Diseases | Health And Wellness Tips

The Development of Acupuncture

Chinese medicine is thousands of years old. The earliest recorded use of acupuncture is from the reign of the Yellow Emperor, and is supposed to be from about 2600 BC. The ancient Chinese noticed that certain areas of the skin became more sensitive when a person had a certain health problem. Over time, the Chinese started recording the location of the sensitive areas for a particular symptom or set of symptoms. These areas were associated with the internal organs whose malfunction caused that particular symptom. When outlines of the human body were drawn, these sensitive points were connected in ways to explain the functioning of the human body. The functioning of the body includes the various major organs of the body, and also the entire functional system, including the energy for the organ.

Looking at a text on acupuncture, there will be a number of spots, which relate to the sensitive areas described above. There will also be lines, or “meridians”, which connect the various organs and indicate how the energy of the organs flow from one to another. The concept of energy (the “Qi”) is fundamental to the application of acupuncture. According to the Chinese, we are given a certain amount of Qi at birth, and this is dissipated by daily living, and restored by ingesting food and air. In the foundation of acupuncture, the imbalance of this energy at various points in the body is the cause of illness. The absence of this energy at some point is death. The Qi circulates through the body in a cycle, moving from meridian to meridian and organ to organ. This energy is constantly moving, dissipating, and being restored.

The use of the needles in acupuncture is to affect the energy level, and so the functioning, of an organ by stimulating or reducing its action. Some organs respond more directly and quickly than others, such as the liver. Acupuncture can be used for pain control, for stress relief, and for a multitude of other physical symptoms and diseases.

China was where the technique of acupuncture and its medical foundations began. Japan also has an extensive history of acupuncture as an accepted and effective treatment for their people. Japanese acupuncture has the same foundations as Chinese acupuncture, but several interesting differences in technique. Acupuncture traveled to Europe in the seventeenth century, being brought back by Jesuit missionaries who had lived in Beijing. Acupuncture did not receive wide acceptance at that point, though there were pockets of practitioners in several places in the West. Acupuncture got significant attention here only when M. Morant from France published many writings on acupuncture in the 1940s. The detail and volume of his writings caught the attention of western physicians, who started considering it for pain control.

Currently, acupuncture is widely accepted by western physicians in several categories, including pain control and stress relief. Indeed, for some operations no anesthesia is needed at all, just the services of an acupuncturist. This is a distinct advantage, in that the normal operation of the patient’s organs is not altered by an artificial anesthetic. This work in the west has caused new interest and study in the land where acupuncture originated, in China. They have discovered many old, previously unknown texts, and are working on extending the applications. It is an exciting time for the field of acupuncture.

Arthritis Of The Foot

Arthritis Of The Foot
Dr. Jeffrey A. Oster, Medical Director Of Myfootshop.com.

