6 Tips to Protect Your Back When Shoveling Snow We’re finally getting some winter weather here on the seacoast. And although it’s beautiful – and the skiers are rejoicing – someone still has to shovel that snow and clear it out of the way. If that someone is you – then you’ll want to keep reading. Because repetitive bending and twisting of your back (the primary movement in...
It’s that time of year – when people set goals and take action to improve their health, get back in shape, and ramp up exercise routines. But what happens when your body isn’t ready for what your mind has planned? How can you tell if the soreness you feel is “good pain” – or a problem brewing? This concept is particularly confusing when it comes to leg pain....
If you’ve ever suffered from sciatica – then you don’t need me to tell you how debilitating the condition can be. From shooting and searing pain into your buttocks that can run all the way down to your foot – to numbness, tingling and loss of strength… sciatica has the ability to significantly impact your quality of life. What’s worse? It typically comes out of nowhere – making...
Tips and Solutions for Morning Back Pain: Causes and How to Fix it One of the most common complaints from people suffering from chronic back pain is how stiff and sore their back feels first thing in the morning. For some, it seems random – almost like they’ve “thrown their back out” overnight. For others, it’s a daily struggle, waking up achy no matter how good they felt...
Approximately 500,000 Americans undergo back surgery to relieve their pain every year. But the American Society of Anesthesiologists estimates that 20 – 40% of those surgeries fail – leaving folks worse off than before they were considering back surgery in the first place. And what happens when your first back surgery fails? You get a second surgery – and maybe even a third – to try and repair...
Leaves are everywhere right now in New England, which means for many, the tedious task of raking them is right around the corner. I love Fall – but I don’t love raking leaves. And raking leaves is even worse when you’re suffering from back pain. The good news is there are many things you can do to protect your back when raking leaves. Here are 6 of my...
Gardening is a favorite activity for a lot of folks – and lately I have been hearing many people having knee and back pain when gardening. To add more frustration to this topic, you might not even notice the pain until hours or days afterwards, which can make it challenging to address. The good news is that there are several things you can do to protect your knees...
A herniated disc can occur in any part of our spine. However, we often see it happening in the lower back. This condition has also been known as a bulging, protruding, or ruptured disc. 80% of people will experience lower back pain at one point in their life – and for some this may be from a herniated disc. Anyone can develop a herniated disc, but certain factors may increase that...
I recently polled my readers regarding their most important concerns when it comes to their musculoskeletal health. In other words, what questions were they desperately seeking answers for related to back, neck, knee, hip, shoulder, or ankle pain? Here is a great question I received from John: “I’m getting Physical Therapy for lower back pain and sciatica that is said to be from my piriformis. My PT treatment...
Have you heard of Radiofrequency ablation (RFA)? If you suffer from chronic back pain – there’s a good chance you have. Perhaps it’s even been recommended to you? It’s a common procedure used to disable nerve fibers that are carrying the pain signal to your brain. Your brain is what decides whether or not you’re going to experience pain. So the goal behind this procedure is to kill...
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