Yard signs of pain

Some see beautiful fall foliage. Others see leaves ready for raking. Unfortunately, you might suffer more than the loss of time. One of the most common complaints following a few hours of yard work is lower back pain. If you’re not careful, the repetitive and unnatural motions that come from raking, weeding, mowing, digging, planting, and mulching can wreak havoc on your back muscles.

Lower back pain is particularly common because the lumbar spine is both extremely flexible and tasked with supporting most of the body’s weight. This combination makes it easy to injure. The good news is that the majority of back aches and pains heal on their own or only require minimal treatment. However, if you’re someone who feels the strain long after you’ve finished in the yard, you should consider these tips:

Warm Up Take a few minutes to do some dynamic exercises such as a brisk 5 – 10 minute walk, jumping jacks, walking lunges, and arm circles.

 Hydrate Maintaining your body’s water levels helps prevent muscle cramps or spasms and dehydration.

 Mix It Up Vary your tasks each time and don’t continuously perform any particular activity for a long period.

 Use Correct Form Bend at the knees and hips and push with your arms and legs. Periodically switch to your non-dominant hand so that you’re not overusing one side of your body.

 Wear Supportive Shoes Good foot and arch support can stop some strain from reaching your back.

 Take Breaks Taking your time will make it less likely for injuries to occur from sloppy posture and lifting techniques.

Cool Down Walk around the yard to review all your hard work and end with some easy stretching to reduce stiffness and soreness.

Most importantly pay attention to your body while you’re doing the work.  If something doesn’t feel right, stop and figure out what could be the source and solution to your discomfort.

While you don’t want to feel pain during any season, fall can be especially rough because you begin slowing down activity as the weather cools off. You’ll become more aware of strains on your body during the winter because you’re not moving around as much.

If you are experiencing prolonged back pain, contact your doctor to discuss treatment such as heat and ice therapy, physical therapy, or anti-inflammatory medication. More serious treatment would require consultation with an experienced pain management specialist.

Regardless of whether you have a trick-or-treater in your house, candy is all around you these days. And let’s be honest, sugar is all around you every day. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average American consumes roughly 69 pounds of cane sugar and 57 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per year.

You’re probably well aware of the usual sugar suspects, but there are also hidden sugars in most processed foods. This includes many so-called “healthy” foods such as whole grain breakfast cereals, granola bars, pasta sauce, yogurt, and sports drinks. And while obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are certainly enough to scare you, did you know that sugar can cause your muscle and joint pain as well?

Research shows that sugary foods cause a spike in a hormone called insulin, which leads to the production of inflammation. Insulin secretes from the pancreas and is responsible for taking sugar out of the blood stream and storing it in the cells. This also contributes to the accumulation of fat. Visceral fat, or stomach fat, itself secretes proteins and hormones that generate chronic inflammation. Most forms of joint pain and muscle aches involve inflammation, and even if your pain has other causes, high sugar foods can magnify symptoms.

To be fair, sugar does have benefits: It supplies instant energy, stabilizes low blood pressure, and raises your spirits—all of which can be necessary in certain situations. Luckily there are naturally occurring sugars in fruits and vegetables that help you get what you need when you need it. Your sugar dependence also has a biological purpose. In the hunting and gathering days, people knew that if a food tasted sweet, it was ripe and not poisonous. The main culprit in staying healthy is “added sugar,” which is taken from its original source and added to foods and drinks to serve as a sweetener or increase shelf life. When doctors tell you to avoid high sugar foods, they’re likely talking about this type.

One extremely important fact about sugar is that it’s addictive. The sweet stuff releases dopamine and natural opioids in the brain. These are the same chemicals found in highly addictive painkillers, so your craving might be a lot stronger than you think. Unfortunately, you can’t simply quit sugar because in some cases the withdrawal symptoms are just as bad as narcotics. As is often the case with your health, moderation goes a long way.

Here are some tips for reducing your sugar intake:

• Clean out your kitchen to remove temptation, especially when you are hungry.
• Check food labels for brands and products with less added sugar.
• Plan your meals out beforehand when you’re not stressed, tired, or hungry so that you can pay closer attention to sugar content.
• Avoid sugary drinks, which can easily fill your daily healthy limit of sugar in a single serving.
• Exercise 20 minutes a day to increase your energy levels and reduce the need for a sugar boost.
• Avoid sugar alternatives and substitutes so that you’re controlling your body’s craving for sweets.

Cutting back on sugar is certainly not effortless—especially with temptation all around. But once you get through the rough patch and begin to feel the benefits, you’ll have no trouble passing on the sweets.

It had to come from somewhere. Whether it’s a pulsing throb or a shooting dagger. Whether it’s in your neck or your lower back. Whether it’s consistent or intermittent. There must be a specific cause that led you to the doctor.

