Daniel Redwood DCChiropractors are health professionals who focus on the relationship between the body's structure (primarily the spine) and its function (coordinated by the nervous system). While the spinal dysfunctions or imbalances that chiropractors call the...
Ray Sahelian MDEvery 7 years I take a test to maintain my medical board certification. This test is prepared by the American Board of Family Medicine. The last time I took the test I clearly remember a multiple choice question regarding osteoarthritis. The choice...
Martin L. Rossman MDAmericans are worried. Approximately 20–40 million Americans have some form of diagnosable anxiety disorder, another 40 million have trouble with alcohol or drugs, mostly taken to reduce anxiety, and 47 million smoke. The “worried well” represent a...
What Doctors Don't Tell YouAt some point in life, 80 per cent of all adults will suffer back pain - and mostly in the lumbar region. The lumbar vertebrae lie near the base of the spine and are the major supports of the body’s weight. They are also the site of the lumbar...
* Have surgery in a multidisciplinary setting combining medical and mental-health care, physical therapy and other treatments. Patients do better with such an approach and are also more likely to return to work (Pain, 1992; 49: 221-30).
Warm the affected area using a hot-water bottle or heat pad for instant temporary relief
Lower-back pain is the most common pain-related condition in the West (Radiographics, 1998; 18: 621-33) and, in a fair proportion of cases, the culprit is diagnosed as a slipped disc - technically known as a ‘herniated lumbar disc’ or ‘prolapsed...
* Exercise As 60 per cent of PLIDs cure themselves (usually within four months), the simplest solution is to work with the natural healing process. The true experts in musculoskeletal problems are, of course, osteopaths and chiropractors, and they...
If you have low back pain, instead of rushing to your own doctor, first try the most conservative management you can. Dr William Kirkaldy-Willis, retired emeritus professor of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Saskatchewan...
Epidural anaesthesia for pain relief during childbirth and for outpatient 'awake' surgery has been found to cause a high incidence of long-term back pain.
