The Belt Treatment Technique for Tennis Elbow

If you have not had any luck successfully treating that stubborn tennis elbow condition, consider using the belt technique to mobilize the elbow. This can be done while the patient is in supine lying and arm rested to the side. Wrap the belt around the patient's upper arm, just above the elbow joint crease. Then also wrap the belt around your waist, shoulder/back or top of your buttocks, wherever it may feel most practical to apply force. With one arm, stabilze the patient's lower arm just below the elbow joint line, and with your other arm, while applying lateral force to the patient's upper arm with the belt, apply some traction to the patient's lower arm with your free hand, and ask the patient to either extend their wrist against the resistance from your hand, or to extend the wrist while holding a two pound weight. Repeat this 5 to 10 times. This will often help decrease your patient's tennis elbow pain.

Do You Overeat? Pill for Promoting Digestion

In today's hectic society, many peoples' diets suffer, causing them to make poor dietary choices, eating in a hurry, eating while stressed and eating late at night. As a result, many people tend to suffer from a technical term called food stagnation ( Indigestion ). Food stagnation is an extremely common pattern in western society. It basically refers to the stoppage of undigested food in the stomach. It results fom stagnation of qi, phlegm and dampness in the stomach which causes stagnation of food matter. If someone experiences distension in the epigastrium and abdomen, nausea, stool with undigested food or diarrhea, belching, bloating, difficulty breathing, aversion to food and more, one is probably suffering from the Chinese Medicine Pattern of Food Stagnation.

Food stagnation is caused when the stomach has taken in too much food at one time or if the stomach has ingested too much cold or greasy food at one time. This often occurs at holidays and special events. This pattern is quite common among the adult population and it is for this reason, one should always have a bottle of the Chinese Patent Medicine "Bao He Wan", translated as Preserve Harmony Pill.

Think of the way you feel sometimes after overeating at holidays and parties. This patent medicine helps eliminate stagnant food and aids in the proper functioning of the digestive organ

The chief ingredient in the patent medicine Bao He Wan is Fructus Crataegi (shan zha), which is very effective in reducing all types of food stagnation, especially meat and fatty foods. The deputies are Massa Fermentata (shen qu) and Semen Raphani Sativi (lai fu zi). Both the chief and deputy ingredients reduce the stagnation of food and drink of all types. The assistants include Rhizoma Pinellia Ternatae (ban xia), Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae (chen Pi) and Sclerotium Poriae Cocos (fu ling). These three ingredients help promote the movement of qi and eliminate stagnation which in turn harmonizes the middle warmer to stop nausea, vomiting and sometimes diarrhea if dampness is present. Two other assistants include Fructus Forsythiae Suspensae (lian qiao) and Fructus Hordei Vulgaris Germinantus (mai ya). Lian Qiao is effective for food stagnation that has transformed into heat which often happens and Mai Ya helps reduce stagnation from grains.
So, the next time you are experiencing the above symptoms because you overate, the best remedy is to take "Bao He Wan".

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Understanding Repetitive Stress Injuries

Repetitive stress injury (RSI) is a stress-related, cumulative injury resulting from constant, repetitive movements. Awkward angles of movement and insufficient rest periods during work are large factors often contributing to this injury.

Due to the popularization of technology in the workplace, physicians treating someone with RSI must suddenly consider a whole new collection of ergonomic concerns. An effective treatment plan requires the doctor to identify and help the patient change behaviors that initially produced the injury.

We often push ourselves to our physical limits trying to meet impossible deadlines. With the introduction of the computer, we now type faster than ever before. We communicate endlessly on our cellular phones and through email. We rarely leave our workstations for fear of falling behind in the competitive world marketplace. Our bodies are not used to such a non-stop, high speed schedule. The result is an epidemic of repetitive strain injuries.

It is time for education. We must understand our jobs and our job's effects on our bodies. Prevention is the only cure for this pernicious kind of injury. It is time to respect our health at work and do the same at home.

RSI is a cumulative injury - tendons, ligaments, and muscles are worn down over time doing repetitive tasks with few rest breaks. Therefore, the real key to a full recovery goes way beyond being evaluated in a doctor's office and showing up for physiotherapy sessions on a weekly basis. Recovery requires a commitment to long term changes in your attitude and behaviour well after you have healed.

In the physiotherapy clinic, we often address the physiological and psychological changes that can occur with RSI. We then go over flexibility, range of motion and muscle tone. The more the patient understands RSI, the easier it will be to adapt and heal.

If you see signs or symptoms of RSI, take the time to learn how you can prevent further injury and save yourself a lot of time, pain and strife in the long run!

