2010 April

Managing Your Ache with a Firepit

April 27th, 2010

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Using fire pits to control pain is one of many alternative methods quickly becoming more attractive to chronic pain sufferers fed up with traditional routes of treating constant ailments. Watching a fire is a pain reliever for many and hence they sit near the fire pit, watch it and forget their pain for sometime. As non-traditional methods of managing chronic pain become more and more widespread, the fire pit is gaining acclaim as a way to divert one’s attention away from one’s discomfort.

Chronic pain can make it nearly impossible to live an ordinary life. Intense pain can be all-encompassing, and others can’t really understand what you are experiencing. Thankfully, there are now a wide range of different methods of pain management available that give patients options for pain relief, and methods like fire pits are a promising choice for people who are trying to treat their pain using as little prescription medication as possible. Allowing patients to use self hypnosis, utilizing a fire pit,a very basic form of self hypnosis alleviates pain when it becomes too much to bear.

Patients often manage pain effectvely with fire pits due to the human mind’s perception of fire. Throughout the last fifteen years, neurologists have researched the physical human mind alone with research called contextual processing. Contextual processing deals with the fact that different areas of the visual cortex are activated by different kinds of objects. Think of it like this, one section of the cortex of your sight completely targets the recognition of appearances. The effect of injury of this part of brain is loss of recognition of faces even though they can be seen clearly. Some parts of your brain only become active in the presence of fire. When a person sits quietly in front of a fire in fire pits and concentrates on observing and thinking about fire, the mind washes out everything else, including the perception of pain.

Dealing With Osteoarthritis

April 16th, 2010

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Does lifting a book or a bag cause pain in your hand or shoulder? Does bending down to pick up a brown boot on the floor prove to be very difficult? If yes, then it’s possible that you already have osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is just one form of arthritis. And it’s the most common too. It goes by other names as well, including: degenerative arthritis, OA, wear-and-tear arthritis and osteoarthrosis. This disease can affect any joint in your body. However, it usually affects the knees, hips, back and hands.

How does this joint disease take place? A cartilage is a connective tissue found where bones form a joint. It provides cushion and lubrication necessary for movements. However, cartilages may get damaged through overuse or as you normally age. Pain and inflammation is present in affected areas of the body. Your movements become limited as well. Aside from overusing a body part and aging, other causative factors include: obesity, injury and even heredity.

As soon as you suspect you’re suffering from it, it’s important that you immediately see your doctor. A physical examination should reveal whether or not you’re afflicted with the disease. Based on the findings, a treatment mode will have to be given, to help deal with the signs and symptoms.

It’s not unlikely for medications to be prescribed. Analgesic has to be taken for pain. While for swelling, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, are usually given. For severe cases, there are also medications administered through injection.

As mentioned earlier, obesity can be a causative factor. If such is your case, then it’s important for you to shed off unnecessary pounds. Adapting a particular diet recommended by your doctor will help you lose weight, thus relieving excessive pressure on your joints. Such diet will also exclude foods that may worsen the condition.

A physical or occupational therapist will provide you with some exercise routines. Such routines will help stabilize the muscles around the joints. And at the same time enhancing the flexibility or the affected bone joints. Performing these exercise routines will help you increase your otherwise limited motion.

Supplements, such as Kirkland glucosamine tablets, will help in slowing down the deterioration of cartilage. Glucosamine is naturally produced by the body. But its production tends to slow down with age. Other supplements may include ingredients such as chrondroitin, omega-3 fatty acids, and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM).

If you will adhere to your doctor’s recommendations, in no time you will benefit from them. You can perform much of your given up activities, such as using an ibanez acoustic electric guitar or playing with your kids. But for severe osteoarthritis cases, undergoing operation may be necessary for relief.