Back pain often can be nipped in the bud if quickly treated. Your pain due to poor posture or a sedentary lifestyle may be eliminated solely through lifestyle changes or exercises. However, a “slipped disc” or nerve impingement may involve more physician-involved treatment (such as minimally-invasive surgery). According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), 25 percent of all US adults reported within the last three months to their physicians an episode of low back pain. Opioids are typically prescribed when all other pain-relief medications have failed, but long-term opioid reliance is not advisable for a...

You may have heard about wearable devices that can nudge you into sitting up straight. But how well do they work, and can they really help alleviate your chronic back pain?

Back pain affects 60-80 percent of the U.S. adults, and undoubtedly poor posture contributes to the problem. Too many of us spend too many hours slouched at our desks and hunched over our phones. Tech companies are developing devices to try to nudge us to sit up straight.

The problem is there don’t seem to be any carefully controlled scientific studies of the effectiveness of these devices. Several journalists have tried them out and...

June is Migraine and Headache Awareness Month. If you suffer from migraine headaches, you may feel like you don’t need anyone to raise your awareness. But knowing and sharing these facts may help you feel less alone and give your family, friends, and coworkers the information they need to help support you.

1. Migraines are not “just a headache.” They are a serious neurological disorder that can include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and sensitivity to light, sound, and smell, in addition to severe throbbing pain, usually in one side of the head. Some migraine sufferers also experience visual symptoms, called an aura, and tingling or numbness.
2. Nearly 42 million people in the U.S. suffer from...

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment is a way to use the body’s natural healing powers to treat arthritis and other painful musculoskeletal conditions. It’s been used for osteoarthritis of the knee, shoulder, hip, and spine as well as rotator cuff tears, ACL injury, back and neck injuries, and ligament sprains. 

Blood platelets, which secrete growth factors, can strengthen surrounding tissues, muscles, and ligaments. PRP treatment involves using a concentrated solution of platelets from the patient’s own blood. This means there is less risk of an allergic reaction and no risk of contracting a blood-borne infection from a donor.  

So what exactly happens during a PRP treatment? The whole process takes from 45 to 90...