Posts Tagged ‘trauma’

« Older Entries

Knee Pain When Walking – An Overview – Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention

December 20th, 2009

obably have heard of a knee injury of some kind recently, whether it is your own or someone else’s problem. Knee issues can arise over time due to repeated stresses from running, jumping, and doing other everyday activities. Sure trauma can cause problems, but so can time along with wear and tear.

A.) How do you Determine the Cause of Knee Pain?

If you get severe knee pain while walking, chances are the pain would not have been caused by the walking itself. Different tests and overall physical observations will help your physician determine the status of your knee injury. Some of these include:

1.) Your age

2.) Whether your knee has suffered an injury at some point in the past

3.) Exactly where the knee pain is (front or back of the knee, inside or outside section of the joint)

4.) Did the knee pain start suddenly or has it come on gradually over time?

5.) What are the activities that bring on the knee pain?

B.) What Are Some Frequently Seen Knee Pain Signs?

In addition to determining what caused the knee pain, you will also need to consider the exact symptoms you are suffering from in order to be able to get the right treatment. Many typical knee pain symptoms include:

1.) Locking (where you cannot straighten or bend your knee)

2.) Popping or snapping sensation in the knee

3.) Giving way (feeling as if your knee is giving way when you walk)

4.) Inability to put weight on the knee

5.) Grinding feeling

6.) Swelling and whether this appeared suddenly following injury or appeared more slowly

7.) Worsening knee pain when walking or bending the knee

C.) What are the Possible Causes of Knee Pain when Walking?

The following are just some of the more common factors that cause severe knee pain when walking:

1.) Tendonitis – Tendonitis is an inflammation or irritation of the tendons. In addition to having a swelling in the front of the knees, if you suffer from severe knee pain when walking and it feels worse while climbing stairs or when running, then you may have tendonitis.

2.) Meniscus injuries – Meniscus injuries are caused by a tear in the cartilage in your knee joint. This can cause severe pain in the knee and a feeling that you cannot straighten out the knee. There may also be some fluid build up (edema).

3.) Bursitis – Inflammation of the cushioning fluid sacs in the knee causes bursitis. If you have bursitis, your knees will be stiff and swollen and they will feel painful even when you are not walking.

4.) Knee arthritis- Knee arthritis involves stiffness, swelling and knee pain when walking.

D.) What Can be Done About Severe Knee Pain when Walking?

If you are having difficulty with knee pain when walking, then it is a good idea to talk with your physician to determine the cause. Various treatment methods exist, and each of which depends on how bad your knee pain may be. They could include the use of pain killers, rest, and maybe surgery (speak with your physican about any medications you may be taking).

A knee brace is one of the most effective ways to protect your knee from further injury or whilst recovering from surgery. The support helpts to increase knee stability and to help prevent movements that can irritate your knee further. Other options for self help include ice packs, rest and elevation and compression bandaging to prevent fluid build-up. Physical therapy is extremely beneficial as it strengthens the supporting muscles, which then help to stabilize your knee and reduce the severe knee pain when walking.

Knee supports can be very beneficial because they can be obtained very rapidly and they are quite affordable. Braces are beneficial because they help add extra stability physically, but they can also help someone feel more secure mentally. This confidence is relative to the knee, and many times people like the support they get physically, but equally love the mental support they get from the brace.



Buy Tamiflu

Comments Off »

Posted in Pain Medications

Tags:

Help For That Pain In Your Butt: Acupuncture For Piriformis Syndrome

June 24th, 2009
Lynn Jaffee asked:


It happened to me about three days into a week long kayaking trip in the middle of nowhere.  I woke up one morning and tried to walk down the beach to wash my face, but my leg, or more accurately, my butt wouldn’t cooperate.  I could walk, but just barely, because a nagging pain on the right side of my low back and butt was causing my leg to give out.

 It wasn’t until a week or two later that I learned that I had something called Piriformis Syndrome that was crippling me.  I managed to get through the kayaking trip-surprisingly; I was able to paddle without much pain.  However, once I got out of my kayak, I was pretty well hobbled. 

 Piriformis Syndrome is literally a pain in the butt.  Your piriformis is a core stabilizing muscle that runs deep from your sacrum (at the base of your spine) to your hip (the bone on the outside top of your thigh).  Your sciatic nerve runs under, and for some people, through the piriformis muscle.  When your piriformis is injured, it can compress the sciatic nerve where it passes through the pelvis.  Beyond pain deep in your butt, Piriformis Syndrome usually causes pain that radiates down the back or side of your leg, and can travel through your knee and into your foot.  The pain can be achy and dull, sharp, nagging, and even cause numbness and tingling.

 The symptoms of Piriformis Syndrome tend to mimic those of Sciatica, but for a different reason.  Sciatica, which also causes pain that radiates down your leg, occurs as the result of a lumbar disc pressing on your sciatic nerve.

