Neck Braces Are Dangerous
Why would a cervical collar be harmful, don't they help neck pain? Aren't people supposed to wear them after accidents? What can happen if we wear them too much?
Neck supports offer comfort after injuries but can cause a great deal of damage, especially if they are worn excessively. Neck braces lead to bone loss or osteoporosis. They cause muscle wasting or weakness, and even lead to psychological dependency.
The human body is an amazing machine, and even knows when we use supports. The body senses less mechanical stress in areas that are being supported. When it does, it removes calcium from the bones because it assumes less is needed to hold the head up. The muscles around the spine become weaker as they are used less. Finally, people get habituated to the false sense of comfort collars offer. They sometimes wear them longer than they should and become dependent on them physically and mentally.
Cervical collars are beneficial when prescribed and used correctly. Wearing a neck brace for a few days immediately after an accident can be helpful in reducing pain and allowing for healing. As the tissues become stronger and heal, it's important that they are used less frequently.
They should never be worn to sleep, as a high quality cervical pillow (a pillow with a special curve for the neck), is much more beneficial while resting.
Hard cervical collars are useful in cases of neck fractures (broken bones). As the neck heals or, when they've served their purpose, even hard collars should be used less and less. Eventually, they too should be discarded.
If you see someone wearing a cervical collar, ask them about it. Often times they can get great relief with gentle chiropractic care. Gentle movement to the joints of the neck after accidents in particular, facilitate complete healing. Chiropractic is a safe effective way to create movements that let the body mend itself with little or no painful scar tissue. Without chiropractic, the spine heals poorly and is subject to pain and arthritis.
The Psoas Muscle as Pulley
Mechanically the body is a series of arches, hinges and pulleys.
The psoas fits in the mechanical model acting as a pulley as it curves over the front rim of the pelvis on the way to the femur. This serves to multiply the force generated when the iliopsoas contracts. Its alignment determines whether or not it can be employed this way successfully.
The power of its psoas is based on its placement. In and of itself the psoas will not live where it should. There are muscles that, when properly toned, allow the psoas to be perfectly positioned. When in this position the psoas provides powerful support for the spine all the way up to the head.
The key again is its proper placement. In physics, pulleys are pretty simple systems design to make lifting a supporting easier through the intervention of the pulley itself. A 500lb weight is not coming off of the floor with just my hand lifting it, but if I tie a rope to it and run that rope through a pulley attached to the ceiling, the weight will come off of the floor rather easily.
It is important to note that the psoas attaches on the back half of the inner thigh. If you are standing with your feet parallel, not too far apart, and your thighs back and under the pelvis you should have the sense of the psoas connecting to the inner thigh which will be in the back half of the body. Turn the feet out, tuck the pelvis under moving the thighs forward and see where the connection of the psoas moves to. It goes to the front plane of the body. When this happens there is no longer any tension created by the pull of psoas over the rim of the pelvis. As a result you don't get benefits that could be derived from the support that could be offered by the pulley action of the psoas.
As a simple test see if you can feel the difference in the spine with the butt tucked under and the feet splayed out versus the sticking the butt out and turning the feet in. There should be two very different feelings as a result. Try to tune in to which is more supportive.
Everything You Need to Know About Spinal Cord Arthritis
The biggest challenges faced by patients, researchers and physicians are the distinction of unusual diseases. As a matter of fact, it is often heard from mass media that scientists are researching on the cancer treatment. However, it needs to be mentioned that there are different forms of cancer which include colon cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer to name a few. Each kinds of this disease comprises of various treatments and symptoms. Hence, these diseases are in need of different cures. In the same manner, there are numerous variants of the disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, reactive and psoriatic arthritis. The other variety of it is the spinal cord arthritis.
