Month: November 2021

A common problem is neck pain. Have you looked at your posture? I think it is wise to do so and change it if you can.

One item I have people buy for neck pain is a cervical traction unit. This is a good one and it is cheap. Your results will be equal to your persistence at using it.

A patient was in my office with neck pain. I know she has a traction unit at home and I asked if she was using it. Yes, about every other day. I said, change that to daily. Upon her return she was laughing saying, I was right. All it took was using it more.

This traction device is very easy to use. You don’t want to over-stretch the neck, but just a little distraction will help so much. Of course, there are some conditions it might not help. If you have pain when doing this, you have too much traction. A little dab will do you.

This is simple, easy and inexpensive. If you have a low level neck ache, try it. Most people like it.

The holidays are upon us and there are many opportunities to be out and about.  To become more self-aware, notice the posture of other people.  You will see many different varieties, for sure.  If you watch children, for the most part, they all have pretty good posture.  Watch teenagers.  Watch young adults.  Watch people in mid-life.  And watch the oldsters, like me.  

Posture changes over the years and you might note that it is usually for the worse.  All kinds of things affect our posture, not the least of which is accidents, too much phone, improper posture day in and day out.  Posture becomes habitual.  So changing your posture has to be intentional.  You have to work on it to change your posture.  

Let someone take a photo of your from the front, side and back.  Work with yourself to improve your posture.  Even little improvements help.  The head forward position is critical to change because it stresses the discs in our cervical spine.  Next time you are in, let’s spend a few minutes on improving your posture.

Have you ever heard of “Stiff Person Syndrome?” When people complain of something and doctors can’t figure out what it is, they slap a name on it and call it a syndrome. That means a person has symptoms and we have no idea why. If you are stiff and don’t know why, consider yourself as having stiff man syndrome.

There are times people are stiff and we know why. For instance, people can be stiff when they have any kind of arthritis.

If you see the word syndrome on the end of a diagnosis, you can always know, they don’t really know much about what causes the problem. And if you don’t know what causes it, it is pretty hard to fix it.

When we don’t know, my thoughts go to: could it be some kind of toxin? For instance, people can feel stiff in their joints from eating too many oxalates. How would you get oxalates? Drinking green drinks is one way. They have become very popular. If you have a lot of spinach or chard, make sure you steam it. I always prefer eating food instead of drinking it.

If you wonder if your green drink is bothering you, stop it for a few weeks and see if you are feeling better.