Author: melissa

The question “do computers cause shoulder pain? is one we get quite frequently, and the short answer is yes, maybe.

The unfortunate truth is that most people don’t have great sitting habits, especially when they’re parked in front of their computers.

Most people have poor sitting posture and it can definitely cause or contribute to shoulder pain.

The good news is that there are a number of simple things you can do to improve your posture while working or playing on your computer. Taking the time to do so will almost certainly reduce the amount of shoulder pain you may be experiencing, and it could eliminate it outright.

Here are a few things to do differently:

• Buy An Ergonomic Chair

This is the first, best and simplest thing you can do. While it’s easy to spend a ton of money on a great office chair, you can get a decent chair with well-implemented ergonomic features and it will make a big, immediate difference.

• Make Sure Your Seat Height Is Optimal

Most office chairs offer a height adjustment feature, and you want to make sure that your arms aren’t above shoulder level while working. It’s also important to ensure that your monitor is at an optimal height so that you’re not spending most of the day with your neck turned up or down as you look at your monitor. It should be at a height that keeps your head level.

• Buy An Ergonomic Wrist Rest

Believe it or not, if you rest your wrists on a hard surface (like the edge of your desk) while you’re typing, it can, longer term contribute to shoulder pain. These are typically inexpensive additions to your home office or office setup.

• Try A Posture Strap

You can purchase straps to wear on your back and shoulders that will hold your posture the way it should be. This would be a low cost alternative to the chair mentioned above.

If you follow the advice outlined above, you may see relief. You may not completely eliminate chronic shoulder pain, as there may be other factors contributing to it. However, you’ll certainly go a long way toward minimizing it.

Back pain is incredibly common.

How do you know whether the pain you’re feeling is common back pain or something much worse like a herniated or ruptured disk?

Here are two specific things to be on the lookout for:

Location, Location, Location

Herniated disks are most common in your lower back. If the pain is in your mid-back or higher, it still may be a herniated disk, but it’s much less likely.

Affected by Movement

Herniated disks tend to cause you more pain when you’re active and less pain when you’re at rest. Note that “activity” here doesn’t necessarily mean being hard at work. It could be something as simple as coughing or sneezing.

If you still aren’t sure, it is time to consult your doctor.

This one is a no-brainer. No amount of self diagnosis can take the place of consulting with your doctor to be sure. A physical examination, supported by some additional tests is the best way to pinpoint the source of the pain. This will either confirm or rule out a herniated disk as the cause.

Tests

Where additional tests are concerned, your doctor may order either an MRI, a CAT Scan, or a Myelogram to confirm that the pain you’re feeling stems from a herniated disk.

An MRI creates a detailed 3D image of your spine and the surrounding tissues and is probably the best way to determine not only what’s causing your back pain, but which specific nerves are being impacted.

A CAT Scan is essentially the process of taking X-rays from several different angles then combining them to create a composite image which will give you and your doctor a detailed look at your spine.

A Myelogram is a test that relies on a dye injected into your spinal fluid, combined with an X-ray to locate the specific point where your spine is experiencing pressure.

Whichever test your doctor orders, you and he or she will be able to get to the bottom of what’s causing your back pain in short order.

Does your neck hurt when you wake up in the morning? It’s a surprisingly common problem. The vast majority of the time, the pain can be traced back to something specific you’re doing when you sleep. Here are some of the more common causes of chronic morning neck pain:

The Position You’re Sleeping In

Are you a side sleeper? A stomach sleeper? Most people have a favorite sleeping position. Unfortunately, not all sleeping positions are equally good for your neck. If you sleep on your stomach, you have to twist your head and neck to one side or the other, which can put more pressure on nerves and muscles in your neck than they normally get, which can lead to a painful start to your morning.

Your Sleep Habits

Most people have highly inconsistent sleep habits and their bedrooms simply aren’t optimized for a decent night’s sleep. The two simplest things you can do to improve the quality of your sleep and minimize your chances of waking up with a sore neck are as follows:

First, start going to bed at the same time every night. This one simple change will make a huge difference. Two, don’t go to bed tense. Just before bed, make a conscious effort to relax. Whether you do that via meditation or a brief stretching routine, or a cup of hot tea, just make sure you’re relaxed when your head hits that pillow.

The Pillow You’re Using

The right pillow positions your head so that it’s in a neutral position while you’re sleeping, which is to say that your nose is aligned with your spine.

If your pillow is overstuffed, it will change the angle of your head. If it’s too flat for you, it will bend your neck too far back the other way while you’re sleeping. In both cases, you spend the entire night with your head out of alignment and by morning, your neck is usually screaming in protest.

Follow these simple tests to find out if they help you experience less neck pain every morning.

Don’t you hate it when you get sick and basically everything hurts?

If you’ve ever wondered why that is and if there’s anything you can do about it, then this article is for you.

Read and find out!

