Sometimes the arm becomes painful. The pain shoots down one of the arms, accompanied by numbness and a tingling sensation in one or more fingers. This is due to irritation in the nerve roots emerging between the fourth cervical and the second thoracic vertebrae.
Category: Osteopathy
Osteopathy: Curing Cervical Spondylosis
Pain in the neck is a common complaint. It is the product of a fast, mechanical life full of tension, lack of exercise and bad posture, use of cushy pillows and a soft bed. It may also be due to an injury. No specific cause can be pin-pointed. Some patients develop a stiff neck due to the incorrect positioning of the head in bed, especially while lying on the tummy with the head turned to one side. Sometimes the pain in the neck lasts for a few days and wears off on its own. But when it persists for a long time, it presents greater problems.
Osteopathy: Treatment for Low Back Pain, Lumbago and Sciatica
It is most important to ascertain that the pain is of vertebral origin. Pain due to infection, inflammation, tuberculosis, tumour of the spine, osteomyelitis, cancer or other diseases should be excluded.
A sudden dramatic pain is most likely due to a derangement of the spine. Pain which increases relentlessly without any intermission suggests that it may be due to inflammation or malignancy. In such cases, an X-ray has to be done to check out the condition of the spine and the disc. However if there is an acute prolapse, the X-ray may not show any abnormality, but may show the extent of osteoarthritis as being extensive or mild. It may be remembered that there are many patients with the same radiological changes who do not experience pain, and they continue to show the same changes even after they obtain complete relief.
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Osteopathy: Curing Low Back Pain, Lumbago and Sciatica
Backache also called lumbago or sciatica, has existed since man learnt to stand erect. Descripations of the condition occur in ancient literature. Backache is a common complaint among the young and the old. How many people are there who do not suffer from backache during their lifetime? Many suffer from mild, infrequent ache for years before it becomes serious. Many complain of pain after pushing a heavy almirah or lifting something heavy even when they have no injury. Backache many start without any apparent cause. Some ladies complain of pain persisting after a pregnancy. Other complain of pain during their menstrual periods which is severe enough to keep them in bed for 2-3 days and force them to take analgesics.
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Osteopathy: Treatment as Postural Correction
If a straight posture is maintained while working in the office or at home, the pain may not occur. For example, a clerk may raise the height of his table so that he may sit more erect than usual. This can even be done by cutting the legs of the chair to lower its height. A typist may put his or her papers just above the typewriter on an inclined board, or keep them vertically tagged on the wall on a drawing board. Housewives may raise the kitchen platform if it is too low. They may use a chapati maker which involves pushing down rather than rolling.
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Osteopathy: Curing Shoulder Pain
Doctor, I don’t know what has happened to my shoulders. They ache a lot and the ache is gradually increasing. I cannot move them properly. It is becoming impossible for me to put on my clothes myself. Even combing has to be done by somebody else. The pain persists during the day, but at night it becomes worse. If somebody presses my shoulder joint, I get an excruciating pain. I have had all kinds of treatment but nothing seems to be helping me. Can you do something?The above symptoms seemed to point towards a frozen shoulder. This condition can be diagnosed easily. The shoulder joint is frozen and its mobility reduced. Before we go further let us examine what our shoulder joints are and what they do.
Osteopathy: Case Histories in Treatment for Low Back Pain, Lumbago and Sciatica
During a series of test matches played between India and the MCC, the opening batsman was found to be suffering from back pain on the first day of the first test match. As a result, he could not play in the match. He thought that the pain was due to sleeping in an air-conditioned room. His pain persisted in spite of the best possible treatment. All possible investigations were done and X-rays taken. Finally he was diagnosed as having a slipped disc of the lumbar spine, and advised complete bedrest for three weeks.
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Osteopathy: Relieving Knee Pain
Young or old, athletes or sedentary workers – most people get knee pain at some time or other. An old lady went crying to the doctor: ‘I cannot walk, even walking in the house hurts me. I do not want to be crippled and dependent for little things on my children.’ Old age and knee pain are almost synonymous.
A young footballer trying to kick the ball, fell down, but rose up and collecting all his courage, continued with the game. The next day, he had a big swelling over the knee and a lot of pain. He hobbled to the clinic with the help of a friend, was treated and asked to spend a few days in bed. For several weeks he limped in great discomfort. The pain and swelling gradually subsided. A few months later he complained of pain in the knee whenever he exerted it.
Osteopathy: Curing Wrist and Hand Pain
In most cases of pain in the wrist and hand, cervical manipulation is the treatment of choice. Patients respond rapidly to the treatment and all symptoms disappear within two or three weeks.
Pain in the wrist and hand may be due to varied factors. These may be :
A mechanical disturbance in the cervical spine.
Pressure on the median nerve as it passes in front of the wrist between the tunnel formed by the small bones of the wrist called carpal bones.
Arthritis of the wrist joint.
Post-traumatic or following the union of fractured bones of the wrist and hand.
Osteopathy: Curing Elbow Pain
A patient may complain that he cannot pour a cup of tea for himself. He experiences difficulty in closing his fist tightly, or while grabbing and lifting heavy things from the ground with his hands. He has pain on the lateral aspect of the elbow at a prominent point called the lateral condyl of the humerus or arm bone. The pain travels along the back of the forearm and may go as far as the wrist or the back of the hand as far as the ring finger of the hand. It may be severe enough to go to the external aspect of the arm up to the shoulder, but this is less common. Sometimes, there is a constant ache, which gets worse at night, disturbing the sleep. The patient may wake up with stiffness of the elbow.