Back Pain causes and treatment

Back pain is a symptom. Pain arising from other organs may be felt in the back. This is called referred pain. Many intra-abdominal disorders-such as appendicitis, aneurysms, kidney diseases, bladder infections, pelvic infections, and ovarian disorders, among others-can cause pain referred to the back. Your doctor will have this in mind when evaluating your pain.

* Nerve root syndromes are those that produce symptoms of nerve impingement (a nerve is touched), often due to a herniation (or bulging) of the disc between the lower back bones. Sciatica is an example of nerve root impingement. Impingement pain tends to be sharp, in one spot, and ***ociated with numbness in the area of the leg that the affected nerve supplies.

o Herniated discs are produced as the spinal discs degenerate or grow thinner. The jellylike central portion of the disc bulges out of the central cavity and pushes against a nerve root. Intervertebral discs begin to degenerate by the third decade of life. Herniated discs are found in a third of adults older than 20. Only 3% of these, however, produce symptoms of nerve impingement.

o Spinal stenosis occurs as intervertebral discs lose moisture and volume with age, which decreases the disc spaces. Even minor trauma under these circumstances can cause inflammation and nerve root impingement, which can produce cl***ic sciatica without disc rupture.

o Spinal degeneration is caused by alterations in the disc that progress to degeneration. This, coupled with disease in joints of the low back, causes spinal canal narrowing. These changes in the disc and the joints produce symptoms and can be seen on an x-ray. A person with spinal degeneration may have morning stiffness or pain while standing for a long time or walking even short distances.

o Cauda equina syndrome is a medical emergency. Disc material expands into the spinal canal, which compresses the nerves. A person would experience pain, possible loss of sensation, and bowel or bladder dysfunction. This could include inability to control urination causing incontinence, or the inability to begin urination.
*

* Musculoskeletal pain syndromes that produce low back pain include myofascial pain syndromes and fibromyalgia.

o Myofascial pain is characterized by pain and tenderness over localized areas (trigger points), loss of range of motion in the involved muscle groups, and pain radiating in a characteristic distribution but restricted to a peripheral nerve. Relief of pain is often reported when the involved muscle group is stretched.

o Fibromyalgia results in pain and tenderness on 11 of 18 trigger points when touched, one of which is the low back area, as cl***ified by the American College of Rheumatology. Generalized stiffness, fatigue, and muscle ache are reported.

Medical Treatment

Initial treatment of low back pain is ****d on the ***umption that the pain in about 90% of people will go away on its own in about a month. Many different treatment options are available. Some of them have been proven to work. Others are of more questionable use.

Home care is recommended for the initial treatment of low back pain. Bed rest remains of unproven value, and most experts recommend no more than 2 days of bed rest or decreased activity. Some people with sciatica may benefit from 2-4 days of rest. Application of local ice and heat provide relief for some people and should be tried. Acetaminophen and ibuprofen are useful for controlling pain.

* Many studies have called into question the usefulness of our present treatment of back pain. For any given person, it is not known if a particular therapy will provide benefit until it is tried. Your doctor may try treatments known to be helpful in the past.

Blood Test Tries to Detect Flu Before a Fever

Blood Test Tries to Detect Flu Before a Fever

Duke University is Trying Blood Tests to Detect the Flu Before Symptoms Appear
Coughed on by somebody with the flu? Duke University researchers are developing a test to determine — with a mere drop of blood — who will get sick before the sniffling and fever set in. And they're turning to hundreds of dorm-dwelling freshmen this fall to see if it works.

It's a novel experiment: Students report daily whether they have any cold or flu symptoms. If they do, a team swoops in to test not just the sneezer but, more importantly, seemingly healthy friends and hallmates who might be incubating the infection.

"We're redefining the definition of being ill," says Col. Geoffrey Ling, a physician with the Defense Research Projects Agency, the Defense Department's research arm, which came up with the idea.

The reason: The military faces huge problems when flu or other viruses sweep through crowded barracks, and knowing an outbreak was brewing could allow them to separate and protect those not infected. We're not just talking about the challenge of replacing fevered soldiers on the day's patrol. Your body may be slowing down even before that fever erupts, as it tries to fight off a brewing virus.

And flu is con***ious up to 24 hours before people show symptoms, one of the insidious ways that it spreads.

"If you've got a group of people living together and you can identify who's likely to become sick, you can much more efficiently use whatever your intervention is — a vaccine, an antiviral — to prevent disease," explains Duke infectious disease specialist Dr. Christopher Woods.
Respiratory viruses sweep through crowded college dorms just as easily as military squads, and with the new swine flu — the 2009 H1N1 strain — targeting mostly the young, Duke scientists may learn sooner than they had hoped just how well their experimental test really works.

It's ****d on a simple principle: Your immune system revs up to fight infection long before you show symptoms or before today's tests could detect the actual virus in your body. The Duke team discovered a so-called genomic fingerprint, a pattern of subtle molecular changes as genes are activated to fight viral respiratory infections.

