How Does a Tens Unit Work on Muscle Spasm- Pain comes from electroechemical impulses relaying the pain message. A TENS unit interrupts this pathway. T.E.N.S stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. It is often used to treat low back pain and neck pain. Tens units use a low voltage electrical current to induce pain relief. Continue Reading Article
Neck Exercises- Learn effective neck stretches and strengthening exercises for the cervical spine
End Neck Pain by Improving Posture- How Proper Posture Improves Your Spine Relieving Nerve Pressure- How does posture have anything to do with neck pain?--Neck pain comes from pressure on the nerves. How does this happen?--Usually pressure from a misaligned neck spine. When your spine is misaligned (some call that subluxated) it does not move like it should and in turn creates inflammation in that area. Either out-of-alignment spinal vertebrae (spinal bones) put direst pressure on nerves or the inflammation, or built up degeneration causes the pressure. Continue Reading Article
How to Reduce the Chances of Getting A Stiff Neck- A Stiff Neck.... Horrible especially when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is going to be one painful day. You are stiff, your neck hurts, you cannot turn your head, even brushing your teeth hurts. We get questions about how to treat a stiff neck all the time. Continue Reading Article
How To Avoid Neck Pain While Doing Abs- If you do your Abdominal crunches correctly with proper form, there is no reason to suffer from neck pain or sore neck. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that involve there neck muscles while doing these exercises- that is a NO-NO. Bringing your head and neck forward puts unnecessary pressure on the neck and it is not healthy. So when you do your abdominal crunch look at the ceiling.Continue Reading Article
In a recent study published in Pain Medicine, researchers looked at the mobility of 108 senior adults. 54 of those older adults suffered from chronic lower back pain. The investigators found that these older adults with chronic lower back pain had more lumbar mobility impairments. This is important because as we age, there can be a serious risk for a fall. This can then affect a person's quality of life, ability to perform activities of daily living and independence.
Check out the guy below. You see these weird postures - they can cause pain over time if not fixed. Sway Back Posture, Lumbar Lordosis, Thoracic Kyphosis, and Forward head posture. All very common.
Posture is something that chiropractors check regularly to see what needs to be adjusted in your spine. They will compare certain points on your body:
They will look at a patient from the front:
check if your ears aligned (to see if there is a head tilt)
check shoulder levels
check to see if frenulum (area under nose) lines up to between eyes
check hips to see if they are even and level
check if your feet turn inward or outward
check upper torso in relation to the hips - that way they can tell if there is a thoracic or lumbar shift
Ankle Malleoli are also checked to see if middle lines up with leg "V"
From the side:
Midline shoulder should line up with posterior earlobe
hips should line up with shoulders
ankles should line up with hips
Everything is checked in relation to one another to see what area of spine needs to be aligned. Also don't forget to consider alignment off because tolled shoulder or a crooked nose etc... Overtime, bad postures start showing up as PAIN and perhaps a changed gait [way that you walk or carry yourself]. This is a very gradual thing, but it will eventually show up if you don't do something about it.
Visit a Chiropractor if you are in chronic pain. A Well aligned spine can help you get out of pain faster. Not only will the chiropractor get you adjusted, but they will give you postural exercises that you can do at home. For example if you have forward head posture, they may give you head retraction exercises.
Hello PainRelief4life readers ! I am happy to announce that next week I will be 28 weeks pregnant. This is a milestone for my husband and I because we had some really bad luck in the past with our pregnancies. To say that we are beyond excited is an understatement.
However, I would be not be completely honest with you with I didn't share that this time around there have been some unexpected aches and pains- things i did not have with my other experiences, but I am not complaining too loudly.
Low Back Pain
Upper Back Pain
Knee Pain
Foot Pain and Achiness
Charlie Horses in my legs
Numbness and Tingling in my legs and Feet
Sure I can say that I have gone from my usual 130 lbs to 152 lbs, but whose checking, expect my OB office? Pregnancy throws off so many things in your body and I can understand that it puts a lot of added stress to ones body. Also hormones that are normally not at high levels also make a difference to ligaments in your body.
So where do these aches, pain, numbness, tingling really come from? Well, as the pregnancy progresses the uterus keep growing and sometimes can put added pressure onto nerves that innervate the lower legs. This can cause the numbness and tingling sensation that sometimes feels like there are ants crawling up and down your legs and toes.
What about the back pain? For myself the pain has been in my upper back and the lower back. One the reasons is that my posture is very "off". The mere act of carrying a baby creates a sway back when I walk. I cannot help it. Doing this over and over again puts added stress on the spinal system and that means real aches and pains. Back pain can also be caused by loosening of the ligaments.
Finally the knee pain, ankle pain and the foot pain. Just recently I got out of bed and complained to my husband that my right knee was aching. Again my body is not used to 150 lbs on my frame. The added weight puts more stress on knee joints and ankle joints. I have also noted swelling and particular pain points in my feet. Again, another byproduct of the added weight.
So what can be done alleviate all of these pains. The list seems kind of long of all the discomforts I am experiencing !
Get adjusted regularly by a chiropractor. They have techniques, and special tables to accomodate big pregnant woman in their offices ! The chiropractic adjustment can ease pressure off of nerves, and put you into proper alignment. Lots of pain relief with this age old treatment.
