[quote]Gl;itch.e wrote:
could omega 3’s be likely to be “hiding” the cause of pain though?
for instance if you have some pain and the fish oil helps you may decide not to try anything to fix the original cause of the pain and may be in essence just hiding it until it comes back. …
for instance some omega 3 helps with my shoulder pain but I know that the problem is still there… . the omega 3s have just helped with the inflammation issue lessening the total pain but doing nothing to fix the cause of the problem. …
edit: another redundant post brought to you buy the guy who only read the first page. …[/quote]
If you are working an injured joint, (unless like in my instance it is Physical therapy), it is unlikely any anti-inflammatory is going to mask that problem for long if at all. Besides, most things have intelligent and unintelligent uses, and you are pointing out a possible unintelligent use for it.
As for masking pain to the point of making the person unaware, uh no. You are aware of your shoulder pain. If you have impingement, and do something that sets it off, the anti-inflammatory properties of fish oil may make it get better quicker, but its not going to prevent the pain in first place, but its likely to improve it more quickly, once your remove the insult.
Besides, I think the main use of omega 3, would simply be to correct the dietary deficiencies compared to our ancestors. A high omega 6 to 3 ratio (from our corn fed meat products) leads to excessive inflammatory mediators (omega 6 by products), and can lead to excessive inflammation where none is warranted. Weightlifting causes some inflammation. If you have a typical western diet you may be more susceptible to overuse tendonitis (asthma, heart disease, and others), when what you are doing should not cause excessive inflamation (different from your scenario you described where inflammation is telling you to quit what you are doing).
Bottom line, I think fish oil helps to prevent the excessive unwarranted inflammation your body may produce from excessive omega 6. But no way its going to stop or mask inflammation from banging away at shoulder impingement with militaries, or doing something else along that line.