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Healthy Considerations » Entries tagged with "Back Pain"

Phantom Limb Pain

March 18th, 2009 | Add a Comment

The brain’s sensory cortex, which receives and interprets incoming information, maintains a representation of the body physically within itself. The homunculus is the name given to the diagram obtained when each part of the body is plotted against its place on the sensory cortex, with more important areas of the body being illustrated as larger areas of the brain. Various areas, such as the hands and the lips, take up much more brain area due to their importance in normal function, and it is these most important areas to control which need greater sensory awareness and greater processing power to work out responses. When we suffer an injury the pain comes directly from that part, streaming in from the highly irritated nerve ends and the normally silent nerves woken up by … Read entire article »

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Physiotherapy For Ankylosing Spondylitis

February 20th, 2009 | Add a Comment

The inflammatory arthritis diseases or spondyloarthropathies include various diseases such as Ankylosing spondylitis, the arthritis of bowel disease, reactive arthritis and the arthritis associated with psoriasis. The typical linking features of these diseases are enthesitis (an inflammation at the bone/ligament junction) and the presence of HLA B27, a gene on white blood cells. The inflammation at the entheses can develop into fibrosis and eventually to fusion of the joints from bone formation. The frequency of the HLA B27 gene in the population determines the number of people with Ankylosing spondylitis, the most common disease in the spondyloarthropathy group. AS occurs in about 0.1 to 1.0% of people, being much more common in northern Europe and much less common in equatorial regions and with white people more frequently affected. 100 people may … Read entire article »

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It Sounds Crazy But Ulcers Can Cause Back Pain

January 10th, 2009 | Add a Comment

In cases of chronic back pain one might think, “Do Ulcers Cause back Pain?” The simple answer is ‘yes’, a peptic ulcer is a probable cause of back pain. An ulcer is a term that defines an open sore, lesion or break in the skin or in a mucous membrane. The thin tissue that covers the inner surface of body openings like the lining of the stomach and intestines is a mucous membrane. However when people generally refer to ulcers, they usually mean the peptic ulcer that occurs in the upper digestive system. The digestive system is made up of the esophagus, stomach, duodenum and intestines. Ulcers that occur in the stomach are referred to as gastric ulcers, and likewise there are duodenal ulcers and esophageal ulcers. 80% of peptic … Read entire article »

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An Osteopath’s Guide to Feeling Great During Pregnancy

November 24th, 2008 | 1 Comment

As any mother will admit, pregnancy places tremendous strain on the body. On average, women gain around 30 pounds during pregnancy, resulting in a big postural change. It can be incredibly laborious to carry all that extra weight around, not to mention extremely exhausting for the body. Some of our leading osteopaths have offered some tips and exercises that you can do, even before going into labour, in order to assuage the physical burdens of pregnancy. Work-out sessions: It is highly advisable to maintain a healthy work-out routine all throughout pregnancy, but it is important to adjust your regular routine to how far along you are. During your first and second trimesters, we recommend having short, 30-minute work-out sessions three or four days a week. By the third trimester, however, … Read entire article »

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Common Causes of Back Pain

August 11th, 2008 | Add a Comment

Our backs take a beating, with up to 80% of the total population suffering pain at least once in their life. It isn’t just an ailment of the elderly, either. 4 out of 5 people under the age of 45 suffer enough to take time off work at least once because of their back pain.  It’s the second leading cause of missing a day. What are some characteristics of this surprisingly common condition? Some describe their back pain as a dull ache, while say others say it’s a sharp, stabbing pain. Some describe it as a feeling of stiffness or numbness. Some injuries and illness can leave you in so much pain that you are immobile, while other minor injuries can simply cause a mild pain. Severe back pain that … Read entire article »

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Back Pain – A Guide To Relief

April 20th, 2008 | Add a Comment

by Craig Neal back pain is suffered my many millions of people who find no long term relief from this complaint; for most people, their only concern is to receive back pain relief medication to dull the pain. The problem with pain relief medication is that it doesn’t help the cause of the problem, just merely makes it a little more bearable. Many people with spinal problems become addicted to the medication that relieves the back pain but this should really be the responsibility of a doctor. The problem with the back is just how strong it is and at the same time how easily it can become damaged. Once spinal injury has occurred it can be a permanent condition, often caused by something as simple as bad posture. The most common way … Read entire article »

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Back Pain Statistics

June 9th, 2007 | Add a Comment

back pain is one of the most prevalent conditions in America. At any one time over thirty million Americans suffer from back pain. Back problems are so common that at any given time you can take the average American over eighteen years old and you will find that half of them have had some problem with their backs in the last five years. Estimated cost of back pain: fifty billion dollars yearly in missed work and medical expenses. Studies have shown that the most common causes of back pain, after lifting, include poor posture, exercising improperly, driving for long periods with poor posture, sleeping on a mattress that does not give your back proper support, being in poor physical shape and being overweight. Researchers continue to try to understand who gets back … Read entire article »

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Back Pain Medications

January 27th, 2007 | Add a Comment

If regular nonprescription pills are not helping to alieve your back pain your doctor may decide to prescribe a narcotic analgesic. These pills should never be abused, and must only be taken as recommended by your doctor. It can be easy to become addicted to these pills, so you’ll want to make sure you follow your doctor’s explicit instructions. Corticosteroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, are also a great way to solve your back pain problems. Again, this is something your doctor can prescribe to you. Before you take any medications for your back pain make sure your doctor knows any other medications you are currently taking. The wrong drugs can react dangerously with each other. Also, make sure you’re aware of the side effects before you start taking any pills for your back pain. Most of the pain pills you … Read entire article »

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Back Pain and Scoliosis

September 2nd, 2006 | Add a Comment

Scoliosis is not the cause of all back pain, but it is at the root of a great deal of back pain. Unfortunately, the majority of the population doesn’t even know what scoliosis is, much less that it might be behind their back pain. Scoliosis is fairly easy to understand. Under normal circumstances your spine is supposed to be straight. But people suffering from scoliosis have a spine that curves to one side. The cause is fairly straightforward; it’s the result of one hip being higher than the other. This causes the spine to curve toward the side of the lower hip. The pain and discomfort that accompanies scoliosis can be extremely intense. The imbalance of the back muscles, coupled with the compression of the nerves between the vertebrae, is at the root of the pain. Those who … Read entire article »

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