However, once you’re in your physician’s office, there’s a good chance that you’ll become flustered. Without giving much context, you’ll just say, “It suddenly showed up” even though you and your doctor both know that’s not true. Studies show that only 21% of patients think that talks with their doctors went well. There are many reasons for this—not the least of which is poor bedside manner—but you need to fight the urge to quickly summarize.

Even if you think a pain is sudden, there is most certainly a cause. A good doctor will spend time getting to know you and the cause of your pain. Your job is simply to tell your story.

Pain is subjective.  One person can never know exactly what another person’s pain feels like.  So, particularly when you’re talking with your doctor, it’s important to describe your pain in a way that will give him or her the best picture possible of what you’re experiencing. Feel free to think this through ahead of time and write it down. Your doctor will appreciate that you’re telling the whole pain story.

Here are some tips to ensure that your doctor learns everything about your pain story:

Start at the beginning. Don’t just talk about when you first felt the pain. Go into detail about any stress you placed on that part of the body or recent changes to your daily routine. If nothing has changed, talk about any routines that may affect that part of the body and how long you’ve been doing them.

Use concepts such as timing, pace, the onset of symptoms, severity, and changes over time. These are key to arriving at your diagnosis and will come through naturally if you tell your story from the beginning.

Provide your doctor with context tied to other events. Don’t worry about remembering exact time and dates as much as what was going on in your daily life. Understanding the context can help you and your doctor identify factors that make your symptoms better or worse.

Describe the impact on your life. Your doctor’s office will ask you to quantify the pain in an objective way. That doesn’t tell as much of the story as whether you had to miss school or work.

Share your impressions with your doctor as you go along. Your initial reaction and self-diagnosis play roles in the development of the pain. If something about your symptoms surprised you, emphasize it.

Use simple language. Don’t try to use medical jargon. It confuses your doctor if you use it incorrectly.

Share your concerns. Let your doctor put you at ease. Don’t forget, there’s a mental component to pain too.

Don’t forget that communication works both ways. You should always find a doctor whom you feel that you can trust and who will listen to you. A two-way conversation about your health is the only way they will make the correct diagnoses and treatment recommendations.

If you’re going away on a vacation this month or even just staying close to home and relaxing, the change in routine might make you more aware of that back pain that’s been bothering you for a while. But you’ll learn soon enough that you can’t ignore the problem until it goes away.

Chronic back pain lasts three months or longer. It doesn’t have to be consistent discomfort, so if you have pain that comes and goes, it might be a result of the same problem. It can be difficult to pinpoint the exact source of your issues, but chronic back pain is usually related to age or a prior injury.

You want to be careful not to make any decisions on treatment until you have clearly identified the origin of your pain. Treating the wrong problem can make the pain the worse.  Back surgery, especially, should only be your last resort. It is an extremely serious procedure that can cause more harm than good. Luckily, there are effective nonsurgical treatments for chronic back pain:

 Physical Therapy

Exercise is one of the first treatments you should try under the guidance of your doctor, who will help you develop a tailored regimen to your specific symptoms. Through aerobic and flexibility exercise, you will focus on retraining your posture and strengthening your core. Usually, physical therapy will test the limits of your pain tolerance so that you can make incremental improvement.

Mindfulness

To manage the frustration, depression, and other psychological aspects of dealing with chronic pain, your doctor might refer you to a specialist who will recommend relaxation strategies to keep your mind from focusing on the issue. These include meditation, yoga, and tai chi.

 Diet

Some diets are highly inflammatory—especially those high in trans fats, refined sugars, and processed foods. Consult with your doctor to see if your diet could be contributing to your chronic back pain and how you could change it. Maintaining a healthy weight could also help you feel relief by reducing the pressure on your spine.

 Lifestyle Modifications

Listen to your body and learn to adapt to your circumstances. Take a break when doing yard work or make several trips when carrying groceries. Pay attention to the movements that increase your pain and avoid them if possible. Not only could this help your back feel better, it could also prevent the underlying condition from advancing. If you are a smoker, you have another reason to kick the habit. Nicotine can magnify pain and delay healing.

 Interventional Pain Management Techniques

Nerve blocks, epidural steroid injections, nerve ablations, and other types of injection-based procedures provide relief directly to the source of the pain. Since they are usually localized to a specific area of the body, your doctor can also use these treatments to isolate the cause of your discomfort. Depending on the severity of the pain, one injection might be all you need to feel relief, but if necessary, you can repeat treatment every few months. Injections take place around important structures such as nerves, blood vessels, and spinal fluid, so you want to make sure that you work with a trained interventional pain doctor.

Nearly 50 million adults suffer from chronic pain, but you don’t need to give up hope. With the right treatment, you will be able to manage your pain and go back to focusing on the things that make you happy.

School is out for summer!  Many children will immediately transition into summer activities or vacations. Or they will take much-deserved breaks from their overscheduled lives.  And as is often the case with modern kids with downtime, screens likely will play a large role in their time away from school.

Patients as young as six-years-old are complaining about neck pain. Usually, it’s because they hunch over, neck strained, looking down at their cellphone, tablet, or computer keyboard. Of course, it’s not just children who have this problem. Anyone that spends time looking at a screen sits or stands in an unnatural position, causing constant stress on the back and shoulders or “tech neck.”

While back and neck pain is common, at least 70% of adults report issues that tie back to the use of electronic devices. Your body adapts to the stresses and strains that you put on it. Holding specific positions for longer than 20 minutes can cause that area to lose flexibility. Prolonged periods of hunching over our screens are slowly causing our necks to “get stuck” in a more forward position because those strained tissues lose their pliability.

Stop reading right now and take note of the position your neck is in. Now think about how long you usually look at a screen.

With correct posture the head weighs 10 to 12 pounds, but when you lean over, the head becomes a 40-pound boulder straining your body. This can cause a lot of pain and dysfunction such as headaches and lack of sleep. Over long periods of time, tech neck can lead to muscle strain, disc injury, nerve impingement, and arthritic changes. On the other hand, studies show that proper posture decreases stress and increases testosterone, feelings of power, and comfort with risk-taking.

The good news is that in many cases, you can reverse the effects of tech neck. Here are some tips:

• Take mini-breaks every 15 minutes or so, spending 30 seconds resting your eyes and stretching in place.
• Every hour, take a longer break by getting up for a quick walk or spending a few minutes on a different task to break things up.
• Incorporate exercises into your daily routine with the goal of strengthening the muscles around your neck and back.
• Sit properly or change to a chair that will help your posture. Keeping the back of your head flush against a headrest will ensure that you’re not looking down with your neck flexed forward.

If you’re experiencing pain in your neck, numbness or tingling in the arms, or frequent headaches, there may be a more serious issue. Act quickly to correct your posture and consult with a doctor about managing your pain. There are physical therapy programs, over-the-counter medications, or steroid injections that can help you find comfort.

With children, movement is crucial, so do your best to limit screen time. A child who spends three to five hours a day on a phone or tablet is spending 1,500 hours a year straining their spine. By their 20s, that child could spend their summers trying to manage chronic neck pain.

An increase in temperature can bring on an increase in fatigue. The change in weather can cause you to focus on your sleeping habits—especially if you’re not getting enough rest.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, lack of sleep can affect mood and functional ability as well as have a negative impact on pain perception. At the same time, back pain can make it tough to get a good night’s sleep. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll learn that how you sleep may make things worse. While certain sleep positions put strain on an already aching back, others may help you find relief.

Some sleep positions can put added pressure on your neck, shoulders, hips, lower back, knees, and even your heels—all of which can lead to pain.

What is the most common offender? Any sleeping position has the potential to amplify back pain if you maintain it for too long, but sleeping on your stomach flattens the natural curve of your spine and puts some additional strain on your back muscles. Plus, stomach sleeping means that your neck is rotated, which can result in pain in your neck or between your shoulders.

To avoid discomfort, you don’t have to worry about keeping your body in the same position all night. It’s normal for you to move around a bit while you sleep, and that can help ease pressure on your back. Also, there’s no universal position to beat back pain, but you can try a few tricks to get it under control so that you can sleep more soundly.

First, you’ve got to be comfortable. A few simple modifications to your regular sleep position will help take a load off your back:

• If you’re a back sleeper: Put a pillow under your knees to allow your spine to maintain its natural curve.
• If you’re a stomach sleeper: Put a pillow under your lower abdomen and pelvis to ease back strain.
• If you’re a side sleeper: Draw your legs up slightly toward your chest and sleep with a pillow (a full body pillow can be comfortable) between your knees.

When it comes to selecting a mattress and pillow (or number of pillows), personal preference and comfort always take priority. Test out different surfaces in your home or spend a night in a hotel that offers options to see what works best for you.

Don’t forget that daily activity—or lack of it—is just as important as sleep position. If you sit too long during the day, or don’t sit properly, chances are that you spend several hours slouching with a rounded back. Try to vary your posture as much as possible, and practice good posture when standing and sitting to help ease back pain at night. Likewise, if you spent all winter indoors, the sudden jolt of strenuous activity outside might catch up with you when you’re sleeping.

If a few changes to your sleep position and daytime routine don’t help your back pain or sleep troubles, it may be time to get a medical opinion. If your pain increases, ask your doctor to check for any potentially serious problems.

May is National Arthritis Awareness Month. In recognition this year, the Arthritis Foundation has launched the “Let’s Get a Grip on Arthritis” campaign with the goal of spreading awareness and gaining support to find a cure.

