Archive for August, 2008

Qigong therapy, a form of traditional Chinese medical practice, appears to be a potential complementary treatment for osteoarthritis dependent upon the capability of the healer, according to a study.

Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the US and osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting about 21 million Americans.

Patients suffering from osteoarthritis are increasingly utilizing complementary and alternative medicine treatments, including Qigong therapy, used in China for treating arthritis.

Qigong is a general term for a variety of traditional Chinese energy exercises and therapy. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) suggests the existence of a subtle energy (qi) circulating throughout the body and in the surrounding environment.

According to TCM, good health is the result of free-flowing, well-balance “qi”, while sickness or pain is the result of a blockage of the “qi” flow or unbalanced “qi” in the body.

“Although further research needs to be conducted, Qigong may be an effective complementary treatment for osteoarthritis,” said Dr. Perlman, a co-investigator on the study.

“Given the limitation and potential adverse effects of drug intervention of osteoarthritis, Qigong therapy might prove to be a valuable option as a supplement to conventional treatment.” Further study is required to determine the efficacy of the practice.

Visualization therapy mainly involves focusing your mind on what you like to happen and believing that these images are real to your body.

Visualization therapy is very precise and detailed. You can imagine how something smells, feels, sounds and tastes.

Your imagination need to appear so genuine that it can keep your mind into the thoughts that it is a truth. Most of the clinics in US use this therapy to help you to control the pain associated with any ailments or diseases.

When compared to adults, children can easily learn visualization. It is supposed that this is because children have not crossed into the black and white absolutes of adults.

Numerous cases were proved that visualization therapy helped people to fight against various illnesses and to lead normal lives. Most of the complementary health care centers use traditional therapy along with visualization to help you to lessen the activity and reduce further spread of a seizure.

Benefits of visualization therapy:

• This therapy greatly helps in coping with various activities that you have become very much addictive. It completely changes the way that you think. You will no longer observe yourself in terms of drink or drug use.

A new study suggests that acupuncture may bring some added pain relief to people with chronic headaches

The study, the largest to date on using acupuncture to ease headaches, adds to a conflicting body of evidence: Some research has suggested that adding acupuncture to standard headache medication brings patients additional pain relief; other studies, however, have found that “sham” acupuncture — using blunted needles that do not pierce the skin — is as effective as the real thing.

Those latter studies call into question the true effectiveness of acupuncture.

For the current study, German researchers followed more than 15,000 adults with chronic headaches; all had been suffering from either migraine or tension-type headaches at least twice a month for 1 year or more.

Of these patients, nearly 3,200 agreed to be randomly assigned to either have acupuncture added to their regular therapy or to stay with their usual care alone. The rest of the patients began on acupuncture treatment.

All of the acupuncture patients received up to 15 sessions over 3 months, and all study patients were reassessed after 6 months.

Generally, thalassotherapy is the word came from Greek Word Sea. This therapy refers to variety of treatments that use seawater and seaweed.

Each treatment is mainly intended for toning, moisturizing and revitalizing your body and skin and in most of the cases it improves your circulation.

Some other ocean and marine derivatives used in thalassotherapy include mud, sand and algae. All these are cleaned and purified before using.

This therapy consists of array of packages like, underwater shower, mud baths, aromatherapy, hydro-massage, mud, seaweed, and algae wraps.

All these treatments help to return your body to a condition of tranquility for a mermaid.

Benefits of thalassotherapy:

Various types of thalassotherapy offer different benefits. They include:

• Muscle toning
• Cleansing your skin
• Deep relaxation
• Decreases the growth of cellulite
• Boosts your immune system
• Improves your sleep quality
• Weight loss aided by improved metabolism
• Relief from the symptoms of psoriasis, eczema, back pain, muscular pain and also stress
• Improves cardiovascular functioning

Also, thalassotherapy helps for people who are suffering with the diseases like:

• Respiratory illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis, etc
• Circulatory disorders such as arteriosclerosis, hypertension, etc

Alexander technique lessons in combination with an exercise program offer long-term effective treatment for chronic back pain, according to a study published on the British Medical Journal website.

Back pain causes more disability than almost any other condition in Western societies, but very few effective long-term treatments are available to patients.

Previous research shows that the Alexander technique and massage may help relieve back pain in the short-term, but little is known about the long-term outcomes.

A team of researchers from the University of Southampton and the University of Bristol compared the effectiveness of massage, exercise and the Alexander technique for the relief of back pain over one year.

Professor Little and colleagues recruited 579 patients with chronic or recurrent back pain from 64 general practices in the south and west of England.

Patients were randomized to receive normal care, massage, six Alexander technique lessons, or 24 Alexander technique lessons. Half of the patients from each of the groups were also prescribed an exercise programme (brisk walking for 30 minutes per day five times a week).

Patients were sent disability questionnaires at three months and one year to record which activities were limited by their back pain. For example, walking more slowly than usual or getting out of the house often.

Peppermint is an herb that is being in use for many years for holistic and traditional medicinal purposes. Most of the studies proved that peppermint greatly helps to alleviate from irritable bowel syndrome.

Peppermint essential oil is extracted from Mentha piperita of the Labiatae family and is also known as balm mint or brandy mint.

This refreshing and cooling peppermint essential oil is used in aromatherapy in order to stimulate your mind, improve the mental ability and to improve your focus, while reducing the redness, cooling the skin, and reducing itchiness and irritation.

This essential oil is also used to ease migraine, sinus, colon, headaches, and chest congestion and also improves your digestive system.

Peppermint essential oil has a fresh, sharp, menthol smell and is clear pale yellow in color and watery in viscosity. There are various health benefits of peppermint essential oil. They include:

1. Proper dental care: Peppermint essential oil has powerful antiseptic properties and is effectively used for dental care. This oil helps to relieve from bad breathe and keeps your teeth and gums free of germs. Peppermint oil is added in most of the tooth pastes. Toothaches are also effectively treated with it.

Researchers testing the long-held theory that therapeutic massage can speed recovery after a sports injury have found early scientific evidence of the healing effects of massage.

The scientists have determined that immediate cyclic compression of muscles after intense exercise reduced swelling and muscle damage in a study using animals.

Though they say it’s too soon to apply the results directly to humans in a clinical environment, the researchers consider the findings a strong start toward scientific confirmation of massage’s benefits to athletes after intense eccentric exercise, when muscles contract and lengthen at the same time.

“There is potential that this continuing research will have huge clinical implications,” said Thomas Best, a professor of family medicine at Ohio State University and senior author of the study.

“If we can define the mechanism for recovery, the translation of these findings to the clinic will dictate how much massage is needed, for how long, and when it should be performed after exercise.”

Anecdotal evidence suggests massage techniques offer many health benefits, but actual testing of its effects at the cellular level is more difficult than one might think.

Are you suffering with pain? Want to restore your motion? Then myofascial release is a very effective technique that uses hands to apply continuous pressure into your myofascial restrictions to reduce the pain and restore your motion.

The theory of myofascial release needs to understand about the fascial system of connective tissues.

Fascia is a specific system of your body that looks similar to the spider’s web or a sweater.

Fascia is a very densely woven that covers and interprets with every bone, muscle, vein, nerve, artery and also all of your internal organs like lungs, heart, spinal cord and brain.

The fascial system is totally one structure that is present from your head to foot without any interruption.

Myo means muscles and fascia means band, so myofascial release releases tension from the fibrous bands of connective tissues.

Mainly, myofascial release therapy is intended for blockages or free constrictions in your fascia so that you will get relief from problems associated with connective tissues.

Benefits of myofascial release:

• This therapy helps people with poor posture, illness, emotional stress and physical injury.