Arthritis is a term used to describe a number of diseases that cause inflammation of joints and results in the progressive destruction of joints. Arthritis is actually a collection of many different joint diseases that affect the body and the foot in many different ways. In this article, let’s talk a bit about arthritis and how it affects the foot. We normally discuss treatment alternative for conditions, but due to the scope of this topic, we will not discuss treatment of each of the individual forms of arthritis.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is by far and away the most common form of arthritis. Osteoarthritis is known as the wear and tear type of joint disease and will effect most of us at one point in our lives. In our discussion on osteoarthritis, please refer to the nomenclature and anatomy sections below for definitions of the terms that my be unfamiliar to you.
When I think of osteoarthritis (OA), I think of my grandmother’s hands. Those hand have done a lot of work in their time and have a bit of arthritis to show for it. The fingers, crooked and bumpy show many of the changes brought on by osteoarthritis. The bumps on the fingers are called Heberden’s Nodes. Heberden’s Nodes are a very obvious example of how osteoarthritis occurs. If you’ve ever known anyone whose experienced the symptoms of OA, they’ll tell you that a joint will flare for a period of several weeks. It may be mildly painful or even painful to the degree that the joint is unusable. And then suddenly, just as passively as it came, it leaves. Occasional, brief morning stiffness was not unusual for grandma. The pain that had been present in her hands was actually due to a series of small micro-fractures that occurred in the subchondral bone (just beneath the cartilage). It seems that in cases of osteoarthritis, the bone just below the cartilage becomes very fragile. When loads are applied to this fragile bone, it breaks down. The more the joint is used, the more the bone seems to break down.
Over time, as the bone undergoes a series of flare ups, the ability of the bone to support the cartilage becomes unstable. The subchondral bone creates an unstable supporting surface for the cartilage. When the joint tries to complete its’ normal range of motion, the cartilage is irregular and progressively erodes. This moves us into the second phase of OA pain, and that’s when we have joint range of motion that is bone on bone. Cartilage has no nerve endings to sense pain, but bone on the other hand, has plenty. As the joint moves and the bone is eroded, significant pain can be experienced.
This erosive process seen in OA seems to occur at different rates in everyone. In fact, every joint seems to undergo the changes of OA at a different rate. The rate of change does seem to be effected by the history of damage to the joint. In fact the classifications used to describe OA include Primary (idiopathic or no known cause) and Secondary (some known cause for the disease such as trauma). Past injuries seem to accelerate the rate of OA in most joints. We all know someone with that old football injury, right?
The cause of OA is unknown. Many authors have speculated that the cause may be mechanical as described above, but others have described changes such as biologic, biochemical or enzymatic; or even a combination of each of these.
Changes that occur in the foot with OA are numerous. The most common is midfoot pain that is diffuse. The midfoot is a jigsaw puzzle of pieces that are difficult to manage when effected by a systemic disease of this nature. Other finding include atrophy (loss) of the plantar fat pad of the forefoot and heel. The big toe joint is often effected by the changes of OA with bunions and hallux limitus as common complaints.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a very complex and debilitating disease that affects approximately 1% of the general population. Women are 2-3 times more prone to develop RA. RA is a process where the body’s immune system attacks the cell lining the joint capsule (synovial cells). The end result is thickening and fibrosis of the joint with destruction of the cartilage.
Symptoms of RA include an abrupt onset of inflammation. The swelling associated with RA may be isolated to one joint or effect several. Symmetrical involvement is typical with both hands or both feet being affected. In comparison to OA, morning stiffness seen in RA may last more than 30 minutes.
The finding of RA in the foot often progresses to subluxation of the joints, particularly the metatarsal phalangeal joints. Atrophy of the plantar fat pad is common.

Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis (PA) is an interesting form of sero-negative arthritis. PA is associated with psoriasis in many cases, but it is not unusual to find the symptoms of PA in a patient with no previous history of psoriasis of the skin or nail.
The symptoms of PA in the foot include focal swelling of the interphalangeal joint (the toes). The toe will appear to have swollen and become painful with a limited history of injury or pain. X-rays often show slow changes that exhibit erosion called a pencil and cup appearance. This finding is common on the metatarsal phalangeal joint.

Reiter’s Syndrome

Reiter’s Syndrome (RS) is an unusual form of arthritis that is usually found in men.. RS is often described as a sexually transmitted disease due to the history of the disease occurring following sexual intercourse which resulted in a chlamydial infection. It is suggested to treat those with RS, and their sexual partners, for C. trachomatis infections.
The symptoms of RS include burning upon urination (urethritis), dry eyes and joint pain. Joint pain in the back and feet are common. These symptoms occur 7-14 days following sexual intercourse and subside over a period of several months to years. Recurrence of pain is not unusual. About the Author
Jeffrey A. Oster, DPM, C.Ped is a board certified foot and ankle surgeon. Dr. Oster is also board certified in pedorthics. Dr. Oster is medical director of Myfootshop.com and is in active practice in Granville, Ohio.

What Exactly is Alzheimers?

As uncommon as the name of the disease sounds, its prevalence and incidence rates are not. In fact, almost four million people in the United States are affected by this problem. All can be affected, men or women, across all social status and economic position in life.

Alzheimers is a progressive and degenerative problem under the umbrella of diseases called dementia. It is characterized by disorientation and impaired memory. It is apparently caused by an attack in the brain, affecting ones memory, thinking skills and judgment. Most patients will experience a change in language ability, in the way they use their mental processes and of course their behavior.

While anybody can be affected by this problem, only those that are older than age 65 experience the lagging in their thinking skills. Still, there are some who gets Alzheimers even when they are just 30 years old but these cases are very rare and can only account for a small percentage of the total number of cases. One out of 10 people over the age 65 has Alzheimers and nearly half of these patients are over 85 years old. In a national survey conducted in the United States, almost 19 million Americans have one family member who suffers from this dreaded problem.