Arthritis is not a single disease but rather an informal way of referring to joint pain. There are more than 100 different types of arthritis and related conditions that affect people of all ages, sexes, and races. It is the leading cause of disability in America, but since you tend to suffer quietly, people without arthritis often know nothing about it.

Here are some quick facts:

• More than 54 million adults in the United States have doctor-diagnosed arthritis, and 37 million more Americans may have it without knowing.
• Arthritis isn’t just an “elderly disease.” Two-thirds of people with arthritis are under the age of 65, including 300,000 children.
• While it may not be as life-threatening as cancer or heart disease, arthritis accounts for 100 million doctor visits and nearly 7 million hospitalizations each year. It can damage vital organs and make other conditions worse.
• Arthritis is to blame for the loss of 172 million workdays each year and costs the U.S. economy more than $300 billion annually in lost wages and medical expenses.

Arthritis is inflammation of one or more of your joints. The main symptoms are joint pain and stiffness, which typically worsen with age. The most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis, which causes cartilage to break down, and rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disorder that first targets the lining of joints.

Perhaps worst of all, arthritis steals quality of life. You must give up intense workouts or any hobbies that require physical movement. Normal activities such as grocery shopping or laundry become a painful burden.  Even picking up your child is a source of discomfort.

There’s no cure yet, but there are effective treatments to reduce symptoms and improve joint function. You may need to try several different treatments, or combinations before you determine what works best for you. Lifestyle modifications and self-care can also make a big difference.

The medications used vary depending on the type of arthritis. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduce both pain and inflammation and are available over-the-counter and by prescription. Some NSAIDs are also available as creams or gels that you can rub on your joints. Other varieties of ointments contain menthol or capsaicin, the ingredient that makes hot peppers spicy. Rubbing these on the skin may interfere with the transmission of pain signals from the joint itself. Corticosteroids, which include prednisone and cortisone, reduce inflammation and suppress the immune system. You can take them orally or have them injected directly into the aching joint every three months by a pain management physician.

One of the exciting aspects of Arthritis Awareness Month is that we get a chance to see how far we’ve come in developing treatments. Advances in medicine over the past couple of decades have limited the debilitating effects we used to see. So while there still isn’t a cure, we can use this month to celebrate progress and look ahead to a time when arthritis becomes a minor inconvenience in our lives.

National Stress Awareness Month

Believe it or not, April is National Stress Awareness Month. You might be thinking that makes perfect sense, or you might be shocked that it’s not another time of year when your anxiety is at its maximum.

But the truth is that stress is universal. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is or whether you’re Wall Street banker in New York or a Walmart cashier in Springdale, Arkansas.

Nearly everyone experiences some sort of mental or emotional tension at some point in their lives. Stress is a normal psychological and physical reaction to the regular demands of your day. A small amount of stress can be good, motivating you to perform well. But dealing with multiple challenges every day, such as traffic, deadlines, and bills, can push you beyond your ability to cope.

Your brain is hard-wired to perceive a threat and signal your body to release a burst of hormones that increase your heart rate and raise your blood pressure. This response fuels you to deal with the threat. Once the threat is gone, your body is supposed to return to a normal, relaxed state. Unfortunately, the nonstop complications of modern life can prevent your alarm systems from shutting off.

Pain can be both a source and sign of stress. In fact, headaches, neck aches, and back pain are among the most common symptoms of stress. The brain is always trying to limit pain signals, but stress prevents you from properly filtering these signals. As with any conditions, the symptoms become more severe if left unchecked.

To break this cycle, stress relief becomes a key component of pain management. Try these tips:

• Find a balance. Take the time to examine your daily routine and modify it for better stress control. Consider each part of your life, and identify the triggers that cause your anxiety. Place more emphasis on the activities you like to do.
• Get moving. Whether it’s 30 minutes on an exercise bike, or four times a week at the gym, exercise can heal your mind and your body. Consult with a doctor first to ensure that your routine does not cause your pain to flare up.
• Sleep more. Proper sleep can improve your concentration, ease your mind, and help your body heal. More sleep isn’t always good sleep. Make sure you’re resting with limited distraction.
• Chill out. Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, yoga, guided imagery, and meditation can essentially force you to relax and decrease stress levels. Once you’ve learned these techniques, you can do them on your own at any time throughout your day.
• Seek support. Evaluation by a mental health professional, such as a social worker with expertise in pain or a pain psychologist or psychiatrist, can also help you deal with stress and provide pain relief.

If pain persists or becomes unbearable, check with your doctor. Stress might not be the only factor, and there are plenty of ways to manage your comfort.

Even though this month is officially focused on stress awareness, managing your mental, physical, and emotional health is a year-round effort. Take some time to find what makes you happy and that can go a long way toward relieving your pain.