About 100 million Americans live with chronic pain. For them, a condition like arthritis, fibromyalgia, nerve damage, migraine headaches, or cancer has caused unrelenting pain that persists day after day, month after month.
Migraine headaches are a common source of chronic pain, affecting 1 in 10 Americans, most of them women. These are not just everyday headaches. Migraine symptoms also include nausea, vomiting, light and sound sensitivity, auras, and other visual disturbances. Because doctors still don?t fully understand what causes migraines, they haven?t been able to develop a cure for this condition. Treatments aim to reduce the frequency of migraine attacks and relieve symptoms when they start.
Fibromyalgia is another poorly understood condition. The estimated 5 million Americans who have this condition experience fatigue and pain in particular spots around their body. Other fibromyalgia symptoms include sleep problems, headaches, sensitivity to heat and cold, bowel issues, and memory problems.
Back problems are another source of chronic pain. Sciatica affects the lower back and legs. It starts in the sciatic nerve, which runs down the lower back, hips, buttocks, and legs. A herniated disk that puts pressure on the sciatic nerve often triggers sciatica. Spinal stenosis?a narrowing of the spine?can also put pressure on the sciatic nerve. Sciatica can be very painful, but medicines, physical therapy, and other treatments usually improve the pain within a few weeks.
Sometimes back pain can be traced to the kidneys, which are located on the back side of the body. Many people mistake kidney pain for back muscle strains. The most common causes of kidney pain are infection, kidney stones, polycystic kidney disease (in which growths called cysts form in the kidneys), bleeding, and kidney cancer. Because kidney pain can signal a more serious condition, it?s important to call the doctor for any constant, dull pain on one side of the back.
According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), almost everyone will experience low back pain. There are many causes. Your spine is made up of bones called vertebrae separated by cushions, called discs. The vertebrae are attached to spinal muscles and to each other by ligaments and tendons. A … Read More
Your sciatic nerve is the main nerve supplying your leg. This large nerve leaves your spinal cord in your lower back and passes between the bones (vertebrae) of your spine. Pinching (compression) of the nerve where it passes between the spinal vertebrae is the usual cause of sciatica. Compression is … Read More
Ibuprofen is in a family of drugs called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Ibuprofen is the most common over-the-counter (OTC) NSAID. You probably know this drug by its two common brand names Advil and Motrin. Other OTC NASIDs include aspirin and naproxen (Aleve). Side effects of ibuprofen are like the other … Read More
Slipped rib syndrome goes by many names. It may be called rib subluxation, rib tip syndrome, sliding rib, gliding rib, false rib syndrome, clicking rib, and other names. This condition is rare, but it may account for about five percent of chest pain caused by muscle and bone (musculoskeletal) disorders. … Read More
If you have been to a doctor’s office or hospital in the last 30 years, you probably have had a pulse oximeter put on your fingertip to measure your pulse and the amount of oxygen being carried by your red blood cells, called your oxygen saturation. Pulse has always been … Read More
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), GERD can cause stomach juices to flow up into your esophagus all the way up to your throat. When this happens at night, you may wake up with the sensation of choking on your saliva, but you are really experiencing nighttime acid … Read More
Between seven and eight million Americans suffer with psoriasis. According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, about 50 percent of people with psoriasis have scalp psoriasis. Scalp psoriasis can affect your scalp, hairline, forehead, back of your neck, and the skin around your ears, which makes it difficult to hide. Besides … Read More
According to the American Heart Association, when it comes to health benefits, walking is the simplest, safest, and cheapest way to get the most benefits from exercise. It is safer and easier than jogging, and studies show if your goal is health benefits, walking is as good as running without … Read More
According to the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), spinal adjustment or manipulation is usually done by a chiropractor. It is done by hand or by a device to place a sudden thrust on a joint of the spine, causing it to move more … Read More
The medical term for a bone spur is osteophyte, which means bone growth. A bone spur is a smooth lump of bone that usually occurs near the edge of a bone where bones come together. A bone spur takes years to grow and is most common in people over age 60. … Read More