Spinal stenosis or spinal cord arthritis comprises of the backbone narrowing and its manifestation with the strain on the spinal cord and on the roots of the nerves as well. Spinal cord arthritis mainly attacks the three regions of the spine, namely, the gaps between the spine's bones from which the nerves leaves the spine and then extends towards the other parts of the body, nerve base canal which expands from the spinal cord and also those tubes in the centre column of the bones from where the base of the spinal cord and the root moves ahead. This tapering includes either a tiny section or a huge section of the spine. A spinal cord arthritis sufferer is likely to feel lack of feeling or pains in the shoulders, legs or neck.
The Age Factor: Most of the sufferers of spinal cord arthritis include men and women above fifty years of age. However, younger people who may have had some sort of spinal damage also tend to suffer from spinal cord arthritis. Apart from this, those people born with a spinal channel contraction are also wrecked by the disease.
In case the area in the spinal channel is narrowed, the patients of spinal cord arthritis may not show any symptoms. However, if such contraction result in a stress to the spinal cord or nerve roots then symptoms of spinal arthritis such as weakness, aches in arms and legs, lack of sensation and spasms may occur. In addition, in case the narrowed region of the spine pressurizes along the base of the nerve, then the sufferers may get soreness on their legs. Such people need to undertake strengthening exercises, sitting, lower back stretching and bending exercises.
Most Recommended Treatments:
When a spinal cord arthritis sufferer does not experience deterioration or remarkable nerve connections, the following treatments could be recommended:-
Spinal cord arthritis patients need to exercise or undergo physical therapy for increasing the stamina, strengthening the stomach muscles and the back with continuous motion of the spine. This would lead to a more secure spine. Another option on the cards would be aerobic activity. Apart from that, there are corticosteroid injections which can be injected in the innermost membranes that cover the spinal cord and nerves for lessening the inflammation and treating the spiky pain which spreads till the hips and the legs.
These patients can also embark on the regular intake of anti-inflammatory medicines devoid of steroids which includes various prescriptions of ibuprofen such as Mortin, Nuprinl, Advil and aspirin for reducing the aches and lowering the swelling. Apart from that, spinal cord arthritis patients can also look forward to restrict their activity depending on the condition of their nerves. Intake of analgesics such as Tylenol for reducing the pain, anesthetic injections which are also called as nerve blocks can be opted for temporary reduction of pain to the nearby affected nerves.
In case, if all the non-persistent cure procedures fail to alleviate the suffering of the spinal cord arthritis patients, then the best option is to go under the knife. The main objective involved behind such procedures is the lessening of the pressure of the nerves or the spinal cord and also the restoration and sustenance of the vigorousness and arrangement of the spine.
Till date, spinal cord arthritis has remained one of the most devastating variant of the disease from which people can suffer. Luckily, researchers and physicians have continued to improve the treatment for the mitigation of pain of the sufferers.
Herniated Disc Exercises
Herniated disc exercises can be helpful or harmful, so it's important that you follow some basic guidelines for exercising with this condition. This article will discuss some simple exercises that you can do for herniated disc healing, but before we can discuss that, we need to briefly discuss how a spinal disc functions so these recommendations make sense.
The discs of the spine are cushions that separate each set of bones in the back. Their primary function is to act as shock-absorbers, which prevents the bones from absorbing this shock and helps you avoid quite a bit of pain.
Each disc is made up of two parts - a strong outer covering called the annulus, and a soft jelly center called the nucleus. This structure basically resembles a jelly doughnut.
When a person has a herniated disc, the strong outer covering of the disc tears and the jelly begins to shift out of the center into the area where the disc is weakest. This creates a bulge in the disc, which applies pressure to the nerves of the spine.
This is actually why this condition is so painful and debilitating - the nerves of the spine control everything in the body, so when they have pressure applied to them, not only is it painful, but whatever they control in the body will begin to malfunction.
One of the most difficult things about healing a herniated disc is the fact that the discs of the spine do not receive a good amount of blood flow. The body normally depends on the blood to transport oxygen and nutrients to an injured area for faster healing.