Wear comfortable shoes. Flat shoes, not heels.
Watch your weight. The more weight one gains during pregnancy the more pressure is put on the body. Also keep in mind, the harder it will be come off once you deliver the baby
Takes breaks. Don't be afraid of putting your feet up and just relaxing on the couch or sitting on a chair. Don't stand for long periods of time. This extra standing just puts more pressure on knee joints and ankle joints.
Sleep on your side at night and keep a flat soft pillow in between your knees. This takes pressure off of the lower back and pelvis area. It actually feels really good to sleep like this. Another great idea is to sleep with a body pillow at night. These long pillows are made especially for pregnancy and can help you get a very comfortable sleep.
When sitting use a lower back support. This makes a huge difference. A back support will support your lower and upper back and keep you from slouching. This improvement in posture will put less pressure on your spinal column and nervous system
Drink a lot of water.
Use a hot and cold pack for therapy- a warm heating pack can help relax the muscles of the back and feels so wonderful too. A cold pack can help lower back ligament pain.Get a cold pack that covers your low back and mid back well. I have found that keeping this in the freezer ready to go is the key for pain relief.
Don't be afraid to stretch a little before going to bed. This will help ease the muscle cramps and lessen the "charlie horses" that occur at weird times at night. For me drinking more water has helped with these pesky leg cramps that are a 10/10 on the pain scale. Mind you, it means more trips to the bathroom- but I would do that any day than experience a leg cramp in the middle of the night. Also watch your diet. Eating things high in potassium such as bananas can help leg cramps.
When you cough or sneeze you can throw something out of whack. Many times it's vertebral alignment sometimes it's a rib or you can even pull a muscle. This can especially happen if you are in a strange position or it comes on as a surprise. You may expect a cough if you got a cold, sometimes sneezes come out of the blue though.
Most likely it's the latisimus muscle. A great way to stretch the lat muscle is to grab something like a doorway, and lean back. It’s probably easiest to grab one side at a time, just grab one side of the doorway with one arm.
You can stretch both sides too. Grab a pole or something you can reach across like a secure desk… You can also reach up to the top of the doorway with both hands, and lean in.
I was at my acupuncturist's in the waiting room. A woman walked in smelling of liniment. Personally, I use something called Biofreeze when I have pain in certain areas of my body.The cool thing about Biofreeze,is that it doesn't have that strong liniment odor. This means you can wear it and know one notices.
Now in this case we were seeing the acupuncturist, but what if you have to go to the grocery store afterwards? Even in the waiting room I was in, knew that woman was in pain. Why else would she have this on? So to get relief without a major smell, try Biofreeze Pain Relief Gel. It comes in a roll-on and spray too actually. I have found that the gel is the most effective because it can be massaged into the skin and creates very quick relief.
Whether it's back pain, neck pain, even leg pain, stretching can work wonders. Why does this work wonders? It increases your mobility, allows inflammation to better dissipate, and it makes the muscles feel better.
Massage may also help break up these muscle adhesions. We want those tight areas to continue to stay loosened up though. So make stretching part of the regular routine. Keeping yourself loose and Mobile will keep pressure off the nerves.
Many times the warmer weather is easier on the back. Not just the fact there is no shoveling, and you don't have to constantly watch your step because of ice, but there's a couple of other reasons too.
When there is bad weather, it's almost like gravity pushes down on us slightly more. It's only a fraction but sometimes it's enough to affect an arthritic area or an already injured disc. A storm can be during the summer too however.
The Weather Forecast in Miami on one December Week....Talk about Warm Weather :)
But just the really cold weather tends to tighten our muscles slightly. Tight muscles can also mean pain and spasm. You want to try to be loose so you're muscles are ready to move. It's similar to a warm-up before exercise!
The piriformis muscle is located in the bottom of the butt. The sciatic nerve travels down and through the two heads of the pifirormis muscle, so keeping it loose and functioning normal is a must. Here is a video on how do do a great stretch for it.
Now that you've seen the video, I want you to know that I have a certain number of patients that find this too difficult. So here's another option: Sit and cross the painful side over the other. Lean forward and feel the stretch! Also using a theracane deep tissue massager also helps to get rid of the trigger points in the piriformis muscle.
Have you have experience a muscle knot in your upper back area- if you could reach it and place some pressure on the area, you would get some relief. Too many times this happens. Painful trigger points could be in your upper back, midback, neck or lower back.
There is a device called the Theracane Massager that can help to reach difficult areas of pain. It works by adding pressure (that you apply) to muscles and increase oxygenated blood flow to the area. The pressure that you apply helps to loosen up the muscle by breaking up adhesions in individual muscle fibers.
One of the best places I found that this works wonders is in between the shoulder blades, in the upper trapezius muscle and in the shoulders at the top.
You can use the theracane at home, or at work. I would recommend that you apply an ice pack right after using it, especially if you use a lot of pressure on the muscles. Read the accompanying manual - I assure you that you will be surprised at all the ways it can be used for pain relief.
Use the Theracane for upper back muscles that you are not able to reach yourself easily.
Great for mid back and lower back pain trigger points that may be hard to reach.
Easy to Use at Home or at Work. Apply as much pressure as you are able to handle.
