Day: August 22, 2017

Health

Fibrositis – what is this and how can massage help?

Fibrous connective tissue is where damaged fibres mend themselves together and present as a form of hard lump like ‘knot’. Fibrous connective tissue has very little living cells and is made mainly of complex sugars, water and protein fibres.

Areas in the body that it can affect are joints, tendons and around muscles found in the neck, shoulders, chest, lower back, arms, hips and thighs. It can happen to both sexes but mainly in adults between the ages of 30 and 60, but more predominant in women. Unfortunately not much is known about the cause of Fibrositis, however it is thought that is has something to do with an imbalance of chemicals in the brain or could be an autoimmune disorder. To this day continued research is going on to find out the cause of this debilitating illness. It is thought that the risk of getting this is increased greatly if you suffer with some of these issues:-

Stress

Muscle injury

Sleep disturbance

Continued viral infections

Fatigue

Dampness or cold atmosphere

Pure nutrition

Medical issues such as joint inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis

To help avoid these risk factors it is wise when able to get good and adequate sleep and to exercise using conditioning exercise movements. Read more here.

Heat will also help with aches and pains, regular hot baths or showers, heat pads, whirlpools (beating action of the water,helps to stimulate blood and oxygen into the muscle area). Massage can also help people with this condition also as it helps to elevate muscle tension and increases blood flow to the muscles.

Signs and symptoms of Fibrositis are:-

Weakness

Stiffness

Painful and sudden onset of muscle spasm

Painful muscle areas

Over tiredness

Fatigue

Difficulties with sleep patterns and with staying asleep.

Lumps/nodules that are tender and painful to touch (localised areas)

You can also invest in having a regular massage to help with sleep patterns as massage helps the mind and body to relax. Good quality sleep allows the body to recover and regenerate so is very important to everyone who is troubled with damaged fibres.

Along with preventive measures to help with Fibrositis the treatment is mainly as follows:- Try and stay as active as your body allows, even when in pain and do stretching exercises as this may prove beneficial. Afford caffeine and alcohol as this is proven to interfere with sleep per say. Avoid stress full situations if at all possible.

Medication can be prescribed. For minor discomfort caused aspirin or ibuprofen will help ease symptoms. Cortisone injections may also be prescribed for pain relief.

Research and Bibliography

GOULD, F. (2012) Anatomy,Physiology and Pathology for Complementary Therapists. 3rd Ed. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd.

NORRIS, M and SIEGFRIED, D. R. (2011) Anatomy & Physiology for Dummies. 2nd Ed. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.

On Line Health Information (2007-2012) Fibrositis (Online) Available from: www.nmihi.com/f/fibrositis.htm

(Accessed: 23rd August 2015)

Dental

Things To Know If You Are Facing A Dental Emergency

Dental problems might not be serious at first glance, but so is everything else that later escalates into drastic situations. Hence, proper treatment and care should be done as soon as an emergency happens. A dislocated tooth or a simple cheek laceration might lead to infection resulting in severe health complications.

Now when faced with dental emergency, or any emergency situation for that matter, it is important that you remain calm. Secondly, understand the exact problem and then convey the issue to an emergency medical service. Instead of just call the doctors and complaining of excruciating pain, it will be helpful if you manage to convey more details like if you have a jaw fracture or broken tooth and what not.

Hence here we have curated a list of the most common types of dental emergency situations. This should help you have a more meaningful discussion with the medical professionals over the phone, so that you can start getting immediate advice.

Broken or Cracked tooth

A knocked out or broken tooth is generally associated with fist fights. But such situations can also happen if you bite down on something hard, or get injured during outdoor games.Whatever be the case, situations like this can cause the nerves to get exposed which can lead to pain and discomfort. An exposed nerve can also cause hypersensitivity when eating foods of extreme temperature.

Lost or knocked out teeth

You might experience a dream about your teeth falling off. If so, then you are pretty much aware of the anxiety and fear associated with losing teeth. And if such an incident happens in real life, then you can rest assured that it is going to be scary as well as a lot painful. Medically, the condition of a knocked out tooth is termed as an avulsed tooth. Such an incident can follow up with a great deal of haemorrhaging which needs prompt medical care and professional supervision.

Desiccation of periodontal ligament cannot occur, as well as pulpal necrosis if no immediate action is taken place. However, if the tooth was knocked out then there is a possibility of replanting the same tooth if and only if it is preserved in an ideal conditions. It also depends upon the duration of how long it was knocked out and the ligament supporting the tooth is not dead and unusable for replanting or replacement with a fake tooth. This is also the route you will have to take if your avulsed tooth is lost.

Laceration or cut inside the mouth

Sometimes, a laceration can happen inside or outside the mouth depending on the source of the injury. Even though this might not seem like much, but the tissue inside and around the mouth are very delicate and sometimes such cuts or lacerations can lead to traumatic episodes.  One thing to make sure during such situations is to always keep the bleeding under control. Excessive loss of blood can often lead to shock and sometimes is known to escalate into fatal problems.

Dislocated jaw

The jaw is the most important part of the face, without it, we would be unable to speak or eat. It also houses all our teeth. So a fracture or dislocation of the jaw can be a great deal of worry. Generally such an issue is considered as a serious dental emergency.

The force required to cause such a predicament is life threatening in and as of itself. So when it is coupled with a Jaw fracture, further complications can rise and create a messy situation. If you or a family member is associated in any physical sport where the risk of getting a jaw fracture of dislocation is high, then you should consult a dentist and get proper advice on how to handle such situations.

It goes without saying, that problems like these requires prompt supervision from a nearby dental care facility. Top emergency dentists in Brisbane are saying that many people each year end up with such problems due to lack of precautions. So you see, proper care should be practiced.

Bitten Lip or Tongue

Your lip, and your Tongue are extremely delicate. We all have experienced the tear jerking pain when we accidentally bite down on either one of them. But sometimes, incident occurs when individuals bite down on their lips or tongue too hard and end up causing a lot of bleeding.

Situations like this can be very scary and painful. Nerves can get damaged and many more type of complications can arise. If you are stuck in such a situation and the bleeding is considerable, you should contact a dentist right away.

Danger Doesn’t Come Knocking

So you see, contingencies can arise anytime, that is why they are called contingencies. Hence, you should responsibly add in basic first aid preparedness plan to deal with these mishaps.

As you should have realised by now. Sometimes a lost tooth is can be the bare minimum of the problems that are in stored.