Author: Dr. Joshua Cohen
Find Relief for Your Lingering Knee Pain
The human body is an amazing machine.
It is a big pulley system that all works together. Everything is connected. I am frequently amazed at how complex a machine the human body is.
Just as the flap of a butterflies wings on one side of the world can cause a tsunami on the other side of the world, a small muscle imbalance in one area of the body can cause immense pain and discomfort in another area of the body.
This is very accurate with knee pain. Most knee pain involves an imbalance of the muscles in the hip caused by muscle spasm. Whether that muscle spasm in the hip causes the knee pain or is from compensation for the knee pain can be hard to say.
Getting Rid of Your Pain With Trigger Points
Pain has become a much discussed and debated topic as of late within the health care communities. Pain used to be viewed as a side effect or symptom of a disease process. It was thought that once you fix, cure, or calm down the disease process, the pain will go away. The pain was looked at as a side effect.
Now research is showing that pain can become a separate disease process and not just a symptom of another disease. Research has been increasing in this topic since the Institute of Medicine released a report calling on academia, government, and physician groups to develop a plan for treating and managing pain.
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A Healthy Relationship with Exercise
It seems that I spend most of my time in my practice trying to either convince patients to exercise or to convince them to back off from exercise.
Most people donโt exercise enough. Many people come into my office with a health issue thatโs been coming on for years, they havenโt done anything to manage it or help it out, and they want me to fix it in one treatment.
On the other end of the spectrum, I get people in my office who exercise too much. Their bodies are in a state of chronic overuse which makes them much more injury prone. When a muscle is overused, it is tight, irritated, and inflamed. A muscle in this state is primed for injury. When a muscle is in this state, it doesnโt take much to injure it.
Disproving the Most Popular Rule of Weight Loss
Just like one calorie does not equal another calorie, losing 3,500 calories does not equal to losing a pound.
A calorie of broccoli is not the same as a calorie of potato chips. The calorie of broccoli is more nutritious; it has more vitamins and minerals and nutrients than the calorie of potato chips.
You can survive longer on broccoli than you can on potato chips.
It used to be thought that in order to lose a pound of fat, all you had to do was to cut out 3,500 calories from your diet. Conventional wisdom was that if you cut back 500 calories per day for 1 week you would lose a pound.
Turns out that is an extreme simplification of weight loss.
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Your Iliopsoas: The Hidden Cause and Hip Pain Relief
Hip Pain Relief
The iliopsoas is a pretty cool muscle.
It’s one of the most complex muscles in the body, and it is the only lower back and hip muscle to attach to the front of the spine.
In fact, the iliopsoas is actually two muscles in one: the psoas muscle and the iliacus muscle.
The psoas muscle attaches along the lumbar spine, and the intervertebral discs then descends obliquely to attach at the upper inner thigh bone. The iliacus muscle attaches to the upper two-thirds of the iliac fossa then descends to join the psoas major tendon, with some of its fibers attaching directly to the femur near the lesser trochanter.
The primary function of both of these muscles is hip flexion. In other words, these muscles work to lift the knee and take your next step while walking.
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Faux Nutrition & Fitness Fads
It is easy to scare people with the unknown. Even if you have training in exercise or nutrition, they can be confusing, intimidating and create a sense of the unknown.
To complicate matters, there are many charlatans and snake oil salesmen who create misinformation to sell people their usually worthless products.
Banish IT Band Pain for Good
Ilio-tibial band syndrome (or IT Band Syndrome, for short) is quickly becoming one of the most common overuse injuries, especially among runners.
It’s also one of the most frustrating injuries. While most physical therapists, chiropractors, and clinicians can easily identify and treat IT band syndrome, the average runner doesn’t have a clue.
Take It Easy: Exercise Shouldn’t Be So Tough
Why does exercise have to be so tough?
This is a common question that I hear from patients of mine.
It is a common topic of discussion with friends of mine who are in the exercise profession, and with patients of mine.
At times it seems that people are looking for permission to not beat themselves up. They need the reassurance that it is alright to go easy.
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The Real Source of Your Nagging Neck & Shoulder Pain
Have you ever had a pain thatโs right behind your neck and just behind between your shoulder blade and your spine?
It is the type of pain that makes most people go crazy trying to reach their hands behind their head to rub their neck and shoulder.
While the pain is commonly associated with the levator scapula muscle, it’s not always the root of the problem.
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How to Keep Moving & Keep Your Muscles Pain-Free
Muscles.
They are the machines of the body. Every finger movement, every eye blink, every cough, and even every toe wiggle is controlled by your muscles. And usually, it’s not just one muscle involved. It’s tens to hundreds of muscles for even the smallest movement.
Each flick of the finger fires off millions of neurons throughout the brain, spine, and central nervous system to contract and relax these muscle groupings. And all of this is just to scratch your nose.
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