When you heard that Victoria Beckham quit wearing her trademark Stiletto high heels, were you surprised?

We understand, Posh Spice. Because we women put our bodies through a whole lot in the name of beauty. Sky-high heels, power cycling, extreme sports, LEG DAY at the gym. The wear and tear we put our bodies through can cause lots of stress on tendons and joints. And many of us have managed to incur a sports injury or two over time. Perhaps a mishap causing a twisted ankle while wearing fab strappy sandal heels, a skiing accident, ballet lessons gone very wrong, tendonitis, or tennis elbow. Not enough to stop you from doing all the things, but enough to make doing some of the things a little more difficult some of the time.

JOINT STRESS, PAIN AND EXERCISE: THE CHALLENGE
Once a joint is stressed, it is important to keep active, but it can be a challenge for many of us to stay motivated enough to keep our fitness routine, and if we wake up too sore the day or two after a workout, it is even more difficult to stay motivated. If you add a stressed joint or tendon to this bad pattern, this disruption quickly leads to a slippery slope of potentially not exercising at all. For some women, headaches or cramps are their workout dealbreakers, interrupting a good fitness program for a few days to weeks at a time.

WHO IT AFFECTS
Many active otherwise healthy people are working against daily pain from injury of a joint or tendon subject to repetitive stress. The same is true for runners, professional athletes, dancers, and fitness instructors. Also true of massage or physical therapists, health care professionals, people hunched over their laptops and phones, hairdressers, and any woman with a respectable Manolo Blahnik shoe collection, all of these and more are subject to joint stress, tendonitis, repetitive stress injury, and soreness.

Anyone who exercises more than three times a week can easily over-do it. This includes many a bride-to-be on a count-down to fitting into the perfect wedding dress.

Surprisingly, arthritis can occur relatively early, even in your thirties, especially if you had a sports injury as a kid or teen. Maybe it doesn’t hurt enough to entirely stop your fitness routine, but it sure can throw a monkey wrench into getting things done.

WORKING THROUGH POST-WORKOUT PAIN
There is a point that the “no pain, go gain” motto is not quite enough to push through to the next plateau in your exercise regimen or to get through the day. Some people find success combining coffee, milk, and cocoa for anti-inflammatory purposes pre-workout. This does help, as does drinking lots of water during and after your workout. But some people need to also use something stronger.

Tylenol can reduce pain, but is considered best suited to aches and pains that accompany illnesses with a fever. Ibuprofen is an effective NSAID, but typically only lasts 3-4 hours. If this is not enough, a Naproxen based over the counter pain reliever can be very helpful.

ABOUT NAPROXEN
According to drugs.com, Naproxen works by reducing the hormones that cause inflammation and pain in the body. The hormones it targets result in longer periods of pain relief than other over the counter (OTC) drugs such as what Ibuprofen, aspirin, and Tylenol can provide. It is also more powerful, so you only take one dose. Studies show it is especially useful for people who wake up stiff in the morning and stay that way for several hours. It is also very effective on post-exercise joint pain.

Naproxen is available both in a prescription and OTC pills. It is often marketed in smaller, more expensive batches as if it is unique to particular problems (such as arthritis, menstrual cramps, headaches) when really, they are all roughly the same 200mg dose of Naproxen. So an all-purpose Naproxen, such as Flanax Pain Reliever, can address all of these issues without the extra inactive ingredients that may cause excess stomach irritation which can often be found in some of these OTC medications that are in fact, not ailment specific treatment at all.

ABOUT FLANAX: AN OTC ALL-PURPOSE NAPROXEN BASED PAIN RELIEVER
There are variances in quality and cost to any prescription or over the counter drug that contains Naproxen. I have tried a few. Flanax caught my attention primarily for its suitability for a multitude of health issues (headaches, dental pain, cramps, soreness from exercise), and it has an excellent half life.

HALF LIFE
Half-life is a term that indicates how long the drug will be effective with the time or life before it leaves your system. It accounts for the time from when you take the pill, when it is within your bloodstream and starts to reduce pain, the peak effectiveness, and the end life, or the end of the cycle that it is considered to be still within your system but no longer actively treating pain. The second half of a half-life is medically considered as being not that helpful in easing pain symptoms.

Flanax half-life lasts for 8 – 12 hours. That is an excellent half life compared to other OTC pain medications I have tried, such as Aleve, Motrin or Tylenol. Even some of the Extended Relief brands don’t last as long as Flanax.

This longer half-life gives more pain control for smaller doses of medicine. This means not having to take a second dose during the day, no carrying a bottle of pills around with you or finding yourself suddenly feeling much worse when your 3-4 hour half-life OTC pain relievers might wear off.

OTHER NOTABLE USES FOR FLANAX
While frequently used for headaches, Flanax is particularly helpful with inflammation-based pain issues including sunburn or office-based chemical skin peels. Flanax has also been shown effective in easing cramps and is very effective for short-term dental pain.

HOW TO MAKE FLANAX MOST EFFECTIVE FOR GYM DAY WORKOUT SORENESS
TIP: On a gym day, I find it helpful to have some form of caffeine before and after my workout. I generally do half a carb with peanut or almond butter for some protein, and coffee with cocoa and milk to help reduce inflammation. After my workout, I like to have (preferably chilled) brewed whole-leaf green tea. When I have my pre-workout meal is the time to take the Flanax, so it is not on an empty stomach. Take Flanax with a full glass of water and stay well hydrated before, after and during the workout. A hot shower or using a moist heating pad after a workout is helpful. I am often most sore about 24-36 hours after a workout and find a partial dose of Flanax when needed, is helpful in this timing as well.

CONCLUSION: Stronger than Tylenol, aspirin or ibuprofen, Naproxen based Flanax can control pain longer with one-third to half of the pills than would be required to get the same pain control duration from competing over the counter medications. An all-purpose Naproxen, such as Flanax Pain Reliever, can cover many pain needs effectively without excess chemical irritants.

While Flanax is not suitable for extended daily long-term use (unless a doctor tells you otherwise for medical conditions such as long-term injury, damage to joints, headaches, or bone inflammation), it can help getting over that initial exercise hump phase when you exert yourself to get to the next plateau.

Find Flanax at http://www.flanaxusa.com

 

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I received this product in exchange for my unbiased review and received compensation for my time and effort. However, my experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine.