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Myths about back pain

There are several myths about back pain that influence peoples decisions before they even consult a doctor. In reality the treatment of back pain is not as simple as it looks, the treatment of back pain is related to the spine which is one of the most crucial parts of our body, therefore sometimes we end up causing more harm to our body when believing these myths.

 

Back pain gets worse with age?

 

Many people with back pain in their early 40’s and 30’s think that their back pain will get worse when they reach their 50’s. This fact is completely untrue. The fact is that back pain is very common in younger demographics and if they tend to it may actually go away by the time they’re in their 50’s.

 

Back pain is just a part of life and I should live with it?

 

Back pain should never be left untreated, if your pain is only getting worse over time. It is recommended that you consult your doctor. Chronic pain is not something you can live with; it will get in the way of your daily activities and also in the way of you actually working on subduing it.

 

I must protect my back to avoid further back pain?

 

It quite common that people with back pain actually over protects their backs, which causes more damage to your back than good. To stay healthy the spine needs stretching and exercise, bed rest and protecting the back does the complete opposite. Proper exercise and posture are the key to lowering back pain. Using casts and suspenders to artificially avoid back pain will only add to the pain and should be avoided.

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How do we retain energy during our fasting in Ramadan?

How to keep your energy during Ramadan 

Ramadan is just around the corner and it’s important for us as Muslims to understand the effects of fasting on our bodies, as well as the overall benefits that our bodies gain from it. While most people consider that fasting is the quick way of losing weight and cutting down on obesity they are not aware of how well structured fasting is biologically.

Continue reading “How do we retain energy during our fasting in Ramadan?”

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5 inexpensive ways to ease lower back pain

Chronic lower back pain plagues millions of people every year; age is no bar for lower back pain. Medicine focuses more on solving the anatomical problems and not really the pain that causes discomfort. Here’s our list of 6 easy ways to get past lower back pain:

 

  1. Get restorative sleep

 

Pain is the number one cause of insomnia, if you’re not sleeping right then you’re only going through more pain. Restorative sleep means getting your body to sleep by numbing out the pain, this can be done eating the right food, cutting down on caffeine and spiritually putting your mind in a peaceful state either through prayer or medication.

 

  1. Soothe the pain with temperature

 

Applying either cold or hot packs to the pain points on your lower back can extensively accelerate the healing process and also relieve pain. It’s also the most accessible the cheapest way to get past that chronic pain at any time of the day.

 

  1. Stretch your hamstrings

 

Yes your hamstrings are directly related to your lower back but they definitely have an affect on your lower back. Tight hamstrings actually put pressure and stress on the lower back and stretching your hamstrings through some lunges or basic stretches can go a long way .

 

  1. Exercise your mid body muscles

 

The abs play a major role for your lower back. Therefore exercising your core helps take off stress from your lower back. Your abs support your lower lumbar spine, if you’re obese then your first step to lowering lower back pain should be to lose that fat. The importance of core exercises for your lower back is so important that 58% of people who currently suffer from lower back pain wish that they had done more exercise focused in this area of the body .

 

  1. Endorphin release

 

You would be surprised at how much endorphins help in pain relief. They are treated as natural pain killer that already exist in your body. Therefore releasing endorphins helps block out pain signals that come from your lower back. Endorphin release can be triggered by taking deep breaths, aerobics and also being active.

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3 easy ways to ease neck pain from a sore or stiff neck

It’s common from time to time to face a sore or stiff neck. For some people this is almost a daily or weekly occurrence. There are many ways to easily bypass sore and stiff necks from the comfort of your home. Below are some of the ways we suggest you go about:

 

Cervical Traction:

The muscles in our neck tend to get tight and that is what causes a stiff neck. In order to ease that pain, applying gentle traction can help. One of the easiest ways to do this is as so:

 

  1. Place a hand towel which is double folded underneath your head, specifically only covering the occiput which is the rear part of the skull that rounds out to the neck and lie down on it.
  1. Have someone gently pull the towel straight towards them. Try to get them to hold the position for at least 3 minutes.
  2. Repeat the exercise 2-3 times per-day or until you feel some relief.

 

Hydrotherapy:

Taking a simple salt bath can ease a sore neck. Since sore necks are so common and the fastest way we suggest overcoming them is to take a bath with Epsom salts. The magenesium sulfate in the Epsom salt will reduce the rate of calcium bindings in the muscle contractions therefore relieving sore muscles.

 

Simply add two cups of Epsom salt to a warm bath and soak your body including your neck for 15-20 minutes.

 

Acupuncture point:

There is an acupuncture point on the body that goes by the name of Luo Zhen which is commonly used to relieve neck pain. This point is found on the back of the hand between the two bones in the depression just past the knuckles of the pointer and middle finger.

 

How to go about relieving neck pain through this Luo Zhen point is by massaging in the direction opposite to that of your neck pain. So if your right side of the neck hurts, massage the finger area on the left hand. So on and so forth.

 

Maintain pressure on that point and massage in small circles and at the same time also move your head from side to side to free up the muscles. After a few minutes your range of motion for your neck should increase and decrease your neck pain too.

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Knee Pain : Does it run in your family ?

A recent medical study has brought up some very interesting findings. Findings, which are very much similar to those for heart patients and diseases. It could be that knee pain or osteoarthritis to be exact, could be something that runs in your family and can be passed on to you due to genetics.

 

The Australian authors of this study have observed a common denominator between children and parents who have osteoarthritis, that denominator is genetics.  Dr. Graeme Jones of the university of Tasmania states that its abundantly clear that genes were a strong contributor to the risk of osteoarthritis.

 

It is a known fact that one third of adults over the age of 45 suffer from some type of knee pain. While the causes of knee pain are not always clear in 70 percent of the cases the knee pain cases turn into severe cases of osteoarthritis if they are left untreated or not properly attended to.

 

The study took a batch of 186 adults who had at least one of their parents go through a knee replacement surgery. The adults whose parents had knee replacements tended to be heavier and or smokers.  The study spanned 10 years and the results were shocking.

 

The results showed that 74 percent of the children of parents with knee replacements had knee pain compared to 54 percent of those with no family history of knee surgery. While the study did confirm that knee pain does have some relation to genetics it didn’t focus much on the many causes that led to the knee pain, but since parents and children tend to have similar body and behavior patterns it does make sense that a parent could pass on habits that would make them more susceptible to knee pain and osteoarthritis.

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Obesity is the leading cause of back pain

السمنة

Obesity is quickly becoming the leading cause for chronic pain. The current lifestyle changes that people go through due to easy access to fast food and conveniences are only adding to the obesity numbers year after year. This in turn is also increasing the number of cases of patients coming in with back pain issues at very young ages.

 

The American Obesity Association reports that musculoskeletal pain and back pain are now very common amongst nearly one third of the people that are classified as obese. More and more obese people now complain that they feel less able to complete everyday activities than those with other chronic conditions.

 

The reason obese people face more back pain pressure is due to the body having to compensate for the extra weight, which causes the spine to become tilted and stressed unevenly. As a result of that the spin over time starts to lose its support and forms an unnatural curvature, which has adverse and painful effects on the body especially while carrying out day-to-day activities.

 

The most common danger from obesity to the spine and joints is a herniated disc. This is when discs and other spinal structures are damaged from having to compensate for the pressure extra weight on the back.

 

Overall the only way to comeback back pain due to obesity is weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The effects of obesity only get worse over time and its important for those who are overweight to act upon it in their young age rather than later.