5 Ways to Beef Up Your Brain

5 Ways to Beef Up Your Brain


Weighing in at an average of 2.7 pounds (1,200 grams), the human brain packs a whopping 100 billion neurons. Every minute, about three soda-cans worth of blood flow through the brain. Credit: dreamstime.
Full Size 1 of 1

Weighing in at an average of 2.7 pounds (1,200 grams), the human brain packs a whopping 100 billion neurons. Every minute, about three soda-cans worth of blood flow through the brain. Credit: dreamstime.
Forget where you left your keys this morning? Or maybe you left your umbrella in the office before a rainy evening.

Don't worry, it's probably not a sign of Alzheimer's — everyone is a little forgetful now and then.

But the prevalence of Alzheimer's and other types of dementia, which slowly deteriorate the brain's capacity to make new memories, retrieve older ones and perform other mental and physical tasks, is on the rise as the baby boomer generation hits retirement age. A 2007 Alzheimer's ***ociation report estimated that more than 5 million Americans were currently living with the disease and that that total could reach 16 million by 2050.

Scientists are still trying to unravel the many mysteries of the brain — how our brain processes information, how memory works, how the brain ages and how diseases like Alzheimer's develop — so that we better understand our own minds and how to keep them healthy.

But while there is still a lot to learn about our noggins, several studies have worked out a few ways to help keep your thinking organ in shape, now and as you age.

1. Eat Your Brain Food

You are what you eat, or at least your brain is. A diet of junk food can junk up your brain, as things like trans fats and saturated fats, common in heavily processed foods, can negatively affect the brain's synapses. Synapses connect the brains neurons and are important to learning and memory. On the other hand, a balanced diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids — found in salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit — can give the synapses a boost and help fight against mental disorders from depression to dementia.

2. Hit the Gym

Giving the rest of your body a workout can also improve your memory, make you think more clearly and decrease the risk of developing cognitive diseases, several studies have suggested. Because exercise is a mild stressor to your body, eating up the precious energy needed by the brain, it triggers the release of chemicals called growth factors that make the brain's neurons stronger and healthier. Half an hour every other day will do it, experts say. And don't forget to stretch: Stretching can help reduce stress, which can impact the memory centers of your brain.

3. Mind Benders

Give your brain a workout, too, with brainteasers, crossword puzzles and memory games — studies have shown that using these tools to stay mentally active can reduce the risks of developing dementia by building and maintaining a reserve of stimulation in your brain. Even following the current political campaign can provide a boost to the systems that control attention and learning that are hard-wired into the brain.

4. Memory tricks

Keeping information stored in your memory banks and retaining that memory with age may also be a simple matter of mind control. For example, confidence in your cognitive abilities could actually affect how well your memory functions, particularly for the elderly. Because some older adults tend to blame memory lapses on age, regardless of whether or not that is the cause, they can keep themselves from even really trying to remember. Prediction can also enhance memory: If you have a good idea of the information you'll need to recall later, you're more likely to remember it.

5. Give it a Rest

Sleep gives your brain a chance to replay the memories of the day and consolidate them for long-term storage. One study suggested that the brain can do its reviewing much faster when you're asleep than when you're wide awake — so no more all-nighters, students. A 90-minute mid-afternoon nap can even help solidify long-term memories, such as events or skills you are trying to master. Siesta anyone?

Of course, none of these mind-enhancing tips is fool-proof. Some studies have suggested that developing Alzheimer's and other types of dementia is partly a matter of genetics.

One such study, presented in July at the Alzheimer's ***ociation's International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, hinted at a connection between mothers who develop Alzheimer's and the chances their children will become afflicted in old age. Another suggests that having a specific pattern of proteins is a risk factor for the debilitating disease.

But for now, no one can predict exactly who will or won't develop dementia. While scientists work on better indicators and cures, doing your own part to keep your body and brain healthy is probably the best you can do.

Tips To Fight Tension Headache

Occasional headache can be tolerated, but it is difficult to accept headache as the way of life. Even a minor headache has a telling effect on your life and day-to-day activities. You are just unable to do anything with proper concentration. It will be the cause for your recurring tension. It is also likely to create a deep-psychological effect on your life as such.

Every type of headache has a reason. It is necessary for you to make the self-analysis and come to the root cause of your headache. If you are able to trace it out, you are very lucky. Many a times, your headache could have hidden causes that you can not dream in your wildest imaginations!



Say, yours is a tension type headache. Let’s know how you can win the forte against the tension headache.

Your first job is only to analyze the cause(s) of tension and to find the remedies one by one. Solve one issue at a time. Ask yourself the related, important questions. Do you exercise daily? If not, why? Are you the junk food addict? Terminate this habit, without any hesitation. Are you a chain smoker? Curtail the power of this nicotine before it declares the martial law, and strips you of all your powers. Now, come to your eating habit. Are you taking enough fruits and vegetables…the seasonal and the fresh ones?

Monitoring the above mentioned aspects of your daily life pattern, you will find noticeable changes in your standard of life within a fortnight or so. Thus, you are in a position to reduce the impact of the tension headache.

Once the situation is brought under your control by keeping yourself away from the negative influences, the path ahead will become easy to traverse. Once the root cause of your tension headache is treated, the surrounding influences around your tension headache will wither away automatically. Headache will not come near you once you start living intelligently.

Prevention is better than cure. Having taken the steps detailed above, decide that you will never have a tension headache again. Learn the art of going placidly, amidst the noise and din. On the practical side, sleep well, do your exercises, and drink plenty of water.

You will be the health-gainer, day by day. Your tension headache will be the thing of the past, because now you know, what the right type of living is.

Study about children and sugar

Children who eat sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to be violent as adults Children who eat sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to be violent as adults, according to UK researchers. The Cardiff University study involving 17,500 people is the first into effects of childhood diet on adult violence. It found 10-year-olds who ate sweets daily were significantly more likely to have a violence conviction by age 34. Researchers suggested they had not learnt to delay gratification, but other experts said already "difficult" children might be given more sweets. The researchers looked at data on around 17,500 people and found that 69% of the participants who were violent at the age of 34 had eaten sweets and chocolate nearly every day during childhood, compared to 42% who were non-violent. Delinquents This link between confectionery consumption and later aggression remained even after controlling for other factors such as parenting behaviour, the area where the child lived, not having educational qualifications after the age of 16 and whether they had access to a car when they were 34. The researchers put forward several explanations for the link including the idea that the confectionery makes the adult addicted to certain additives and that these may contribute towards adult aggression. The study was reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Stunted learning Dr Simon Moore, who led the study, has carried out previous research on young offenders. He was aware that they tend to have very poor diets including lots of confectionery - but was intrigued to find the link. He said: "Our favoured explanation is that giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them learning how to wait to obtain something they want. "Not being able to defer gratification may push them towards more impulsive behaviour, which is strongly associated with delinquency. "Targeting resources at improving children's diet may improve health and reduce aggression." Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: "Another explanation is that children who are already more demanding, aggressive and 'difficult' are more likely to be given sweets and chocolates to keep them quiet for a while. "It is an interesting area that needs looking into a little more deeply." Julian Hunt, Food and Drink Federation (FDF) director of communications, said: "This is either utter nonsense or a very bad April Fool's Day joke. "Anti-social behaviour stems from deep-rooted social and environmental factors, such as poor parenting and a deprived upbringing, and is not linked to whether or not you ate sweeties as a kid. "How anyone could leap to such a conclusion is beyond me." But Dr Simon Moore said: "We are fairly confident that this is a realistic relationship - the key is explaining what the mechanism is behind this relationship. "We think that rewarding bad behaviour in childhood with confectionary can lead to later problems but we need to look at this more closely." BBC NEWS Health

The smartest cancer advice

The smartest cancer advice you’ve ever heard

These doctors treat the disease — and have beat it themselves



Surviving cancer was a life-changing experience for these top cancer experts, even though they'd spent their careers helping patients fight the illness — and thought they knew everything they needed to know to beat the disease. "When you're the patient, you learn a lot about what it really takes to keep yourself healthy," admits Carolyn Runowicz, MD, director of the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut. "Things like eating well and exercising regularly suddenly seem like a matter of life and death." Here, she and two other cancer survivors reveal how they coped with treatment, how they stay well, and what we all should be doing to protect ourselves now. c

Boost your resistance to winter woes with vitamin C

To build a healthy immune system this coming winter, make sure your diet includes plenty of natural vitamin C. This powerful antioxidant plays a central role in the repair and regeneration of tissues, and helps protect cells throughout the body. Good food sources of vitamin C that are abundant and can be enjoyed all year long include (raw not cooked): broccoli, cantaloupe, kiwi, oranges, peppers, pineapple, pink g****fruit, and strawberries

3 ways to naturally grow taller ^_^

Play Sports
There are several ways you can force your body to produce human growth hormone regardless of your ages. Resistance training such as sprints, swimming, cycling and playing basketball has been known as the most effective training that can prompt body to produce growth hormone in massive quantity. The best workouts to recommend is swimming. Swimming is the mother of exercise to grow taller.

Stretching
If you are serious on how to get taller naturally than the first step to take is begin doing stretching exercises. This is good news for anyone who wishes to grow taller because it is available for anyone to do at no cost. Some of such stretches that help grow taller are bridges, toe touching, hanging and others. A simple device which can be used to help with stretching is an inversion table. This can help release tension between the discs and vertebrae. Other advantages of using these mechanisms include increasing the blood flow to the brain and relieving back pain.

Diet and Nutrition
Diet and nutrition is one of the great ways to grow taller, you can actually grow taller by eating specific food supplements enriched with calcium, phosphor, iron, zinc, copper and magnesium. By following certain eating habits and along with proper exercising you can add a significant amount of inches to your body fairly quickly. You can easily use diet to help stimulate growth as there are specific foods to eat to grow taller and believed to be high in the nutrients that help you to get taller. Proteins, Vitamins, and Minerals are very important for the development of your body and its good health. Make sure you are not missing any.