However, because the discs of the spine do not receive a lot of blood flow, they can be very stubborn and frustrating to heal properly.
This is actually a very important point to discuss when talking about herniated disc exercises, because the discs of the spine receive their oxygen and nutrients in a very different way. Remember how we were discussing the fact that each spinal disc has a jelly center?
Well, this jelly center is very important, because the disc will actually store oxygen and nutrients in this jelly for proper healing. So, one of the exercises we'll be discussing will be helping to replenish this oxygen and nutrient supply so you can experience faster healing.
Alright - now that we have that background, it's time to talk about some specific herniated disc exercises you can do. I'm actually going to give you a routine that you can do, which I use in my clinic for the fastest and best results.
The first exercise I will recommend will require the use of a mini-trampoline, which is a small trampoline that's about 4 feet wide. They're very inexpensive, and you can find one at most sports stores.
However, you will not be using the trampoline in the way you may imagine - in other words, you will not be jumping on the trampoline. Basically, I'm going to recommend that you simply stand in the center of the trampoline and march in place. This should be a very controlled movement, and you want to make sure you keep your head looking straight ahead and your arms at your side when you are marching.
This exercise should be done for 5 minutes every day. The goal of this herniated disc exercise is to improve your balance, which strengthens the smallest muscles around the spine. When you strengthen these muscles, it not only balances the spine, but it removes pressure from the discs, allowing them to heal more quickly.
The next exercise I'll recommend involves the use of a therapy ball, which is one of those large balls you see in health clubs or physical therapy clinics. Basically, you just want to sit on the ball, and gently bounce up and down, keeping your head looking forward and your arms to your side.
This exercise should be done for 5 minutes every day, and it's best that you do it immediately following the trampoline exercise we just discussed. This exercise is actually the most important one I'll be discussing today, because this is the one that's going to help bring new oxygen and nutrients to the injured disc for faster healing.
Basically, when you bounce on the ball, you are pumping every disc in the spine. This pumping action (called imbibition) is literally pumping new oxygen and nutrients into the disc, and pumping toxins from the injury out of the disc.
Finally, we need to discuss stretching and strengthening herniated disc exercises. Stretching should also be done every day, but I recommend that you do your stretches immediately after you do the trampoline and ball exercise. These exercises combined will act as an excellent warm-up and prepare your muscles for your daily activity (which reduces the risk that you will re-injure your herniated disc).
Strengthening exercises, on the other hand, need to be done just 3 days per week. These exercises are a little more aggressive, so I don't recommend you begin these until you've been doing the stretches for two weeks. The stretches will prepare you for the strengthening exercises, and you should always stretch before strengthening.
In other words, I would recommend that you do the trampoline exercise, then the ball exercise, then stretch, and finally strengthen. This routine will gradually warm up the area around the herniated disc, which ensures the fastest result.
There isn't enough room in this article to provide you with specific stretching and strengthening herniated disc exercises, but if you visit http://www.HealYourBulgingDisc.com, you can find more information about specific stretches and strengthening exercises there.
Introduction to Height Increase Exercise
Part I - Spine Stretching Exercise
Height increase is the idea that one can perform exercises or other methods (other than limp lengthening surgery) to induce physical increase in one's height naturally, even after puberty age.
The height increase exercise that is most often mentioned is the spine stretching exercise.
Spine stretching exercise essentially is a spinal decompression process that aims specifically to elongate the spinal column.
The rationale behind spine stretching exercise is that since the earth exerts gravitational pull on everything that rest on it which obviously includes your body, thus by offsetting this gravitational pull one can restore his/her natural height. Gravity pulls down the natural gaps between each spinal disc of your spinal column and can decrease your natural height up to 1-3 inches. It is a known fact that when you wake up in the morning, you can be about 1-3 inches taller. This is because the laying down position of sleeping throughout the night has relaxed the spine in such a way that the decompression from gravity has been neutralized. Unfortunately, within a few hours of being upright (include in both sitting and standing position) the spinal compression from gravity would you shorten again.
