Heat Therapy for Chronic pain

Simple remedies are often the best Those remedies your mom tells you to try, you know the ones.“Put your foot up. Ice it. Use the heating pad.” Can often be the best at relieving lower back pain. Heat therapy is one of those mother approved pain relief therapies. Using heat therapy to relieve lower back pain *apply heat for no longer than 20 minutes at a time. (same goes for icing an injury) Some of the benefits of applying heat therapy to injuries: Blood flow stimulation. Heat dilates blood vessels. When dilated this increases the flow of blood carrying oxygen…
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Exercise Ball Therapy for Lower Back Pain

The exercise ball therapy is an exercise treatment option for back pain sufferers and is designed to help prevent or minimize further episodes of low back pain as part of a rehabilitation program. The exercise ball is effective in rehabilitation of the back because it strengthens and develops the core body muscles that help to stabilize the spine. With the exercise ball, also called a Swiss ball or physio ball, an element of instability is introduced to the exercise that one would not normally get in a floor exercise. The body responds naturally and automatically to this instability to keep balanced on the…
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PRP Therapy for Arthritis

Platelet-rich plasma therapy, sometimes called PRP therapy or autologous conditioned plasma (ACP) therapy, attempts to take advantage of the blood's natural healing properties to repair damaged cartilage, tendons, ligaments, muscles, or even bone.Although not considered standard practice, a growing number of people are turning to PRP injections to treat an expanding list of orthopedic conditions, including osteoarthritis. It is most commonly used for knee osteoarthritis, but may be used on other joints as well.This article describes how experts think PRP works, who might consider PRP injections for osteoarthritis, how to choose a doctor, and the injection procedure. Also discussed is the…
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10 Tips to Prevent Neck Pain

It’s probably safe to say that most of us at some point in time have woken up with neck pain or can recall an event or injury that resulted in neck pain. In fact, at any given time, 13% of American adults (women more than men) suffer from neck pain. Neck pain usually arises from muscles, tendons, and ligaments—commonly referred to as the soft tissues—in and around the cervical spine (the neck). Muscle strain and resulting muscle spasm is often caused by an underlying neck problem, such as spinal stenosis, arthritis, or disc degeneration and can be triggered from trauma but frequently occurs insidiously, or…
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Cervical Nerves

In addition to the seven cervical vertebrae, cervical anatomy features eight cervical nerve roots (C1-C8). These roots branch from the spinal cord and control motor and sensory abilities for different parts of the body. From there each cervical nerve is named based on the lower cervical vertebra that it runs between. As an example, the C6 nerve root runs between the C5 vertebra and the C6 vertebra. Cervical Nerve Functions Each level of the cervical spine actually has two nerve roots—one on each side—that branch off from the spinal cord. Keeping with the aforementioned example at the C5-C6 level, each…
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11 Pain Control Techniques

To prepare for any chronic pain control technique, it is important to learn how to use focus and deep breathing to relax the body. Learning to relax takes practice, especially when you are in pain, but it is definitely worth it to be able to release muscle tension throughout the body and start to remove attention from the pain. Coping techniques for chronic pain begin with controlled deep breathing, as follows: Try putting yourself in a relaxed, reclining position in a dark room. Either shut your eyes or focus on a point. Then begin to slow down your breathing. Breathe…
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Rheumatoid Arthritis vs Osteoarthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis both cause joint pain and stiffness. They are both forms of arthritis but have different causes and treatments.There are over 100 types of arthritis and related diseases. Two of the most common types are rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA). OA is more common than RA. Both OA and RA involve inflammation in the joints, but the inflammation in RA is much greater. Until recently, healthcare professionals believed that inflammation was not present in OA. OA and RA share some symptoms. RA can affect multiple joints in a subtype called polyarticular arthritis, and it tends to affect the body symmetrically. OA usually affects a few joints…
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5 Signs of Chronic Hamstring Tendinopathy

Just as your favorite pair of jeans can become worn and threadbare in the knees, your tendons can also develop chronic injury through wear-and-tear. Tendinopathy refers to a disease of a tendon. The clinical presentation includes tenderness on palpation and pain, often when exercising or with movement. Several terms have evolved in the medical terminology to refer to injuries that cause tendon pain: Tendinitis - acute tendon injury accompanied by inflammation. Why does chronic tendinopathy occur? There are 3 tendons in the back of the thigh that connect the hamstring muscles to the ischial tuberosity (the sit bone) in the pelvis. When…
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Sleeping with Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain makes it hard to fall asleep, and it can startle you awake at any hour of the night. To help you reclaim your sleep schedule, here is a simple guide to sleeping with lower back pain: 1. Sleep on your side to relieve pain from a pulled back muscle One of the most common causes of lower back pain is a pulled back muscle, which occurs when a muscle in your lower back is strained or torn as a result of being over-stretched. Symptoms from a pulled back muscle typically resolve within a few days, but the…
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Hip Labrum What’s That?

Made of tough cartilage, the labrum rings the hip’s socket, or acetabulum. The labrum is important to overall hip health and function. Specifically, the labrum: Facilitates the hip's range of motion, allowing the thigh to rotate in every direction, including forward, backward, inward, and externally Helps preserve proper alignment between the hip’s ball and socket Keeps synovial fluid, or joint fluid, within the hip joint capsule (synovial fluid reduces stress and friction and allows for smooth movement between the ball and socket) In essence, the hip labrum is a ring of cartilage that provides both support and flexibility to the…
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