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Muscles, Tendons and Nerves
Back Care Problems
Because humans defy gravity by standing upright, the spine is oftenunder stress. This often leads to back pain, one of the most commonreasons why Australians and New Zealanders visit their chiropractors.The secret to relief is to strenghthen both the vertebrae and thesurrounding tissues.
Muscle Aches and Pains
Though not serious, muscle cramps or the muscle soreness that comes from overextending yourself can be very uncomfortable. And the weekend gardener is just as likely to be affected as the world-class athlete.
What is it?
There are two common types of muscle pain. The first is soreness and stiffness that develop as the result of overdoing some physical activity - whether running a marathon, digging in the garden or simply carrying a heavy bag of groceries. This kind of pain, which doctors call delayed-onset muscle soreness, typically begins a day or two after the activity and can last up to a week.
Pinched Nerve
A pinched nerve occurs when too much pressure is applied to a nerve by surrounding tissues. If the pressure isn't relieved, it can cause permanent damage to the nerve.
What is it?
Any pressure applied to a nerve by the surrounding tissue will produce irritation and will disrupt the nerve's functioning, with consequences that can range from aches and pains to a loss of feeling or weakening of muscles. The pinching can occur for many reasons — pregnancy, an injury, repetitive motions or joint disease, to name just a few. It may also occur anywhere in the peripheral nervous system (that is, nerves outside the brain and spine). Nerves passing over a rigid prominence, such as a bone, are particularly vulnerable.
Restless Legs
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is an unusual condition of the nervous system, characterised by the compelling need to move the legs and usually experienced when trying to sleep. The strange sensation in the calves has been described as a type of cramp, soreness or a creeping, crawling feeling.
What is it?
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a condition in which your legs feel extremely uncomfortable while you're sitting or lying down. It usually makes you feel like getting up and moving around. When you do so, the unpleasant feeling of restless legs syndrome goes away.
Shin Splints
Whether you're running after a soccer ball, jogging around the neighborhood park or training for a marathon, you're at risk of running-related injuries. One of the most common running injuries is shin splints.
What is it?
People sometimes mistakenly use the term shin splints to refer to a wider array of lower leg problems. The term technically refers to a specific problem that causes pain along your shinbone (tibia) — the large bone in the front of your lower leg. The pain is the result of an overload on your tibia and the connective tissues that attach your muscles to your tibia. The medical term for this condition is medial tibial stress syndrome.
Shingles
Remember chickenpox? Its virus is still lurking in your nerve cells and can flare up at any time during your adult years, causing the intensely painful blisters known as shingles. The good news is that natural remedies can often help to ease this sometimes lingering condition.
What is it?
Shingles (herpes zoster) is a form of the herpes virus that causes chickenpox. After an attack of chickenpox, the virus lies dormant in nerve cells. Later, it can be reactivated, producing intensely painful clumps of skin blisters. Shingles is not contagious, though open sores can transmit the virus to young children or others who've never been infected.
Sprains & Strains
Whether caused by vigorous weekend activity, slipping on wet ground or stepping off a curb the wrong way, strains and sprains can affect anyone. Whatever the reason, it's surprising how much a program of natural therapies can help.
What is it?
Strain are minor injuries to the muscles. They occur most often in the calf, thigh, groin or shoulder, causing soreness and stiffness. Sprains are similar to strains, but are more serious and painful, and take longer to heal. They can entail damage to ligaments, tendons or muscles - usually those surrounding a joint.
Tendonitis
Tendonitis is inflammation of a tendon. It commonly affects shoulders, elbows and knees.
What is it?
Tendonitis is inflammation or irritation of a tendon — any one of the thick fibrous cords that attach muscles to bone. The condition, which causes pain and tenderness just outside a joint, is most common around your shoulders, elbows and knees. But tendonitis can also occur in your hips, heels and wrists.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
If wrist pain wakes you at night or you feel pins and needles in your hands when you drive, you may have this disorder. Though considered a condition of modern times, carpal tunnel syndrome has in fact been recognised since the 1880s.
What is it?
The bones and ligaments in the wrist (medically known as the carpus, from the Greek karpos) form a pathway called the carpal tunnel. Here the median nerve, which controls movement and feeling in most of the hand, and the tendons that connect the arm muscles and the hand muscles pass from the forearm into the hand. The tunnel can be narrowed by swelling of ligaments or tendons, bone dislocation, bone spurs or fluid retention. This narrowing may compress the median nerve, causing the pain, numbness and weakness characteristic of carpal tunnel syndrome.