The spine stretching exercises focus on training your spine to resist this gravity pulls by constantly helping your spine to relax and to restore the natural fluidity within those spinal column gaps between the discs.
There are many activities that are known to be effective for spinal decompression. The most common spine stretching exercise is hanging on a bar with your body suspense in midair. This is typically done with a traditional pull-up bar. The concept is simple which is utilizing the strength of your arms and shoulder to support your entire body weight. This way your body is being pulled down by gravity but unlike normal upright walking, your feet do not counteract against the gravitational pull. So instead of decompression of the spine, you got a relaxed spine that is being pulled straight downward. It is recommended that hanging to be done on daily basis and with each session lasting at least for 1-5 minutes. The duration for hanging sessions tend to be quite short due to the demanding arms and shoulders strength. But this should be improved over time as the arms and shoulders got stronger from repetitive training.
One great debate that has been ongoing is whether the height obtained from stretching is permanent. There seems to be evidence for both scenarios. A good number of people who experience immediate gain from spinal stretching such as hanging have reported that height increase has been lost after abandoning the stretching routine. One explanation for height loss from lack of maintenance is that those individuals lack physical activities, in particular with their core muscle around the spinal column. When the core muscles are not strong enough, the gravity would eventually take back the height gain. For those reports that height increase was permanent, those tend to be individuals who are physically active and have a strong core that can maintain the loosened state of the spinal column.
That is why it is not enough to merely stretch out the spine regularly, but also to build strength around your core to ensure the height increase would be permanent. Core muscle training is the solution.
Stay tune for next part on core muscle training.
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Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain – Know the Symptoms and Treatment
Rheumatoid arthritis is a quite serious disease induced by the inflammation of the joints. This ailment is caused by white blood cells attacking largely healthy tissues of the body's joints and cartilages. Usually affected are the neck, shoulders, spine, hip, hands, wrists, knee and feet. The pain that is often associated with this disease is sometimes so severe that the person suffering from it is unable to maintain normal daily activities.
The ailment afflicts more women than men, has three clinically known stages of development. The initial stage usually starts with painful swelling and stiffness of the joints. But these symptoms can still be easily controlled and treated by anti-rheumatic drugs. The drugs, however, work best only in the initial stage of the arthritis so it is highly recommended that you consult a doctor immediately if you think you may be suffering from the disease. Don't wait!
In stage two of the disease the pain is heightened and severely affects the bones and cartilage. The final stage of the disease is the most crippling. The ailment develops into chronic rheumatoid arthritis and the disease no longer responds to any treatment.
If you are suffering from joint pains, it is necessary to check with your physician immediately. Do not wait for other symptoms to appear. It is also best not to try to treat the pain with just about any over-the-counter medication. It is possible you might just do more harm to yourself.
Ask your doctor to diagnose if you are really suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. This way you could immediately start the treatment for the disease. If diagnosed early and with proper treatment, severe arthritis attack could be lessened or even avoided. But if you procrastinate, the disease may well advance into a stage where you would eventually need to undergo surgery. Surgical treatment is expensive, not to mention very painful. It is always best to start early with rheumatoid arthritis treatment.
Aside from an early visit to the doctor, you should undertake general care of your affected joints. Do not add more pain to it by unnecessary stress due to exertion. If you are overweight, you should start exerting more effort to reduce your weight. Losing weight will help relieve some of the pain as it would reduce pressure and stress from joints.
Other ways to relieve rheumatoid arthritis joint pain is through natural remedies like eating a healthy diet regularly. Ask your doctor for the best rheumatoid arthritis diet and nutrition that is appropriate for your condition. Also, try to get enough sleep every day. Whenever there is a flare up of the pain, try to use a cane or brace to reduce stress on the affected joints.
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