 Overuse is a common cause of Piriformis Syndrome, and can be a common injury that sidelines athletes.  Prolonged sitting and trauma can also aggravate the piriformis muscle, causing it to swell or go into spasms, which causes the sciatic nerve to be pinched.  People with a Type A personality may also be more prone to Piriformis Syndrome, as tension and stress can restrict the flow of blood to muscle and nerve tissues, triggering this painful condition.

 There are a number of ways to relieve the pain, but the first order of business is to calm the muscle if it’s in spasm and reduce swelling.  Stretching, massage, ice and heat are all in order to tend to this injured muscle.

 Typical Western medical treatments for Piriformis Syndrome include rest, physical therapy, local anesthetics injected into the muscle, and prescription pain medications or muscle relaxants.  For difficult or chronic cases, your doctor may recommend a cortisone shot into the muscle, and even surgery to relieve the impingement.

 Acupuncture can be a very effective treatment for Piriformis Syndrome.  This ancient healing medicine from China is based on the idea that your energy, which is produced in every cell, flows in pathways throughout your body.  Any kind of congestion or blockage of a pathway can create a variety of symptoms, but most notably, pain.  In most cases of Piriformis Syndrome the blockage is usually in the Gall Bladder pathway.  This does not mean that your Gall Bladder is sick.  The Gall Bladder pathway runs along the side of your body, through your butt and down the side of your leg-right where the pain from your piriformis travels.

 An acupuncturist uses hair-thin needles inserted into various points on your body, which can help in a number of ways.

 -It can calm the spasm in your muscle.

 -An acupuncture treatment promotes circulation to the area of injury, which speeds the healing process.

 -Research has shown that acupuncture increases pain-relieving chemicals in the brain.

 -Acupuncture is extremely relaxing.  Anyone who has experienced a muscle in spasm knows that stress and tension only aggravate the problem.

 Your acupuncturist may enlist a number of healing tools to obtain the best results.  Besides acupuncture, he or she may combine electric stimulation, heat, and a kind of bodywork similar to massage, called Tui Na to relieve your pain and help you heal.

 As for my own injury, once I was out of the wilderness, I enlisted the help of an acupuncturist to help relieve my pain.  I was lucky; it took a couple of weeks before I stopped limping, and a few more before I was completely pain-free. Combined with some daily stretching and strengthening exercises from a physical therapist, I haven’t had a recurrence, and I plan to keep it that way.



The cheapest tramadol prices

Comments Off »

Posted in Pain Medications

Tags:

Back Pain Treatment, How to Treat Back Pain

May 29th, 2009
John Adison asked:


It is common to find that nine out of every ten Americans suffer from back pain. As a matter of fact people are willing to spend millions of dollars just to rid themselves of back pain. Back pain is one of the major reasons next only to cold and fever and is one of the major reasons why many people take leave from work. When patients approach doctors for back pain treatment he or she is given pain killers and anti- inflammatory drugs as part of the routine treatment along with the use hot and cold bags alternatively on the affected parts for at least a week before surgery is recommended.

Sometines known as Lignocaine, Lidocaine is a compound that is widely known as a good treatment for back pain relief. This is a local anesthetic and is also used as an anesthetic for insignificant surgeries and also for dental surgeries. This application for lower back pain is available in patches that can be applied on the skin. This patch contains only 5% Lidocaine and is known to always show positive results though the duration of the relief varied greatly and depends from patient to patient.

Any of us can suffer from upper back pain, anytime. Upper back pain is caused due to many different things like ligament problems, muscle pull, strained or stretched muscles etc. Other causes for upper back pain will include lack of strength, overuse of muscle or the trauma or shock received due to a sports or car accident. Treating upper back pain will revolve around relaxing the tensed or injured muscles. This kind of pain usually shows up as pain near or in the shoulder blade with restricted movement.

From different researches conducted on the treatment of back pain with the electric wave stimulation method, has been discovered that this method does not have a high percentage record of success. It has not yet been proved to be very successful as a treatment method for chronic or acute pains at the back. But, it will do well as a means of treating normal or mild back pains. Recent records says that the stimulation of electric wave method and placebo has about the same potential since they are both ineffective in the eradication of serious back pains.

Back pain treatment doesn’t always require going to the doctor. You can often use a heating pad to get the relief you need on a less permanent injury. Muscle strains and spasms can benefit from heat as the heat will tend to relax the muscle and give pain relief as it relaxes. It doesn’t matter whether the pain is permanent or not, pain is pain and it hurts so just knowing that heat can help will opt you to explore some of the newer type heating pads. Warm water therapy is very helpful and that is why many people own a hot tub. This type of back pain treatment is good for the entire body.



Website content

Comments Off »

Posted in Pain Management

Tags: