Pain Relief Treatments

In 1948, Earl V. Shaffer became the first person to hike from one end of the Appalachian Trail to the other in one trip, a feat that carried him across more than 2,000 miles of mountains, meadows, and streams between Georgia and Maine. Fifty years later, to celebrate the golden anniversary of his hike, the […]

Although most ulcers are caused by bacterial infection or the use of common painkilling drugs, the real damage is done by your own stomach – specifically by the acid your stomach produces. It’s strong stuff. If you spilled stomach acid on your skin, it could cause a chemical burn. The only place stomach acid belongs […]

As pain-related problems go, anal fissures are shrouded in mystery but in reality, are not so hard to understand. Basically, a fissure is a variety of cut or tear, one that occurs in the think skin of the anal canal as it is stretched beyond its normal capacity. Stretched too far, the skin will create […]

Plunge into exercise, particularly any routines that stretch and strengthen the muscles, tendons, and ligaments surrounding your knee. The sooner you get started, the better. If you rest your knee for more than 48 hours, the muscles and other tissues that stabilize the joint and help it keep it flexible will begin to weaken and […]

Rest, ice, compression, and elevation are four of the best initial treatments for knee pain. So for the first 24 to t48 hours after the pain develops, stay off your feet as much as possible, prop your legs up on a aoullow or two, wrap your knee snugly but not too tightly with an elastic […]

Trample trouble with Traumeel. Traumeel tablets and cream, available at many drugstores and health food stores, contain a number of homeopathic substances, including chamomile, echinacea, belladonna, calendula, and arnica, that are known to ease knee pain. In some cases, Traumeel snuffs out pain in less than an hour. If you have acute knee pain, dissolve […]

When you do deep breathing, the message you are giving your body is that you are breathing like a very relaxed person. And when your body gets that message, it really does relax. Muscle tension is reduced, blood vessels dilate so that blood pressure drops, your heart rate slows, and stress hormone levels drop. One […]

This exercise helps you learn to breathe more deeply, lower in your lungs. Start out doing one round for 3 to 4 minutes a day. Then add more round until you are doing two or three rounds a day. Sit comfortably in a straight-back chair or lie down on a relatively flat surface. Place your […]

Take a swim. If walking hurts because you have arthritis, or you’re overweight, try swimming or water aerobics. The buoyancy of the water takes pressure off your joints and makes you essentially weightless. Swimming and water exercise are really outstanding forms of exercise for your cardiovascular system. They’re fun too. Most YMCAs and community swim […]

Don’t smoke. This is hardly startling news, but dropping the habit is a must if you want to lessen your chance of angina pain. Smoking fuels the underlying fire of heart disease. It stokes the furnace. Smoking is a major cause of arteriosclerosis, or plaque buildup, in your arteries. It also increases blood pressure, constricts […]

Come to a complete stop. After you’ve taken your medication, you can help yourself even more by stopping whatever it is you’re doing. If it’s physical exertion like climbing a hill, you should sit down and rest. If it’s emotional stress, such as an encounter with a rude cashier in the grocery store, you need […]

Short lived but severely painful, angina comes from a Greek word meaning “a strangling.” If you’ve ever had angina pain, you certainly understand the analogy. The heaviness in your chest – sometimes described as the mass of an elephant pressing down – comes from a sudden constriction of blood vessels around your heart. When angina […]

Tough cords called tendons anchor our muscles to our bones near the joints. Also, about 150 sacs of fluid called bursae are scattered throughout our joints to allow muscles, tendons, and skin to slide smoothly over our bones. As we age, our joints become more prone to feeling the pain of tendinitis and bursitis, which […]

If you whack your head on the door of a kitchen cabinet, it hurts. Most pains are like that. They’re easily explainable and quickly go away without treatment. But certain pains should never ignored. Seek immediate medical attention if: You have have in your chest that spread into your neck, jaw or left arm. This […]