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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Wrong Sitting Positions Can Create Back Problems

Back problems affect a significantly number of people in the population. Whether you are young or old, more and more people are having these problems like never before. There are a lot of factors that may contribute to this like age, diet and physical activity. But would you believe that how we sit affects back pains? The finding for this study is very important since we live in an age where most of the work being done are done sitting down. Whether you are an office clerk or CEO of a huge corporation, chances are you are sitting down more than 90 percent of the time in you daily work shift. Recent study has shown, radiologist have confirmed what ergonomists have long suspected that sitting upright is bad for you back. A new method of detecting this is the positional Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI scans of patients sitting and standing can demonstrate how gravity acts on the spine.

The study of the scans have shown that 90 degree sitting position, which most people consider normal, places unnecessary strain on the lower back curvature, causing disc to become squashed. A 135 degree body thigh position, like that of an adjustable recliner shows the least strain to the body. This is a big problem since most of us are sitting in the 90 degree position, or even worse slouching to an 85 or 80 degree angle especially while typing work in computers.

There are ways to relieve the pressure of back pains for us who work all day in the office. Buy ergonomic chairs, tables and even computer keyboards and mouse can relieve a lot of anxiety we fell as we sit all day. The sitting position, in which the hips need to be higher than the knees and the feet should be flat on the floor. Opening up the angle between your body and thighs is whats important to relieve back pains.

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Thursday, July 05, 2007

Pain Relief The Natural Way

Millions of people all over the world live with chronic pain. Although there are medicines that can help ease the discomfort, many more will still continue to suffer. But there are ways that we can relieve ourselves of the pain without taking any pills or medications. Some are non conventional methods that may seem foreign to most of us, but have proven to work in relieving pain.

1.) Chiropractic therapy compliments the healing process although practitioners cannot prescribe drugs or perform surgery but are trained to do standard medical procedures. Their services are even covered by some health cards. Spinal manipulation have been proven to treating simple lower back pain especially if it has been only present for a short time.

2.) Hypnosis can also relieve pain as well as treat headaches and bowel syndrome by altering brainwave patterns in the same way as other relaxation techniques.

3.) Breathing exercise by deep breathing from the diaphragm will greatly reduce stress that is associated with several chronic pains.

4.) Regular exercise prompts your body to release endorphins, which blocks the pain signals from reaching the brain. Endorphins are also known as feel good chemicals that your body produce to help alleviate depression and anxiety. Regular exercise will let you loose weight which is important form chronic pain sufferers because lighter weight will reduce the stress on your joints and improve your flexibility.

5.) Acupuncture is one of the most non conventional means of treating pain. But this practice has been around from centuries and has been proven to work numerous times already. Acupuncture helps relieve dental pain and nausea after undergoing an operation. This ancient form of treatment also helps treating cramps, myofascial pain as well as a host of other conditions.

6.) Certain foods an also help ease the pain. Although there is not enough evidence yet, foods like chicken soup and jacket potatoes make you feel better. Cherries, which contains Anthocyanins have anti inflammatory properties found in aspirins. Sugar can also reduce the perception of pain, especially in children. Soya can also help relieve osteoarthritis pain.

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