Everyday pain management ideas

Most of us can relate to a favorite recipe from childhood, or even in adult life.  If you're a cook, you could even relate to the idea of finding a recipe and "making it your own" by adding omitting ingredients till you get it just right.  It may take weeks, months or even years to get the recipe just right.  Is it worth it?  Well, this is usually true... Image source: Weber.edu This concept has a role in pain management as well.  If you have a chronic pain issue you may have tried some treatments that worked really well and others that did no good whatsoever.  The good news is that the options/combination of options is nearly endless .  It might take a really long time to find the "perfect blend" of remedies to manage the aches and pains of chronic illness. I am here to tell you that whether you're the cook or the pain sufferer, it really is worth persevering to find the right combination of ingredients to achieve the best result.  It ...

Recently news in the pain world has pointed to a possible connection between migraine headaches and carpal tunnel syndrome. These two chronic pain conditions that would otherwise seem unrelated, but this study out of Dallas, Texas suggest that people with carpal tunnel syndrome are more likely to suffer from migraine, and vice versa.  The study authors seem to think that there is some common neurologic or systemic risk factor, but that has yet to be identified. Dr. Huay Zong Law and his colleagues at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center surveyed about 26,000 Americans to collect data for this study.  Here are some interesting statistics that they gathered during the study: Thirty four percent of those who reported having carpal tunnel syndrome also reported that they had migraine headache.  In those who do not have carpal tunnel issues, the incidence of migraine is about sixteen percent.  This means that the risk of migraine headache issues is 2...

Today's post is about a little different kind of chronic pain condition.  TMD (or TMJ), officially known as Temporomandibular Joint Disorder, affects the hinge-like joint that connects the jaw to the temporal bones of the skull.  Without this skeletal feature, life would be quite different, for it is used for chewing food, speaking, and yawning. The cause of TMJ/TMD is unclear, but it is thought to arise as a result of whiplash or injury.  Other possible causes include grinding of the teeth, stress,  or arthritis of the temporomandibular joint. There is a cushion-like disk within this joint that may fall out of alignment, potentially leading to TMD. This condition is more common in women, and usually affects persons between the ages of 20 and 40. Common symptoms of TMJ/TMD include clicking, popping or grating sounds when chewing or opening the mouth. Sometimes the jaw will actually lock open or closed. Facial pain, or perhaps pain in the neck or shoulders c...

Acetaminophen, aka Tylenol, has been America's favorite pain reliever for decades.  It is one of the safest and most effective products on the market for as long as I can remember.  Many of us are aware that this medicine is generally safe to take. There have been a few problems with this drug and related products over the years...I remember the early 80s when some Tylenol products on store shelves were found to be tainted with a poison and great strides were made to make the product line tamper proof.  We found out that there is such a thing as "too much" when it comes to acetaminophen.  There were recommendations put in place reduce the risk of liver toxicity.   To this day, acetaminophen products are a large sector of the over-the counter medication market, and many combination products that are RX only contain acetaminophen as well.  If that doesn't make a statement, I don't know what does. Fast forward to 2015.  A small study a...

Current research suggests that there is a connection between the brain and the GI tract in the human body.  This connection is in the form of communication that goes in both directions--from brain to gut and vice versa--and it is modulated (via neurohormones) by the microbes that live within our GI tract, known as normal flora. Gut Brain Illustration This connection is a hot research topic these days.  There is evidence that the connectivity between the two plays a role in conditions such as anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome.  It also appears that when the normal flora is out of balance--perhaps due to a course of antibiotics or an illness--that the gut brain axis is affected, causing a disturbance to the bidirectional communications across the gut brain axis. That is why probiotics have entered the marketplace; they claim to restore normal colonization to a disturbed GI microbiota. Now some research is focusing on the role of the gut brain axis in chron...

When I recently wrote a post about pain coaching services, I mentioned the term "functional restoration program."  I realized after the fact that this is something I've never mentioned before in my blog..so in today's post I would like to give you a little introduction to that concept. When researching for this topic, I noticed that I could not find a strict definition for a functional restoration program.  What I can tell you is that a functional restoration program is a multi-disciplinary approach to problems such a chronic pain.  The treatment team may involve physical therapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, and other specialties, depending on the individual program. As an example of this, here is some information from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Spine Center regarding their functional restoration program: “Our goal is to treat the whole person, recognizing that pain and disability affect all aspects of a person's life. Each patient...

I saw a story from last year about former professional football players who took the NFL to court . The players argued that the NFL used poor decision making and mishandled prescription pain killers for during the course of their medical treatments. Over 500 players took part in the suit. According to the article, the DEA raided at least three NFL training rooms to investigate the situation. In light of these issues, many NFL teams have adopted different strategies for pain management issues of professional players.  One such strategy is the use of Rapid Release Technology, or RRT. As per the manufacturer's website, Rapid Release Therapy (TM) is a revolutionary breakthrough in therapeutic technology focused on relief of soft tissue problems affecting nerves, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.  RRT was designed from the ground up to target scar tissue adhesions with a specific frequency.  In addition, this frequency is in a range that is known to relax muscle ...