Cupping Therapy

Cupping is an ancient technique that is widely used by many Chinese Medicine practitioners. It is extremely beneficial in treating local qi stagnation or blood stasis in the channels. Practitioners use an open flame, place it in the cup for a very short period of time than quickly remove the flame from the cup, and immediately places the cup over the selected area that is being treated. This flame exhausts the oxygen in the cup and this creates a vacuum which will cause the skin to draw up into the cup. This technique helps with qi stagnation and blood stasis by encouraging the flow of qi and blood in the meridians.
When the cup is left in place on the skin for a few minutes, blood stasis is formed and localized healing takes place.
Cups are usually left in the same position for a considerable amount of time, while in other instances it is removed quickly and placed elsewhere on the body. Cupping, the technique, is very useful and very safe and can be easily learned and incorporated into your family health practices.


Case Study

Male, 29yrs old came into the clinic suffering from upper back strain. Two days earlier, he was working out at the gym and during one of the exercises ( upright rows ), he felt a pull in the upper back. Pain and discomfort have persisted ever since. After assessing the patient, it was evident that the patient was suffering from muscle spasms in his upper back. Patient had two treatments of cupping therapy and this was enough to cure him completely. In this case, cups were used to draw the qi to the muscles in spasm and disperse the stagnant qi resulting from the spasm. Cupping allowed the meridian affected to open up by encouraging the circulation of qi and blood. Because cupping draws blood to the surface of the body, sometimes minor weals or bruises are left after treatment. This possible consequence was explained to the patient before we began Cupping Therapy.

Disc Herniation and Sciatica

The disc is a major source of pain within the low back. The dual nerve supply to the disc, involving both regular sensory nerves and those of the sympathetic system, results in more profound, diffuse, and complex pain.

'Slipped disc', 'herniated disc', 'sciatica', 'nerve damage' are terms used interchangeably and often inappropriately when dealing with low back and leg pain.

The disc comprises a tough outer shell (annulus fibrosus) and a soft inner core (nucleus pulposus). A weakness in the annulus fibrosus may allow the nucleus pulposus to bulge outward, while a tear of the annulus fibrosus will permit the nucleus pulposus to actually extrude from the disc.

Herniation often results from the gradual aging of the disc, combined with poor muscle strength and improper body mechanics. Due to the close proximity of the spinal nerve roots to the posterior aspect of the disc, herniated nucleus pulposus material can compress or stretch these structures. This may reslut in pain, typically 'sciatica' or nerve dysfunction with numbness or weakness in the leg. Seventy percent of patients with sciatica recover in 6 to 12 weeks.

Sciatica refers to pain in the leg below the level of the buttock fold. It relates to the sciatic nerve, a large nerve supplying most of the leg with power and sensation that arises from numerous roots in the lumbar spine. If the pain of sciatica is specific, relating clearly to one nerve root, then it is called radicular pain. Often accompanied by numbness or tingling, the pain radiates down the leg to a specific area such as the great toe or the outside of the foot.

If the pain of sciatica is more dull, radiating downward but to a more diffuse area, it is called referred pain. Typically, this pain radiates through the buttocks and thighs, sometimes into the calf.

Nerve root compression and damage can also cause the nerve to malfunction. In this case, there may be loss of the skin sensation in the area supplied by the nerve, loss of power in the muscles it supplies, and loss of reflexes as tested by an examiner. Nerve root dysunciton may or may not be associated with pain. Sciatica does not imply damange, just irritation - the nerve is usually able to recover.

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is caused by the compression of the median nerve, which runs through a small channel in the wrist on the palm side. Under normal circumstances, there is very little pressure on the median nerve because the carpal tunnel is inflexible. It is surrounded by bone on three sides and tough ligament on the fourth side.
People with CTS experience numbness, tingling, and pain in the first three fingers of the affected hand (or hands). The pinky finger is usually spared, which often provides a valuable clue in the diagnosis of the condition.

CTS tends to be more prevalent among women than men. Any activities that involve highly repetitive use of the hands, especially flexion of the fingers, can result in CTS. People at risk include those who use computers, as well as carpenters, grocery checkers, assembly-line workers, meat packers, violinists and pianists, and mechanics. Hobbies such as gardening and needlework can sometimes bring on the symptoms, while sports such as rowing, golf, tennis, downhill skiing, archery, competitive shooting, and rock climbing also place pressure on the hand and wrist joints. In addition, the syndrome can be caused by underlying disorders that affect the carpal tunnel, including arthritis, thyroid problems, gout, and diabetes. Finally, pregnant women are at risk of developing CTS.

The nerve compression associated with CTS is due to fibrous bands of tissue that form inside the carpal tunnel, squeezing the median nerve. Although CTS is linked to repetitive stress, the underlying cause—which would explain why some people suffer from it and others don't—is unknown. Newer research has uncovered some of the chemical changes that occur in response to mechanical injury among people who suffer from CTS. Although CTS is technically a non-inflammatory condition (because there is no systemic inflammation and the immune system is not activated), it is characterized by localized increases in many pro-inflammatory chemicals in the tissue of the carpal tunnel itself. Treatment of CTS may include some of the following: stretching, ultrasound, acupuncture, ergonomic changes, wearing of a brace, laser and surgery.