Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress Injury

At its best, massage can do much more than feel good–it can lead to healing, increasing circulation, lifting your energy, breaking up scar tissue, and making you healthier overall.
Before you find a therapist, research the styles they perform and decide which is right for you.  Since everyone has different levels of comfort in relation to [...]

Some time ago, I wrote about the benefits of using Chinese medicine balls as therapy, particularly for hand pain such as carpal tunnel or deQuervain’s syndrome/tenosynovitis of the thumb.  The practice of twisting the balls around one another, using the fingers, helps to build dexterity and restore range of motion.  Also, the weight of the [...]

Last week, I mentioned a lot of good alternative therapies you can turn to for pain relief.  Of course, you can also perform massage, acupressure and trigger point therapy on yourself.
You can use your own fingers, knuckles, even the palm of your hand or elbow.  However, you might prefer to use some of the tools [...]

If you’re in pain, it’s tempting to grab some drugs and medicate it away.  But, it’s important to realize that the pain itself isn’t the problem.  Pain is only a warning message, telling you something else is wrong in your body.
Using ibuprofen or steroids to get rid of the pain and inflammation might help for [...]

In an earlier post, I talked about some of the alternative treatments that Western medicine is starting to recognize.  I also pointed to some of the misunderstandings that doctors still have regarding those treatments.  As a patient, it’s good to research and understand all your options.
Below, I’m providing an overview of some of the most [...]

What exercises can be done with Chinese Medicine Balls?
This is a question posed by Bethany in the comments, and I thought the answer deserved its own post.
Chinese Medicine Balls, or other similar-sized balls, can be used to help increase flexibility or range of motion in the hands.  The general idea is to hold both balls [...]

If someone says “alternative medicine” to you, what image does it conjur to mind?
Alternative medicine is considered by many people to be a branch separate from Western medicine. But more and more “alternative” treatments are being incorporated into modern health care. Your doctor might even prescribe massage, acupuncture, reiki or other treatments to [...]