May is Fibromyalgia Awareness Month. Sometimes awareness months are just gimmicks. But in the case of fibromyalgia, having an awareness month could help to shed light on a widely misunderstood condition. Nobody has been able to pin down the cause of it, and although it affects about 2% of the adult population, there are still Read more…
Fibromyalgia Awareness
Nobody‘s Diet But Yours
I love the things you can find on Wikipedia. Consider the entry “List of Diets.” I didn’t count the diets listed there, but the entry runs to nearly 4,000 words, not including bibliography. The article covers belief-based diets, calorie and weight control diets, crash diets, detox diets, diets followed for medical reasons, fad diets, vegetarian Read more…
Massage for Fighting Stress
I once knew a man who procrastinated on every job he did. Every time he submitted a proposal or a report, he delayed working on it until he had to stay awake all night to write. Then he always had to drive a mad dash to the airport to get his document on an airplane Read more…
Infrared Sauna for Cellulite
According to the Mayo Clinic, cellulite is harmless. I think that’s a little harsh. Cosmetic issues are not necessarily harmless. For many people, it may not be easy (or even possible) to separate personal image from well-being or self-esteem. Cellulite may not put your life, or even your health, at risk. But it could be Read more…
Whole-Body Cryotherapy for MS
I recently did a web search on “cryotherapy for MS.” I got more than 2 million hits, most of which appeared to be places (like Peak Recovery & Health Center) that offer cryotherapy treatments for MS patients. This is unfortunate. I myself have touted cryotherapy for multiple sclerosis in the past. But I’ve never suggested Read more…
Parkinson’s Disease Awareness
April is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month. It is an annual worldwide campaign that began in 1997 to commemorate the birthday (April 11) of Dr. James Parkinson. He was the first to describe the disease 200 years ago. Nearly a million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). It is the second most Read more…
Infrared Sauna for Skin Conditions
Is infrared sauna good for skin conditions? There’s no simple answer, if for no other reason than that there is such a wide variety of skin conditions. They can range from garden variety acne to the bewildering psoriatic arthropathy of The Singing Detective. (The singing detective was the main character in an acclaimed 1986 British Read more…
Whole-Body Cryotherapy for Back Pain
If you see a doctor for back pain, he or she is likely to prescribe rest, physical therapy, strengthening exercises, or medication. More intense or long-lived pain may need nerve blocking, epidural steroid injections, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, traction, or surgery. A doctor versed in holistic or alternative medicine may even try manipulation or mobilization, Read more…
Photobiomodulation for Arthritis
If you inject papain (a protein enzyme found in papaya) into your knee, your knee will develop arthritis. You would never do that, of course. But researchers do it to rats all the time. That’s what happened for a 2017 study. The researchers induced arthritis in the rats’ knees, then treated them with one of Read more…
DVT Awareness
March is DVT Awareness Month. I am ordinarily skeptical of awareness campaigns. People often promote awareness because they have no clear agenda for dealing with a problem. But in the case of DVT, I do think lack of awareness may be costing lives. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT), often leads to pulmonary embolism (PE), which kills Read more…