Why You Ache When You’re Sick

Your body is working overtime when you get a cold or the flu. Basically, your immune system engages in chemical warfare against the germs that are invading your system. Unfortunately, muscle aches are a common side effect of the chemical agents your body releases to fight germs.

Even though it may not feel like it at the time, aches and pains when you’re sick are actually a good sign. They mean that your body is doing what it’s supposed to be doing to fight off the infection or the germs.

It’s also worth mentioning that when you’re running a fever, you’re more likely to become dehydrated, which can make muscle aches and pains worse.

What You Can Do About The Pain

The good news is that most of the time, the aches and pains you’re feeling will be fairly mild. More of an annoyance than debilitating, but they can still be unpleasant.

Here are a few simple things you can do to help keep them at bay.

1. Stay Hydrated – You’re more likely to become dehydrated when you’re sick, and dehydration makes muscle aches worse. So drinking plenty of fluids when you’re sick is more important than most people realize.
2. Heat – The application of a heating pad or an electric blanket to cover the aching areas of your body can help. A hot shower will too.
3. Massage – Who doesn’t like a good massage, right? Nothing beats a good massage when you’re not feeling well. Not only is it incredibly relaxing, but it will make short work of those sore muscles.

Naturally, if you find yourself experiencing severe muscle pain, don’t bother with any of the above. Call your doctor right away to get to the bottom of it because there may be something much more serious going on.

Do you suffer from sharp, shooting pain that seems to originate in or around one of your joints? If so, then an RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) could be the culprit.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, we’ll tell you what RSIs are and how to avoid them.

Starting With The What: An RSI is exactly what it sounds like. An injury caused by a particular repetitive motion. Runners can get them. People who run scanners in retail stores can. People who type all day can. Basically, if you spend several hours a day making the same basic motion with any part of your body, it can cause enough stress over time to cause an injury, and they are painful!

The symptoms of an RSI are numerous and may include any of the following:

• Loss of strength
• Loss of sensation
• Tingling in the area surrounding the impacted joint (most often noticed in the hands and arms)
• A throbbing sensation that may accompany the pain
• Tenderness or shooting pain

Broadly speaking, RSIs fall into one of two categories. Type 1 RSIs are musculoskeletal in nature, while Type 2 RSIs are caused by nerve damage.

What To Do About Them:

Whatever the root cause of your RSI, there are multiple treatment options available. You’ll want to work with your doctor to map out a treatment plan that makes the most sense for you. Among other things, your options include:

• Surgery
• Steroid injections
• Physical therapy
• A simple splint on the affected area
• The application of heat and/or cold
• The taking of anti-inflammatory medications or muscle relaxers.

RSIs are no laughing matter. If you have one, the pain can keep you from enjoying life to the fullest. Don’t take any chances. See your doctor right away and get to the root cause of the pain.

Just about everyone makes a few New Years’ Resolutions on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, by around the first week in January of the following year, most of those resolutions are broken. Fewer than one in ten people actually sticks to their resolutions and makes a significant change in their lives.

If you’ve made one or more resolutions this year and you’re determined to turn over a new leaf, here are some simple things you can do to increase your chances of keeping them:

Keep It Simple – Don’t make a whole laundry list of resolutions for yourself. Pick the one thing that’s most important for you to change in the year ahead and stick with that.

Clearly Define Your Goal – A lot of people make “squishy” New Year’s Resolutions. “I want to lose weight in the year ahead” is not a good goal. “I want to lose 30 pounds this year” is much better because it’s realistic and much more specific.

Reward Yourself – Set a specific, modest goal and when you meet it, treat yourself to something as a reward. It doesn’t have to be anything big or fancy, but a reward for a job well done is a great way to motivate yourself.

Get Support From Family And Friends – Explain to your family and your friends what you’re doing and why it matters to you. Get them in your corner. Get them to help and support you. Doing that makes it a whole lot easier to actually achieve whatever goal you have in mind.

Don’t Let Setbacks Throw You Off Track – Setbacks happen. Progress never occurs in a straight line. When the inevitable happens and you stumble, don’t let it get to you. Pick yourself back up, dust yourself off and keep striving toward your goal.

If you follow the simple steps above, you’ll radically increase your chances of meeting whatever goal you set for yourself to ring in the new year.

If you’ve heard the phrase once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Laughter is the best medicine.

But is there any science to back that up, or is it just this thing we say now and again to make ourselves feel better?

The answer may surprise you. As it turns out, laughter has a number of impacts, both short and long term.

In the short term, when you laugh, you’re increasing the amount of oxygen your body is getting, which helps to stimulate your muscles, heart and lungs. In addition to that, it increases the output of endorphins in your brain, commonly referred to as the “feel good hormone.”

It also helps to soothe tension by stimulating circulation while simultaneously aiding with muscle relaxation. That removes some of the physical symptoms related to stress. Laughter triggers and eases your stress response, causing your heart rate to initially increase, and then decrease by a greater factor. That has the impact of lowering your blood pressure.

