Yoga at the Darwin Martin House

We had a lovely evening, last Thursday, touring the Darwin Martin House and practicing yoga in the Greatbatch Pavilion.  Below is the article my sister, Judy Frizlen wrote for "Buffalo Rising".

https://www.buffalorising.com/…/the-beauty-of-yoga-and-dis…/

The Beauty of Yoga and Discriminating Architecture Unfold in Unity

Harmony. Balance. Unity. These are words used to describe the design of the Darwin Martin House. The same words are used to describe the…

www.buffalorising.com

Muscle Cramps - Ouch!

 

I love the "People's Pharmacy",  articles in the newspaper..  I was reminded this week, of the August 29, 2016 article about muscle cramp relief, when three of my yoga students had hamstring cramps in practice.  I often suggest pickle juice and/or mustard to relieve cramps, but I was mislead as to the reason why it works. People have written in to the "People's Pharmacy" to laud the quick relief of muscle cramps(2 minutes) by ingesting pickle juice, or mustard.  The assumption was that, somehow, ingesting these foods replenished dehydrated muscles and/or corrected electrolyte imbalances.  How could that happen in 2 minutes?  Enter Nobel prize winner, Dr. Rod MacKinnon and his colleague, Bruce Bean, Ph.D, both neurobiologists.  During a kayak excursion, Dr. MacKinnon suffered sever muscle cramps.  Because of that experience, they decided to do some research and learned that muscle cramps are, in fact, caused by a misfiring of nerves, instead of dehydration and/or electrolyte imbalances.  Their hypothosis was that strong flavors stimulate nerves in the mouth, throat and stomach.  Stimulating of these nerves overwhelms the misfiring nerves causing the cramps.  They developed a drink of cinnamon, ginger and a hot pepper extract that " directly influences and regulates nerve function."  Their findings are backed by Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, May,2010, and the Journal of Athletic training,May-June,2014, which concluded that pickle juice eases electrically induced cramps, not through electrolyte replenishment.

So, yes, pickle juice and mustard do work to relieve muscle cramps, but not because of dehydration or electrolyte imbalance, but rather by triggering misfiring nerves.