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Summer is here! We get into a car, bus, train or plane and visit resorts and sights. Prolonged sitting during travel can be dangerous and favors the development of thrombosis.

The word stress has become something of a "curse word" these days — in most cases you probably think of something negative. Yet the original purpose of stress is self-protection. To quickly resolve a dangerous situation, it activates your body with explosive speed. Because of it you can exert forces and perform movements you otherwise couldn't — which can be very useful in certain situations. However, if you're exposed to chronic stress, your body constantly feels threatened and this constant emergency readiness has negative effects on your system. A range of unexplained and treatment-resistant complaints can be traced back to stress.

If you see a doctor about a complaint, your physician will begin a kind of "investigation." They search for measurable, visible, tangible — that is, "well-defined" — identifiable changes until they find something that seems to confirm their suspicion. After an accident, an X-ray is taken, and if a fracture is visible in the bone, the diagnosis is made. However, a large portion of illnesses do not present such clear-cut signs. You may undergo a multitude of tests and still no abnormality is detectable: the X-ray is normal, lab values are not elevated, and other tests do not show deviations. Often chronic stress is behind such cases — something you rarely think of... and, unfortunately, many doctors don't either.

Peyronie's disease is a disorder affecting the penis. Hard nodules form in the penis, causing an increasing curvature. In some cases it is painful and in advanced stages can make sexual intercourse impossible. Nevertheless, only a small proportion of those affected see a doctor because of embarrassment. If you notice such symptoms, consult a physician – a urologist or andrologist is appropriate. The sooner you start treatment, the greater your chance of stopping its progression or eliminating the complaint. Read the details!

In the summer of 2018 the ExtremeMan Long Distance Triathlon National Championship was won by Merida rider, Zoltán Petsuk. This is an ordeal consisting of a 3,800 m swim followed by 180 km cycling and finishing with a marathon (42 km) run. Zoli needed only 8 hours and 20 minutes to complete it. After the big success, however, a sneaky problem began to cast a shadow over his everyday life. He won the race despite agonizing pain around his heel, but the pain that had been tolerable earlier intensified by autumn to the point that it made quality work impossible. He received various treatments without results, and rest did not help. We met by chance. In our first conversation it became clear that he had lost his confidence and, struggling with the injury, wondered if this was the end of professional, performance-oriented competition for him.

"A few weeks ago I had an accident. My kneecap cracked and a fragment broke off my tibia. I bought a Magnum XL magnetotherapy device to stimulate bone healing. Since I am on sick leave, I use it three times a day for two hours each. I've noticed that since I started using it my blood pressure has been getting lower and lower. I don't dare to use it because I feel practically dizzy. What do you think? Could it be caused by the device?" asked one of my readers.

Preparing for a running race or a longer triathlon distance? Then endurance development is your top priority. You need to devote many hours to your preparation. If, however, you have little time to train… well, it's worth getting a little help. Of course, this only applies if you have spare time, for example when you do office work.

Back pain is one of the most common modern lifestyle ailments. You sit hunched in front of the computer all day, then jostle along in traffic in the car or bus, and can’t wait to plop into an armchair to watch your favorite series… Your physical activity approaches zero… and you wonder why your back starts to hurt. The more you rest, the more it hurts… It’s all due to weakening of the spinal-stabilizing muscles. But the more it hurts, the less you move. That way you can’t get rid of the unpleasant pain. But there is help!

Most people take medication to reduce pain. But what about those for whom drug side effects make that impossible? For them I recommend drug- and side-effect-free nerve stimulation pain relief methods, i.e. TENS and MENS treatments. Both are based on electrically stimulating nerves with impulses. Devices can offer several different programs with differing effects. Some are suitable for acute pain and are worth using for a few days only because they lose effectiveness if used longer. Others, conversely, can be used for chronic pain for years without tolerance or loss of effect. In this article I show when to choose which pain relief program.

If you plan to use or receive electrotherapy, it is important to be aware that although this therapeutic method can be extremely useful in many cases, it can also have contraindications. Electrotherapy uses different types of electrical currents to achieve specific medical, rehabilitative or cosmetic goals, but in many situations it may be contraindicated for you. Let’s look in detail at when you should be particularly cautious or avoid this treatment completely.

Limb paralysis means weakness, clumsiness, or even complete inability to move one of your body parts. Dressing, washing, eating or drinking can become difficult. In more severe paralysis you may even be unable to care for yourself. This is very frightening, but in most cases the condition can be improved. The likelihood of success and the time needed depend on whether the paralysis is central or peripheral, what caused it, how large an area is affected, how quickly acute care began and how effective that care was. After that, rehabilitation comes next, which you should start as soon as possible under the guidance of a physiotherapist and continue persistently after returning home. Reaching the final outcome can take months, even years! So you must not give up despite a lack of results in the first days. Modern technology—especially biofeedback and electrotherapy devices—can be a huge help. This article also covers those.