Cathy Brown's blog

Can Wearable Devices for Posture Help with Chronic Back Pain?

Can Wearable Devices for Posture Help with Chronic Back Pain?

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.

Southwest Spine & Pain Center first and only provider of Vertiflex spine procedure in Northern Utah

St. George, Utah – June 8, 2018

Southwest Spine & Pain Center, the leading spine and pain care group in Utah, is excited to be the first and only provider in Northern Utah of Vertiflex’s Superion® Indirect Decompression System (IDS) for patients suffering from moderate lumbar spinal stenosis. Board-certified physicians, Dr. Eric Freeman and Dr. Bryan Hoelzer of Southwest Spine and Pain, who are located in Provo, Utah are the only certified MD’s in Northern Utah who are able to offer this innovative and highly effective therapy.

What is lumbar spinal stenosis?

Lumbar spinal stenosis can be the result of aging and “wear and tear” on the spine from everyday activities. It is a narrowing of the spinal canal that can produce a variety of symptoms:

What to Expect During Platelet-Rich Plasma Treatment

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.  

9 Tips for Spring Cleaning without Pain

Ah, spring, the season to tackle those dusty baseboards and dirty windows. If you’re one of those people who takes seriously the tradition of spring cleaning, make sure you’re doing it in a way that doesn’t leave you limping in agony.

Follow these nine tips to get your house clean without throwing out your back or knees or anything else.

Medical Marijuana Not the Answer for Most Pain

Using marijuana to treat medical problems is not legal in Utah, which may be frustrating if you’ve heard that it could be the answer to your chronic pain. As it turns out, you may not be missing out on much.

New guidelines in Canadian Family Physician say the benefits of marijuana for pain relief have been overstated, and that its use comes with risks and side effects.