In the longer term, the more you laugh, the more you’ll find that your mood improves and your personal life satisfaction increases. Laughter also helps to reduce pain levels, so if you’re a chronic pain sufferer, having a sense of humor about it can help more than you might believe. In addition to that, laughter actually increases the amount of neuropeptides in your body, which help fight stress and ward off illness.

All that to say, if you don’t already have a well-developed sense of humor, spending some time developing one will pay you handsome dividends, both now and later. Sadly, laughter isn’t a magic bullet or a cure-all that will fix every problem you’ve got, but it helps a lot more than most people realize.

Do you suffer with arthritis? If so, you know how awful flare ups can be, and you would probably do just about anything to avoid one.

That brings up an interesting question though. What kinds of things cause your condition to suddenly worsen and flare up?

The answer is, it depends. Ultimately, it depends on exactly what kind of arthritis you have.

Below, we’ll break down the three major types of arthritis and the biggest reasons each type flare up.

Psoriatic Arthritis – The triggers here are virtually identical to the triggers for psoriasis and include things like stress, bacterial infection, injury to the skin, allergies, excess alcohol intake, weather changes, smoking and diet.

Osteoarthritis – Flare ups can be triggered by a variety of factors, both internal and external. The external factors include changes in barometric pressure and cold weather. Internal factors include stress, infection, overexertion, and trauma. Osteoarthritis flare ups can also be caused by repetitive motion or weight gain.

Rheumatoid Arthritis – Here, flare ups are caused primarily by any condition that causes your immune system to respond to inflammation. In particular, you’re looking at things like stress, overexertion, or even the eating of certain foods.

Rheumatoid arthritis is tricky because many of the drugs used to treat the condition have the impact of dampening the patient’s immune response. This, of course, increases the risk of infection, which in turn can increase the risk of a flare up.

In most cases, if you suffer from a flare up, a short course of corticosteroids will take care of it. If the flare up persists, contact your doctor immediately so he can review your medications and current dosages and make adjustments as needed.

Arthritis pain is no fun, and knowing what your most common triggers are will go a long way toward minimizing flare ups. That’s a very good thing.

The common cold and winter weather go hand in hand. That’s one of those things that everyone takes for granted.

It seems that cold weather helps to cause the common cold. The question is though, is that really the case?

Here’s what science has to say on the matter:

The common cold is caused by a number of viruses, with Rhinoviruses being responsible for more than half of all instances of the common cold around the world. While most rhinoviruses cause only mild symptoms, if left untreated, they can cause more serious illnesses such as pneumonia and bronchitis. That’s especially if the people who are exposed to them already have weakened or compromised immune systems.

Rhinoviruses are usually spread via direct person-to-person contact or through the air as small droplets which people inhale. Once inside the body, they replicate rapidly, often spreading through the upper respiratory tract.

There’s a growing body of research that confirms what some people know intuitively. Rhinoviruses are able to replicate more effectively and efficiently at lower temperatures. In particular, any temperatures lower than those found inside the human body. Lower temperatures brought on by winter weather lowers the temperature inside your nasal cavities, which is exactly where Rhinoviruses often first establish themselves.

Other research confirms that influenza viruses, which cause the flu, also spread more easily in cold, dry air.

Add the fact that other research indicates that cold weather and lack of sunlight tends to weaken people’s immune systems in general. Then, you have the perfect recipe for an increased chance of illness. All that to say, yes. Research confirms that winter weather can and does contribute to getting the common cold.

With that in mind, during the winter months, your best bet is to keep a watchful eye on your health, take a vitamin D supplement (to offset the reduction in Vitamin D that most people get naturally during the summer), get plenty of rest, stay hydrated, and wash your hands regularly to reduce your risk.

People get depressed during the holidays, and there’s plenty of research to back this up.

The more interesting questions are how and why that’s the case. We also want to know what (if anything) can be done about it.

As it turns out, there’s research on that topic too, and the answers may surprise you. It turns out to be more than just cold weather and less sunlight.

Depression is a broad term and can mean different things to different people, so let’s break it down into specifics. The most common feelings that those who wrestle with depression suffer from during the holiday season include sorrow, anxiety, and feeling lonely. However, these feelings aren’t constant. They are intermingled with periods of genuine happiness and holiday joy, which in some ways makes the negative feelings even worse.

Experts tell us that one of the biggest root causes of the holiday blues is unrealistic expectations. Interviews with people suffering from holiday depression reveal that most depressed people are comparing the current holiday season with one they remember from their childhood.

Unfortunately, time has distorted those memories and the depressed individual usually winds up mentally exaggerating their former holiday seasons. This is to such a degree that the actual, day to day experience can’t hold a candle to the myth the person holds in their mind.

That, combined with the fact that depressed people tend to believe that everyone else is having more fun and a much better time than they are. It sets the stage a perfect storm of negativity we shorthand to “The Holiday Blues.”

If you’re feeling depression encroaching on your mood this holiday season, don’t wait to do something about it. Call your doctor and talk about it openly to get a good recommendation and a referral to an appropriate expert.