In today's day and age, it's hard to avoid the causes of inflammation.  With so much interconectedness we get too much information too fast and this can stress out our nervous system and cause immune weakening by burning us out.  When you start getting beat up and start noticing symptoms such as pain, aches, digestive issues or problems sleeping or concentrating it may be a good time to think about seeing a provider for a health consultation.  Many people think of going to the doctor and getting pills or shots which can be very important depending on your condition.  However there are also natural options like vitamin and nutrient supplementation as well as therapeutic treatments which will work if you have some patience and interest in your body and healing. Many times when you have a problem, it's your bodies way of trying to get your attention to slow down or take better care of yourself. The usual culprit is too much inflammation that can be caused by physical wear and tear, poor dietary choices, or too much stress and not enough rest.  Here at Healthways, we try to make health care fun, interesting, full of options and useful so you never feel like it was a waste of your time and money.  At Healthways we think you are worth it and want to help you get it right so you can continue being well and stay out of the hospital.

Young Geun Park, MD, Bum Sun Kwon, MD, Jin-Woo Park, MD, Dong Yeon Cha, MD, Ki Yeun Nam, MD, Kyoung Bo Sim, MD, Jihea Chang, MD, and Ho Jun Lee, MD

Objective

To investigate the effect on pain reduction and strengthening of the whole body vibration (WBV) in chronic knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods

Patients were randomly divided into two groups: the study group (WBV with home based exercise) and control group (home based exercise only). They performed exercise and training for 8 weeks. Eleven patients in each group completed the study. Pain intensity was measured with the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), functional scales were measured with Korean Western Ontario McMaster score (KWOMAC) and Lysholm Scoring Scale (LSS), quadriceps strength was measured with isokinetic torque and isometric torque and dynamic balance was measured with the Biodex Stability System. These measurements were performed before training, at 1 month after training and at 2 months after training.

This article is taken from PubMed.gov

Hoon Chung, Tianhong Dai, Sulbha K. Sharma, Ying-Ying Huang, James D. Carroll, and Michael R. Hamblin

Cold laser or low level laser therapy came into being in 1960's. In 1967, Endre Mester, noticed that applying laser light to the backs of shaven mice could induce the shaved hair to grow back more quickly than in unshaved mice. He also demonstrated that laser could stimulate wound healing in mice. Mester soon applied his findings to human patients, using lasers to treat patients with nonhealing skin ulcers. Cold laser has now developed into a therapeutic procedure that is used in three main ways: to reduce inflammation, edema, and chronic joint disorders; to promote healing of wounds, deeper tissues, and nerves; and to treat neurological disorders and pain.

Cold laser involves exposing cells or tissue to low levels of red and near infrared (NIR) light, and is referred to as “low level” because the energy used does not cause enough heat to cut or damage body tissues.

The VMO muscle known as the Vastus Medialis Oblique is an important muscle in understanding knee pain. The function of this muscle is to perform knee extension as well as allow for correct tracking of the patella (knee cap) over the femur. Many people with knee pain have a weakness in this muscle. The problem can be worse with females or anyone with wider hips which cause the patella to pull to the outside more that somone with thin hips. One of the reasons people can develop knee pain is because the body tends to favor a more lateral tracking due to the larger quadriceps muscles of the outer thigh. Unless a person develops the VMO muscle it may be weaker than the outer thigh muscles which are more easily developed with normal daily activities. This issue can become more of a problem with overuse due to excessive running, hiking etc... Developing the VMO can be achieved with a number of different exercises one of the easiest being doing knee extensions with the foot rotated to the outside to stress the VMO muscle. Kicking your leg out in front of you with the foot turned outward will also exercise the VMO muscle. If you are having any knee problems be sure to contact our office and schedule a consultation with one of our providers to learn more about how we can help.

Loss of cervical and lumbar lordosis or normal posture is well known to be implicated in the progression of degenerative arthritic diseases of the spine. When normal lordosis and curvatures of the spine are lost, the normal biomechanical forces of weight distribution of body weight which are normally distributed through an arc are transmitted through a straightened spine causing additional compressive and shear forces on the lower cervical and lumbar spine. This in turn increases wear and tear and progresses early degeneration such as bone spurs, disc inflammation and increased chance of disc bulges and herniations. Restoring and maintaining the normal cervical and lumbar lordosis is a primary goal for a healthy spine. This can be achieved with correct stretching, exercise, physical therapy and chiropractic treatment program. Much of degenerative cervical and lumbar disc diseases can be prevented, avoided and/or minimized understanding this principle and utilizing the proper approach.  Learn more about this with one of our providers here at Healthways Medical Group.

Within manual therapy, Strain-Counterstrain is a type of "passive positional release" created in the early 1960s by Lawrence Jones, D.O. It is a hands-on treatment that alleviates muscle and connective tissue tightness by the use of very specific treatment positions held for 90 seconds (can be held for up to 3 minutes in neurological patients).[citation needed] During the procedure, the involved tissue is "slackened" causing a relaxation of the "spasm" which, in turn, allows local areas of inflammation, trapped within the painful tissue to dissipate. Following this "release" there is an immediate reduction of pain and tension in the involved tissue. This relaxation helps restore normal joint mobility and is also beneficial to other structures in the region that may have been compressed. This gentle and painless technique is a very effective treatment for a wide variety of orthopedic conditions such as headaches, fibromyalgia, sciatica, tendinitis, chronic neck pain, and post-surgical conditions.

Our Healthways Medical Group Physical Therapist is knowledgable and experienced in this technique. Please call for a consultation if you are interested in it.

(Taken from Medline Plus a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health)