high levels of magnesium. Oral magnesium

is not easily absorbed and at high doses creates diarrhea. Oral magnesium also

has little to no application in the treatment of injuries and tired worn out

muscles.[12] (See important note on oral intake.)

Until now it was thought that the best forms of supplemental

magnesium were the ones chelated to an amino acid (magnesium glycinate,

magnesium taurate) or a krebs cycle intermediate (magnesium malate, magnesium

citrate, magnesium fumarate). These forms seem to be better utilized, absorbed,

and assimilated. Some have correctly advised to stay away from oral intake of

inorganic forms of magnesium like magnesium chloride (taken orally) or magnesium

carbonate because they may not be absorbed as well and may cause gastric

disturbances. But now we have a magnesium chloride lotion/bath salt that can be

applied directly to the skin so dosage levels can be brought up safely to high

levels without diarrhea and problems with absorption.

Maximal contraction of the quadriceps is

positively correlated to serum magnesium status.[13]

Dr. Jeff Schutt insists that hamstring injuries can at least

partially be avoided through nutritional support because contraction and

relaxation is dependant on adequate cellular levels of magnesium. A shortened

hamstring is a result of lack of available magnesium he says. Now we have what

is called " Magnesium Oil, " which is a thick magnesium chloride liniment that can

be simply sprayed and rubbed into a sore Achilles tendon to decrease swelling.

And soaking the feet in a magnesium chloride foot bath is the single best thing

- apart from stretching - that you can do for yourself to protect from or

recover from hamstring and other injuries. The only thing better is a full body

bath or to have a massage therapist use it to rub it in as they work deeply on

the muscles.

The heavy use of magnesium for athletic performance

will be enough to make a difference between

winning and losing on a regular basis.

Magnesium is the single most important mineral to sports nutrition.

Adequate magnesium level will help your body against fatigue, heat exhaustion,

blood sugar control, and metabolism. It also offers part of the secret why

athletes die young -- magnesium levels in tissue analysis are usually very low,

and often mercury very high in athletes who have heart attacks. Congestive

heart failure patients have recently been reported to have 22,000 times more

mercury and 14,000 times more antimony in their hearts.[14] Most coaches do not

know it but the very best hospitals inject either magnesium chloride or

magnesium sulfate for both stroke and heart attack patients. In Los Angeles they

are even giving it to patients in the ambulance, in a new study, for it

dramatically increases survival rates as well as diminish disabilities down the

road.

Zinc, chromium and selenium in addition to magnesium are lost in the

sweat[15]-[16] or in the actual accelerated metabolism of strenuous exercise and

are difficult to replenish.[17] When we sweat, we lose more than just water.

Other components of sweat include electrolytes, principally sodium and

magnesium. Loss of magnesium by sweating takes place at an accelerated pace when

there is a failure in sweat homeostasis, a situation which arises when exercise

is made in conditions of damp atmosphere and high temperature.[18] Increased

energy expenditure causes an increase in magnesium requirements. Selenium is

important in that it neutralizes the toxic effects of mercury and this is

especially important for athletes who have a mouth full of mercury containing

dental amalgam.[19] Beware the sports people who say that the amount of

magnesium lost through sweat is negligible, making magnesium supplementation

unnecessary.[20] Dr. Mayhill says, " Heavy exercise also makes you lose

magnesium in the urine and explain why long distance runners may suddenly drop

dead with heart arrhythmias. " Magnesium intake is most often marginal at best

and heavy exercise is a factor that is particularly likely to expose athletes to

magnesium deficit through metabolic depletion linked to exercise.

Also beware nutritionists who mistakenly say that magnesium is stored

in the body, so deficits are rare.[21] Dr. Mayhill says, " Treating magnesium

deficiency is the most difficult deficiency to correct. In evolutionary terms,

magnesium was abundant in the diet and therefore no good mechanisms to conserve

magnesium evolved. It appears to be poorly absorbed and easily excreted even by

normal people. "

Magnesium depletion and deficiency play a role

in the pathophysiology of physical exercise.[22]

Many in sports medicine think that supplements should only be taken

when there is proof that the diet cannot provide the quantities of nutrients

needed and that supplements require a proper medical diagnosis and should only

be prescribed by the sports physician and dietician in writing. Some go as far

as insisting that fitness coaches and conditioning staff should not prescribe

any supplements. But trainers need to be aware of anything that would enhance or

help reduce the amount of time for rehabilitation due to an injury. The job of

trainers and coaches is to prevent injuries or to get the players well as fast

as possible.

Everyone involved in athletics need to be acutely aware that the

medical industrial complex is not going to act in the best interests of

athletes. Many are becoming more conscious about how good ideas and sound

natural medicine are being professionally suppressed by intricate campaigns of

discreditation, spun by the vested interests of corporate science and backed by

the pharmaceutical industry and even the government which is in bed with the

drug companies. The last thing they do not want athletes or the general public

to know is that it is now virtually impossible to receive needed and necessary

nutrition from foods grown from modern agricultural methods.[23] Nutritional

values of foods have been dropping precipitously over the last fifty years and

the increasing toxic exposures put additional demands on an athlete's

nutritional status. This is especially true with magnesium. There is virtually

no one that cannot benefit greatly from increasing daily magnesium intake. In

terms of health and longevity magnesium is essential. For the professional

athlete it means the difference between winning and losing.

Mark Sircus Ac., OMD

Director International Medical Veritas Association

http://www.MagnesiumForLife.com

http://www.imva.info

http://www.detoxchelationclinic.com

http://www.worldpsychology.net

+55-83-3252-2195

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