Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Indicators in Back Pain

Back pain usually starts with signals or indicators. For instance, if your back hurt at one time and stopped, and later it started it again, you received your indicator at the start. In short, the first time your back started hurting is the sign. You want to pinpoint when the first pain started. Once you pinpoint the starting date, you will need to consider what inspired your back pain. For instance, did you fall? Were you in a motorized accident?

Once you find the trigger of your back pain, you want to consider the symptoms. Did you feel pain? Did you feel weak? Was your back stiff or numb?

Now you can use the indicators to discover where the pain started. Did the pain start at the lower back? Was the pain at the top area? Did the pain cause additional pain, such as around the neck? Was the pain intermittent? Did the pain shoot to other areas of the body? Did the pain consistently cause stress?

Did the pain get worse, when you walked, sit, stood, or lie down? Did the pain decrease, or did it increase?

When you first hurt your back did the pain stop, or did it frequently hurt? Did the pain cause long-term problems? Did the pain leave right away?

When you first injured your back, did the symptoms change gradually? How did the symptoms change? Did the symptoms interrupt your daily duties? How did the symptoms interrupt your daily duties?

Answering the questions can help you inform your doctor, as well as understand the cause of your condition. If you were in an accident and sought medical support when you first damaged your spine, you may want to consider what tests were used to spot your condition. What did you doctor find?

If you sought medical support and your doctor recommended treatment, what was that treatment? How did the treatment help your back condition? If the treatment helped your condition, can you try the remedies now?

Is your back pain caused from surgery, musculoskeletal disorders, joint conditions, or disease?

Does your job require mandatory lifting of heavy objects? Do you sit long hours? Do you stand long hours? Is your job emotional stressful?

How are your exercise habits? Do you workout often. Do you engage in stretch exercises? What is your stress level? Do you do something active to relieve stress?

Is there a hereditary back problem in your history?

Once you ask questions related to your back condition you might want to mark points that you can mention later to your doctor. Noting the problems can help you and your doctor find the cause. Often patients fail to do this, which is why many back pain problems go unnoticed.

If your back pain has recently started again after the initial indicator, you may use treatments at home to relieve the pain, unless it is demanding. Rest is a common treatment doctor prescribes to reduce back pain. I'm a fan to chiropractor support, yet some people have issues with this notion, therefore if you feel a chiropractor can benefit you, seek support. Massage and physical therapy is also recommended to reduce back pain. In many areas, massage therapists are available, which charge reasonable fees. Check your areas to learn more about massage therapy. Common stretch exercises can reduce back pain, which has emerged from tension. If you overworked the muscles, you may want to rest and do a few exercises later.

Whatever you do, avoid ignoring the indicators. Once pain starts in the back, note the area and discuss the problem with your doctor.


(Note: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not be substantiated by scientific fact.)

Friday, January 23, 2009

Free Weights VS Machine exercise

Something you need to keep in mind and never forget is that when you exercise, you're training for life. You still may spend an hour a day in the gym, although that will still leave another 23 hours or so for your muscles to function without using any fancy equipment.

Whenever you do any type of exercise, the movement of your body during the exercise is known as the range of motion. The more difficult the range of motion is, the more effective the exercise will be, because your body has to work twice as hard to perform the movement.

Take for the instance the classic dumbbell bicep curl. If you're not familiar with the exercise, it is performed by standing up straight with your palms facing forward, and a pair of dumbbells held down by your sides. You will contract your biceps to bring the dumbbells up to your shoulder height, and then repeat the exercise as many times as you wish.

Using that same movement for exercise on a bicep curl machine, you should sit down, brace your upper arms on a pad, grasp 2 handles that are in front of you, and then perform the same movement as above to move the handles in an upward motion.

Now, looking at the muscle contractions in this exercise, you're contracting essentially your biceps if you're using the curl machine, and that is pretty much all you're doing. When you use the machine you are sitting down, which will limit just how much your shoulders give. The machine has several muscles used in this exercise limited to the biceps, as well as the muscles in your forearms and fingers.

Most of the time, when using machine weights, you'll always be limited as to what type of exercise you can perform. You must always follow a strict procedure, which is pretty much the same with free weights. Unlike free weights, machine weights offer a certain degree of resistance.

