Blog Archive
You’ve got over 650 skeletal muscles in your body, muscles that work with your brain and bones to create motion. Though you may not think about which muscles you use when you walk, stand, sit, or perform any activity, these are largely voluntary muscles — they don’t work unless you decide to...
Marrow, the spongy tissue inside large bones, has liquid and solid components. Analysis of bone marrow gives valuable and detailed information about your blood. Extracting the liquid portion of the bone marrow is called aspiration, while a sample of the solid portion is a biopsy. A range of conditions could...
The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in your body, so it’s no surprise that so many people have issues with it — a group of disorders called sciatica. Compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve can cause pain in your lower back, tingling and numbness in your...
Getting older is one of the primary risk factors for contracting osteoarthritis (OA). It’s just one of over 100 joint conditions classified as arthritis, and it typically occurs because of wear-and-tear and several other factors. While arthritis is common as you age, it’s not inevitable. More than 32 million Americans...
Playing a sport is one of the more enjoyable ways to build exercise into your day. The game involves your mind in a way a treadmill or stationary bike might not. No matter at what level you play, though, there’s a risk of sports-related injury. The good news is that...
Between each pair of vertebrae (bones) in your neck and back sits a tough but pliable disc that acts as a spacer and shock absorber that keeps your spine cushioned and flexible. With tough outer layers surrounding a softer filling, these discs are often compared to jelly donuts. When damaged,...
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is the route that many world-class athletes take for fast recovery of soft tissue and joint damage, and it’s a regenerative medicine technique that’s showing great promise for natural tissue repair. Regenerative medicine is a field of study that focuses on your body’s own repairing ability,...
Chronic pain is a problem that’s often difficult to treat. In some cases, it’s due to degenerative disease — problems such as arthritis where the rate of deterioration exceeds the speed at which your body can rebuild itself. Conventional treatments often start with pain management to mask the symptoms of...
Perhaps as a child you marvelled at how your body dealt with the minor cuts and scrapes that came your way. A scab would form, change, dry out, and finally fall away to reveal a perfect skin repair. The fields of regenerative medicine and biologics recognize the powerful healing abilities...
A type of lower back pain that usually affects your back and one leg, sciatica describes the collection of symptoms that results from sciatic nerve compression. Nerve compression happens for a variety of reasons, but when it affects the sciatic nerve or any of the nerves that make up the...
What do Tiger Woods, Eric Dickerson, and Rafael Nadal have in common, aside from being top athletes in their respective sports? Each of them turns to the regenerative benefits of PRP (platelet-rich plasma) therapy and other biologic treatments as a natural way to deal with injuries and general wear-and-tear that...
Of all the joints in your body, the shoulder is the most mobile, capable of wide-ranging motion and great strength. These abilities come with a cost. Problems with the joint itself or with any of the soft tissues that surround and support the joint can produce discomfort or pain while...
The complex design of your spine makes it capable of amazing performance. It supports your body and allows for a wide range of movements while shielding the delicate nerves of the spinal cord, the information pathway between your brain and body. Spinal discs serve as cushions and movement points between...
One of the issues with joint pain and mobility problems is that, apart from injury, many conditions that cause these symptoms are degenerative and without cure. Arthritis treatment focuses on symptom management and slowing the progression of the disease, but where pain is concerned, long-term pharmaceutical pain relief is often...