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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.
The TENS electrode (commonly referred to as a TENS pad) is a fundamentally important accessory for at-home electrotherapy treatments (for example TENS – nerve stimulation, pain relief; EMS – muscle stimulation; Microcurrent – pain-relieving, healing-stimulating treatment; denervated – treatment of peripheral paralysis) because the impulse reaches your body from the device through the TENS pad placed on the skin. Without it there is no treatment and no effect. In this article I summarize the most important information to help you make the right choice.
If you're being treated for COPD (chronic obstructive bronchitis), it's important to know that the disease is currently not curable. Therefore, treatments aim to reduce or eliminate your symptoms. But they won't do much without you! If you don't take your medications or quit smoking, your symptoms will worsen. Breathlessness can even interfere with your everyday activities. Let's look at what you can and should do!
American researchers studied the effects of yoga and stretching training methods on chronic back pain, which affects an increasing portion of the population. They found that both yoga and intensive stretching exercises led to favorable results.
“Difficult days”, “that time of the month” – even common expressions hint that menstruation can often be quite unpleasant. Every woman experiences this time differently. Some aren’t bothered by these few days at all. Some suffer mild discomfort, and some are tormented by almost unbearable pain, which can lead to missed days from work or school…
Are you on your feet all day? Or the opposite — sitting at a desk for hours? If by evening your legs feel heavy and tired, your ankle swells, and your sock leaves a mark in your skin, you may be experiencing the first signs of varicose vein disease. The good news: there’s a lot you can do to prevent worsening — and you don’t necessarily need to go under the knife.
Patients talk among themselves these days like this: I asked for an MRI. I got myself prescribed antibiotics! I asked for a referral to Harkány. Look at that! Dr. Bubó's famous saying came true: "The patient dictates, the doctor writes!"… I think it's a disgrace, meaning that a significant portion of tests and prescriptions are issued not on medical indication but under the patient's "pressure" or request. This little "tale" of mine was inspired by a somewhat provocative, somewhat teasing comment on one of my posts.
Stroke (pronounced: strok) is the collective name for diseases that mean a severe disturbance of the brain's blood supply. Older and folk names include: apoplexy, stroke of paralysis, brain softening, cerebral hemorrhage, brain infarction. The symptoms and consequences can be similar in every case. Stroke always denotes a permanent condition, meaning functions are usually not fully restorable. In fortunate and mild cases the symptoms disappear within 24 hours and the loss of function is temporary. In such cases it is not called a stroke but a transient ischemic attack (medical name: TIA).
