back pain relief
The Start of Baseball Season
The baseball season just opened and already players are calling off their first few games due to “tweaked knees” and “sore backs”. As the sun is starting to come out, and the snow is (FINALLY!) melting, many of us are anxious to get outside and start playing sports again. However, this is also a time
The Start of Baseball Season Read Post »
Smoking and Back Pain – is it related?
We all know that smoking is bad for you. In fact, since 1965, the Surgeon General’s Warning posted on every package of cigarettes says: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy. But did you know that in addition to the myriad of illnesses that are related to tobacco and smoking, recent
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When Making Medical Decisions About Pain Relief, Is More Information Better?
In today’s world we are bombarded by information and ways to obtain it. Do you want to know how many steps you take a day? Just buy a device and it will calculate it for you. Care to know what your cholesterol levels are? Simply go get a kit at your nearest drug store. Is
When Making Medical Decisions About Pain Relief, Is More Information Better? Read Post »
Is Looking Good Worth Having Back Pain?
There is an old expression, “beauty is pain.” Does it need to be? Is it worth risking your long-term health? Why do women wear high-heeled shoes when they know that looking beautiful in the moment may cause them pain down the road? Scientists from the Universite de Bretagne-Sud recently conducted experiments, which studied the effects
Is Looking Good Worth Having Back Pain? Read Post »
Men, Women, and Children — Simple Solutions to Eliminate Back Pain
Men: Where do you keep your wallet? Many of you probably answered, “your back pocket.” Did you know that this could be causing your back pain? When you sit down with your wallet in your back pocket, it presses into your muscles, which can cause pain in your low back and buttock. The squeezed muscle
Men, Women, and Children — Simple Solutions to Eliminate Back Pain Read Post »
Eating forbidden foods, losing weight and helping your heart
I had dinner with Dr. Robert Atkins years before his untimely death. He ordered a juicy marbleized steak with a baked potato drowning in butter and sour cream. At the time I thought this wasn’t a healthy choice- I was wrong! A front page article in the NY Times earlier this week reports on a
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Is Bad Weather To Blame For Your Lower Back Pain?
A New York Times article Weather May Not Affect Back Pain, printed mid-July, cited a study showing that weather may not affect back pain. The purpose of the study was to explore the often-heard complaint from patients diagnosed with persistent pain related to muscles and bones (musculoskeletal pain) that weather changes cause an increase in pain.
Is Bad Weather To Blame For Your Lower Back Pain? Read Post »
Epidural steroids are not effective for spinal stenosis
I have been suggesting for many years that there is an overuse of spinal injections and surgeries for low back and leg pain, so it was no surprise when I read an article in The New York Times (NYT) that reported on a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine[1] about patients
Epidural steroids are not effective for spinal stenosis Read Post »
Stiffness is an important aspect of muscle pain
I recently saw George, a 48-year-old man, who suffered from pain, described as soreness in the thighs, neck, shoulders and arms, and tingling in his calves and shin. Sitting for more than two hours or sitting for more than 20 minutes would cause an increase in his pain. Bending over also brought on his pain.
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Low Level Laser Therapy as promising treatment
Low level laser therapy (LLLT) is a promising new treatment for a variety of painful conditions which is believed to reduce inflammation and stimulate healing of wounds. Interest in the laser first developed when Endre Mester at Semmelweis University noticed that applying the laser to the backs of shaven mice caused hair to regrow faster
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NSAIDs for pain relief
The next series of blogs is a brief discussion of different types of medications used for pain. NSAIDs Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are generally one of the first line of medications used in the initial treatment of pain. They are exactly what their name means – they are not steroid medications (like cortisone or prednisone)
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What are trigger points?
Have you ever felt a painful tightness that just won’t go away no matter how much you stretch? Even if the pain subsides or goes away temporarily, when it recurs you still feel a tender knot that’s always in the same area. This may be due to trigger points (TrPs). TrPs are tender nodules which
What are trigger points? Read Post »
Muscles as the source of pain
Muscles are the largest organ system in the body, accounting for approximately 50% of our body weight. We have different ways of categorizing muscles: how they look, how they move, and where they’re located. We are going to focus on muscles that move voluntarily, which means we tell the muscles to move, as opposed to
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It is important to understand what any diagnosis means in relationship to your back or leg pain.
I have heard from a number of group members who have been diagnosed with spinal stenosis. The diagnosis is often made based on what is found on a CT scan or MRI without the expected corresponding signs and symptoms. It is important to understand what any diagnosis means in relationship to your back or leg
MRI, CT, and X-rays may mistake the cause of your back pain
MRI, CT and X-rays may fool us. A recent article concluded that the amount of constriction of the nerves exiting the lower spine thought to be the reason for back and leg pain was not correlated with the amount of relief a patient experienced with steroid injections around that nerve(s). Beautiful clear pictures of the
MRI, CT, and X-rays may mistake the cause of your back pain Read Post »