In addition to old age, family history of dementia can also predispose someone to the disease. This is because Alzheimers is said to be caused by a problem in the genetic mutations. Still, when you study the cases, Alzheimers is commonly the result of a host of other factors besides genes. In fact, environmental factors such as hobbies and mental pursuits are things that can help prevent the onset of the problem.

What is difficult with Alzheimers is the fact that its symptoms are basically the same with ordinary signs of old age. At the beginning, there will be some memory loss. The person with Alzheimers will also experience confusion and disorientation even with things that they are used to doing. The trick is to make sure that one can recognize what a normal memory loss is against something of Alzheimers caliber.

Often, there will be a gradual memory loss. They will find it hard to read or to write or to think clearly. After which they will experience a decline in the ability to perform tasks that are already automatic and routinary. Believe it or not, in cases that are already in the terminal stage, the patient may even forget how to brush their teeth or how to use a spoon and fork, something that is really pretty basic with a lot of people.

This is one example of the difference of Alzheimers from ordinary memory loss. Forgetfulness will not affect tasks that are routinary. There will also be difficulty in learning new things and in memorizing things. Some patients may even forget the language that they are speaking with while others will no longer recognize their family. Personality will change in terms of the way they communicate with other people and the way they behave.

There is actually no change in personality per se but because of the problems in their memory, they may appear aloof and suspicious perhaps because they cannot recognize the people that they know before. Some may even become extremely fearful and passive for the simple fact that they cannot remember you. As the disease worsens, the patient will then become so incapable of taking care of themselves that they will require help even in eating and in sleeping.

Heal yourself from acid reflux, find an effective natural remedy

Have you been suffering for a long time from gastro esophageal reflux disorder and helplessly tried all the alternative drugs that just ended up to tolerance? And you dont even make yourself feel better at all? Then you become sluggish and lose your appetite to go out and meet with friends or any other activities?

Most probably youre just making the drug companies wealthier by patronizing a product that doesnt even heal you at all. When you become addicted to the prescribed drug, it seems that you can no longer live without it. So put a stop to your suffering and heal yourself effectively. There are better natural remedies that can provide the cure that you actually need. No side effects. No addiction. And with steps so easy to follow. The only thing you have to do is to make it a part of your system.

Studies show that treatment of acid reflux disease does not only fall on attacking the GERD alone, but on treating the whole person. This means that the individual infected by the disease should inculcate a good living habit while taking medicines. The primary habit that must be corrected to outwit the acid reflux is the change of dietary habits. Since the disease involves abnormal stomach acid production, the person must stay away from certain foods that trigger or aggravate acid reflux. Fatty and acidic foods must be avoided in preparing meals for those who have excess acid production. The same case is true on alcohol, caffeine, and soft drinks. This will prevent the symptoms, such as heartburn, to occur.

A severe smoking habit must also be stopped. Paradoxical and scientific basis had proven how smoking could worsen the acid reflux disease plus the risk that it can give to those people who do not yet have the disease. Those who smoke regularly are 70% vulnerable to get a gastro esophageal reflux disease compared to those who do not smoke. And the symptoms of those who are suffering from the disease are doubled due to this bad habit. This spells out to doubling of the pain that they also have to suffer.

For almost any body disorder, the chief advice is exercise. Perhaps this universal cure could be so powerful that it covers a wide range of diseases. Exercise does not only keep the body parts functioning properly, more so, it uplifts the spirit. If you feel tired and sluggish and you still confine yourself in a corner, the sicker you will most likely get. Besides, the early morning sun is so soothing to strained body systems that it can easily transform it to an energetic one.

Modifying a lifestyle includes the avoidance of lying down right after a meal. Enough time must be given for the stomach to properly digest the food before slumber. Also, eating must be avoided two hours before sleeping. And when its time to sleep, there is also a system to be followed: the head must be elevated than the body. The altitude of the elevation must be about 6-8 inches. A great percentage of those who follow this method find a complete relief from the acid reflux disease.

These simple tips will work well in the combination of herbal products. And if you keep a good system of eating, exercising and avoiding things that pollutes you, you are healing yourself better than any drugs can.