Pain Management and Pain Relief Information

Archive for November, 2011

I am now free from chronic neck pain, despite having a mechanical challenge in that area. But there was a time when I was constantly in agony. One of the methods that helped me was Reiki, but it was via a very circuitous route. This is my story.

At the beginning of my recovery from a disease that nearly took my life, I had to sleep stiffly in a certain way, and then I had a mishap when I got back into the gym, the combination of which gave me constant neck pain. I was seeing an osteopath twice a week, way beyond what any medical scheme would pay for, and hardly able to pay him. I even ended up taking a second job when the mounting debt became unmanageable. But pain does that to you. You would do anything to escape it. As well as finances, I paid with my stomach lining, popping huge amounts of pain killers, just to get some relief. Of course, just being in pain all the time was maddening. And no matter what I did, the pain returned within hours or even minutes.

I started investigating faith healing, in desperation for a miracle. So when I was invited to a talk about Reiki, I jumped at the chance to find out more. At the talk, I decided that Reiki would be a tool to help me manage this pain. I signed up for my first Reiki course, eager to get started.

At my Reiki 1 course, my heart totally sank when my Reiki Master said that Reiki would not help my neck pain. I was devastated. However, I liked other things about the Reiki and decided to pursue it further. I went on to take my Reiki 2 practitioner course and never for one moment questioned my first Reiki Master’s statement. I took it as the absolute truth. I never tried to heal my neck pain or gave myself a healing with that intention. I kept paying more than I could afford for osteopathy and kept destroying my stomach lining.

Four years later, still in agony, I was by chance given a healing by another Reiki Master. I told her nothing about my neck pain but simply took my usual double dose of ibuprofen before the gathering in which we met and submitted to a healing in order to please her. This Reiki Master was more experienced than the others before her. She intuited that something was wrong at my neck and shoulders and proceeded to heal it. She made me stay longer, saying there was still work to be done. And although I felt nothing happening during the treatment, by the end of that day, I noticed that I had not taken more pain-killers. The next day, I could really feel a difference. I went from twice-weekly osteopathic manipulations to once fortnightly – literally a quarter of the treatments previously needed. I was so amazed, I started self-healing my neck, offered Reiki pain relief to my clients, and also enrolled to do my Reiki Masters.

Since those days, I have added to my healing tool-kit with EFT and kinesiology-based methods, and that chronic pain, which had once driven me to distraction, is simply no longer. But I will never forget that magical day when my eyes were finally opened to the wonders of Reiki. I am truly blessed.

Don’t feel alone if you have experienced back pain in your life: Four out of five people experience back pain at some point. It is surprisingly the fifth most common reason that people visit the doctor. Back pain takes many forms, ranging from a persistent dull ache to sudden sharp pain, and it also has many causes. Many people experience back pain because they are sedentary, overweight or have had a history of back problems. It can result from a sprain, fracture, or other accidental injury or from a disease or medical condition, such as spinal stenosis, arthritis or fibromyalgia. The good news is that most of the time, lower back pain usually gets better within a few days or weeks, and surgery is rarely necessary.

Use the following simple self-help strategies to help prevent back pain and stop it from coming back to cause problems in your busy life:

1. Incorporate more exercise in your life. When you have back pain you may assume that you need to rest to make it feel better. And in fact one or two days might help, but any more than that and you could increase your pain. Being physically active could actually help to relive your pain as long as it is not too strenuous and it incorporates both the posterior and anterior muscle groups in your core area. Exercise can help ease inflammation and muscle tension by keeping the blood and nutrients flowing to the area(s) that are affected. Stretching is important to keep muscles pliable and reduce stiffness. Stay consistent with your exercises even if you can only stand a few minutes!

2. Stop Smoking! Nicotine has been found to reduce the flow of blood to your spinal discs which restricts important nutrients from reaching these areas. Smokers have been found to be more vulnerable to back pain, so stop smoking!

3. Watch your weight. If you are carrying extra pounds, especially in your midsection, you could be making your back pain worse. Extra weight has a tendency to shift your center of gravity and place extra strain on your lower back. Try to stay within 10 pounds of your ideal weight to help control back pain.

4. Control your Posture. If you sit at a desk for most of the day, then you should ensure that you have the right chair to help you maintain the correct posture. The best type of chair for preventing back pain is one with a straight back or one that has low-back support. You will need to keep your knees a little higher than your hips while you are seated, and using a stool to prop your feet on is not uncommon. If you are standing most of the day, try to stay erect and keep your stomach tight if possible. Use a stool to rest one foot on at a time if you can and switch feet about every 15 minutes if possible.

5. Use correct lifting techniques. Be sure that you don’t bend over to lift heavy objects! Instead, bend your knees and squat, tightening your abdominal muscles and hold the object close to your body as you stand. Never twist your torso as you are lifting, and if you can, push heavy objects rather than pull. Pushing is a little easier on the back.

Use these strategies to help reduce or control your back pain unless your doctor has advised you against any form of exercise or has restricted your movement. Since back pain is a common ailment, it pays to follow these strategies as a proactive measure against any possible future back problems.

A self massage is basically used for improvement in the flow and drainage of lymph. This is done by stimulating the lymphatic vessels by massage. Self massage is also known as lymphatic massage.

Usually a lymphedema therapist instructs patients on carrying out self massage or lymphatic massage. One should understand that this is not a thing to let go but is an important part of managing lymphedema and should be carried out regularly as and when directed.

The self massage is skipped when a person finds out that there is an infection in the affected area or there are symptoms or indications that an infection is developing. If this is the case then the self massage can be modified as need be or skipped completely until the infection is under control.

Also self massage is not recommended by doctors to people that have certain medical conditions. These conditions include certain malignant tumors.

One needs to clearly understand the self massage strokes. This is why you need to pay attention to the therapist that is giving you training on how to carry out self massage.
This process and the strokes used and their sequence are quite similar to the ones as used in manual lymph drainage.
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Self massage is considered to be a technique that is gentle and carrying it out on the affected area should not result in the skin becoming red and/or the area where the massage is done starts to hurt.

Even though similar to lymph massage this self massage is not the same as a conventional muscle massage. Self massage basically encourages lymph drainage. This is the reason why only a qualified lymphedema therapist should be allowed to massage the lymphedema affected area using deep strokes and not anyone else who does not have the knowledge or the experience.

Strokes in a self massage routine do not use a lot of pressure and the hands are not made to slide over the skin of the affected area. In lieu of this while massaging hands are used to move and stretch the skin so as to stimulate flow of lymph through the lymphatic capillaries. These capillaries are located right under the skin.

It is not common to use any oils and lotions during a self massage therapy treatment as they result in making the skin slippery. Only when the skin appears to be very dry should lotion be applied before self massaging. The lotion should be allowed to be absorbed before carrying out the massage.

Back pain management is no longer just a concern for adults; increasingly, young teenagers are feeling the effects if back pain. If you are a teen or the parent of a teen, it is important to educate yourself on common back pain causes for young people.

Children’s bodies are typically more resilient than those of adults. However, various conflicting factors of the modern lifestyle have posed serious threats to the spinal structures and back muscles of growing children.

Inactivity

Some of our youth are not getting the amount of exercise they need. Physical activity is important for maintaining both muscle tone and cardiovascular health. These two components of a healthy body protect against strain and injury, since strong muscles can handle the physical feats required by the day and a strong delivery system of blood and oxygen allows the tissues of the body to replenish, recover and perform work. Exercise is a vital component of back pain management and prevention.

Modern life is centered around technology. Computers and video games occupy much of our children’s time. With the exception of physical education classes, many teens spend the day sitting in unergonomic chairs at school, then sitting at home. The four or so minutes they spend walking between classes is not enough to stretch their muscles. Muscle tension and rigidity can result from this inactivity, along with other serious health problems like obesity.

Competitive Sport

On the other hand, some of our children are pushing themselves too hard. While modern culture fosters inactivity, it also holds on to the “no pain, no gain” ideal. Competitive sports are an asset to many lives, developing character and encouraging teamwork. However, some teens push themselves beyond their capacity and end up with an injury that lasts a lifetime.

Exacerbating this problem is the fact that many teens will not rest their injuries long enough for them to heal. Team members who play even when hurt are glorified for putting the team before themselves. Teens who don’t spend adequate time on back pain management may not realize that the sacrifice they are making will effect their futures.

Postural Enemies

The aforementioned schoolroom chair and the overloaded backpack are enemies of proper posture. Teens who don’t maintain strong stomach and back muscles will likely slouch in their seats, distorting the spine’s curvature. This also creates strain on the lower back muscles, since the stomach muscles are not engaged to assist in supporting the upper body’s weight.

One of the most common forms of physical therapy in recent times has been massage. Massage has many benefits which have led to many variations of therapy to be commonplace. In this article, you are going to learn of the benefits that have been associated with this age-old practice.

One of the main ailments that massage therapy has been recommended for is the relief of stress. When you are stressed, your body builds up a lot of toxins. Mental stress can lead to physical tension, which reduces blood flow to those specific regions of the body. Consequently, this produces various reactions that bring about the reduction of the body defense mechanism and causing you to be more susceptible to disease.

Through the procedure of kneading the body muscles in massage, you provide a mechanical flow of blood to these areas. The fresh blood takes nutrients and oxygen to the various tissues and forces out the toxins that have built up in the muscle tissue. This leads to you feeling revitalized and stress free.

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Another common use of massage is for the alleviation of pain in people with soft tissue injuries. If you were to closely observe what you do when you get a knock on a part of your body, you will immediately start rubbing the part affected immediately. By doing this, you are in fact massaging the area to avoid a swelling. When you are knocked, the body releases a lot of tissue fluid to the affected area and this causes an inflammation to the area. Through massage, the tissue fluid that causes the inflammation is drained. This will consequently ease the pain that is associated with such a knock and hence the healing time is drastically reduced. This is mainly practiced in sports where such incidences are common.

Massage can also be used for aching muscles and general well being especially if you have a busy schedule and lack the time to exercise regularly. Massage has been shown to cause an increase of blood and lymph circulation, causing you to feel invigorated and rejuvenated after the procedure. All these are as a result of the movement of lymph fluid which is responsible for the removal of waste products in the body.

With these benefits outlined, it is of importance that you should always aim to go for regular massage so as to experience the beauty and benefits that come with this age-old practice. This will lead you to feeling physically strong with a lot of life-force energy.

Because of the major role of our hands play in our lives, we should not let an infected finger occur in our hands. Hands and fingers are very prone to any kinds of infection, because they are used for work and always exposed to bacteria. Proper care and safety are the best preventive measure for any infection. Also, being knowledgeable to the causes of infection will help you understand the risk of finger infections. Causes of finger infection will be discussed later on. Infections on fingers have the potential to become serious, so immediate treatment is necessary.

We get finger infections because of bacteria that invade our fingernail or nail bed. Bacteria can also enter through an open wound or cut. In the case of young kids, they tend to break their thumb skin by continuously sucking or chewing their thumb. The broken skin gives the bacteria a way to enter their thumb.

• People who have history of diabetes or any traumatic problem should take extra care. Diabetics have a greater chance of contracting an infection through a cut or tear. It may also take more time for their infection to heal.
• If you have to wear gloves all the time because of your work, make sure that you often remove them to free your hands from perspiration. Perspiration may also cause bacteria build-up. Wash your hands with mild soap and sanitize if needed.
• Address your problem immediately, if you have animal bites. Apart from the fact that you could get rabies, other bacteria can also be transferred to you through an animal bite. Seek a doctor’s help quickly, and he or she might give you some shots.

There is also home treatment available for finger infections. If you see the initial sign of infection, soak your hands in warm water immediately, and put some garlic paste or some topical cream to kill bacteria that are developing in the infected area. You can buy topical antibiotic cream in any drugstore. If the problem persists, do not hesitate to go to the clinic or hospital to ask for medical treatment. The doctors know what to do with your infection, and what medicine is needed to reduce pain and the spread of infection.

Do not ignore any finger infections, because they may lead to major complications. You may not want to lose your infected finger, so attend to your problem as soon as possible. An infected finger can be treated even if the home remedy is limited, so there is no reason to neglect it.