Do Over-the-Counter Painkillers Alter Emotions, Reasoning?
Posted in

Do Over-the-Counter Painkillers Alter Emotions, Reasoning?

Sure, an over-the-counter painkiller like Tylenol or Advil can help ease aches and pains, but could it mess with your thoughts and emotions, too? That’s the finding from a new review of recently published studies. The studies focused on how nonprescription painkillers might temporarily alter emotions such as empathy or even a person’s reasoning skills. Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More…. “In many ways, the reviewed findings are alarming,” said a…

Do Over-the-Counter Painkillers Alter Emotions, Reasoning? Read More
Pain Relief for Achy Joints
Posted in

Pain Relief for Achy Joints

Getting older certainly has its perks, but the reality is that aging can take its toll on many of us, despite our efforts to get out there and stay active—especially as the cold weather sets in. No, it wasn’t an exaggeration when your mother/father/grandmother or someone else rubbed their knee/elbow/back, winced and muttered, “I can feel a storm coming on.” Yes, there is evidence that shows a link between weather changes and chronic pain, especially…

Pain Relief for Achy Joints Read More
New Chronic Pain Treatments Help the Whole Person
Posted in

New Chronic Pain Treatments Help the Whole Person

Women who live with chronic pain seek relief through all kinds of treatments, from acupuncture to physical therapy, medication to psychology. But in recent years, researchers have proven a multidisciplinary approach to chronic pain management can offer substantial and sustained pain relief. Even if you have explored multiple treatment modalities, you likely haven’t experienced a true multidisciplinary pain management program. That’s because they are few and far between. These complex team-driven programs require resources typically…

New Chronic Pain Treatments Help the Whole Person Read More
Why I’m Talking About My Chronic Pain and Why You Should Too
Posted in

Why I’m Talking About My Chronic Pain and Why You Should Too

As a physical therapist, my job is to assist my patients to move better, get stronger, and most often to reduce their pain. This is an important, gratifying, and yet often challenging profession. This is in part due to my own daily chronic pain that is primarily in my low back and tailbone. I have been in some level of pain constantly for the past ten years. Click Here to Visit the Store and find…

Why I’m Talking About My Chronic Pain and Why You Should Too Read More
Smart Steps for Healthy Feet
Posted in

Smart Steps for Healthy Feet

Are your feet something you think about only when they hurt? Simple steps can protect them from common problems, some of which are hard to get rid of. READ: The Ways to Treat Your Feet Right The first step is to wear shoes, such as water slip-ons, in moist environments like indoor swimming pools and communal showers at the gym. Damp areas allow bacteria and viruses to thrive, and walking barefoot makes you more susceptible…

Smart Steps for Healthy Feet Read More
Nerve Block Technique Might Help Chronic Back Pain
Posted in

Nerve Block Technique Might Help Chronic Back Pain

A procedure that uses radio waves to treat chronic low back pain provided long-lasting relief to a small group of patients, researchers report. Called intradiscal biacuplasty (IDB), the procedure uses two water-cooled needles to blast radiofrequency energy at the nerve fibers within and around a spinal disc that’s begun to degenerate but has not ruptured, explained lead researcher Dr. Michael Gofeld. “Basically you’re destroying the nerve fibers, which will lead to the elimination of pain,”…

Nerve Block Technique Might Help Chronic Back Pain Read More
Don’t Wake Mom Today
Posted in

Don’t Wake Mom Today

This Mother’s Day, take pity on the woman who cooks, cleans, shops, fusses and worries over you. Before you overwhelm her with breakfast in bed, let her sleep in. It’s no secret that women are chronically sleep deprived, and moms, especially working moms, are at the top of that list. According to a survey conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, almost three out of four American women between the ages of 30 and 60 don’t…

Don’t Wake Mom Today Read More
Pain: Another Gender Gap
Posted in

Pain: Another Gender Gap

Like many other things in life, pain discriminates by gender. Women, studies show, feel pain more intensely than men, suffer disproportionately from conditions like chronic pain and migraines, and are more likely to be undertreated for pain than men. More pain, no gain More than 70 percent of people who report suffering chronic pain are women, according to a 2003 report in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America. Compared with men, women…

Pain: Another Gender Gap Read More
Why I Fear Doctors, Hospitals, and Test Results
Posted in

Why I Fear Doctors, Hospitals, and Test Results

Some people have an irrational fear of doctors. While some of us have been victimized so severely, that we may never trust one again. Since my first chronic illness diagnosis in 2001, my life, has been nothing short of a nightmare. I know my body well.  In fact, I know better than any test or doctor.  Tweet Not to sound conceited. But not one test or scan has ever shown the destruction that has been…

Why I Fear Doctors, Hospitals, and Test Results Read More
Invisible Disability Awareness
Posted in

Invisible Disability Awareness

We have embodied beings. All of us. But what then is distinct about the lived experience of pain? What is it like to have your life and choices filtered by pain, limited by pain, and yet be invisible to others? I will tell you what it is like. It sucks. Yes, it sucks. There I said it. Like so many others with invisible disabilities I have danced, no, shuffled through life with this awesome mask…

Invisible Disability Awareness Read More