One of the best things about free weights is the fact that you move a little chuck around to select the weight you want to use. Instead of dragging it over to your exercise area, you simply select it on the machine. When you're tired during a workout, this can be a blessing.

A lot of people argue in the fact that free weights are the best for your body. While this is normally true, many people out there feel that machine weights are the best. There are pros and cons with both machines, although free weights have been around a lot longer and have been proven time after time to achieve dramatic results.

Body builders for example, have applied free weights over the years to build very impressive bodies. If you ask most of them about machine weights, they would probably laugh at you and tell you that you need to quit joking around.

In a nutshell, free weights will use more of your muscles than the machines do, which makes them more efficient overall. This does not mean that the machines are a waste of use, as they offer some great advantages. In some cases, it is best to stabilize the muscles that are being used in a movement, which is where machines are the best to use.

The decision on which to use for you should be based on what you hope to achieve with lifting weights and where you plan to use the equipment, such as home or at a gym. Both systems are great for your body, although the free weights are best to use if you want the best possible workout, and always ensure that your muscles are getting the correctly workouts they need.


(Note: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not be substantiated by scientific fact.)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Diabetes Management

As of 2007, there is no cure for either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. This may seem like a dim outlook for many people, but the fact is that even though there is no cure, there certainly are ways to manage your diabetes.


Proper management can give you many years of healthy living.

Diabetes management starts with a visit to your doctor. First, finding out you have diabetes, what type you have then arming yourself with as much information as possible about the diabetes you are diagnosed with.


All management begins with controlling the glucose cycle.

The glucose cycle is affected by two factors, entry of glucose into the bloodstream and blood levels of insulin to control the transport out.

Your glucose levels are very sensitive to both diet and exercise, so change in either should first be discussed with your physician. Proper management of diabetes can be very intrusive to the patient.

Proper management requires a complete lifestyle change and frequent, sometimes multi-daily checks of glucose in the blood.

It can change as people grow and develop and no two cases are ever really the same. Today it is easier to measure the blood sugar level.

Glucose meters are readily available and are quite easy to use with a little practice and patience. There are a variety of diabetic glucose meter possibilities for you to consider, with differences in costs, processing abilities, and size.

With a small drop of blood to the testing strip attached to the glucose meter, the user is given the number, which represents their blood sugar level. This in turn will let the user know if and when insulin is needed.


(Note: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not be substantiated by scientific fact.)

Friday, January 16, 2009

Exercise Balls

Exercise balls are one of the most innovative ways to exercise. These little balls will catch every one's fancy due to their shape and very attractive colors. The real benefit of these balls, which were introduced by a group of Swiss medical therapists, is a substitute of support during exercise.

Working out with the exercise balls will strengthen and tone all of the major muscles of the body. The soft texture of the balls make it an ideal choice for Yoga positions, using dumbbells for muscle toning, or working on heavy duty weight training equipment.

The advantage of exercise balls is that they are durable and maintain shape well under pressure. The documentation with the balls will provide test load figures for how much weight the exercise balls will hold. The advantage here is the fact that the balls provide soft yet firm support that does not harm your body.

You can find exercise balls in several different colors and finishes. You can even get a ball that matches the texture of your room. They are simple to store and you can even roll them under your bed or a table if you prefer. When you are not using them, you can let kids play with them. These balls are very fun for kids, as they are very soft and will not cause them any harm.

Medical Equipment

Originally developed for use in medical therapy, the exercise ball is used to support the body during exercise. These balls will provide support to the body when you do a specific exercise in a specific position and still need to maintain the balance. Most exercise balls are made of burst proof latex or other material that is very safe to use.

There are many postures with yoga and muscle toning exercise that can only be done with the help of support. For these postures, exercise balls are quite useful. The exercise balls will introduce an element of stability to the exercise that you would not normally get with the floor exercise.

Your body responds automatically to the instability to keep balanced on the exercise ball. This will help in strengthening the muscles that are not actively participating in exercise.


An exercise is also very useful for physiotherapy treatment.
Exercise balls will help to get rid of backache and spinal disorders. The small range of movement and adjustment of balance of the spine that is induced by exercising with the exercise ball will help reduce back pain.

The Swiss ball exercise is for people with back pain to provide them with a simple way to restore movements after an episode of back pain. It also results in improved muscle strength, greater flexibility, and a wide range of motion of the spine during treatment.

(Note: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not be substantiated by scientific fact.)
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